Thursday night saw me trying to cram all my worldly possessions into the two suitcases they all came here in. Strangely, they seemed to have multiplied to the point that they barely fit. How can it be that I have so much crap and still I feel like I have nothing to wear? After that escapade, I resolved to stop buying clothes for the rest of the year (I use the word "resolved" loosely, meaning that I probably will anyway), and use the money for vodna fajkas. Gotta love the hookah. I just wish I knew exactly it is I'm smoking, but I have been assured that it's neither tobacco nor drugs, nor indeed anything harmful to my health. Anyway, yesterday my stuffed-to-the-gills-or-would-have-been-if-they-were-fish suitcases and I moved to the Rapcan residence, which is a gorgeous old house perhaps 45 minutes' walk from town, which is a significant improvement over the hour and a half it took took to walk from the Velky's house in Kremnička. My new host family consists of a mom, Anna, a dad, Jan, and a 20-year-old hockey playing older brother type, Lukaš. They are all extraordinarily nice, and Lukaš speaks flawless English. He said he liked the way I spoke English, with my "wery nice accent", which is something a west-coast girl like me doesn't hear all that often. Anna has been studying English for the past three years, and is eager to pick up more words, but they all speak Slovak to me, since I asked them to. I've learned that, however much the other party wants to speak English, if you consistantly respond in Slovak, they'll eventually give up and speak Slovak to you. The house is fantastically old-style, even by Slovak standards, so think pre-communist era. The upstairs, where the three bedrooms are, has doors only on the bathrooms, making the whole place really open. My room is just sort of... there, once you pass the bathrooms. The bed is in a little alcove, and the closet is plenty big enough to get dressed in, so no worries on the count of privacy. Oh, and they have a sauna in the bathroom. Which is awesome. In the parts where they've updated the house somewhat, they have heated floors, which is also awesome. The internet, though, is like than molasses going uphill in January- with crutches (bonus points for you if you caught the reference before you read the next sentence). Speaking of which, I said a sad little farewell to my carefully accumulated savegames when I uninstalled Psychonauts from the Velkys' desktop. Anyway, that's about everything I have to say at the moment. I'll leave you with my address so that when the Christmas and birthday presents start pouring in, they'll end up at the right house. Just don't send too much stuff that I'll have to fit into my suitcases! What I really want- ok, this sounds silly, but go with it- is a pair of spiffy glasses with clear lenses, so I can feel like I look smart even when I don't actually feel smart. I still have to get the stuff I've bought for my family home, and finish my Christmas shopping. Oh, well. Ok, so that address:
Skubínska
Cesta 96, 974 01
Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
