Walk with me as I show you some of the area around my flat. This is a place I frequently walk past and a structure that very few of my Slovak friends know about. When I first encountered this building I thought it was an old outdoor concert hall. The name for this place, which still has signs in the area to indicate its location, is called the "Amfiteater".

The structure appears to be about 30 years old, maybe more, but has been abandoned for probably 10 years. Eventually I discovered that this was actually designed and built as an outdoor movie theater. Considering that it was built during the communist years it is surprising to me that this type of entertainment center was concieved of and constructed. I'm no expert on communism in Czechoslovakia but this seems to be an unusual thing from what I can tell. In other words I have not seen anything else like it around the city. I was recently told by a SK friend that this facility was quite popular, especially with young people. There were movies of all varieties (Hollywood and European) like Jaws, E.T. and other blockbusters. There were also music concerts which featured different genres of music. My friend Natalie said the movies were usually late night so that when it was finished everyone had to walk home because the buses had stopped running.

For an American like myself who grew up with so many freedoms and wonderful life experiences, its still difficult to grasp how it would feel to live in a place where where freedom was virtually non-existant. There was no justice for the people, only a small group of power holders making corrupt decisions for the puppets of society. Imagine living in a place where there was a constant state of oppression hanging over you. The ruling system was cold, unyielding and covered the land like a steel shroud.

What would a movie theatre be without concessions?

As you can see, there's a nice view of this part of the city behind the theatre. The tower up on the distant hill is for cell phones, radio and t.v. At the base of that tower is a great park, Koliba, which you have seen here before on the blog. Some of you know from visiting this blog in the past that I live up on a hill and am afforded great views in every direction.

I learned from these 2 gentlemen (my slovak is getting better) that soon this building will be demolished. They said that there will be new housing erected, something like town homes I believe. The number of the different types of residential structures currently being built in the city is amazing. Some are forecasting that there are far too many being built and eventually there will be a glut of empty new structures in the city.

Something which used to puzzle me is where the homeless people walking around my neighborhood were coming from. My flat complex is just outside the city center, which is where most indigent people live/survive. This is considered one of the nicer neighborhoods in the area. And yet, on a daily basis I see homeless people digging through the trash in the garbage bins outside my window. I wondered if they took city buses here to look through the garbages and ask the residents for food or money. One day as I looked closely at this ticket booth at the Amfiteater I noticed that the garbage looked "newer", as if it hadnt been there very long. And then I noticed this homemade chimney sticking out of a window of the ticket booth and realized there were people living in this place. I have established a connection with the people living here, a man, a pregnant women and 3 year old boy. They appear to be Gypsy's.

One day, a few weeks ago, I noticed a certain family walking up toward the Amfiteater and then disappearing into the woods along this path. The family consists of 5 small children and their parents. The oldest child appears to be about 7. I have come to know them a little bit and they me. Ive made a few donations to them from time to time like food, clothing, shampoo and sometimes I give a little money to the mom because I know she will spend it on her children. The dad seems to struggle with alcoholism. When they started asking for candles I began to suspect they were not living in a homeless shelter. I hope to get their permission for a photo in the near future. This particular day I decided to follow the trail and see where it leads. There is "fresh" garbage everywhere and a well worn path.

After about 2 or 3 minutes of walking I began to see more garbage and crude structures, most of which had been burned down or destroyed in some way.

Seeing the enormity of the waste leads me to believe that there has been several people living in these woods for a long period of time. Hard to conceive of such a thing but all too common place in our world.

As I continued down the path I stopped here because I noticed something in the distance. If you look closely at the center of the picture you will see what I am referring to.

He appeared to be about 14 years old. This is the only photo I took of him as I didnt want to objectify him. I asked him if he lived here, he said "yes" and then put his head back down. He was also keeping a close eye on me and was understandably wary of me.

Thankfully for the people living here there has not been much in the way of real winter weather, although it dips down into the 30's and even a few 20 degree temps in the evening sometimes. Nonetheless, with no electricity or running water this is no way for human beings to live. These structures are probably former cottages, the one's that so many families have here which they use as an escape from the city on the weekends to tend their vegetable gardens.

This is the place next door. Someone went to the time and effort to put up a make-shift fence. When I came near to this structure a medium size dog began barking and 2 inhabitants nervously peaked out the "door." There was a boy (about 16) and a girl (about 14). I have seen them before around the neighborhood and I believe them to be brother and sister. All three of the teens I encountered here had the dark skin and dark hair which usually means they are Gypsy 's. I wanted to go further down the trail as there appeared to be more structures but the dog was biting my ankles so I went back.

I have some more friends I want to introduce you to. After Sunday service a few weeks ago this nice lady, Julia (yulia), approached me after service and invited me to lunch for the following Sunday. Two things really surprised me; first, I had never met her before and she just introduced herself and invited me to lunch (which is not common for the introverted Slovaks)and second, most people from her generation dont know any of the english language. We were joined at lunch by her husband Milos (me-losh), one of their sons Martin and one of their neices and her boyfriend. Milos is a retired medical doctor and Julia worked in education. They both told me fascinating stories about the days of communism and what they had to endure during that time. For example, there were state sponsored rallys where people were ordered to show up to the city center to cheer and wave flags as politicians gave speeches. They said the secret police walked around writing in their notebooks who attended and who did not. You could be turned down for any type of social assistance (food, medical, educational, occupational) if you were given a poor report from the police (whether it was true or not).

And these are my new friends the Ban family. They also simply approached me after church service and invited me to lunch even though I had never formally met them. From my left is son Josef jr, Benjamin, Mom, Daniel, Josef sr and Jan (yon). After telling each other about who we are and where we have been in life we had great conversation about the sermon from church this day. The sermon was on anger and I was surprised how intimate the sharing was in regard to personal struggles with anger. The menu consisted of polievku (soup, of the chicken noodle variety) which always precede's the entree at lunch. And then the entree which was a simple, yet delicious, baked chicken with mashed potatoes and salad. What a wonderful day of fellowship.