Saturday, January 23, 2010

A recap of the holidays, happy 2010!

Hi everyone. Is it really mid January already?!? My how time can pass quickly. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

I enjoyed my Christmas and New Years a lot. I was fortunate enough to be in Denmark again this year. Christmas break started in Slovakia after school on December 22, so I got to Denmark on December 23; just in time for the festivities to begin. The family I was with was so friendly and wonderful again this year. We enjoyed ourselves a lot.

This year I was able to see some areas of Denmark I didn't see last year. I spent a day in Odensee and went to the Hans Christian Andersen museum. I learned somethings about H.C. Andersen I didn't know. Did you know that he also wrote novels and plays? I did not know that about him. I also got to see
Copenhagen this year, last year all I saw was the train station and airport. It was nice to see the city, even if it was only for a few hours. I was able to meet up with a good friend of mine who is from Denmark, we met while I was in Germany in 2005-2006. It was nice to be able to visit with her some.

New Year's Eve this year was spent in
Aarhus. The fireworks were not as scary this year as they were last year. It didn't seem like there were as many, which might have had something to do with that. Oh, there was snow this year too! I was told that this was the first time in about 10 years that there has been snow for Christmas.

School started again on January 11. It was a time for final projects and tests. The semester officially ends at the end of January and the next semester starts in February, but grades were due the 21st, at least at my school. Some classes might be taking it easy for a class or two while others just keep chugging along.

Oh, I have had the chance to try out the Slovak medical system this year. I had some problems with my right ear from the flight back from Denmark, it would not pop. After close to a week of no luck popping my ear I went to see a doctor and a fellow Slovak teacher came with to translate. The doctor popped my ear and we all thought that was the end of the problem. I was given a prescription for some drops and was told to come back if I still had problems after 4 days. I gave the doctor my insurance card and so all I had to pay was 17 cents for my drops. Well, my ear was still hurting, so I went back to the doctor and found out there was a small problem of inflammation. I was given three prescriptions this time and paid a little under 6 euros for the medicine. I have to say, it was nice not having to fill out any paperwork and only paying a small amount for medicine. Slovakia has a government run/supported system and I would say it worked well for me.

Here are some pictures from my year so far, various trips including Christmas and New Years.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=324612&id=682430592&l=eeef317ca6