Time is flying by!

It has been a while since I have posted and the time here is just flying by! Last weekend was the YAGM Discernment-Interview-Placement event in Chicago that I attended just one year ago and found out I was coming to Slovakia. It is hard to believe that now there are new volunteers for next year!

Things have been going well here in Veľký Slavkov and it has been really nice to have some Spring weather. Two weekends ago Kristen, Ashley and I travelled to Košice to visit Mary. We spent some time in Košice, which is the second to largest city in Slovakia and some time at Mary's placement in Sečovce. We had a really nice time together and shared a lot of excitement over little things, like making and eating pizza (a lot of the pizza here is unusual...). We also got to go to an English church service in Košice and loved being able to so easily understand everything! It was so wonderful to hold a bulletin and an English hymnal and have the familiarity during the service.

The work here has been going about the same. The English classes and Bible studies with the guys vary each week, but are enjoyable. One of my favorite Bible study moments was when one of the guys said that he used his Spiritual gifts by lighting an old woman's cigarette, because she was having trouble doing so while holding her cane. I wasn't really sure what to say to this... yes it is nice of him to be helpful, but lighting a cigarette? Needless to say there is always something interesting happening here, and each day is quite unpredictable. This past Monday we had a nice time during our Bible study, because we went outside and made a fire. We sat around the fire and cooked sausages, which brought many more guys than normal! It was a lot of fun though, and nice to have some more time to just talk with them. The past few days Kristen and I also had a visit from Linda, one of the volunteers in Slovakia from Germany. We had a nice time together, and had a free day yesterday so we went to Poprad and Levoča. Everytime the other volunteers and I get together I am reminded how thankful I am for them, and how wonderful our group is. I am excited for us all to get together the first week in June for our seminar, but it will be sad that it will be our last one! I can hardly believe that in just three months I will be going home. The next three months should be busy and I am trying to take in and enjoy every day here because it is going by so fast.

March Newsletter

This month Tyler came to visit me and we had a great time traveling and spending time at the center here. I had a nice break from work and we were able to travel to Vienna, Banska Bystrica, Krakow, and Bratislava. After traveling he was able to see my day to day life here in Veľký Slavkov. Everyone enjoyed meeting him and appreciated his musical contributions to our Sunday morning worship. It was a lot of fun to have someone from home here, and I was able to explain some of the cultural customs to him and teach him some basic Slovak.

Veľká noc (Easter) in Slovakia

Easter was a different experience for me while in Slovakia and I celebrated the holiday much differently than in America. The Lutheran churches in Slovakia do not have an Ash Wednesday church service so the beginning of Lent felt different without that. Kvetná Nedeľa (Palm Sunday) was celebrated here at the center with a service of Bible readings, prayers, and singing. Tyler was here for this service and played piano for the songs, which sounded really nice. Holy week was different, because there was not a Maundy Thursday service. However, there was a service for Veľký piatok (Good Friday) here with the guys. It was very informal, as the services are at the center, but it was nice to be able to get together and read the passages in the Bible about Jesus’ crucifixion. From Friday until Monday Kristen and I had service, which means that we prepared the meals for everyone here. It kept us busy for the weekend, but we also enjoyed doing some activities with the guys. Saturday afternoon we made a lot of hard boiled eggs and showed them how we dye eggs in America. We used these and some plastic eggs filled with candy for an Easter egg hunt on Monday morning. It was fun to share this American tradition with them and they enjoyed the candy! Easter Sunday I attended the church service at the Lutheran church in the village. It was a nice service, but a little unusual to be bundled up in my winter coat, scarf, and gloves during church on Easter! Then Kristen and I prepared the Easter meal, which consisted of Zemiakové šalat (a special potato salad) and rezeň (breaded pork that is fried).

The guys were excited for Easter Monday because of one of their Slovak traditions. During the morning boys and men dump water or perfume on girls and women. After the girls get wet they are supposed to give candy to the guys. Guys generally go from house to house getting girls wet, and enjoying it very much. I had heard a lot about this day before and when I woke up in the morning I was watching my every move. I actually heard a girl yelling “Pomoc!” (Help!) when I woke up and I thought I was really in for it being in a house full of guys. Surprisingly, Kristen and I were both safe, because we were working in the kitchen cooking their lunch. We got some threats in the morning and one guy filled a huge pot of water “to make coffee” (and he never drinks coffee) but when we asked him if he wanted lunch on time or not he had mercy on us. We ended the day dry, and with only having a couple sprays of some nasty smelling cologne.

Easter here was different than at home, and it almost did not really feel like Easter to me. I thought a lot about what was different and similar between Easters at home and Easter here. At home there is so much other stuff that goes along with Easter. Usually I get dressed up to go with my family to church on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and the services are more formal and traditional. On Easter Sunday at home it is also a big deal to get dressed up nicely for church, and spend the day with my family. As I thought about what I missed about Easter here I realized that the most important part about Easter was the same. It was a time of remembrance and celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even though it would have been nice to be with my family during this holiday, I was able to be with the guys here who do not have families to be with.

Leadership

What does it mean to be a leader within the church? How is my leadership in the church shaped by the cross-cultural context I am in? Franklin shared an interesting quote with the volunteers this month regarding these questions. Eric Law writes, “In a multicultural community, doing the work of justice requires us to understand the different perceptions of power from different cultural points of view. Doing justice in a multicultural environment requires us to understand the consequences of these cultural differences in power perceptions. Doing justice commands us to reveal this unconscious and disproportionate distribution of power. Doing justice compels us to develop new leadership skills that can confront injustice”.

I think a lot of times the term leadership implies that someone with more power or more experience is directing or in charge of a group of people. However, I have been discovering the problems with this form of leadership, especially in a cross-cultural context. In a group where one person is dictating or directing I think it is very difficult for members to grow and learn from one another. Not only this, but in a cross-cultural context it can give the impression that one culture stands above another. The guys here have been receiving the message from society that they are not as smart or that they are less of people because they are Gypsies. I need to be a leader here in a way that will confront this injustice and not perpetuate it. When Kristen and I lead Bible studies and English classes we try to engage the guys as much as possible and create a dynamic where they are just as much involved as we are. If we were to simply try to lecture them on the Bible or how we think they should live their lives there would be this disproportionate distribution of power that Eric Law talks about. Not only would we be perpetuating the injustice they already experience, but it would be boring for them and for us. Especially in Bible studies I think it is really important for the leader to make sure there is dialogue in the group, because we can help each other learn. Maybe it is better to think of a leader as someone who can guide the group and help engage everyone in this dialogue where we can learn from one another.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

-Jessica Cole

ELCA Young Adult in Global Mission Volunteer Missionary serving in Slovakia

Sme šikovné

This week the cook, Pali is home sick and Kristen and I are in charge of the lunches here. I just have to say we are doing a very good job of cooking Slovak food on our own! Yesterday we had Tomato soup and Buchty, which was an easier meal. Buchty is a sweet lunch, and is best described as jam filled dumplings that are steamed. They then get some melted butter and kakao (cocoa) sprinkled on top. Today we made a more difficult meal. We had egg soup, knedla (steamed bread), red cabbage, and meat. We are so proud of ourselves because everything was just right and so good- We are practically Slovak cooks! Sme šikovné (We are skillful!) Here is a picture of today’s meal:

The red cabbage looks a little funny in the picture, but I can assure you it was very good and looked better in person!

Tomorrow we are planning on making Žemlovka, which is a sweet casserole with apples, cinnamon sugar, cut up rolls, and a mixture of egg yolks and milk. Friday we are planning on making Garlic soup and French potatoes. These are potatoes layered with hard boiled eggs, sausage, and an egg mixture with seasonings on top. As we are learning to cook these foods we are keeping the recipes so we can make a Slovak Recipe book to take home and share with everyone!