Absolutely loving Europe. Love the coffee! Way better than in America. Have to also get used to the wash closets (bathrooms) cause they are literally closets. Also getting used to the food. I am eating like 3 times the amount of bread and meat that I normally do. Like I eat both three meals a day here. Its crayyyy.
We left Slovakia this morning, and for me with some tears and sadness. After the wonderful time and great connection we had in Budapest, we were a bit unsure about Slovakia. We had concerts in Kosariska, and Bratislava. We stayed in Vrboche which is an absolute adorable little mountain town. The people there were so hospitable and it was so joyous to stay there! Most of the host families spoke no English, including Karen and I's. I'll share a little bit about our stay there as it was probably my favorite part of the trip so far.
So we get paired up with our hosts, and of course the lady who we go with, speaks no English. "Oh well", I thought, "I am down for charades." So we leave the church with our luggage and she grabs her bike, "oh, we're walking...." Its dark, we're in a foreign country, with a lady we don't know who we cannot speak to. So we follow her down the streets until she finally enters a gate of a cute green house. We go in the door, and are greeted by a precious old man who has a great warm smile. We also see a younger boy - close to our age and gave a sigh of relief when he spoke English. "Grandson," he said. "I am here to translate for you."
I was so thankful. They bring our bags upstairs, and tell us to come down for dinner. It is probably 9:00pm or later, but Dorina (host mom), made us a ton of food anyway. We were able to talk to them, learn some Slovak, and they asked questions about us. It was so great to be able to really talk to them, and get to know their culture. They welcomed us in their home and we shared in some traditional Slovak traditions and food. It was seriously such a fun and crazy night. The family was really funny, and we definitely laughed a lot. Karen and I went to bed going, um... what just happened? We LOVE Slovakia! Dorina kept telling us "eat everything", "eat more" and to be kind, I kept shoving in more food. It was seriously God's grace in letting all that food fit in my belly. Not sure how it happened.
It was fun to see some of the English phrases that Martin (grandson) knew. "Bon apetite" which is not English, and "bottoms up." It was also great because he said his grandpa was a boss, and he knew what a bro fist was.
Martin also helped us learn some Slovak, such as ďakujem - which is thank-you, and dobrú noc (goodnight), and dobrý (good). He also taught us ano (yes) and nie (no) which he later said after we refused more by using nie, "I should not have learned you 'nie'." It was so funny! It was great watching Paul (host dad) and Dorina's face light up when we used the Slovak phrases. Except Dorina also made fun of us because we said dakujem a lot because we didn't know much else... :)
We wake up the next morning to another huge meal - bread, cheese, meat, kava (coffee), cukar (sugar), chai (tea), more bread, and tons of sweets. I seriously am going to gain so much weight here I feel like. I do not go hungry.
But anyway it was so great visiting with them and getting to know them more. Paul had the greatest smile, especially when he was laughing at us. Saying goodbye this morning was very hard. We took pictures together, and gave hugs and kisses (like the classy cheek kind (: ), and Dorina kept holding my hand or would link arms with us, and kept touching my hair and cheek. It was so motherly and kind. Martin said she was so glad to have met us. We gave her the typical host gifts including a card, and she put the card on her shelf with the family heirlooms and whatnot, saying we were a part of the family, and up with the family forever. She also gave us these corn-husk dolls that she makes, which are a Slovakian tradition. (Saw lots of them at the markets.) I was so blessed that God could show himself through these people. I truly felt a part of their family, they were so kind, but I could not even communicate without Martin. We did not even sing a concert in their church, but it was so great to feel like I belong even though I am very far away from home. I will remember them forever in my hearts, as Dorina asked us.
So I will hopefully tomorrow write about the time in Hungry, as well as the concert in Bratislava. It was so amazing it deserves its own post. God has been so good and faithful on this trip, and this is just a very small piece of what he has done!
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| We are a part of their family |
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| My Slovak family! |
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