The First Week, Coronations, History, and Skype

All of the American teachers, at least by their own accounts, survived the first week well. Paula found her 4the level classes a bit--well--sophomoric? There's a vocabulary word for you, students! Her 5th level folks are more mature, more focused, as well they should be, since they'll be taking the maturita, the big test, at the end of this year. How they perform on that test will determine their futures. Some will go to universities all over the European Union and the world, some will go directly into professional schools, and others may opt to take some time off before going, well, wherever they're going.

We were surprised by the "direct to professional schools" option. That means medical school, dentistry, law, the seminary, whatever. As one father admitted, some of them really haven't matured enough to make an informed decision, and don't succeed very well. Some will go to school for a year or two, and then drop out. Some come back to it, some go on to other things.

A weekend (or in Slovak, vikend) ago was the Coronation Festival. For nearly 200 years Bratislava (then known as Pressburg to the Austrians and Poshony to the Hungarians, served as the Coronation site for the Hapsburg emperors of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Maria Theresa was crowned here, for example. The Slovaks celebrate that part of the past with a parade, a coronation reinactment, and lots of partying. We walked up to the castle, which is just above us, to catch the Sunday version of the parade. The drums were loud, the jester energetic, and much of the crowd followed the "king" and "queen" down the hill for the reinactment. We stayed around the castle, however, since we had not been there before.


Of particular interest to me is the statue of Svatopluk, a leader of some renown in the Ninth Century, about the time of the Great Moravian Empire in this area. The statue is very controversial in Slovakia. First, there's argument about what he looked like; the sculptor made him very modern-looking. Then, the sculptor put an insignia on his shield that looks rather like a swastika. Third, the inscription on the statue talks about his concept of a Slovak people, when those ideas didn't come for another couple of centuries. Historians are upset and say the statue should be moved somewhere else with a new inscription. However, it was sponsored and unveiled by Smer, the political party which just got voted out of office. They led the election with nearly 35%, but in the end were not able to form a coalition. Moving the statue would be "un-Slovak," they say, and you should hear that as if it were "un-American." What will the current government do, especially with Smer rising in the polls? Stay tuned. It will be interesting to see what happens; history, and statuary, as political footballs.

We're fans of Skype! Not only does it help us keep in touch with our children and friends, but it allows us to show what our lives are like here. We appreciate the two-way communication; better (and cheaper) than telephone calls. Next time we'll go where the laptop can't, like outside. Meanwhile, keep y'all's powder dry (is that an idiom?).