3 Month Anniversary

My three month anniversary-
this is a landmark day.
Mostly because im supposed to know Slovak by now.
However, as any exchange student in Slovakia will tell you, that's just not going to happen.

My Language Ability:
Today I had a three hour conversation in Slovak with my host father. Yesterday I had another three hour conversation in Slovak with my host father. Unfortunately I can barely have a five minute conversation in Slovak with anybody else. Duso (host father) knows exactly how much I know, which words, and how to speak slowly and clearly. This results in me feeling very confident about my Slovak ability, and then talking to somebody else, failing miserably, and having my self esteem plummet.

It really just means I need time. The bottom line is that my language ability is whats keeping me back right now. I have had many a depressed day, mostly because sometimes it feels like I can't get really close to very many people. And I feel like a nuissance, because people will have to constantly switch languages and translate for me. So sometimes I don't want to go out at night because i want to give my friends "a break," even if they don't actually want one. (this has only caused me to not go out once, and i was also pretty tired that day, but it is just a hovering feeling). However, after I talk to the other exchange students in Slovakia, it seems like I know a lot more than they do. I am the only exchange student in my town, my family takes a great interest in me and always talks to me, I study during school a lot, I have many Slovak friends. Those are all great tools for me to learn the language, that other people (especially in big cities) don't necessarily have. So I think I am actually doing pretty well, it is just hard for me to see that, and even harder for Slovaks to see that. Especially since my town has a habit of grooming excellent Slovak speakers.

I am also making a new friend in my art class. Surprisingly, she is female. I have an extreme shortage of female friends. She is part of a very different crowd than I have so far been introduced to, so I think it could be interesting being friends with her. She is also quite good at understanding my pidgin Slovak, and speaks to me in Slovak (that is also clear and slow) without me having to ask. So that is exciting.

Going out is still fun, but its become much more ordinary. I haven't been able to stay out very late recently and go dancing, so it has been mostly just hanging out and talking. The celebrity feeling is nearly gone, and I am all in all less interesting. But that only means that Slovakia is my life right now- it is setting in.

I think I will have to steal this from Benny--

3 Things That are Different Here

1. Men are much more chivalrous. Open doors for girls, pay for everything, etc. They know the rules of etiquette. It's quite nice.

2. When class ends, they don't have a bell. Instead they have a song play over the loud speaker (only intrumental, and only cheesy instrumental with heavy use of the xylophone). The songs range from classical to John Lennon to the Beach Boys to Abba to Broadway. This reflects the overall atmosphere of school- pretty casual, much less cutthroat, very friendly... For instance it's a small school, so there is very little drama involving "the popular kids" or different cliques. It seems like most people get along pretty well. Also, there are 10 minute breaks between every class (and classes are only 45 minutes), with a 20 minute break in there somewhere. Also, the only goes till at the latest 2. On thursdays i get out at 11:10. However there are many tests and a good deal of homework- so its not just all play.

3. People are much more homophobic here. It's not something I run into often, although my friend in a larger city has, but there are no openly gay kids in the school, and very few in the town. My friend once told me that there are two gay people in Roznava. When i said i was pretty sure there must be more than 2, and that some were probably just not open, he responded with "wait, what??? really???" I don't think there is much anger (for instance people dont HATE gay people, or even dislike them necessarily), but rather a general repulsion. Quite sad, but also the norm throughout so much of the world.