I Feel More at Peace Than I Have in a While

       Last week was almost completely filled up by the Angloville program, which was good. It gave me a chance to break away from the "one hostel to another" routine I was in. The program was quite mentally exhausting. I spent almost 10 straight hours every day talking to native Hungarian speakers in English and trying to help them understand me and understand the English language as a whole. The program also gave me a chance to talk to all sorts of people from different walks of life and hear about their lives, their experiences, and their views on the world. The motel that we stayed in was out in the Hungarian countryside on a small farm. Their were several goats, some chickens, some geese, a pair of turkeys, a few sheep and a lamb, horses, a dog, and a cow with her calf. I spent my free time playing ping pong, playing cards, listening to music, writing, lounging in the jacuzzi and sauna, walking around the farm and down the road a ways, and drinking palinka, wine, and beer. The week went by very quickly.
       On Friday we got on a bus and headed back to Budapest. I decided to stay one more night there. That night I went out with a couple of others from Angloville and went to a couple pubs. I was able to try some really great Hungarian craft beer, including a smoked IPA, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
       The next day I caught the train to Slovakia. After a few hours on 3 different trains, I made it to my Slovak family's house in a small village on the outskirts of Banovce nad Bebravou. They are one of the nicest and happiest families I have ever met, and they have a great dog. When I got here on Saturday they fed me dinner and then we went for a short walk around their village. After that we headed to the center of Banovce nad Bebravou to get some ice cream. They really like to feed me ice cream.
       On Sunday we took a steep hike up a tall hill. At the top was a great view of the valley below. After that we went to Trencin to visit the castle there. We took a tour of the castle and then went back their house. The rest of the day was pretty mellow.
       On Monday I got up early to go sit in on the high school English classes that Janka teaches. That was a fun and interesting experience. Since I am a native English speaker, I was the main subject of most of the classes. The kids that were brave and confident enough asked me all sorts of questions. The main questions, though, always concerned college parties in the states, and women. I had a good time, although Janka was worried that I was bored. I think that's just how my face looks...
       After school I spent an hour or so alone with Janka's parents, who dont speak any English. We spent that time mostly sitting around and trying to figure out ways to communicate. Although we are unable to have a conversation or really exchange any thoughts, it's easy to see that they are incredibly nice people. Just before Janka came back to get me, they gave me a couple shots of their home made plum brandy that had 52% alcohol. It was quite strong. After that they took me to the bar up the street and we had a couple beers.
       When Janka's husband, Rasto, got off work, we headed back to their house and had some really nice dinner. After that we took their dog, Ebby, for a walk around the neighborhood. Their village is surrounded by hilly farmland and we took Ebby up a hill to a field and let her off the leash. The surroundings here are so open and beautiful. If you find yourself even a little way up any of the surrounding hills, you can see for miles.
       Yesterday I got up early again to catch a bus to Bratislava. I spent a few hours there just walking around. After all the places I've been, I was pretty unimpressed by Bratislava. Its a really nice city with a really nice center, but its very small and there's really not much to see. I walked up to the castle and then found a book store that sells books in English. After a long train ride to Salzburg I realized that I really needed a book to read. I found a bookstore in the train station there, but realized that all the books were in German. Since then I have been searching for something to read in English. I found it in Bratislava. I thought I might buy Game of Thrones, since everyone at home is watching it, or maybe Lord of the Rings, since I've never actually read the books. Both of these books looked far to thick and I thought to myself, "I'll end up reading half the book and by the time I get home I'll be bored of it and never finish it". I settled on a much shorter book by Charles Bukowski called Post Office (I know, it sounds boring). I ended up reading half of the book on the train ride home, which is strange because I'm not known for my tenacity in book reading. I should have gotten a longer book...
       Somehow I ended up missing my train stop. That was the first time I've done that, and hopefully the last. I tried to speak to someone who worked on the train but she only accosted me with the Slovak language. Fortunately, I was able to find a girl who spoke English and in the end I caught a bus back to Banovce.
       Today I couldn't decide what to do with myself, so I stayed at the house while everyone else went of to work and school. I ended up borrowing one of their bikes and taking a really nice ride around the village and in the hills. I found some really great views of the village and of the surrounding valley and hills. I made my way up a street behind a church, to a cemetery at the end of the pavement. I spent a few minutes loitering there before I decided to venture up the dirt road behind it. I followed it through a massive field next to a mass of shrubbery and brambles until I came to something that surprised me. It was another cemetery. This one looked quite old and unkept, and was in disrepair. The headstones where the stereotypical shape of those you would expect to find behind a church in an old black and white horror film. None of them were standing up straight. They leaned over precariously between low lying bushes and dead branches. Almost every one had nothing but Hebrew writing on it and only a few were another language, which to me looked like German, but was probably Slovakian. These were the only ones with legible dates on them with two from the 20s and another from 1915. After a few minutes a car drove up the rode and its passenger spotted me as it passed. I started to think about how nobody except for those two strangers in that car knew where I was, and how that could be a bad thing. I headed back down the hill and made my way back to the house where I played guitar for a bit and am now writing this blog entry.
       I have no clue what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm just taking it day by day. I've started to realize how much of a luxury that can be.
       I'm not going to post any pictures. At this point its just laziness. There is a certain amount of effort that goes into putting pictures on this blog, and I don't feel like exerting that specific type of energy right now.
I think I'll stay here for the rest of the week.