First I'll talk about the Halloween parties. My 1s are currently in a unit about US Realia; Fall Sports/Halloween. What better way to talk about Halloween then have a party, right? My students had a lot of fun and so did I. I made black cats, bats and ghosts to be hung around the room and pumpkin cut-outs for my students to decorate. Some of the class took over putting the decorations up while others were playing bat trivia. I cut out bats and put trivia questions as well as Halloween jokes on them. We also read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and played the mummy game. If you're not familiar with the mummy game I'll explain. I brought 4 large rolls of toilet paper and had the students break up into teams. They were to choose one team member and see how fast they could turn their teammate into a mummy. That was a favorite. What would a Halloween party be without candy? I found a nice supply of candy over the weekend and brought it to class. The students were excited and shocked that they each got a handful of candy, after saying "Trick-or-treat".
The first day of November brings a special tradition to Slovakia. On October 31 (maybe starting on the 30th?) families travel to the cemetery where relatives are buried. They help to clean up the cemetery and decorate the graves. The graves are covered with flowers, real and fake, and candles. I was able to visit two different cemeteries after this happened, one in Tisovec and one in Mikulas. They were both beautiful sites. In Tisovec I went with the volunteer teachers there. We went Halloween evening, around 9:30. It was very dark out, but the glow of the candles and the various flowers were moving and a site to behold. It felt very special to be able to experience this way of remembering those who have past.
For students this weekend brought Fall Break. The break technically started Thursday, but I didn't teach Wednesday. Students had classes periods 1-3 and then a church service, which I attended. After the service they were free to start their break. One of the teachers from Mikulas, Carol, made plans to meet some people in Venice for the weekend. Jenny and I made plans with the teachers from Tisovec. The Tisovec group had been at a teacher retreat and so came to Mikulas after their retreat. They came to town Thursday afternoon and we showed them around and went out to dinner. Friday was an early day. We wanted to go on a hike, but were also planning to go to Tisovec that day too, so needed to be ready to catch the bus at 16:10 (4:10pm). So, we all woke up around 5:30am to catch a bus at 6:20. We were all a little groggy, but got ready and made it to the bus station, which is thankfully not far away.
At the bus station we ended up splitting into two groups, one doing a long hike and one doing about half the length of the long hike. Carsten, from Tisovec, and I ended up being the only ones wanting to do the longer hike. We started in the Prosiek Valley and hiked up the valley and made our way to the Kvacany Valley. Depending on the way people go the hike takes 4-6 hours. We ended up finishing in 4-4 1/2 hours. Once we started hiking though I realized I forgot my camera. We decided once the weather gets nice again we'll do the hike again and make sure we have a camera. During the hike there is walking on dirt paths, across rocks holding on a chain as you walk along a river, climbing ladders up cliffs and we went through a field and town. The Prosiek half of the hike was very breezy. We met up with the rest of the group when we came up from a spot we stopped at to snack. We ended up getting done earlier than planned, and so had to wait an hour or so for a bus. We had plenty of time to get ready for the bus to Tisovec though.
The trip to Tisovec was a success. We made it to the bus from Mikulas on time and could get on the transfer bus right away. We got into Tisovec around 6pm and it was already dark. Rachel, Becky and Carsten took me to where they live and pointed out things along the way; Jenny decided she would stay in Mikulas and travel to Tisovec another weekend. We split up for dinner, but made plans to meet up later which is when we went to the cemetery. The next day we were going to take a hike, but Rachel and Becky decided they needed to work on things, so Carsten took me on a hike where I could see all of Tisovec. It was really pretty, we were planning on going further but turned back when it started to rain. We thought that rain and walking on rocks didn't mix to well.
The weekend was full of activities, and was a great weekend. It was a chance to learn more about Slovakia, see a part of Slovakia I had only briefly seen before and catch-up with fellow volunteers and see what their lives and school are like.
Jenny, Rachel, Becky and Carsten having fun at Olympia Sport Bar.http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=174403&l=3a696&id=682430592
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=174430&l=8d8f7&id=682430592
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