A rather astonishing Thing....

Please not that this was written at.... 22:30 (GMT+1:00) on February 20, 2010. Yes, I know that it wasn’t posted at this time, but that’s when it was written. Not having wireless is irksome.

So. This evening, for the first time in something like... two years? That sounds about right, as the last time I did this was after Homecoming my junior year, I voluntarily ate at least half a serving of french fries. I don’t do this. It’s a side effect of having a deep, possibly illogical, and abiding hatred for the fried potatoes. I find them disgusting under most circumstances. Those of you who know me well can attest to this, as I’m generally the one saying “No, seriously, take the bloody french fries. I’m not going to eat them. I hate french fries.” So. This strange and out of character occurrence naturally begs the question: Why? Why did I eat these disgusting, greasy fried potatoes if I don’t even like them?
Well. It’s a long story, partially involving my own cowardice. But here it goes.

Today at lunch, I ate lunch with the entire family for the first time. Yes, I’ve been living here for over a month. Yes, it really was the first time that I ate with the entire family. Keep in mind, I usually only eat lunch at the house on Saturdays and Sundays, because I eat school lunch the rest of the week, and that for most of the time I’ve been here, Beatrix has been busy, either on a trip, or at work. The one weekend when she wasn’t, Milos (my host father) was. Thus it was that we all sat down together in the living/dining room area, and had the typical two course Slovak meal (don’t ask me why the Slovaks perpetually feel the need to have polievka, aka soup, before every meal. I don’t understand it myself. All I know is that I’ve tried a lot of soup since I’ve gotten here. For the record, cabbage soup isn’t too bad, and definitely tastes better without sour cream added. In case you’re interested.) and Beatrix asked me what I was planning to do today. I shrugged and answered “Neviem” (I don’t know). Beatrix had apparently been planning on taking me and Niky (my host sister, Nikola) to one of the parks here in Bratislava, but the less than inviting weather (cold, and the sort of sky that says “I’m not actually going to rain, but I’m going to look grey and ominous so that you won’t dare do anything outside, because it sure looks like I will!”) had scrapped that plan. So, instead, we decided to go see a film.

At around 19:15, Beatrix, Niky, and I met at Aupark (I had been in Starý Mesto, and caught a bus from Hodžovo Namestie to meet them there) and went to the Palace theater there to see the film “Nejako sa to Komplikuje”. Some of you might know it by its English name: It’s Complicated. Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and.... what’s his name who plays Meryl Streep’s ex-husband. It’s an pretty good film, one that I highly recommend. It was interesting, and while it contained some parts that made me want to bury my face in my hands due to the awkwardness level, most of the time it was hilarious. I do like Meryl Streep. She’s a brilliant actress. What was really great though was that Beatrix was sitting next to me, and occasionally she would lean over and make a quiet comment in Slovak, which I sometimes understood and sometimes didn’t, but still. It’s always nice to have someone to make comments about the film with in the kina. Yes, I know most people don’t agree with me. I’m weird. I accepted this a long time ago. You should too.

At any rate, after the film, we went, at Beatrix’s suggestion, to the McDonald’s downstairs (Palace Cinema is on the second floor of Aupark; McDonald’s is on the first floor. Or is it ground floor and first floor? Bugger, I can never figure out the European system of labeling floors!) to grab some, well, maybe not dinner exactly, because you don’t really have dinner in Slovakia, more like... a large late evening snack? That’s about right. So, I wanted some chicken mcnuggets. And here’s the thing: I’m not entirely sure how you say chicken mcnugget in Slovak. I tried in English, and got blank looks, so I went with plan B: “Chcem čislo šesť.” (I want number six.). Number six being, of course, the number for the desired chunks of fried chicken. Lucky me, guess what number six also includes? A drink (which was welcome, as I was feeling mildly dehydrated), and, you guessed it, the dreaded fried potato strips. I offered them to Niky and Beatrix, but Niky was perfectly happy with her side salad, and Beatrix with her... well, I’m not entirely sure what they were, but they were some sort of desert thingy, and zmrzlina (ice cream) and somebody had to eat them. Thus, I ate some of them. The sweet and sour sauce that I had gotten for the mcnuggets made the experience bearable, but not one that I could continue after about half the boxy thing the french fries came in. Still. Half a serving of french fries! That’s pretty good for me!

Now, why was this actually a somewhat pleasant experience? The answer is very simple: I was actually doing something with my host family. It was a really nice change. I liked getting to talk to Beatrix and Niky. It was fun. And tomorrow, I get to ask about how I’m supposed to deposit money in someone else’s bank account, because apparently, Pan Lamoš can’t pay the travel agency for the Greece and Italy trip via PayPal, or something like that, forcing us to have to direct deposit the money for the first payment to his account at the local branch of VUB Banka. Don’t ask me. I don’t understand it either. All I know is that I have to do it. Nejakto sa to komplikuje! Oh well. I must do it in order to see Athens. And Rome. And Siena. And all the other places I really want to go see. So. I shall get my host family to help. I don’t think they’ll mind.

And... that’s all there is. There isn’t anymore.