:)

Hey!!

There are a couple of food pictures above. One is of an omelette I eat pretty often and the other is something I had for lunch the other day. I eat lunch at a restaurant called Atrium. People in Slovakia typically eat pork every day. It is tradition and history of the country to serve it at lunch and dinner. One of my friends was telling me, that Slovakia was a poor country in the past. It was cheaper to buy swine than it was to buy cows. I assume it still is, but in Presov they are very proud of their country and their town. Even though they offer other options like chicken or fish, they hold on to their roots and serve pork with everything! I really admire this and respect them for holding onto their traditions and values. (even the younger people) :) I still eat chicken everywhere I go. Slovakian people also love their potatoes! They can eat potatoes with any and everything. One of my friends Alena farms potatoes. She told me I won't need to buy any because I have her. I had a famous meal with Alena a couple weeks back called "Halusky". Pronounced(ha-loosh-ky). It tasted like gnocchi. There was also ham on the top. It was very filling and not nutritional at all, but I was happy I tried some of it. Rice is also another typical side dish with a few cucumbers. Atrium changes their menu every week, so each day I'm trying new things.

Above, there are also pictures of me and a few of my friends here. One picture is of me and my friend Natalia and her puppy Kimo. He is the cutest dog ever! The other picture is of her, her husband Richard, and Kimo. One of the days this week we went to a park and had "Kofola." Kofola is basically Slovaki's version of soda. They have other brands of Soda, but this is their creaton of it!




I found out yesterday that I will be moving into my apartment on Tuesday. That's what they "say", but I will believe it when I see it. I was a little sad when I received that info because I really enjoy staying in the hotel. I love seeing all my friends everyday. I told some of them that I might be moving out on Tuesday and they told me they would put a chair for me at the receptionist table. That's usually where I hang out. The other day one of my friends gave me some homemade strawberry jam. It was delicious! I shared with some of the girls the taste of peanut butter and they loved it. I told Miska PB&J is the way to go, so she told her mom to make me jam!

I have a game later today in Poprad. It is an hour away. We played them a couple of weeks ago, but this one counts for league. I'm excited because there is a guard on the other team who is really fiesty and I'm not sure if any of you know this about me...but I'm competitive. Today, I will show her my fiesty side! :)

Love you all!

Jen

Hanging out :)

Hey everyone!

Today is a very beautiful day in Presov. It's about 75 degrees outside. I just got back from eating lunch at Atrium. I get to eat there free everyday for lunch. I can't read the menu so I just order some form of chicken everyday. After lunch we went and got ice cream from the Croatia ice cream stand. Very good ice cream! It's really cheap too. One scoop cost 30 cents in Euros.

I'm still living in the hotel as of right now, but I don't mind it at all. Like I said before everyone is so nice. I have really good conversations with the receptionist who are becoming very good friends of mine. I can't do my laundry becuase I'm not in my apartment, so the cleaning lady, Franchesca does it for me in the hotel! She is so sweet. She doesn't speak a lick of English, but everyday we try to share a few words, smiles, and laughter.

Last night I ate at the hotel and met Mark, an American that works in the Automotive industry here. He works in the factory in Presov. He lives in Prog, but travels to Presov during the week. His co-worker was also there. Her name is Stacy. She is from Munich and flies in Presov about once a year. It was really nice having dinner with them and talking about random things. Next time Mark and I hang out, he is going to show me different sites in Presov.

Mark and Stacy were not the only English speaking people I talked to yest.. I also spoke with Erin Lawless who plays for Kosice. Kosice is twenty minutes from me. We are having a tournament in Presov this week so I will see her again today. Erin played on the Presov team last year and moved up to the club's higher team. She said there are a good amount of American people that live in Kosice and that I should come visit her and hang out. I will have to do that very soon! :)

Matt 5:6
Blessed are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness. For they shall be filled!

*Jen

Oh ya!

I forgot one more thing. For lunch I had pasta and salad. This salad is amazing. It takes like the salad Lisa C. use to make at her house. (Except no crackers and cheese and you know what else ;) ) While I waited for my lunch I read a verse in Mark. Mark 16:15 it says, 'He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."' I love that verse! Misha asked me what I read while I was eating and I had her read it in English. She understood perfectly! I have made great friends here in SLovakia. Women who also have faith in an amazing God. Love you! Time for my nap!

*Jen

Friends are a gift!

Hey Everyone.
Today has been great so far. I had a hard time sleeping last night and woke up at 4am. I couldnt go back to sleep until 6:30. I didn't hear my alarm and almost missed shooting with one of my teammates. For breakfast, I cooked oatmeal that I brought from home. You may be thinking, 'how did she make oatmeal in her hotel!' Well, like I said, the people here are amazing. They are doing everything they can to make me feel special. They gave me a microwave to keep in my room while I'm here. The oatmeal I brought from home. :)

I went to shoot with Misha, one of my teammates. She goes to the University and is studying to get her BA in "Adult Development." After shooting I talked to Misha, the receptionist. (Misha is a popular name) She is starting to be one of my good friends, along with Alena (the other receptionist). Misha and I talked about all kinds of stuff. She has already invited me to come visit her home 40 mins away and see the historical church and town and to just hang out. I told her that Alena and I had talked about seeing a movie in the future. So we will all hang out at some point. :) Some movies out here are in Enlgish with subtitles in Slovencina/Slovak. I also told Misha that in the winter I want to go sledding with Tina. She said we can do that and go snowboarding! I'm so excited about the friends I am making here. They are very kind and sweet. God knew what He was doing when He sent me here! :)

Meeting Friends

I have met amazing people in the hotel I'm staying in. There are two receptionist that are starting to be great friends of mine. Misha is very sweet. She helped me figure out how to get my internet to work. She went out her way to figure out if my adapter would fit the Slovakian plug. We spent a couple hours hoping it would work. Finally I just said, "what the heck, plug it in!" It worked!

The other receptionist I met was Alena. She is great. We talked for a few hours tonight about, friends, family, God, America, Slovakia, Guys, School, and so much more. We are going to the Cinema soon, but I don't know what we are going to see yet.
Talking about God was really special. I told her that I like to pray and read my bible. It was nice just encouraging her to share her faith to others. Maybe we will go to church Sunday.

Well, today was another great day in Presov, Slovakia! Love ya!

*Jen

Some pics from my first days

Please let me know if you cant see these pics! Here is one site from Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2167501&id=4710396



If that site didnt work here is another link.

http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=353014028/a=397268028_397268028/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

First few days in Slovakia

My plane ride to Slovakia was great. My first flight was to Zurich Switzerland. The flight lasted around 11 hours. I usually always pray that I meet special people when I fly. This trip I met Rotem from Israel. We talked for hours about our family, friends, and culture. She taught me how to write my name in Hebrew. We also listened to some Hebrew music on her laptop. I thought I would share with her some American brownies I made a couple nights before with friends. She loved them. Everyone usually does.

My Second plane ride was from Zurich to Budapest. On that flight I sat with Gathen, a guy from Wales, UK. I shared brownies with him too! This flight was an hour. We talked about random stuff like sports, school, food. He helped me find my luggage at the airport when we landed. While we waited we cracked jokes about how some europeans cut you when you are waiting in line for places.

After I left Gathen I met Josef! He was my Taxi driver from Budapest to Slovakia. He was great! He spoke very little English, but we made it work. He gave me a book so I can translate Slovak into English. Very useful! We drove and talked. We listened to all kinds of American music and some Slovak. Then he put on a AC/DC video and we watched that. :) After 30 minutes we stopped at a gas station for water and candy. He bought me carbonated water :/ and chocolate:)
Kosice was our next stop. It's twenty minutes from Presov. We stopped there for dinner. I had pizza and a glass of white wine. While we ate we watched a futbol game. Slovakia vs Czech! It was a tie, but Josef seemed really happy about it. After pizza we drove to my hotel.

My hotel is called Carpe Diem. Seize the day! Don't waste it! This hotel is great. My apartment won't be ready for a couple weeks, but it's actually a blessing! I have a huge bed, nice view, flat screen tv, and restaurant to eat in.

The next morning I had breakfst with the mayor. He owns the hotel and the restaurant. I eat there for free breakfast and dinner. I had eggs and ham. I also had scrambled eggs with onions. This was very difficult for me to eat. I didn't want to be rude, but I didn't order onions! I hate onions and just tried to swallow it whole with out chewing. He brought his dog along with him to. Her name was Tina. I kept thinking, "how can I sneak these eggs to this dog?" Anyway, I ate half. Good enough! :)

Later I ate lunch with some teammates. They are so nice. Yunka / Julia is from Russia. Andy is from Slovakia. I had chicken noodle soup and chicken, rice and veggies for my meal. Oh, and more carbonated water.

Later that day I had a game. I met the rest of my team at the game. Learned a few plays. We played Poprad at home. It was really fun being able to play again. Refs...not so good.

After the game I came back to the restaurant and had a nice steak dinner, with a salad, and fruit salad. It was amazing! To drink I asked for regular (non-carbonated) water. It tasted so good! The name of the bottle was Savior. I thought was a great finish to my day. My Lord and Savior reminding me that he is still with me wherever I go and will take care of my every need. Thanks Jesus. Well, thats all for now. Love you friends and fam!

*Jen