Easter

Easter was a busy time for me here at the center, because Kristen and I had service from Friday to Monday. We spent a lot of time cooking in the kitchen, but also got to do some Easter activities. Friday evening we had a Good Friday service here at the center, which was really nice. It was very different than the Good Friday service I am used to going to, but the meaning of it was the same. We were not in a church and we did not have traditional music, but we read passages from the Bible, prayed, and sang songs together. Aside from cooking meals on Saturday Kristen and I also hard boiled about 50 eggs and in the afternoon we dyed them with the boys who were interested. It was a smaller turn out than we would have liked, but it was a lot of fun, and I think the ones who came enjoyed it.

Sunday morning Kristen and I went to the church service in the village so that we could attend a traditional Slovak Easter service. It was very similar to the weekly traditional services here. The center had their usual service/fellowship in the morning, but I was busy helping to prepare the Easter meal. The Easter meal consisted of the special potato salad and rezen (breaded pork).

Easter monday is a big deal here and I had been warned about it many times before. It is an old tradition that on Easter monday guys dump water on girls- outside or in the shower, and sometimes throw perfume on them. The girls are then supposed to give the guys candy. I don't know where it came from and it makes no sense to me- I mean first they get us wet then we are supposed to give them candy?! I was very careful on this day and somehow made it through the day with just some sprays of foul smelling cologne. In the morning while Kristen and I were in the kitchen we saw some guys come in and fill pots of water and we told them "If you want lunch on time you shouldn't get us wet" and they decided lunch was more important. Monday morning we also had our Easter egg hunt, which we had to explain because they do not do that here. Unfortunately it had snowed quite a bit, so we had to have it inside, but the building is big and it worked well. They especially enjoyed the candy filled eggs!

After our hard work over the holiday weekend they gave us Tuesday and Wednesday off so that we could get some rest and have some time to oursleves. It was nice to be able to sleep in a little bit, and we took a nice trip into Poprad Wednesday afternoon. Nothing else too exciting has been going on- just the usual schedule and usual craziness of the center!

March

Sorry it has been a long time since I have posted, but a lot has been going on here. The month of March has been so exciting because Tyler came to visit! It was so wonderful to see him and we had a great time traveling and spending time at my placement. We began by spending a few days in Vienna where we saw a lot of churches, palaces, and museums. Our favorite place was the Schonbrunn Palace where we saw the room Mozart gave his first concert in when he was six. We also saw a Mozart and Strauss concert one night here, which was a lot of fun. We then went to visit my old placement in Horna Mičina and went to church here, which was really nice. I got to see a lot of people and Tyler enjoyed seeing where I spent my first six months in Slovakia. While in this area the Pastor’s family took us to see a wooden church in the village of Hronsek. There is some really interesting history behind this church because it was built during the time after the Council of Trento, when every means was used to turn people back to the Catholic faith. Protestants were given little freedom until 1681 when the emperor allowed them to build two churches in each district, but according to specific guidelines. Each church had to be:

1. Erected outside of the village boundary
2. Had to be built exclusively from wood, without iron nails
3. No steeple was allowed
4. Construction had to be completed within a year
5. No direct access from the road was allowed

These churches are called “Articular churches” because they had to follow these rules, and only a few remain in Slovakia. The church in Hronsek was built from 1725-1726 and is one of the remaining churches today. It was a really beautiful church and I was amazed that it could be built only from wood, without nails.

After our time in Horna Mičina we traveled to Krakow, which was a beautiful city. We got to see more churches, castles, palaces, and the weather was perfect to walk around. We spent one day in Auschwitz, which was a horrible site to see. Actually being there and walking around had a big impact on us and brought more reality to the atrocities that happened there.

After Krakow we spent some time here at the center in Velký Slavkov. It was great for Tyler to see my day to day life here and he enjoyed meeting everyone. The guys were really excited to meet him also, and liked listening to him play piano, guitar, and playing futbal (soccer) with him. We ended the trip by spending a day in Bratislava before he flew back home. It was such a nice break for me and we had a really great time together. It was hard saying bye, and it is a little difficult adjusting back to my life here, but I am so thankful for the time we had. With Easter I have been keeping busy though. Kristen and I have service this weekend so we are busy in the kitchen and doing Easter activities with the guys. This afternoon we dyed Easter eggs with them and will have an Easter egg hunt on Monday, which should be a lot of fun. Easter will probably be really different at the center, but I am looking forward to it and will tell you all about it next time.
Happy Easter to everyone!

Tyler and I in Krakow