#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!