For the next ten or so days, i will be in Zagreb, Croatia, then Belgrade, Serbia.
I'm as stoked as THIS GUY:
Have no fear though, my pretties. La laptop will come with, and (again) i promise lots and lots of pretty pictures and amusing anecdotes!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Explicable Absences
So.
For the next ten or so days, i will be in Zagreb, Croatia, then Belgrade, Serbia.
I'm as stoked as THIS GUY:
Have no fear though, my pretties. La laptop will come with, and (again) i promise lots and lots of pretty pictures and amusing anecdotes!
For the next ten or so days, i will be in Zagreb, Croatia, then Belgrade, Serbia.
I'm as stoked as THIS GUY:
Have no fear though, my pretties. La laptop will come with, and (again) i promise lots and lots of pretty pictures and amusing anecdotes!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Bubble Extravaganza
First there was boredom. In a basement.
But then! There was Bubbletape!
Oh and there was wine. Lots of wine. In fact, i had a Never-Ending Wine Glass,
(a game i sometimes play. The only rule is that the wine glass must be refilled at every possible occasion. You can also SING "the neverending wine glass!" to the tune of The Neverending Story Themesong. Sigh.)
Here are some fancy wine-pouring tricks. Tada!
(to the tune of the batman theme song) da da da da da da da da BUBBLETAPE!"
But then! There was Bubbletape!
Oh and there was wine. Lots of wine. In fact, i had a Never-Ending Wine Glass,
(a game i sometimes play. The only rule is that the wine glass must be refilled at every possible occasion. You can also SING "the neverending wine glass!" to the tune of The Neverending Story Themesong. Sigh.)
Here are some fancy wine-pouring tricks. Tada!
(to the tune of the batman theme song) da da da da da da da da BUBBLETAPE!"
Friday, February 15, 2008
Ate a slice of wonderbread, then went back to bed.
we are having a hell of a time finding a place to live.
it is overwhelmingly frustrating.
The weather has been confusing, cold, and sucky lately. I really did not want any more winter; i was satisfied with what icy cold weather we had. Earlier, i was thinking about how, growing up in Charleston, there really was no concept of winter. It got cold, sure, you know, on occasion, but it was rarely cold enough to have to switch over to shoes from sandels. huh.
When i was planning to move to Boston during my senior year of college, i bought a Real Winter Coat. I purchased it in December. I wore it once that year, when i was traveling upstate. It was simply too heavy a coat to wear. That same coat now serves as a fall/spring coat. During actual cold weather, the actual winter coats make their appearance.
sigh.
Also, i think, due to this this reappearance of the COLD, lately i've been feeling rather lackadaisical about this whole Slovakia thing. As i wrote to La, it's just like,
all of a sudden, i looked around me and said, "ok, i am done. This
was fun, now let's go back to real life." And then i have to have a
conversation in my head where i say, "Sara, this IS real life."
and then i am like, " I KNOWWWWWW. But geez." If that makes any sense. Stupid cold weather, and stupid Peruvian Death Virus that occupied much of last week, by proxy.
Then i talked this over with my roommate yesterday. We came to the conclusion that we MUST. TRAVEL. MORE. We've been waiting and waiting for spring to come (cities always are more beautiful - and pleasant!- in the spring), but now it's time to start planning. For me, my number three are: Prague, Budapest, Berlin. Milica adds Brno and Martin (both austria) onto that list; of course we will also be going to Belgrade and Zagreb.
Speaking of which, is anyone paying attention to what is happening with Serbia and Kosovo? I think BBC news is doing a pretty good job of covering it, (for god's sake the link thing still doesn't work):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7249034.stm
interestingly enough, Slovakia is one of THREE countries in the EU that refuses to recognize Kosovo. The other two are Cyprus and Romania. Ooooh, watch out, kosovo! the triumverate of itty-bitty countries are comin' to get you!
So, to wrap it up, here are some pictures from Vlado's Vineyard Cutting Extravaganza 2008*
*= now featuring hot wine.
~vlado,srdjan, vineyards.
~other people,(off in the distance on the left hand side) taking a lunch break from cutting their vines.
To interrupt this photo montage for a second, let me explain (poorly) the situation with the vineyards in S.J. In 1948-9, the government took all of the privately owned vineyards, and "gave them to everybody." Now, it seems that most of the residents of SJ own some of the rows in the vineyards; for instance, vlado owns six rows of this particular field. And since everybody seems to own some, no one owns lots. And lots are generally needed to make wine. So, for several reasons, many of the vineyards in SJ are simply left to grow wild. It's a shame.
~seriously gorgeous sky. i mean really.
it is overwhelmingly frustrating.
The weather has been confusing, cold, and sucky lately. I really did not want any more winter; i was satisfied with what icy cold weather we had. Earlier, i was thinking about how, growing up in Charleston, there really was no concept of winter. It got cold, sure, you know, on occasion, but it was rarely cold enough to have to switch over to shoes from sandels. huh.
When i was planning to move to Boston during my senior year of college, i bought a Real Winter Coat. I purchased it in December. I wore it once that year, when i was traveling upstate. It was simply too heavy a coat to wear. That same coat now serves as a fall/spring coat. During actual cold weather, the actual winter coats make their appearance.
sigh.
Also, i think, due to this this reappearance of the COLD, lately i've been feeling rather lackadaisical about this whole Slovakia thing. As i wrote to La, it's just like,
all of a sudden, i looked around me and said, "ok, i am done. This
was fun, now let's go back to real life." And then i have to have a
conversation in my head where i say, "Sara, this IS real life."
and then i am like, " I KNOWWWWWW. But geez." If that makes any sense. Stupid cold weather, and stupid Peruvian Death Virus that occupied much of last week, by proxy.
Then i talked this over with my roommate yesterday. We came to the conclusion that we MUST. TRAVEL. MORE. We've been waiting and waiting for spring to come (cities always are more beautiful - and pleasant!- in the spring), but now it's time to start planning. For me, my number three are: Prague, Budapest, Berlin. Milica adds Brno and Martin (both austria) onto that list; of course we will also be going to Belgrade and Zagreb.
Speaking of which, is anyone paying attention to what is happening with Serbia and Kosovo? I think BBC news is doing a pretty good job of covering it, (for god's sake the link thing still doesn't work):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7249034.stm
interestingly enough, Slovakia is one of THREE countries in the EU that refuses to recognize Kosovo. The other two are Cyprus and Romania. Ooooh, watch out, kosovo! the triumverate of itty-bitty countries are comin' to get you!
So, to wrap it up, here are some pictures from Vlado's Vineyard Cutting Extravaganza 2008*
*= now featuring hot wine.
~vlado,srdjan, vineyards.
~other people,(off in the distance on the left hand side) taking a lunch break from cutting their vines.
To interrupt this photo montage for a second, let me explain (poorly) the situation with the vineyards in S.J. In 1948-9, the government took all of the privately owned vineyards, and "gave them to everybody." Now, it seems that most of the residents of SJ own some of the rows in the vineyards; for instance, vlado owns six rows of this particular field. And since everybody seems to own some, no one owns lots. And lots are generally needed to make wine. So, for several reasons, many of the vineyards in SJ are simply left to grow wild. It's a shame.
~seriously gorgeous sky. i mean really.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
last year on this day i had cupcakes.
and a great sense of malaise. Happy Valentine's Day, folks!
well, let's see. updates on the sara situation include (but are not limited to):
1. we are still being kicked out of our boarding house and continue to have no place to move to. This is after a month and a half of earnest apartment searching. Curses on our school administrator! Take care of these issues BEFORE a handful of foreigners come to your school!
we have managed to wrangle another week here at agape; HOWEVER, yesterday a group of Koreans descended on agape. There are 21 of them (count them!). they move around the halls in a loud, loud swarm, and something happened last night that resulted in the men of the group taking showers, in succession, until after 3am. Knowing our water heater and it's wee itty bitty capacity, Number 3 on out were taking COLD showers.
In addition, two kind-of-punk czech girls moved in for a month. Say "czech chick" several times fast. it's great.
2. No Zagreb fix This weekend, due to the gradual takeover of the friends by the black plague (ok, actually the flu). I really really was looking for to Zagreb, for several reasons.
a) it's a big city that i feel comfortable in, and i kind of just want to get away for a bit. There are other cities that i want to go to, very much so, but we are W.A.I.T.I.N.G. for real spring to come, when everything will be super gorgeous and flowery.
b) Zagreb means Jabuka, a dance club with total decent music and drinks, which i like more than Bratislava's Alligator and Sub Club. What all three have in common, however, is that if you plan on going to any of these, it's an all-night commitment due both to timing and public transportation.
c) Boris the Bat Cat
who is neither a bat, nor a cat, but is a boris.
and, of course, other great things like the market, and i need another Giant Enormous Fricken Huge bag of cocolino, and how i secretly like Very Long Drives/trips via train or car, provided that i can spend plenty of time listening to music and staring out of the window.
3. I have been SO OBSESSED with this mimi smartypants blog for the past week! it's NINE FREAKING YEARS of amusing anecdotes, random revelations, and word play. Ever since i discovered it, it's been kind of a disaster in terms of socialization, i come home and immediately go to my room and read. People started to wonder what was going on with me. I had to reassure them that (much like a book i can't put down), when i am through reading, i will resume normal life.
I promised pictures, didn't I?
From Trnava, Trip Two:
~Disembodied Head. but he seems so cheerful!
~Cardboard Jesus (My own cardboard jesus...someone who cares...someone who tears)
~me, kicken' it oldschool with the Pope.
well, no marathon blogging for me today, i just learned how to download mp3s (i can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes), plus i have class at 1:30.
well, let's see. updates on the sara situation include (but are not limited to):
1. we are still being kicked out of our boarding house and continue to have no place to move to. This is after a month and a half of earnest apartment searching. Curses on our school administrator! Take care of these issues BEFORE a handful of foreigners come to your school!
we have managed to wrangle another week here at agape; HOWEVER, yesterday a group of Koreans descended on agape. There are 21 of them (count them!). they move around the halls in a loud, loud swarm, and something happened last night that resulted in the men of the group taking showers, in succession, until after 3am. Knowing our water heater and it's wee itty bitty capacity, Number 3 on out were taking COLD showers.
In addition, two kind-of-punk czech girls moved in for a month. Say "czech chick" several times fast. it's great.
2. No Zagreb fix This weekend, due to the gradual takeover of the friends by the black plague (ok, actually the flu). I really really was looking for to Zagreb, for several reasons.
a) it's a big city that i feel comfortable in, and i kind of just want to get away for a bit. There are other cities that i want to go to, very much so, but we are W.A.I.T.I.N.G. for real spring to come, when everything will be super gorgeous and flowery.
b) Zagreb means Jabuka, a dance club with total decent music and drinks, which i like more than Bratislava's Alligator and Sub Club. What all three have in common, however, is that if you plan on going to any of these, it's an all-night commitment due both to timing and public transportation.
c) Boris the Bat Cat
who is neither a bat, nor a cat, but is a boris.
and, of course, other great things like the market, and i need another Giant Enormous Fricken Huge bag of cocolino, and how i secretly like Very Long Drives/trips via train or car, provided that i can spend plenty of time listening to music and staring out of the window.
3. I have been SO OBSESSED with this mimi smartypants blog for the past week! it's NINE FREAKING YEARS of amusing anecdotes, random revelations, and word play. Ever since i discovered it, it's been kind of a disaster in terms of socialization, i come home and immediately go to my room and read. People started to wonder what was going on with me. I had to reassure them that (much like a book i can't put down), when i am through reading, i will resume normal life.
I promised pictures, didn't I?
From Trnava, Trip Two:
~Disembodied Head. but he seems so cheerful!
~Cardboard Jesus (My own cardboard jesus...someone who cares...someone who tears)
~me, kicken' it oldschool with the Pope.
well, no marathon blogging for me today, i just learned how to download mp3s (i can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes), plus i have class at 1:30.
Friday, February 08, 2008
in which i go places, and do stuff.
so, last blog entry = virtually pointless. there was a picture in there, but then it didn't work out, and i was like, totally over it anyway, so.
This week is frustrating in that we had class on monday, then a scheduled class for friday (yes, with a three day break in between. Life is hard). Thursday at around 5:30, we are all informed that class for friday is canceled. This is annoying because HAD WE KNOWN we had a WHOLE WEEK off, we could have gone places (like Belgrade). And done stuff (like finally see one of those bars/crazy dance clubs that are secretly barges on the river).
However, tomorrow we shall all be out in the vineyards, helping V with his..um...vineyards so that next weekend we can all go to Zagreb. I heart Zagreb. So perhaps i will take pictures of us being all with the grapey goodness.
*******
With the weather behaving so well lately, being outside has come to a new level. Last week Martina, Olga and I hiked to Pezinok; it isn't so very far away, but as we went the Little Red Riding Hood Route (over the river and through the woods...) it was about a 10 km walk.
~SJ from the hills~
The weather was almost embarrassingly perfect, with the fluffy white clouds and sun and whatnot. We ate a lot of rosehips (šipuk...that is my assumed spelling) along the way.
(this picture is sideways, although it does a decent enough job of illustrating rosehips. but don't worry, this was not taken in front of any sort of...vertical water)
They are surprisingly delicious, although time-consumingly difficult, and tend to make your hands and mouth sticky and red (which is actually enjoyable in itself, there's only a few times that i still feel like a little kid, and there is just something about being stained and grimy from berry-picking that does the trick).
So here's Olga, in a field of grain, demonstrating the proper rosehip-eating technique. There are lots of fields like that here, all golden and wavy in the sun, and it has the (unfortunate?) effect of me -ALMOST ALWAYS- bursting into that sting song,
"you'll remember me, when the west wind moooooves
along the fields of barley
you'll forget the sun, in his jealous sky
when we walk in fields of gold"
(ever since being in slovakia, i sing about forty thousand times more than i did. I don't know why)
So, my favorite part of the walk was when we were almost in Pezinok, after we had crossed the hill and forged the river and traversed the vineyards. the city loomed ahead. how often can you say a city looms ahead? but it did! case in point a:
case in point b :
it's just mesmerizing. why oh why with the panelaky? i prefer a gradual buildup to high rise buildings, i suppose.
We actually got into Pezinok somewhere around four o'clock, which made for this lovely golden color of the sun.
i totally dig this picture. it kind of makes me snicker a little bit, as i can just imagine giving directions along the lines of, " ok, then there will be a round-about right before the crumbling old town wall, yeah, you'll know you're headed the right direction if you see the bulbous steeple." i can't explain my delight over this.
So here's another picture of pezinok, kind of like two for the price of one. it was pretty though, and i'm kind of a sucker for the honey-colored-sun and fluffy cloud combo.
so that's that. we went to trnava again, and this time i posed with a lot of statues, and it was pretty fabulous, but that will have to wait until my next blog entry.
This week is frustrating in that we had class on monday, then a scheduled class for friday (yes, with a three day break in between. Life is hard). Thursday at around 5:30, we are all informed that class for friday is canceled. This is annoying because HAD WE KNOWN we had a WHOLE WEEK off, we could have gone places (like Belgrade). And done stuff (like finally see one of those bars/crazy dance clubs that are secretly barges on the river).
However, tomorrow we shall all be out in the vineyards, helping V with his..um...vineyards so that next weekend we can all go to Zagreb. I heart Zagreb. So perhaps i will take pictures of us being all with the grapey goodness.
*******
With the weather behaving so well lately, being outside has come to a new level. Last week Martina, Olga and I hiked to Pezinok; it isn't so very far away, but as we went the Little Red Riding Hood Route (over the river and through the woods...) it was about a 10 km walk.
~SJ from the hills~
The weather was almost embarrassingly perfect, with the fluffy white clouds and sun and whatnot. We ate a lot of rosehips (šipuk...that is my assumed spelling) along the way.
(this picture is sideways, although it does a decent enough job of illustrating rosehips. but don't worry, this was not taken in front of any sort of...vertical water)
They are surprisingly delicious, although time-consumingly difficult, and tend to make your hands and mouth sticky and red (which is actually enjoyable in itself, there's only a few times that i still feel like a little kid, and there is just something about being stained and grimy from berry-picking that does the trick).
So here's Olga, in a field of grain, demonstrating the proper rosehip-eating technique. There are lots of fields like that here, all golden and wavy in the sun, and it has the (unfortunate?) effect of me -ALMOST ALWAYS- bursting into that sting song,
"you'll remember me, when the west wind moooooves
along the fields of barley
you'll forget the sun, in his jealous sky
when we walk in fields of gold"
(ever since being in slovakia, i sing about forty thousand times more than i did. I don't know why)
So, my favorite part of the walk was when we were almost in Pezinok, after we had crossed the hill and forged the river and traversed the vineyards. the city loomed ahead. how often can you say a city looms ahead? but it did! case in point a:
case in point b :
it's just mesmerizing. why oh why with the panelaky? i prefer a gradual buildup to high rise buildings, i suppose.
We actually got into Pezinok somewhere around four o'clock, which made for this lovely golden color of the sun.
i totally dig this picture. it kind of makes me snicker a little bit, as i can just imagine giving directions along the lines of, " ok, then there will be a round-about right before the crumbling old town wall, yeah, you'll know you're headed the right direction if you see the bulbous steeple." i can't explain my delight over this.
So here's another picture of pezinok, kind of like two for the price of one. it was pretty though, and i'm kind of a sucker for the honey-colored-sun and fluffy cloud combo.
so that's that. we went to trnava again, and this time i posed with a lot of statues, and it was pretty fabulous, but that will have to wait until my next blog entry.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
whole lotta nothing.
M: "we should do something about our paper"
me: "yeah"
M: "i wish we could do our paper, without pressure. Or much work"
me: "i wish we didn't have to do it at a.."
M, interjecting: "yeah."
**********
so you may know, i have a love affair with all things -lino (this is pretty much sweet breakfast cereal vaguely reminiscent of malt-o-meal..but that actual tastes good). you've got the čočolino (i think one of those thingies over the c is supposed to be a different thingie,but my computer offers only one thingie) (thingie thingie thingie).
i digress.
so imagine my delight when i found the ever so delightful Medolino here in slovakia!
while scrutinizing the impressively large amount of languages used on the packaging, i noticed that while english said:
"stir, eat. Good for six servings"
and the swedish and the slovenien had it written pretty much the same way, the German translation was much more forceful in its opinion. It was all, "stir! Eat! Good for Six Servings!" (!!!)
this entertained me for at least half an hour.
***********
not so much has been going on, just the usual hiking, dancing, drinking, going on day trips, etc. And i've been reading non stop for awhile now, thanks to a HORRIBLE (read: wonderful) blog called Mimi Smartypants.
as you know, i couldn't add a link to save my life, so here it is in normal form:
http://smartypants.diaryland.com/index.html
the thing about her is that she's been writing for nine years. NINE YEARS! of at LEAST once a week entries! this is DAYS of entertainment. and so it was. and so it was.
me: "yeah"
M: "i wish we could do our paper, without pressure. Or much work"
me: "i wish we didn't have to do it at a.."
M, interjecting: "yeah."
**********
so you may know, i have a love affair with all things -lino (this is pretty much sweet breakfast cereal vaguely reminiscent of malt-o-meal..but that actual tastes good). you've got the čočolino (i think one of those thingies over the c is supposed to be a different thingie,but my computer offers only one thingie) (thingie thingie thingie).
i digress.
so imagine my delight when i found the ever so delightful Medolino here in slovakia!
while scrutinizing the impressively large amount of languages used on the packaging, i noticed that while english said:
"stir, eat. Good for six servings"
and the swedish and the slovenien had it written pretty much the same way, the German translation was much more forceful in its opinion. It was all, "stir! Eat! Good for Six Servings!" (!!!)
this entertained me for at least half an hour.
***********
not so much has been going on, just the usual hiking, dancing, drinking, going on day trips, etc. And i've been reading non stop for awhile now, thanks to a HORRIBLE (read: wonderful) blog called Mimi Smartypants.
as you know, i couldn't add a link to save my life, so here it is in normal form:
http://smartypants.diaryland.com/index.html
the thing about her is that she's been writing for nine years. NINE YEARS! of at LEAST once a week entries! this is DAYS of entertainment. and so it was. and so it was.
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