Vienna
Last weekend, we had Friday off for Mary’s Ascension into Heaven (officially called Our Lady of Sorrows Day). So, we decided to make the most of it and take a trip to Vienna. Vienna is only an hour away by train and costs less than $10. Quite a bargain. We took a fellow American, Heather, along with us. We spent time at the Belvedere Palace roaming through the beautiful gardens. They were very well kept (and free) and seemed to be a popular place for the locals to go running. We headed into the downtown/tourist area after a lunch of crackers and cheese. We had a city guide of Vienna, but not much else to go on. We found our way to St. Stephens Cathedral, a truly magnificent masterpiece of a church. The façade is just amazing. It is still a working church with services held on the weekends. Under the church is a series of catacombs. We could not resist taking the tour offered. It was well worth the $4. At the beginning of the tour, you see the catacombs that have been renovated. The cardinals and bishops are still buried there, some as recently as two years ago. We then saw the room with the caskets of the family who commissioned and built the church. Friedrich Babenberg rebuilt the church after it was gutted by fire in the 14th century. Friedrich commissioned and rebuilt the church by the time he was 25, which was when he died. He married at 14 and his wife was 11! Wow! It is amazing what you can do at a young age. The internal organs of the Hapsbug family (royal family) are kept here in copper urns, while their hearts and bodies are kept in two separate locations. Farther along in the catacombs, we saw the mass graves. Rooms upon rooms upon rooms of bones, some from the Plague. The catacombs were forbidden to be used after 30 years because of sanitation and smell issues.
After our tour, we walked around the town more, going into churches and walking around gardens. We did some shopping at H & M (for those of you not familiar with this store, it is a European clothing shop – a great find!). It is a place that we plan to become much more acquainted with this coming year. We counted at least three, maybe four of them. We had a true Vienna dinner of Weiner Schnitzel and potato salad. Very yummy. And what would a trip to Vienna be like without a stop at a coffee shop. Ours was made in the rain and the dark. We took the train the wrong way, got yelled at and flipped off by a “lady” on the bus and finally found a true Vienna coffee shop, with a wonderfully helpful waiter. The coffee and pastries were delicious and a great ending to our trip.

Interesting Fact # 3

Hair dye. I have never been somewhere where hair dye is so popular, at least among the women. All women, from teenage girls to business women to grandmas. It is not unusual in the least to see a classy lady in a nice pantsuit with red (and I mean red) hair. Yesterday, I went to the notary and the office had three ladies working in it. All of them had their hair dyed different shades of red. One was a true red, one a more coppery red and one a kind of orangey red. I have seen grandmas with purple, teachers with blue and everyone with red. Hmmm…. maybe the next time I am at Tesco I should check out the hair dyes…. blue… red… pink… purple…no, blue, definately blue.

Interesting Fact # 4

Movie theaters have assigned seating. When you go to the movies, they assign you a seat, so there is no reason to get their early to get a good seat. Although I did notice that as soon as the movie started, people got up and moved to the better seats that had not been purchased.


School
So, while our school started three weeks ago, we have only been teaching for the past two weeks. I see my 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders each twice a week and my 5th graders 3 times a week. Each group is broken up into two groups (2nd grade A and 2nd grade B), so I have a total of 18 classes a week. I was told right away that the 5th graders are a handful and that they can be a challenge. So, I decided to go in with guns blazing. I gave them a two page Student Interest Survery on day one to complete. I tried my best to make it at a fifth grade level so that it would be difficult for them and they would know that I meant business. And it worked! They really struggled with it and it took them all of the 45 minute period to complete (and many did not finish). But, I have not had problems with them and they are quickly becoming my favorite class. Their English is fairly good and we can communicate very well, although not always easily.

My challenging class is going to be my 3rd graders. I already had to send one boy to the principal for being disruptive in my class. They act like they have no idea what I am saying and like they can’t speak English at all. I know that it is difficult, but if we struggle together, we can communicate. However, they would rather pretend and speak in Slovak, since I can’t understand them. It is frustrating at times, but hopefully, sending one child to the principal will help the rest realize that while I may not know what they are saying, I still can understand their body language and get the gist of what they are saying. Please pray that I will continue to have patience with them, and that I will be able to come up with creative and fun ways to teach them.

Narnia's needs
On the topic of school, I would like to share with you a need that our school has. The English department’s job is to help all of the students become fluent in English so that they can attend a bilingual Gymnazium (high school). So, starting in first grade (their first year in school), they take five hours of English a week – three hours of English grammer from a Slovak teacher and two hours of English conversation from a native speaker (me!). By the fifth grade, their English is good enough that I can talk at a normal pace and use some pretty sophisticated language. They continue to take English throughout middle school (5th to either 8th or 9th grades). One of the best ways to learn a language is through reading. My favorite poster about reading is one that states the top ten ways to become a better reader: read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read! And for the students at Narnia, one of the best ways to perfect their English is to read books in English. The problem is that there are no English bookstores and very few bookstores with any English books. I was hoping to find English books in our school (since it has such a good English program). However, they have very few books, and the few they have are old and very random. Narnia would love to have more books for their students to enjoy. If you have any used (or new!) books that need a good home, we would love to have them. Please send me an email or post a comment if you are interested and would like the school address. Thank you.

PS. We teachers would love to relax with a good movie now and then, so if you have any videos or DVD's sitting around collecting dust, we would love to add there to our flat for not only us, but all the teachers in Central Europe. Thanks again for all of your support.

Philemon 1:4-7 "I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayer, because I hear about the love you have for all God's people and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. I pray that the faith you share may make you understand every blessing we have in Christ. I have great joy and comfort, my friends, because the love you have shown to God's people (ME!) has refreshed them." Thank you for refreshing me and keeping me in your prayers.