There we are, after we ate and opened all the presents. Tu sme uz po veceri a po otvoreni darcekov. 

 
 
 
 
A short story about the life and death of Arnost our Christmas Carp. Like thousands of other carps in Slovakia, Arnost was born and bred to become a Christmas dinner. He along with his many relatives was brought to the city to be sold outside a department store. On December 20th, after he was fished out, weighed and paid for, he quickly traveled home with my uncle in a bag. Then he was introduced to a temporary home in my grandparents’ bathtub. We petted him, changed his water, and waited until the 23rd to end his short life. My grandpa killed him and I took care of the scales. After my grandma and I fried him, our family (well some of us) enjoyed him for Christmas Eve dinner. Kratky pribeh o zivote a smrti Arnosta, nasho Vianocneho Kapra. Ako tisicky inych kaprov na Slovensku, Arnost sa narodil a choval, aby sa stal Vianocnou vecerou. Spolu s jeho mnohymi pribuznymi ho priviezli do mesta by ho pred Tescom predali. 20. Decembra, ked ho vylovili, odvazili, a zaplatili, pocestoval s Radoskom v taske na Vetvovu a potom sup do vane. Hladkali sme ho, pridavali a vymienali mu vodu, az kym sme jeho dusicku neposlali 23. do vecnych lovist. Dedulo ho zabil a ja som ho od-supinovala. Potom sme ho so starkou vyprazili a nasa rodina (no, poniektori) si na nom pochutnala na Stedro-vecernu veceru. 

 
 
Christmas Market in Bratislava. Half the stands had all kinds of handmade things from jewelry to Christmas wreaths, the other half served traditional food and drink, like strudel and gypsy liver (pork) and mulled wine... Vianocne trhy v Bratislave na Hlavnom Namesti. Asi polovica stankov predavala rozne rucne vyrobene vyrobky ako sperky ci Vianocne vence a polovica ponukala tradicne jedla a napoje ako strudla a ciganska pecienka a varene vinko... 

 
  

 
This Gypsy also decided to take a walk - to gather some wood, probably from our forest! Tento pan cigan sa tiez rozhodol ist na prechazdku - aby nazbieral drevo, pravdepodobne z naseho lesa! 

 
 
 
 
Walking up to Medane, land that belongs to my family. Looking at the overgrown ruins (not visible), my aunt once again explained to me where my grandma lived with her parents, where they went to get water, where they grew potatoes, alfa alfa... It was a beautiful frosty day for a walk. Prechadzka na Medane. Je zvlastne stat na zemi ktora patri mojej rodine. Ked sme sa pozerali na zarastene zrucaniny (nezobrazene), moja teta Blazenka mi vysvetlila kde stal dom kde zila stara mama s jej rodicmi, kde chodili na vodu, kde sadili zemiaky, datelinu... Bol to krasny, mrazivy den. 

 
 
Klenovec. Visiting my aunt Blazenka and my grandparents. Klenovec. Navsteva u mojej tety Blazenky a starych rodicov. 

 
I wondered what it would be like to travel by myself; I didn’t expect that I would feel lonely, but I did. Maybe it’s because I went on so many great trips lately with good company and got used to sharing experiences. Rozmyslala som ci sa mi bude pacit cestovat samej; necakala som ze mi bude osamelo, ale bolo. Mozno aj preto, ze som v poslednom case bola na vela vyletoch s dobrou spolocnostou a privykla som si zdielat zazitky. 

 
Children at play in one of the beautiful squares. Hrajuce sa deti na krasnom namesti. 

 
Part of the recreation zone was this Gulliver playground with children as liliputans. Cast tej rekreacnej zony bolo Guliverove ihrisko s detmi ako liliputanmi. 

 
 
 
Santiago Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences is part of Valencia’s transformation of a dry river bed into a public recreation zone, full of parks, playing fields, and public buildings. The three structures pictured are a Planetarium, Science Museum, and a Palace of the Arts. The buildings themselves are amazing and the effect of the whole zone on the city is quite spectacular. Santiago Calatravove Mesto Umenia a Vedy je cast Valenciovej transformacie sucheho riecneho koryta na verejnu rekreacnu zonu, plnu parkov, hracych ihrisk, a verejnych budov. Tie tri zobrazene budovy su Planetarium, Muzeum Vedy, a Palac Umenia. Sama o sebe je ta architektura uzasna ale celkovy efekt tejto zony na mesto je velkolepy. 

 
Valencia, 3.5 hour train ride from Barcelona. Walking around the old part of the city as the sun was setting. Valencia, 3 a pol hodinova jazda vlakom od Barcelony. Prechadzka starym mestom pri zapade slnka. 

 
 
 
 
We had 23 people over for IB's birthday in our 28 m2 apartment and we were not even using our 2 bedrooms, only our kithchen/living room and the balcony. People kept coming and I was starting to wonder how much weight per m2 the apartment could hold. It was great. There is a picture of all of us before we went out for a movie. Thanks for the photos, Arif.
Na IB-ne narodeniny sme mali 23 ludi v nasom 28 m2 bytiku a to sme ani nepouzivali nase 2 izby, len kuchynu/obyvacku a balkon. Ludia prichadzali a ja som len rozmyslala ze kolko vahy na meter stvorcovy ten byt ma udrzat. Bol to zazitok. Je tam fotka nas vsetkych predtym ako sme isli do kina. Vdaka Arifovi za fotky.