February 6, 2020

We have had a fairly low key few days recently and not too much to report. Mairin had her first viola lesson yesterday and her teacher seems very kind. I think it will take a bit of time for Mairin to adjust to having a different teacher and expectations. Her teacher, Mrs. Sulekova, was surprised that Mairin plays the viola without any previous violin experience. Apparently, that is not the way it is done here. She explained to us that since the viola is larger than the violin, it is even more difficult to hold properly between just the neck and the shoulder. She said that in Slovakia, they would only consider moving a child to a viola if they had at least 7 years of experience and strength / stamina from playing the violin! Who knew?! Her teaching style is very different than what Mairin is used to, which caused a bit of heartache and frustration. She seems to be in a better state of mind about it today and is eager to be playing her instrument again.

After the viola lesson, I met Ann for a delicious dinner -- Thai food and cocktails with gorgeous views of the castle and cathedral...what could be better? She also lugged a giant monstrosity all the way to the restaurant for me! I had been really wanting a cart to help with grocery shopping and she snagged one for me at IKEA. Thankfully the restaurant had a coat check where she stashed it and we didn't have to suffer the embarrassment of sitting with that behemoth throughout our dinner in the small and lovely restaurant! Side note: the restaurant had vodka flights, which I've never seen before.

The amuse bouche we were served was pork belly pate, which was delicious. Oddly though, it was served in a tiny bowl with just a spoon. I've never eaten pate that wasn't put ON something else, so that was a first!

My basil pineapple martini

So excited for my cart that I didn't manage to open my eyes for the photo! 

Doug and the girls went out and had a fun and tasty dinner of their own -- a wood fired pizza place called Gremium that is already a family favorite!

They sent me this picture after they stopped to get treats on their way home from dinner -- chocolate and beer!

Today we had some fun park time with friends and I have spent what feels like an obscene amount of time researching different travel destinations and booking trips. Not that I'm complaining, I just feel like I am in a fog from all the computer time. The upside is, we now have several trips planned...we are going to Trencin, Slovakia for one night this weekend. It is supposed to be a lovely small town with a beautiful castle and it is a short train ride from us. We also plan to go to Prague for 4 nights next week and to both Split and Bol in Croatia in June.

Doug has been at a conference all day and evening today, which he was really enjoying the last I heard. It was great timing -- the university he is working with was hosting a law conference so it was a great opportunity to meet lots of people in his field, make connections, and hear interesting presentations.