I am almost done with my first week here. My students range from 10 to 18, and as an icebreaker I asked them what they knew about America. The ten year old's just laughed so I didn't even get them to answer me. Many of my other students said that we hate Russians, we eat too much fast food, we are loud, we all have guns and shoot people, that Donald Trump is an idiot, and that all of our houses are made of wood so no wonder Hurricane Harvey ruined them all. I wasn't expecting to be flattered by their views of America, but I didn't expect to be so sobered by the blunt and consistent opinions that they have. Everything they said tended to be negative, and it makes me think that we might need to take a look at ourselves and our priorities and reevaluate the ways that we want to be seen by the global public.
Many people want to know what I think about Slovakia. Honestly, I am just amazed at how different it is from the United States. Everyone has their washing machines either in their kitchen or their bathroom. All of the buildings are hundreds of years old, and made of heavy, sturdy brick, and most of them are COVERED in graffiti. The roads are narrow because the cars are very small compared to ours. The cars that we would make fun of for size in the States, are standard here. There are no trucks whatsoever, even in industry, and the cars often park over the sidewalks because there is no where to park in the street. I don't know where I am supposed to walk when I go down a street like this. Everyone said that the meals would be smaller, but that is not my experience at all. I have yet to be able to finish a meal in a restaurant here, the food is so rich and heavy. It's a very meat and potatoes culture.
The way that the stores are set up is very interesting. They have huge, long isles just for yogurt, and very odd cuts of meat. They don't eat very much beef, and rely mostly on pork, chicken, and other meats that I don't have the heart to ask the identity of. The cheeses are all confusing, I don't know what any of them are, but all of the ones that I've tried are very sharp. So I haven't been eating much of it. There is a lot of dried sausage here, it tastes kind of like pepperoni, It's not my favorite. The beer is SO CHEAP. They come in big plastic jugs and cans and are sold for pennies compared to what ours is sold for.
They have hard liquor in the grocery stores out in the open. They have a separate store for buying magazines and tobacco. They also don't have much of any health products in the stores, they get their own stores. If you want any kind of pills, vitamins, sleeping pills, anything, you have to go to the drug store. Separately, they have stores for soaps, deodorant, makeup, hair care, and things like that. And of course, clothing is it's own store, as is electronics, toys, or mechanical/car things. The rare exception to this rule are the massive Tesco Extras on the edge of the cities that have everything together. They are kind of like a mall. To me it is a fantasy land because I can actually get everything I need in one place.
The restrooms here are tiny. Often, the room with the toilet (called the toilet) is it's own room, and the room with the bath/shower, sink, vanity, etc. is next to it (called the bathroom). In public places they will be found together like in the States, and will commonly be labelled either 'toilet' or WC (Water Closet).
Many people rely on the local markets for their produce instead of grocery stores, and for good reason. Everything is always cheaper there. Saturday mornings are when I go, and are the busiest days, but I've been told they also have the best selection. I go at about 10:30 in the morning and it is VERY crowded. Each vendor has their own table and display with huge varieties of produce. Some vendors share tables and you have to hold the produce up and the vendor will extend their hand to weigh your bag and show you the price on a calculator. All I hear when I am at the market is "next Apache". I'm sure that's not how the phrase is spelled, but it basically means 'how may I help you', and anytime you walk by a vendor, regardless of whether or not you approach it, or make eye contact, they will yell it at you.
Many vendors sell the exact same produce, so you have to pay close attention to their quality and price per kilo. I tend to be fairly random with my selection. I just go to the market, see what looks yummy, think about whether or not I can eat it before it goes bad, and go from there. They also have a man in a tiny little van that opens up into an espresso stand and he puts chairs behind it right next to the doors of the old church that the market is set up in front of. Just about every other vendor sells flowers as well, and most of the plants that I've bought for my garden come from there. It is also a fantastic place to buy homemade jams and fresh honey.
Unless someone needs help, people won't come up to you on the street, and small talk doesn't really exist. Most buildings that weren't built in the past few years will not have an elevator, even if they are 20 stories tall. There is also rarely ever A/C in buildings, and I have yet to see a ceiling fan. That might be one of the reasons why everyone is so skinny here and I never see people working out, or wearing any sort of athletic clothes. Most people that live in cities live in very tall apartment complexes all over town. Some areas seem to be apartment complex neighborhoods, where there would be 10-20 complexes next to each other. The ones here are all pastel and every one has a porch with flowers on it. There aren't really any row house type neighborhoods that I've seen so far, it's all apartments unless you live in cottages in the neighboring villages.
The culture of the school is not what I expected at all. The students come in and immediately go into this room on the right to change into their school shoes so that they don't bring in dirt/mud. Then they go to class. The school has 9 periods- zero hour through 8th, and they stay with the same students the entire time. So the classmates that you're with in your first day of your first year at the school are in every single class with you until the day you graduate. Many of the grade levels have several classes within them. The only exception to this is P.E. which is done by gender. Students test into the school, and are required to understand a certain level of English to get here. I teach the Prima's their Conversational English course for one class a week, they are ten years old. 90% of the time they will only speak Slovak, and the few that do speak English seem to rule the class because they spend all of their time translating.
Each grade level and class has their own room and spend most of their classes in that room. We have two separate lunch periods and the time you go to lunch determines when your 6th period starts. Classes don't run through syllabus at all. The teacher is given a 'year plan' which is written by one of the teachers then approved by the state, and each lesson plan is based off of that. The older the students get, the more that the Year Plans are based off of the Maturita (their version of the SAT) so that they get the best scores possible. Our school always does very very well on it.
Last but not least is church. I was very confused by it. Here in Slovakia they don't call Lutherans Lutherans. They are the Evangelicals, so even finding where the church was on Google was difficult because I kept searching for a Lutheran Church. The church service itself was also very confusing. I walked in expecting to enter a Narthex or some sort of entrance room, but I was already in the sanctuary. In the middle of the isle was this really long box with a bunch of holes in it where you put your offering, and then sit down. There is no bulletin. I looked around to see if there were doors to the restroom or a kitchen or something, but I'm pretty sure the church is just a sanctuary. I went and sat on the very very old wooden pews in the back of the church and they were very tight. When someone goes to stand their stomach hits the pew in front of them, no matter how big or small they are. The top of the pew has a little angled table for your hymnal and for praying. There is a kneeler near your feet.
Everything creaks, and the pews were very narrow, so the seat itself only went out a little over a foot. The service started and nothing was in English, but I thought I could manage my way through it without knowing anything. I kept looking around for the hymnals or a bookshelf of them and then realized that you bring your own. I ended up spending most of the service having no clue what was happening and just people watching while trying to think kind thoughts about Jesus. I stood up at the right times and pretended to pray at the right times, but I did my own prayer because I'm not going to pray for something that I didn't understand. The sermon was about 45 minutes long, and their was one song after it, and a blessing, we briefly 'passed the peace' and church was over. No communion. That baffled me. Another thing that baffled me were how many people came and went during the service. They'd stand in the back, put a coin into the offering, pray, and walk out. After church people just left. There was no real social hour, people weren't congregating. Everyone just went home. Not a single person came up to me or Elizabeth, or even smiled at us or said hello. I'm not really sure what I think of that yet.
I have much more to say but I feel like I've typed a whole book out already. I am headed to Prague at the end of the week and am very excited to check another country off my list. Wish me luck!
