Welcome to Christmas in Slovakia! It is a difficult and challenging endeavor to learn to live in a culture so different from your own. The challenge is even a little more intense during Christmas time. The best remedy for that is to be surrounded by warm, caring people who also understand the significance of this wonderful season. These are my landlords who live in the flat directly above me. Meet Miro, his wife Katka and their son Mateo (Matthew).

This family graciously changed their Christmas eve plans to invite me over to share in their family tradition. The table was prepared with style and grace. Both Miro and Mateo speak some english. Each of them assisted with translation so that Katka could partake in the conversation.

The meal itself included many Slovakia traditions for this time of year. Before we got to the "real" food we started the dinner we these little treats. There is some special significance with this tradition which has almost a ceremonial value. I wasnt able to get a good understanding of the details but the ingredients are a wafer like base with walnuts, honey and a small peice of garlic on top. I believe it is a type symbolic gesture for prosperity and health in the upcoming New Year.

The main dinner menu consisted of a polievka (soup) which is very traditional for this time of year. The soup is cabbage based with smoked pork, sausage and various other spices. Historically I am not a cabbage fan but this soup was very tasty. Then the main course was a fried carp fish. This seems to be as traditional here as turkey on Thanksgiving day in America. Just like the soup, the fish was delicious. POZOR (Be aware) the bones are big and sharp. Potato salad is also part of the tradition and it is quite similar to American style.

Naturally, no holiday meal would be complete without something sweet. There were many goodies on this table but the main attraction was the item which looks like a chocolate cake. I've already forgotten the name for it but it is a special treat all the way from Vienna. If you want the real thing, you have to make the trip(1hr by car). Thankfully Miro got the real deal and it was "melt in your mouth" fantastic.

Similar to many American families at Christmas eve there were gifts exchanged between family members and much to my surprise there was something under the tree for me. Knowing my love for the game of hockey the family got me this great Slovak hockey jersey. But this was no ordinary hockey jersey. This shirt is special for one significant reason...

I am now officially part of the Slovak National Team. I may be the designated water boy but thats ok, its just an honor to finally be on the team. What a thoughtful and generous gift. The family also gave me a wonderful hard cover book filled with incredible photos and descriptions of the Tatra mountains. Most Slovaks are quite proud of their mountain range in the northern part of the country, as well they should be. The Tatras are as beautiful as any mountains I have seen. I am hoping to go skiing there sometime this winter, if we ever get snow.

This was a Christmas eve I will not soon forget. My sincere gratitude goes out to this kind and caring family for taking in a stranger from a distant land and showing me so much love and hospitality. Pan s tebou (The Lord be with you).

Christmas day 2006. Originally I had been invited to the home of some other missionaries living here in Bratislava for Christmas dinner. But then when I was at church service Christmas eve a friendly woman with a British accent (Emma)introduced herself and invited me for lunch on Christmas day. What a blessing. So, here is her family(starting on the right) Emma, her husband Peter, who is Slovak, their son Adam, Tony a missionary from Australia, Maria, Peters matka(mom) and their other son Alex.

Actually I had met Peter a few times before as he is one of the better translators at the Cirka Bratska church. He does a great job of bringing the Slovak only church service alive so that all the english speakers in attendence can participate in community worship. Peter works as an electrical engineer here in the city.

The proud grandma. Maria was a joy to talk with. She even speaks a little english which is very unusual for someone from her generation. Most people her age were forced to learn how to speak Hungarian and German in addition to their own language. Many had to learn Russian as well because of the Russian occupation after World War II. The best thing I learned about Maria is that she is a hockey fan. Any friend of hockey is a friend of mine.

There's nothing better than having a baby in the house. It was alot of fun playing with both these boys and their new Christmas toys. I feel so totally blessed to have been invited into this family's home for a celebration of Christmas. They worked so hard to make it special, everything from the turkey dinner to providing the transportation. Thank you Elias family.

However the fun was not yet done. There was still one more stop to make and one more meal to enjoy. You regular readers of the blog may remember Marsh and Tuula from my Thanksgiving celebration. Starting on the left we have Marsh, who has been a missionary in these parts for the better part of 25 years. Then we have Lauri, Marsh's son who lives, works, and goes to school in Brussels. Antonio who is from Bucharest, Romania and now lives and works here in Bratislava. And finally Tuula, Marsh's wife who is originally from Finland. The fellowship was sweet and the atmoshere warm and cozy.

As if I hadnt eaten enough food the past 2 days I sat down for one more fantastic meal. Here we have a wonderful salmon in a honey mustard sauce along with mashed potatos, green beans, peas and freshly squeezed lemonade. It was simply awesome. The company and the conversation was even better.

And once again I am belly up to the dessert table(and I do mean "belly up"). This is a chocolate mint cake all the way from somewhere in England and of couse it was delicious. What a way to end Christmas day. Special thanks go out to Marsh, Tuula, Larry and Antonio for their hospitality and kindness to include me in this special occasion. Now I have to think of a way to work off all this Christmas food and relaxation. Hmmm, what could I do...

Aha! Brilliant idea. I cant think of a better or quicker way to lose those holiday pounds than to lace up the skates. This is my third week with this group of guys and I am really enjoying it. They play twice a week but I am only going to play one session for now. There are only a few of the guys who speak a little english but there is an international language among hockey players when you're on the ice so it works out just fine. There are also some famous guys in the group.

This is Jozef Lohyna and one of his sons. Jozef is the organizer of this hockey group which is essentially a group of 25-30 guys who form 2 teams and play against each other each session. They all seem to be good friends as there is always alot of laughter and commraderie among the guys. Jozef is a national hero as he was a world champion wrestler and represented Slovakia in 3 Olympic games. In the 88' Olympics he won the bronze medal. Slovaks are very proud of their sports hero's. Jozef has a love for the game of hockey and now owns and operates his own hockey equipment store as his full time business.

Here is one of Jozefs older sons, Peter(on the right) and Mateo, my landlords son whom you met from the Christmas eve celebration. Good young players, both of these 17 year olds.

There is also another National Slovak sport hero who plays on my team by the name of Mecir. For any serious tennis fans out there you would remember him from the 8o's and early 90's when he had a very good professional career. He also won a gold medal in the olympic games. Hockey here in Slovakia is on the same level as Minnesota in terms of how strongly it is woven into the fabric of the culture. Having the opportunity to play hockey makes it feel a little bit more like home for me. I am grateful to have found such a nice group of guys.

Vesele Vionoce (Merry Christmas) The Christmas spirit is beginning to come alive here in Bratislava as more and more decorations can be seen around town. It seems as though the importance of the Christmas season here is quite similiar to America. People are making plans to take a good chunk of time away from school and work to be with family and enjoy some rest. There is also a rising climate of the commercialization of Christmas much like the U.S. except on a smaller scale. This particular tree was photographed at a party for the various Slovak language classes at the local University where I am learning the language.

This was a very enjoyable little celebration that started with a presentation on the Christmas traditions and history in Slovakia. Following the presentation we descended down into this room where a beautiful table of sweet bounty had been prepared. Most of the food appeared to be home baked goods and it was all delicious. The first half of this class was 3 months long. I joined the group after the first month which was no problem because I had studied Slovak for 6 months before I departed the states. There are about 17 people in the class and I am the only American. There are people from France, Spain, Canada, Holland and Germany.

Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. As you can imagine there were many different languages being spoken in this room tonight. There was also plenty of the international language spoken here tonight--laughter.

For me it was interesting to see that included in the initial presentation was Christmas songs with a Christian theme performed by music students at the university (which was really nice). My impression is that most of this type of thing(religious references) is usually not seen in public places, only in churches. And here is an obvious reference to the reason for the season.

This is our teacher Eva. This is a part-time job for Eva as she works full time at the school known as Narnia which was created and is operated by the church that I attend. Eva teaches 12 to 14 year olds at Narnia. She does an excellent job with our class making it fun and interesting. Eva is a native of Slovakia.

Meet 2 of my class mates Igor and Antonio. Igor is from Holland and speaks very good English which has made it possible for me to get to know him better. Antonio is from Spain, really nice guy but speaks very little English. Since my Espanol is rusty it is difficult to chat. I recently played squash with Igor and then we had lunch. Igor is here getting his masters degree in business. According to him he could easily get the same degree at home but wanted to go on an adventure. His father is from Bratislava so he is half Slovak.

This past weekend has been quite nice for me as I have had the opportunity to spend time with a few different friends. This is Martin and Stano. Martin is just 17 and I believe you have met him before on the blog. I first met Martin at the 2005 Bojnice baseball camp. He attended this year as well. Martin lives in a large village called Zilina about 3-4 hours car ride from Bratislava. We dont often have the chance to get together due to the distance so its always a privilege when we can meet for some billiards and some laughs. U da man Martin!

Here is another friend I want you to meet. This is Tomas. I first met Tomas at the summer retreat in the mountains way back in May. You may remember from blog entry 2 weeks ago that I was invited to his home to meet his family and enjoy a Sunday afternoon meal with them. Tomas stopped by my flat today for some pizza and a movie after church.

When you live in Bratislava and dont have a car, this is a common site in your everyday life. This is an electronic tram. These, along with buses and electricka's(buses than run on gas and electric) keep the half million people in this city moving. Its about 50 cents for 10 minutes of riding, which can get you alot of places in the city or for a few cents more you can ride for 30 minutes. They are quite efficient with regard to schedule, you can usually set your clock by them. But you must be on your toes because if you are not getting on this vehicle within a few seconds of it arriving you can easily get left behind. You can almost see the slight urgency of these passengers making sure they get on board.

The opportunities to meet new people and nurture relationships already established continue to present themselves in ways only God could orchestrate. These are my 2 friends Martin and Janko. Both have made appearences on the blog before. Martin has served as my translator for the teaching I have been invited to do. And Janko works for the ministry organization I am forming a partnership with, mostly to create and provide prison ministry. On this particular evening I had the privilege of having them over to my flat to cook dinner for them. The evening was a great success, that is to say, nobody got sick.

Many of you will also remember my friends Gabo and Martin. They took me out for a round of golf this summer. We continue to hang out on a regular basis. On this particular evening the sport of choice is bowling, but make no mistake we would rather be golfing. With the mild weather this past month we probably could play golf.

As I have said before, it is always such an honor to be invited into their world. They are great guys and we always have alot of laughs.

These are my new friends the Komrskovci family. I first met Tomas jr, at a school retreat back in May, then I met the whole family at the church I attend. They graciously invited me over for obed(lunch) after church last sunday. My hosts were very warm and hospitable. It was a great time of fellowship for me. They also have two more boys, younger, that quickly disappeared outside after we ate. The food transition has been easy because they are mostly all about meat and potato's or rice here. So we had a salad, fried zemiaky(potato) and turkey breast. Delicious!

For the past few weeks I have been attending a Slovak language class to accelerate my language competency. It is a long journey and I am working hard to improve. This past friday there was a presentation of Slovak history and culture. The presenters did a nice job of laying out many centuries of important names and dates which make up the rich history of this nation. As with many European nations there have been many changes over the years. Near the end of the presentation one presenter played 7 or 8 different musical instraments from Slovakia's past. Here he is playing a very old, hand crafted accordian. He also played an amazing variety of flutes, some taller than me. At one point he played an interesting type of bag pipe. Unfortunately, I didnt get my camera out in time to capture more of the action.

This is my friend Erik. I call him Erik the Viking. I first met him at last years baseball camp. At this years camp he was in my group so I got to know him better. You may remember him from earlier blog pictures. Erik lives in Bojnice where the baseball camp is held which is 2 hours from Bratislava. Unfortunately for me I dont get to see him much. This past friday Erik was in town to prepare documents for his eventual departure to Norway for an student exchange program next school year. We took the opportunity to get together for dinner and a little billiards.

Hopefully I will get to see Erik quite a bit more in upcoming months. You couldnt ask for a nicer guy to hang around with. And his english is as good as mine. Currently he informs me that he is taking french language(outside of school classes) "just for fun" and then he will have to start working on his Norwiegen to prepare for next year. So, thats english, french and norwiegen all before his 18th birthday. Ok, I guess that makes me a slacker standing next to this guy. Slovakia's future looks brighter with guys like Erik coming up through the ranks.