This time of year brings many traditions and is the start to the holiday season in the United States. One of those traditions is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not traditionally celebrated in Slovakia. However, this did not stop there being various Thanksgiving celebrations around Slovakia. The school I work ar had a special Thanksgiving worship service. There is usually one church service for the whole gymnasium once a month, and November's theme was Thanksgiving. I helped one class learn two songs for the service, "Lord, I lift your Name on High" and another song I can't remember the name of now. They did a good job with the songs and motions. The service was held on Tuesday and was the kick off to Thanksgiving festivities around Mikulas anyways.
It was decided that the English department would have a Thanksgiving dinner, so myself and the other two volunteers were incharge of this. Our Vice Principle knew where to get a turkey and assisted Carol with the baking of the 30lbs. bird. I was in charge of mashed potatoes and ended up making 3kg. (6lbs.) of mashed potatoes and put together a relish tray. Jenny was in charge of the squash and corn. The Slovak teachers all brought food as well. They brought food such as bacon flavored chips, brownies, various cakes, cheese and ham rolled sandwiches, wine and soft drinks. We ended up having 15 people or so at my apartment for the dinner. We had a lot of fun, but Jenny's and my fridge became stuffed with leftovers...which still have to be eaten.
We cleaned up the apartment Friday night, packed and got some sleep for the early train to Bratislava. We had tickets for the 7:22 train, which actually left at about 7:20 so it was a good thing we were there in time. We had our second Thanksgiving dinner at 1pm in Bratislava and our train was to get us there in plenty of time to prepare our food and get ready for the dinner. I made a fruit salad with vanilla pudding for this dinner, it turned out well if I don't say so myself. The train arrived basically on time, around 10:30. Preparations were in full swing when we arrived. There were four or five turkies for the dinner. There ended up being 32 people at this dinner, volunteer teachers, ELCA personell, YAGMs (Young Adults in Global Mission) and some volunteers from Germany. We all had a fun time and ate too much.
After eating and cleaning up some there was a skit about the Macy's parade that takes place in NYC each year. The skit was very entertaining. We also played the "IT" game. It is a really fun game that is pretty easy to play. People are told ahead of time if they want to play they are to bring three wrapped gifts for the game. Everyone puts their gifts on the table and people sit around the gifts. Dice are needed for the game it is best to have multiple pairs, especially if there is a large group. The dice are dispersed in pairs throughout the group. Each person is to roll the dice and pass them to the right. If the person gets a pair they can take a gift. This continues until all the gifts are claimed. Then everyone opens the gifts they have and go around telling the group what they have. This is so people can know what the options are for stealing. The dice are to be rolled and passed again, but this time if a person rolls a pair they can "steal" a gift from another person. The "IT" is also put ino the mix, but is not revealed what "IT" is. In order for a person to claim it they must roll two 6s. This round happens for three minutes. At the end people can keep whatever they still have. I ended up with a vanilla sented candle, a make your own pom pom pets craft set and a 2009 calendar with a different flower for each month.
After the game we finished any dishes that were left, moved the food to the various fridges and got ready to go to the Christmas Market. There was a large group that went so we set a time and place to meet and went on our way through the market. Of course before we did that we all got a glass of punč, it's a warm wine drink. There were a number of booths selling various items. There were some trees decorated with lights too.
There has been a large amount of work going on in Slovakia preparring for the Christmas season. This past week decorations were put on the light poles outside my apartment building. The schools have also been getting in the spirit too. The gymnasium has a Christmas tree already up near the entrance. The canteen in the basic school has garland and lights up too. It seems Slovakia is getting ready for Advent and Christmas. The snow has come for the season too.
It was decided that the English department would have a Thanksgiving dinner, so myself and the other two volunteers were incharge of this. Our Vice Principle knew where to get a turkey and assisted Carol with the baking of the 30lbs. bird. I was in charge of mashed potatoes and ended up making 3kg. (6lbs.) of mashed potatoes and put together a relish tray. Jenny was in charge of the squash and corn. The Slovak teachers all brought food as well. They brought food such as bacon flavored chips, brownies, various cakes, cheese and ham rolled sandwiches, wine and soft drinks. We ended up having 15 people or so at my apartment for the dinner. We had a lot of fun, but Jenny's and my fridge became stuffed with leftovers...which still have to be eaten.
We cleaned up the apartment Friday night, packed and got some sleep for the early train to Bratislava. We had tickets for the 7:22 train, which actually left at about 7:20 so it was a good thing we were there in time. We had our second Thanksgiving dinner at 1pm in Bratislava and our train was to get us there in plenty of time to prepare our food and get ready for the dinner. I made a fruit salad with vanilla pudding for this dinner, it turned out well if I don't say so myself. The train arrived basically on time, around 10:30. Preparations were in full swing when we arrived. There were four or five turkies for the dinner. There ended up being 32 people at this dinner, volunteer teachers, ELCA personell, YAGMs (Young Adults in Global Mission) and some volunteers from Germany. We all had a fun time and ate too much.
After eating and cleaning up some there was a skit about the Macy's parade that takes place in NYC each year. The skit was very entertaining. We also played the "IT" game. It is a really fun game that is pretty easy to play. People are told ahead of time if they want to play they are to bring three wrapped gifts for the game. Everyone puts their gifts on the table and people sit around the gifts. Dice are needed for the game it is best to have multiple pairs, especially if there is a large group. The dice are dispersed in pairs throughout the group. Each person is to roll the dice and pass them to the right. If the person gets a pair they can take a gift. This continues until all the gifts are claimed. Then everyone opens the gifts they have and go around telling the group what they have. This is so people can know what the options are for stealing. The dice are to be rolled and passed again, but this time if a person rolls a pair they can "steal" a gift from another person. The "IT" is also put ino the mix, but is not revealed what "IT" is. In order for a person to claim it they must roll two 6s. This round happens for three minutes. At the end people can keep whatever they still have. I ended up with a vanilla sented candle, a make your own pom pom pets craft set and a 2009 calendar with a different flower for each month.
After the game we finished any dishes that were left, moved the food to the various fridges and got ready to go to the Christmas Market. There was a large group that went so we set a time and place to meet and went on our way through the market. Of course before we did that we all got a glass of punč, it's a warm wine drink. There were a number of booths selling various items. There were some trees decorated with lights too.
There has been a large amount of work going on in Slovakia preparring for the Christmas season. This past week decorations were put on the light poles outside my apartment building. The schools have also been getting in the spirit too. The gymnasium has a Christmas tree already up near the entrance. The canteen in the basic school has garland and lights up too. It seems Slovakia is getting ready for Advent and Christmas. The snow has come for the season too.
Mikuláš with the first real snow.
The Mikuláš Thanksgiving dinner 
Bratislava Thanksgiving
Bratislava (Blava) Christmas Market
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