Well, we have secured viola lessons for Mairin! That was basically how we spent the bulk of Monday -- 2 visits to the music school near our house, some minor stalking of a teacher there, 20 euros to rent a viola for 5 months (!!!!!) and boom! We now have weekly lessons lined up.
We are still in the process of figuring out how to pay our rent, which is apparently a lot more complicated that you would expect! We still haven't successfully completed this surprisingly arduous task just yet, but we are very close. A very kind woman at the bank literally grabbed her coat and walked us to the post office, spoke to the clerk, got us the form we needed, and explained it to us. So thankful for people like her!
Today Doug went into the university where he will be working to meet with the department head. Everyone he has encountered at the university has been wonderful and the department head was no exception.
The kids have been fabulous about the perpetual cold, foggy, drizzly weather. No one complained when we walked 25 min to the park to play at the freezing wet playground and then make the 25 minute return trip.
After that we met up with the McCarthy family, the Pittsburgh family with whom we have so many coincidental connections with....we joked that we are living parallel lives. Our sister in law connected us to them when she found out they would be here this semester do, also for a Fulbright at the same university as Doug. They have 3 kids, in the same grades as ours. We know at least 8 million of the same people and we had a total blast hanging out with them tonight. We introduced all of the kids and left them to eat dinner and watch a movie in the McCarthy's apartment while the adults went out. They got shushed by a neighbor for being too loud (playing hide and seek, apparently), so I think it is safe to say they had a great time. The adults went to a meet and greet at the US Embassy, which turned out to be boring but a good experience. Good thing we had devised an escape plan and code word before we went in! We skipped out early and went for drinks and delicious slovak food instead. We got 2 sampler platters for 2 and it was an obscene amount of food and so delicious.
We are still in the process of figuring out how to pay our rent, which is apparently a lot more complicated that you would expect! We still haven't successfully completed this surprisingly arduous task just yet, but we are very close. A very kind woman at the bank literally grabbed her coat and walked us to the post office, spoke to the clerk, got us the form we needed, and explained it to us. So thankful for people like her!
Today Doug went into the university where he will be working to meet with the department head. Everyone he has encountered at the university has been wonderful and the department head was no exception.
The kids have been fabulous about the perpetual cold, foggy, drizzly weather. No one complained when we walked 25 min to the park to play at the freezing wet playground and then make the 25 minute return trip.
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| The weather has looked like this pretty much every day. |
After that we met up with the McCarthy family, the Pittsburgh family with whom we have so many coincidental connections with....we joked that we are living parallel lives. Our sister in law connected us to them when she found out they would be here this semester do, also for a Fulbright at the same university as Doug. They have 3 kids, in the same grades as ours. We know at least 8 million of the same people and we had a total blast hanging out with them tonight. We introduced all of the kids and left them to eat dinner and watch a movie in the McCarthy's apartment while the adults went out. They got shushed by a neighbor for being too loud (playing hide and seek, apparently), so I think it is safe to say they had a great time. The adults went to a meet and greet at the US Embassy, which turned out to be boring but a good experience. Good thing we had devised an escape plan and code word before we went in! We skipped out early and went for drinks and delicious slovak food instead. We got 2 sampler platters for 2 and it was an obscene amount of food and so delicious.
Tomorrow, we head for a Fulbright-sponsored trip to the town of Zvolen for 3 nights and we are really looking forward to it!
Sorry about the heading in Mexico! I am enthralled with your life in Braslavia. How wonderful you adapted to a new country and a new way of life. Your experience with the woman taking you to the PostOffice was very similar to ours in Mexico...for some reason that’s the way it is in other countries...Pgh people are friendly but very different than people from other countries.
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased to read your Blog. Enjoy your visit to Zvolen😘