Well, I survived the week and can’t believe I’ve already been Two Weeks in Slovakia! It’s much better, as I started (Berlitz) training on Monday and was occupied with that (don’t mention the war) from Mon – Fri basically 9-6 every day. That helped a lot!
Received two letters from Helen. I miss her and everyone, especially when she mentions Mexican food and wine at the beach 🏖. What the life! Got a nice family fax and a phone 📞 call from Luise. She offered me to stay at her house any time in May and June, as Fritz will be in training in Prague during that time-just before they go to China again! I think I’ll take her up in June and do a side visit to the Mańaks (my Czech cousins) from there. Luise said mom and dad could stay too.
Training was good-all encompassing and all inclusive. Being the lone trainee, Damon was my teacher. He gave me lots of practice (I taught two sample English lessons with staff) and great examples to use. I really think I’ll enjoy it a lot. It’s the best of the best in teaching…what I thought teaching would be like. A teacher’s dream. (My teaching dream anyway-attentive students who want to learn!) Just need to follow the strictly protected Berlitz method; ask lots of questions; and maintain a minimum 50% student speaking time. Units are 40 minutes each, with a five minute break. The groups, duos, or individuals usually take 2 or 3 units at a time.
My First Student
My first real student is Mr. Manasek at 8:00 Monday. It goes until 9:30 and then I’m free until 15:00. Rough job, huh? This week, I visited Tesco and DARGO on a daily basis. Tesco is always packed.
House of Art – Romeo and Juliet
Thursday night I went to an excellent concert at the Dom (House of Art). Romeo and Juliet, conducted by Kirk Trevor from USA. And then the excellent Gershwin Porgy and Bess sung by soprano and tenor black afro-Americans from Tennessee. Very good! The small theater was all wood, light-colored wood with artificial green plants 🪴 as trim. Burgundy carpet and upholstery- very quaint and intimate. My seat was third row from the front, no one sat ahead of me. It cost 80 SK (about $2.20).
The rest of the Dom was simple and reminded me of the ZCBJ Club (in Michigan). Decorated with streamers. Everyone seemed so pleasant and friendly. Even so, I didn’t talk to anyone. The usher showed me how and where to enter, go, and check my coat, when she realized I didn’t speak Slovak. I heard one other American (Asian-Am) conversing with her Slovak friends in English. Nothing else to report in school this week. I’ve met all the other teachers by now.
Here at the Info Center I logged onto HotMail for 60 SK an hour (about $1.75). I emailed boyfriend and finally got a mail from him, that he sent on 15 February. I mailed Allison back, and got some friendly mail from Jan and Jim LaGrone, Jayme…
Gypsies in the Church
I’ve found (maybe since it’s during Lent) that you can pretty much catch a service here any time of any day, at any given church. I was in one at St. Elizabeth’s one afternoon, and the darned gypsy kids were working the back of the church! Can you believe it? And yes, people were giving them money.
Today as a sign of spring and thawing, there was a boy playing violin 🎻 on the Hlvana U. People were tossing money. After two weeks in Slovakia, another sign of spring…birds were singing outside my windows. The sun shine today all day. This week was partly sunny (good enough for my spirits) and only switched briefly to snow ⛄️ for a short time twice. Walking to school (Berlitz) the workmen shoveling snow had work bottles of Slivoviće buried in snow ❄️.
Each morning, I pass a nice local market. As the week progressed, more and more people have their booths set up. They are all village people who grow their own vegetables-mostly roots like turnips, beets, carrots 🥕, potatoes 🥔, – and sell their own chickens 🐓 eggs (brown). They also sell pussywillows, and evergreen 🌲arrangements. Mostly babushka ladies sell the greens. And honey 🍯, yes, I think tomorrow I shall buy some fresh honey!
Saturday 27 February, 1999
This is an excerpt from my Kosice Journal, documenting my exodus from a (relatively happy) bustling life in beautiful San Diego, to (voluntarily) take a post teaching English in the newly independent eastern capital of Slovakia during a very cold winter 1999.
