Church Closed

Freedom

Slovakia recently celebrated 20yrs of freedom from the Communist regime. It was a low-key, but memorable event. On one of the big squares in the center was a huge heart made from barbed wire and a candlelight vigil was held there. A lot has changed in 20years. I first visited Slovakia about 14yrs ago and have been living here almost 10. The rapid change is like compressing the last 50-60 years of America's economic, social, and political life into 20years here. It's amazing how far he country has gone in so short of a time... but there is still much room for growth. Here are some pics:

off roading in Orava

Orava: land of beautiful mountains, haunted castles, bears, and artery-clogging-good Slovak food, and the birthplace of Ivetka. We took a drive to the Orava Castle area and then a detour through some remote countryside, expansive alpine fields with sheep grazing, dark forests, and lost villages. It's a great place to explore....

CzechOut

slovakia.travel

Check out this great website about all things Slovak.

LAPHIL

LA has the most funky, amazingly cool, architecturally outstanding philharmonics center. It was so fun to just walk around this thing and take shots. So - Shawn, my sole photo fan, feel free to upload some of these...

Wild Animals

On the way up from SD we meet my parents at the SD Wild Animal Park. If you haven't been there, you gotta go some time. It's like being on Safari with a safety net.... you are close to the animals, they are loose, but they can't get you... at least in theory.

La Jolla

Spending the day in La Jolla is like getting a faint glimpse of heaven (and I mean the beaches.. the shops are more like hell for me). I would for sure question my calling to icy Bratislava if offered a job in La Jolla (any job... was that paper or plastic?)Fortunately God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bare...hence no job offers... Anyways, a day is well spent there if you have the chance. Enjoy the pics, try not to drool on your computer.

Show me the money

Well, Happy New Year! if you haven't heard yet, Slovakia just adopted the Euro currency over last night. Below is a brief BBC overview...

BBC Report:
Slovakia has become the 16th member of the eurozone - the second former communist country to join the grouping.

Up to 100,000 people gathered in the capital Bratislava's main square for a midnight ceremony with fireworks.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was one of the first to withdraw the new currency, taking 100 euros from a cash machine in the parliament building.

The Slovak koruna (crown) will remain in circulation alongside the euro until 16 January.

Cash machines were meant to be issuing euros from Thursday, while some banks planned to open, despite the New Year's Day holiday, to swap korunas for euros.

But the new currency was taking a while to filter through.

"None of my clients has paid with euros yet, everybody's using korunas," Marek, a 30-year-old taxi driver in Bratislava, told the AFP news agency.

At Bratislava's railway station, Richard Nedo, a 20-year-old waiter at an internet cafe, said: "Since we opened at 6am, we have had 10 customers but only three of them - foreign tourists - paid with euros. Slovaks are still using korunas."

Stability hopes

Slovakia sees its adoption of the euro as a shield from the turbulence that has hit currencies in neighbouring ex-Soviet bloc countries.

The koruna has been pegged at a rate of 30.126 to the euro since July, while Poland's zloty has lost 24% against the euro, the Czech koruna 11% and the Hungarian forint 13%, Bloomberg news reports.
A recent poll in Slovakia's Hospodarske Noviny daily showed 58% of respondents in favour of the euro, compared with 43% positive a year ago.

Euro "starter packs" have already been distributed in Slovakia and a big campaign has been under way to familiarise the nation of 5.4 million with the new currency.

Slovakia has enjoyed rapid economic growth since joining the European Union in 2004.

But the euro's strength may make life harder for Slovakia's exporters - particularly its big car industry - in the current economic downturn, correspondents say.
Slovakia's cabinet is counting on 4.6% economic growth, down from a peak of 10.4% in 2007, Reuters reports.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7806430.stm

Published: 2009/01/01 11:28:28 GMT

Dedina

Sometimes I forget my roots. Coming back home after living the busy and bustling life in big, bad Bratislava was a bit of a pleasant shock. For starters I realize that I come from cowboy country. In about 5 minutes in most directions I can find fields, sheep, orchards, or horses. Essentially I come from the village, but never realized it. The other day I told Gabie I was going to “the city” to do some shopping. Gabe quickly replied - “what city?”

I guess there is more to a true city then shopping centers, Wall-mart and strip malls. Yet, like I said all of this was a pleasant shock. It’s nice to be in cowboy country for a change.

global warming?

I know some people, like my Brit coworkers, who enjoy talking about the weather. For me it always seemed to be the thing you bring up to brush over uncomfortable silence in a conversation with strangers. If you are reading this, probably you are not a stranger and for once I am excited to report to you my metrological findings.

If you have been following along with us in our adventures you know that we are not in freezing Slovakia at the moment, but is sunny, southern California right now spending the holidays with family and friends here. Unfortunately, California has not been sunny or warm since we arrived. It's actually been cold, raining, freezing, dark, and even snowy! This is for sure not the California I was dreaming about in overcast Bratislava! What do we blame this on - global warming turned bad, El Nino, the Artic Norse gods having a temper tantrum?

Yet, despite the fact we have be living the popsicle life here it is still nice. Home is home. And every time I visit I see with new eyes the beauty of God's Creation here. It's very different than the CE zone I'm come accustomed to, but it is awesome is a rugged, raw kind of way.

Here are some pics of our snow adventures. Although it would be great to go surfing, possibly snowboarding would be a better choice.

Birdz-i

Last Friday I took my older students at FOREL on a field trip to downtown Bratislava. Our main goal was to visit the Slovak National Bank (NBS) With the world-wide economic crisis and Slovakia's conversion to the Euro in January it seemed like a pretty relevant time to make a visit. The problem with education sometimes it that it can just fill your head with info. And although modern pedagogical methodologies are great, they simply can't replace 100% our natural, firmly established paths of learning - primarily experience. Take language for example. When we learned English (or Slovak...) as a child our parents didn't had us a text book and expect us to be fluent in a few months. No, we had repeated experiences which made sounds and gestures meaningful to us. I believe that other areas of study can follow suit. Basically, get the info, then experience it in real life so that it has impacting meaning. Hence, we visit the NBS. Economy in the round.

The NBS was pretty cool. A public relations officer gave a good and highly informative presentation of the upcoming Euro conversion. Then the students were able to explore a few interactive exhibits on the Euro, the development of currencies, and the history of currencies in Slovakia.

Fortunately, I have a friend at the NBS. Sometimes Slovakia works on the very practical principle - "It's not what you know, but who you know." So, we got the VIP tour to the top of the NBS tower, which is the highest building in Slovakia. Although the weather was very foggy and cold, the view was still great. Here are some birds eye photos.