Ahoj!

Isn’t it weird that Slovaks greet each other like pirates?

Where should I start from? Well, Elena has arrived. She came and turned the world upside down.  Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration but she did bring some Greek sunshine and spark with her. The way of life at home changed a lot from watching Netflix alone in my room to cooking parties in the kitchen, spontaneous dancing and singing all around the apartment, board games and wine in the lounge, you name it… I really like the little tradition we’ve established of making tea for two whenever we feel like it’s time for tea. I think I’ve trained Elena to drink tea instead of coffee, except in the office. 😀

But let’s not rush ahead of time.

On March 1, Ivan and I finished early in the office to go greet Elena at the airport. We made a little sign for her and helped to get her 500 (just kidding!) suitcases back to the apartment. After a little rest, we went out for some Slovak food. I tried the potato dumplings that I’d managed to avoid while studying in Lithuania. Well, lucky for me, the potato stuff is popular all across Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia etc.

After food, we found a nice cocktail bar where the names of the cocktails were inventions. Elena and I both ordered a Light Bulb served in a light bulb shaped glass. The atmosphere was lovely, swingy, jazzy, kind of French. Unfortunately, it was too dark for my phone camera to take a good photo but try to imagine.

The next day, it was my turn to clean the apartment, so I did that and after that all of us went for a shopping trip. The way back was fun, we went a little bit overboard with Elena and bought almost all of the store. In the evening, we had some wine and played my question card game.

Sunday was a lazy Sunday for me. Elena went out for the free walking tour and I stayed home doing nothing until the afternoon. At some point, I decided to do a little workout and after that I started baking vastlakuklid. These are buns with whipped cream eaten on the Shrove Tuesday. I think they’re also popular in Finland and Sweden.

I also tried boiled chestnuts for the first time. And then we had a dance party with Estonian pop songs. 🙂 🙂

 

Most of the next week at work was full of uploading workcamps but also some fun and some sun. Monika had gone to Turkey for the Technical Meeting of Alliance on Saturday so we had all the apartment to ourselves. In the evenings, we cooked together or hung out in our room. We do have an extra sofa, so…

For a couple of nights, we ended up in the bathroom at the same time so brushing teeth turned into a laughing disaster.

I taught Elena and Ivan to play potiknoi and they were really into it. They taught me Uno in return, somehow I’ve managed to avoid playing it until now.

 

Wednesday was really lovely and sunny. We had lunch outside and took some photos during the lunch break (and maybe some more during work, oops).

On Thursday, we had another Slovak lesson and in the evening, one of INEX’ volunteers invited us to a quiz night. We found a wild Anthony there, joined forces and ended up being second from the last. Well, it’s participation that matters, right? Ivan definitely killed it with the sports round and we all did pretty good with the music round. At least we tried. Kind of.

Anyway, some of us were hungry after the quiz, hence, McDonalds.

For Friday night, we had planned a board game night in the Dungeon pub. It turned out to be full once we got there, which was a shame, however, we went to Flag Ship and got the last table. Somehow almost every time we get the last free table wherever we go. I met Elena’s mentor Jarka, and a German girl Jana. Ieva from Quo Vadis also joined us a little bit later.

Who serves chips like this?

Around midnight, some of us went home, some of us wanted to explore the city more. We ended up in the Dubliner with Ivan, Elena and Jana. There was an amazing live two-man-band playing, one with guitar and vocals, and the other one with an electric cello. It was something for the soul honestly.

On the way back home, we ended up at the wrong bus stop, Most SNP instead of Zochova, thus, we decided to walk home. It was my first time to walk across the bridge. The view was amazing.

Me explaining to take a “portrait” photo instead of a “landscape” one. And the view.

 

We’d been planning to go to Vienna on Saturday but since we only arrived home aroun 3AM, we decided to go to the Devin Castle which seemed closer. Ooh, I think altogether we took over 200 photos there. Here are some examples:

 

 

 

 

Some wall were one Merike high. I’m an accurate measure unit.

When I got bored of pretty photos:

 

There was a hole in the wall, I wanted to see through it.

The reason why we ask Ivan to get stuff from the top shelves:

In the afternoon, we went to have lunch at a sushi place with Jana, then for an ice cream in the best ice cream place in Bratislava. I’d invited some EVS people to an improv that I randomly found but we had some time to kill before it started. Ivan went back home to prepare for some French party, Elena, Jana and I went for a walk around the Bratislava castle.

 

We still had some time after the walk and my phone was almost out of battery. Luckily, we were quite close to the improv place and there was a cat café just around the corner from the place. ^.^

By the time we arrived to the improv show, I had 3% of battery left so no photos from rest of the evening. It was a nice show, maybe not as smooth as I’m used to with Ruutu10 from Estonia, but Ruutu10 have a level of their own so I probably shouldn’t compare anyone else to them. Everyone I invited really enjoyed the show and were glad that they came. I was also delighted, it was a spontaneous idea!

After the show, we went to eat at u Zlatého Bažanta, Ieva’s suggestion I think. I ate so many fries and unhealthy stuff last week, oh nooo. Also pizza. We waited for an EVS volunteer from Bulgaria to join us. It took him a while so by the time he arrived, everyone wanted to go home already. Elena and I had the same direction with him, we walked, waited for his friends with him, then walked home. Again. This time a bit faster, no photo shoot. 😀

Sunday was a rainy day but Elena still encouraged us out of the apartment to a shopping trip to Kaufland. Good job! God some steps done. The rest of the day I had a rest from all the socialisation. Elena was out and about, baked cookies in the evening, I was moral support. I was in the other room, occasionally peeking into the kitchen and stealing some cookies.

The cookies were for Majka’s birthday which was yesterday. In the morning, we also rushed to find some flowers for her. She brought some food and cakes to the office. I think it was the best cheese cake I’ve ever had. 😛 Yum yum yum! I learned to say všetko najlepšie k narodeninám, and of course I forgot how to say it and just googled to copy paste it here. Hopefully it will stick now.

We will have our on-arrival training coming up on Thursday:  5 days in Trenčianske Teplice, 3-star hotel, free sauna and pool, thermal baths, amazing! Can’t wait!

But before that, tomorrow is the Greek Tea Meeting. Let’s celebrate Elena!

Until the next time!