Last week

Last week was busy here! Pali was not in the kitchen, because he was helping with the construction work at the old house. The old house is down the street, and is where the guys used to live, and will live when the reconstruction is finished. Some of the workers and guys work on the reconstruction each day, and last week they were putting the roof on. They needed extra help for the week, so they recruited the bodybuilder cook. So, Kristen and I were on our own doing breakfast and lunch each day. Monday we did the shopping trip to Tesco (big superstore in Poprad). It was interesting for us to buy all the food for the whole week and the guy at the meat counter laughed a little at us. I guess he was wondering why two foreign girls were buying 5 kilograms of meat and had two carts full of food. We were successful though and made it to Poprad and back in the old Inca! It was a little different being in the kitchen not just helping, but having the responsibility of the shopping, planning, and making meals for 30 some people. It was also hard waking up at 5:20 to make breakfast! But, we made it through the week and didn’t have any real kitchen disasters. Monday we made lentil soup, pasta with mak (poppy seeds, or opium as they like to say); Tuesday we made garlic soup, knedla with meat and tomato sauce; Wednesday we made garlic soup, French potatoes; Thursday we made Gulaš; and Friday we made egg soup, Ryžovy nakyp (a sweet lunch of rice cooked with milk and then baked in a tray with a layer of apples in cinnamon raisin sauce in between). Overall the week went well, but I am glad we don’t have to do this every week! I am glad we could help when they needed it, but after waking up early and being in the kitchen so long I felt so tired in the evenings that it was hard to spend time with the guys here.

A lot of other things have been going with the guys here. One man came back here last weekend. His son is here and he had been here before but was in the hospital for a little while. He is in his upper 40s and has Huntington’s Disease, and his son is around 21 or 22. He has many of the characteristic symptoms of Huntington’s Disease- slurred speech, uncontrolled movements, difficult eating, difficult sleeping. Earlier this week I was talking to Eva and she was telling me that there is no place for him to go. He doesn’t have any money and so he cannot stay in the hospital he was in, and cannot go to any type of institution or center to help him. Basically, if he was not at the center here he would just be on the streets. It is difficult for the center here, because he needs so much care and we don’t have the special care he could use. It is also difficult for his son, because there is a 50% chance he could develop this disease. He is seeing his father suffering so much, and trying to help care for him while being so scared that he will develop this soon.

Another one of the guys left earlier last week to go to the Czech Republic to work. He was one of the only guys here going to school, but he was not doing well and dropped out. His plan was to work in the Czech Rep. for a month and then try to go to England to find work. He was talking to me about this before he left, and it was hard because I wanted to convince him to stay in school so badly, but it was already too late- he was failing and couldn’t keep going. I also wanted him to talk to the directors of the center because they could help him start working since he was no longer going to school. But, he had already made up his mind and his plan to leave. I talked to Vlado, one of the workers that night and basically no one can make the guys stay here- it’s their decision, and he agreed that it is not good for him to drop out of school, and to leave the center to go to the Czech Rep, but at this point there was nothing we could do. Vlado also said that maybe in the end it will be good for him, because he came here straight from the children’s home and has never been out on his own. Maybe this will teach him responsibility and maybe he will be back in a month or so when he realizes he may need more help. A lot of guys have come and gone since I have been here, but for some reason it was harder for me when this one left. Maybe it is just because I got to know him more- he usually came to English classes and Bible studies, and was always wanting to talk about things. I also see that he is smart and has a lot of potential, and I just want to see him get his life on track.

So with all this I think I am ready to get away for a little bit! We have our last seminar this week (Monday-Thursday) in Slovensky Raj (Slovak Paradise). I am so excited for it, but it is bittersweet. I know we are going to have a great time, but it will be sad that it will be our last time together as a group of volunteers. I think it will also become more of a reality that my year is ending here and I will have to start dealing with how I will make the adjustment back home. But, after our seminar 3 other volunteers and I are going to Prague until Monday!! I can’t wait for that too, and I will take lots and pictures and tell you all about it! And I apologize because my newsletter will be pretty late this month!