#12- Hello Euro. Welcome to Slovakia

Sorry it’s been awhile. I’ve been preoccupied. I’ll try to post more often to make up for the lost time. Starting January 1 of this year, Slovakia changed currencies from the Slovak crown, to the Euro. This was a change that I was very happy about. For starters, this made the numbers much lower on all items in the store. There was something that bothered me psychologically about paying 100 crowns for an item at the grocery store, even though it was about the equivalent of $5. Secondly, it’s easier for me to think between dollars and euros than dollars and crowns. Finally, the euro is colorful and comes in different sizes. It’s much more attractive than the plain Jane green of the dollar and the amount of the euros is represented by both the number in print and the actual size of the banknote and coin. However, there is one negative side to it for me. The euro has 1 and 2 euro coins. This means that people are constantly walking around with a lot of change in their pockets. I don’t like carrying around change but now I have to be more careful about it or I will lose a lot of money.

All stores and shops had to start listing their items first in the Slovak crown, and then in euros underneath last year. This was basically to get people used to the prices. The banks had also set the exchange rate at 30.126 crowns per euro permanently. Since people are still not completely used to the euro, stores must now list the prices in euros first, and crowns underneath. All countries that have the euro also get to feature 3 unique coins to their countries. Slovakia’s features Bratislava castle, the Slovak cross, and Mt. Krivan on their coins.

For Slovaks who travel to Austria often, the euro is very convenient. They no longer have to exchange money to go to shopping malls or outlets, or even to pay for parking at the airport in Vienna. For me it will also be good when I travel back to the States because I will get more dollars for my euros. Overall the transition seems to have gone smoothly and it is better for the country.

#11- Vrakuňa

Čau! In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that I lived in a section of the city called Pondunajska Biskupice. Well after some time it’s come to my attention that I don’t actually live there. I was originally told that I was almost living in another section called Vrakuňa. Through further investigation, it turns out that I actually do live in Vrakuňa. Let’s have another look at the map, shall we?

This new information doesn’t really change anything. Everything is still the same. But apparently some people only think of one thing when they hear that name. There’s a huge building of flats that are referred to as “The Pentagon”. Apparently this isn’t the nicest of places. But oh well, what can you do? Hopefully the next time I tell someone where I live I won’t have to hear that again. So now I guess I’m an honorary Slovak, Bratislavan, and Vrakuňan?

Some other interesting news: Deni’s favorite TV show, “Panelak”, takes place on the street directly behind us. Deni was super excited when she found out. Of course the interior shots are all done in a studio somewhere. But all of the exteriors of the building and of the characters walking outside are shot right outside our window. I’m surprised we haven’t caught them shooting yet.

#10- Goodbye 2008

So 2008 is over. That year just like every year seemed to go by just as fast as I can blink my eyes. But 2008 is a year I will remember more than any other because 2008 is the year I married my wife, and spent a wonderful ten days in Jamaica for our honeymoon. A lot of good things happened during the year, but since this is a blog about my time in Slovakia, I’ll just stick to that topic. I’ve been really bad about keeping up with everything that has been going on so I’ll quickly go over the highlights that I haven’t yet discussed. Also, I don’t remember the timeline of which things happened, so I will just talk about everything in no particular order.


Galanta-
This is a city about 45 minutes east of Bratislava. The weekend before it started to get cold, Deni and I went with her parents to a place that had natural hot springs. Slovakia is famous for it’s spas and hot springs. This particular place had it in the form of a public swimming pool. Most people back at home might be put off by a swimming pool with greenish brown water. It’s not that the pool is dirty. It’s just circulating hot water from the Earth. I will say it was quite nice. It was a nice day out with the family. We just laid out in the sun, ate at the restaurant there, dipped in the hot water, and even tried to go down a crappy water slide. I say tried because I got stuck the whole way down and I wouldn’t call it a slide. When we need a snack, Deni and I went over to a stand that was selling trdelnik. You might think I misspelled something right now but I didn’t. The easiest way I can describe this dessert is a bunch of sweet dough with oil on it, wrapped around a rod and baked in a kind of rotisserie. Then it is rolled in any number of toppings. My topping of choice was cinnamon.

Sastin Straze-
This is another town in Slovakia. It was about an hour drive using the highway and going between 120 and 130 km/h. 130 km/h is about 80 miles/h. That is the speed limit on the major highways. Just imagine I95 but with only two lanes. Unfortunately our Smart car wasn’t meant for those speeds so it has a hard time keeping up. But anyway, we went to this town to go to a wedding of our land lady in a historical cathedral. Both the cathedral and wedding were beautiful.

Pizzerias-
The great thing about living in a city is that there is always something that you can walk to. In our case, we have several pizzerias we can go to if we run out of food, or if we just don’t feel like cooking. The first one we discovered was Amon Pizzeria. I think this is actually the first restaurant we went in after I arrived in August. The next one was Pizzeria El Nino. I actually don’t eat the pizza there. I prefer to eat their other foods on the menu, including rezen. The 3rd is a really good place and also the closest thing I have seen to an American food chain here in Slovakia. Pizza Mizza has three different locations in the city and claims to also have the biggest pizza in the city. The pizza here is definitely different. For one, it’s thin crust. It definitely tastes different but the only other thing I know to tell you is that the toppings are completely different. Where else can you find corn and salami instead of pepperoni? How about when you ask for bacon, you actually get bacon, not those little bits that Dominoes calls bacon. How about bleu or feta cheese? How about tuna? The list goes on…….

Pezinok-
This is another Slovak town and it’s located about 15 minutes outside of the city. Every year in October they have a wine festival in the town center. They have what I would compare to a county fair there, but on a much smaller scale. You pretty much have your rides, your food stands, your souvenirs, and carnival games. Some of the foods include trdelnik, klobasa, goulash, langos, and lokse. They also sell something called borchiek, which I’m told is wine, before it completely becomes wine. You will find people all over the streets selling plastic bottles filled with borchiek. Cars often stop in the middle of the road so someone can hop out and quickly buy a bottle.

Mineral water vs. Water-
One of the first things you will notice here in Slovakia is that people drink a lot of mineral water. You can have normal water here too, but if you go to any grocery store, most of the water you see has bubbles in it. I’m not a fan of it so I usually drink water from the tap when I go to someone’s home. One company called Rajec, sells three different types of water. One is the full blown mineral water, one is only half the bubbles, and one is the beautiful spring water that I've come to know and love over the years.



Bunny sitting-
Deni and I spent one week bunny sitting for a couple friends of ours that live across the street. The bunny lived in the the same flat with a huge dog so I don’t think it liked it there very much and became very defensive and territorial. But after a day of having it, it warmed up to us and loved like it never loved before. I’ll admit it was very hard to give it back. After returning him, the girls told us we brought back a completely different bunny. We started to think for a few days if we would try to ask them if we could keep the bunny. But ultimately we just went back to our normal lives and decided we’ll get a pet sometime later.

Shipment-
The thing I regret the most when coming here was shipping my things on a ship from back home. I can’t tell you how many problems we had. We had so many problems with the shipping company, the biggest being that they charged us $1000 more than the original price was supposed to be. The company never knew where the boat was and constantly changed the arrival date. Then the shipment arrived a week before we were informed about it. We then had one day to clear customs which was impossible. Then the customs police had us bring them paperwork, only to ask us for more paperwork, only to ask us for more paperwork. They wouldn’t let me take my things home but at the same time, they let us unload it at Deni’s house. Stupid. We loaded, unloaded, and loaded again, and they didn’t inspect my things at all. They also gave us a ticket which we had to pay for clearing customs late. Then I had to fight with the shipping company for two weeks to pay for that ticket since they waited until the night before the deadline to inform us the shipment was there. The bottom line: I’m never shipping overseas again.

Electricity in Europe-
I should have researched a little more before I traveled here. I came to Slovakia with several adapters because the plugs are different. Up until my shipment arrived, I had been using my computer, hard drive, and chargers only using an adapter. I didn’t have any problems. However, once I started plugging my other devices in, I ran into trouble. I blew out the power in our flat twice trying to use an American surge protector, and I fried my alarm clock radio. I found out that the voltages are different here. I don’t remember the numbers exactly, but I think in America the power is run at about 120 volts. In Slovakia the voltage is at 230 volts. My computer and things had been fine because they can handle up to 240 volts. My alarm clock radio however cooked because it couldn’t handle the excess voltage. It always pays to do your research before going anywhere.

Bojnice castle- Bojnice is another town in Slovakia that we traveled to. It’s a nice town with an awesome castle. Deni and I took a tour of the castle and then went to the zoo there. I actually think the zoo was better there than in Bratislava. I definitely recommend Bojnice to anyone who might ever travel to Slovakia. For more pics go here

Well, that’s about it for 2008. Check back soon for more adventures in 2009!

#9- Vesele Vianoce a Stastny Novy Rok (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)

Ever since the Christmas season started here, I was confused about the time that the Slovaks celebrated it. I was told by some people that Christmas was on the 24^th, and others told me that the 24^th was Christmas Eve. Even Deni told me Christmas was on the 24^th. So I didn’t really know what to think. But since everyone in the country celebrates on the 24^th, I just pretty much left my brain to that. Deni and I went to her parents’ house on December 24 and celebrated with them. The Slovak tradition is that everyone eats fish soup as the 1^st course during dinner, which is then followed by fried carp and some kind of salad. Since I pretty much don’t eat any vegetables, Deni’s mother was nice enough to make me some mashed potatoes to eat instead of the salad. Everyone had to be very careful while eating the fish, since there were many bones left in it. The meal was very delicious. A little later in the evening everyone gathers around the tree and opens presents. We got a small deep fryer for our flat, which I am quite happy about. French fries just don’t taste good when you put them in the oven. I guess other than doing everything on the 24^th and eating fish, it’s really not so strange.

Me and Deni went home that evening and I made her go into another room so I could wrap her presents for the next day. I insisted that to two of us celebrate the American Christmas the next morning, and as usual, I waited until the last minute to decide to wrap the gifts. On the morning of the 25^th, of course we woke up and exchanged gifts. For dinner I had a craving for some good ole’ fashioned mickey d’s, so we took a drive to the city center to satisfy my hunger. Unfortunately it wasn’t open. Later I found out from Deni’s father, that the Slovaks have it wrong. On the official calendar, December 25 is actually what they call the 1^st day of Christmas. December 26 is also a holiday considered to be the 2^nd day of Christmas. Right or wrong, it doesn’t matter. It was great to experience something different than what I had done the previous twenty five years of my life.

That brings us to New Years Eve. Deni planned a party which we held at her parents’ house. Everyone she invited pretty much bailed on us. However, her best friend, Peta, and her boyfriend, Jano, still came over. All of us always have a great time together and we didn’t need the party anymore. We were perfectly happy to hang out with our good friends. Jano brought over his speakers and subwoofer with his ipod shuffle, and I brought my lap top and external hard drive with all of my music. We started off with a mix of various types of different music and cooked together in the kitchen. Jano and Peta went to the store before coming to our house and picked up a bunch of supplies to make a big pot of Hungarian goulash. We all cut up the onions, potatoes, and pork meat to put in the pot. After preparation, the food cooked with a lot of paprika powder for over an hour. During all this time we drank some home made vermouth that Jano brought over, four bottles of wine, and a couple of beers. The goulash was fantastic. After dinner we went to the living room and continued listening to music, but now it had switched solely to music from my hard drive. The house was now a techno and dance music club. We continued our drinking festivities by playing tic tac toe shots with peach vodka. I also dabbed into my bottle of energy drink vodka, which was much cheaper than buying vodka and cans of red bull. So that’s about it. It may sound fun to you or it may not. But I can say one thing with certainty. We had an absolute blast!

#8- Mikuláš

Well I made it back to Bratislava safe and sound after my trip back to the States for Thanksgiving. My sleep schedule has been messed up ever since I got back here but I’m slowly getting back on Slovak time. It felt good to be home for a couple weeks, back to normal life, back to the comfort zone. But I missed my wife a lot while I was home also. So I felt an even bigger relief when I made it back to the airport where Deni picked me up in Vienna. The first thing she made me aware of was the next holiday I could look forward to, Mikulaš.


Mikulaš is on December 6. It is the day in Slovakia where Mikulas, whom we call Santa, brings children candy for when they wake up in the morning. The story goes that the children have to clean their shoes at night before going to bed. Then if they have been good, Mikulas puts their favorite candies in the shoes. If they have been bad, he puts coal there. It’s of course very similar to what Santa putting candy or coal in stockings in America, except Mikulas does not come on Christmas at all. Christmas is held on December 24 instead of the 25^th and the presents are not brought by Mikulas. They are brought by Jesus. Another difference is that they don’t open the presents in the morning. They open them in the evening instead. It’s very interesting.

So on the morning of December 6, I woke up and almost immediately went to the kitchen because I was starving. After grabbing some soda out of the refrigerator, I set it down on the table and was surprised to see a nice little Christmas tree with a ton of chocolate underneath! Under the tree were several of my favorite chocolate bars, along with a big chocolate Mikulas and some other Slovak chocolates and candies. Best of all, there were two tickets to the Ministry of Sound party (House dance party) that is coming here this month. I never cleaned my shoes but I must have been a good boy this year.

Later on in the evening, we drove down to the city center where the annual Christmas festival is held. From late November until December 23, loads of people head down to the market where one can meet with friends and family, eat a number of foods, and drink hot wine or rum punch. So we met with a few of Deni’s friends and packed ourselves like sardines into the cans that were the crowds of people. The food was so good, and so cheap. Deni and I shared a couple ciganska sandwiches (see #4-Devin) with mustard, and had some klobasa (sausage). They also had a lot of other foods that we did not partake in. After this week, we will have about 2 weeks of holiday from work, so we’ll probably end up going back there again. I’m personally not much of a fan of that many people in one place, but I just might have to go back because of the food.

#7- Dr. Pepper and 007

So the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, opened up here on Thursday. Usually the movies here open later than in the US, but for some reason this one opened here a week and a day earlier. We decided Friday that we wanted to go. Usually you can reserve your tickets online and even choose what seats you want. But for James Bond, they changed it. You had to buy the tickets. Not wanting to rack up all kinds of international fees, and currency changing fees on my credit card, we decided just to take the day out and cruise around the local mall, Aupark.

So we got to Aupark around 1:00, and the place was getting jam packed. We proceeded upstairs to the movie lobby and purchased the seats we wanted. By this time it was lunch for us and we were hungry. So we headed over to the food court and we had trouble deciding what we wanted. Originally we thought about McDonalds because we hadn’t had it in about 2 months, but we ultimately decided against it since I can eat all the McDonalds I want next week when I go home. We almost went for some chicken wings at KFC, but again, we decided against it.

Finally we stopped at a German schnitzel place. I ordered some chicken cordon bleu, and she ordered čiernohorský rezeň. What is that you ask? Well regular rezeň is basically either a fried piece of breaded chicken or pork fillet. Add the čiernohorský to the word and it’s fried in something like beer batter, rather than normal breading, and shredded cheese is sprinkled on the top. It’s delish! Rezeň is the Slovak word for the German food, schnitzel by the way. A lot of people surprisingly mistake schnitzel for being some sort of sausage. But nope, that’s not that case folks!

So anyway, my point in all this is that as we were about to order, I looked over in the refrigerator and saw a beautiful bottle of Dr. Pepper! I know, I know. What’s so exciting about that Sean? Well you see, I’ve been outside of the US for 3 months, and Dr. Pepper just happens to be my beverage of choice. Oh, and they don’t have it here. So when I saw that bottle I told Deni, “It’s Dr. Pepper, we’re getting it!” So of course we did and we enjoyed a tasty lunch with the sweetness that is Dr. Pepper. So since this was a German place, I expect that it’s the reason why they had it. I will keep my eyes open though.

So later on in the evening, we went back to the movies and proceeded to the concession stand. They were offering some James Bond combo so we bought it. It was a small nacho and a half liter can of Heineken for 79 Slovak crowns. That’s somewhere around $4. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’ve never been able to go to the movies and spend only $4 on a snack and drink. So anyway, we saw Bond, and it was good. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad, just good. I’m not going to give a complete review of the movie but I did think the action sequences and fights were pretty good. I just don’t think it lived up to Casino Royale though. I guess that’s typical with sequels. I just felt like it was missing something and it just wasn’t as exciting. However I still think Daniel Craig is an excellent James Bond and I hope they can pump another movie out in another 2 years because I’m very interested in where they will take him next.

So that’s it for now. I’ve still got a lot of catching up to do, but that will probably have to be put on hold since I’m going home on Thursday. So I’ll probably won’t write until December. See ya then!

#6- Halloween

Hey there. I hope everyone had a happy Halloween. Unfortunately they don’t really celebrate Halloween here in Slovakia. I found that a couple clubs were having Halloween parties with mask contests, and some of the stores sell fake plastic pumpkins, but that’s pretty much the extent that they celebrate. November 1, or All Saints Day is a much bigger event for Slovaks. On this day everyone goes to the cemetery to visit loved ones and they put flowers on the graves. It’s not a celebration at all actually. It’s really considered to be a very sad day. And to make it worse, it’s filled with traffic everywhere you go because everyone is traveling to other towns and cities where their loved ones were buried.

But anyway, I was driving a long in the smartie on Thursday afternoon, and I heard an advertisement for Palace Cinemas. They were having a special scary movie night in celebration of Halloween. And the best part about it was that all movies after 10:00 pm on Friday only cost 1 euro! They had movies starting as late as 2:00 am.

We didn’t like the choice of scary movies they had that night so we decided to go to Max Payne instead. I had mixed feelings about whether to see it or not, so since the prices was so cheap, we just went for it. So the first interesting thing about the theatre that night, was there was a small party in the lobby. They had a live DJ blazing some electronic dance music and the place was extremely crowded. I almost didn’t want to see the movie anymore because I wanted to stay out in the lobby. The second interesting thing to note is that they have a bar in the lobby if you feel like drinking. Or you can buy the Slovak beer, Zlatý Bažant, at the concession stand. This isn’t just something for Halloween by the way. But particularly that night, I think they made all their money on alcohol considering the ticket prices were so low.

The third and most interesting thing about that night was that I have never gone to the movies and seen drunk people. But there were plenty of them that night. People were drunk before the movie even started. Some of them were even obnoxious, but fortunately, once the movie started, everyone calmed down. I thought it was hilarious though. It’s a sight I don’t think I’ll see back at home. Max Payne was extremely disappointing but at least it didn’t cost much. But as the movie ended and we walked back out into the lobby, I enjoyed listening to some more music before going home.

I’ve still got a lot to catch up on from the past few months, so stay tuned!