On a recent trip to the north of SK to teach at a prison for juveniles I stopped for a visit with my friend Martin and his mom. I originally met Martin at the summer baseball camp and continue to be good friends with him. (pictures from the prison trip will be posted here in the near future).
We had a great little adventure together as we went to see a castle about an hour from their town (they know how much I like seeing the castles). On the way there we went through a region known as Orava which is famous for producing a type of string cheese known as Komacka (co- ma-ch-ka). As you drive through this area, there are little old ladies sitting by the side of the road waiting to sell you the cheese they made. As your car approaches they struggle up out of their chair and hold out a bag of cheese saying “nech sa paci” (neck- sa –pah- chee) which is a common SK phrase meaning like ‘help yourself.’ The cheese is quite tasty, a bit salty, but good.