Video Tour of Our Flat

Heather and I have received more than one request for a virtual tour of our little home in Bratislava. So, without further delay:

PS -- Dear would-be burglars, please note that the three doors between you and our apartment are ordinarily locked, that the building is armed with a security system, and that, in the end, our apartment contains nothing of value. Please take your business elsewhere, or, better yet, consider a career change. Nonprofit, maybe? Something that benefits society.

Lost in the Labyrinth

In early April our college friend, Autumn, paid us a visit on her way back home from two years in Cambodia. We took her to Vienna to see the sights one day and rather impulsively decided to tackle the maze and labyrinth garden at Schloss Schonbrunn. To our shame, we documented the whole escapade.

The Contraption

Sometime during the middle of winter, we started to suspect something strange was being built behind the sheet metal fence we pass on our way to work. At first, it looked like siege works or an oil well or something. I don't know--some giant piece of heavy steel machinery. Then, this spring, a neon green booth showed up in the lot with a gun-wielding gangster painted on the side. And then they painted the thing. Now there's no mistaking it:


That's right, folks--they're building an amusement park ride in our neighborhood. Right in someone's backyard.

A Trip to the Grocery Store

Usually, when Heather and I need to buy groceries, we take a short walk down the street to the little "potraviny" around the corner. But it's just a small shop, so, every once in awhile we make a run to Tesco (UK's Super Wal-Mart) or Hypernova for those harder-to-find items. NOTE: we shot this video months ago--on Super Bowl Sunday, in fact--back when it was still snowing nonstop in Slovakia.

The Missionary Barber

When in the course of human events it becomes self-evident that one badly needs a haircut...


...yet one is on the mission field (read: poor) in a country where one doesn't know the language, one is left with but one place to turn for help: the missionary barber--a.k.a. one's spouse.


Heather has now successfully cut my hair twice since we've been here--saving us money while saving my dignity. And, actually, I gave her hair a good trimming before she left for Romania.

Speaking of Romania, she'll be away for a week, visiting a safe house for girls rescued from the sex trafficking industry and, together with TWR's Partner, researching possibilities for using media to help victims of this atrocity and prevent more girls from falling prey. Pray for her travels!

Our Home Church Away from Home

One of the biggest blessings God gave us before even arriving was our church--our very own Calvary Chapel right in Bratislava. Patrick, our pastor (pictured left), "randomly" found our blog last fall and extended an invitation to the church they host in their home each Sunday. We went just a week after arriving and fell in love with it. We meet every week at 3:30 p.m. and have a time of fellowship, prayer, music, teaching, and then dinner!

The church consists of a core group of believers that include a Japanese family, an American family I knew from last time I was here, and new Slovak friends as well. We all went to the park last Easter weekend and shared a lovely picnic. We also had Passover dinner together.

Mike is actually our worship leader! Patrick lets Mike keep his guitar during the week and it is such a blessing to see my husband lead our praise. We've always had a guitar in our home, and he used to pick at it every so often, but it wasn't until the first Sunday at church I heard my husband play a full song on the guitar! He plays excellently.

Below is an excerpt from our pastor's family prayer letter...

As you know, our main ministry focus is to plant a church here in Bratislava. Since September '08, God has opened the doors wide open to do just that and it has been amazing to simply watch God work (it is certainly not us!) The church plant is affiliated with Calvary Chapel (which is our model of ministry), but we have opted to call it CityLight. The name simply summarizes the vision--to be a light to the city of Bratislava. It's been a great encouragement to watch the Lord draw people to the church, to see a desire in the those who gather to serve and love one another, and watch people get excited about Jesus. Starting this week we will be launching a 5-week teaching series focused on God's plan for the Church and our part in it.

Please also pray for [my wife] as she leads the children's ministry which is a lot of work. There are sometimes as many kids as adults and they are of mixed age and limited space... so its quite a challenge! Pray that the fellowship will grow in the Word, His grace, prayer, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Be sure to check out our new church website! You can also visit our pastor's family's personal blog to see where we stole some of these great pictures from. : )

Easter in Bratislava

It's been a short work week! Easter is a four-day holiday here, and the weather this past weekend couldn't have been nicer. Heather and I took full advantage. We played tourist on Saturday, roaming Bratislava's Easter Market and other parts of downtown we'd only walked past.

Above, I am wielding a souvenir branch for whipping. On Easter Monday in Slovakia, it is tradition for the boys (and drunk men, we hear) to whip their female friends and dump water over their heads. In return for this act that supposedly "makes them beautiful," the girls give them money and candy! Can you believe it? We actually didn't, really, until we saw every third man (big and small) on the street with a branch and a wary look in his eye.

We finally visited nearby Devin Castle, an old castle mostly in ruins. There wasn't a cloud in the sky as we climbed all over the ancient frameworks--very un-American. After anticipating it for months, we finally saw Slumdog Millionare (released overseas after its Oscar win) and the first half of the movie was in an Indian language with Slovak subtitles. Oops. We didn't understand much of this part, naturally, so we'll be re-watching when we get the chance.

Devin Castle's watchtowers on the Danube. Jamin, this picture is for you! :-)

Monday, we spent the day picnicking at the park with friends from church up in the hills outside the city. (Below: Ivetka, our pastor's wife, and her son, David; Peter and Sylvia, our friends from church.) Now, we're off to visit Munich with our colleague, Frank, for a nice weekend roadtrip to his hometown.

Happy Easter!

The food here is pretty... organic. The potatoes we buy at the corner market are still thick with dirt from being pulled out of the ground that morning. The stems on the chunks of tomato vines are still green on the inside. (The grapes, however, are vacuum sealed as though shipped from another planet.) When we looked into our fridge on this resurrection day, we found our onions--that (I swear, Mom!) were bought no more than two weeks ago--brought on a whole new meaning to the celebration of springtime. Mike pointed out that God hath provided the bloomin' onion I've been craving from home...

We are having a truly lovely four-day weekend. Can't wait to share pictures!

P.S. - Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary to Angie and Jamin!!! Congratulations.

A Surprise Visit

This past weekend we had the pleasure of Autumn West's company. Autumn, a fellow CU grad, just finished up over two years in Cambodia with the Peace Corps and returned to the States today. She was visiting a nearby friend in Budapest, Hungary and came to spend a few sunny days with us. Autumn was our official guinea pig for all future Bratislava/Vienna tours we'll give and, as a former Forensics team member, she more than appreciated that I made most of it up as I went. This is us in Vienna at the Easter Market. We also tackled the labyrinth garden at Schloss Schonbrunn; embarassing/amusing video to come.

These painted eggs were unbelievable and all over. My family always decorated for Easter so, even though Mike doesn't know it yet, our home will one day have a small tree with Easter eggs hanging from it. When our kids ask us what this has to day with Christ's resurrection, well...? I really wanted the egg that had the entire map of the world painted on it! But I couldn't bring myself to pay 7 Euros for a painted egg that probably won't survive the trip home. Alas...
And we simply had to post a photo of the giant pretzels we ate, of course.

Things I Love about Living Here

I read on another missionary's blog that sometimes it is healthy and good to make a list of the things you love about serving where God has placed you on the mission field.

• The woman who works at the corner grocery store (the "potraviny") that loves practicing her few English phrases with us. I love to hear her read the amount "Tree eighty seeex."

• The way everyone takes walks at any time of day. Elderly couples, families with strollers, teenagers--they just stroll and chat.

• Colors! There is a bridal shop around the corner from work that is bright yellow, orange, blue, and green. Once communism fell, people really went crazy with house paint colors.

• The words for hello and good-bye: "Ahoj" and "Cau," pronouned A-hoy and Chow. I love the upbeat rhythm of chirping "Ahoj!" any chance I get.
  

• Pizzeria Amaretti, this pizza parlor down the street. It's the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Our friend knows the owner, so now he takes very good care of us. The pizza is fairly cheap and we can eat it for lunch for days.
  

• The cast-iron fences everyone has around their homes. They are beautiful and a nice way to stay safe while still enjoying a nice view. Of course, all the windows are barred, too.

• We love the walk to work. It's down a few streets and through two parks. It's a lovely stress-free way to begin and end a workday. When I asked Mike about this list, it's the first thing he said. And we haven't even hit spring yet!
  

• Reading responses from listeners to TWR programs. It is the absolute best part of my job to hear of people's lives--so painful or simply empty--changed by Jesus Christ. I hope they encourage you, too, as I post them.

• Our apartment! It's so goofy, really, and people that enter for the first time can't help but chuckle. But we love it! (Moms, don't yell about not posting pictures! We will... we will...)

• Sending letters from here. The stamps are so fun and foreign looking and there is just something so romantic about putting a letter in the mailbox and knowing it is about to take an overseas journey. More than all that, though, we love GETTING letters. ;-)
  

• Mike loves the fact that we can walk to our grocery store, pick up a few things after work for dinner, say hello to the same cashier, merely guess at prep instructions on the back of things.

• We really, really like working with each other. You know how your spouse just gets your ideas and you play really well of each other? It's a pretty good trait to have in a colleague during brainstorming sessions. We both get so much done!
  

These might seem like silly little things, but they are the things that make me stop and thank God for putting us here in Slovakia. About every other week, Mike and I have a moment where we look at each other and say, "Dude. We live in Slovakia." Thank you, God.

A Game for You

In the midst of putting the final batch of
cookies in the oven one day,
Mike and I burst into laughter,
reminded once again of just how opposite we really are.

Can YOU guess who was rolling each half of the cookie sheet?

Slovak 101

The other night, we went to Exit, a downtown career/college group of about 200 people. It was a lot of fun--definitely more the style of meeting and worship that I grew up with. (Excluding an electronic violin, which I did not know existed until now.) A visiting band was playing, and the kids kept hopping around. I felt old. First, I simply didn't want to hop around--all that energy!--and, secondly, because I worried I might break something.

During worship, all the words were in Slovak. If they sing a worship song we know, we sing along in English. Mike and I, both major word nerds, are distracted by thoughts of amazement: we're singing the same thing, but with different words, at the same time, and it still works with the music, and God hears the same thing. Now that we're learning pronunciation, it is really helpful to see words up on the big screen while people sing. Some words are, like, seven letter longs with no vowels. It makes my brain hurt. I try to sing along but, unless the words have been translated by a friend, I simply cannot sing praises to God. Like, my brain doesn't function. To me, Slovak sounds exactly like someone who is making up a goofy language on the spot. So, I can't take myself seriously. I barely sing out English worship songs, so I think God understands.

Anyway, all that to say, here are a few common phrases to give you a feel for the language...

YES = ANO Ahno

NO = NIE nyeh

PLEASE = PROSIM proseem

I'M SORRY / EXCUSE ME = PREPACTE prepachte

GOOD MORNING = DOBRY RANO dobrye rano

GOOD DAY = DOBRY DEN dobrye den

HELLO = CAU or AHOJ chow or ahoy

THANK YOU = DAKUJEM dyahkooyahm

GOOD NIGHT = DOBRU NOC dobruh nots

GOOD-BYE = DOVIDENIA doveedenya

I DON'T KNOW = NEVIEM. nyehveeyem

Oh, how we say it with such pleading in our souls!:

DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH? = HOVORITE PO ANGLICKY? havoreete poh angleetsky

Our personal favorite:

SORRY, I DON'T SPEAK SLOVAK = NEHOVORIM PO SLOVENSKY nyehavoreem poh slovehnskee

The Shop Around the Corner

Heather and I are blessed and cursed with an apartment that's just a short walk from a wonderful little Slovak bakery. Heather remembered it was somewhere nearby from when she lived here before, but the place is unmarked and the streets can be a little confusing. The first morning we set out to find it we wandered about for a good twenty minutes. Turns out it's right around the corner. Now we have the route down pat.

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PS -- Bonus points to anyone gets the title reference

Super Bowl Sunday

Sushi Night in Slovakia

The quarantine has been lifted! Heather and I are both back from the dead, on our feet, and feeling fine for the PR retreat. We had big plans for a day trip to Vienna this Saturday, but instead spent our morning sleeping and our afternoon reading in our sunny sitting room. It was oh-so refreshing. Plus, it was a personal triumph to see Heather reading a sci-fi/fantasy book -- I finally convinced her to start the Harry Potter series and she tore through the first in less than 24 hours. I'm so proud.

Anyway, last weekend, before the plague struck our house, we went over to our neighbor's house for sushi night! Yep, sushi -- not exactly something we expected to find in a landlocked Eastern European country. We were quite excited. Of course, we couldn't find any sushi-grade raw fish (it is a landlocked Eastern European country, after all) but it ended up being excellent anyway. Watch and learn:

The Quest for Quality Kava*

I confess: Heather and I are coffee snobs. Here in Slovakia, however, most peoples' idea of "good coffee" is Nescafe Gold — which, hate to break it to you, isn't really coffee. While it deceptively resembles coffee in appearance, it smells like burning and tastes like a dirty mug of warm water. Yep, I learned that info the hard way. I'll pass, thank you.There are a few alternatives to Nescafe, but nothing comparable to a cup of Starbucks coffee. Starbucks itself isn't available anywhere in the entire country. And so it was that I fell slowly into despair.

Then, on Saturday, our neighbor and new friend, Heather, appeared on our doorstep with warm homemade cinnamon rolls and a pound of genuine, whole bean Starbucks Sumatra and a French press coffee maker. I think I heard angels singing.

Immediately, a problem presented itself: neither of us had a coffee grinder. Undeterred, I poured the beans into a baggie, wrapped the baggie in a towel, and beat the beans into pieces with a small hammer. True story. Don't believe me? Watch the video:

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*Kava = coffee in Slovak

The View from St. Michael's Gate

The Saturday after we arrived in Slovakia, one of our coworkers, Alica (pronounced Aleetsa -- "c" makes a "ts" sound in Slovak), offered to show us around the Bratislava City Center. The City Center is about 17 minutes away by bus. It was a painfully cold day for a long walking tour, but we were warmed along the way by hot roasted chestnuts purchased from a cart on the street and a meal of goulash and perogies at the Slovak Pub. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was the view from St. Michael's Gate. The tower dates back to the 13th century. Now it's a small museum with a weapons exhibit...and a great view of the city.

Raindrops on roses and strudels and schnitzels...

Yesterday we drove with Daniel, our co-worker, to TWR's office in P'Dorf, a village just outside of Vienna. (P'Dorf is the merciful abbreviation of Perchtoldsdorf.) It was sleeting hard onto our windows when we woke up, and God granted us safe travel on the roads. We met everyone in the Vienna office and finally got to meet with our boss, Barb, and her assistant, Anne. It felt great to nail down a few details on our job descriptions and finally get rolling.

For lunch, we ate at one of P'Dorf's 50-60 famous Huerige restuarants. P'Dorf is surrounded by family-owned vineyards, and most are associated with their own restaurant that is only open half of the year for about two weeks at a time. The way to tell which restuarant is open when is by the wreath hanging up near the doorway. It's something about avoiding taxes by being an official restaurant, but it is legal--something to do with old legal systems. All you really need to know is that you can order a spinach strudel the size of a Chipotle burrito and a wiener schnitzel larger than your face.

Mike and I went to Hypernova last night, the local grocery store ("potraviny") that is located inside a giant shopping mall. It was a challenge, and the only word for any meat I could remembr was "sunka" for ham, and we don't really like ham, but all the other meats looked the same and they seem expensive but wait they're in kilograms so how many kilograms is a stupid pound and Mike checks his iPod Touch application but I worry about him whipping that thing out and for crying outloud why didn't we eat before we got here?! We came home with full bags, but I'm not really sure what is currently in our fridge.

Today is our first official day of work. Mike has spent most of the day researching and interrogating everyone about what they do and how TWR is organized, etc. (Last night, he explained it back to me in an extensive QVC metaphor, and it was quite brilliant.) He is so eager to learn, and it has been so strange to see him in business-mode. Not that I am surprised, but I am so impressed by what a hard worker and stubborn thinker he is. He already has double the amount Slovak phrases that I do.

Moe's, Proscuitto, and the New CEO

"Did you hit your butt on the ceiling?" I asked Mike. He was frowning from the small corner of our room where he was putting some new sheets on our bed. He nodded, rubbing the small of his back with a grimace, and we coulnd't help but laugh. Only in our apartment, where the ceiling (the building's roof) sharply slants to each corner of the room, would that even be humanly possible. Mike is still learning when to duck.

Last night, Tina (co-worker and friend) was going to sing some jazz music at a pub downtown. The pub was called "U Muchko," which means "At Moe's." It is modeled after the bar in 'The Simpsons,' and the walls displayed a lot of memorabilia. Random, right? We met up with a few new friends and Frank (other co-worker and friend) and had a nice time listening to some excellent music by Caroline Hitland of Norway. We saw her a few nights ago, too, and her Danish boyfriend was there, tap dancing in accompaniment. It was so adorable! They both looked like Josh and Abbie Cobb, down to every facial expression and gesture, and it made me miss them so much!

Mike was so funny at the table: he spent a good deal of the evening staring intently at the short menu, asking what different words meant and making some pretty accurate guesses at others. He is already doing well at picking up pieces of the language and applying them. Although, this morning on our walk to work, he almost bumped into someone and couldn't think of the correct word for "excuse me" in time.

"Prepachte!" he remembered, just after we turned the corner. "I can never remember the 'p' words. Prepachte... prosim... proscuitto..." (As Mike sometimes like to sing: "Which one of these is not like the other?")

In more important news, TWR's new President and CEO, Lauren Libby, visited the Bratislava office today, and it was a very big deal. His wife, June, joined him. I was immediately impressed by him, and he did an excellent job being carted around everywhere, shaking hands and learning names with a genuine smile on his face. He gave his testimony of how he came to Christ and his career experience with media and the Navigators. He also explained his vision for TWR for the next few years, and a part of that was recruitment for the next generation of the TWR family, which is very exciting to Mike and I. It was something I was very interested in last time I was here, too. We made a point of speaking with Lauren about how we can get involved in whatever he has planned, so hopefully that will pan out!

Today and yesterday in the office have been all about preparing for and enjoying Lauren's visit, and tomorrow we train in Vienna to actually get started! We are ready to get this show on the road!

How are you? How are you? How are you?

Last night we meet with some friends at a lounge downtown to hear a blues/jazz band. The singer was an adorable Norwegian girl and, before the night was over, we heard a song in Dutch, Norwegian, Slovak, English, and Russian. This evening we met with Tina, a co-worker and old friend, and went to the mall to see "Yes Man." The main characters went to Lincoln, Nebraska in the movie and even attended a Huskers game! SO surreal. I was expecting to hear cheers, then realized: "Um. I'm in Slovakia."

Mike is making himself very at home. Whenever we are in separate rooms, I heard thuds and clunks and shuffling in the next room as he fixes or organizes things here and there.

I've been walking around telling everyone in Slovak "It's nice to meet you," only to discover that I was really asking "How are you?" Which, sure, makes me sound friendly enough, but the mix-up explains why I got strange looks the second or third time I said it to someone, particularly while they are walking away.

Please be praying about the conflict Russia is having with Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe. Slovakia gets all of its natural gas from Russia through Ukraine, and we heard today that Slovakia has eight more days of natural gas in reserves before they run out. How strange for a second-page newspaper headline to be so pressing to our daily lives. I caught myself thinking "America will save us." I just know that the Western World wouldn't let everyone freeze in the dead of winter, but I still felt strange thinking something so-- I don't know. I asked Mike if that thought made me sound very American or very unamerican. He said "very American" after thinking about it, and I think he is right. Of course, shouting "Go Big Red" at a Slovak movie theater probably wasn't fooling anyone anyway.