Adventures in Slovakia

 I recently learned that many of my students were not at all fans of my decision to shave my beard. After growing a beard for the past four months, I figured that the time had come to say "goodbye" and return to my cleanly-shaved self. My timeline for this matter was also accelerated by the fact that I've got a special Fulbright conference next week where I'll be interacting with stakeholders at NATO and the European Commission, and I figured that I'd look more professional if I were clean-shaven.

This past week, I had an opportunity to experience another first in Slovakia.  More than that, it was a “first while abroad.” Although I managed to avoid hospitals and doctor’s offices in France and Poland, my days of evading foreign medical care came to an end today in Slovakia. After slipping and falling yesterday, I gashed my tow and turned my apartment into something that looked more akin to a bloody crime scene. The suspect, in this case, was the innocent-looking shower mat that took me for an unexpected ride in which I landed on my back with blood pouring forth from a wound in my toe. After using paper towels and borovička (a traditional alcoholic vodka-like drink) to clean the wound, I tried in vain to stop the blood as I limped around. With a bit of mixed success, I (against my mother’s advice) decided that I’d tough it out because I didn’t want to burden anyone, and I thought I could “fix it” and allow the wound to heal on its own. Additionally, I have taken an odd pride ...

05 December 2022 As I prepare to turn 24 in a couple of days, I have once again found myself in a state of introspection as I reflect upon the past year and assess my hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the year ahead. This is the second birthday that I've spent abroad (the first was in 2019 while living in Poland). This may be a bit of a meandering post; I hope you'll bear with me as I piece together my stream of conscious thoughts. Winter Reflections This time of year can bring simultaneous joy and sadness for a myriad of reasons. Joy comes with the celebration of Christmas, Thanksgiving, and my birthday - all of which fall between these last two months of the year. Yet, at the same time, as I celebrate these occasions, I am confronted with the reality that those who I hold most dear are, once again, a few thousand miles away, separated by both an ocean and a 6-hour time difference.  None of this is unexpected; when I accepted the Fulbright, I knew it would come with its share...

My Thanksgiving message to family & friends: My first Thanksgiving away from my family, home, and country took place in 2019. At that time, I would not have envisioned that I'd be spending another Thanksgiving outside of the US only three years later, in 2022. Yet, I am profoundly grateful for the opportunities afforded to me as I have continued expanding my horizons, traveling the world, and embarking upon new adventures (such as teaching high school students - something I hadn't envisioned a few years ago). In addition to being grateful for those that I miss and love beyond measure, including my family - Especially my Mom & Dad - and my friends, this year I am also grateful for the seven classes of students I have the pleasure of teaching at Obchodná akadémia in Rožňava, Slovakia.  This picture was taken with my II A (Sophomore) class earlier this month. On the day this photo was taken, I walked into my Friday morning class with them a few minutes early and was surpri...

 No, that's not a typo. I've quickly learned that the wonderful self-checkout at our neighborhood TESCO is perhaps the great enabler. I came to this realization when responding to a student's question as I was asked if visiting shops was challenging, given the language barrier. Offering my response as a sheepish grin spread across my face, I laughingly described my newfound routine of walking to TESCO, spending time perusing nearly every aisle collecting what I want to purchase (while contemplating how much of a necessity each item is as I calculate how much bag space I'll have left and factor in other variables, such as how burdensome my walk back home is going to be), and finally heading to the self-checkout before embarking upon the journey back home.  However, my response didn't end there... I also described why I appreciated the self-checkout. In addition to avoiding the awkward confrontation with a clerk as I'd have to stumble through Slovak in an attempt ...

I've decided to make an effort to share some of my more comical moments while living abroad, in Slovakia. It's amazing how routine or mundane tasks can suddenly become unnecessarily complicated as you come to terms with the difficulties of settling into a small city in a foreign land. Below, I've shared a few of my most comical moments over the course of this past month. Stories from September : Question: "How did you meet your neighbors?" Answer: "Laundry." Let me explain... After moving into my apartment located on the campus of the school where I'm teaching, I was told that I could do laundry in the adjacent room, although they didn't have a laundry room key ready for me. After two weeks, I inquired again and was told that they were waiting on the maintenance man to make a copy. In the meantime, I was told to visit my Ukrainian neighbor on the fourth floor and ask to borrow her key. Upon answering the door, my neighbor asked me if I spoke Slov...