A je to! Alebo ako sme s Ivom kopali kanale...

Myslim si, ze nezaskodi trochu zmeny, prenesme sa na chvilu z Anglicka na malebne Slovensko! Povodne som tento blog zakladal ako cestovatelsky dennik, coho je aj vacsina clankov dokazom, avsak clovek nemoze byt stale na ceste a tak sem tam potrebuje DOM. Takze teraz na tuto notu!

Zatial si trufam, ale pravda je taka, ze vobec neviem, co ma vsetko caka... moja jedina utecha je, ze sa nikam neponahlam a kludne budem byvat, kde sa da a kusok po kusku si budem stavat barak... nemam ani zenu, ani deti, tak je to pohoda... Ale uz teraz viem, ze bez kamosov, co to kupili vedla mna, by som bol bez sanci a aj s nimi si asi uplne sami nevystacime. Nehladiac na to, ze by som ten dom ani nekupil, pretoze typ nanho mam presne od kamosa, ktory bude mojim susedom. Aby som sa vyhol vsetkym tym osobnym zamenam, tak ho tu predstavim - postava cislo jedna sa vola Ivan. Niektore veci su fakt prilis velke susto na bandu amaterov.

By ste nas mali vidiet, ako sme v lete robili kanalizaciu!!! Uplne bez planov... teda nakreslil som si v pocitaci podorys celeho bytu, ale to len tak hlavne miestnosti. Kde presne bude wc a umyvadlo som riesil az na mieste, ked som zistil, ze to musim vediet uz teraz. Potom sme zacali kopat. To sice bola makacka, ale aspon pri tom nebolo treba moc rozmyslat. Dobre si vsimnite to slovicko moc! Ono totiz trebalo vediet, pod akym uhlom kopat pripojky a aky to ma mat spad a take detaily... to mal vsak uz Ivan pozistovane. Sranda prisla, ked sme skocili do Ziliny nakupovat potrubia! To sme sa chlapikov v obchode pytali, ake priemery sa naco pouzivaju a ake kolena (30 , 45, 60 stupnov...) sa kde maju davat. Vlastne sme ani nevedeli, co vsetko potrebujeme a samozrejme, ze sme nechceli kupovat nic zbytocne, lebo kazda trubka isla do stovak a my sme boli celkom svorc. Chlapik po 10 minutach zacinal byt zufaly, vyhlasujuc "Ani kokot o tom nevedia a idu robit kanalizaciu!" Nakoniec sme v tom shope boli 3 krat, ale nakupili sme vsetko, co bolo treba. A dokonca podla noriem!

Tym sa to vsak neskoncilo. Bolo totiz treba rurky a kolena spajat. Nie len ze je problem ich dat tam, kam potrebujes - to nie je hadica, ktora sa ohne a natoci, ako je potrebne. To su 5 metrove kanaly, ktore nerobia nic ine len zavadzaju! Najvacsia mordovacka bola pri samotnom spajani. Ani za svet to do seba nechcelo ist! To som prvy krat pocul Ivana seriozne nadavat! Akoze obaja nie sme najslabsi, ale tu sme sa dobre zapotili. Je to totiz robene s tesneniami a tie veru tesnia! Na jednom useku sme to vzdali. Tesnenie sme vyhodili, rurky nahriali nad varicom a spojili! Dufam, ze mi o par rokov nezacnu v kupelke presakovat hovna... ale nie, ono sa to tak inac robilo roky rokuce a stari majstri to tak robia doteraz, tie tesnenia su moderny vynalez a ako to sem tam byva, nie moc prakticky... Podobne sme vyriesili problem s dazdovou vodou. Tentokrat tam jedna trubka nechcela ist ani po dobrotky, ani po zlotky, tak sme ju pekne nahriali a spravili z nej pekne esicko... no, alebo teda chceli spravit. Nakoniec to bol skaredy pozuhvanec, ale splnilo to svoj ucel. Tak uz len zakopat a... a je to!


Pobavili ste sa? ... To som rad... som zvedavy, ake radosti ma este cakaju. Kanalizaciu som totiz - pred tym, ako som sa do nej pustil - povazoval za najlahsiu cast. Uvidime

Even more unusual...

Silvester -or New year's eve as it is properly called in English - is traditionally the biggest party in the year. But why it so? Why do people celebrate it so much? Why do they get so crazy about it? Well I remember many New year's eves, and I associate them with nice memories. But strangely enough, all I can recall are bits and pieces. Before I turned teenage years I had celebrated it somewhere in mountains on our family sky trips. Lot of fireworks and possibility to stay up late. Later on I focused more on my friends and I wanted to spent this "magic" moment of the change of the year number with as many of them as possible. We were usually drunk and were doing crazy things -that's what we called fun and full enjoyment, sometimes even real life! But it was actually the very opposite: the wildest proof of immaturity. At least that's how I look at it now which doesn't mean I condemn anybody for doing so...

For last 3 years I realized that things are getting little silly and I felt that it's more and more not exactly my cup of tea. But years of "practise" were not so easily to be abolished. Oh, how I remember the New year's eve 3 years ago. I was with Efka at that time and she had been seriously sick for more than a week. I wanted to be sympathetic so I heroically professed that I am not going to drink! Well, good effort, but soon after we came to her friends apartment in Trnava I palled up with one chap who offered me a Fernet -to make long story short I ended up quite drunk... maybe not as much as years before, but still... no wonder Efka was angry. And so were I! Not because I had been drinking, but because I had done something what I have had said that I'm not going to do. (wow! If this sentence is flawless then I eat cow chips! Who can let me know?)

The next year, or last year it was much easier because I hadn't been drinking for a while and there were other people around me that didn't drink as well. So finally after approx. 13 years first sober New year's eve!

And this year, you wouldn't recognise me: I went to bed at 11 pm!!! Well it was midnight in Slovakia, so what? I had spent a whole week with my parents (see the article below) and really didn't feel like travelling two days to London (or Plymouth) and back and spending at least 100 quids and all this just for one night. In stead I had spent the night in meditations. I had sent loving kindness to all living creatures at eleven and soon after was sound asleep. The next day -first day of the year - I continued in meditation... what a great way to stick to Slovak idiom: "how on the new year so on the whole year" meaning what you do on the first day of the year you will do during the whole year (do they have any equivalent to this expression?). This was truly a celebration for me, and I'm very glad I had done it!

P.S. it's not true that there is no snow here... the pictures are actual

P.S. I would appropriate English comments because this article was (also) part of my studies...

Tak trochu netradicne vianoce

Zacnem hned z hurta! Kolki z vas (kolko vas inac je? vobec netusim kto si to tu cita...) by ste tento obraz povazovali za "vianocny"? Alebo inac, kolki by ste si pri slove vianoce, predstavili nieco na sposob tohto obrazu? Nemusim byt zrovna jasnozrivec, aby som mohol tvrdit ze malkoto, ak vobec niekto. A predsa len, su na zemi minimalne piati ludia, pre ktorych je tento obraz symbolom hrejivej, prijemnej, rodinnej a hlavne vianocnej atmosfery. Vznikol totiz ako spolupraca celej mojej rodiny v ramci stedreho vecera. Naco pozerat telku, alebo sa prejedat kolacikmi, ked sa da tvorit? Tento kus papiera a farieb bude este dlho pripominat ako sme dokazali tvorivo a hlavne prijmne stravit spolocne cely tyzden. Akokolvek lahko to vyzera, viem velmi dobre ze nie hocijaky piati ludia dokazu zit spolu 24/7, bez chvilky sukromia, zavriet sa do maleho internateveho bytu, alebo auta a kazdy den podnikat spolocne akcie v case aj necase... O to je to krajsie ak je to vasa vlastna rodina.

Co sa vlastne udialo? Nuz potom ako som si dokonale oddychol a stravil prvy tyzden prazdnin sam, postupne sa to tu zacinalo zhustovat. Najprv prisla Nina, moja starsia sestra. S nou a spolu s dalsimi HMC ucitelmi sme pobehali York a Harrogate. Na vianoce (24-teho) sme zacali s vyzdobou a varenim. Nenechal som sa prehovorit na anglicke tradicie, vsetko pekne po slovensky! K veceru dorazil zbytok rodiny, segra Domca a Mama s Tatom. Ti boli nateseni od prvej minuty, stacilo ked videli auto, ktore som pozical na celi tyzden a uz mali vianoce! Ked hovorim ze po slovensky tak po slovenksy! Oslava hned 24-teho, nie 25-teho ako je to zvykom tu. Zemiakovy salat priamo zo slovenska a dokonca aj nejake tie kolaciky. Ja som sa postaral o kapustnicu a rybu -aj ked ta bola uz naporcovana a obalena. Kto by sa stym handrkoval a inac my nemavame ziveho kapra uz skoro dve desatrocia odkedy je Tato vegetarian. Vecera bola zo vsim vsude, dokonca aj ryba musela plavat!

No ale to by bolo na tradicie asi vsetko, zbytok uz bol typicky Valkovicovsky: proste iny! Stromcek nebol, ale zohnal som zopar haluzi a tie vytvorili potrebnu vianocnu aromu, takze sme boli vsetci patrcine naladeni. Cuduj sa svete nejake tie darceky sa tiez nasli. Ja som bol totiz zapadniar materialisticky a nic som nekupil -vsak pockame na povianocne zlavy a vrhneme sa na nakupy niekedy v stvrtok, alebo piatok, nie? Po klasickych hikackach a jeekackach pri rozbalovani darov sme zacali vymyslat. Najprv obraz, potom vselijake vtipne hry (meno slavnej osoby na chrbat a zisti kto si!) a hlavne pohoda.

Na dalsie dni som vzdy naplanoval nejaky ten spolocensko-kulturny program. Najprv som ich poprehanal po Harrogatestkych poliach. Taka mala vychadzka, ulicami, parkami, lesmi, poliami, bazinami, mastalmi a este trocha poliami. Bolo co pozerat a nad cim sa divit tak si niektori ani nevsimli ze spravili 20 km a trvalo nam to cca 6hod. Mama sice uz v polke tvrdila ze ma dost, ale ze je rada ze sa moze premoct. Tato ten obdivoval kazdy murik a kazdy schodik (ty co ste tu boli viete dobre ze to tu je sami mur!!!!). Ku koncu som zaregistroval ze su unaveni, ale to je dobre -aspon im tie ostatne vylety budu pripadat lahsie. A tak aj bolo. Na boxig day (druhy sviatok vianocny -vie niekto preco to tak volaju?) sme predsalen radsej zvolili mesto. York je inac zatial najkrajsie ake som v anglicku videl. Krasne, malebne a historicke mesto. Domi ako z rozpravky, ulicky ako namalovane. Pokial by neboli vsade blikajuce jelene a moderne obchody tak by si jeden kludne mohol mysliet ze je v stredoveku.

V stvrtok prisiel na rad highlight celeho vyletu (aspon teda podla mna) a to bol vylet do Lake District. Uz v aute bola super naladicka. Namiesto nasej klasickej "hadaj na co myslim", ktoru my inac volame "kicuda micuda" - z maderskeho co je to, kto je to -sme sa hrali ine slovne a inteligetne hry: vsak rodina vzdelancov nie? Neivem ako sa tie hry volaju, ale viem ze na ne treba mat dobru slovnu zasobu aj znalosti zo sveta znamych osobnosti, popripade dobru fantaziu! Kusok za Harrogate zacalo prsat a tak to bol pravy anglicky vylet -prsat totiz neprestalo cely den, resp. cele tri dni. Ale nenechali sme si tym pokazit vylet. Pekne sme dorazili az na naplanovane miesto -kusok od Keswicku- nahodili nepremokave oblecenie, resp. kto co mal a vydali sme sa na spociatku malu prechadzku. V lese bolo pekne, za lesom bolo este krajsie a tak z toho nakoniec bola celkom slusna 2 hodinova skoro-tura. Nie zle, na to ze kvapkat neprestalo! Vsak ked to tym ovciam nevadi, tak preco by nam malo, nie? Cestou spat sme sa este stavili na zapadnom pobrezi, ale nic extra nas tam necakalo.

Dalsi den bol nakupno-pozeraci: trebalo predsa aj tie darceky poriesit aj zistit kde to ten Janko byva. V obchodoch boli sice zlavy, ale na second-handy sa to nechyta a tak sme sa obdarovavali v obchodoch s prozaickymi nazvami ako Save the children, alebo Help the Aged... Mama bola v siedmom nebi, lebo si zevraj nikdy predtym nekupila, ci nedostala, 4 veci naraz -skor si myslim ze si to nepamata, ale vsak dobre. Cely cas si uzivala, pretoze 25 rokov nemohla! Ninka bola trochu spomalena a nechapala co sa to deje. Co to tu ti ludia robia? Ako sa mam spravat? Ako sa to robi? Nuz neda sa stale len modlit a meditovat aj ked neprotestoval by som. Tatko sa vytesoval z typickych anglickych svetrov a vpodstate vsetkeho ostatneho -typicky anglickeho! Dominika jasne davala najavo ako jej matkine aj fotrove spravanie lezie na nervy, ale zvladala to celkom dobre. Juj ako ich mam vsetkych rad. Ja som iba pozoroval, ale sem tam som sa zapojil. Po tom tyzdni samoty celkom prijemna zmena. Daleko mam vsak este od uplnej neutrality a nekonfliktnosti. Tiez mi sem tam uletela stiplava poznamka. A aj tento clanok by mohol byt menej ironicky... Napriek tymto, v podstate typickym cestovatelskym mini-konfliktom, ktore vzniknu skoro vzdy a vsade, kde sa stretne viac ako "jeden clovek" a stravi spolu s ostatnymi takmer veskeri cas.

Na sobotu prisiel narad druhy narodny park: Yorkshire Dales. Je tuhla hned za rohom, ale su to len take udolia a zvlnena krajna -na slovensku by sme to narodnym parkom urcite nenazvali- to by sme rovno mohli byt narodny park Slovenska republika! Ale pekne to napriek tomu bolo. Co sa mi vsak pacilo najviac bolo ze celi cas lialo -macky a psy, ziadne mrholenie! A my nic! Pekne sacky na hlavy, bundy a prsiplaste a idemo. Vynechali sme sice prechod poliami, pretoze do oblasti po troch dnoch prichadzaju zaplavy a travniky skor pripominaju ryzove polia, ale okrem toho sme sa nenechali okratit o nic. Pozreli sme si Aysgarath waterfalls, kde sa inac nakrucal Robin Hood s kevinom kostnerom, dali sme si cajicek v staruckej cajovni pri rieke a tak.

Posledny den mi uz dosli napady, a uz sme asi aj mali dost vsetkej tej action a tak sme sa iba isli poprechadzat po meste. A kde sa vzalo tu sa vzalo -krasne slnecne pocasie sa ukazalo! Pekna rozlucka. Dobre mi bolo s rodinkou mojou, trocha rodinnej atmosfery mi tu v chladnom aglicku prislo ako balzam na dusu, ale zaroven som si uvedomil ze uz dlho som snimi nebol na "vylete". A hlavne ze ja uz zahranicie nepovazujem za az tak "ine" az tak "zaujimave", hodne tolkeho porovnavania. Samozrejme ze su tu veci, ktore su ine, veci z ktorych sa ucim aj veci ktore sa mi az tak nepacia, ale uz nemaju pre mna az taky naboj ako napr. pre moju Mamu, ci Otca. Je to dobre? Ci zle? Ci na tom nezalezi?

cyklo vylet a samota

Ako som uz spominal mam tyzden volna a skoro uplnej samoty, kym nepride cela moja rodina, a tak si to dokonale vychutnavam. Pekne po malych davkach si vyplnam dni aktivitami ktore ma naozaj bavia. Nechcem si to pokazit prilisnym planovanim a nahlenim sa a zaroven chcem mat klud a pohodu a tak vsetko pekne pomaly. Jedna-dve hlavne aktivitky za den a zbytok pekne relax, studium anglictiny a vypisovanie mailov.
Prve dni som vyslovene relaxoval a maloval, teraz nastal cas na trocha aktivnejsie travenie casu. Dnes rano som sa vybral na cyklo turu. Spomenul som to pre Gyulom a tak sa pridal ku mne. Isli sme do Riponu co je 12 mil. Neviem preco -zijem s milami uz treti rok a stale mam tu tendenciu ich podcenovat. Myslel som si ze to bude uplny veget, ale predsa len nie je najteplejsie a po chvilke som si vsimol ze tie mile ubiehaju akosi pomalsie. Na zaver som si vdaka slastnemu pocitu v nohach uvedomil ze som spravil viac ako 40 km, co je pre netrenovany zadok vcelku dost. Zbytok dna som stravil v pohodli mojho kresielka s sprtil som stovky anglickych slovickach ktore sa vyskytuju iba v knihach -boze kolko toho neviem!
No a viete co som si prave vsimol, resp. uvedomil? Ak ste zili niekde v zahranici tak ste si mozno uvedomili ze ste vela krat akysi smutny a ze vam chybaju priatelia. Mozno to vyznie divne, ale myslel som si ze nemam problem byt sam -uz viac krat som takto fungoval -aj v zahranici, aj doma... aj dlhsiu dobu, aj kratkodobo... a vacsinou to nebol problem. Ale tu som bol akysi nesvoj a zoparkrat som mal taku light depku. Avsak akonahle zacali prazdniny -cize som sam "este viac" tak som v pohode. Problem nie je skola, to by som asi musel zmenit zamestnanie... problemom su ludia okolo mna... Posledne dva roky som mal okolo seba tych najlepsich kamaratov a ludi s ktorymi si naozaj rozumiem a s ktorymi pravdepodobne zostatanem v kontakte este velmi dlho. Tu som prisiel do komunity ludi, ktori my toho vela nehovoria. Vsimol som si to hned na zaciatku a tak som si isiel svojou vlastnou cestou... ale aj tak som sa sem-tam citil sam. Akonahle vsak vsetci ludia, s ktorymi som tu v kontakte, odisli tak som ovela pozitivnejsii. Nechcem nikoho obvinovat ani sa vyhovarat. Ale Pokial musim kazdy den riesit problemy s inymi ludmi, pocuvat staznosti inych ludi, sledovat spravanie inych ludi tak ma to ovplyvnuje. Pokial musim zit v tomto mierne nehostinom prostredi, kde som cudzinec tak musim byt silnejsi -aky som teraz evidentne nestaci. Od zaciatku prazdnin som skoro uplne sam a je to super -idem si vlastnou cestou, organizujem si den ako chcem, nemusim pocuvat anglickych pubertakov a prisposobovat sa ucitelom, pripadne housemastrom. Prekvapilo ma to trocha pretoze v amerike som bol tiez sam -nesam. Vzdy boli okolo mna ludia, a viac krat sa stalo ze my nie uplne vyhovovali. Sem tam ma to hodilo do takej melancholickej nalady, ale zvladol som to. A hlavne som si myslel ze som sa naucil ako to zvladat. Asi nie uplne. Je mi jasne ze nemozem zit sam a ze vzdy budu okolo mna ludia -teda hlavne pokial budem pracovat a pohybovat sa v spolocnosti. Takze cesta samoty daleko nevedie -aspon zatial nie. Len teda preco ma ludia tolko ovplyvnuju. Teraz sa vyslovene tesim z kazdej minuty a este som sa ani chvilku nenudil. Prave naopak -zajtra pride moja sestra a v sobotu David (dalsi ucitel z HMC programu) s priatelkov a tak mam uz len neceli den pre seba sameho. Dufam ze do januara pridem nato ako sa nenechat ovplyvnovat ludmi okolo seba a byt v pohode zo svetom okolo mna ako aj zo sebou. Caka ma este pol roka v tomto viac menej statickom prostredi a vonkajsok moc nezmenim, tak musim zmenit vnutro, cize seba... a uzivat si skolsky rok tak isto ako prazdniny!
A samozrejme ide aj o to ze druhy ludia su aj velmi prospesny -okrem toho ze nam nastavuju neocenitelne zrkadlo, tak nam aj umoznuju milovat a pracovat s laskou...

(ak nahodou nieco z tohto posobi fasisticky, tak to len preto ze som nevedel najst lepsie slova...)

koniec bloku

Tak prave mi zacali prazdniny... pekne som sa ulozil do mojho kresielka v obyvacke -perinka, cajik, knizka, compik a muzicka. Cele si to pekne vychutnam. Mam sice prazdnu chladnicku ale na nakupim dnes nejdem -can't be bothered, ako by povedali studenti. Je moc freshno na to aby som sa dal na taku vychadzku a vobec, na takyto chill out som sa tesil od zaciatku tyzdna. Neviem ako dlho vydrzim, ale par dni totalneho relaxu sa mi zide. Po vikende asi pojdem na malu cyklo cestu -ale najprv ho musim opravit, alebo prechadzku a platno s farbamy sa na mna tiez uz pekne usmievaju... juuuj vsetko pekne po malych dvakach a s dokonalou vsimavostou.

Pocas tyzdna som ju totozil dost casto stracal. Viem ze o praci je nuda pisat, ale ked clovek stravi 3/4 dna v skole tak sa ineho ani tak vela nedeje. Matika isla super. Mal som 28 hodin, pretoze jedna ucitelka isla na honeymoons do Himalaji a tak som mal year7, 8, 9, 10 a lower6, U6. Inac nebolo v tom vela ucenia, pretoze siedmaci a osmaci pisali velky test a tak som ich dozoroval, potom spusta opravovania a potom dve hodiny prechadzania testom. Lower six a upper six makaju na svojich past testoch... trocha vysvetlovania tam bolo ale trapas v U6 som spravil dve chyby... to uz je celkom serio matika, moja stredna a vyska su uz celkom daleko a v Bratislave som to neucil, ani tu som ich to neucil iba som prisiel na zaver termu a bum sprav snimi minulorocny exam test. Niektore veci sa podla mna u nas ani neucia, tak som si to musel nastudovat... no to je jedno, len vacsinou sa u starsich studentov respekt ziskava prehladom v danom predmete, takze chyby nie su bohvie co, aj ked samozrejme vsetci sme len ludia.
Najvacsia makacka boli y8 a y9, pretoze ti prvi su bottom set cize su z matiky uplne mimo a tym padom vyrusuju, nebavi ich to a hlavne tomu fakt nerozumeju... vela krat v spojeni s personalnymi problemami, a problemami pozornosti. Zatial co y9 su top set a ty su zase velmi dobri a tak si myslia ze si mozu aj vela dovolovat... jedno s druhym bol to celkom namahavy tyzden. Mozno aj preto ze posledne hodiny som sa snazil s nimi robit rozne akitivity ako kone a jazdci (rodinka moja pamatate si to?) a ine puzzle a hadanky a to je ovela narocnejsie na ukocirovanie pracovnej atmosfery v triede, hlavne ked k tebe nemaju taky respekt ako k anglickym ucitelom. Dnes som na y8 totolne nakrical, pretoze som nebol schopny im vysvetlit pravidla hry ktoru som si pripravil -proste ako banda opic: nepocuvali ani svojich spoluziakov. Bola to aktivita pri ktorej sme stali v kruhu v strede triedy a ja som bol v strede. Ziak na ktoreho som namieril pistolov si musel cupnut a zici po jeho lavici a pravici na seba museli vystrelit spravnu odpoved na otazku ktoru som povedal ja. Jasne ze neboli ticho, ale aby som nepocul vlastneho slova!!!! Hooops uslo mi "I am totaly pissed!!!" co detska hned zaregistrovali ako totalne inapropriate for teacher... fungovalo to chvilu... ale po chvili sa opat vratili do anarchie az to skoncilo prevratenou lavicou a to som mal uz dost! Nekrical som. Iba som ich vsetkych usadil na svoje miesta a zakazal im ceknut co len slovo. Do konca hodiny -dlhych 10 minut -nemohli nic robit a museli byt ticho ako mysi! Nikto ani necekol! Bol som fakt nahnevany a tak posledny den v skole mal 10 min. nudy. Na zaver som sa im ospravedlnil za to ze som zahresil, ale aj som si vyziadal ospravedlnenie od nich, pretoze ich spravanie tiez nebolo apropriate! Povedal som im ze su velmi narocny na zvladnutie a ze nie je fer ked ja pridem s aktivitami ktore su ine ako klasicka hodina a oni to totalne zrusia. Tiez som im vysvetlil ze od skoly nemozu ocakavat nic nerobenie... to nech ostanu doma! Vsetci pekne ako anielikovia sa ospravedlnili a pozelali mi happy christmas. Okrem tohto incidentu a trocha sklamania z tej hodiny v U6 mam inac velmi dobry pocit z celeho tyzdna. Ked ma ziaci vidia ucit tak sa voci mne spravaju inac, ako ked tam len tak sedim a pomaham inym ucitelom...

Tak to len tak na zaciatok. Ja mam teraz spustu casu a tak konecne budem mat cas vam vsetkym poriadne odpisat. Moja situacia sa celkom ustalila, ale stale sa sem tam stane ze so mnou trochu zametaju, nie je to lahke. Kolko krat si vravim ze mojemu housemastrovi poviem to alebo ono, a nakoniec je z rozhovoru len kopa zdvorilosti a "porozumenia". Moc sa to asi zmenit neda, aj ked kazda pripomienka, namietka a staznost urcite spravi svoje. Ale musi nasledovat bezchybny dokaz ze som hodny ich dovery... A priori nas podcenuju, takze je to tazke, ale kusok po kusku sa im snazim dokazovat ze mam hlavu a viem sa o veci postarat. Tym ze nie som uplne zacleneni do ucitelskeho kolektivu mi unikaju informacie o skolskych akciach -vela krat je to inac aj koli anglictine. Ked sa na staff meetingu vychrli 30 oznamov v priebehu 15tich minut tak zeregistrujem len tie co sa ma nevyhnutne tykaju a ked je to akysi "geography trip next week" tak to rychlo vysumi a prisumi to az ked pridem na hodinu a studenti nikde! Stalo sa mi to po prichode z Londyna co som bol dost nevyspaty a kebyze o tom viem tak spim o hodinu dlhsie!!!

Tak mili a drahi to by bolo vsetko. Ak mate osobnejsie, alebo konkretnejsie otazky neotalajte a napsite mi mail...

Boars Head Feast

Ako vsetci viete toto je internatna skola a tak sa tu raz za cas deju aktivity, ktore na dennych skolach nemaju priestor. Jednou s nich je slavnostny vecer, zaver prveho bloku a privitanie vianoc: Boars Head Feast.
Rozpravalo sa tu o tejto hostine uz od zaciatku roka, ale moc som nevedel ze co to bude, okrem toho ze je to jedina noc ked si ziaci mozu robit srandu z ucitelov (teda oficialne). Slavnostna vecera s maskarnymi prvkami vyznela ako totalne sialenstvo. Vsetci piskali a saleli. Tiez som sa nechal trochu uniest a s mini vodnymi pistolimi sme sa strielali zo studentami. Potom honosna hlava prasata presla halou a mohli sme zacat jest. Prekvapivo jedla nebolo az tak vela a nebolo ani take dobre. Suche meso aj zemiaky, riesia to polievanim tzv. Gravy sauce, ktora tomu doda stavu, ale nechuti bohvie ako... klasicke anglicke jedlo: bez chuti. Potom presiel halou zapaleny puding a na stoloch sme mali traditional christmas puding.

Po celom tomto karnevalovom blaznovstve sme sa presunuli do skolskej haly a zacalo sa divadlo. Kazdy inernatny dom si pripravil vlastne predstavenie. Mame tu Lancaster house, kde su junior a senior chlapci do roku 9. Potom Brigs house a Mallinson house, kde su chalani od year 10 az do upper 6 a jeden dievcensky barak- Norfolk. Predstavenie mali aj skolsky red ties, co je najvacsia pozicia studentov v skole a na zaver sme boli mi ucitelia.
Poviem vam teda ze ziaci sa stym moc neparali. Vzdy sa zamerali na urcitu vlastnost daneho ucitela, bud typicke tyki, slova alebo gestikulaciu a totalne to zvelicili. Niekedy az prehnane a na hranici drzosti. Pravda je vsak ta ze som sa nasmial do sytosti. Vacsina udalosti bola pravdiva a mnohy ucitelia naozaj maju divne az uchylne sposobi spravania... vyslovene si to ziada sparodovanie. Zopar udalosti bolo vymyslenych, ale studenti opat dokazali ze ich pozornemu oku neunikne ziadna chybicka, alebo preslap a tu to pekne vsetko vyslo na svetlo! Niektori ucitelia boli v kazdom sketchy (predstaveni) ako napriklad moj housemaster, ktory je vyslovene preslaveny svojim "hi, are you OK? Ok, ok catch up with you later" alebo "thank you indeed!" a typickym vzticenym palcom.

Gyula bol tiez v troch predstaveniach. V dvoch ako plavec (minuly rok o sebe tvrdil ze je dobry plavec a na pretekoch plaval stylom prsia..., tento rok boli opat preteky -vsetci si zneho robili srandu a taktiez zistovali moje plavecke schopnosti. Ja som vzdy len tak neutralne odpovedal ze plavat viem, a ze nie som najhorsi... ked prisli preteky tak som ich suverejne vyhral a tak nikto nechapal. Nebolo to tazke a ja naozaj nie som bohvie aky borec iba ze rad plavem a tak sem tam skocim na bazen a v lete som na jazerach...) a v tretej hre bol samozrejme Boratom. Dost typicka reakcia studentov na nas vychodoeurpanou je ci sme z Kazachstanu, alebo klasicke poznamky ako "great success" ci "jak se mas?" (hlasky s filmu Borat, pre nezasvetenych). Nie je to bohvie co, ale uz som si na to zvykol. Gyula bol po predstaveni urazeny, ale ked sa na druhy den prisli baby ospravedlnit tak to poprel... Dobre bolo ze si robili srandu aj zo spoluziakov.

Ja som nebol ani v jednom predstaveni a iba baby ma raz spomenuli ako plaveckeho trenera Gyulu... Moze to znamenat dve veci: bud som pre nich nudny a nezaujimavy, alebo ma proste necheli zosmiesnit, pripadne nevedeli ako. Vsetci ucitelia mi hovorili ze fakt mozem byt rad, a ze to ze tam nie som je pozivitivne...

Christingle Service and some more

Don't know what is christingle? Don't worry neither did I few hours before! Apparently it's is a big thing here, because we had a formal chapel tonight. So what it is then? Well just an orange pierced by toothpicks with gummy bears and stabbed by candle. Then almost ritually lighted by one candle form the front. Of course under scrutinising fire-hazard safety conditions. Traditions are different all around the world so I shouldn't be so negative, should I? This one started in 1749 in a church in Germany by a Bishop. His name was Bishop John de Watteville and he led worship among the Moravian Congregation in Marienborn, Germany. He was the creator of the Christingle service. Christingle means "Christ-Light." The whole service was as usually full of hymn singing, praying and students reading various speeches and "funny"-christian-for kids-orientated dialogues. At least they are trying to make it interesting. Actually at the beginning of the year I found it interesting, but now I am starting to find them ridiculous, naive and brainwashing. The main point was to create a christingle and after we have done so and sung some more songs the service was over.

But there are other things happening as well. After I came back from London I focused on teaching. In the last week one teacher is going for her honeymoons so I will take over all her lessons. Finally some action! So I have two weeks to assimilate with her classes. Right from beginning I can say that I enjoy it much more than the ones I had with my boss -head of Maths. This teacher is much more relaxed and so are the students. The way she teach is maybe little traditional but she is really nice and natural -not like... Nice is that except from year 8 she has top sets or set 3 in year 10. The students are divided into set according to their maths skills, so it's obviously better to teach set 1 then set 5 because the kids like what they are doing!

As you already know teaching is not the main area which occupies me here... there was an annual staff vs. students basketball match this Wednesday. We all knew that students are much better in the game, and in good physical shape -well what do you expect when they have trainings twice a week and match at least once a month! Unlike the teachers who never played to gather! Despite this tremendous disadvantage we were not hammered and the final score was 22:17 for students. Well done and much enjoyed! Then on Friday I participated in 4-a-side football, so my week was quite active as usual. I was on duty during the weekend, which meant that I had to be in the house all the time, but unlike the other assistants I have no problem with finding something to do, so I enjoyed it and relaxed as well.

Lastly a thing worth mentioning. In our house was one boy -Brano (names are changed just to protect my self). He was a trouble since beginning and I was told that he is in the boarding as a punishment for his previous problems. I had few serious issues with him. The last one happened this week. He and his roommates messed about just before the lights out, so me and Dano -the head of house- took care of it, or better to say Dano get really angry and yelled at them using vast variety of swear words. The next morning Brano called me "penis" because I haven't done anything to stop Dano... well altogether it was just too much so I have written a letter to Headmaster and Head of Boarding and poor Brano is expelled from boarding and also from school for two weeks -at least that's what I heard so far, but I still don't have the official answer...

Well that's it from last gossips... see ya!

London calling

Takze tentokrat iba v slovencine pretoze sa ide ohovarat..., ale nie, proste len citatelia, o ktorych viem, tvoria dve skupiny: ty co citaju iba slovenske prispevky a ty co citaju iba anglicke prispevky, no a su aj taky ktori rozumeju obom jazykom, ale pravdepodobne si radsej precitaju tu slovensku verziu a tento clanok je len pre nich.

Nas squeeze team exploration pekne pokracuje a rozrasta sa. Tento vikend sa k jadru Katalin a Ja pridala nasa verna Martina a traja novacikovia: Guyla, David a Balint - celkom srandovna trojka, uz len tie mena zneju ako nejaka vtipna kreslena rozpravka... Vsetci traja su madarskej narodnosti zatial co prvi traja spomenuti su v podstate Ceskoslovaci, tak sme vytvorili nepisane dve skupinky. Nic v zlom, ale nasa skoro nadavka "ty si ale madar!" ma svoje opodstatnenie. Chlapci boli totiz trochu spomaleni a akoby z ineho sveta. Gyula sa zo vsetkeho tesi a vsetko pozoruje ako maly chlapec, David je naopak velky, rozumny, ale aj tvrdohlavy a netrpezlivy, zatial co Balint vyznel kludne a spokojne -neviem vsak ci to nebolo len preto ze si nebol isty svojou anglictinou.

S Guylom som cestoval v piatok hned po skole do Londyna. Tu v Harrogate si z neho skoro kazdy robi srandu a Sebastianovi a Nelly vyslovene lezie na nervy. Dost dobre som sa snim porozprval a snazil som sa mu trocha vysvetlit ze to jeho detinske spravanie spojene s poucovanim druhych moze naozaj ludi iritovat. Je vsak pravda ze to mysli dobre. Mna osobne to iba pobavuje a chalaniska mam celkom rad, len teda nema to tu lahke -cely jeho zjav akoby ziadal poznamky a nerespektovanie.

Dorazili sme neskoro v noci na Victoria station a vdaka detailnym instrukciam od Martini sme nasli jej skolu a intrak bez problemov. Vecer sme sa chvilku porozpravali a isli sme spat... pri lihani do postele sa ma Guyla spytal ci mi vadi chrapanie? Ja ze brutalne! A tak sa chalanisko bez slova zdvihol, zobral si madrac a spal v chodbicke... velmi mile gesto. Doteraz som vzdy trpel, alebo to riesil stuplami do usi, ktore som si vsak tentokrat zabudol.

Sobota bola celkom nabita. Najprv k nam dorazili Katalin so zbytkom a vidali sme sa na japosnku turistiku. Ked uz mam tu kameru tak by som ju mal aj vyuzit, nie? Ale co London je starodavne a historicke mesto, tak to stalo za to! Len ti ludia! Ako mravce, fuj... Londyn sa sice nepodoba na Chicago, ale svojou preludnenostou a velkostou som si pospominal na moj zivot vo velkomeste. Plus stretol som sa s Gonzalesom -ceskym kamosom z Chicaga a tak bolo na co spominat. Chalanisko je v anglicku par mesiacov, a tesne pred vikendom sa mi ozval ze je tu a ze ide do Londyna, ja ze tiez a tak sme si vymenili telefonne cisla... moc sa nezmenil: klasika ploskacka vo vacku a pobehovanie po meste. Domov soferoval 150 mil a to ze pil ho samozrejme vobec nevzrusovalo.

Na veceru sme skocili do China town, co zacina byt pomali moja klasika. V zahranici vacsinou jem zahranicne jedla... china, india, mexico... Na vecer sme planovali ist do baru, alebo na disku, ale nakoniec sme skoncili u Davida kde sme hrali konverzacno-herecke hry. Konecne banda ludi ktora sa vie zabavat aj bez alkoholu -aj ked mozne len preto ze sa nam ziaden nepodarilo kupit, pretoze vsetko bolo zavrete.

Nedela bola totalne spomalena, pretoze sme isli spat o 4tej rano a tak sme stavali o 10tej niektori na obed! S Martinou sme vytvorili akusi ceskoslovensku opoziciu a dost kruto sme sa zabavali na margo madarov -fakt som si nemohol pomoct, su to super chalani, ale niektore ich reakcie proste ziadaju komentar. Celkovo som si s Marinou dost dobre rozumel, co mi padlo ako balzam na dusu v tomto cudzom a velakrat nehostinnom prostredi... a hlavne prostredi samich chalanov, aspon teda co sa intraku tyka. Napisal by som aj viac, ale kedze si to bude asi aj ona citat, tak sa zdrzim komentara.
Z bytu sme sa vytrepali az po obede a tak to babi vzdali a nechali nas na pospas velkomestu. Nic to v Londyne sme sa stretli s Davidovou znamou Zitou (tiez madarka) a ona zavolala svoju kamosku,... fuha-neviem-ako-sa-volala... tato bola pre zmenu francuzka. Dievcatka boli pekne co len malina, ale aj patricne afektovane a tak som sa len prechadzal a pozoroval. Gyula bol v siedmom nebi. Uz som sa nedokazal, resp. nechcel preorientovat na ich hladinu. S Katalin a Martinou si rozumieme akosi bez slov, a tu to bolo len o slovach, celkovo dost zbytocnych slovach a tak som ich trochu posetril.
Zato na spiatocnej ceste som opat hodil hlboke debaty s Gyulom a chalanisko nie je vobec taky hlupi ako vyzera! Len ked ludia okolo sa vacsinou zujimaju iba o to ako ten druhy vyzera... Napr. hovoril ze pocity su hlboko za vedomim a ze je mozno az nemozne ich ovladat. Nuz nebit meditacie tak mu dam aj za pravdu...

A day that changed my life for the better.

The day took place back in 1999, it was, in June, 9th June to be precise. I can still vividly recall the memories and feelings that I had on that particular day. The reason why I remember the date is because it is my birthday, but that is not the point.

The reason why this day stand out from the haze of all the other days, I have lived so far, is elswhere. I was on a four week train journey around Spain and had been ther for already a week. Since it was a low budget trip I was quite tired and also fed up with all the tickets arrangements and with all the difficulties one has to face when travelling on one’s own in foreign country. A little discomfort and occasional rush is a daily occurrence.
But not on this day. No, I decided to enjoy it as much as possible. So after I woke up I went straight to the beach. Oh, how much I love hot Mediterranean sun on my skin and sea watter in which to swim! No rush, no train-timetable checking, no misunderstandings with nonenglish speaking Spanish people. No thoughts like where am I going to sleep, or what am I going to eat. Not today. Today is my birth day and I am going to celebrate it! Everything that I am doing, I am doing with absolute consciousness and peace in my heart. Just here and now. I am lying on a beach in a small Spanish coast at town, fully enjoying the richness of the moment. Later on that day I bought my self fresh, juicy tropical fruits, and walked down the street appreciating their unique taste. Simple things like this were giving me unimaginable pleasure.

Nothing more happened, nothing more interesting. So I must explain why it changed my life. Well, it was the first birthday that I really lived through and fully appreciated. The first time I was truly happy with myself. The first time it was no problem being alone and not being lonely. This day helped me to leave behind the teenage depressions and step forward towards a possitve future, and that I call a change!

Lake District

Squeeze team was very good idea. To be honest, at the beginning I thought it wouldn't last for long. I already met many other groups and teams of people outside Slovakia, and it was usually just temporary friendship. Only few exceptions, like Tomas Deli, are disproving the rule. I hope there will be more! First meeting of squeeze team was a big success so we decided to continue the action. Before I start to tell the story I have to say one thing: there is no exact definition of squeeze team -basically anybody who is open-minded and willing-to-travel can become a member. This time me, Katalin and Martina (Czech HMC teacher) decided to go to England's treasure land called Lake District. The highest mountains and most beautiful lakes are situated in this middle west part of England. It used to be peace of land responsible for many quarrels and hassles between Dukes and Kings because everybody wanted to have it in their shire.
Once again we went for the option which killed two birds with one stone: rent a car, which provides transport and accommodation... First plan was to meet at Friday night and sleep at my place in Harrogate since it is relatively close to the park. But my housemaster didn't really like the idea of two women sleeping in boys boarding house -strangely one would be OK! And the fact that they are teachers didn't help either. So we adjusted our plans and girls travelled over night. I picked them up on Saturday morning at 6:40... good time for starting the day, but it didn't happened. We didn't leave Harrogate until as late as 10 am. You know: shower, breakfast, renting car, shopping in supermarket...
But we managed to leave, and decided to go through Yorkshire Dales (another national park, even closer to Harrogate) just to have nice views from the car, rather than just go on highway. The weather forecast for the whole week was horrible -as Martina said: "It's going to rain dogs and cats" which obviously induce amusement among native speakers... Surprisingly for country famous for rain and fog it didn't look like it at all. In fact at mid-day it was so nice that I decided -as the driver of the car- for the whole team that we should do our today's hiking now. No matter we were just in the middle of our way, somewhere in the Dales. I just stopped on first parking lot available and we hiked small hill. I'm not sure but it was called something like Cam Heat... anyway it was just a nice walk beyond the village. Parking was ridiculously expansive so spent there only 2 hours. At least we just made it during the dry and sunny part of the day, because the forecast was slowly fulfilling... for the rest of the day we just drove towards the Lake district discussing where exactly we wanna go. Finally we decided to go to Coninston and tomorow go for peak with curious name: Old man of Coninston. Since we came to the town quite early and the dogs finally begun to fall we ended up in local pub, discussing, chatting and having fun. It's like healing balm for the soul to feel the mutual understanding, sharing common opinions and coming from similar backgrounds. Everything sounded so meaningful, so wise, so warm and nice! I'm sure girls will agree with me, even though the rum might made it easier for them to feel all of this.
We were looking for the place to sleep for a while but found one parking lot without the usual sign "no over night parking", eventually. The rain on the body of the car is lovely tune for peaceful night -well if you are trained and used to sleep in little more uncomfy conditions than warm bed with teady bear next to you...
The good spell was dwelling upon us, because the whole night rain ceased in morning and before we start to hike the Old man there was no rain at all. Everything was nicely washed out and refreshed. The air was chili and ground soaked, but the whole scenery was marvelous. I already mentioned that the altitudes in England are not that high, but the actual appearance of the mountains is not that bad. Old man is only 800m high, and the hills around it are not much higher, since the highest mountain in England (Scaffel Pike) is only 978m. But the numbers are not everything. Mountains here have only few trees so there are great views almost everywhere and they look massive and solid. They look reddish and brownish due to plant called Header, grass, fallen leaves and earth. Now they were full of autumn colours, bright and vivid. We didn't managed to reach the summit, because it was like 7 hours hike and we had only 5 if we wanted to be safe for the bus from Leeds to London. Well, it doesn't matter, because after few ours we reached clouds and the visibility was getting poor, so it wouldn't make much difference to get to the top, except the fact that we conquered the peak -witch just a human vanity anyway... The point was to be outside, to chat and to refresh our minds from monotonic days in the System! And we fulfilled this point, so it was all fine. On the way back we already discussed the further development of squeeze team... so this weekend we are meeting in London!
pics will come soon

len tak

Pomaly sa dostavam na anglicku uroven ironie, drzosti a urazania. Celkovo tu totiz prevlada komunikacia, ktora v sebe zahrna vsetky tri spomenute vlastnosti... vacsinou to na zaver odlahcia niecim ako "I was just kidding...sir". Naivne som si myslel, ze som vytrenovany z intraku a privatu, ale tu to nadobuda dalsiu dimenziu.O asistentoch som uz pisal… zmenilo sa len jedno… komunikujem s nimi menej a menej.
Anglicki ucitelia okolo mna su uplne ine kafe. Po profesionalnej stranke sa mam co ucit. Po osobnostnej, cest zopar vynimkam, je to bieda. Same “Hello, how are you”... pricom to “you” je povedane tri metre od teba... Tak to tu cele sledujem a pozorujem. Tiez som zaregistroval akusi pychu, alebo ego, ktore je tu kruto davane dolu, pretoze Slovensko tu znie asi ako Azerbajdzan u nas! Niektori si uz vsimli ze ucit viem, ale priatelstvo z toho nevznikne.Pomaly si zvykam aj na dennu, resp. tyzdennu rutinu... uz sa ani nesnazim o bohvie ake nadvazovanie kontaktov. S ostatnymi asistentmi sa stretavam len pri jedle a sem tam v skole, ale skoro vobec sa nenavstevujeme a akosi polavili aj v sportovani, a tak si valim pekne sam... v pondelok CPE kurz angliny, v utorok vacsinou Duty na intraku, v stredu lezenie na stene, vo stvrtok plavaren, v piatok Duty, v sobotu behanie po meste, cekovanie miestnych secondhandov a outletov (uz som nakupil zopar vychytavok...) a v nedelu po obede hry a aktivity (futbal, basketbal, bedminton) a vecer chapel. Sem tam sa niekto prida, co je mila obmena, ale uz mi je jasne, ze pocas celeho roka tu ozajstnych priatelov mat nebudem.
Tak isto viem, ze co sa prace tyka, sa to asi velmi nezmeni. Je jedno, ci pracujem vela, alebo malo, plat mam taky isty... co je trocha nebezpecne (hrozi zlenivenie) ...zatial sa vytazujem naplno, aj ked ani zdaleka nie ako v BA (tam to vsak bolo dobrych 120%, co nie je zdrave). Nasiel som si zopar hodin chemie, kde tiez asistujem. Nic uchvatne, len pozorujem ucitela a triedu a sem tam niekomu pomozem. Z anglickeho nazvoslovia som dost mimo, ale teoriu si na prekvapenie pamatam. Sporty su teda pravidelnostou a dost vela casu travim v izbe, bud za internetom, alebo citanim... alebo pozeram telku - BBC ako trening listeningu... Co sa kurzu anglictiny tyka, tam by som mohol zabrat viac, ale akosi to odkladam. Vzdy dam prednost kamosom na internete ktorym odpisujem dlhe maily, alebo vypisovanim na blog... ako teraz!Ozvala sa mi Evka, bol to velke prekvapko... a znamenalo to pre mna vela, pretoze od rozchodu to boli prve slova, ktore som od nej pocul z jej vlastnej iniciativy...
Pomaly rozmyslam, co dalej. Anglicko by naozaj bola hlupost opustit, aj ked so samotnymi prachmi neviem neviem, uz som kupil kameru, a hned mi beha po rozume aj laptop... hroza tie materialisticke tuzby a chtice! Takze moje nastavenie na sporenie sa zatial nekona. Na stastie dom je dobra motivacia, aj ked stale to je len materia! Cesta na vychod to trocha vyvazuje! Tiez by som si rad niekedy zablbol a nebol stale prikladom, a niekedy tu toho mam plne zuby, ale vtedy si vzdy spomeniem na Little Miss Sunshine, kde jeden chlapik hovoril chalaniskovi, co nerozpraval, ze tie najhorsie casy ta najviac posuvaju dopredu!!!

Skotsko, in medias res (preklad, ine obrazky)

Pondelok rano. Balime vsetky potrebne veci na 4dnovi vylet autom a v aute. Hura, auto sa stane nasim dopravnym prostriedkom a domov v jednom. Takze cena za prenajom vlastne zabila dve muchy jednou ranou... aj tak nie je mozne spat vonku v takychto podmienkach (5-10 C, vlhko, hmla... Britania...) bez spacakov. Takze sme zbalili periny (este nikdy som necestoval s niecim tak domacim...), mapy a teple handry a vyrazili sme.

Nasa prva destinacia bol Forth William, resp. Ben Nevis. Dramaticky efekt tejto hory, britskej najvyssej hory, je umocneny skutocnostou ze zacina stupat z nadmorskej vysky 9m na brehu jazera Loch Linnhe, az kym nevytvory monument 1334m vysoko nad mestom Forth William, co posobi tak trocha otcovsky. Samotne cislo neznie vela pre Europanov zvyknutych na Vysoke Tatry, Alpy pripadne Karpaty. Ale nez budes sudit, zober do uvahy, ze Skotsko lezi v severnejsom zemepisnom pasme, co vytvara klimu podobnu arktickym regionom, a nemal by si zanedbat ani fakt, ze zaciatok cesty je 9m nad urovnou mora, takze vyskovy rozdiel je presne vyska hory... Zapadne pravidla a bezpecnostne predpisy su trochu viac strnule, takze panika vo visitor centre sa nas pre istotu opytala, ci chceme zdolat ich pychu dnes? Bolo nieco okolo 14:00 a pocko bolo super (na Skotsko!). Pravdu povediac, vobec sme nepremyslali, jednoducho si to vybehneme nie? Ale ked nam tetula povedala ze to trva dobrych 7 hodin, pripadne 5 ak sme fakt vo forme, tak sme si to radsej rozmysleli. Dodala sice, ze sa to da stihnut aj za hodinu a pol, ale to je narodny rekord a ten asi neprekoname. Nema problema prideme zajtra!

Pre dnesok mozeme ocekovat Loch Ness. Dalsie senzacne a velmi zname miesto. Na mape sme nasli maly kopec, ktory sme sa rozhodli zdolat - nech sa dame do formy na to monstrum! Prijemna vychadzka. Spali sme na brehu jazera. Vecer sme si spravili malu disku okolo auta... traja ucitelia vypusteny z klietky! Jazero je temne a hlboke (280m!!!), obklopene kopcami. Cele Skotsko postrada stromy, takze kazdy kopec vyzera masivne a ponuka uchvatne vyhlady.

Bez ohladu na to, co budem pisat v najblizsich riadkoch, clovek by mal vzdy byt poriadne pripraveny na turu! Jednoducho pretoze je v horach. Ibaze ste totalne chtivi turisti a nemate vsetku tu potrebnu vybavu, tak potom proste chodte do toho! Ja som zdolal ten kopec v skejtackych teniskach, normalnych nohaviciach a vo vlnenom triku. To triko bolo teda riadne na chuja, ale co! Koho to trapi teraz? Spravili sme to za uctyhodnych 7 a pol hodiny hore a dole. Ziadna sranda! Ale je pravda, ze sme cely cas kecali, a tempo bolo tak do pohody. Podla cestovneho sprievodcu 9 z 10tich dni je vrch zahaleny v oblakoch. Pocas celej tury to vyzeralo, ze sa trafime do tejto predpovede a ze moc toho neuvidime - co je jeden z dovodov, preco sa ludia stveraju tak vysoko, nie? Bolo extremne veterno, zima a horna stvrtina Benu bola namocena v hustej mliecnej hmle. Ale mali sme naozaj stastie, pretoze tesne pred dosiahnutim vrcholu sa oblaky zacali vytracat a pocko spravilo jednu peknu 360tku, obnazujuc dych vyrazajuce vyhlady a ukazujuc prirodnu magiu -nazyvanu duha - tentokrat dokonca kruhovu. Ako to uz tak byva, cesta dolu bola ovela namahavejsia - hlavne cez tie nase skratky!

Streda. Opat sme sa raz zobudili na brehu jazera, ktore sa tu vsetky volaju Loch. Boli sme celkom zniceni, Ja zacinam mat celkom serioznu svalovku na lytkach. Nikde inde, jedine lytka, pravdepodobne to zapricinila ta schodovita cesta na vrchol Ben Nevisu. Neviete si predstavit lepsi step aerobik. Takze sme sa rozhodli pre trocha viac turisticky typ vyletu -vsetko z auta. Presli sme cely ostrov Isle of Sky, ktory nam bol odporucany ako jeden z highlightov Skotska. Ano, bol mily, ale kedze som stravil cely den na zadnych sedadlach auta, tak si pamatam tak akurat 15minutove zastavky na roznych miestach. Nezalezi, ake uchvatne boli, moc som si ich neuzil. Ako som mohol? Boli sme ako japonski turisti v Bratislave - fotky a wow citoslovce! Ale aspon sme spravili mnoho mil! Zamujimave bolo sledovat, co sa stane s tromi individuami zavretymi v limitovanom priestore po cely den, comu predchadzali dalsie dva dni spolu. Presne, ako som to uz zazil predtym, vyvinuli sme si vlastny jazyk a svojske vtipky... ako zvycajne spali sme pri nejakom Lochu.
Stvrtok. Vrchol tohto dna bol hned rano! Zastavili sme sa na kave a caji, ktore sme sa rozhodli vychutnat si na lavickach s uzasnym vyhladom na Atlanticky ocean. Dosiahli sme totiz koniec Skotska, smerujuc do mesta Tongue. Nevinny ranny caj sa premenil na extaticke kupanie sa v studenom oceane s vonkajsou teplotou menej ako 15 C na slnku!!! Utesy boli uzasne, plaz nadherna a ocean rozkosny a osviezujuci. Boli sme vo vode iba par minut, ale nasledujucu hodinu ci dve sme boli zenergetizovani ako po adrenalinovom soku z volneho padu.
Zbytok dna bol tiez bajecny. Vedeli sme ze sa nasa cesta blizi ku koncu a tak sme vela diskutovali a boli sme k sebe velmi mili. A samozrejme, ze sme si robili srandu z Britov a Skotov, vsak co ocakavate od troch cudzincocv na prvych prazdninach. Bolo to roztomile, uchvatne a tak dalej...

Skotsko, zaciatok (translation different pics)

Prvy half-term v Ashville nebol az taky tazky, ale predsalen som narazil na zopar tazkosti. Ako ste sa mohli docitat v poslednom prispevku. Takze prve prazdniny prisli v tom pravom case. Pripravoval som sa na ne skoro mesiac. Samozrejme nie doslova, ale bookovanie listkov dopredu je ovela lacnejsie. Jedine, co mi bolo jasne bolo, ze chcem cele prazdniny stravit na ceste - ved viete, ze to je moja vasen! Nemrhal som ani minutou a vydal som sa priamo do Skotska, presnejsie do Perthu, kde Katalin a Bogdan na mna uz cakali. Katalin je slovenska HMC ucitelka, uci niekde juzne od Londyna a Bogdan je rumunsky HMC ucitel, no a on je na skole kusok od Perthu. Oboch som stretol v Cambridge na orientation na zaciatku roka.

Nase dobrodruzstvo sa prave zacalo. Hned prvy vecer sme skocili na male obcerstvenie v lokalnom bare, kde sme sledovali ako Anglicko prehrava v majstrovstvach sveta v rugby - co je tu pravdepodobne najpopularnejsi sport. Boli porazeni Juznou Afrikou, samozrejme vsak ze rugby nebola nasa hlavna atrakcia. Hlavny bod programu bolo prebrat plan na nasledujuci tyzden, pretoze doposial sme sa starali iba o to, ako sa dostat k Bogdanovi. Rozhodli sme sa, ze si poziciame auto, zvazili sme to ako najrozumnejsi sposob, ako preskumat (viacmenej) obrovske Skotsko v rozmedzi par dni (presnejsie 4roch)

Den potom - bola nedela - sa zacal velmi pomaly, no ved co ocakavate od troch ucitelov, ktori si uzivaju svoje prve prazdniny? Ale podarilo sa nam vybavit vsetko podla planu a po dobrych anglickych ranajkach (prekvapivo po dvoch mesiacoch nemam ziaden problem rano zosupovat slaninu, resp. sunku a vajicka na ranajky!) sme sa vidali do mesta, kde sme si prenajali novy Vauxhall Corsa (v Europe znamy ako Opel) za celkom slusnych 35£/den s plnym poistenim - ktore sme s radostou uvitali, pretoze nikto z nas nesoferoval auto na lavej strane cesty. V skutocnosti to nie je az take zlozite, staci sa preladit na ovladanie prevodovky lavou rukou - prava ruka sa najprv vzpiera a z casu na cas sama posmatra po prevodovke, ale narazi akurat tak na dvere sofera! Inokedy ta zasa ide slak trafit, ked vidis toho debila, ako ide priamo na teba... az ked ta tesne minie, si uvedomis ze ty si ten "debil," pretoze nevies, ze tu je to cele naopak! Vsetky tieto "prekazky" sa daju prekonat viac menej v priebehu jedneho dna. Co vsak trva dlhsie je prisposobit sa tym uzuckym cestam, ktore tu maju! Hlavne cesty su ako chodniky v Amerike (aj ked tie su tam skor nadrozmerne!) a lokalne cesty su skoro ako jednosmerky! Avsak perfektne sa hodia do krasneho obrazka celej krajny, presne ako tie americke pasuju do Ameriky! Po case sme si na to zvykli...
Prvy den sme isli iba do blizkeho St. Andrews, co malo byt studentske mesto. Az na skutocnost, ze sme tam nestretli ani jedneho studenta, to bolo utulne skotske mestecko. Zopar obrazkov by vas mohli dat do obrazu... Nebolo to zle, ale ani nic specialne - super vsak bolo, ze som konecne travil moj cas s fajnovymi ludmi. Ja som rozumel ich a oni posobili, ze rozumeju mna, aj ked sme vsetko len nie rovnaki. Jedina nasa spolocna vlastnost je nasa tvrdohlavost, ale neboli z toho ziadne problemy!!! V skutocnosti sme mali vela srandy a vyvinul sa z nas dobry tym aj na dlhsie cesty.
Ale o tom v nasledujucom prispevku.

Scotland, in medias res

Monday morning. Pack all things necessary for 4 days trip by car and in the car. Yeah, car became our vehicle and house in one. So the price of rent covered the price of hotels as well, cause it is impossible to sleep outside in this kind out weather (5-10C, humid, foggy... Britain...) without sleeping bags, as naugthy British would say, we killed two birds with one stone... So we packed duvets (I have never ever traveled with some thing more homelike ...), maps and warm clobbers and departed. Our first destination was Forth William, or more precisely Ben Nevis. The dramatic effect of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, is emphasised by the fact that it begins its rise from sea-level on the shores of Loch Linnhe, to tower 1,344m (4,406ft ) above the town of Fort William, providing an almost paternal presence. It doesn't sound much for Europeans familiar with High Tatras, or Alps, or whatever other mountains. But before you judge, consider the fact that Scotland is more northerly latitude which creates climate similar to Arctic regions and you shouldn't neglect that the starting altitude is 9m, so you literally climb the whole 1340m. Western rules and safety precautions are little more rigid, so the guide at the visitor center asked us, if we want to climb it today. Well, yes? We were not really thinking about all these facts, we just wanted to go for a walk. It was something around 2pm and the weather was nice (relatively in Scotland, though!). She told us that the hike might take 7 to 8 hours, even though the good time is 5 hours and national record is 1 and 1/2 hour! So we were forced to change our plans. No problem, we will come tomorrow.For today we can check the Loch Ness. Another spectacular and well know place. We founded on a map small hill, which we decided to climb to get in shape for Ben Nevis. It was a lovely walk... We slept on the banks of Loch Ness, which can be characterised as dark and deep (280m), surrounded by hills. At the night we had a small dancing party around the car... teachers unleashed after two months! All Scotland lacks trees, so any kind of hill looks massive and offers amazing views.No matter what I will say in next few lines, one should be always well prepared for any hikes! Just because you are in mountain region! Only if you are really keen hiker, and don't have all the necessary equipment with you, then go for it. I did it in skateboard sneakers and regular trousers with cotton shirt! The last mentioned sucked a lot, but who cares now! It took us respectable 7 and 1/2 hours up and down - as the lady mentioned, but well we were talking all the time... anyway it is not short at all. According to the travel guide, 9 out of 10 days the summit is covered with clouds. During the whole climb it looked like we were not going to see much from the top, which is one of the reason you are doing the effort, isn't it? It was extremely windy, cold and upper quarter of Ben was dipped in thick milky fog. But we were really lucky because few meters before reaching the summit, the clouds started to vanish and as we get to the top, the weather turned 360 degrees, revealing breathtaking views and showing natur´s magic called rainbow - this time circular! As usually, the way down was more tiring and quite bones damaging, well especially on the shortcuts we took!Wednesday. Once again we woke up on the shore of a lake, they call them Loch here. We were quite wasted, I was starting to feel serious muscle fever on my calves. Nothing else, just calves, I guess it's from the steps-like-track on Ben Nevis. You can't imagine better step aerobic! So we decided to have a little more tourist-like trip in a car. We drove all around Isle of Sky, which was recommended as one of the highlights of Scotland. Yes, it was lovely but I spent all day in the back of our car, so all I remember are just few 15min. stops on various places. No matter how spectacular they were, I didn't really enjoyed them. How could I? We were like Japanese tourists in Bratislava -taking pictures, and making wow sounds! But at least we covered lot of miles! What was good on it, was that we were exploring what happens when 3 individuals close them self in rather limited space and spend there whole day - antecedent by other two days together. As I experienced before, we developed our own language and particular jokes... As usually we slept near some Loch.Thursday: The highlight of this day was the very morning! We stopped for coffee and tea, and decided to enjoy them on benches with marvelous view of Atlantic ocean. We reached the top of Scotland and we were aiming to town Tongue. The innocent morning tea extended into ecstatic swimming in the cold ocean with outside temperature not more than 15C on the sun! The cliffs were amazing, beach marvelous and ocean lovely and refreshing. We were in the water only for few minutes but during the next hour or two we were energized as after adrenalin shock from free fall.
The rest of the day was lovely, too. We knew that our trip is slowly coming to the end, so we discussed a lot and were really nice to each other. And of course, we made fun of British and Scottish people, well, what do you expect from three foreigners on theirs first break! It was lovely, marvelous and so on...

Scotland, getting started

The first half-term at Ashville wasn't that hard, but I had to face some difficulties, eventually. As you might have read in the last article. So half-term break came at the right time. I was preparing for it almost for a month. Of course, just because booking tickets is much cheaper when you do it in advance. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to spend it entirely by travelling – well, you know that's my passion! I didn't waste a minute and went straight to Scotland, precisely Perth, where Katalin and Bogdan were already waiting for me. Katalin is Slovak HMC teacher, she was located somewhere south of London and Bogdan is Romania HMC teacher, he is at school close to Perth. I met both of them at the Cambridge orientation at the beginning of the school year.Our adventure was just about to begin. Right that evening we went for a small refreshment into local bar, where we saw England loosing worlds final in rugby - which is here probably the most popular sport. They have been beaten by South Africa, but anyway rugby wasn't the attraction. The aim was to discuss the plan for following week, because so far we were only worried about how to get to Bogdan's place. We decided to rent a car, as it sounded as the most sensible way how to explore (more less) vast Scotland within few days (exactly 4).The next day - it was Sunday - started very slowly, well what do you expect from tree teachers having first holidays? But we managed to do everything as planned, after good English breakfast (surprisingly after 2 months, I have no problem eating bacon and eggs in the morning!) we went to town and rent new Vauxhall Corsa (in Europe known as Opel) for quite decent £35/day with full insurance - which we gladly welcomed, because none of us drew a car on the left side of route. Actually, it is not that difficult, you just need to switch into left hand gear shifting -at the beginning the right hand seems to pop out accidentally, looking for the stick, but finding nothing but drivers door! And sometimes you get terrified that the stupid idiot in front of you is driving straight into you, it only after he miss you, that you realize that you are the one who should be called stupid for not knowing that here it is the other way around. All of these "hindrances" can be over come within one day, or so. But what takes longer, is to adjust into the tiny narrow streets and routes they have here! The main routes are like American sidewalks (here they call it pavement, but anyway they are rather to vast in America!) and the local routes are almost like one way streets! Well, but they fit well good together with the whole landscape, as the American do with American countryside. We get used to them... eventually.For the first day we went only to nearby St. Andrews, which was meant to be a students town. Except of the fact that we didn't meet any students, it was lovely little Scottish town. Few pictures should give you the picture... It wasn't bad, but nothing really spectacular - the great fact was that I was finally spending my time with fine people. I understood them and they looked like they understand me, even though we were all but different. The only common characteristic was our stubborness, but it didn't cause any problems at all! Actually we had lot of fun and ended up as a good team for longer journey.

But this will come in the following article.

Temna strana

Posledny tyzden bol hrozny. Od pondelka po piatok, to vyzeralo ako keby som kazde rano vykrocil tou nespravnou nohou. Neviem presne opisat co sa dialo, ibaze sa veci vymikali mojej kontrole. Mozno praveto je ten problem, mozno sa snazim mat vsetko pod kontrolou, no nech je to co chce, skusim to dat vsetko von formou tohto blogu.
Uz som tu dost dlho na to aby som sa stotoznil s dennou rutinou, ale nie dost dlho na to aby som pochopil vsetko co sa deje okolo mna. Vsetko sa to zacalo v pondelok. Chvalil som sixth formerov, ale asi unahlene, v pondelok ma prekvapili. Aj napriek tomu ze to bola hodina po teste, cize clovek by predpokladal ze ucivo maju zopakovane, ziaci nemali ani potuchy, pripadne iba matne tusili o com som im hovoril. Ak by to nebolo ucivo priamo nadvezujuce na poslednu hodinu tak by som nemal namietky. Samozrejme ze moj problem nie je len ucenie. Cely den sa vliekol ako ukrainsky vlak a ja som sa citil akosi osamelo a smutne.

Preco osomelo? Nemam tu toho spravneho partaka. Ostatny asitenti su v pohode, ale nie su to presne moje typy ludi. Madarsky chlapik Guyla je trochu spomaleny a malo uprimny. Viem ze sa snazi byt dobrim prikladom pre ziakov a dobrym priatelom pre nas, jeho spravanie je vsak cudne, a to hlavne poslednou dobou. Mal na navseteve kamarata z Madarska, co pre nas znamenalo ze Guyla zrazu zmyzol. A ked priatel odysiel Gyula zrazu bol. Teraz sa snazi akosi vynahradit cele toto zmyznutie, co vyznieva este cudnejsie. Francuzka asistentka Nelly na mna posobi trochu nudne, je to asi len preto ze je pasivna, resp. jej aktivity su uplne ine ako moje. Sebastian, Nemecky asistant, je asi najviac v pohode, ale niektore jeho komenty a nazory su dost prudke. A potom tu je este Paula zo Spanielska, no aj ona je OK, ale akosi nevieme nadviazat hlboke rozhovori. Neberte to v zlom, ja ich mam rad, co chcem povedat je ze sa asi znas nestanu najlepsi priatelia. Uzil som si snimi vela srandy, mozno sa dobre vztahy len rozvinu... uvidime. Chyba mi dobry kamos na konstruktivne debaty -nie kritiku, nie staznosti, nie plytke rozhovori o vsednom zivote...
Pondelok pokracoval kurzom anlgictiny (Cambridge Proficiency English(CPE)), co ma uplne priklincovalo. Nie len ze je to velmi tazke, ale trva to 2 a pol hodiny! Asi vsetci viete ze moja gramatika, ani ta slovenska, nestoji za vela. Tento kurz ma vysoke ciele a doslova sa rype v gramatike ,dokonca aj niektori native speakeri ho povazuju za narocny. No posudte, moje prve skore s Reading bolo 12/25 a s Use of Englisch 8/18, co nie je dostatocne ani nahodou. Ostatny asistani studuju Anglictinu na Vyske, takze to zvladaju ovela lepsie, ale tiez hovorili ze to bolo tazke.
Nemohol som sa dockat vecera a beztarostneho zaspania z celeho tohto desu, dufajuc ze zajtrajsok bude lepsi. Ale nebol! Niektori ludia v skole ma zacinaju fakt nudit, alebo stvat? Nie vsetci, ale niektri ucitelia, ako napriklad moja sefka, Head of Maths Jully, su malo uprimny a napr. ona ma kritizuje za chyby ktore sama robi... Uz ma nebavi jej spravanie a moja pretvarka. Ako ucitelka nie je najhorsia, ale je velmi slabo zorganizovana a neuveritlene busy, co prenasa aj okolo seba. Tlaci ma aby som sa ponahlal s ucivom, co vedie k nepochopeniu uciva ziakmi a mojej nervozite na hodinach. Na skole je vsak mnoho kvalitnych ucitelov, obidivujem hlavne ich klud a pozitivisticky pristup, ktory u nas tak chyba! Da sa snimi perfektne porozpravat, ale prilezitosti na dlhe rozhovori je malo. Najhorsia vec na skole je asi ze nie som dostatocne oceneny, som len akysi asistant. Napr. tento tyzden som ucil iba 4 hodiny matiky, a pozoroval hordy hodin nudnej Jully. Tak som nevahal a poprosil zopar ucitelov chemie ci by som mohol participovat na ich hodinach (samozrejme pocas mojich volnych hodin). Na co Jully reagovala: "Ok, len aby si stihal pripravy na tvoje matematicke hodiny". Kurnik sopa, to akoze som uplny debil, alebo co? Cela skola je priserne prisna. Pravidla su na uplne vsetko. S mnohimi sa ztotoznujem, ale niektore su minimalne cudne: napr. nemozem byt v triede zo studentom bez toho aby bola na dverach sklenena tabula, taktiez nemozem mat studentov vo svojom byte v Mallinson house, jedine ze by som nechal otvorene dvere -vsetko pre moju bezbecnost!!! Internet je cenzurovany. Opet, pochopitelna zalezitost ak by to nebolo predimenzovane. Napr. som potreboval prelozit slovicko twat, ktore sa normalne nachadzalo v knihe, a boom, internetovy slovnik ma nepustil dalej. Mimochodom to slovo je drsna nadavka, ale aj tak! Nepozeral som nevhodne obrazky, necital nevhodny text, iba som potreboval prelozit slovo. Tak isto bol zablokovany aj yahoo a vsetky chat stranky, resp. studenti nemaju na tieto stranky pristup a ja musim na kazdu stranku poziadat odblokovanie. Takze yahoo fungovalo az po tyzdni co som prisiel. Cudne je ze do teraz som bol schopny prezerat si svoj vlastny blog, ale par dni do zadu naskakoval filter aj na moj blog!!! Ze chat filter! Do kelu aj snimi, to nie je chat, to je moja stranka. Takze teraz pisem na slepo, pretoze stranka kde to pisem funguje, ale vlastna stranka blogu je nedostupna. Proste pakaren. Uz som poziadal o odblokovanie, ale to potrva tak tyzden.
Posledna kvapka k celemu mojmu "fasa" pocitu bol moj naivny pokus o pomoc Samovi a Deanovi (studenti z mojho intraku) dostat sa do posilovne. Musia mat oficialne potrvdenie ze presli uvodnym treningom. V stredu vecer, po tom co som si zaplaval, som hodil ockom do posilovne. Bolo tam zopar studentov a tak som snimi hodil rec. Prisiel Sam a ze nemoze cvicit.
Dean: " preco?"
Sam: " Nemam potvrdenie."
Ja: "Mal si trening?"
Sam: "Jasne"
Ja: "Takze jedine co potrebujes je podpis?"
Sam:"NO"
Ja: "Som opravneny ti ho dat?"
Dean: "Asi hej"
Sam:" Asi iba ako ucitel telocviku, musis povedat ze si ucitel telocviku."
Ja: "Tak sa nanho zahram, podme tam" Tak sme isli na recepciu. Vsak predsa chcem pomoct, nie? Naivne som si myslel ze to je len na jeden vstup do telocvicne. Na recepcii vsak bol sefko celeho sportoveho centra a povedal nam ze podpis musi byt od ucitela ktory viedol trening. Tak som to nechal tak a povedal som Samovi nech pride zajtra aj S podpisom. Hned ako som odisiel som sa vsak citil uplne na hovno. Preco som vlasnte klamal? Bolo to take dolezite?
Na druhy den prisiel Niel (sef vsetkych intrakov, a sef mojho intraku) a povedal mi ze Dean a Sam maju pruser, pretoze sa nevhodne spravali v posilovni a boli drzi... a este som pocul ze si povedal ze si ucitel telocviku, je to pravda? Ah jaj, a tu to mam. No je to pravda, a moj blbi pocit z celeho tyzdna PRAVE dosiahol svoje maximum. Citil som sa ako maly chalpec vinny z klamstva plus este viac nahovno.
Proste to nie je moj tyzden. Ale ziadne strachy, teraz je uz tyzden zamnou a urcite pride spusta dobrych. Dalsi clanok sa bude volat "Svetla strana". Ja viem, viem, vyplakavanie a stazovanie sa nie je to co chcete citat, ale ked sa tak citim? Nebojte sa vsetko bude v pohode. Vsetko co potrebujem je trocha vsimavosti a pokoj v srdci!