A Weekend in March

I laugh when I remember that one of the reasons I began this blog was to give me something to do on the days in which I had nothing to do in this small apartment without TV and only with a few books. Most of the time I am late at posting something because we are so busy.

The Friday after meeting the ambassador (end of last post,) Gary and I got on a train to visit Oravsky Hrad. This is the castle I enjoyed back in November when Gary was in Brno, in the Czech Republic.
We rode to Kral’ovany. There we boarded a small, “doodlebug” train. The doodlebug term is ours. It is like the one in the photo, except it only had two cars. This went up the little valley in which is Oravsky Hrad. These little trains travel all over this country and are the reason a person is able to get to so many places by train. The train was full most of the ride. It was a beautiful ride, following the river at times.













When we arrived in Oravsky Podzámok, the first view of the castle gave us a clear understanding of the fact that this castle was never conquered or destroyed by outside armed forces.

When we bought our tickets, it was a steep walk up to the castle gate.










Inside the walls, you get an idea of how high this castle is. When I took the picture that is below, I was two levels (or stories) below the first set of windows that you see. Counting those two levels, I count at least twelve levels up to the highest. The higher four levels were closed. Two will be opened later in the year. And the very highest levels are never open to the public because of “static,” which I understood was probably the danger of lightning.


















We took so many pictures that I cannot even begin to show you. However, I like this picture because you can see the size of the walls and windows, as well as the swords they used. The sword on the far right weighs 7.5 kilograms (about 15 pounds.)





The shield shown is ten kilograms or about 22.5 pounds.

This was a castle complete with a picturesque tower and chairs that looked like they were made for the Knights of the Round Table.














Have to relate an incident of God specifically providing for a need:
Jeannine began the day with a meeting with a first grade teacher about what to teach the following Monday. The subject matter is animals from the forests or in the wild. What does Jeannine know about the animals that live in the wild in Slovakia? I thought about visiting the nature museum in Martin, across from the post office, but that is closed for “re-construction.”

Well, one of the places we visited in the castle was a museum. And in the museum were examples of different animals living in Slovakia, such as the roe and stork, pictured below.





GOD IS SO GOOD!












In the tour, the stairs were many and the views spectacular.


In the background, behind the flag, is the highway, filled with trucks, in stop and go traffic. This leads us to the Jenks’ Adventure for this trip. In the morning when we approached Oravsky Podzámok, we had seen that the highway was bumper-to-bumper with large vehicles. They appeared to be stopped.

Six hours later, when we are riding a bus to Kral’ovany, we find ourselves on narrow roads, riding through small villages. At first this was not surprising, because that’s where the buses travel. However, we began notice the heavy traffic on these narrow roads. This is not normal.

Apparently, road-work or a very bad accident has moved most of the traffic, (except the large trucks) off of the highway. There was much stopping and waiting our turn on the narrow road. This led to us getting to Kral’ovany an hour and a half late. We not only missed the train we had expected to take, but we had missed the last bus to Martin.

So we waited almost two hours for the next train to Martin. Kral’ovany is a very small town, with homes of people who live there and the train station. Nothing to do. So we ate our sandwiches, Jeannine knitted and Gary toured Kral’ovany.

We did get home about 7:20, but without enough energy to make it to the Bible study.

In telling of our Adventure, I skipped over our wonderful mid-day meal that we had in a little restaurant at the beginning of the walk up to the castle. Gary had pork with gravy and dumplings. Jeannine had pastries filled with sheep cheese. These were served on traditional Slovak dishes.



Speaking of Slovak dinners, Saturday, Janka, a Slovak teacher of English who lives in the Gymnasium, invited us to dinner in her flat. She, her visiting sister and Emily had been cooking all day. It was delicious.

Sunday after church, we hosted a potluck dinner for our Bible study. We had it in the Gymnasium café. Two Scandinavians, four Slovaks and the five Americans were there. We made the taco soup, Brenda made the cornbread, and others brought their “pots.” It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

That was all in one weekend.

Special People

One day, Katka comes to our apartment with a beautiful young woman whom she introduces as Andrea Hybevoa. Yes this is the young woman who is coming (as if I’m there already) to the Central Coast of CA and be a part of St. John’s in Arroyo Grande and Bethel in Santa Maria this summer. It turns out that she was in one of the classes that Gary taught in Žilina before Christmas.


Andrea wanted us to tell her about the churches, first. We described them both as very loving and friendly brothers and sisters in Christ. We told her about some of the activities of the churches (mostly about St John’s because we know its activities best.) Then she wanted to know a little about the area. We also told her not to expect extremely hot weather and to bring a light wrap. And we showed her some of the photos we had on our computer. It was a delightful afternoon speaking with this delightful young lady.


On Sunday, Michal took Katka’s grandmother and us toward their cabin, east of Martin. Before we got there, we stopped to buy some sheep cheese. It is a touristy place because people (who come to the Tatras to ski) know this is a good place to buy cheese. You can see Gary and I next to one of the witches there. (No, I do not know why they had several witches.)

The last real snow storm was in January, but they had a large pile of what used to be snow, but looked more like ice. Yes there was a wooden witch guarding it. We stood in line for about 25 minutes before we could buy the cheese we wanted. They gave each person special service so we were not unhappy with the wait. Then we drove




We drove through the town in which Michal grew up, as well as the one in which Katka’s mother lives.






Then we were in the country again, where their cabin is. It is quite a large cabin that has places for many people to sleep. As you can see, they have beautiful views from their windows. This one looks towards the creek, but you have to walk partially downhill before you see the creek.




















We went on a walk, up the road from the canyon. We could see the Tatras with snow on them. It was not a good day for pictures in the distance, because the sky was a very light blue, almost grey. But we did get our pictures of the Tatras in winter.

Fridays are sometimes lazy days for us because we have no commitments. Emily knocked on our door in mid-morning to tell us that the United States Ambassador would be here this afternoon. He was coming to see the Center for Christian Education because he had heard so much about their English program in the elementary school.

So we were there to see him. All five Americans were there, as well as twenty-five to thirty students (who had stayed after school on a Friday afternoon to greet him.) Being the diplomat that he is, Ambassador Theodore Sedgwick went over and began speaking with the students. The younger ones had pictures that they had drawn (and framed) for him. Then the older students sang a song (in English, of course).




After that, he met the Americans and asked how we like teaching English over here. It seems that the Slovak government has made a law that all students would begin having English classes by third grade (CCE’s elementary school starts students in the first year). To help Slovakia with this, the Ambassador is wondering about a program in the States in which people could be encouraged to come to Slovakia to teach English.

We definitely stated that this was an unforgettable experience. We also stated that it was not only for young teachers, but also for retired people (four of the five Americans here now, are retired.) Yet Bohdan Hroboň told the Ambassador that this works here because we are here for the Lord’s work, not for the salaries.

Then it was over before we knew it and he was out the door.



I thought this was a good candid shot taken after the Ambassador had left. You can see Gary, Mihal, Jozef, Bohdan and Emily, holding her birthday flowers. (Yes, the Ambassador came to sing Happy Birthday for her.)

A Week of Adventures

This week has been filled with many experiences. The first Saturday in March we had the Michal and Katka Valčo, plus Marek and Magdalena over for dinner. Because our flat only has a small table, we ate in the little café that is on the ground floor of the gymnasium (dormitory.) Katka had taught for seven and a half hours that day and the children were tired because they had spent the day at their cabin. So it was not a late night, but very enjoyable.







Later in the week, Michal took his children, his grandmother, Gary and I to see the new house they are building. It is in a little village south of Martin. The Valčo’s house is on the left and the Bodon Hrobon’s house is on the left. The Kacian family has begun their house also in the area.












Later that week, Jeannine got script for the first time (as part of her benefits for teaching.) There are 15 coupons that are valued at three Euros apiece (about $4.20). For that, at lunch time, you get a large bowl of soup and a complete dinner: protein, vegetables and potatoes or pasta. That day we went out to have lunch.




We met Maria from the school office and invited her to eat with us. The bowl of soup was full and delicious; the chicken, rice and fresh veggies were very good.





We have been trying to find a source for a clock mechanism for a clock we had bought in Toledo, Spain. It is a beautiful twenty four hour clock, but has not been working for years. We had brought the mechanism with us this time to find someone who could order a replacement. Gary found a clock/watch shop, but was told that the company went out of business the year we had bought it (1996). But the man took a look at it and said he could fix it. We got it fixed for about 4.50 Euros. I had also lost the stem of my Timex™ watch. That was fixed at the same place for about $2.25. Here is the good man at his shop.



Sunday was the first day of a Family Service for the Evanjelička Church here in Martin. It is family-friendly, and was held in Bible School Building instead of the Church building. We had guitar/drum-led songs with the words on the screen. A youth choir led us.


There was an animated lesson shown on the screen, child-friendly. Pastor Milan had a short message and there was a spot for the young children to play on the floor.






Later that week, Gary and I did some exploring and found the University Medical School and some residences for students. We found the oldest building which was built in 1925 in which to care for the ill and train the caregivers. But there are some modern buildings, also.








We also found the Slovak National Library. The Trelsteds and Jeannine had seen in 2004. Every book that is published in Slovakia has seven copies here at the National Library. This is much like the Library of Congress in the United States.


















Gary has been working with Pastor Milan on his English, once a week. On this week Milan invited both Gary and I to have coffee with him and his wife Zuzana. They showed us a new place to have coffee and we had a very good time conversing.

The next day Gary went back to the Medical School, this time with Zuzana K. Zuzana teaches English and Slovak to the medical students. The two of them put announcements for the first AA Meeting here in Martin as well as announcements that The Evanjelička Church has its services translated to English. Gary learned some more about the buildings from Zuzana.

Then we had Zuzana over for dinner that night. She has a very deep faith in Our Lord and is now engaged to a man with a very deep faith. It is such a blessing to be able to share our faith with her. Zuzana comes to our Friday night Bible Study when her time allows.

















Then on Saturday, we decided to spend the day at Stary Hrad, which is an old castle between Martin and Žilina. Before the train came, we decided to see what is in the Literary Museum which is very close to the Bible School. We were amazed at all the exhibits we saw. We only saw the majority of one level in the hour before our train came.


When we arrived in Stečna, we began our walk to Stary Hrad. Oh the Slovakians and their love of color:
We passed this fence and log splitter. Nothing commercial, just something useful. Did I say they like color?












We had been told it is an easier climb to get to Stary than get to Štečno Hrad. We passed the place we had disenbarked from the raft in 2009 and Strečno Harad.
And we passed by the castle in Štečno and marched on to the old castle (Stary Hrad).
















We walked and walked; asked if we were on the correct road. Then we walked and walked. We passed three or four newly built houses. We kept looking ahead. We still could not see it.




We saw the bridges where the trains cross the Vah River and decided we would see if we could catch up with the couple in front of us. They looked as if they knew where they were going. When we crossed under the bridges, we did not see the castle. But the couple told us it was just ahead. So we kept walking; we went around the corner and there it was.

We were told, "It’s only a kilometer more." So we discover that only one kilometer is the same as “it’s only a twenty minute walk.” I did not have my pedometer with me, but I know it was more than a kilometer. In fact, we got to a point that we could not see it anymore.


WELL, WE WERE GOING TO GET THERE. We had already missed the train we had planned to come back on. We reached a very steep hill on one side of us and a creek on the other side.



We could not see the castle. Gary sat down on a rock and had a sandwich half, while I kept walking. I finally made out what I thought might be the castle, but we would not be able to climb that steep hill. So we kept walking on the path. We finally did come to a sign that pointed the way to the castle. At this point we walked up the crest of the hill to the castle.



WE MADE IT!