Children's day

well another month has now passed, brining my tally of months in slovakia to 5. setting out now on the 6th month is a less scarey prospect now that i have the knowledge and skills of 5 others behind me, it also makes me realise that it isnt long until i leave this place, and my my i think the last few months are going to pass very quickly...
in the past couple of weeks alot has happened, we have had the townsend youth stay at our house, which was good leading to many good times, they were a great bunch of people who i would like to see again before i leave here, in just a few days i felt very close to them all and quite happy to just hang out with them alot... Also we have had the school sports day, and fun day, which both went down fairly well, the kids all seemed to have a good time and all participated well... this last week and next will be filled with the cambridge progression tests for the grades 3, 4, H1, H2, H3... so far maths and science exams have been done.. these exams lead to a fairly hectic time at the school as you have teachers running everywhere getting to exams and giving them to the kids, then having to remember where they are meant to be teaching next as the the timetable has been changed..
on another tangent my sister leaves for the czech republic on sunday, she will be there helping at a school for the next three weeks, it will be rather lonely at home now without her, as in the last month i have grown quite used to having her there and it is good to have somone to talk to at home, or somone to just be with, its really good... but she will be back,, then we have the summer school here at forel, this runs until june 27th and we will be teaching the kids extra to bring them up to speed on their english,, then sometime after the 27th of june i am going to england.. WOOO HOOO!!!... hopefully will be there from around 28th june till about 24th august, which will be great, i am really looking foward to going back to england again and seeing all the family back there....
Today is childrens day, so we are giving the kids a special lunch and then showing them a movie in the afternoon, hopefully they will have a good day as i think since exams have been on not many of the teachers will have much to teach the kids at this stage when they are halfway through their exams... so there really is not much point....
Saw the new pirates of the carribian movie earlier this week, it was really good, and i would have to urge everyone to go see it, it was a really good movie and i quite enjoyed watching it.... the storyline is quite good and it ties everything together well, it also leaves a few loose ends so they could make a number 4,,, but i would really doubt it, what the ending really does is create.... well... you'll seee......
Anyway time for school,,,
happy slovak childrens day
keep safe.

The Joys of Life

The cycle of life continues, the days come and go, the events contained in them eventually pass into a blur of memories, some memories fade, others have such a profound impact on us, or so many people are told about what happened that the memory of the event stays with us for a long time....... a very long time......

One such incident is the now fabled, toilet incident. This weekend a dance group from the Townsend international school has come to Bratislava to perform, two of the boys are staying at my house. Unfortanetly one of the boys went to the toilet last night, and needless to say the toilet did not flush properly, it would appear that it is blocked. rather well... So today when the dancegroup visited the school all the students had a merry old time having the story of Mr. Daniel's toilet... needless to say i dont think i will have heard the end of this story for a long time, i am sure the children here will keep brining it up.. Oh the woes of having a toilet that does not work.

School has been quite busy this week, we have had many teachers off on an excursion, or sick,, so i have taken a few classes on my own, including one maths class with the high schoolers, this was a lot of fun and i actually enjoyed teaching the children maths, that my friends is very weird.. But mostly this week i have been putting books onto the school library system, cataloging books.. this has been alright, and so far i have done around 5 or 6 hundred books, i am not exactly sure, but i have broken the back of the work so to speak and am on the home stretch now, it will be good when it is all done as the books will be numbered so that makes it much easier for the borrowing of the books for children, you just need to write a number into the computer.... boy dont i feel like the little librarian.. hehehe.........

In other news i have been back on my bike properly of late, training seriously again, its great, i feel much better and a happier person because of it, sure i feel a bit tired in the legs alot of the time but hey, that is what comes with training isnt it?,,, i havent really been out on the road for a proper ride yet, but that is something i have planned for this weekend, i really want to get out onto the road again, and i think now i am finally fit enough and ready enough for it to happen... so this weekend look out slovak roads,, there is an Aussie on the loose.....

Why is this country so cold? it is a question i have been asking myself a lot lately, everyone here is happy that we are coming into summer soon, its spring now and so the hotter weather is on its way, WRONG,, it is still freezing cold here for me, i dont get it, i think here has a different type of heat, and they get cool breezes, this is the problem, i am used to heat, and hot winds, here you never actually feel what the real temperature is as there is always a nice cooling breeze... i am also thinking i bet it would be my luck that i am here for the hottest winter for 1000 years (this was still much to cold for me thankyou very much) but i will be here for the coldest winter for 1000 years,, if it snows, i will not be a very happy Australian, no i will be a cold, blue Aussie.....

From my time here i have noticed a few things, i find the most interesting thing to note is how english speakers adapt how they speak when they are overseas. we do three things to try and make whoever we are talking to understand us these are; 1) speak very slowly and clearly, with actions. like we are talking to a small child, like they need the actions..... 2) no matter where we are in the world if we put on a very bad french accent,, spending most of our time saying excusie,, excusie... 3) if the actions and the french doesnt work we just get frustrated and scream at the other person, like this will help them to understand..... what it must be like to be one of these people who doesnt speak english we shall never know, but i know what it feels like, i have been here and had to ask people things... sometimes you will ask somone somthing, and without actions or the help of bad french accent i might add... and the person will just say somthing to you and the people they are with all burst into fits of laugher,,, this seems a bit weird to me, i mean isnt an insult only funny if you say it to a person and they can understand you,, its like tying somones hands behind their back and then having a fist fight with them, it isnt somthing you can brag about how good you where is it?

Anyway it is time for this rant to end, my coffee is cold, Why does coffee never stay warm for the duration of you drinking, i think we need to invent a cup with a warmer in the bottom or never go cold water,, now that would be good, then we could all have warm/hot coffee all the time,,, hmmm,,, i think there is a market there.....

well off to get more coffee then lunch

Keep safe,

Drink good coffee

Spend time with friends

Laugh Alot

Aussie Tales

True story ................................
One boy was reading his book in library about crocodiles, when questioned by the teacher he said that crocodiles were from Australia.. The teacher then said jokingly "Australia is at the bottom on the earth, do you know how they stay on the earth as they are upside down?" to which the boy replied, "they have tails".. The teacher puzzled says, "But Mr Daniel is from Australia, does he have a tail?" TO which the boy replies seriously "Yes, He hides it in his pants"..........

SO there you go people, apparently Australians have tails like crocodiles, and while we are in europe we hide our tails so no one can see them.... interesting..............

Staff Room Events

Ahh life is grand, I have decked out my staffroom with Australian Merchandise, A flag over the window, a beachball, koala with a flag and a tube of vegemite.. This makes me feel very patriotic and has stirred up the english teachers, they now are planning to put their own flags on the wall of the staff room... this will be good, very multicutural.....
In other news i would just like to pass comment on the V8 championship so far, Holden have been absolutely dominent, thanks to the combined efforts of HRT and Toll HSV,, I am slightly dissapointed in Tasman motorsport and Greg murphy this year, but it is understandable that murph is struggling early in the year as he has just changed teams and is with a new crew.. But i have faith that he will get up later in the year. hopefully in time for Bathurst, the only real important event for the year. I can see another repeat of holdens 2002 performance of gaining positions 1 to 5 in the race.
Anyway back to the staff room, everyone is calm again now after a little heated arguement over what 'got peoples goat' or scared people... they day is getting old and coffee is running short, starting to wear off.. everyone is hitting the low at the end of the day... so i raise my glass ,,, well mug,,, to coffee the magic drink that helps us get through the day.. we can survive the children with coffee... ahhh the caffine,, the only way to combat the childrens weirdness and bouncyness.
anyway off to shop with Sara,
my sister wants to buy food,
and re arrange my house..
ahh well
time to go
Keep safe

May the Fourth be with you

May the fourth be with you,, happy birthday to me , happy birthday to me.

Well hello again everyone.

What can i say? the weekend has been great. Friday was my birthday and i had a really good day, went out for dinner in the evening and had a merry old time. thankyou kaylene, loui, loui, cameron and claudia for the great australia presents, Nan for the really amusing card, Sara and Matt for the other very funny card, Nanna Beck and Stephen for the great card and much needed undies and jumper, and mum and dad for the card and sending all that stuff for me... On saturday i had a few friends around for dinner and movie at the flat, it was a good night and almost a second birthday for me which was great. we sat and watched a few movies and all was good.

then sunday came around, a great day i left home just after 7am to get into town to be able to buy my ticket and be ready to catch the bus for 9:45 am to vienna... got on the bus without hassle and got to vienna airport at around 10:50am.. Unfortanetly Sara's plane got in at 1:15pm,, so i had to endure just over two ours in vienna airport, and at 5 euro's for a coke, which is the equillivent of around $8 australian.. lol, i had to limit my drinking.

Finally 1:15 rolled around and i picked a jet lagged, yet hyper active sister up from the gates. it was so great to see a family member after such a long time. after picking her up we went and had lunch in the airport at the resturant they had there, it cost around 18 euros for each meal so it was quite expensive, but otherwise we wouldnt have eaten until around 4 or 5 pm, so since we had to wait for the bus anyway we decided we may as well eat.

I must say the trip back from vienna to home with sara had a lot less problems and stress than my inital trip to devin. this was probably because i knew what had to be done and am used to the city and the trip so i was easily able to make my way home this time, which was really good, i was able to get sara home before the jet lag really set in and she was able to relax and sleep in comfortable surroundings.

the only downside to the whole journey was that we stopped at tesco to by sara a quilt and a pillow. somehow we managed to buy her a normal size pillow which was good, (Slovak pillows are huge) but the downside was that we bought her two pillows, we thought that in the packet it was a quilt, but no it was two huge pillows, so for the last two nights i have given my quilt to my sister as she needs it more than me, i dont feel the cold as much now, and i have slept under sheets. today we plan to go and buy some things which will make living slightly easier...

Her first plan of action yesterday morning was to re arrange the layout of my flat, the bugger had been here less than 24 hours and already she was changing things, now we have a layout of three chairs in the corner looking at a coffee table and the cupboard that the laptop sits on to watch programs and dvds on. And the beds are in the oppostie corners of the rooms with a desk and cupboards near them... i must admit though, it does look alright.

Yesterday we had sports day at school, it was an alright day but very strange, it wasnt an athletics carnival but just a day when kids got to play there crazy dodgeball game, skip, climb and run a relay, very strange combination of sports, but hey it was alright.. except i had to refferree their strange dodgeball game, which is really hard to understand, there are so many rules that it is hard to keep up and understand the game,,, really really weird, so strange that i cannot even begin to comprehend trying to explain to you the complexity of the game on a mere medium such as this, the explination requires gestures and facial expressions which i cannot convey here. will tell about it when i get back..

anyway thats my rant for the moment,, about to go shopping with my sister (this should be fun!) anyway i am off, cya all later,

play hard,

but try and keep safe

dont use slovak hospitals

THIS IS MY HOUSE,, I AM UNDER THAT TOP BALCONY YOU CAN SEE, THE BBQ IS ON THE GARAGE.

Slovakia general news

Hello Everyone,
just thought i would get off my lazy bum and write a blog so that those of you who ( ME AT TOP OF MOUNTAIN BEHIND HOUSE) are not inclined to email me can still hear from me and also see what i am up to as i will post some pictures up here..
well what can i say, i survived the Slovak winter, (lucky it was the warmest one in 1000 years) and am now heading into the summer, so far i have taken cold showers by accident, been hit in both ears with snowballs which has made one have an earache for a while, been attacked by

angry young slovaks and sustained two punches to the head, sliced my finger open with a knife and needed a couple of stitches,, lol, my my my it has been an eventful time. Luckily the school is (AUSSIE BUILT BBQ!!!!!! WOO!!)

keeping me busy and time is seeming to fly past.
I now know my way easily around most of Bratislava and if you want to go to a cafe, tea shop or Resturant here i could easily take you to one depending on what you want to be the major factor of your meal; taste, price, atmosphere.. all of these things i have come to know in my time here and can easily find a great place for you...
everything in this country is interesting to say the least, the coins go from half a crown, or 0.50 helliers, to 1,2,5,10 crown coins, then you get

the 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000 crown notes.. lol,, it all makes paying for anything very interesting, and the notes over 500 crowns can be very hard to fit into ones wallet. ( i shall post some pictures up of the money soonish)
my house is very nice, although it does get a bit cold at times, i think this is more to do with the slovak weather than enything else though, and me being the cold blooded australian that i am i am just praying for summer and some heat so that i can finally feel comfortable and able to walk around in a t-shirt and shorts.
I have some great friends here from all around the world, mainly though it is germans, Aussies and Poms that i am with when i go out, usually Aussies and Poms more than anything, it makes the nights interesting as we will disagree with some things, (pronunciation of words, and general slang) but if somone attacks us on somthing we are united on (what side of the road to drive on) then you had better look out for we will unite and attack,, lol, unity in divesity..
anywho i better be off
work to do here at school
i shall put some more pictures up as they come to hand
lots of love
Danny