The Circus

I've never been to the circus, until now. It was may birthday on May 19 so my father thought that for my birthday me, him, and some of my cousins could go to the circus.


I took the bus then the tram and soon arrived at my grandparents apartment. Neither of my grandparents was there at the moment. My father gave me a box of eggs and told me to go to my uncles house and tell my cousins to come here.


I walked to my uncles apartment which is in the same building as my grandmothers just on another floor. When I got to my uncles apartment I gave them the eggs and after a little while me and my two cousins were back at my grandmothers apartment.


After we made some sandwiches and gathered food and packed it into out backpacks we got on the tram and left. After we arrived in "Medics Garden" (that's where the circus was) we met up with our other cousin. 


We sat down on a mat we had brought played cards, ate, and watched "Juicy Lucy" hang from a rope with her foot and sing song about showering. When Juicy Lucy finished we left and went to the big circus tent.


In that big tent we were to see "Witty Look" that is a Japanese unicycle duo. Before we saw the unicycles a man wearing a green hat in all green cloths with his face painted green came into the tent riding a green scooter. The green man put his scooter on stage then proceed to pull an unlucky and unwilling "volunteer" towards the stage.

Witty looks poster

The green man then stripped the man down to his boxers commented on how the mans armpit smelt and then dressed him in a green dress. The green man pulled several more "lucky winners" to the stage and then got married to the man wearing the green dress. After the marriage the green man got on his scooter, dropped some sparklers or something like that and left.


We waited a little while, then a women wearing funny cloths with a sparkely pink bow tie in her hair came on stage. Soon a man wearing similar funny cloths appeared on stage. After a series of quite hilarious pantomime acts the two got out their unicycles and started to cycle.


The duo jumped rope and jumped two people, all while on a unicycle, the man also rode a unicycle that was about six feet tall. They did many other things to but these were the most notable.


After the show was finished we went outside and just kind of hung out for a little while. Another show was to start soon and we wanted to see that one too. The next show was called "Shake, Shake, Shake!"

Note: Not my photo

The show started with a man dancing an old dance.Soon he stared climbing two poles set up with a platform at the top. He looked slightly like a squirrel, although he may have looked like a squirrel he must have been a lot stronger than a squirrel because soon he showed us his "horizontal pullup" which is exactly what it sounds like.


After a while he called up a "volunteer" to dance with him. The volunteer seemed very timid and we thought she must have felt terrible. Soon the volunteer showed their true nature, both changed very quickly into disco cloths, they also got their afros going. Shortly the Dj cued the 70's music and everything got going.


The acrobats started doing their thing, the man climbed up the pole and the women followed they linked hands and the women jumped from the platform they had been standing on atop the two poles. The man had his legs locked on the platform. The women did many crazy stunts, flips spins twists and all that other great stuff. After a good deal of acrobatics, 70's dancing and laughter the act was over.


When the circus ended we went to my fathers apartment which wasn't very far away. We played a few games of cards, I didn't understand the rules of the game and apparently they didn't understand me because they certainly were not kind to me. 


I was pretty hungry so I ate an entire loaf of poppy seed bread, by myself. It was late so I went back to the Várys house and soon was sound asleep with dreams of Japanese unicycles, crazy flips and crazy 70's music and  dances.

The Israeli Ambassador

I walked into school and everything was normal as was to be expected because it's not a surprise if you expect it. The day continued normally for about two or three hours.


After about three hours I noticed some abnormal things, there was a barricade set up next to the stair case leading to my hallway, this is very unusual, there were also very many funny looking men whom I had never seen before.


It turns out those "funny looking men" were police who were wearing tuxedos. They even had a small, black dog that probably would have bitten your hand off if you tried to pet it. The reason for the barricade and the dangerous looking men in tuxedos was that the Israeli ambassador to Slovakia was coming to visit our school.


The ambassador started with showing us a movie by a popular Israeli music group, it was really crazy, the point it made was that Israeli is a little country with a big influence. I think that is true, not only because of what I learned but because I am always hearing about Israel in the news.


As it turns out the Israeli ambassador was not born in Israel as you might guess, he was born in Soviet Russia. He also lived in Costa Rica before Israel.


Thankfully the ambassador spoke English and the entire presentation was in English. The ambassador told us about Slovakia and Israel's relationship, apparently it is very good. He also told us a little about why Israel is special and many interesting facts about Israel.


When I think about Israel I think about camels, soldiers and Jews. The ambassador only knew about one camel in all of Israel. The part about soldiers is true, boys and girls must both go to the army at the age of 18 boys for three years girls for one. While in the military the soldiers must carry their guns where ever they go so it is not an uncommon sight to see bands of people walking around with assault rifles. Some dance clubs even have special places for soldiers to deposit guns. Not all of Israel is Jewish, only a mere 80% of the population.


Israel is in the Middle East, and most places there have oil, Israel is the only one without oil, or anything else. In Israel there are almost no natural resources. Most Jewish families greatly value education (Israel has the second highest literacy rate in the world) so many people in Israel are very smart, Israel has lots and lots of technological expertise. Many things like cell phone cameras, computer chips, and many more things of this sort we first created, thought of or expanded on in Israel.


The ambassador was very funny, he was also a very stereotypical Soviet Russian. He looked more fitted to be a politicians bodyguard than a politician. He also had an impressive accent.


It was interesting to listen a real Soviet Russian who is now Israel's ambassador to Slovakia talk about politics, especially Israel and Slovakia's relationship. 

Beginning of the End

In Slovakia in some schools there are four grades, in others there are five. On Friday May, 13th all Slovakia's seniors finished school. When I say "finished" I mean they only have tests left to graduate school. They got out on Friday now they have a week to study then they take the what many have told me is "the biggest exam of their lives".


Even though graduating from high school is generally considered a good thing, I think it is always a little sad. As Friday is the seniors last day together they absolutely must do something crazy, it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. The entire class makes something that resembles a poster, it reminded me very much of signs carried at a protest. The entire grades pictures are on the poster along with their names.   


The Students parade usually around their school with their poster, they collect money, which is apparently used for drinking at the pub later. They also make as much noise as possible. They dress up in fancy cloths like suits and ties, get out their noise makers and parade throughout the streets chanting "Give us money" and for some reason many people do.


We saw many groups of students participating in this it looked like a lot of fun. I wish we did this in the USA because it's a memorable way to end your high school career. It's also the last fun thing they do all week, they have to study pretty much all week long. That second part is the only thing I don't like about the whole deal.

White water races

On Saturday I saw my first white water slalom kayak race. When my father was young he used to white water canoe, I am now learning how to kayak. 

On the Danube river

Trying not to fall

Me, my father & the belly of the kayak

I took the bus to Bratislava's "Botanical Garden" and then waited at a gas station. I was waiting for my dads old canoeing partner's wife who would drive me to the race.


After about 25 minutes I saw a small dark red Škoda car, it had two bars on top of the roof for carrying many things, but in that families, mainly boats. My grandparents have a car just like this and it is very common in Europe.


After driving for about 30 minutes in silence, mostly because of my linguistic problems we arrived at a rather big and artificial looking sports center of some kind. 


It was obvious something was going on, there were cars everywhere and many trailers with boats of all sorts on them. We walked in the obvious direction of the water. When we got there it had already started and many people had taken there run.


I walked to one of the three concrete bridges, there was Radko (his wife had driven me there). I leaned on the bright blue round rail and asked Radko who had been canoeing partners with my dad how they had done in races and things like that.


There were some truly amazing kayakers and canoers, for certain not all, but some. I didn't know this at the time, but apparently there were two brothers there who had together won several Olympic medals, there mother is teaching me how to kayak.


Some of the people there weren't all that great at kayaking or canoeing or whatever. One kayaker flipped over and instead of flipping back around started swimming. Many others flipped over, which is very common and happens to everyone, but they were able to flip back around and continue on their way, it was very interesting to watch that, especially when it was the canoes.


The main difference between kayaks and canoes isn't the boat or the paddle, it's the way you sit. In a kayak you sit with your legs extended in front of you, in a canoe you sit on your legs or kneel. The paddles and boats are also different but they are not the main difference.


After about four or five hours of watching Radko and his wife drove me home, I had to fight not to fall asleep on the way, I think I lost that fight, not badly but a defeat.


I was dropped off at my grandparents apartment where my father is living, I saw him, told him about how it was and then went back to the Várys.

Huty and Easter

At the same time as spring break is in the USA we had Veľká Noc (that literally mean "Big Night") this is our Easter vacation. We had Thursday to Wednesday off. We went back to school on Thursday.



The Várys own a cottage in a small village in the mountains called Huty. Huty is in the high Tatars and is a pretty remote and isolated place. The drive there is not a short one, it was about five hours from Bratislava. When we were about two thirds of the way to Huty we were able to see the Tatras looming above us, they were capped with white snow and looked almost as if they were about to fall on us.

The Tatras

As we drove through the village I saw a whole lot of chickens. Apparently everyone that lives there year round raises chickens. There were very many old building that were made out of wood and had a very distinct type of architecture. There were also plenty of new fresh looking houses.


It is a remote village and it being remote means its hard to get running water up there so all the water is in one facet outside. The water from this facet was the coldest water I have ever felt, by far. There is also a latrine with a huge spider in it.


We pulled up to the Várys cabin or hut or whatever you want to call it. Me and Šimon got out of the car and opened a large picket wooden gate. After fumbling with the lock for about five minutes we finally got rusty hinges to grind out, then back into place after the car had driven inside the fence.

This is the hut.

The village, taken from the hill behind the house.

The immediate yard of the house was not very big, behind the house was a small wooden table. There is a little stream that runs behind the house, behind that his is an extremely short, but steep hill and behind that more small hills covered by tall grass.


I walked up the five or six steps into the house into a small room that slightly resembled a kitchen. There was a table in the left of the room and another right next to the door but the one next to the door was covered by a hot plate and other cooking utensils.


The next room was every image of what a cozy cabin cottage should look like, there was even a rocking chair. When you walked in through the door on you right was a small table with a pitcher of water or tea and glasses or mugs. Next to the table was a door to another room the next to the door was a heating oven powered by wood, then next to that was a shelf with assorted liquors and a radio sitting on it.


On the left was a small table with two benches and three chairs around it, next to that was a dresser with a mirror on top and lastly a sofa. In the next and final room were three beds another wood stove there was also another dresser with a fold-out bed on top of it.


Being that we arrived late in the day we didn't do anything but read and relax or chill or whatever for the rest of the day. The next day we woke up, Žofka had difficulties waking up so Šimon and Maroš went and got a pitcher of that frigid water from the facet outside, they came back inside and brutally assisted her.


After everyone was awake we had breakfast. After breakfast we all piled into the car along with the Várys dog Tory. We came to a parking lot which apparently housed more cars then anybody had thought could fit into such a small village we found a parking spot on the grass and got out of the car. There a smooth path made from small pebbles that was next a very small river.


After walking down the path for a good while we came to some old mill houses which were now big attractions of the village. There were lots and lots of people around the mills, being the same as everybody else we took out our cameras and started taking pictures.

On the way to the mills.

The mills

I never knew goats could be so interesting.

After looking through the mills and enjoying the wonderful outdoors we went back home ate and fell asleep.


The next day we woke refreshed and anew, well everyone but Žofka who needed help in the same way as she needed it the day before, Šimon and Maroš gladly helped her. Soon everybody was awake. We ate as we had the day before took the dog for a quick walk and then piled into the car again.

Maroš was more than a little annoyed.

Šimon realised.

We drove off and soon arrived under a ski mountain which being in the Tatras still had a little snow. The place were were at was called "Tarzania" it was a very peculiar looking ropes course. After a brief training session on how not to fall down and die we started on the ropes course. Surprisingly we did not fall down and die.


There were many things I have seen before in this ropes course and many things I doubt I could have imagined. There were some very easy obstacles which I just ran across and one or two where I got frustrated and simply climbed the cable my swiss seat was attached to.   


After me and Šimon finished (we had been the first two to go) we talked with the guy who has in charge of making sure we didn't die. As it turned out he happened to be an excellent freestyle semi-pro skier, we talked about skiing, skis, snow and things of that nature.


After we finished we said goodbye to the employee we had been talking to and drove back to the cabin. Once we got back to the cabin we ate and fell sound asleep.


The next day was Easter. Slovakia, being such an old and historic country has many traditions. My favourite tradition of all is the Easter tradition. On Easter the men take could water and pour it over the women's heads after they pour the water they beat them with whips. The women are not allowed to retaliate in anyway, they must serve the men good drinks and food. The best part about all this is that its true. Somebody, I can't remember who, but it was somebody important said "Without traditions people wouldn't be people."


I watched as Šimon and Maroš practised tradition very vigorously. After all our traditional ceremonies we drove five hours home. We arrived and stumbled, almost zombie like to our beds and fell asleep. Everybody was extremely tired.

Žofka and Maroš taking a picture of us.