Tuesday, August 28.
Today Valeria and her host sister Kamila invited over me and my host sister for Slovak pizza and to make Slovak pancakes. We drove to their village and arrived! Their house was so beautiful and the family, as usual, was so nice! It was my first time trying Slovak pizza, and it was alright. I had a ham and corn pizza (the most common type) and I did enjoy it! After that, we made pancakes with all different types of toppings, which I also enjoyed. We made many extra pancakes then brought them over to the scout house, which is about a 5 minute walk from Kamila's house. In Slovakia, scouting is a much more common thing. In each city is a "scout house" which is a literal house, that is run and operated by teenage scouts. We brought them pancakes then helped to clean the house for about 2 hours. This truly made me realize the maturity level of teenagers in Slovakia is definitely a little higher than most American teenagers. From the scout house, I went into town to meet Adam, my familys friend who goes to my school. We walked around my school property so he could show me everything and explain to me how school works. I was quite surprised to learn that the school has no lunch period and computers are not allowed. After that, we went back into town to a cafe, then to the church to see the sunset over the town. Trencin is truly a beautiful city. Wednesday, August 29 In the morning I went with my family (including cousins and grandparents) to a piece of land they own on the border with the Czech Republic. There, we did a lot, from cutting the grass, to picking hundreds of apples. After a few hours of work, my brother and I took bikes around the village to the border of Czechia. We crossed, making it my 11th country! We continued around the village for a while until we returned to a house of my host dad's childhood friends. At the house were about 10 older people at a table drinking alcohol and eating food. They were all so friendly to me and fed me very well! It was so cute to see the true village life there. They also had a pet chihuahua that was about the size of a rat. It was so cute. From there, we went back to Trencin, to the river Vah, which runs through my city. My third host dad had invited me and my siblings to go on a "dragon boat" with his sports camp he runs. It was quite an interesting experience. Whenever the head woman hits a drum, you paddle. We were on the water for about an hour, and it wasn't too difficult. I was able to meet my third host brother, and he was very nice. After this, I went with my host siblings to the scout house from the day before for my first scouting trip. (Yes, I've joined the Slovak scouting association.) The night was so fun making new friends and playing foosball. All the scouting kids were so nice to me and asking me questions about the USA. At night we had a safety meeting and another scout presented about his two week trip to Kyrgyzstan. We ate dinner and went to sleep as we had to be awake early in the morning. Thursday, August 30th. Today me and my brother woke up at 6:50am to make breakfast and get ready for the boating trip. At around 8:00am, we all walked from the village to the Vah river where we inflated raft boats. The next two hours, me and my brother were in the "Baraka" or head boat, finding the easiest path for the other boats with six people. Later on, we stopped and all went back on land. There, we learned how to rescue people in a capsized boat and be rescued. Of course, they made me be rescued. In all my clothes, I went in the water with my brother getting pulled down the small rapids until someone through a rope to pull me in. It was actually a really cool experience as I also got to learn how to save people. The next 5 hours were spent switching boats going down the river, with many water fights in between. Most of the scouts targeted me in general cause they knew I don't like water, and they all called me "America." My clothes never got to dry, but I was having too much fun to really be cold. At around 4pm, we reached our final destination where we said our goodbyes. A big truck dropped us all off back in Trencin. It was quite an exhausting day! Friday and Saturday - August 31/September 1. Friday was a very relaxing day. I went with my host brother to meet his best friend Emma, where we went into town to get Slovak pizza. It was the second time I had it, and once again, I got ham and corn. In Slovak, almost every single type of pizza has ham on it. Theres no such thing as just a "cheese" pizza. After this, I went to go get my city bus pass and a new house key, and then went with my brother to an abandoned bridge with a direct view of the castle. After, we went to the town hotel to see the Roman Inscription in the mountain, from when Roman soldiers occupied the city 2000 years ago! I peeled apples with my host mom for about 4 hours and picked grapes from the backyard! At night, we went to our neighbors house who had a grape press, and they made us fresh grape juice with the grapes! Saturday, I peeled apples with my host mom for another few hours and chilled around the house. At night, my brother and I took a bus to my fathers work in another village. He designs metal parts for car companies and I got to see all the machines and how he does his work. It was quite cool but really gave me a headache. At night we had a special Greek fish, which was actually really good. It was the first time I've ever eaten a fish having to take the entire thing apart on my own. Sunday, September 2. Today is sadly the last day of summer. I'm really excited for school, but I will miss being to wake up whenever I want and going on random adventures. In the morning, my brother and I went to the town castle. It was so beautiful there, I absolutely love my city! We visited every room from the torture center, to the hunters house. In the very end, we went all the way up to the castle tower with a view all over the city. My brother brought my American flag, and we hung it over the top of the tower where there's also a flag of the former king. We called my host mom from our village and told her to go on the street and look at the castle. Even though it was far, she was still able to see our American flag hanging! We left the castle when it started raining and went into town again to get my favorite sandwich. At night we went to my host moms best friend's house for a dinner. It was there I realized how much I love tarter sauce. It's quite common in Slovakia and I love it so much. It was storming insanely loud at night and I stayed up much later than I should have for school at 7:00, but again, I was too excited to be tired!
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AuthorNick Bilotti Archives
March 2019
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