Just Exploring...

Maľovanie na steny

2012-02-01T01:15:00.000-08:00

Začalo to už dávnejšie avšak zo začiatku to boli iba súkromné projekty. Prvé maľovanie na steny prišlo keď som si zútulňoval ateliér v Galante a robil si z neho svoju izbu. To sa písali roky 95-96 a ja som si maľoval na steny svoje vízie krásy. Skoro o desať rokov neskôr som sa pri cestovaní po Nicaragui dostal do pekného hostela, ktorý bol pomaľovaný rôznymi maľbami. Evidentne ich robili viacerí ľudia, maľba je ako rukopis, každý má svoj štýl. Opýtal som sa personálu, či by som mohol aj ja niečim prispieť, a tak vznikol môj prvý "profesionálny" výtvor. Aj keď vtedy mi stačilo, že som nemusel platiť za dve noci a jeden obed...
Poďme ďalej po tejto časovo-maľovanej osi. V roku 2009 som dobicykloval do Pakistanu (o tejto púti sa dočítate v starších článkoch), kde som sa opäť dostal do útulného hostelíka a voľné chvíle som využil najlepšie ako som vedel. Tu vznikla Kaori, za ktorou sa skrýva skutočná Japonka, ktorá bicyklovala z Japonska, cez Čínu a Pakistan do Indie. Toto dielo, som poňal trochu profesionálnejšie - vopred som si dohodol, že nebudem platiť za ubytovanie. Stále som to však bral ako sebarealizáciu, nie ako moju prácu.
To sa však zmenilo pri mojom zatiaľ poslednom projekte. Dostávame sa do súčasnosti, t.j. do roku 2012. Opäť zostávame v dobre známom prostredí hostelov, tento raz však zvučné mená ďalekých krajín doplníme krásnym menom našeho hlavného mesta. V hosteli Blues majú izby pomenované podľa svetových metropol. Rozhodli sa ich trochu oživiť, a tak ma pozvali, aby som im s tým pomohol. Dostal som viac menej voľnú ruku. Jediná požiadavka bola aby daná maľba súvisela s názvom izby. A tak som do Amsterdamu na stenu namaľoval bicykel, do Londýna rušnú ulicu s rôznorodými ľuďmi a v Paríži som sa nechal inšpirovať slávnym centrom moderného umenia zvaným Pompidour center. Na Berlín som vymyslel výrok od Herrmana Hesseho, napísal som ho ornamentným starodávnym písmom, a tak celá izba dostala trocha ušľachtilejšiu atmosféru, čo tie ružové steny potrebovali. Najluxusnejšiu izbu, Jeruzalem, som mal spraviť čo najelegantnejšie a tak som zvolil modro-zlaté ryby, ktoré okrem iného reprezentujú Ježiša. Posledná izba sa volala Dublin. Írsko si spájam so stromami a s Keltmi, a tak som navrhol spraviť tam keltský strom. Vznikla z toho najväčšia maľba tejto zákazky. Pri maľovaní v tomto hosteli som si uvedomil, že je trocha rozdiel maľovať sám pre seba, alebo za ubytovanie, alebo maľovať za prachy. Bavilo ma to rovnako, ale oveľa viac energie som venoval poslednému projektu, nie len preto, že izieb bolo 6, ale aj preto, že boli na mňa kladené väčšie nároky. A tak si myslím, že som aj podal najlepší výkon. Čo poviete? Ak máte nejaké komenty k maľbám, sem s nimi! Nech je to na budúce ešte lepšie.
Pre viac obrázkov, mrknite na môj flickr.

Festivaly a prednášky...

2011-11-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

Blíži sa zima a s ňou spústa času na festivaly, prednášky a prezentácie. Tu je zopár možností kde mňa a Duška môžete vidieť naživo:

25.11. Bilgym C.S. Lewis. Je to pre žiakov gymnázia, ale verím, že blízkych známych by som tam vedel dostať.

26.11. Festival Iné cesty v Košiciach. Je tam spústa iných dobrých prednášok. Mrknite na web!

29.11. PriF UK. Tento termín ešte nie je potvrdený, ale budeme mať prednášku pre verejnosť v priestoroch Prírodevedeckej fakulty. Je to pokračovanie z minulého roka. Tentoraz sa pozrieme bližšie na naše putovanie po Indii, Barme a Sri lanke... Pre presné časy, miesta a podobne mi kľudne napíšte na e-mail...

Cycling to Asia, PEOPLE & FACES

2010-06-20T01:56:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka

2010-03-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

Saga cestovatelsky zvucnych mien nasej cesty sa konci na ostrove v tvare manga kusok na juhovychod od Indie. Ocitli sme sa tu neplanovane a spontanne. Tak to mame radi. Mozno aj preto sa zo Sri Lanky stal jeden z highlightov našej vypravy.
Na prvy, povrchny pohlad sa moze Lanka zdat iba kopia nedalekej Indie. Po lepsom preskumani ostrova a ostrovcanov je vsak rozdielov neurekom. Sri Lancania su kludnejsi, uprimnejsi a hlavne (zatial) neskazeni masovym turizmom. To co sme videli na severe Indie bol v podstate turisticky masaker. Sice sa mnohi tvarili ako ostrielani backpackeri, v skutocnosti to boli len konzumaci v etno vybave. Davy mladych zapadniakov vychutnavajucich si indicku ganju na terase hoteliku vo Varanassi su hlavnou pricinou tohto vyroku.
Prve dni sme atmosferu prirovnavali k ospalej Cube. Az neskor nam doslo, ze sme prileteli na prvy sviatok vianocny, jeden by povedal, ze v Azii nebude znamenat vela, ale v byvalej Britskej kolonii sa echo tohto krestanskeho sviatku stale silno ozyva. Neskor sa Colombo trocha prebralo, stale vsak posobilo ako sipova ruzenka tesne po bozku. Sri Lanka zaziva akesi nove rano. Po skoro 30 rocnej vojne, zakontrovanej devastujucov Tsunami, sa Lancania len pomali otvaraju novym moznostiam svojej slobody.
My sme si dali skoro tyzden vegetu a pokludneho vybavovania nevyhnutnosti v Colombe. Vybavili sme si predlzenie viz (bezproblemov), poslali balik a sup ho spat do chraneneho prostredia meditacneho centra. Oproti Barme je cela Sri Lanka nasiaknuta aromov slobody a pohody, najviac to vsak vinika v samotnom centre. Vedie ho Ctihodny Pemasiri Thera. Na zaciatku nam, priznam sa, trocha vybil dych. Predsa len sme si po mesiaci prisnej drezuri a discipliny zvykli na urcite sposoby spravania -ako naseho tak aj ucitelovho. Ked tu zrazu hlavny predstaveny "porusa" asi vsetko co nam bolo v Barme kladene na doraz minimalne raz denne. Rozprava prirodzene, pohybuje sa uvolnene, vtipkuje a smeje sa... Po par dnoch sme plne asimilovani a je nam jasne, ze toto je styl aky nam naplno vyhovuje. Valime uplne prirodzene a po tyzdni si uvedomujem, ze meditujem vlastne viac ako v Barme, kde sme nemohli ist pocas dna ani do svojich Kuti.
Po troch tyzdnoch na nas vymysleli lakadlo: vylet do Anuradhapury -hlavneho mesta Sri Lanky od roku 500 BC az do roku 1000 AD. Obdobie v ktorom na Sri Lanke prekvital Budhismus. Budhovo ucenie sem priniesol syn krala Asoku v tretom storoci pred kristom a pretrvava do teraz. Podla miestnych to vsak uz davno nie je to co to byvalo na zaciatku tohto tisicrocia... Zeby klasicka nostalgia? Nie, nie. Po zhliadnuti tohto velkomesta vykopaneho z nanosou hliny len pred 30timi rokmi je nam jasne, ze mnisi a lajici co tu prebyvali boli naozaj vysko vzedalani a osvieteni...
Nacerpali sme motivaciu a sup ho spat do centra. Valime dalej, v podstate neprerusene dalsich 5 tyzdnov. Na konci februara sme zakoncili intenzivny vycvik. Meditovat sme vsak neskoncili. Po troch mesiacoch to totiz uz ide samo... jedine ze sme prestali vysedavat s prekryzenymi nohami a zacali sme sa pohybovat po okoli.
Najprv sme si spravili tyzdnovy relaxacny okruh po juho zapade ostrova. Zacali sme v ospalej Mirise: plaz, palmy a santenie vo vlnach. Parada, ale more a slnko su prilis silne zivle pre nase zlemravene tela. Mna jedna vlna skoro zlomila v pase, dusko ma oskrete oba lakte tak padime radsej do dazdoveho pralesa Sinharaja. Do dedinky na okraji parku sa dostavame az vecer a kupodivu tu nie je ani hotel ani restauracia... hmm... kde budeme spat? Tuto otazku sme si v podstate ani nestihli polozit, pretoze nas hned odchitil mlady Basan a pozval nas k sebe domov. Na druhy den nas povodil po 7mich vodopadoch v pralese. Najkrajsi zazitok vsak zostava jeho rodinka prebyvajuca na kraji dediny, pri riecke, v lese. Okrem trocha betonu a plastu je to zivot asi ako pred 2000 rokmi... Dalej ideme do hor. V Haputale nas najprv vita kosa -15 stupnov, sa vam v europe moze zdat ako jar, ale mi nahadzujeme bundy a capice. Na druhy den davame prechadzku po hrebeni, zakoncenu na cajovej plantazi. Na dalsi den je na plane navsteva cajovej fabriky a vyslap na Lipton's seat. Krasna prechadzka po az skoro gicovych plantazach, ktore sa rozliehaju pokial oko dovidi. Kedze sme nechceli brat taxi na sedlo (dobra snobaren, ze?), tak sme sa moc vyhladu slavneho Liptona netesili. Vo fabrike strajkuju tak sme toho vela nevideli ani tam. Nevadi samotna prechadza bola super. Nakoniec nasej rozhybavacej vypravy vlacikom do Kendy a sup ho spat do centra.
Ctihodny Pemasiri nam slubil, ze nas zoberie este do svojho lesneho centra, ale ked sme sa vratili, tak nam oznamil, ze auto je pokazene... nevadi, ideme sami autobusom. Este ze snami poslal mladeho Ct. Amithu. Ten tam bol pol roka tak to dobre pozna... Tri nove Kuti uprostred dzungle -miestny by to sice dzunglov nenazvali, ale pre Europanov je to dostatocna divocina. Travime tu nas posledny vykend, pred tym nes sa zacne nas navrat do civilizacie. Rozplyvame sa nad touto rajskou zahradou, meditujeme a zhlboka vychutnavame plody nasej cesty. Krasna rozlucka. Dokonala bodka.
Potom uz len spat do centra, balenie, lucenia sa s mnichmi a sup ho na letisko. Tam kempujeme na druhom poschodi pri svetle neoniek a filmovej hudbe hrajucej na celom letisku... zaciname sa europanizovat. Ale nie tak zhurta, rano nam na check in oznamuju, ze lietadlo bude meskat, pohoda... co znamena, ze my zmeskame pripoj v Ammame do Viedne. Takze spime v Jordansku. Vytame to pozitivne, okrem toho, ze neprideme nevyspaty, neprideme ani vyhladoveny: v 4 hviezdickovom hotely je totiz bufet s neodolatelnymi dobrotami a kedze nas nepustia za hranice hotela, tak vacsinu casu travime v jedalni. Tento chlapik na ulici v Kendy by asi reagoval podobne. Dobre padne aj aklimatizacia na zimu. Strasnych 15 stupnov citime ako tesne nad bodom mrazu. Hold posledne mesiace sme sa potili 24 hodin denne, takze nase tela maju zmenene vnimania teploty.
Vo viedni milim a srdecnym privitanim Lucky a Danky zacalo nase opatovne posobenie v europe. Citim sa skor akoby som zacinal nieco uplne od zaciatku. Tento vylet bol naozaj zivotna cesta ako tvrdil Dusko a nie len vylet do Azie.

Burma

2009-12-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

Z cestovatelskeho hladiska sme v Burme (Myanmar) ani neboli. A to sme tam stravili mesiac, resp. presne 28 dni ako nam umoznovali nase viza. Kedze nas povodny plan bol 3 mesiace, z coho sme 2 chceli meditovat a mesiac cestovat, rozhodli sme sa ze si pozreme iba Yangon a zbytok stravime najuslachtilejsie ako si len vieme predstavit.
Panditarama forest meditation centrum, kde sme mali namierene, je vsak velmi zbehle v starani sa o zahranicnych meditujucich a tak nas z letiska zobrali priamo knim. Krasne a obrovske, kludne a velmi prisne, presne ako opisovali znami, ktori tu uz boli pred nami. Nachadza sa necelu hodinku od Yangonu. Obrovsky pozemok je plny jazierok s leknami. Mosty, cesticky, otvorene luky aj huste lesy. Rovnomerne roztrusene kuti (chatky) pre mnichov aj meditujucich. Obrovska meditacka a velka jedalen, prezradzaju, ze sem chodieva vela ludi.
Prisli sme a uz bol vecer. Hlavnej mnisky sme sa spytali ci mozeme ist zajtra spat to mesta, ze by sme si kupili vankuse a sarongi (sukne pre muzov). "Netreba. Vsetko tu mame, vsetko vam dame"
Na druhy den sme zaspali ranajky -rano o 3tej sme fakt neboli zvyknuty vstavat a ranajky o 5tej sme tiez "necakali". Este ze nas prisiel mnisko zobudit... Planovali sme den-dva porelaxovat, ale hlavny sayadow (mnich) nas uviedol zakladnymi instrukciami, ako pre skolacikou, do meditacnej praxe a oznamil nam, ze nepovoluju rozpravanie, prechadzanie sa... na meditacie vcas, nemozete odchadzat z meditacnej haly... Same prikazy a zakazy. To je co? Vazenie? Vedeli sme ze je to tu prisne, ale asi tie mesiace bezprostredneho putovania a totalnej slobody zmenili nase vnimanie volnosti. Toto je peklo! Nevadi zacali sme valit, vsak sme prisli do ciela!
Sed, chodza, sed, chodza... cely den, len o 5tej a o 10tej to trocha zpestria ranajky a obed. Uz sme si pred tym nieco odmeditovali takze presne vieme ako fungovat v takychto podmienkach. Panditarama je skvele centrum. Lepsie podmienky na meditovanie sme este nemali. Klima uplne idealna. Rano prijemne chladivo az kosa, ktoru som vsak velmi uvital, pretoze to bola aspon jedna cas dna ked sa dalo trocha schladit. Cez obed to bol cisty vypek, ale meditacka je dobre odizolovana, takze sa celkom dalo zvladat sprchovat iba raz denne. Co som v Malajzii, pred rokom nedaval.
Ale su tu aj zvlastne veci. Ten teror je fakt nezvycajny. Pokial clovek medituje tak sa to da zvladat, ale ked som niektore dni mal krizu a potreboval som trocha vypnut, tak som sa vela krat pristihol pri myslienkach ako sa zasit a skryt? Naco je to dobre? Iba vo mne vyvstavala averzia a iritacia. A tlacit sa do meditovania je horsie ako vobec nemeditovat. Tiez je zaujimavy ten paradox ako rigidne tlacia pravidla a predpisi a potom vam kludne zrusia interview s ucitelom alebo zamenia ucitela. Alebo nemozete cvicit tai-chi ani yogu, rozpravanie je uplne mimo ramec. A pritom nezmyselne oznami tykajuce sa jedneho ci dvoch meditujucich su neustale nahlas vyhlasovane do mikrofonu.

Asi vam je jasne, ze som tu prve dva tyzdne celkom zapasil, dokonca som aj chcel oddist. Uz som mal oprate veci, ale povedal som si ze to este skusim a zabojujem. Dobre som spravil. Zostal som az do samotneho konca a meditacie isli krok po krociku dalej.
Posledny den nas opat iba supli do auta a zobrali na letisko. Tentokrat bolo aspon svetlo a tak sme videli dedinky a mestecka popri ceste. Zaujimavi boli uz len ludia v autobusoch a pickupoch. Nemuseli sme sa na seba ani pozriet a bolo nam jasne, ze sem este urcite prideme, ale az ked dozreje ten spravny cas a mi budeme dobre pripraveny -ako meditacne tak aj vizovo.

India

2009-12-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

NB: I switch back to Slovak. Sorry all you folks.
Prekrocenie harnice bolo magicke. Spominam si ako mi kedysi davno ludia hovorili aky je to kontrast, aka ulava prejst z Pakistanu do Indie. My sme boli v muslimskom svete nieco okolo 4 mesiacov a celkom sme si nanho zvykli. Najlepsi bol Pakistan, citili sme sa tam velmi prijemne a uvolnene. Ludia nas prilis netlacili, neokradali... To co prislo po pozreti si zatvaracej ceremonie na hranici vo Wagha, bolo neskutocne. Tato teatralna fraska kde sa vojaci oboch stran pretekaju kdo vypochoduje s vysie vykopnutou nohou (inac celkom yoginske vykony) je celkom vtipna a vystihuje patetickost celych Indicko - Pakistanskych vztahov.

Pre zretelnejsiu predstavu o rozdieloch medzi tym co sme zazili na ceste v poslednych mesiacoch a co sa vsetko zmenilo po prekroceni jednej ciary na mape ma napadaju dve prirovnania:
Pamatate si casy ked boli ciernobiele televizory beznostou? Nie je to az tak strasne davno. Prve farebne obrazovky este neboli uplne to co mame teraz a predsa to bol maly zazrak. Skuste si predstavit ake by to bolo pozerat filmy na CB obrazovke, na ktorej chytate iba STV1 a STV2 a potom zrazu sa dostat k LCD panelu s kablovkou kde je 100 programov!
Dalsie prirovnanie by sa dalo situovat do cias pred 89-tim. Ludia uz boli zvyknuty na to co maju, co je dostupne... Vsetko to bolo akosi normalne, nie? Ked tu zrazu sa otvorili hranice a hned prva navsteva Rakuska vam ukazala, ze svet dokoaze byt ovela farebnejsi. Vyber v obchodoch neporovnatelny. Moznosti ludi zdanlivo neobmedzene. S tymto samozrejme suvisia aj vedlajsie efetky.
Iran a Pakistan boli v podstate velmi cudne krajny. Ludia chodia zakryti. Zeny sa s cudzimi muzmi nerospravaju. Vsetko je jednoduche a preto krasne. Zatial co volnost a sloboda maju aj svoju odvratenu tvar...
Z hranice vo Wagha sme si zobrali share taxi do Armitsaru -putnicke mesto Sikhov. V taxiku snami isli dvaja indovia a jedna indka. Starsia pani. Cely cas sa veselo a akosi hlucne bavila priamo s nami!!!??? Dusan to skoro nerozdychal. Nieco neskutocne. Nebola zahalena od hlavy po paty, neodvracala zrak ked sme sa len pribilizili. Prave naopak. Vypytovala sa. Rozhadzovala rukami a co viac: smiala sa!!! Toto nas malo pripravit na to co prichadza. V Armitsare sme isli priamo do Golden Templu -najsvatejsi chram, kde denne ubytuju tisice ludi a nakrmnia este vacsie hordy. Vsetci sa na nas usmievaju, wow?! Ludia spia na zemy. Pre cudzincov tam sice maju separe izbu, ale je sezona, takze nas tam bolo celkom dost. Ludia z celeho sveta. Backpackery aj obycajny turisti. Mlade baby aj seriozny putnici. My sme posobili ako ludia co prisli zo samotky. Vobec som nebol zvyknuty komunikovat so zenami. Prislo mi velmi zaujimave, ze sme sa mohli bavit o hocicom. Nie len o nabozenstve, resp. islame. Nie zeby v Irane a Pakistane neboli cudzinci. Boli. Ale drviva vacsina to boli tzv. overlanders. Asi nikdo nemal Pakistan ako ciel. Vzdy to boli mesiace az roky co ludia cestovali. Ked tu zrazu ludia prileteli na dva tri tyzdne, co je dost velka zmena v style cestovania. Vsak to vidim aj na sebe. Na Indiu nam zostal tyzden! To som viac casu stravil v samostnom Islamabade ci Lahore... a tu sa hodlame prejst celu severnu Indiu z Armitsaru az do Kalkaty.
Dalsia velka zmena boli obchody, hlavne jedlo. Tolko moznosti a chuti. Rychlo sme sice zistili, ze vsetko je to brutalne prepalene chili a ciernym korenim, ale na zaciatku sa nam to pacilo. Povodne sme v Armistare planovali zostat iba jeden den. Hlavnym cielom bolo samozrejme Varanasi. Ale vlakova situacia -nam doteraz uplne neznama -je v indii velmi zvlastna. Listky si treba rezervovat dopredu. Najskorsi listok sa nam podarilo zohnat az o tri dni aj to iba na klimatizovanu triedu (3 nasobna cena, avsak stale smiestna suma...). Vzapati sme si vsak kupil listky s Varanasi do Kalkaty. Aj bezna trieda o 6 dni bola uz vypredana, ale existuje tu tzv. cakacy list, tak sme si kupili listky pod ciarov. My sme boli 10ty a 11ty. Zevraj dovtedy sa urcite niekto odhlasi a tato pozicia sa bezne dostane na radu. OK...
Nasledovali dva dni vo vlaku, co je zazitok a skusenost sama o sebe. Tu je zivo. Vsetko sa da kupit priamo s lozka. Krajna na vokol sama exoticka a ludia takpodobne. Do Varanasi sme prisli celkom sviezi a zrelaxovani. To bolo dobre, pretoze toto farebne a vibrujuce mesto na Ganghe ma najhektickejsiu premavku a vobec ruch ludi aky si asi ani neviete predstavit. Na cestach aj bocnych cestickach je to konstatny prud ludi, zvierat, aut, motoriek, bicyklov a kariciek. Stale sa na nas niekto lepil. Muchy dohadzovacky. Nebolo jednoduche si najst hotel samostatne bez toho aby si niekto neprilepsil tym "ze nas tam dovedie". Zlozili sme sa a hura do uliciek. Highlight cislo jedna bolo spalovanie mrtvol. Na ghate (schodisku) ktore sa patricne volalo burning ghat sme najprv nic nevideli. Tak sme sa len tak prechadzali uzskymi ulickami a vychutnavali vone a chute. K veceru sme smerovali spat k hotelu, ked tu zrazu ohienky. Hm... ale kde su tie mrtvoli? Aha, tam trci noha, jaj a na druhej strane je hlava! Tento obraz mi zostane v pamati asi trocha dlhsie. Skvariace sa maso a potiaca sa koza. Na niektorych bolo vidno kosti. Spalovaci chodili dokola a prihadzovali drevo. Niektore mrtvoli trebalo upravit tak im surovo palicami zlomili nohy a supli do hlavneho ziaru... Velmi dobre obrazy pred nasim zasedom v Barme.
Na druhy den sme sa plne oddali shopingu. Suveniry a darceky. Je tu toho na vyber neskutocne a ceny su prave indicke... zopar Ghandiov sem, zopar tam a ani nevieme ako "spusta" prachov v cudu.
Dalsie dva dni vo vlaku. Tentokrat vsak v beznej triede a stym ze na stanici nam dali iba jeden listok. Ten druhy sa nezmestil nad ciaru. Povedali vsak ze kludne mozeme ist do vlaku. Lozka boli celkom velke tak sme si s Duskom povedali ze ideme na to. Vlastne nam ani nic ine nezostavalo ak sme chceli stihnut lietadlo. Nuz ale dvaja na lozku bola naivna predstava. Na zaciatku sme tam boli styria. Dobre to este nebola noc tak sme sedeli. Ked uz vsak na nas prisla ospalost a chceli sme sa trochu natiahnut, tak vobec nebolo jednoduche nasich spolusediacich vyhodit. Jeden znich mal kalasnikov a tak sme to s drzostou nechceli prehanat. Par hodin sme sa tam tlacili traja. V polke noci sme vsak uspeli a na lozku sme boli iba mi dvaja, co sa uz celkom dalo. Spali sme az do rana.
Kalkata bola kupodivu celkom moderna. Kolonialna. Pozreli sme si iba vecerne ulice a rano sup ho na letisko.
Takto vyzerala India zvlaku... raz dva tri a bol koniec. Po mesiacoch pomaleho a kludneho cestovania to boli fakt fofri, ale tak co uz. Povedali sme si ze sa sem este vratime. Len som zvedavy kedy?

Cycling to Asia, Dusan 5

2009-11-15T02:03:00.000-08:00

Predchadzajuci clanok sa niesol v znameni velkych, dnes uz naplnenych, cyklistickych snov, o ktore by som sa s Vami teraz rad podelil.
Vzhladom na cas, bezpecnost a zaujimavost roznych usekov Karakoram Higway (KKH) sme sa zhodli na tom, ze najlepsie bude ak sa na sever odvezieme autobusom, kus pobyciklujeme a naspat do Islamabadu opat autobusom.
Neznajuc toho naco si treba dat pri volbe autobusu pozor, nasadli sme do prveho lacneho, ktory nam bol ponuknuty. Nasledovalo 26 hodin nezabudnutelnej jazdy v autobuse s nefungujucimi tlmicmi. Na polorozbitej KKH sme teda precitili kazdy kamienok a prejazd mensou dierou v ceste znamenal nieco ako slabsiu ranu do zaludka. No brutalitka:) Posledne dve hodiny sme prezili len vdaka balancovaniu v polostoji.. Nadsenie krajinou, ktora nas obklopovala vsak bolo intenzivnejsie ako utrpenie z jazdy a tak sme do prijemneho baltistanskeho Skardu dorazili bez vaznych dusevnych ujmov a po dni rekonvalescencie boli opat pripraveni nasadnut na nasich ocelovych tatosov, smerom do rozpravky..
Jesen v udoli Skardu tiahnucom sa asi 200 km vychodne od KKH bola vo svojej azda najkrajsej tohtorocnej etape. Strme skalnate himalajske stity, v upatiach lemovane pozlatenymi polickami, lesikmi a alejami, pomedzi ktore si svoju cestu razil dravy Indus, vyrazali dych. Cesta sledujuca divoku riecnu riavu obcas zachadzala do zabudnutych horskych dedin, kde sa dali pozorovat jesenne prace najjednoduchsich ludi, akych nase oci dosial uzreli. Obcasne zastavenie na presladeny caj zanechalo dojem zazitia stredoveku. Zivotu na ulici v Pakistane celkovo dominuje muzska spolocnost. Zeny mozno v horach zhliadnut len v doprovode deti, pri praci na poli alebo hrbiace sa pod obrovskymi kosmi plnymi zasob razdia na tuhu zimu. Marne pokusy zvacnit ich takto fotoaparatom vraj mohli skoncit aj horsie ako len nevrlymi pohladmi. A asi je to dobre, za niecim treba jednoducho cestovat dalej ako len na vystavu, prezentaciu..
Ako na najkrajsi moment cyklistiky v udoli Skardu spominam na chvilu pred opatovnym napojenim sa na KKH. Najpanenskejsia priroda bola uz za nami a ja som zacal stale inenzivnejsie prezivat pominutelnost prijemneho prezivania nadhernych scenerii. Niezeby som zrazu osmutnel, prave naopak. V jednej chvili som v mysli pozoroval tak nadsenie okolim ako i vedomie pominutelnosti tychto i inych krasnych momentov v zivote putnika. Skratka, akoby som to prezival tak nejak plnsie, realnejsie. Cele som to prezival a zdielal s Jancim, ktoreho prave klatila horucka a bolave hrdlo, co este vacsmi umocnovalo ono poznanie. ..na horizonte masiv Nanga Parbat v plnej parade..
Po troch dnoch cyklistiky nasledoval tyzden nutneho relaxu v meste Giligit. ..taka uz himalajska matematika:) Neskor sa autobusom presuvame dalej na sever az takmer k cinskym hraniciam, kde sa nasa stvorica rozdeluje. Kevin s Arjanom slapu az na samotny sever, spravit si v khunjerabskom priesmyku svoj osobny rekord. Prilezitost vyslapat do cca 4700 m n.m. sa hold nenaskyta kazdy den. My s Jancim sa pustame na juh, smer niekdajsie kralovstvo Hunza, legendarna oblast KKH. Nasleduju styri dni ozajstnej cyklistickej Odysei. S vedomim toho, ze toto su posledne cyklisticke kilometre nasej velkej cesty, slapeme velmi pomaly, lahucko. Uveliceni dokonalym prirodno-kulturynym divadlom sa akoby len presuvame z jedneho miesta s nadhernym vyhladom na druhe. Posedavame, obdivujeme, prezivame.. Vsetko v hlbokej harmonii nas samotnych s rozpravkovym okolim. Kralovska rozlucka..
V Gilgite opat nasadame na autobus, ktory nas po 20 "zaujimavych" hodinach prenasa spat do tepleho Islamabadu, kde si mame splnit uz len dve povinnosti. Poslat domov bycikle a vyzdvihnut barmske viza. Oboje bolo, ako inac, zazitkom. Navsteva barmskej ambasady tym menej prijemnym. Vsetko potrebne na ziskanie viz sme odoslali postou z Gilgitu a podla prvotnych slov Ubu (Ujo barmsky uradnicek) mali byt viza vystavene po 3-4 dnoch. Prekvapenie prve - Ubu nam oznamuje, ze nase dokumenty sice dostal, no nemohol ich odoslat dalej na spracovanie do Barmy, pretoze nevidel original nasho pasu. S usmevom na tvari nam oznamuje, ze mame vraj pockat dalsich 7-10 dni. Vravime si, dobre, tyzden volna urcite hodnotne zuzitkujeme. Nestihame sice indicky Himacal Prades, no Varanasi a Bodhgaja budu stacit.. Prekvapenie druhe - po desiatich dnoch nam Ubu oznamuje, ze ziadame o specialny druh viz a cely proces sa pretiahne o dalsich 10-12 dni.
To uz je trochu prisilna kava. Nielenze uz pozname kazde zakutie umeleho, nahle vystavaneho Islamabadu (predovsetkym sektory G8 a F10..), mesta bez duse, Indiu uvidime len z okna vlaku, ale zacina vazne hrozit, ze nestihneme lietadlo z Kalkaty do Rangunu..
A co sa s tym celym da robit? Po zvazeni hrstky moznosti si konecne uvedomujeme, ze jedine rozumne riesenie, spociva v zmiereni sa so situaciou a trpezlivom vyckavani. Prijat zmenene podmienky a prisposobit sa im, velka to zivotna vyzva. Tak teda budujeme neoblomnu trpezlivost, no zaroven nestracame nadej, ze sa na nas opat raz Allah usmeje a vsetko tak nejak priaznivo dopadne. Ved nie len o tom, co si v zivote naplanujeme a automaticky zacneme povazovat za to - pre nas - najlepsie, je zivot:)

Romantika, to je trocha stradania s velkym povznesenim, Priatelia!

Cycling to Asia, The End

2009-11-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

You know, everything comes to an end. Inevitable as sunset and maybe sad as broken heart, but universal.

So did our cycling part of this journey. But no need to be sad because we continue to move eastwards. We are merely just changing our way of transport. Bicycles -as beautiful and independent they are -have one disadvantage: time. Many would argue that this is not really a problem. Of course! All it's needed is plenty of it and all is fine. But planing is something that we don't like to do more than necessary so now we run out of this unique concept. We have simply no time to cycle from Islamabad to Kolkata. It's not only our fault. One thing is that the Karakoram was to tantalizing to resist going there. Other reasons are that stomach problems are almost inevitable in dirty country like Pakistan. Catching flue the same. And lastly but not the least is there the factor Burmese embassy. If we would like to blame somebody, than they are the easiest victims. But we try to take everything as it is and as it comes. So all we have to do is to adjust to this situation. Good for keeping flexible.

Section Backpacking is starting. First get rid of all unnecessary stuff. Get a cartoon box, disassemble the bicycle, clean all the parts, pack it, bring the 25kg parcel to the post office. Here go trough tons of odd procedures -highlight is sewing the box into cotton bag and send your never tired companion home. OK, one thing done. Than decide what to take with you -not too much since now you're gonna carry it on your back, not too little since cold can be miserable. Now back what's not needed and send it home. Yeah so little things. No tent, no stove and cooking gear and no winter cloths... What for? India and Burma are going to be warm.

Dusan caught some bad cough. Nothing pleasant, but what time is better to heal properly than waiting one week (so far...) in boring modern capital of Pakistan? Packing and preparing for backpacking is surprisingly time consuming. So far we didn't have to deal with train schedules, bus time tables and hotels for shelter. Bicycle gives you lot of freedom. No hassle. No time stress. If a town is too far to reach in a day, no problem, just camp somewhere before it and finish the journey the other day. You cycle as much as you feel like. You are the manager of your time.

Now things change. Trains leave if we are late. Buses don't stop when we would like to have a break. Hotels might be full and camping is literally out of reach in India. No big deal, at least we can easily send the tent home. Good thing is that we can start focusing on other things. No fatigue from cycling. No need to take shower every day. Time to read. Time to meditate... Burma is behind the door steps so why not to calm down a bit. After a week we are ready. Now just pick up the so desired visa and GO!

NB: This is a big change. I thing next trip is going to be quite ordinary so I will most likely not update so many new articles. But India will be full of surprises so maybe not. Never-less the section "Cycling to Asia" is definitely over.

Cycling to Asia, week 15

2009-11-04T05:54:00.000-08:00

Why? Why do people willingly undertake such hardship as: long train trips, discomfort in buses, food poisoning, almost a heatstroke from hot weather, catching flue in cold mountains, diarrhea, fever, dirt everywhere, fatigue etc just to see something or in the better case experience other things? Yes, the nature can be beautiful and calming. The cities are just the opposite. Is that temple worth it? Or is it the ancient statue? All is just impermanent peaces of stones or bricks... But I like it!!!

No, no traveling is awesome. The experiences are useful, knowing the cultures as well -just that the side effects can be shocking sometimes longlasting. After severe cold that took 8 days to get back most of my previous strength we finally left Gilgit. I still didn't feel much like cycling but I really had enough of lying around. We took a bus to Sost -just 80 km from the Chinese border. A journey in a small overcrowded peace of junk on the "best quality" gravel road is unforgettable -specially when it stretch from original 8 hours to 10 hours... The sardines in tin have better conditions... Sost is 2700 m high which is obvious from the first moment you stretch your legs from the bus. Cold and hostile -this was probably just due to another power cut, but still. Cold hotel room and freezing water -what can beat this?

Kevin and Arjan likes challenges so they decided to finish the whole KKH and cycle to the Khunjerab pass. Just a 80 km of pushing the pedals up the hill all the way to 4700m. Nothing for us. Me and Dusan don't have to experience everything. Riding down to the south is good enough. Finally just us two. Lads were fine, but riding in two and riding in four or five is another story. Well and me and Dusan got pretty well together... some easy riding followed. Except the first day form Sost. The sun didn't show up. The frost everywhere is real and the barren landscape around makes the whole scenery quite hostile. There are no trees just rocky slopes and gravel road, together with the wind it's a survival riding -OK, OK, with little bit of exaggeration. My sore throat doesn't help. The cold is sheer. I enjoy that, never less.
The next days changed a lot. Simply add a sunshine and you can cut the happiness from our faces. We ride trough the heart of Hunza valley -easily background for paradise stories. Autumn colored the whole scenery with extravagant colors. Sun pleasantly warms us up. The peaks are covered with white toppings. The sky is turquoise and the KKH is excellent cycle path (but horrible road if you plan to drive trough). We stop on every turning and take pictures of every valley. World like from a fairy tale is obvious statement, but I can't avoid it.
We camped in Aliabad, with the view of majestic Rakaposhi (7700m). The night is "fresh", but our gear is good enough. Minimalism is extremism. Not recommended!

More relaxed riding probably doesn't exist. The road copies the river, goes up and down, turns left and right and what's quite appropriated by us goes mostly downhill. But still we hardly do 50km a day! Record is just 28km. What can you do if it's so immensely beautiful? The only "problem" is hot water. After 4 days of cycling shower would be nice, but if there is no electricity then there is no hot water. Simple but cruel. Our saviors are local barbers. They always have hammam -nothing like the Turkish ones, but gooood enough for sweaty frozen riders.

Back to Gilgit, booking the bus ticket to Rawalpindi and hurray for souvenir shopping. Blankets, local hats, scarfs... beautiful stuff.
Next day another suffering bus ride. Nothing compared to the one we undertake to get up here, but still an experience. Totally jammed bus seemed like the only connection to Pindi -the driver stopped to pick up almost everybody, during few hours we ended up 4 on seats for 2 and a kid in European standards. How naive we were when we trusted the ticket seller, who promised that it will be just for us... lol! The bus averages 20km/h -bit better then bicycle... this can be understood since the road goes trough the highest mountain range in the world... Sounds good, ini? Not for Dusan who spent half of the journey with his head out of the window leaving the content of his stomach as a trace behind us. Somehow I did manage to sleep -how? Even I don't know. We were pretty chewed up when we got out, just able to ride to Islamabad and get some sleep in the Rose&Jasmin camping. All this just to get our Myanmar visas and get to India.

So you can imagine our disappointment when we got the the embassy. Eager to apply for our 3 month visas, suffered a shock after meeting the Ambassador. With all the respect a typical example of bureaucratic puppet. We have send him all the required documents from Gilgit, to speed up the process of application. All for nothing, since he didn't process our documents, basically didn't do anything -just because he didn't have our original passports. By the way he is not going to send them anywhere, or do anything else than stick the visas in them. Now when he has them he can send our documents to Burma and wait till they reply. This will take at least one week... HURRAY! What shell we do in this boring modern capital?
I let you know.

Cycling to Asia, just pics

2009-10-23T05:27:00.000-07:00

Cycling to ASia, week 14

2009-10-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

Skardu is in a basin surrounded by 360 degrees panorama of snowy peaks, wide gorges and The Indus river. Wow! This is way different to hot Punjab in south, in fact is totally different to anything we came across on this trip. The locals looks more like Tibetans or Chinese, the landscape is picturesque and climate chilly. People speaks local dialects, they appear to be more indifferent when they see white faces like us, but never less warm-hearted when we approach them. From this perfect starting spot we decided to cycle to Gilgit and then possibly higher north.

After few hours of copping the flow of Indus with lots of adjacent villages, where wild and rough looking locals went trough they daily lives, we reached the more dramatic gorges cut by the river into the steep and rocky faces of the mountains. This remained unchanged for the following days ... just sometimes more scenic to previously more dramatic views... road is cutting here trough rocky slopes north of the river, sometimes reaching dreading heights, other times dropping almost to the sandy beaches on the shores. Climbs are interchanged with downhills, beautiful views with sharp and steep faces of the opposite peaks... it's just incredible and we are literally in rapture. We make only few km a day -not only because the road is demanding (even though not as much as we were dreading -it always looks more difficult from a bus!), but mostly because we take pictures and videos on every corner! Plus my throat is starting to cause me a trouble.

The camping places are rare, so we have to be careful not to ride too late into evening and than get stuck on a steep slopes, water supplies are also limited... and the weather can change dramatically in minutes as we experienced yesterday during the lake trip... this is a real expedition, no summer riding around Galanta... But we are lucky, camping on an abandoned government helicopter site is all right.
Just that I'm not all right. I woke up with sever sour throat, headache and running nose, nothing pleasant for biking in chilly air and up and down roads. But the surroundings are so extraordinary that I refuse to take a bus or pick up! I'd rather push the sickness aside and cycle it all. Easier said than done, but eventually I managed! Every climb I sweat like a pig, just to dress rigorously on the top and slide down cutting trough the cold air. Today we will do even less km than yesterday, but surprisingly is not just due to me -Dusan is in heaven and his camera too. (I hope you too -pictures will come soon) We found another superb camping spot -this time close to Indus, with hot spring pouring out of the rocks and magnificent peaks all around us.
Last day to Gilgit is like hell for me. My body is searching for the last bits of energy left somewhere... I don't even know where... coughing, sneezing and marveling at the sheer beauty around me. We reached the junction with KKH (Karakoram highway) and pushed the pedals to the regional capital of Gilgit.
The town is big and looks wild . We found the "bibles" no 1 hotel Medina and there I went straight to bed... waking up the next day with the worst sickness I can recall in recent past. Well but still the cycling was worth it, now I will rest and get well. In the mean time the lads can explore the surroundings -this will occupy them for a while so nobody minds that I'm stuck here for a while!
Guys planned to go hiking for 3 days, but Dusan woke up with sever sore muscles ofter their one day trip to 700 years old Buddha carvings in a near by rock face. So now we are two lying in the bed. The other two went for the hiking with one day delay... over all Gilgit is something like our base for almost a week... hopefully we recover fully! Back to our strength and lets go tackle the 4700m Khunjerab pass!

Cycling to Asia, week 13

2009-10-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

What followed the next few days was unbelievable... Imagine 5 independent travelers, roaming around Asia for few months, completely free, totally open minded, extremists in a way -well I don't count my self into extremists but others might do - travelling anywhere, doing almost anything and than suddenly the local authorities decides to "protect" them! Yes they do make it safer but they acctually protect us from everything -even the experience of this country! 24/7 baby sitting is way too much for people who were used to be their own time managers. Suddenly there is always a smart guy asking us where we wanna go? What time we would like to go there? They think they give us all the freedom, but hey just the point that we have to think ahead and plan something is so much in contrary to what we have done so far. We spent two nights in Multan -supposedly a safe city -but never before anyone of us felt like a prisoner (well except of me, but that's a different story...). We went sightseeing -but they stole all the fun by constant patrol of our steps, we could go to Internet cafe, but with heavy armed fella next to you all the time... On the third day we run a way by taking a train to Rawalpindi -yes the place where just 3 days ago Elite police ended an overnight drama in a military headquarters, where 40 personnel where kept hostage by Taliban fighters -the dead toll was pretty high (17 people including 9 terrorist) but the media called it a success.
Train journey was an adventure on its own. We stirred some dust on the train station with our oversize bikes, trying to load the panniers together with bikes to the luggage wagon, but failed, so dragging them to the other side of the train, locate our seats, just to find out that they were taken, so politely kicking out the unlucky passengers, all this in hot and humid and jammed wagon. But eventually -as usually- we got what we wanted and managed to sleep for most of the night.
After the Multan police terror, we were fearing the worst in recent-terrorist-attacked Rawalpindi, but suffered a bit of a shock when we found our selves alone and could leave the station without the Kalashnikov guys! Wow! Freedom again! Cycling to Islamabad was short but the longest in Pakistan without escort. There we found a nice Rose & Jasmin garden where we could pitch our tents and go to find out how is it with our Burmese visas...
Now we are just waiting and chillin in the garden, thoroughly planing our Karakorum trip to the north. There are few other cyclists who came from Kirghistan and China, so they have all the valuable information about the must-to-do highway in Pakistan.

Islamabad is modern boring city, so we don't linger longer than necessary. Instead we took a bus from Rawalpindi to Skardu -capital of Baltistan in Karakoram eastern point. They told us that it's gonna take 25 hours... so we were expecting a bit of discomfort, but what was really ahead of us nobody would guess even in the worst joke! The bus ride was more like experiencing how a laundry feels in washing machine than actually appreciating the scenic mountains. Bone-shaking, stomach-bouncing and brain-numbing hell on earth ride trough the evening, night, morning and another evening was far beyond our level of acceptance. The last few hours I thought I will just give up, or I do something because my ribs were aching and my head was spinning...

It took us a whole day in fairytale Skardu to recover. We did a small half day trip to a near by lake -no panniers, just joy from riding. Unfortunately I underestimated my physical strength -still pretty much affected by the food poisoning and exhilarating bus ride and next day woke up with sore throat. Ahhhh!!! We are just setting out for our most memorable riding in the worlds highest mountains and as the locals proudly boast on the eight wonder of the world -the Karakoram highway... well sort of it, because the 136 km road that joins Skardu with KKH is not exactly part of the famous road.

Cycling to Asia, Dusan 4

2009-10-14T00:48:00.000-07:00

Naposledy som pisal z Quety, odkial sme v ozbrojenom doprovode vyrazili dalej na vychod. Vsetci sme sa tesili na to, ze opat resp. konecne pride poriadna horska cyklistika. Prvy usek bol vskutku nadherny. Slapanie po nespevnenej ceste nehostinnou, no krasnou krajinou, bolo presne to, co sme po dnoch sedenia v autobuse a vyckavania v rusnej Quete potrebovali. Podvecer nas zastihol v zaprasenej dedinke Kach, odkial to bolo do odporucaneho Ziaratu uz daleko. Nas posledny policajny doprovod si kupil kocku hasisu, nasadol na motorku a vratil sa do neznama. Nas cakala noc na akoze policajnej stanici, na ktoru len tak skoro nezabudneme. Na veceru sme si zasli do vyvarovne cez ulicu, kde nam bol v ufulanych tanieroch ponuknuty tradicny dal (strukovinovovy privarok). Vsetci az na usmievaveho holandana Arjana a Janciho sme celu noc nacvicovali lahku gymnastiku - vyskok z postele zakonceny stastlivym dobehom kamkolvek za brany stanice.
Velkorysy pani policajti nam velmi jednoznacne naznacili, ze dalsiu noc uz by sme mali stravit niekde inde. Napriek tomu, ze Janci s Arjanom boli schopny pokracovat na bycikloch, museli sme si "z bezpecnostnych dovodov" do Ziaratu vziat pick-up vsetci pospolu. V horuckach, totalne vystaveny, natisany na korbe drziac sa cohokolvek sme dorazili do horskej dedinky Ziarat, kde nas cakali tri dni vyzdravovania.
Na treti den uz vsetko vyzeralo fajn a teda ze pokracujeme. Po par kilometroch sa mi vsak vratili teploty a po chvili navaly horka zacali striedat triasky - zle nedobre. Dalsia noc na zaprasenej zemi policajnej stanice (noclahy v hoteloch a volny pohyb nam boli nekompromisne zamietnute) len zhorsila moj stav. Slapanie v horuckach uz malo naozaj velmi daleko od nejakeho radostneho putovania. Poslednou bodku v tomto nestatnom useku nasej cesty mal stupidny policajny prikaz. V dedinke Mekhtar sme sa usadili na zemi ako tak na noclah vhodnej restauracie. Nasadil som Paralen a jedine, co mi chybalo k prezitiu noci bol pokoj. Asi po hodine sa prepoteny v spacaku prebudzam na hluk diskusie medzi mojimi companieros a policajtmi, ktory trvali na tom, ze sa musime presunut na ich bohumily stanicu - tak znie prikaz od nadriadenych, ktory si sedia niekde stovky kilometrov daleko. Po dvoch hodinach neprestrelnych argumentoch sme donuteni k presunu. Stanica ako inak spinava a zaprasena.. Nocujem teda aj s na prach alergickym Jancim na korbe policajneho nakladiaku. V najhorsej noci nasej vypravy, v dedinke do ktorej a z ktorej vedu len prasne cesty sa po prvy krat zdavam a na druhy den nasadam na autobus do asi 250 km vzdialeneho Multanu, kde konecne sa odovzdam do ruk doktora.
Doprovod mi robi svajciar David, ktory je na tom len o nieco lepsie ako ja. Zvysok nasej patice sa nepodava a pokracuje na bycikloch.
Pred mestom DG Khan nas z autobusu necakane vytahuju policajti a ze vraj do Multanu uz musime len v doprovode eskorty. Od toho momentu nas uz policajti nespustaju z oci a obaja sa ocitame v "bezpecnom zajati". Do Multanu dorazame v noci. Hladame volny hotel, no vzdy ked policajny nakladiak zastavi priamo pred hlavnym vchodom a vyruti sa z neho banda ozbrojencov doprevadzajuca dve doslova blede tvare, odpoved z recepcie je jasna - "Sme plne obsadeni..". Nejakym zazrakom sa asi na siedmy pokus ubytujeme a rano vyrazam za najvacsim dobrodruzstvom tychto dni - do nemocnice. Nuveritelne rusna nemocnica sa stava este rusnejsou ked sa tam zrazu zjavi beloch v doprovode patice chlapov vyzbrojenych kalasnikovmi. Ked doktorovi, ktory sa so mnou bavi ako s prezidentom vysvetlujem, ze posledny tyzden nevidim ziaden rozdiel medzi tym co zo mna vychadza pri velkej resp. malej potrebe, nasadzuje mi injekcne antibiotika. Postupujeme do miestnosti na to urcenej, kde sa ma sestra pyta taku cudnu vetu: "Want you share your bed?" A teda, ze preco nie. Ja som za kazdu srandu.. Usadzaju ma na postel, kde v ubohej polohe lezi niekto s infuziou v zile. Na posteli oproti stvorica chlapov pacifikuje niekoho v brutalnom zachvate, do toho stale prinasaju a odnasaju ludi na posteli v najzufalejsich stavoch.. Snazim sa neznepokojovat horucou atmosferou, no i tak pocitam kazdu kvapku mediciny, ktora z flasticky nado mnou prudi priamo do mojich zil..
Jedine, co mi tu polhodinu na nemocnicnej posteli premielalo hlavou bolo obrovske stastie, ktore sa ukryva v nasom obvykle dobrom zdravotnom stave. Nuz ale clovek je tvor nespokojny a k stastiu mu vzdy tak trosku nieco chyba. A tak i ja sa tesim na to, kedy to uz bude cele za mnou a zacneme opat slapat do pedalov.
Na druhy den uz doraza, v policajnom aute samozrejme, predcasne z cesty stiahnuty zvysok patice. V pondelok poobede, vsetci dostatocne zotaveny vyrazame do severneho Islamabadu - vlakom. Dva-tri dni vizove formality a vyzvedy o bezpecnostnej situacii na Karakoram Highway. Iste je zatial len to, ze nemaly usek bude v autobuse..
Taky je veru nas Pakistan - viacmenej autobuso - vlakovo - eskortovy.. No stale neuveritelne zaujimavy!

Cycling to Asia, week 12

2009-10-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly getting the police escort to supervise us trough Baluchistan was smooth and easy. Riding on the famous Pakistan roads is a different story... and having a 24/7 police control is nothing of our interests. We are all very independent and pretty skilled travellers so having a babysitters all day long is quite annoying... but we tried to find advantages in this situation and the breathtaking scenery of wild Pakistan mountains is substituting all the disadvantages of our dear new friends... and there are plenty of them.

Just to get out of Quetta we had 4 different police cars driving with us literally from one major intersection to the other one... Few kilometers out of the city and we are testing our bikes: gravel road and dusty fields. Riding time is slow not just because of truly off road riding but also due to our individual needs. Picture here, pi break there... plus David seems like he caught some bad diarrhea in Quetta. All this caused that our original plan to reach Ziarat (only 90 km) failed and we had to stay over night in a very small village somewhere in the middle. Police gave us shelter on their filthy station, that was nice from them, but the food supplies were limited to one very suspicious tea house serving some food and shops with snacks. We were hoping to hitch a truck and get to Ziarat, but again failed... so OK, lets stay at the police station. In the evening we went to paint the "town" red and went for the dinner. This turned out to be the biggest mistakes of the entire journey...

The next morning more than half of our 5CC i.e. "five cyclists crew" woke up, or better to say finally saw the dawn of the day, into a nightmare. Dusan, Kevin and of course David have had a sleepless night, changing patrol each half an hour or so... Why? Their bowels urged them to do so. When I saw them in the morning I hardly recognized them, they were bleak and weak. Diarrhea completely exhausted them. Since there is no toilet in the police station, I suppose the area around must have changed into a dangerous mind field. Me and Arjan wanted to cycle to Ziarat and meet the sick there, but the police had a different idea about it all and jammed us all into a small pick up truck -five bicycles, 30 pieces of luggage, us five plus police man plus driver and for short while one other passenger -Pakistan no problem!

In Ziarat we were lucky to find a very reasonable refugee hut -the most important facility -the toilet- was right next to our rooms and the garden was nice for chill out. Just before the night came I felt a strong urge to go to The Room and hoops, I got it as well. What followed was hell on earth. Strong bone aches, cool chills interchanged by hot showers of sweat and of course fairly constant intervals of complete dehydration trough the buttocks hole! In the middle of the night the difference between the urine and the excrement was just the smell... So for the next two days we were all out of order. Surprisingly just Arjan survived. Between the rest of us there was quite a difference in timing of the inevitable, but eventually all of us got into the same horrible stage, only one miraculously escaped the evil bacteria that puts even the strong travelers to their knees... or squats...

After 3 days we started to be quite sick of just lying around so we set off. Still not perfectly fit, but eager to cycle. The 90 km from Ziarat to Loralai were spectacular -Junipers forest and rocky terrain resembled Jurassic era, the trees are dating some 2000 years but they are just few meters high. Fortunately it was mostly down hill otherwise we would not make it since our bodies are still very weak -well no wonder! We had completely evacuated our intestines and didn't have enough time to replace the fillings... In Loralai the police told us we have to stay in the police station because is allegedly too dangerous to stay in a hotel. There is nothing we can do about it, but we are convinced that the next night we will just directly go to a hotel... ha! how naive we are, we'll find out soon.

From Loralai we kept on cycling east, but Dusan is getting back to pretty severe stage -it was far too early for him to set off from Ziarat. The rest of us are not overenthusiastic, I still can't eat properly and what's coming out of me doesn't look to healthy either, but generally I'm fine. But Dusan is really having a long lasting nightmare. 6 days of strong diarrhea can be very dangerous. We have to stop in a small town. The gravel road shows that this is again just a pothole place. We checked in a hotel -well sort of a hotel, its just a room next to dirty toilets adjacent to restaurant for truck drivers -the price is funny 30 rupees ( 30 cents), but its really just a emergency shelter. Unfortunately the local police chief is blindly obeying his duty and that's too bad for us. His commander gave him an order that we have to stay at the police station and there is nothing what we can do about it. We have very sick person who is already lying in a bed and needs to rest, but no! we have to move him to a dusty police station on the other side of the town -it took us two hours of arguing and we would have achieved much more if we would have talked to a white wall than to these simple people. So we move the convoy and spend the night on the back of a pick up truck because the room is way too dusty.

We are bit fed up with our police guards, so next morning we ignore them quite significantly. Dusan and David are taking a bus to Multan, Dusan needs to see a doctor, the rest will meet them there in 3 days. So Me, Arjan and Kevin are still heading eastwards quite enthusiastically... not knowing what's ahead of us.

The gravel road didn't end few kilometers after the town as we were assuming, it didn't end after the strenuous climb that followed... no... it changed into the dustiest ride we ever encountered. I had to put on my mouth filter, because each time when a truck passed us we were lost in clouds of dust so thick that couple times I had to stop to avoid falling down from the bike since I couldn't see anything. It was hot, It was dry, It was bumpy and few times we found ourselves in a dust twisters. Eventually it took us almost all day to conquer 40 km of real off road riding. Interesting, but much welcomed was that my wheel survived... during the whole bouncing ride this cheap Iranian back wheel did a very good job, but right after we got on a good asphalt surface, just 2 km before Kingri I got another flat tire -I lost the count by now... This time we wanted to stay in the police station in the town, since we didn't have any energy left to continue, but no, the police are just doing exactly the opposite what we would like to... fortunately this time they saved us from a big hassle and allowed us to stay there.

The next day we planned to cover 150 km all the way to DG Khan so we woke up early and rode constantly... The landscape here is beautiful, probably the greenest since west Turkey so we were really enjoying the ride. Our police "friends" started to be much more sloppy and there were few miles that we drove without any escort. Yes! This is freedom... from Rakni climbing up to a mountain pass in 1800m and than down in definitely the most scenic gorge and valley I have ever seen, totally free... fresh air, loose from the guards and unbelievable views drove us to an edge of sanity, I felt like drunk from all the beauty around me. So when on the other side of the mountains an Elite police escort waited for us we didn't mind. They drove us all the way to Multan, because due to security reasons no foreigner can stay in DG Khan -Pakistan has its nuclear weapon factory there... we didn't mind at least they saved us a full day cycling in humid, hot and flat Punjab. Right at the foot of the mountains the climate changed dramatically. It will take me few days to adjust, but that' fine.

Cycling to Asia, Dusan 3

2009-10-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

naposledy som pisal z Esfahanu, kde sme sa dozvedeli, ze asi kus vychodneho Iranu nie je mozne absolvovat na bycikli. Zostavajuce dni sme teda vyuzili na zachadzku do Persepolisu. Podobne miesta sme dosial ignorovali, no tentokrat sa "turisticky highlight" celkom oplatil. Par hodin stravenych v niekdajsej vykladnej skrini Perzie stacilo na to, aby sme dostatocne hlboko precitili pychu i pad niekdajsich mocnych. Z toho, co kedysi posobilo ako vrchol umenia, oddanosti vyssej moci, nedobytnosti, zostali len ruiny. Velmi dobra lekcia toho, kam smerovat vlastny cas a energiu..
Z Persepolisu sme si k severu stopli nakladiak, co sa neobislo bez dalsieho sklamania. Panko sofer sa od nas snazil za svoju velkorisost vymamit asi desatnasobok standardnej sumy.. Bola by to veru smutna spomienka na iransku pohostinnost. Nasledujuce udalosti vsak nastastie napravili nasu mienku o velkodusnosti Perzanov.
Pred prichodom do Yazdu nas trochu prekvapilo asi 50 km puste. Kolesa akoby sa lepili na rozpaleny asfalt tiahnuci sa suchou krajinou niekam do nekonecna, vody malo, sklamani z dalsieho pokusu o okradnutie, defekt.. No nic moc, veru. V tom zrazu pred nami stoji auto a pri nom usmievavy chlapik. Caj, igelitka stavnateho hrozna, usmevy..
Potom ako sme dorazili na okraj pustatiny, dostavam na benzinke dalsi defekt, nezalepitelny. Menim dusu, no postradam odtahovac ventilkov, ktory som si zabudol v Esfahane.. Vsimol si to panko, ktory bez opytania nasada na motorku a po chvili prinasa presne to, co potrebujem. Na nic sa nepyta, len daruje.
Ceresnickou na torte iranskej pohostinnosti toho dna bol nakladiak, ktory nam na znamenie spomalil a dovolil sa zan zahaknut. Zvecerievalo sa a my sme potrebovali prekrocit hory, za ktorymi bola voda. Bez jeho pomoci to bolo bez nadejne. To, co sme vsak doteraz nezazili bolo, ze nas vzdy po kazdom kratkom zjazde (v ktorom sme sa ho vzdy pustili) v horskom terene cakal, aby nas mohol vytiahnut do dalsieho stupaka. Nakoniec v sedle snad tritisic metrov nad morom len zatrubil a zmizol. Akoby sa zrazu vytratila vila, ktorej sme chceli podakovat za to, ze nas previedla cez tmavy les..
Komfortne sme si zjazdili no podhorskej dedinky a v orechovom sade reflektovali posledne celodenne cykloputovanie v Irane. Povestna iranska pohostinnost, budis zachranena!
Na druhy den nam zostalo uz len par prijemnych kilometrov do hlineneho Yazdu, kde sa opat stretavame s irsko-svajciarsko-holandskou trojicou cyklistov putujucich nasim smerom. Podla ich slov nie je mozne k pakistanskym hraniciam byciklovat a tak pekne pospolu nasadame na autobus, ktory na hranici menime za dalsi iduci az do pakistanskej Quety. 1500 km pustou krajinou nas teda vsakovake okolnosti prinutili "blafovat", no nevadi, neprisli sme si tu nic dokazovat.
Sme teda v Quete, kde sme mali na vyber z dvoch moznosti. Budto si vziat vlak/autobus na menej zaujimavy juh, odkial sa da pokracovat na bycikli alebo poziadat o vojensky doprovod na 500 km prechod krasnym horskym terenom. Zda sa, ze sme Allahovi sympaticki - dnes rano nam bolo vyhovene v ziadosti o pridelenie eskorty a tak v sobotu rano opustame tento ostrov relativneho pokoja v nepokojnom Baluchistane, smer vychod.

Opat som to trosku pretiahol, no pre tych, co to vydrzali az potialto este par riadkov o prvych dojmoch z Pakistanu. V prvom rade neuveritelna spina - vsade:) To, co v Europe ukryvame na skladky, lejeme do podzemnej kanalizacie je tu neustale na ociach. Niezeby som to u nas doma nejako postradal, no posobi to akosi prirodzenejsie.. I ten neuveritelny hurhaj je akysi iny nez ten bratislavsky, no objektivnejsi budeme po par tyzdnoch.. Okrem tychto menej prijemnych realii sme vsak nadseni zivotom prekypujucimi ulicami. Obrovska zmena oproti ustrachanemu Iranu. Na kazdom kroku niekto nieco predava, vyraba, opravuje, vari.. Neuveritelne pestry vyber jedal, napojov - vsetko podavane s usmevom a navyse za symbolicke ceny. Celkova atmosfera je fascinujuca. Zasiahlo nas to natolko, ze sme sa rozhodli trochu poupravit povodny plan. Co najrychlejsi prechod Pakistanom menime za zachadzku do kralovstva horskej cyklistiky - Karakoram Highway.. Ale o tom na buduce.

Cycling to Asia, week 11

2009-10-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

Guns, Drugs and military coups... that's how most of the people perceive Pakistan. What we see in media is always highly concentrated information. It's usually true, it's just that it doesn't represent the everyday life. Even the 7 o'clock news in Slovakia will feed you with car accidence, thefts and political scandals... Our unique opportunity to explore and find out for our selves have just started.

After really relaxing days in Yazd we were ready for some bus overdose. First we took overnight bus to Zahedan. This was quite pleasant, the Iranian transport is very luxurious. The morning in the Border town was still pretty Iranian like even though the people's faces changed quite a bit, the landscape even more. This is pure dead land of rocks and sand. The people live here just from trade I guess. We took a share pick up truck to the border. There we had a brief introduction into Pakistani bureaucracy -just to tune us in for the following month. This is an ex-British colony and the Britons did leave some fingerprints here -one is their paper work!!!

Than some more busing. Another 14 h over the flat hot desert, the last bit was extra bumpy so this time we didn't sleep so well. First we were wondering why it takes the same time as in Iran, but the distance is almost halved? Well we've forgot to input the Asian factor: praying and police check... at least each half an hour we stopped for one of those... 5 am in Quetta was a shock but everybody was too tired realize it. The next day we got it in full power. So far we have been moving forward very slowly, step by step, or push by push, but this time we jumped a good 1500km eastwards and the change was more dramatic than anyone of us could imagine. Dirt, chaos, smog and stench. Oh is that really a sour floating down the street? Rubbish, cats and bagging kids! But wow nobody is harassing us as much as the Persian did!

Our plan is to get a permit to cycle from Quetta to Mulat via Ziarat and Mularay... everybody is saying that we'll need an escort so we are not really hoping to be successful, but let's give it a shot. The authorities are very relaxed as well as serious and accurate. Where will you stay? How many km you can do in a day? Be aware that's a hilly region... but yeah, we will issue the permit and provide you with a police escort and all of this for free!!! WoW and WoW. This is how they treat tourists here? That's nice! We all agreed that in Europe they would just simply say NO, you can't do that, take a bus, full stop.

So now we have two more days to explore Quetta. OK. Let's go shopping... so we all bought the local outfit. It's comfy and the people do give us a bit more slack, we don't shine like freshly arrived tourists anymore. Have a look and give feedback please.

Cycling to asia, Iran

2009-09-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Mr! What country? Hello Mr. What do you think about Iran?

I don't have to be specifically emphatic to know that everybody who traveled trough Iran have been asked these questions billion times. So what do I think after a month spent mostly by cycling?
Iran is great and it's definitely a travelers paradise... specially the shoe stringers will love it because there is no problem camping anywhere, eating everywhere (except ramadan) and traveling in cheap transport. Bum friendly cities allows you to sleep in park and other advantages. But it's not just fun. You also get a lot of hassle and must be prepared for rip offs. Generally if you don't ask about the price in advance you can expect cosmic numbers! If you do ask don't dream about big discounts by bergaining...

Iranians are very friendly and suffer by over hospitality, so most of the time one can enjoy ones stay. We received plenty of invitations of all of the kinds -from simple tea to few days of accommodation with all the care you could wish for.

We also noticed high level of fear in the locals minds. . They are very curios, many times even suspicious... everything interests them, so if two highly visible creatures, like us on bikes, show up on the street they get more attention than a King! It definitely reaches limits unbearable for almost everybody I would say...

It is a country of strict Islamic regime, but funnily they don't observe Ramadan as seriously as Turks do. We had no problem eating on the streets of Turkish towns, even though the restaurants were closed, but in Tabriz we've been send to a hotel, but we've bought the food on street! Officially there are strict rules for everything but in reality majority of the people neglect them. They do eat, but secretly. They hide! So if the public doesn't see you, it's all right! Isn't that ridiculous? It should be based on the relationship between you and God, not you and public! The women don't wear scarf on privet parties, but when we showed up in short pants we got all the looks and even few comments...
The political situation is even more ridiculous, when cca 3% of the population is manipulating the rest, but officially they have elections -worth nothing... everybody says that the new president is just a very bad joke, nobody voted for him and suddenly here he comes... they call him monkey. But politic sucks so I'm not going to write much about it...

How can I summarize all this? Probably by saying that the Iran has two faces: the official and the real. This schism is quite traumatizing for locals and requires some time for travelers to adjust to. But if you manage you'll have good times.

Cycling to Asia, week 10

2009-09-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

Here we go again! OH how good it is to feel the air in my hair, yes the wheels are turning, the legs are doing their job... we keep on moving east, well this time a bit more southeast. We decided to make a small detour and check out the biggest highlight of Iran: Persepolis. Our plan was to cycle down there, see the old Persian city and cycle back up to Yazd, but well we underestimated the Iranian distances (and the map we have... is really crap!). On the second day of cycling from Esfahan we have found out that we're not gonna make it. Because its more than 800km of cycling, plus sightseeing, plus catching the bus to the Pakistan border and all of this just in one week... impossible. So what we gonna do?
It's simple just let the karma work for it self, or let the Iranians do what they are best in: be hospitable. At the end of the second day, after cycling some good 100km there were these two guys with a truck having a rest on the car park area on the highway. They showed us to stop, as many of them did before... sometimes we do, sometimes we don't... depends on our mood. This time Dusan had a good intuition and we stopped... YEAH all the Farsi questions: "Where are you from?" and "Are you cycling from Slovakia?" and "Where are you going?" and "OH India!!!" as hundred times before, but this time we also told them we go to Persepolis and they eagerly said that they do as well... so here we go, we have a good 300km hitch in the truck all the way to the sight. Funny part was that after they have found out that our Farsi is really limited just to the basic five questions they wanted to kick us out... but hell no! You said you're gonna take us, so you gonna take us, full stop!
How was Persepolis? Imaginary, original, majestic, monumental, reveling, useful... just imagine how much effort they put to create this original majestic stone city just to find out that nothing last for ever. Even the biggest or strongest monuments are impermanent... What a trust the locals must have had in the King and it didn't last even two centuries... this is useful thought for everybody I ques...
Cycling back was probably the best cycling in Iran. There were nice towns, mountains, deserts, friendly drivers, stupid drivers, hospitable people and beautiful mountain passes... Since we wanted to see bit of Yazd we cheated a bit again and hitchhiked. This time it was proper hand showing process, just that we had to be really picky, since we could accept just pick ups or trucks... it worked after a while... why did the driver asked for ridiculous 50$ for a 100km ride we do not know, but well we gave him a fiver and wished him to recover from the stupidity... Generally the hospitality of the locals is incredible, but on the other hand quite a few tried to rip us off... so our feelings are quite mixed. The good ones definitely overwhelm the bad ones, just that the negative memories are more sticky...
Now we are in the mud-wall ancient city of Yazd, just chill in before some crazy 14+14 hours of bus riding all the way to Pakistani Queta... we met here the other cyclists and decided to cross the border together. So now we are 5 europians heading east...

Cycling to Asia, Dusan 2

2009-09-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Zdravim vas opat,
pisem z Esfahanu, asi najkrajsieho iranskeho mesta, do ktoreho je to zo Sturova nieco malo cez pat tisic kilometrov. Sme teda asi v polovicke cykloetapy nasej vypravy.

..takto mi raz povedal kamarat: "V Irane to zacne..."
A veru, ze zacalo. Po prechode turecko-iranskej hranicou sme skutocne nadobudli pocit, ze vsetko je akesi ine, dokonca aj klima:) Ludia posobili dost jednoliato - umiernenejsie, veselsie a uprimnejsie ako ich zapadni susednia. Teraz, po troch tyzdnoch sa vsak nasa mienka o Irancoch trochu upravila. Zije tu niekolko narodov, z ktorych sme dosial lepsie spoznali Turkov, Kurdov a Persanov. Napriek niekolkym odlisnostiam maju urcite spolocne crty a to najma stadovitost a strach z vyssej moci. Ale pekne poporiadku.
V meste Tabriz sme mali na vyber z dvoch moznosti ako stravit nas mesiac v Irane. Ak by sme chceli prejst cely Iran na bycikli (asi 2900 km), museli by sme to struhnut priamym, frekventovanym tahom na Teheran - Esfahan - Yazd - Zahedan. Uz pred Tabrizom sme si nastastie skusili, ze valit po presmradenej hlavnej ceste nie je prave to prave orechove a tak sme si vybrali druhu variantu - z Tabrizu na juh cez iransky Kurdistan a pohorie Zagros. Znamenalo to sice, ze si niekde na vychode budeme musiet vziat autobus, aby sme neprekrocili vizovi limit, no bola to vynikajuca volba.
Zatial co v Turecku sa o Kurdistane nemozno ani zmienit, v Irane je to oficialny nazov jednej z provincii. Oboch nas zaujimalo ako sa iransky Kurdi lisia od tureckych. Nasa zvedavost bola natolko silna, ze nam do cesty priviala toho najpovolanejsieho cloveka - Azada, mladeho, neuveritelne energickeho a velmi priatelskeho kurdskeho patriota. Po stretnuti s nim nasledovali tri dni neustalych navstev u jeho znamych a s tym spojene nekonecne debaty o Kurdoch - ich historii a sucasnych problemoch.. Pocas iracko-iranskej vojny sa spolcili s irackymi Kurdmi, co im vlada dosial kruto odplaca. Okrem prenasledovania a vaznenia neposlusnych "poddanych", sustavneho vypalovania lesov (potencialne ukryty pre kurdske gerily) vlada dlhodobo nepodporuje tento region - asi patdesiat percentna nezamestnanost mladych ludi.Azad nas vzal na dvojdnovy (povodne stvorhodinovy) vylet napriec celou provinciou az k hraniciam s Irakom. Z toho, co sme dosial zazili nam nariek vsetkemu Kurdi zostali v pamati ako velmi priatelsky, pohostinny, vcelku uprimni ludia. I potom, co sme opustili Bukan sa nam dostalo este niekolko pozvani a vzdy sme odchadzali s podobnymi dojmami. ..tolko Kurdistan.
V meste Hamedan si na Janciho sadla choroba a tak sme uznali za vhodne, ze on si vezme do Esfahanu autobus a ja tam dojdem za nim na bycikli. Pocas piatich dni som si teda skusil, ake to je v tychto koncinach ist solo. Najskor trosku osamelo, krajina zacala byt zrazu omnoho zaujimavejsia, no clovek sa o to nemal s kym podelit. Za nedlho som sa vsak aklimatizoval a neskor zhodnotil, ze ist sam je sice trochu narocnejsie, no omnoho intenzivnejsie. Okrem ineho som si naplno skusil, ake to je neustale reagovat na prihovarajucich sa ludi. Niezeby mi to nejak zvlast vadilo, ale Janci predsa len komunikativnejsie a dovtedy som odpovede na do nekonecna sa opakujuce: "Helo, how are you? Whants your name? What is your meaning about Iranian people? Are you maried..?" nechaval na neho. Teraz som vsak bol na to sam. Sukromie je tu neznamym pojmom. Je uplne normalne, ze jeme, niekto sa pristavi, bez opytania si prisadne a zacne sa vas vypytovat tie ich super otazky alebo sa nevypytuju nic a mlcky pozoruju - ako jeme, odpocivame.. Ludia nas oslvouju neustale. Dokonca aj ked slapeme, nie je pre nich problem pristavit sa - spomalit auto motorku a klast spominane otazky. Pred Esfahanom som mal pocit, ze mi praskne hlava. Priblizne hodinu sa mi prihovarali najma motorkari. Ignorovat ich bolo bez efektu. Stale si mleli to svoje a opustili ma, az ked som vsetko zodpovedal. Striedali sa pri mne jeden za druhym. Krkolomna jazda nie je ziadna prekazka. Najlepsi si tu, co nevedia po anglicky a stale na vas vytahuju perstinu akoby to bola automatika - si v Irane, tak predsa musis vediet perzsky (farsi).. Je to jeden z mnohych znakov toho, ze tu ludia nie su na cudzincov moc zvyknuti. Je trochu narocne nebyt k nim nevrly. Zrejme si neuvedomuju, ze patria k tuctom dalsim, ktori kladu tie iste otazky.
Napriek tomu, ze bol ramadan (predvcerom konecne skoncil) bola iranska pohostinnost velkolepa. Pocas tych piatich dni, co som bol sam som si nekupil takmer ziadne jedno jedlo a mnohe z darovaneho som este doniesol aj do Esfahanu. I tu vsak musim povedat, ze nic nie je zadarmo. Ludia vas sice pozvu k sebe domov, na obed.. Na strane druhej sa vsak na vas pride pozriet cela rodina vratane bratrancov, ujov, pradedkov zo vsetkych kolien. Vzdy je to tak trochu zazitok, no vsetkeho moc skodi.
Iranci maju tak trochu problem s mobilnym sokom. Neviem, kedy tu prisli telefony s fotakmi, no ma ich uplne kazdy, dokonca aj pastieri. Nejde ani tak o to, ze ich maju ale ze si nas neustale fotia. Teda nielen ti, s ktorymi sa dame do reci - co je vcelku OK - ale i obycajny okoloidujuci, okolojazdiaci. Je uplne normalne, ze slapeme, pristavi sa motorkar, poprosi nas, aby sme zastavili, ze sa chce s nami odfotit... Na fotke to vsak vyzera tak, akoby sa stretli strari priatelia. Zhodnotili sme to tak, ze je to pre nich asi vec prestize - odfotit sa s europanom..
Kulturne zmeny nastastie neprichadzaju az tak prudko, aby sme sa nestihali aklimatizovat. Teraz sa uz necudujem ludom zo zapadu, s ktorymi sme sa stretli v Esfahane. Mnohi z nich zostavaju v lacnom hoteliku niekolko dni az tyzdnov a nie je to kvoli Esfahanu.. Putovanie na bycikli je asi najlepsim sposobom ako sa vyhnut kulturnemu soku.
Este som chcel o politike, ku ktorej sa v rozhovoroch s miestnymi dostaneme vacsinou az pri tych najhlbsich rozhovoroch. No myslim, ze to by bol uz tento email pridlhy..

Vyzera to tak, ze v Irane sa krivka exotickoskosti zacina vyvijat exponencialne - tesime sa na Pakistan..:)

Vas Dusan

Cycling to Asia, week 9 cont.

2009-09-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Esfahan wasn't just chill out in the hostel... even though this was probably the highlight for me. But there were other things as well. Like the Friday anti-Israel demonstration. We can't resist, it might be risky, but lets see it in our own eyes! Every major city in Iran is holding this propaganda backed up by government . The whole Emam square was full of strong and primitive statements like "Down with Isreal" or " Down with England!" making it a big fiasco... Who IS REAL? I tried to have a conversation but the fanatical crowd was strongly narrow minded. Innocent Palestine people are suffering. First I tried to be diplomatic and said I don't have any opinion on this matter I was told that I'm human I should have one! So I told them that the problem is more complicated and Palestinians are also harming the Israeli. You should have seen the tension I've created! Wow! I'd better backup... as Dusan have said: "one who has an opinion on this issue must have got already lost in it". The square started to fill up and the crowds started to be more load. Boasting all sorts of hatred... We didn't understand much, since it was in Farsi but just looking at it was quite sad. When we were leaving people were still marching into the city with flags and slogans, shouting out loud. Some guys told us that this is just a show, that they don't agree. We've found out that there is also an anti-government demonstration as a reply, but this one we've missed.
For the rest of the week we were just sight seeing the Esfahan highlights. Yes the mosques are beautiful and the tea houses spledid, but still it's the people that make the country interesting for us.

Cycling to Asia, week 9

2009-09-19T01:05:00.000-07:00

Taking bus to Esfahan was a good choice. Not just because my illness involved into a pretty severe one. We do not travel to see sights, neither to chat with other travelers, but after two months one appreciate a bit of European atmosphere. Esfahan turned out to be the number one place in whole Iran for meeting other overlanders, out of whom quite a few use the same travel means as we do...

The overnight bus was alright except that the Amir Kabir hotel was still closed at 5am. Since I didn't know what to do I just roamed around, trying to find a park where I could stretch my bones for a bit. Fortunately nothing looked suitable, so I went back the same street and yes they've just opened... I got my bed and started the healing process... originally I thought I will just lie in the bed, but next day I've found out that there are other three bicycles in the courtyard... this is way to tantalizing to resist... so I hanged around for a bit. First I came across the magic bus people. The name was coined by me, but how would you call 30 people traveling from London to Sydney on a big orange bus with a balcony? It looked more like a house on wheels than a coach and the people resembled the good old hippie days when this road was traveled by the pioneers of backpacking...

Then I met David the Swiss! He is taking his time, that I have to say right a way. He is cycling from Basel to India, roughly as we do but he is on the road since April, so exactly double as long as we are. Well if somebody have the resources and Swiss passport that allows you to get 90 days visa in Turkey or Iran, then why shouldn't he take the opportunity to explore these vibrant countries, right? He is pretty straight forward guy asking good questions... no polite rubbish or shallow talk.

Afterward Arian showed up. This nice fella is cycling his way from Holland to India and also doesn't bother him self much with things like getting stuck in Esfahan for almost two weeks. Yes, I would like to see the man who would leave earlier if he had met a nice local girl who speaks good English and is eager to show you around. It's not difficult to fall in love with these dark-deep-eyed beauties carelessly covered with scarfs that just provokes your imagination.Some women -the traditional one- are covered from head to toes... the head scarf is properly tided and shows just the round face with eagle nose and Persian eyes. These are not so sexy, that's true, but than there are these youthful girls rebelling in the Iranian way. Usually wearing more colorful jackets and trousers, not pure black and definitely not the all covering tent-like chador. The most revolutionary and typical sign is the headscarf. In their case it's more of a delicate decoration, more like a romantic veil then a covering cloth. Lot of care is given to make sure that enough hair will be visible... no matter that the scarf falls off sometimes... Together with the unique ayes and exotic Persian faces they are just gorges. Covered enough to follow the rules, but not much to protect you from craving and thinking what's beyond? So Arian we all envy you!

Lastly there is one more bike in the courtyard, but we couldn't find the owner. No wonder when he is in Teheran. Kevin had to extend his visas so ended up traveling more by bus then by bike... He is probably the most experienced from us since he already did a south to north America journey. It took him a year and it was just two years ago so it looks like he felt in love with it. This time he is doing the Ireland South-east Asia tour with no definite destination end neither definite route. He mentioned India, China, Burma, Indonesia... all by land, so some miles will be covered while he comes back to Ireland.

Good luck to all of you guys. It's been really nice to relax, chill-out and talk with you. I feel refreshed. Like after coming home for a weekend and then starting the journey again. Just that the half is behind me already... Healthy physically and stronger mentally. There were times when I felt awkward, since all the locals acts as you have just fallen down from the moon and that they have never seen anybody doing something strange like you do... but there are plenty people who did it before us quite a few that are doing it while we are, so maybe we meet again... we all go the same direction... I'm looking forward!!!

Cycling to Asia, week 8

2009-09-13T01:08:00.000-07:00

After leaving Boukan we felt like escaping a prison. No, no we were treated with honor and we felt great, it's just that during the whole trip we were mostly on our own and during the last four days we lost the power to manage our time. We cycled like crazy, reflecting what had just happened to us. Wow! This was awesome.
After half of the day and one invitation for lunch, we met Balal. An cyclist going a decent 80km ride with no equipment, not even water. Originally he went the opposite direction, but because of us he decided to change that. So he went with us. Or we went with him? He invited us for a second lunch in his uncle house in a small village. Afterward we continued to Divandareh, where he invited us to stay in his brother's house. Dusan said he would refuse if he was on his own, but since I can do the talking we can accept this. It was a good 120km in a hilly surroundings. This part of Iran is beautiful but demanding for cyclists, specially after 4 days off! Mohammad, Balals brother was an advanced yogi. The whole family was very nice, but much simpler than the Boukan people. Wow if it goes like this in whole Iran, then we will have a problem... we will run out of time. 30 days visa is not much, when the hospitality of the whole nation extraordinary. But after Boukan experience we are much more careful. Next day we were invited to see the nearby cave, but this time we preferred to keep on moving.
Now we are in Hamedan. Big city with mountainous surrounding. All Iranian cities looks quite bum-friendly. We slept in a city park, together with a 50 or more local families. The same happened in Tabriz, so it looks good for us. But I've caught a flue or something... well it comes from time to time so I accepted it. The best way how to deal with the situation was to take a bus to Esfahan, there I'll wait for Dusan. He will have the opportunity to experience the solo cycling in Iran and I'll have a chance to heal properly.
I got used to cycle and not rely on public transport so much that I found it very frustrating to get the essential information on the bus station. My European mind takes it for granted that the people working there should help you, but the laid back Asians don't thing so. If you don't speak Farsi they don't feel to do any extra effort to find out what you want for them, so just finding out when the bus leaves, how much does it cost and how long does it takes took me a good half and hour -nothing really pleasant with a headache and fever. I dind't mind all the attention and three-question-conversations so far, but for the last few days I started to be sick of it. They appear to be helpful, they pretend to be nice, but it's all just a show. I can't help feeling that they just want to show off -look I can speak to a stranger, look I'm a nice guy... sorry, big sorry to the honest ones... just that today I really needed a help and everybody ignored me... to the extend that while talking to the ticket seller there where three other customers favored in stead of me, jumped in front and got the ticket, while I was trying to find out how to get to Esfahan. So what is this "Welcome to Iran" or "Do you need any help?" about? Do they really mean it, or is it all just fake?

Cycling to Asia, week 7

2009-09-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of this journey I feel like an old explorer, like the Aragorn in the Tolkien's stories, just that we don't walk, we ride. Our horses are from steel and our gear is bit more advanced, but we do go to unknown territories , we go east. The morning we left Dogubeyazit for Iran, this feeling appeared again. At the outskirts of the town two big angry evil creatures attacked us. Jaws wide open, teeth looking sharp, barking and running at us. Fear and shock changed us into old warriors. Dusan the brave and Jan the valiant drew their swords and with a combative shout warded off the beasts. Adrenalin run in my blood for the next half an hour!
The border crossing was less romantic. Two hours of bureaucracy and pointless waiting was feasible just because we met three other travelers heading to Iran. The change was noticeable right behind the last gate. Surprisingly even the climate became more pleasant. We definitely left the cold Kurdistan. Everybody is welcoming us. Every single car is greeting us. People shout out of the windows. It's incredible. This is what we needed after the Turkish kids throwing stones at us. We didn't change much money at the border and the time change caused that we missed the banks in Maku. After this beautiful town in a rocky gorge there are just villages so for almost three days we were running on a shoestring budged. Like in the good old days, when we were poor students hitch-hiking trough Europe.
But Iran wasn't just about positive experiences. The lack of privacy is even stronger than in Turkey. People surround us wherever we stop. They are polite, they are nice, but there is no space left between me and Dusan. This is quite tiring. Their English is better, but their understanding is very low.
We also encountered our first technical problems. First my camcorder started to hesitate so some of the best moments couldn't be captured because the picture was shaking. No big deal, but the broken rim on my back wheel was a bit of a surprise.
I mentioned in the part 1 what a trouble I had with wheels, ended up buying the most expensive Mavic wheels day before our departure. After 4000km this "everlasting" super wheel got broken. The rim couldn't last the weight and cracked. For two and half day I went without the back brake and on a shaking wheel, hoping that in Tabriz I'll find a good alternative. Surprisingly it wasn't bad at all. You can get almost anything for bicycle here. Just that they don't always sell you what you need, e.g. I wanted to buy just the back hub. But the Novatec they had could be sold only as a pair. Why? Nobody knows! So I bought just a simple Shimano. Never mind its working good. If I make it with this wheel all the way to India, then the 150 euro Mavic wheel will be beaten by 30$ Shimano. Isn't it funny.
From Tabriz we headed to Iranian Kurdistan. We decided not to go direction Teheran, even though it might have been easier, because it would be more ordinary. Kurdistan sounds good. The choice was well appreciated after few days. Kurdish people are great and the climate is cycle friendly. Boukan seemed just like any other town, that we have passed. But we were wrong. While buying an Iranian scarf (we don't want to look like American bikers) a bunch of people surrounded us as usual. One old man with a decent German invited us for lunch. He turned up to be very noisy, the whole family was quite crazy. But there we met Azad, also a character, but much nicer. He invited us to see his family. Well alright, we stop for a short while. But after an hour or so, he offered us to stay for the night. We gladly accepted. Firstly because of our teeth problems (just during the lunch a half of my tooth felt of), secondly this looks much more peaceful family and thirdly Azad's uncle is an English teacher, so we can communicate. But the lack of privacy that I have been talking about didn't disappear. It even increased together with a total lack of time management. We went to see the dentist. He gave me an appointment at 9:30pm!!! Imagine that! Afterwards they dragged us trough the town, we visited Azad's job, then the German grandpa's job, continuing to bazzar. They introduced us to hundred of people and showed us dozen of shops. Yeah! I don't remember feeling more tired on this trip than today. I asked for a rest, but no, first we have to see the towns view point. The time we came back to Azad's home I was knocked. And of course it was just enough to have a dinner and rush to the dentist. Nobody cares that we are 10min late. We are in Iran.

The next day they offered us to go to see the beautiful mountains, but it's 4h drive so we decided not to go. We rather continue our cycling tour. But what about to see the lake, that's just 1 or 2 hours? OK, that sounds good. The plan was to leave Boukan at 3pm, but it was way pas 4 when we left the town. After 2h of driving Azad asked a Shepard how far it is to the lake. The reply was a shocking 2 hours! This is the theory of FSHE (Iranian word for chaos and freedom in one). We are not going back now... the country is beautiful, hills are high but very dry. The road changed into a gravel track, so for the next hour I felt like in Pakistan. Dusan started to feel sick. After 3 hours we had enough, but what shell we do? 15km before the Marivan Dusan left the lunch on the side of the road and we finished off the trip. The time we reached the lake it was already dark.
We went for dinner and met Azad's friend Hamam. He invited us to stay in his family house. This was the highlight of the trip. He lives with his four beautiful sisters and caring mother in a nice house. Pity that just the teacher speaks English but we entertained our selves with tongue twisters and had fun till late night. Very pleasant atmosphere.

The next day we wanted to leave, but we got invited to see the lake... ended up in Hamam's garden... leaving the town after a lunch... This time we decided not to go back the same way. The road was horrible. Instead we went the longer way trough Sanandaj. Good choice, but the time we reached the city it was dark again. Iranians are crazy drivers and Azad is not an exception, so driving another 3-4hours to Boukan could be quite an adventure. Instead we were invited by another Azads friend and we stayed for the night... this could continue for ever!!! Iranian people are extra hospitable and Azad and his friends are a good example of it. But after four days we had enough. So now you know how a 4 hours round trip to a lake can change into a 4 days journey trough Kurdish families. It was excellent, it was very nice, this is what we wanted to experience in Iran, but we got a slight overdose. We need our privacy, we need our freedom, we want to ride our steel horses and keep on moving east!

N.B. This last part is overlapping with week 8 but for obvious reasons I kept it in this article.

Cycling to Asia, week 6

2009-08-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

After Erzincan a real east Turkey experience have started. The country is similar, roads are as bad as before... no just kidding... but the people have changed. How? They got even more tough. This here is a bit different from the Furkans Turkey in Tekirdag. The cloths are simple, dirty, worn out and a tear or a patch is not uncommon. The faces are rough, wrinkly, adjusted to the ceaseless winds and cold nights. We are averaging 1500m in altitude. Ramadan is taken seriously here. No more çorba or çay during the day. We have warm food only in evenings, sometimes in mornings. But our stove started to give us some trouble. NO! Please not now. Now it is highly appreciated, otherwise we'll have no warm food at all. Locals start to eat after 7pm... We are in the middle of a field or next to a river, camping, at this time.

At the beginning of this week we crawled up to our -so far- highest point on bikes: a pass in 2290m. But to be honest it was easier than the 900m one in Serbia. We celebrated it appropriately with halva and hazelnuts and here we go! Down hills oh how I love them! Straight 40km to Erzurum. Big city, but probably the most strict when it comes to Ramadan. We couldn't get anything warm so we just took a snack on the sidewalk. You should see the looks! Funny we met Sheila a girl we know from Istanbul. What a coincidence... but there are no coincidences, right!

A good way how to judge how far east we are -except looking at our bike comps - is to get into a town and check the behavior of the locals. When we stop just to refill our water bottles we stir the them a bit. There are always few busybodies around us immediately... Can you imagine what it means to got to the center and buy e.g. milk and bread. In Agri it had started with few stones thrown at us by street kids at the outskirt of the town, then all the men near the bakery surrounded Dusan, while I went inside to get a loaf. Where are you from?, where are you going?, what's your name? Do you like Turkey? All this in Turkish of course. But we've learned a bit so we can answer almost fluently... Then we moved to a grocery store and the whole circus has started again. Just people have changed, questions have remained. We know them by heart. Sometimes we even give answers when there are no questions. People are interested, amused, shocked and always very welcoming. Just the kids! Hello money, hello money is the only English they utter at us. We have seen also some rude gestures and some stones flying by. What should we do? We have tear gas but this is for dogs. Adults are very helpful with this, sometimes. If they see a kid harassing us, they usually send them away...

Last few days were very relaxing. We haven't done more than 85km a day I think. I lost track of the mileage, it's not important anymore.But the main reason for this is my buttocks. It got a bit irritated of the hours just sitting on the saddle. Plus I got a slight diarrhea so the trip started to be literally a pain in the ass... NO NO. It's not bad at all. It's better and better, because me and Dusan got really well together. Our way of traveling and dealing with daily activities is almost identical. Just the body is calling for a break. So it shall have it.

We took a day and half off in Dogubeyazit. Nice camping under majestic palace Ishak pasa saray. Our first hot shower since Istanbul. So we can continue to Iran... yeah!!!

pics will come from Iran... at least I hope since the I've heard that the internet is restricted in there now... cheers.

Cycling to Asia, Lion in Zion

2009-08-25T04:24:00.000-07:00

This is how we entertain our self a bit on a long and straight roads in Turkey. We have last 5 days a head of us and then Iran. We are looking forward to a change. Turks are bit too rough. All the shouts, toots and attention... one can get fed up with that. No, no we didnt, all Im saying ıs that a change wıll be welcomed. On the other side Ramadan wıll be much more strict ın Inaran, so we better get used to eat just bread lunches...

Cycling to Asia, week 5

2009-08-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

The break at the lake turned out to be a great idea. To get there was a bit demanding, during the ascent I thought it should better be the heaven up there, otherwise it's not worth this strenous effort. We reached the lake at 9pm, totaly wet from sweat. But even in dark it looked misterious. We slept for a long 9 hours. We didn't even know how tired we were. For the whole day we did absolutely nothing, except filling our stomachs and taking naps. Very useful day!

What a pleasure it is to ride after a day off. The body is refreshed and the mind is eager to observe new things. But there is a big change in the surroundings. Not that much in the landscape it self -it still keeps on changing from bit more green to dry and brown, only to get greener again. It doesn't rain here much, but there are parts with forest or groves. Predominately its barren, though. The change I'm talking about has happened in people. The reason is Ramadan. First we were bit anxious about how we will get our daily dosage of nutritions- so important to us! But soon we've found out that as tourist plus travelers this is not a problem. Even muslims on the road {pilgrims, travelers} are allowed to eat. But majority of the people do fast during a day. They don't drink tea, some not even water. But they still work and live normal lifes, at least they try to do so. In reality the roads got deserted -only truck drivers remained and the towns are as vieled with slow motion filter. People appears to be just a bit more alive that zombies. They still welcome us everywhere, but not as cheerfully as before and all the invitations for tea have ceased. At least it looks like that in the first days.

After few days we got a better picture about the holy celebration. People take it quite seriously, but as for us it's not a problem. We even got invited for lunch by truck drivers, and few invitations for tea did appear. But everybody is saying that in Iran it's much more strict -they do not even listen to music... Ramadan takes one month so a good half of it we will spend in Iran. Will see...

As for the traffic it is slower, but obviously we don't mind that! Nice thing is that we are surrounded with beautiful mountains from north and south, but the riding is quite easy. The roads are neither too steep nor too straight. Just enough to keep us interested, but not to pass out every evening.It's also not so hot, rather chilli.

On the last day of this week we got another surprise. We woke up just to find out that everything is frezen. The bags and the tent are all covered in ice coating. It's just 23rd august, so we didn't really expected this. True thing is that we slept quite high. It might have been arround 1500m. What followed was a beautiful 25km up hill ride to a mountain pass in 2160m. Sounds horrifing? It wasn't that bad. The almost ceaseless 40km downhill was even better. Now we ended up in Erzincan. Just to give you a picture about the altitudes we are dealing with here, the town lies in 1180m.

Last thing. We've found out that getting a hitch from fully loaded tractor or truck, by just holding tide to its trailor is a good way how to safe energy, specially during the ascents. It doesn't happend too often because it needs a right timing, but ocasionally the luck strikes us. We have grabed a few already. I know, I know this is cheating, but common, we are biking from Slovakia to India, those several 5km kicks are nothing in the whole scale.

good luck to you all, and keep on reading.

Cycling to Asia, part three

2009-08-18T01:27:00.000-07:00

WEEK 4
The traffic before Istanbul was horrendous, it started to build up 50 km before the city center, fancy that!? So on the way out we tried to skip it by taking a ferry to Yalova. It was a good choice, but for the next 3 days we were driving on a deadly straight and boringly flat road with a plentiful of trucks passing us. We could do some mileage, but it was quite ordinary riding. On the third day we finally hit our first mountains. The ascent was a killer, but beautiful in one. From now on we ride in nice surroundings, but still on the main road from Istanbul to Ankara, so the traffic is busy. At least the road is in a good shape and there is a roadside. The Bole pass was 950m, but comparing to the Serbian equivalent this was a piece of cake. Anatolia is welcoming us.

What fallowed were few days with very nice views and some excellent riding. But also our first bad experience with kids. We stopped for lunch in a nice picnic area for locals. It was full of natives chillin on the carpets. As usual we had company straight a way. A bunch of adolescent boys surrounded us. While we were fixing our lunch they kept on staring and occasionally chatting with us. They had no problems to just sit next to us and do nothing. We were there for a while and when we started to be fed up with all the attention and decided to leave I've noticed that my leatherman is missing. What followed was a spectacular performance. They showed empty pockets and even started to body check each other. Afterwards they accused one lad that had left few minutes ago. Afterwards they just left with big big apologies. The alleged thief stayed and turned up to be a nice guy, so who was it? Well we should be more cautious but if its only things like a knife that we will get riped of on this journey then it's still alright.

For the next days we had some pleasant ride, mostly down hill. We are descending towards the bottom of Anatolia! The heat started to be noticeable. The land got drier, water supplies fewer, but still enough. We stopped filtering the water, cause here it looks safe, and it's bit pain in the buttocks to filter 4 liters per person. There are only few places suitable for a break so we usually ride from town to a village or nearest city. These became a oasis for us. Except of getting our stomachs full with çorba {soup} in a local restaurants we usually get at least one invitation to a çay {tea}. These warm welcomes are welcomed by us, since the time we spent on the road is associated with solitude -it's hard to have any sort of a chat during the ride, since the roadside is usually in a bad shape, so we ride mostly on the road, but this means some close shaves from the trucks and buses. On the other side there is usually very little that we can talk about with locals, since our Turkish is limited to basic words. So after we inform them about our nationality, where are we coming from and where are we heading we leave. The joy and surprisement on the faces is something worth telling the same story dozen times a day.

At the end of this week we started to wear long trousers again. The villages got more rural and we felt this will be more suitable. Not even 10 km in morning and we got our first invitation for çay. What so significant about it? Well this time it was to a old family living in a small house next to a road. The tea was cooked on a old Turkish style cooker, working on wood. What a nice sign, for our decision.

Soon after we got out from mountains and hit some flat land again. This meant an encounter wind good old friend: wind. It allowed us to travel only 10km/h witch is just bit more then during an uphill ride, but this time with no reward in exciting downhill ride, plus the noise.

It's almost a weak since we left Istanbul. Good thing on it is that we are finally of the beaten track Istanbul - Ankara, so anywhere we go we are the main attraction. This is very interesting. But also the quality of the road changed and I started to be bored. It's for the first time on this journey that I felt something like boredom, but you have to understand that the land hasn't changed for the last few days, wind is making it extraordinary difficult to progress, and of course my body needs a rest. Surprisingly even after month I have a sore muscles in the evening. It's much better than it was during the first week or two, but still, I thought that the body will adjust completely. Well but what I want, right? Five to six hours of excessive exercise is not very normal.

Today we took a break in Amasya and we are heading to a small lake where we will take a whole day off. Both of us need it. We got enough of dusty roads, tooting of the trucks at us and monotonic riding. You may ask what will we do in the Pakistani desert, but this hasn't come yet, so it doesn't boder us.

cheers

Cycling to Asia, Dusan

2009-08-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

In Dusan words... this time in slovak language:

Mame za sebou europsku etapu nasej vypravy a aj do Istanbulu je to uz z mestecka Çerkeş daleko. Slapeme po hlavnej ceste smerom na Osmancik, Erzurum a uvidime ako dalej.. Premavka nie je taka hrozna ako sme ocakavali, no ked sa nam zunuje horko, prah a dostaneme chut na debatu, tak si zajdeme do nejakeho z miest prı ceste a vsetko sa nahle zmeni. Mestecka posobia ako oazy a po hodinach "osameleho" slapania nam ani nevadi, ze nas vzdy obkolesi hlucik deti, ktore sa s velkou radostou pozeraju na to, ako napriklad jeme melon... Ich zvedavost je vsak skor mila a nakoniec je z toho vzdy obojstranne potesenie. Turci su velmi spolocenski. Nemaju zabrany vypytovat sa na cokolvek. Skoda vsak, ze len po turecky. My si zas melieme po slovensky, no nakoniec aj tak dospejeme k porozumeniu. Rec je predsa iba jeden z mnohych dorozumievacich prostriedkov.
Anatolıa je typıcky kontınentalna. Nocı velmı chladne, dnı horuce, no telicka si celkom zvykaju. Potom co nas opustil Brano sme trochu spomalili, prirodzene:> Kupat sa uz niet kde, jedine ak vo vlastnom pote. Rieky i obcasne jazera su velmi spinave. Slovicko kanalizacia by sme v slovensko-tureckom slovniku asi nenasli. Ked sme to predsa len raz skusili, domorodci si nas potom, co sme vysli z vody, obzerali s respektom a tak trochu s odstupom..:>

Cycling to Asia, part two

2009-08-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

Its quıte hard to keep track of the days, plus almost ımpossıble to have a regular wrıtıng sesıons so thıs blog wıll be reduced a bıt. I wıll wrıte only ın weeks. Sorry for that.

WEEK 2
So Belehrad, right? After thıs nıce day off the real trıp started. Brano was rıght Hungary and Voıvodına (north regıon of Serbıa) where borıng. We decıded to head to Bulgarıan mountaıns, but thıs meant that we wıll cross also some Serbıan mountain passes. Rıght after Smederovo we are catchıng a good blow from nıce back wınd. Muscels are relaxed, wınd ıs good, road ıs straıght, so fınally we have an avarıdge day speed 20 km/h. Wanna see whats gonna be lıke ın moutaıns.

On 9th day we met a Polısh cyclıng fella Mıchal. He ıs quıte crazy, drıvıng only speed street bıke wıth thın tıres, but quıte loaded. Hıs back wheel has broaken rım, but he dıd 1000 km wıth that so ıt looks lıke everythıng ıs alrıght. Nıce quy, lıttlebıt bıke crazy but thats fıne wıth me.

Moutaıns started. Im knacked rıght away. Thıs ıs a dıfferent cup of tea. I thought that my body got used to drıvıng after a week, but now I have to get used to clımbıng up the hıll. The speed drops down to 6-7 km/h and sweat drops down from my forehead. After a day or to I started to enjoy the whole proces. Why? Because almost after each clımb, there ıs a downhıll rıght. And these are awsome. We reached a pretty crazy maxımum speed: 76 km/h downhill wıth fully loaded bıkes ıs scary... Overall the avarıdge speed declıned a bıt but ıt doesnt matter. The vıews are magnıcıfent, nature beutiful and the rıde ıs just awesome.

The choıse to go trough mountaıns was just great. There ıs no wınd and the relaxed nature around us ıs much better than plaın fıelds or bussy towns. We stıll manadge to make 100 km a day, ıt just takes us a bıt longer. Now we have to pad for 6 hours, but thats allrıght.

The last nıght ın Serbıa was nıce. After a pleasant 25 km downhıll rıde, we found a nıce small church. It looked as for a whıle nobody vısıted thıs place, so we should be safe and alone. For an unknown reason Brano decıded to rıng the bell... DONG! Hmmm are we stıll gonna spend the nıght peacefully here? Well the locals seems to be acustomed to goasts or crazy strandgers, because nobody showed up. It was fırst nıght wıthout a tent, so we could stretch our bones a bıt.

Next day a downhıll rıght to Bulgarıan borders. The Serbıan offıcers trıed to be tough and mentıoned that we should have regıster upon arrıval, but sınce nobody told us that before, we just ıgnored them and everythıng was OK. Bulgarıans were just fıne. Well they are ın EU, so they should be. We got down from mountaıns, fırst I was lookıng forward to a bıt of an easy rıdıng, but the tremendous heat that stroke us changed my mınd. Mountaıns are really great!

The other shock was the country by ıt self. Everythıng got much drıer, people much more quıet and towns half breakıng appart. Lot of houses are deserted and vılıdges look really spooky. Is thıs really EU? It looks lıke 120 years a go.

WEEK 3
Bulgarıans are totaly dıfferent. Reserved and poor. No facıal expressıon lıke Serbs. No comments to our crazy rıde. Just empty gaze or meanıngless starıng. Occasıonaly they do ask few questıons, but wıth almost no emotıons.
We got very well together. Almost all thıngs about the mornıng and evenıng procedure are vell organızed. Our dayly routınıes got well manadged and the most ımportant of all, we learned eached other needs and stıles. We have sımmılar stamına, so cyclıng ıs not a problem and our need for food ıs olso quıte equal. We eat lıke crazy. Thıs ıs deffınıtally not low budget way of travelıng. There ıs usually somebody who doesnt want to have a water melon rıght now, but ıf two agree than the thırd one fıts ın as well.

We consumed almost all food from home, so the weıght of my bıke got normalızed. Now the whole thıng mıght be arround 40-45 kg. Its stıll a small bus, but much more handy than before. Now the whole maneuverıng and drıvıng seems natural to me. It wasnt lıke that at the begınıng. But now after 1300 km everythıng ıs a sure thıng. The whole trıp appears natural to me. Thıs ıs probably the most convınıent way of travellıng, that appeals to me a lot now. We went trough a mountaın pass between Pırın and Rıla. The bıggest mountaıns ın Balkan. It could have been 1200 m above see level. The ascent was even, but ıt was a steady 20 km. I sweat at least a gallon. It was lıke a shover, because ıts really hot here. Fırst tıme that I couldnt do ıt ın one stretch - I had to take a breadıng break. We spent the nıght on the other sıde, just behınd Bansko -somethıng lıke our Poprad. Turıstıc and borıng.

The bıggest hard core came the other day. In our oblıgatory 100 km a day we went up for at least 60km. So more sweatıng rıde than a pleasure one. The goal was to reach the lake at Dospat. We had to clımb steep hıll, wıth almost no vıews. The last 4km were a max kıller, but the satısfactıon that followed was nıce. Lake lıke a norwegıan fjord. Hıgh hılls, steep slopes and a bıg lake. One of the best place for campıng on our trıp so far.

We are already ın east. The proof ıs our western way of havıng breakfast: local bakarıes and mılk or yogurt are too tasty to resıst the temptatıon. Bulgarıa ıs the cheapest country so far. The prıces for veggıes and fruıts are sometımes rıddıculous. For example a bıg watermelon for 1 euro or 2kg of tomato for 50 cents...

Next day agaın more up hıll than down hıll. Thıs ıs gettıng quıte tırıng. Most of the tıme were are arround 1000 m above the see so the clımate ıs totaly cyclo frıendly. We passed trough a hıstorıc vıllıdge called Shıroka Luka. It was nıce, but full of tourısts together wıth hıppıes. Funny combınatıon.

It looks lıke that the muscels wıll not be the problem, but the sınews mıght be. I start to feel my sınews under the rıght knee and Dusan ıs havıng a problems wıth hıs Achılles tendom.

We found a magnıcıfent spot for the nıght underneath a rocky face on a nıce meadow above Smolıan. These two days were extra demandıng. The ascents deffınıtely prevaıled the descents.Satısfactıon came on the thırd day. We slıd down to the town, took mılk breakfast and kept on rıdıng down the hıll for another 50km almost unınterrupted by hılls. Basıcally the whole day was very easy. We pedalled only few tımes to reach Kardzalı (95km). The two small hılls were just good for us to get hungry for lunch and dıgest after lunch...

The clımate changed rapıdly agaın. The heat and dryness changed the landscape to a hostıle peace of land. At least for cyclısts wıth hıgh demad of water. Tıll now we dıdnt have any problem wıth drınkıng water but now we are quıte close to Turkey and the streams of water are gettıng fewer and fewer.

On the 19th day we reached Kapıtan Andrevo -the border crossıng to Turkey. I remember thıs crossıng as very alıve from my last vısıte 9 years ago, but ıts nothıng lıke that anymore. No more sleepıng famılıes and hopeless refudges. What happend to them? The other change ıs that the entry tıcket to the country doubled (20 bucks), but thıs ıs understandable sınce the dollar went down.

WEEK 4
The next four days brought us to Istanbul. It was quıte dıffıcult because Turkey welcomed us wıth strong wınds and borrıng hılly country. But on the shore of Marmara see we met Forkan. Nıce turkısh quy, who offered us to stay ın hıs house. Fırst we wanted to be the only for 1 nıght, but our tıred bodıes asked for some rest. Well two weeks ın sadle ıs not so easy. Entrance to Istanbul was crazy. The traffıc started almost 50 km before the outscrıts of the old town. Basıcally the whole coast ıs a contınuous strıpe of houses.

Hostels ınsıde the cıty are fully booked so we ended up ın a receptıon hall of one nıce cozy hostel. They chardged us only 5 euro per person so Its even better then a normal bed. At least for me.

Tomorrow asıa. But that comes ın other part. New trıp ıs ın front of us. We'll be only two, plus we will go off the main roads like Istanbul Ankara, so things will get interesting... yeah!

Cycling to Asia, part one

2009-07-30T03:51:00.000-07:00

If I were to look at the signs I would most probably stay home. The two years preparation of this trip ended up almost catastrophically. I had one week to tag together my bike. Firstly they broke my frame in the cycling service. How did they manage I don't know. Then I had to send back my new pedals, one of them didn't fit. Afterwards I have found out that the Shwalbe tires were falling down from the rims. So I got a new pair. Two days before the set off day I had a small accident. Once again the tire went off during a ride!!! This is just too much. So during the last day I had to get new wheels. Instead of calm packing day I had a bit of a rush day going to Bratislava, buying new wheels (this time I went for quality, Mavic) and then getting the bike ready. I was done at 11pm. Packing remains for to morrow. At least I have a decent wheels.

day 1
I set off at 9 am. Lego have come to make an intro shot on my camcorder. We shot few scenes and then he left. Right after he was gone the rear Shwalbe tire went off. What the hell?! I don't believe it! So I had to come back and change the tires. I took what I had at home plus two spare ones. Once again I left after 12 o'clock. First kilometres were fine, but I had so much stuff in my head that I didn't even realize that I'm finally on the road. Heading east. On my dream trip to India. NO. I was just cycling from Galanta, waiting for another disaster. I didn't trust anything. After 50km my head eased a bit. Then a heavy rain started. I didn't care. I had to be in Sturovo at 7pm plus I was too stressed to wait somewhere. I had put on my waterproof gear and kept on cycling. After a while the rain changed to a heavy down pour. Who cares? I went like crazy. More it rained, happier and easier I was. I didn't even realized that I had a flat tire. But soon I found out that the pedalling is too hard, this cannot be the wind. So I looked down... whoops... Never mind. I fixed it quickly and went on the road again.
I came to Sturovo just before the train, from which Dusan was suppose to get out. But he didn't. Funny, but whit all these problems I came here first. Brano showed up at 9 pm with news about Dusan. He was washed out with by the same heavy water in Dubnica and missed the train. He'll be here at midnight. We set up our base at the trains station.
Big meeting with Dusan. We are all tree together. The trip can begin.

DAY 2
We woke up quite late, still on the Slovak side. First few kilometres were nice and easy. We were still fresh and full of energy. Budapest came within few ours. We took a bath in a like on the outskirts of the town. Then went trough the centre and then went to the opposite side. There we found a small church with nice lawn were we stayed for the night

DAY 3
Flat, flat flat! Just straight and flat roads of Hungary are the best way how to get started. My body, my muscles and my buttocks are not prepared for such a trip. I had never done more than 70km a day and now we want to average 100km a day!!! Well, we'll see. But at the end of the day I'm pretty knocked. Just during the last refiling of our water bottles, we stopped in a small village. One old farmer came with a bucket full of peaches. Wow. That's all for us? Thanks a lot.

DAY 4
Morning was nice. The cycling to the Serbian border was a good exercise. One would say a good warm up! We spent all our Hungarian money in the last village. Ice cream and coke. We still have some food from home, so we didn't have to worry much about our stomachs.

DAY 5
Hello Serbia. Finally we can understand what the people are saying, even though quite deep into Serbia people are still speaking Hungarian. We changed money in Subotica. I tried to use my debit card and it didn't work. This worried me a bit, because I have only 500$. My first thoughts? If I really wanted to I thing we can manage the whole trip to India, but our way of taking care of our selves would have to change. So far we don't starve at all! This is more of a gastronomic journey than a pilgrimage to a monastery. But our bodies are asking for the energy that we use every hour. In other words: we eat like horses!

DAY 6
The landscape is pretty much the same as in Hungary, but the people are a different kind. Much more passionate and energetic. They gesticulate wildly when they talk and they talk a lot. Everywhere where we stop, even just for water, people start shooting typical questions... where are we from, where do we go? Oh my goodness, Istanbul? We are trying to prevent them from heart attacks so India is not always mentioned.
Today is not so windy as yesterday so we are full of energy. Wind is very depressing factor. Flat roads should be peace of cake, but with wind facing us it's a nightmare... but with wind blowing to our backs its superb. It looks so easy now. My knee is getting better, bus muscles are stronger and buttocks tougher. I'm looking for a day off, but I can see that the worst is behind us. We sleep on the shore of Danube just before Beograd. We met Dragan there. For the first look a tough guy, but he ended up as an experienced motorcycle traveller and offered us a shower and coffee. Very much appreciated after 6 long days, specially before having a day of in a city. He travelled throughout Mexico and from North to South in Africa. Not bad for such a strange looking guy.

DAY 7
Beograd. The outskirts are terrible. Cyclists nightmare. I didn't know that there are slums in Europe. Dragan said that there are 100 000 gypsies living in here, and we know it's true. The edge of the town was dirtier than dirt. But the inner city is very nice and quite bike friendly. Lot of drinking water and city parks. This day is for recharging our energy and so it looks like right from the beginning. Slow morning, slow day, adrenalin evening.
Firstly we got all we needed in the city, then a big big chill out near the city fortress and finally swimming in the city lake. It was overcrowded with people. It looked like the whole city is bathing in there, but after a week on the road we appreciated some company. Strangely enough nobody talked to us. Well big city, they are used to strangers. We chilled a bit too much, because we left the centre a bit too late. Till we got to the suburbs it got dark and still too many houses to pitch our tents. We climbed all the way up and then... woooowwww a 15 km downhill ride between buses, cars and wholes in the road. And all this with just head torch and a red back light. Well, we were seen, but we saw less than nothing. But the speed was so tantalizing that we didn't care. We shouted like crazy!

Cycling to Asia, part 0

2009-06-24T08:22:00.001-07:00

Most of you know, what's in front of me, or better to say in front of us. Just in case you still don't know what I was talking about the last year, or so, here is a briefing: Me and my good friend from uni Dusan decided to cycle from Slovakia to India, continuing to Burma and Thailand. There we will try to load the bikes on a aeroplane and fly back home.
Old dream is coming to materialize. Some serious preparation is in progress now. We have just visited the Vienna's embassies, i.e. Iran and Pakistan. Simply to say the most crucial ones, since Turkey is not a problem, India should be fine and Burma is not within our reach now. We couldn't have choose a better time! Or the Iranian elections could have triggered the fuss in Teheran few months ago, so today it would be all over. We are just hoping that in the time of our arrival to Iran everything is gonna be fine. Surprisingly everything went smoothly on both embassies. If you need any advise contact me. There is quite a lot of rubbish written on internet. We simply went to Iran, where we applied for the visa. The ambassador was very distinguished and polite. He took our application and told us to call in 3 weeks. Then we went to Pakistan, this took a bit longer, but finally we left our passports there. The visas should be granted to us in two weeks, so we've got enough time for the Iran. The only problem we have is that all the visas need to be validate until 3 months i.e. we have to entry the particular country within this time. Well, since our journey will take circa 4 months till we reach India the Pakistan is a bit of a problem, but we hope we can make it. India is definitely out of the question now: we have to apply for the visas on the road. Most probably in Istanbul. Burma and Thailand will cheer up our days in Delhi.
Now waiting, we can focus on other things. In my case this is my bicycle. I have brought a mountain bike from Norway. Its a good peace that was given to me by my friend Ivan, but since it was found in a river I have to fix it "a bit". I started with dismantling it. Soon I will buy all necessary parts that have to be changed. This is all movable parts as chain, tubes, tyres, wires and so on. Plus I will change the shifting gear and some other things. Here I will just reuse the parts I have found on the streets of Oslo -all in good shape and high quality, but not brand new. So the bike is going to be reborn. But still within a budged of almost everybody. Nothing fancy, but long lasting of course. At least I hope! I'd rather have some money aside for the broken parts during the trip.
Next direction of my interest is to pack. This is not as easy as I usually remember it from my previous adventures. Firstly I have never been on a bike trip longer than two days!!! Secondly we are going trough a wide range of countries in a combination with different seasons, altitudes, temperatures and environments. Not mentioning the lack of bicycle supplies en route. This means we need to take almost everything with us. Well since we want to enjoy the journey as well we have to find a way how take everything necessary, but manageable to carry with us on the bikes. Its not a big deal, but I don't want to underestimate it so I started to "pack" three weeks before departure -quite unusual for me, but who cares.
The rest of my time I spent either on-line checking for cycling routes, parts and other stuff or with my friends that I haven't seen for ages and now I will leave them again.

Rjukan

2009-06-07T02:13:00.000-07:00

We paid a visit to our dear friend Lubka. She lived with us in Oslo, but she has moved now to Rjukan, because she found a good work there. The place is lovely -like from a picturesque fairy tale book. The only thing is that you should like peace and quiteness, otherwise you would go mad after few weeks. But for us is just the best place, neverless its bit different to go there for a nice weekend comparing to living there. But I'm sure lubka will cope with all the "disatvantages". Look at the advantages and you'll know, that's not going to be difficult.

Lifjell mountiens

2009-05-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

Boli sme s kamosmi na vylete v krasnych horach Norska. Bol predlzeny vykend a tak sme nevahali. Zacinam mat dojem, ze norsko je vlastne len kopa kopcov, dolin a tisicero jazier. Sem tam to pokazia nejake tie mesta, ale nie je ich moc a su dostatocne od seba vzdialene aby sa dalo chodit kade tade bez vplivu civilizacie. Nebudem vela pisat. Fotky hovoria za seba...

Malaysia 2009, part three

2009-05-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

Borneo an island of immense beauty! I guess that the name will spark wild imagination in almost every mind. No wonder that this large island was conquered by many. The Portuguese where fought out by the Dutch and they lost the influence to the British... but this is not a history blog so lets get back to my story.
This is the best part of my trip, if I dare to claim something like The best part. It's not only due to the beauty of this island, that really spectacular compared to the peninsular Malaysia. The main reason might lie in the dramatic change in my way of experiencing this country. For the last two months I have been surrounded with caring Chinese-Malaysians. From the most part I didn't have to move with a finger. They organized everything to the last detail. It was nice, it was pleasant but I had enough. Jitka also felt like doing some exploration on our own, so we didn't hesitate and organized our own trip.
First we aimed to Bako National Park which lies close to Kuching. Madam Sim's house in Kuching was our base since we entered the Island. This town has very good location since there are at least 3 big national park within a day trip distance. Bako is the most famous one. Unfortunately for us, its too famous, because we couldn't get a lodging for Saturday night. Never mind. We got the on Sunday early morning. We got there just in time to catch the boat with other travelers which suited our valets. Even though the park lies on a small cape the only way to get there is a boat. This keeps the park safe from pollution -I hope at least. Monkeys and wild boar invited us straight away. We left our backpacks in a smelly-dirty dormitory that we share with two Norwegian girls. Jitka was bit discussed, but what we could be glad that we had at least something. Than we went for a whole day hike. After two months sitting and watching our minds, every step was quite demanding and every flower, ant or stone were interesting. First we wanted to make an eight hour round trip on a big circle inside the park, but we missed one crossing so we ended up only on the small circle around the park headquarters. They say it should take 3-5 hours, but we managed to do it in 9... so you can imagine how curious and relaxed we were. It was very meditative walk and the whole day as well. The night was sticky and hot, as almost every single one before. We woke up early and went for the morning beach meditation. Afterwards I couldn't resist and got my morning swim even though the water wasn't too luring.
We left straight after breakfast, that was liven up by a monkey jumping to the next table, quickly steeling some bread and getting back to the jungle. The horror in the faces of the poor tourists was not surprising. The monkey did look dangerous.
We got back to Kuching. Just a mere bus ride or taxi to the airport was interesting for us, because before that we were driven everywhere by car.
We flew to Kota Kinnebalu (KK)in the afternoon. This town lies on the other side of Borneo and there is no road joining these to capitals. In contrary to Kuching KK as people usually refer to it is not interesting at all. It has been completely rebuild after the WW2 so you can imagine the outcome. But we found a nice cozy backpackers inn calling The Borneo Backpackers... For the rest of the day we wanted to explore the night marked, but we couldn't find it. But what we did find was a second hand cloths. This was very welcomed by us, since we are aiming to the Mount Kinnebalu, The summit is soaring up to some 4400 m so the temperature can drop to zero. Now were are at 2 m above the see level and the temperature is soaring up to 40 degrees... We were able to leave all unnecessary stuff at the reception and left the next morning for a long minibus ride towards the park headquarters. The journey was magnificent! The road was cutting trough some of the highly beautiful peace of land, slowly rising to some 1000 meters. The air changed dramatically and so did the landscape. The were stunning views all over the road, but only when we had a glimpse on The Hill we understood why is every travels guide so cautious. The top is a sheer massive rock face. Massive attacks of wind and rain are must be hard to bear once they strike and the possibility of a rewarding nice views is feeble since the clouds hit this highest point between Himalayas and Japan on regular basis. Natural shelters like trees comes to an abrupt end once you reach 3300 m. There is a refugee hut, but once again we couldn't get the booking. Its run by a monopoly company that holds a thigh hand on it. Guides and regular check points are all over the main and alternative routes. Tracking trough jungle is close to impossible, so unless you pay you wont get to the top. But its not only question of money. I wasn't too keen to pay for hiking permit, travel guide that is almost useless, entrance ticket and expansive lodging, but since I don't know when or if I will get here again I decided to go for it. Well but it all ended up differently since we didn't get the booking (again). We knew this straight a way but still we decided to go there and hope for a cancellation. It didn't happened. Maybe it was good for us. Jitka is far from being fit for such a demanding hike, to be honest me neither and I don't want to support this disgusting business. Instead of that we got a cheap and lovely accommodation outside the park, just few dozen meters down the main road from KK. After getting rid of our backpacks we went for an another highly interesting walk on the foot of the hill. The nature is quite different and the air is much more breathable, so it was very refreshing. In contrary to Bako we didn't meet anybody on this trail, since everybody is aiming to the summit. Never mind... this suits us well. Our sensitive sanes and lazy bodies made a whole day experience from this few hours round trip. The dark night caught us in the last hour or so. With no torch and no moon light in the deep jungle its quite hard to see where you're stepping. We liked it so much that we decided to stay here one more night.
The next day was great again. We had place to stay and many things to do, so we woke up early -still used to do so form the retreats. After filling Chinese breakfast we decided to try local hospitality and our luck so we tried to hitch hike to a near by hot springs. Its just 30 km from the park headquarters and the “very caring” guy at the reception offered it to us for “just” 80 RM for one way. The price is for a coach, but still!!! Get lost! We want to meet the locals not just tourist guides. We got the hitch almost immediately. He took us to Reno (sorry I forgot the name of this town, so this is only a replacement). There was a big market right next to the main road, which was happening once in month as we found out later -this we will check out on our way back. From Reno we got an another ride. This time the old man was bit cunning -he asked for money at the end, but we gladly gave him some, rather than the business men in park... The hot springs were hot but except of that not much. But we are not picky so we enjoyed it. It was very, very relaxing day. We met there some travelers that made it that day to the summit. Useful info was that there were free beds in the hut -somebody didn't show up, but didn't bother to cancel the reservation. What ever, we had good times anyway. On the way back we stopped in Reno and got our self freshly roasted fish -delicious as nothing I have eaten before! The night felt, but we still tried to get a hitch back to the hotel. This time it wasn't so quick but eventually one good man stopped and brought us to our cozy room.
Hitch hiking looks like good alternative -its more fun, its cheap, its quicker than buses and it works here so the next morning the natural choice was to stand on the road. Few minutes and we are on the move. This time back to KK. We got back to our backpackers inn, relaxed a bit and went for the last experience. There are five small islands at the throwing distance form the shores of the city. After a small troubles with the boat companies we choose one. The islands are advertised as scuba diving paradise... well to be honest its nothing compared to the Caribbean corals which I have seen in Honduras, but still something. The sun was beating down like never, hot sand, turquoise water and island atmosphere were just fine for our last day in Borneo.
In the evening we managed to find the night marked, so we were able to spend the last money for some gifts and some good food, of coarse.
Next day the flying insanity could start. First we flew back to KL, here we met some of our old new friends. My flight back to Europe is scheduled in 1 am tomorrow so there is no point in sleeping. After some 16 hours of flight and 30 hours total I got back to Oslo. What??? Its beginning of April and there is still snow in the city. Oh my goodness... well good thing is that the Easter are this weekend so I will have to work only 3 days... this is the end of my first Asian experience.

Malaysia 2009, part two

2009-04-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

In KL we were brought straight to another short retreat. This was a bit of a different session. It was organised by the majestic Maha Vihara in the centre of KL. The place bears a strange combination of a national Buddhist office with a temple. Its miles away from a peaceful meditation centre. But it was just right for me. It was good to be in a protective place with the possibility of making short trips to the Indian street in KL. I needed a break from meditation, but on the other side didn't feel like roaming the busy streets for the whole day. The Vihara had the right combination of peace and commotion, just what I needed. I could be on my own, but if I felt like that, could watch all the visitors, or go out and check how is it going in India...

After this semi-phase we went to Melaka. Wow! Malaysians are quite expressive, little bit like Italians, but Melaka people are more than extraordinary. It might be just due to the extreme cases of Mr. Ong and Agnes The shopping queen. But just these two managed to entertain us above our expectations and in the end even above our toleration. We had fun and always something to do, no doubt about that! The best part was probably the Buddha image shopping. There I understood the nick name shopping queen. I know how to bargain and I have seen some very good negotiators before, but no one can compete with Agnes. I took more than 3 hours and many words were uttered, but it was worth it. The prices were dropping as the Asian rain drops, but both sides were happy.

Finally we went back to KL. On one occasion we went to a big book store in KLCC (PETRONAS towers) and after coming back I realised that I had been robbed. The pick pocket must have been quite skilled because I have no clue when it had happened. The truth is also that I was a bit heedless. Well fortunately I was surrounded with good people, so all I had to do is to block the credit cards (I had two with me, don’t ask me why!). Nice proof of the necessity of carefulness no matter how "holly" you are!

We flew to Kuching, the Borneo part of Malaysia, soon after. Here another 3 weeks experience awaited, and again this will remain just for private talks.

Malaysia 2009, part one

2009-04-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I just came back from my first Asian experience. I longed to go to Asia since I started to travel so you can imagine my excitement the morning when I stepped outside my apartment in Oslo and started my journey eastwards. This was the 1st. of February, temperature was dropping close to negative 10°C and I was full of joy. Even the more than 30 hours journey, comprising of three flights and some bus and car travelling, literally to the other side of the world didn't bothered me, because I knew that this is going to be worth all the effort.
Even though I more-less knew what to expect the first week or so, could be summarised into series of shocks and brand new experiences. The first shock came right after getting out from the Kuala Lumpur (KL) international airport. The temperature was soaring to 40°C, which meant that in within one day I experienced the 50 degrees difference. Thankfully to Theng San I was spared from finding my way to the centre of the city. He dropped me in the KL Wisdom centre and rushed to fetch Klaudia. Jitka was already there, so we started ferocious chat about everything. Soon after Bhante (Ven. Sujiva) came, together with Ulla from Switzerland. So together we created the Euro-group, which was latter in Kota Tinggi (KT) extended to Marketa, Lenka and Alica, Martin from Czeck and Henry from Germany.
What was the most interesting from all the new things? Definitely observing the devotion and respect of the local people towards Bhante and all of us. Even though Malaysia is not a Buddhist country, they still have much stronger Buddhist roots and follow many more rituals and ceremonies than we do. Even Bhante told me that monks here are more of a public property, than a reclusive sages. Devotees just adore them so much that is hard for one to get a longer term solitude. Maybe because of feeling this or just by a pure curiosity me and Jitka decided to go for a little trip before joining the KT retreat.

We aimed south towards Melaka. There we had our private tour guide - Kelvin. He brought us to Melakas Buddhist centre were we could stay overnight. There were two Burmies sayadaws, so it was more than interesting for us. We went for a house blessing with them and then for a luxurious dinner with Kelvin, his son and Wi Chai. During the night we heard him answering some phone calls with a bit fluffy statement: "I have oversees guests, I'll talk to you latter". Basically he showed us the true Asian hospitality with full service and humble heart. The next day we let him to drop us out at the jetty where we catched the boat to the nearby island Pulau Basar. Here we allowed ourselves to enjoy the true holiday type of travelling. After a short indecision from Jitka about where to spend the night she joined me in the budget-but-romantic idea of renting a tent and sleeping on the beach. The water wasn't the clearest, neither the bluest but the island was almost empty and therefore very laid back. The warm water of the strait was just the best place where to spend the rest of the day.

The next morning was a high tide, so the sea was just suitable for a good morning swim -yak, just if there were no jelly fish!!! We took the boat back to the shore, were soon after Kelvin showed up -as I've said: a personal guide. Than we continued our trip towards KT. What was nice was that we didn't need or expect any unusual experience, we just wanted to see the country, the people and organise ourselves. Just a simple bus ride gave us a lot of inputs, especially when it was a local bus, not an aircon long distance coach. We are both quite talkative, so there was always something to discuss about.

In the late afternoon we arrived to the Santisukharama meditation centre that was established by Bhante as late as 1982. Here another story starts. But this is much more private so all I will publish is that the 3 weeks that I spent in intense vipassana meditation deeply changed my attitude towards Bhante and meant an important stepping stone in my religious journey.

NB. The 9 weeks of my Malaysian experience have 5 parts. First week before the KT retreat -topic of this article. Than 3 weeks in Santisukharama -only for private talks. Then I spent one week as a Bhantes kapia in KL and Melaka. This will come in part two. After that another 3 week retreat followed, but this time in Kuching (Borneo) -this will again remain private. The last part consists of another travelling with Jitka -now in the Malaysia part of Borneo. This will be published in part three.

NB2. Most of the pictures are on Jitkas camera, so I will publish only the few from my camcorder.

Novinky z Norska

2008-10-19T03:42:00.000-07:00

Zopar veci sa pomenilo a tak vas poinformujem...
V prvom rade sa stalo to s cim som vlastne pocital uz ked som sem isiel. Pracu som mal dohodnutu tak vseliak cez kamarata a tak. V podstate som to mal az prilis lahke. Prisiel som, hned na treti den som sa stretol s novym sefom, isli sme vybavit povolenia a osobne cislo a hned som sa pustil do prace. Nezastavil som sa az do predvcera. Dostal som totiz vipoved. Nie, nie preto ze by som sa ulieval, ci nezvladal tesarcinu. Proste do norska prisla kriza z ameriky a prepusta sa. Nuz a kto si to zlizne prvy? Predsa zahranicni zamestnanci.
Ale mal som uz naplanovanu dovolenku a tu si este pekne vychutnam. Idem spolu s Banthem Sujivom pozriet norske fjordy a kopceky.
Ked sa vratim tak si budem hladat pracu. Myslim, ze by to nemal byt problem, ale predsa len zima v kombinacii s krizou nie je dobra konstelacia. Ale s mojimi kvalitami... A bude aj dobre ze sa osamostatnim od Milana. Je to velmi velmi konfliktny a negativistcky typ cloveka a to na mna vpliva. Plus som si kazdy den musel davat pozor na jazyk -pre mna nie lahka poziadavka... No a nikdy som presne nevedel na com som a nebol som si sam sebe panom. Takze pokial sa mi podari najst nieco tak to bude urcite lepsie. A ked nie, tak to tak malo byt. Vratim sa domov a aspon budem s vami - moji verni citatelia...
Okrem toho mam este nove, ze som si uz kupil letenku do Kuala Lumpur (Malajzia), takze tesim tesim. Idem tam na dve mesiace od februara do aprila

Hardangervidda

2008-10-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

Jeden pekny vikendik, sme sa Ja, Stano, Vilo a Evka rozhodli ze sa pozrieme do NP Hardangervidda. Uz som tu vyse mesiaca a okrem prace a trocha Osla som toho vela nevidel... a ak ma poznate tak je vam jasne, ze to je pre mna viac ubyjajuce ako 12hodinove sichty v praci.

V piatok vecer sme sa odviezli na kraj parku a prvu noc sme prespali v susiarni na drevo. Rano sme sa zviezli este kusok a zistili sme ze necelych 250km od Osla je nadherna ale surova priroda. Preco surova. No vsak fotky hovoria sami za seba. Kameniste rozlahle nahorne plosiny s tisicmi bezmennych jazier. Mysle sa nam doslova otvarali do nerozmernych priestorov, presne kopirujuc krajnu okolo nas. Slapali sme cely den a cely den sme nevisli z uzasu nad krajnou v ktorej srdci sme sa prechadzali... Boli sme uz v urcitej vyske a tak to bola tura velmi nenarocna, pretoze sme neprekonavali vyskove rozdiely. Vyhlady boli do daleka, obloha cira ako jazera pod nou a jesen celu krajnu zfarbila do rozpravkovych kreacii.

Na noc sme zakotvili pod strieskov na clnky pri jednom z jazier. Rano bola namraza a srien a husta hmla a biela duha... same krasy. Kosa umoznila lahsi prechod bazinami pri jazere, ktore vecer celkom narocne avsak teraz boli zamrznute. Cesta spat k autu trvala sice trocha dlhsie ako sme planovali, ale v takom pocasi a v takej krajne nam to vobec nevadilo. Bolo to proste nadherne

Norwegian wood

2008-09-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Pre mojich vernych... po dlhsom case update.... tentoraz z Norska... konkretnejsie z Osla... zo zmenou statutu: z tzv. white colar job to blue colar job.

Usidlil som sa v centre krasneho hlavneho mesta nadhernej severnej krajny. Mam sa tu skvele ale od zaciatku mi je jasne, ze by som tu dlho nechcel byt. Severne krajny sa mi sice pacia, ale nevyhovuju mi z dlhodobeho hladiska. Ja som asi jaster, alebo proste dieta slnka, pretoze potrebujem hrejive luce aby som citil prudenie krvy. Avsak do mojich snov a priani sa pridala aj jedna z tych klasickejsich: vlastnit domcek a zapustit v nom korene. A tak potrebujem nejaky ten kapital... zatial sa mi nenaskitly lepsie podmienky ako v norsku. Jednak su tu nadstandartne platobne moznosti -ani Amerika ani Anglicko sa nechytaju a hlavne mam okolo seba ludi naladenych na rovnaky ciel: zarobit co najviac penazi. Niektori to sice trocha prehanaju a niekedy sa mi zdaju trocha zgrlavi... ale co je ma po tom. Vlastne mi to pomaha a lahko sa mi setri. Ti co ma poznate viete velmi dobre ako by to dopadlo, keby som tu mal same cestovatelske duse okolo seba...

Den sa mi vacsinou zacina rano o 5tej rannou mini meditaciou-na vela sa fakt nezmozem... nieco po siestej sadame do auta a vydavame sa smerom Drobak. Praujeme teraz na prerabke striech. Dva vacsie bytove komplexi potrebuju poriadne zaizolovat. Jeden barak sme uz zmakli. Najprv sme rozobrali strechu, potom sme kladli 200ku vatu, na to krizom rostovanie 5x10 dosky a do nich dalsia 100ka izolacia. Cele to prikryvame specialnou foliou (Tyvek) a pridavame vzducho cirkulaciu z dvojiteho rostovania 5x5 dosiek, na zaver davame OSB dosku. Po nas pridu strechary a daju novu kritinu. Ten prvy barak na trval 3 tyzdne. Pracovny den konci vacsinou podla pocasia, ale ked neprsi tak tahame do 7mej. Cize v praci cista 12ka a mimo byvania 14ka. Pekna "zapierdalacka" ale stoji to za to. Ucim sa kazdy den a hlavne: nemusim moc mysliet a nemam ziadnu zodpovednost -no teda trocha mysliet samozrejme musim aj urcitu zodpovednost mam, ale v porovnani zo skolstvom je to uplna pohoda. Jedna sa totiz o iny typ myslenia -oznacil by som ho ako nestresove a v pritomnosti -ziadne planovanie a premyslanie do buducnosti. Jednoducho tu a teraz! A zodpovednost mam tak sam za seba -nie za neplnoletych pubertakov. Ale za ucenie by som to nevimenil! To ani nahodou, beriem tuto pracu iba ako prijemny relax a moznost zarobit denge na barak. Je to ako balzam na dusu a mysel takto sa fyzicky zatazit a pritom psychicky vypnut. Inac v porovnani z amerikou ani ta fyzicka zataz nie je nic moc. Kolegovia si uz dokonale zvykli na Norske tempo v praci a ja som bol nuteny sa prisposobit. Znicit sa nepotrebujem a tak mi to samozrejme ze nevadi, ale mam "dusevny problem" s ich necestnostou. Detska som vychovaval k presnosti a cestnosti a tu moji kolegovia natahuju hodiny ako sa len da a este k tomu nadavaju na co sa len da... trenujem si pocuvanie jednym uchom dnu a druhym von...

Zato doma ma vzdy vecer cakaju Ivan s Vilom. Oni stavaju lesenia a makaju ako sa patri! Az im to zopar jedincov zazlieva a vravia ze kazia Norske normy. Snazim sa snimi travit co najviac casu -ale kedze toho volneho az tak vela nie je, tak si vazim kazdu hodinku. Cez vikend vacsinou nieco podnikneme. Uz sme boli na mini cyklo vylete za Mikim do Sigerudu a minuly vikend sme isli na blsak. To je taka nasa neskryvana vasen: tolke poklady! Kebyze tu byvam tak si tam vybavim cely barak krasnymi kusmi a este k tomu za babku -ale kto by to odtialto vlacil na Slovensko!? Tak sme nakupili iba zopar drobnosti do kuchyne a s ostanych veci sme sa len tak kochali pohladom.

Pokracovanie neviem kedy pretoze pristup k internetu tu mam obmedzeny, ale este sa pokusim natiahnut nejake fotecky...

Trocha vody

2008-06-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

Kedy ste naposledy zmokly? Teraz vsak nemyslim tych par kvapiek co na vas spadlo ked ste utekali zo zastavky domov. Ozastjne! Opravdivo premokly az do nitky! Ja vcera. Spolu s Guylom...

Vyrazili sme rano. Plan bol jednoduchy -cely den slapanie na Helvelyn (949m) a navecer kamping niekde v Lake Districte. Predpoved bola, ako vzdy, zla. Dazde, burky a vietor. Ale kebyze sa tu riadim iba predpovedami tak by som sa nikdy nikam nedostal. Prsat zacalo asi hodinku za Harrogate, cize okolo 11tej.... a.... neprestalo az do pol noci...

Auto sme zaparkovali v malej dedinke Gunriling, za rovnomerneho a vytrvaleho dazda sme nahodili nepremokave veci -teda udajne nepremokave a vydali sme sa smerom na zapad. Prve dve hodninky boli v klude. Krasne vyhlady, vsetko zelene a svieze. Dazd sice neustaval, ale nebol moc silny a kedze sme este boli v doline tak ani nefukalo. Po dalsich dvoch hodinach sme sa vsak dostali na hreben a tam sa to vsetko zacalo menit. To ze dve tretiny mojej vybavy su z gore texu moze zniet bezpecne, ale kedze nakupujem v sekacoch, alebo nosim veci zopar rokov a vacsinou im davam zabrat, tak som zistil ze aj tento super material premoka.

Nebudem to dramatizovat, ale po necelych piatich hodinach slapania na mne nebolo sucheho miesta. Vrchol Helvelynu bol dost extrem -silny vietor, ostre skaly, viditelnost 3 metre a anglicka specialita: horizontalny dazd. Ale vychutnavali sme si to. Obaja sme boli v akomsi transe a veselom osiale. Takto to ma aspon cosi do seba. Ozasjtna skuska vytrvalosti. Ziadne cajove prechadzky po slnecnych luckach.

Napriek tymto pozitivnym pocitom sme sa nemuseli prehovarat a jednohlasne sme sa zhodli na tom, ze stanovanie by bolo super, ale kedze si nic nemusime dokazovat tak to isti auto. Zostup bol celkom OK, neustale schadzanie schodov je

vsak celkom zaberacka na lytka. Totalne premoceny a v neustalom vetre sme zacali byt aj dost brutalne premrznuty. Dlane a prsty mi sluzili len ako okrasa na konci ruk, pretoze ine pouzitie som moc nevidel.
Cestou dolu sme narazili na krasne ladovcove jazero a malebnu dolinu. Uplny ideal na stanovanie, relaxovanie a fotenie avsak v takychto podmienkach sme toto museli zredukovat na pat minutove momenty vychutnavania si okolia. Slapalo sa lahko. Cesta sa premenila na potocik a potociky na riecky. Hlavna rieka sa valila dolinou. Vsade plno vodopadov. Cela priroda bola dokonale precistena a svieza.

K autu sme prisli po siedmych hodinach. Kedze som premokol uz po styroch, tak som moc nerozlisoval medzi stadiami mokrosti, iba mi preletelo hlavou, ze takto morky som asi este nikdy nebol. Keby sme prisli vlakom a naozaj museli stanovat, tak by ma to asi aj trapilo, ale mysel je svicka lojova a jedna predstava tepleho auta ju dokaze naladit na uplne inu notu.

Gyula to hrdinsky odsoferoval az do Harrogate a tak sme sa vyspali v teplych postielkach. Dokonaly happy end.

Cyklo vikend

2008-06-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

Mam pred sebou posledne 4 vikendy v Anglicku, je uz konecne ake take pocko, aj ked o lete sa mi len sniva, mam za sebou hard core skusku z anglictiny (vysledky az v auguste...) a v skole nemam uz skoro ziadne povinnosti... takze je jasne, ze nebudem len tak kvasit na byte a nieco podniknem. Prvy vikend som si zorganizoval tak aby som sa na nikoho nemusel spoliehat. A to myslim fakt na nikoho ani na rusnovodica, alebo vodica autobusu... iba vlastne sily. Na to je bicykel ako stavany. Ked uz planujeme tu velku cestu na buduci rok, tak by som mal najazdit aj nejake tie kilometre...

V piatok som povybavoval mapy, kolega ktory sa o tom dozvedel mi ponukol svoj bivak -co som samozrejme s radostou prijal, pretoze nemam stan a predpoved je uprsana... idem na lahko -teda az na 2 kilovy spacak, ale neberem varic ani jedlo. Dva dni stravovania vo fastfoodoch ma nezabiju.

Vyrazam v sobotu po vydatnych skolskych ranajkach. Vyzera to ze som syn stasteny pretoze svieti slniecko a je nadherne. Prve mile ubiehaju jedna radost. Minam Almscliff Crag, celkom znama lezecka skala. Povodne som si chcel trocha zalozit, ale necham si na to nejaky iny volny den. Je to kusok za Harrogate takze sa sem mozem vybrat hocikedy -teraz by bolo dost odveci brat lezecky... Jazdim po uzuckych, murikmi alebo zivim plotom obohnanych cestickach. Anglicka specialita -auta maju problem ma obist, takze ked sa stretnu dve iduce oproti sebe tak jeden musi zacuvat az kym nepridu na sirsie miesto. Pravda je vsak, ze su nadherne, malebne a velmi anglicke. Kopce su celkom vycerpavajuce, ale stupania sa striedaju s klesaniami takze je to vyrovnane.

Obedujem -co ine ako fish and chips -pri riecke v Ilkley. Zacina mrholit, ale kym som dojedol tak prestalo. Opat smer severo zapad. Uvedomujem si ako je cela cesta poznacena mojim odchodom -na vsetko sa pozeram ako keby naposledy -velmi prijemny, vsimavy a intenzivny sposob nazerania sa na svet. Nebolo by odveci sa tak pozerat vzdy! Vychutnavam si kazde steblo travy -a tych je tu veru neurekom. Zacina prsat, tak pod stromom nahadzujem bundu a nohavice. Aj tie kvapky ma bavia a to mam premokavu bundu... ale vsak co uschnem. Ha a neuplinulo ani 15 min. a dazd tak ako prisiel aj odisiel -a zmyl ten hrozny pel. Nemozem si pomoct, ale alergia je fakt svina. Kycham a soplim ako sialeny...

Po ceste som si mrkol Bolton Abbey -zevraj jedna s najkrajsich monasterii v anglicku. Dalej minam malebne dedinky ako Burnsall, alebo Appletreewick -uz len z toho nazvu vam musi byt jasne ze je to krasne miesto.

Ani neviem ako a uz su tu tabule na Grassington a ze iba 4 mile. Hmm... to mi teda ten cas ubehol. Este nie je ani 5 hodin... nuz ale vsak to je 7 hod. slapania... V Grassingtone si davam teplu polievocku a slnim sa na vydlazdenom namesti. Predsa len som celkom unaveny. Schadzam k rieke. Vedie tadial miestna foot path. Miesto na stanovanie ako zo sprievodcu -az na to ze ten stan nemam. Je pomerne skoro. Sedim pri rieke a som omraceny kludom tohto miesta. Cumim na tecucu vodu, kamene, stromy... dokonaly relax. Vydrzal som tu len tak sediet a nic nerobit 2 hodiny. Potom som omrkol lokality a nasiel som super flek. Kusok od vody, ale za murikom -predsa len je to znacena cesta, tak naco provokovat. Zalaham, este nie je ani devat, ale citim ze som prijemne unaveny.

Noc je chladna, rano sa zobudzam a vsetko je zamrznute: a to je stred juna! Ranna hygiena v rieke, ranajky a vyrazam uz pred siedmov. Naspat idem severnou cestou. Fuha ale co to? Akonahle sadam na bicykel zistujem ze na zadku mam asi brutalne modriny a nohy mam stvrdnute ako kamen. Vcera mi to az tak neprislo! Normalne mam pocit, ze to naspat ani nespravim. A este k tomu same kopce. Po hodinke som to ako tak rozchodil, ale do niektorych strmakov proste tlacim bike. Rano je celkom sviezo a tak sa moc nezastavujem. Neprsi to je super, ale je kosa, pri niektorych rychlo zjazdoch mi zamrza usmev na tvari.... Slapem slapem a zrazu opat -tabula ktoru som vobec necakal. Ze Harrogate 12 miles. Ha a to je este len 10 rano! No nic aspon stihnem skolsky brunch. Krajna je tu pekna, ale od prejdenia hranic Yorkshire Dales o dost monotonnejsia -nestazujem sa, aspon tu nie su brutalne 16% stupania -co tam potom ze za nimi nasleduje samozjazd ked cestou hore skoro dusu vyplujem.

Ale spravil som to. Na cestu na vychod sa tesim stale rovnako -ale predsa len mam realistickejsie predstavy -jedno z predsavzati: hlavne si musim zohnat poriadne cyklo gate s dvojitimi vypchavkami, pretoze mi inac zhori cela prdel!

Juho-zapad Anglicka

2008-06-01T03:57:00.000-07:00

Posledne prazdniny. Je ich tu celkom dost takze mi to moc nevadi. V porovnani so slovenskym skolstvom tu maju ziaci a teda aj ucitelia ovela viac volna. Kupodivu to ma aj nevyhody -napriklad to stvoji peniaze, treba nieco vymysliet a potom to zorganizovat... ako urcite viete tieto veci ma netrapia, takze je to v pohode. A co som to teda vymyslel?
Wales, Cornwall a zbytok juho-zapadneho Anlgicka. Prenajali sme si s Martinou auto a sup ho priamo do srdca Walesu -Snowdonie. Narodny park s majestatnou horov Snowdon. Od rana viac menej prsalo, alebo mrholilo, alebo bola hmla -takze to malo svoje caro a atmosferu. Nenechal som sa odradit. Plan bol jasny: po obvode hrebenov zvanych Horseshoe na vrchol Snowdonu. Vyslap bol celkom jednoduchy. Avsak to len preto, ze sme sa vyhli driapaniu sa po skalach severneho hrebena. V tej studenej dracej hmle, nulovej viditelnosti a maximalnej vlhkosti by to bolo celkom nebezpecne. Vydali sme sa radsej po juznej stene, kadial viedla mila dlazdena cesticka. Klukatila so medzi plesami a jazerami. Kde tu na nas zautocil draci dych, vzapeti nam vsak mierny vanok odhalil masivny skalny utes, vrcholky hrebena, alebo jazero hlboko pod nami. Vacsinu casu sme vsak slapali s hlavou v oblakoch. Na vrchole sme nasli akurat tak kamen so svetovimi stranami, ale kedze si drak akurat zivol, nevideli sme si ani na koniec nosa. Naspat sme pokracovali po konskej podkove na severnej strane juzneho hrebena. Tu nas vsak zliezanie skal neminulo. Bez mapy. V hustej mliecnej hmle. S minimalnou predstavou kadial vedie cesta... Najsamsuper tura. Bez pomoci miestnych turistov by sme tam mozno aj zabludili. Ale drak sa rozhodol nas pustit dalej a tak sme bezpecne zliezli az k jazeram a spat po kruznici k teplemu a bezpecnemu auticku.
Zbytok vyletu sme sa rozvazali ako zapadniarsky turisti po mesteckach a mestach, plazach a utesoch, parkoch a namestiach. Bolo krasne vidiet poulicnych umelcov, pocut spievajuce cajky, nadychat sa morskeho vzduchu. Zaujimavo posobi Anglicko ako pristavna krajna. To co som videl do teraz je uplne ine. Byvam v strede ostrova, ktory sa viac menej nelisi od kontinentu. Avsak mesta ako Plymouth, odkial sa vypravili prvy usadlici do Noveho Anglicka, alebo malebne plazove mestecko St. Ives, ci dalsie pristavne velkomesto Portshmouth, odkial sa vypravovali lode do neviemkam, v sebe skryvaju silu a povab kolonialneho Anglicka, ktore z tychto pristavou vysielalo lode do celeho sveta. A cely svet kotvil lode na tych samych brehoch. Ten ruch, ten zivot, tie starocia neodvratne vryte do charakteru miest mi este teraz poletuju po tvari.

The journey to the Middle East!

2008-05-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

This is just my prep for CPE exam which I'm going to take soon. I Thought that it might be interesting to some of you since it's truly authentic. Enjoy.

It was a mutual idea, that came out spontaneously in my and Richard's heads. Both of us have already explored the west –particularly Spain, so this year's summer holiday we focused on the other side. Turkey? I can clearly recall even now –after eight years –how this name popped out when we were sitting in my room. As single travellers we had to make sure that a trip together would suit us both. It wasn’t much of a problem, we just concluded that everybody does everything necessary without the dependeningt on the other.

We set off Thursday early morning. Even the start was a classic. Richard was late, so we missed the train. Never mind, we wanted to hitchhike anyway, so why not start from Galanta straight away. Since the beginning we were determined that if it’s not going to work we will split and meet again on predetermined meeting point. Oh, but it did work. we didn't expect it to run so smoothly, as if it was preplanned. The following night we entered the land of Ataturk, the border between Europe and Asia.

This was the travellers’ heaven and we were totally aware of it. Moments of excitement were mixed with on overwhelming feeling of the unknown and unseen. Everything was for the first time, everything was new. We were imprinting all of it into our untouched brains.

Hitchhiking was the best part of it. A never ending source of countless new experiences, it brought us to very many interesting, exciting and useful situations –sometimes even a tad dangerous. But we didn’t mind. We were young, reckless and thirsty for adventure. It was the trip of our dreams, on the edge, beautiful and unique. We travelled on the very minimum budget. It was a test of our endurance and mental challenge as well.

The most vivid story is probably the one from the city Van, on the shore of the lake Van, near Iran’s border. Richard desperately wanted a carpet. A matter of a few minutes if one has money, but it took us the better part of an hour to cut the price to one within our reach. It was worth it and I’m pretty sure that the shopkeeper must have remembered us for ages –westerners who fought for every penny!

This trip was a real journey. It showed me the wonders of travelling and therefore it won’t be replaced. There were bigger ones, there might be more extreme ones, but there is not going to be one like this!

Nottinghams streets

2008-05-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

Just few notes...

What a wonderful miracle is hidden in the presence of your loved ones. Same town, same time, same people but one! and what a difference it makes!

Was is to happened that I would find my self in the middle of this little big city on my own and the whole experience would be about something else....

Few details like nice weather, enough food to eat, peaceful state of mind and person you really like and the whole universe looks gorgeous.

Change just one of these factors and the same trip can turn out to be a disaster.

It is the same with almost everything. Why do people say that this town is lovely and that one is not? Why do they say that one country is excellent and another is horrible? Why someone says that this person is lovely while someone else says that the same person is disgusting?

It's all about personal experience!!!

So even sleeping on a fire escapes staircase platform can be perceived as wonderful night. While some different day or different people around... staying in a luxury hotel might be nightmare... or maybe just a boring night.

The odd thing is that one never knows and the same conditions but just a tad change in some details, for example ones mind, and the night turns into a dreadful experience.

Why I am writing all this? Well except of few other dozen similar experiences, which inspired similar thoughts in the past, one just happened few weeks ago.

But I have to say that I have never before slept in the middle of a big city, during busy Saturday night... with minimal gear -that is to say no sleeping bag, no matres... Just some cartoon boxes, elevated platform and the warmth of other human being.

I will not forget so soon the aimless wandering between all the party people. They were getting drunk and we were looking for cartoon boxes!

Me and Martina and the streets of Nottingham in a spring. Not bad!

Viva Mallorca!

2008-04-06T05:41:00.001-07:00

Den 1 (30.3.2008, nedela)
Po miernom premrznuti v Anglickych horach sme chytili azimut juh a more! Do Palmy na Mallorce sme prileteli vecer o 10tej. Obehli sme vsetky pozicovne s autami este na letisku a vychytali sme samozrejme tu najlacnejsiu. S Martinou sme sa celkovo zhodli na nasej oblubenej znacke: Najlacnejsie a Najviac! ktoru sme kupovali cely vylet. Aj tak mi vsak miestami tato cesta pripadala skor ako dovolenka -hned z letiska sme isli na parkovisko, kde sme mali zaparkovaneho nasho cerveneho tatosa: Peugeot 107 a vydali sme sa do hotela. Servis bol sice slaby, trvalo nam dve hodiny kym nam na izbu doniesli vodu, este dalsiu hodinu kym sme nasli ten spravny hotel. Ze to nedava zmysel? Ale ba! Staci, ked si uvedomite, ze pojem auto, izba a hotel pouzivam ako synonyma...
Nakoniec sme spali niekde vo vnutrozemi pri Santa Eugenia. Celu noc lialo ako z krhli a bolo celkom chladno a tak nase idealne predstavy o slnkom rozpalanej krajne zostaly iba predstavami.

Den 2
Rano sme sa vydali na spoznavaci zajazd smer severo-vychod. Po ceste sme sa zastavovali v mesteckach ako Sineu, alebo Inca, ktore posobily ako stredoveke mestecka -avsak s bohatym a stedrym zemepanom, pretoze vsetko bolo krasne vykachlickovane a ulice boly ciste. K obedu sa na nas zacalo usmievat slniecko a tak sa nam nalada trocha zlepsila. Cele poobedie sme sa ledabolo poflakovali po kammennych namestickach a vylihovali na lavickach... proste sme relaxovali ako sa len dalo. K veceru sme dorazili do Alcudie, kde sme sa poprechadzali po hradbach z 12nasteho storocia a omrkli krasny zaliv s vyhladom na utesy. V podstate sme sa cely cas starali len o nase zakladne zivotne potreby a vychutnavali si krasu a lahkost stredozemneho spanielskeho malickeho ostrova s bohatou historiou. Krasu a prijemnost celeho vyletu nezne a na zaciatku nenapadne doplnala pritomnost toho druheho. Doslova sme si vychutnavali kazdy moment... aspon teda ked hovorim za seba...
Den 3
Spali sme na upati hor Sierra Tramuntana, ktore sa tahaju celym severnym pobrezim ostrova. Plan tohto dna bol jasny: vyslap na jednu z 5tich tisicoviek, ktore tu maju. Zakotvili sme v Monasterii Lluc -Martina tam hned zahliadla vhodne zachody na umyvanie vlasou -velmi pozitivny objav. Natankovali sme vodu a vybaveny guidom z turistickych informacii sme sa vydali na trek. Nebudem vas vsak napinat - v porovnani s Lake Districtom to bola prechadzka rajskou zahradou -upatie hory Tomir (1103m), na ktoru sme mali nasmerovane, ju vyslovene pripominalo, neskor, blizsie k vrcholu zacal pofukovat vetrik a dodrzujuc nasu tradiciu: zasadne nechodit po chodnikoch sme sa po par hodinach ocitli traverzujuc strmim svahom hore, doplnajuc obcasnym lezenim po skalkach. Na vrcholku fukalo ako na vrcholku Mallorskej hory, ale zato vyhlady boli uchvatne! Tajne sme dufali, ze cestou dolu objavime chodnik spominany v guidovi, ale ako som uz spominal nasa vlastnost netrafit sa na chodnik dosahovala dokonalost a tak sme to opat len zbehli lesom a skalami priamo dolu. Jedine na co som mal chut bolo ist vysvetlit panikam v turist information, ze turu ktoru oni odhadovali tak na 5-6 hodin sme uplne easy zvladli za 4 a to sme sa este trocha stratili a miestny baca nam krasnou spanielcinou vysvetlil kadial mame ist. Zbytok dna sme stravili na priestrannom parkovisku pri klastore. Zalozil som ohen a opiekli sme si spekacky. Potom som sa ospliechal vodou a sladko zadriemal na slnku, zatial co si Martina hodila "sprchu" v nasom luxusnom apartmane.

Den 4
Na radu dvoch nemeckych camperov -ktori nazoaj davali minimal, sme sa vidali smer Valldemossa. Zaparkovali sme auto v malebnej dedine akoby zavesenej na strmych svahoch Tramuntanskych hor a sli sme na dalsi kopcek tentokrat s nazvom vhodnejsim skor na praci prasok -Teix. Dnes bolo fakt krasne, miestami az typicky stredozmeny hic. Slapali sme vsak v prijemnom tieni olivovych stromov po mierne stupajucich serpentinach. Vrchol bol akysi plytky a roztahany. Vsade same skaly a moj predstavovany vyhlad na utesi priamo do mora sa nekonal, avsak videli sme az na juh ostrova do Palmy. Vybalili sme nasu piknick vybavu pekne v zavetri, doplnili zasobu energie a vychutnavali sme si hrejive luce vysokohorskeho slnka. Zaujimavym faktom, ktory nas sprevadzal cely tyzden boli rozmery ostrova. Mapa totiz mala zvlastnu mierku. Vsetko vyzeralo celkom daleko, ale vzdy ked sme zbadali dopravnu znacku tak sme sa zhlboka zasmiali. Vacsinou to bolo nieco ako Palma 12, alebo Valldemossa 6 a podobne -a to sme boli napr. v stvrtine ostrova na mile vzdialeny od danych destinaci. Celkovo najvacsia vzdialenost ktoru sme na tabulach videli nepresahovala 100 km.
Vcelku pozitivna vec az na jednu malickost: deal v pozicovni bol, ze sme dostali plnu nadrz, za ktoru sme zaplatili a mali sme vratit auto s prazdnou. Samozrejme, ze nas na zaciatku vobec nenapadlo, ze s mini autickom s mini spotrebou na mini ostrove to moze byt celkom zakerny chytak. Ale ako spravny cechoslovaci sme sa nenechali okradnut a tak sme jazdili ako sa len dalo. Este v tento den sme zliezli z vrchov a skocili sme na vecernu prechadzku Palmou -ktora je vlastne na druhej strane ostrova... Velkostou a poctom obyvatelov je Palma nieco ako Bratislava, ale samozrejme ze polohou a charakteristikou obyvatelov je to nieco uplne ine. Velmi pekne mesto. Prijemne som sa tam citil. Alebo zeby to bolo Martinou?

Den 5
Pocasie sa priklonilo viac k takemu ake si vsetci predstavujeme, ked sa spomenie Mallorca a tak bol plan jasny: vamos ala playa... Rano klasika skocili sme do kupelky zvanej pumpa. Po mozno aj vyse hodinovom hladani sme zistili ze to s tymi plazami nie je az take ruzove. Bud sme prisli k pobreziu vylozenym skalami, prekladanymi hotelmi, alebo chceli nehoraznych 6 euro za parking!!! Skusili sme to trocha netradicne. Skocili sme do primorskeho mestecka, nasli sme tam turist information a prijmnej pani, ktora dokonca hovorila po anglicky vysvetlili co hladame. Ta nas hned odhadla spravne a iba sa spytala ci radi chodime... nasmerovala nas na bezplatne plaze, povedala, ze tam nie je voda, ani sprcha a ze si mame zobrat nieco na hlavu a nieco do zaludka. Rady ako od maminky. Preslapali sme si asi 2 km a nasli sme krasny, aj ked mozno nie dokonale upraveny, mini zaliv a tam sme sa rozlozili -pofukoval vetrik, takze sme sa nepotili ako sa zvycajne ludia potia pri rotovani na dekach ako prasiatka na roste, ale zato som chytil prirodzeny bronz a dokonca som sa vykupal v mori. Nedalo sa sice moc plavat, pretoze ked som si ponoril hlavu tak mi zamrzal mozog a tak sa mi ruky odmietali pohybovat a pluca akoby zabudli ako sa nadychuje, ale bolo to super. Po 3 hodinach som zacinal byt cerveny ako rak, tak sme radsej zdvyhli kotvy a vidali sa spat do mesta.
Den 6

Toto bol posledny full den nasho zajazdu a tak sme si to patricne uzili: minul som vsetky prachy co mi zostali co bola vyse tretina vsetkych penazi, ktore som zo sebou bral. Ale stalo to za to: videli sme krasnu jaskynu Coves del Drac, kde sa po podzemnom 1,2 km dlhom jazere premavali gondoliery, hrajuc vaznu hudbu doplnanu celkom impresivnymi svetelnymi efektami -romantika ako svina! Potom sme sa rozhodli konecne ochutnat malorsku kuchynu a tak sme po polhodinovom vyberani nasej znacky (najlacnejsie a najviac!) zapadli do restiky, ktora ponukala Taste of Spain. Bolo to super az na zopar detailov: bola to cisto anglicka restika (anglicky majitelia, menu aj hostia), doniesli nam studenu misu salamov, oliv a spanish omelet a to "vsetko" za neodolatelnych 10€... nuz co, hlavne, ze sme tolko vyberali a nenechali sa nachytat.

Kedze sme vsak stale mali este skoro polovicku nadrze a den sa ani zdaleka nechylil ku koncu, tak sme sa vybrali za dalsimi dobrodruzstvami. Najprv uzasny narodny park, kde zije spusta vtakov, ktorych chodia sledovat ornitologovia. Chechtali sme sa na podobnosti ornitologa a gynekologa. Jeden pozoruje vtakov a ten druhy... .Vyzeralo to vsak asi ako mocarisko s rakosim, za kazdym druhym mesteckom na juhu Slovenska, alebo Moravy.
Potom sme si isli pozriet Alcudiu, kde sme len zistili ze sme tam uz boli, tak sme skocili do Port de Alcudia zistujuc to iste: uz sme to cele presli a stravili tam pol dna. Proste sme zistili ze sme prezreli cely ostrov. Jedine co zostalo boli tie tri ostavajuce tisicovky v horach, na ktore sme predsa len uz nemali cas. K veceru sme sme sa vidali smer Palma airport a uplnym zazrakom sa tesne pred vecerom rozblikala kontrolka R na displaji nadrze... ani neviete ako ma hrialo pri srdci, ze im tam nenechavam zbytocne vela benzinu.

Den 7 (5.4.2008)

Rano budicek v 6. Kedysi normalny cas, teraz po vyse dvoch tyzdnoch prazdnin celkom sibenicny termin -ale akosi som druhu polku noci nevedel spat a tak som to zvladol. Este zatmi sme vyrazili a zbalili sme sa az na parkovisku letiska a bez problemov sme odovzdali auto. Na terminale sme sa narjprv trocha skulturnili na wc a potom naranajkovali musli so susenym mliekom. Spat v Londyne sme boli na obed a sice nas necakal dazd, ale kosa bola vcelku riadna a na druhy den rano ukaz v Londyne moc nevidany: SNEH

Lake District seriozny prechod!

2008-04-06T04:05:00.000-07:00

V narodnom parku Lake District som uz bol po treti krat, ale az teraz sa mi podarilo uskutocnit seriozny prechod horami a dolami.
S Martinou sme nase velkonocne prazdniny (21.3.2008 -8.4.2008) zacali planovat uz niekedy v novembri, pri nasom prvom kratkom zoznamovacom zajazde. Vtedy sme si hovorili, ze vsak do velkej noci uz bude jar a to bude teplucko. Avsak zaciatok prazdnin tak vobec nevizeral a dokonca snezilo aj v Harrogate. Predsalen ked prisla ku mne s navlekmi do snehu a spustou zimneho oblecenia tak som sa trochu pousmial a komentoval som to nejakou nemiestnou poznamkou typu ze toto nam v Anglicku nehrozi.

Naplanovali sme to ako ozajstny minimal trip a tak sme sa vybrali stopom. Avsak po hodine mrznutia na vypadovke sme zistili, ze jednak nie je leto a jednak sa nikto netrha nas s batohmi brat. Tak sme operativne zmenili plan a isli na vlak. Do Keswicku -v srdci narodneho parku -sme prisli vecer. Zohnali sme vodu a chleba a odslapali si to kusok do lesika vedla jazera. Tam sme sa utaborili a krasne sa vybuvinkali.
Druhy den zacal uplne idealne. Krasne slnecne pocasie, slapanie vedla jazera, ziadne stupania ci klesania, minimum ludi a super nalada. Presli sme celou dolinou az na upatie kopcov -presne tam kde mi na Vianoce s rodicmi zlihal plan na krasnu vychadzku koli nekrasnemu pocasiu. K obedu sa zatiahlo, ochladilo a zacalo snezit, ale vobec sme sa tym netrapili a navarili sme si paradne jedlo. Prvotne sme chceli cely prvy den slapat len dolinou -vedie tadial hlavna turisticka znacka Cumbria way. Avsak okrem par tabul v dedine sme na ziadnu znacku nenadabili a tak sme sa zrazu ocitli na na chodniku, ktory viedol cez sedlo a jeden z tisicou vrcholov -nejaka 770tka -to sme sa samozrejme nenechali odradit a ze predsa nebudeme slapat naspat.

Trasa bola mega krasna a mraky akoby naschval zostavali za nami, takze nas neukracovali o vyhlady. Sice mierne snezilo a slnko bolo zubate, ale to na nadhere hor len pridavalo. Po necelych 2 hodkach sme prekrocili sneznu ciaru. Nic extremne, ale vrcholky boly kontinualne pokryte snehovou polevou. Slapali sme v tichu dalej. Boli uz asi 4 hodiny po obede a tak nam bolo jasne, ze musime pomerne rychlo prejst cez vrchol a zist zasa dolu pod snehovu hranicu -predsa len sme mali letny stan a keby aj, Martina by mrzla aj na plazi! Akosi mi blbol kompas na hodinkach a tak som poriadne nevedel lokalizovat nasu polohu. Znacky veskere zadne a tak nam nezostavalo nic ine, len slapat dalej po uzkom klukatom chodniku a orientovat sa podla mapy a charakteristickych znakov krajny. Po necelej dalsej hodinke sme vystupili na priestrannu plosinu a odtial sme to museli seknut popri skalach prudko hore. Chodnik bol zamrznuty a miestami sa trebalo pridrziavat rukami -co s tazkymi batohmi na chrbtoch bolo celkom "zabavne". Miestami by sa dali vyuzit aj macky. Nasledovala dalsia plosina. Vsade sneh, ziadne zachytne body, ziadne chodniky a jasne ze ziadne znacky. Tu sme uz nahadzovali navleky a ocitli sme sa v polmetrovom snehu. Nastastie vsak bolo vidno vrchol a tak sme to strihli priamo nan. Ze ste si mysleli, ze 77o-siatka nemoze byt nic vazneho?! Nuz tu to vyzeralo ako na severnom pole-sice ako z nejakeho lacneho hollywoodskeho filmu-avsak celkom seriozne. Vrchol bol plytky a obly. Ziadne strme stity. Fukal silny vietor, bolo zamracene a do tvare nam fukal naviaty sneh.... Cestou dolu sme totalne stratili chodnik a tak sme len drzali smer. Ocitli sme sa na skalnatom a strmom juznom svahu. Az ked sme zisli dobrych 300 vyskovych metrov sa nam podarilo najst chodnik a podla jazera lokalizovat polohu. Dokonca sme zahliadli dolinu a v nej domcek s dymiacim kominom. Na upati hory sme rozlozili stan a uz potme uvarili co to pod zub -teda pod ten moj zub. Bol som pekne vycerpany -vsak mame za sebou 9 hodin slapania s plnou polnou- a hrial ma na dusi prijemny pocit, ze predsalen to Anglicko nie je az take nudne... ale Martina, neviem ako to cele zvladala, nuz ale ked povedala, ze nechce jest tak ma napadlo, ze to musel byt pre nu asi extrem a dufal som, ze sa zajtra so mnou bude bavit.

To som ju fakt este nepoznal. Komentovala to jedinou vetou: "Neviem ako si si mohol mysliet, ze toto zvladnem a ze si ma sem zobral..." Avsak dobry spanok a teple ranajky spravia svoje a tak bolo na druhy den vsetko fasa. To ze sme hned prvy den spravili vyse 20km s prevysenim 700m sme este nevedeli a taktiez sme nevedeli skutocnu vahu nasich ruksakov, ktoru sme po vazeni na letisku ovela, ale fakt ovela lahsich ruksakov odhadli tak na 20kg (resp. Martinin tak na 15kg)

Zisli sme do doliny. Doplnili zasobu vody a od miestneho hoteliera sme zistili, ze v Anglicku sa cesty neznacia ako v Europe. Tu treba vediet slapat podla mapy a kompasu. To sa mi samozrejme pacilo, len teda skoda, ze som to nevedel od zaciatku. Chlapik nas obdaroval buzolou a nasmeroval na smer The Old man of Coninston -co bol nas finalny ciel.

Treti den sa slapalo ovela lahsie a pohodovejsie. Ruksaky akoby prestali byt tazke a nohy kracali same od seba. Ale to len po dobu ked sme opat dorazili do snehovej capicky a zacal nam fukat sniezik do tvari. Buzolu sme sice uz mali, ale kto by ju stale vytahoval a pustal si teplo pod bundu a motal sa s velkou mapou, ktora je akurat tak perfektny vetrochyt! Nastastie sme stretli miestneho horala -stary entuziasticky pan, ktory slapal rychlostou mladika, nam pekne do detailov vysvetlil kade mame ist. Tak sme sa mohli oddat krasam prirody -az na ten mraz, cernotu na oblohe, pichlavy sneh v tvari a hmlu to bolo proste dokonale. Slapali sme par hodin a v skoro pravidelnych intervaloch sme si mysleli, ze ideme nespravne a ze Stareho Muza minieme. Mna to veru netesilo, ale Martina len s tazkostou zakryvala ulavu. Vzdy vsak vyslo najavo, ze vlastne ideme dobre -nuz ale zorientuj sa ked zem je biela, vzduch okolo je biely a obloha je siva... nakoniec sme dorazili ku kammennej mohyle, ktora nemohla byt nic ine ako vrchol Coninstona. Tam sme sa v rychlosti obcerstvili a zdrhali sme druhou stranou dolu. Zistili sme vsak, ze ako team mame jednu uzasne zahadnu vlastnost: stratit chodnik -ktoru sme pocas celych prazdnin doladovali k dokonalosti a tak sme sa doslova po par metroch ocitli na vychodnej stene hory schadzajuc skalne ubocia a snehove polia -jednoducho offroad. Ako sme schadzali nizsie a nizsie snezenie sa postupne menilo na dazd s ladom a poda pod nohami bola ako nasiaknuta spongia. Stacil jeden mali sklz a mal som rukavice uplne premocene. Nastastie vsak v doline neprsalo. Doslapali sme az do dediny Coninston a tam sme vcelku vycerpani rozlozili tabor. Uz sme vedeli, ze vsetko je v poriadku, nevadilo ze sme opat slapali dobrych osem hodin... nech si aj traktori padaju, zajtra ideme pekne vlacikom domov a tak sme sa nechali uniest na slnkom zaliate plaze Malorky, ktore na nas uz cakaju...

Doma sme sa len trocha scivilizovali -umyli, najedli, vyspali a nacerpali sili na dalsiu cestu.

Buducnost

2008-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Kolko? Uz skoro dvadsat rokov ma v mojej mysli slovo buducnost mierne negativne a depresivne pozadie. Vzdy sa "trebalo" rozhodnut... vzdy si "trebalo" vybrat z urcitych moznosti a ponuk. Uz od zakladky som trpel urcitim syndromom. Neviem ho pomenovat, ale vzdy som mal pocit, ze sa nechcem rozhodovat, nechcem mysliet na buducnot. Co tak len zit! -nastastie to uz nie je take zle -uz to nie je totalna cierna diera.... ale stale je to akasi zahada.

Tentokrat sa pri myslienkach na Buducnost pridava novy faktor. Poslednych 8 rokov som mal vzdy nieco poruke, vzdy bol nejaky plan. Udalosti sa proste diali. Nieco som zacal a nechal to prirodzene vivijat. Amerika bola jedine obdobie s miernou neistotou a moznostami -v hlbke spomienok sa mi vrila ako velmi silna viera v sameho seba. Pocit, ze dokazem prezit a dokazem sa o seba postarat aj v sirokolaktovom kapitalizme.

Po troch rokoch serioznosti sa opat vidavam na cestu. Mozno si niektori hovorite, akej serioznosti. Vsak si bol najmenej seriozny ucitel akeho poznam! Dufam, ze to nie je pravda. Naozaj som sa snazil byt zodpovedny a v mojich ociach a hlavne v porovnani s mojou minulostou som bol extremne seriozny. Nastal vsak cas na zmenu. Nechcem sa vratit do minulosti, avsak chcem trocha neistoty. Chcem trocha vzruesenia z neznameho. Chcem objavit nove a doposial mozno skryte zrucnosti a vlastnosti, ktore su vo mne. A taktiez chcem vidiet moznosti a nadychat sa cerstveho vzduchu. Vonku zo skolstva. Prec zo systemu, ktory nuti deti studovat ucivo o ktore nemaju ani stipku zaujmu. Kde ucitelia vynakladaju enormne mnozstvo energie na pubertakov -ano uslachtily ciel a asi by som sa nemal pozerat na to, ze nie kazdy jednotlivec si to naplno uvedomuje a nie kazdy to ocenuje -ale co tak realizovat sa v nejakej uplne inej sfere? Co tak nasmerovat energiu niekde kde jej vyuzitie nebude zalezat na ludoch, ktori menia nazory a nalady castejsie ako aprilove pocasie...
Neodchadzam zo skolstva uplne znechuteny a vystaveny! To by som nemal velku vydrz. Celkovo to bolo velmi pozitivne a uzitocne obdobie v mojom zivote -a aj ta spominana serioznost mi padla velmi dobre a budem z nej este dlho cerpat. Citim vsak potrebu zmeny. Zmeny bez priciny. Aspon teda bez velkej a dolezitej priciny. Proste chcem len trocha slobody, navratit sa k mojim hipisackym zakladom a vidiet svet pokial mam moznost. Taktiez spoznat moznosti realizacie a zamestnania pokial mam moznost. Ludia, ktori ostavaju v jednom zamestnani prilis dlho, vacsinou zostanu navzdy! A to je depka! Nechem aby som dospel k niecomu ako "prilis dlho" a tak radsej odchadzam skoro -niektori by mozno povedali prilis skoro... Nehovorim vsak, ze odchadzam navzdy. V podstate si hovorim, ze odchadzam len docasne aby som sa vratil s novymi silami, cerstvymi napadmi a hlavne s vyrovnanostou byt seriozny!
A co budem robit? NEVIEM! A prave to sa mi paci!

Anglicky studenti

2008-03-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

No, chvilu som sa rozhodoval, ale nakoniec som privolil! Idem Vam totis napisat o Anglickych studentoch. Zavana to az privelkym ohovaranim, ale skuste to brat iba ako porovnavanie. Bez emocii a posudzovania... neviem, co to melem, vsak to sam nedokazem!

Zakladne rozdiely v bodoch:

Navonok posobia "profesionalne" a sebavedome, celkom priatelsky. To je vlastnost, ktora, ked sa neprehana, tak je dost uctyhodna... nasi studenti sa do toho pomaly dostavaju, ale predosla generacia s tym mala ovela vacsi problem.
Su pohodlnejsi a viac zvyknuti na podrobne vedenie. Toto je typicky problem Zapadu. Vsade su presne navody, napisy, na vsetko su pravidla a papiere. Ucitelia musia vysvetlovat pekne po lopate -vacsinou vsak az priblo a trivialne. Priklady su na jedno kopyto celu hodinu a potom druhy typ na druhej hodine. Toto inac nie je az take zle, ale niekedy je to proste nuda. Tak isto v telke a v spolocnosti vidiet, ze si proste uz zvykli na nonstop navadzanie. Trocha z toho podla mna degeneruju.
Avsak neboja sa experimentovat a maju celkom dost dobrych napadov. Co sa tyka neakademickych zalezitosti, tak to sa na nich nechytame. Celkovo su ovela ochotnejsi zapajat sa do sportovych turnajov, umeleckych podujati, hudobnych koncertov a podobnych zalezitosti.
V akademickyh predmetoch posobia mierne lenivsie, aj ked to zavisi od jednotlivcov.
Co sa tyka vseobecnej inteligencie a rozhladu, tak to maju co dohanat, avsak vo svojom obore su majstri. Pokial to nie je ich parketa, tak su uplne mimo, ale ak sa niecomu venuju, tak dokazu byt dost dobri.
Nestazuju si, nefrflu! Aspon teda nie prehnane. Samozrejme, ze sem tam si pofrflu, ale udivuje ma napriklad ich ochota hrat sporty vonku za kazdeho pocasia: je jedno ci snezi, prsi, alebo mrzne... aj za prudkeho dazda sa chalani valaju v blate a hovoria tomu rugby training... Tu vsak treba zobrat do uvahy jeden dolezity faktor. Pokial by brali do uvahy pocasie ako my, t.j. pokial je nepriaznive pocasie, tak je telesna v telocvicni, tak to by si nikdy nezahrali, pretoze napr. Rugby sa v telocvicni hrat neda! Nechcel by som vidiet tie ohyzdne zlomeniny a oskrete tvare!
Su slusni a za vsetko sa ospravedlnuju
Avsak v kontraste k predchadzajucemu bodu dokazu byt pekne neprijemni a samozrejme, ze vymyslaju... To, ze sa za nieco ospravedlnia, neznamena, ze to nespravia znova. Niekedy mi s tym dost lezu na nervy, pretoze je to totalne falosne! Niektori dokazu byt pekne drzi! Nezalezi na veku ani inteligencii. Proste niektori mali asi prilis makkych rodicov, resp. vychovavatelov a babysitterky a tak nevedia, kde su hranice slusneho spravania. Nemam problem s obcasnym srandovanim a rypanim... sam to robim... to sa da zvladat. Ale niekedy je toho proste prilis vela a idu prilis daleko. Tu vsak hovorim iba o zopar jednotlivcoch, nie celkovej skupine ziakov. Avsak jeden vyrastok dokaze zastriet 10 slusakov!
Co sa alkoholu a hulenia tyka, tak vonku v kluboch sa chlasta celkom slusne - tazko povedat, ci viac ako u nas, alebo menej, ale niektori (hlavne zeny) dokazu byt pekne mimo. Najviac ma udivuje ich "vyvadzanie" na ulici - v satockach, crievickach opierajuc sa o stlp a hulakajuc do telefonu akesi nezmysly... to je cool night! Nie zriedkavym javom su hole brucha, chrbty a sem tam aj bose nohy! Ked nie bose tak v letnych slapkach!!! Pouzivaju sice taxiky, ale predsa... teplota dokaze byt aj okolo nuly!Od ziakov sa mi podarilo vytiahnut, ze polka year 11 (15 rocny) huli travu a chlasce... a to je samozrejme sukromna metodisticka skola... Co vsak celkom schvalujem, ze sixth formeri (17-18 rocni) su sem tam pozvani na poharik vina, ci pivko spolu s ucitelmi. Aj na intraku maju povolene ist v sobotu vecer von a mozu si dat zopar piv. Samozrejme, ze to nemozu prehnat, ale pokial maju 18 a predaju im alkohol, tak je to OK
Snazia sa byt vtipni a cool (nie vzdy sa im to dari)
Nuz a na zaver: nemozem si pomoct, ale zdaju sa mi povrchni - nie vsetci a mozno je to len nasa rozdielnost v kulturnom backgrounde, ale posobia tak.
A nieco pozitivne? Su velmi timovi a drzia spolu!

Edinburgh

2008-02-17T10:58:00.000-08:00

Tak som sa vratil z kulturno-historicko-spolocenskeho vyletu po Edinburghu. Super bolo... ! okrem ineho to, ze som sa stretol s Katalin a so ziakmi, ktori su mi predsa len blizsi ako anglicki spratci... ze som opat videl toto krasne mesto.... a Pan a Pani Tobinovi (z HMC) boli tiez v pohode, aj ked vela casu sme snimi netravili.

Vacsinou to vyzeralo tak, ze cez den sme fungovali podla ich programu - muzea, jachty, hrady a este raz muzea. Nebolo to zle, len teda robit to 4 dni, bol tak akurat! Po veceroch sme spolu s Katalin dali dokopy nase hlavy a vyuzili nase mnohorocne, uzasne a vsestranne skusenosti s pubertakmi a hrali sme sa rozne aktivity. Na zaciatku sme videli zopar kyslych ksichtov, ale hned po prvom veceri sme si vsimli, ze je to celkom sranda a tak sme sa celkom ujali. Na zaver dokonca hovorili, ze bolo super, ze sme isli prave my, pretoze ini ucitelia by asi taki aktivni neboli... aj Pan Tobin povedal, ze ucitelov vacsinou pouzivaju iba ako dozor, neocakavaju tvorbu programu! ...vela sme sa nasmiali a ja som pozoroval moderne, inteligentne a zaujimave deturence... sem tam bolo tych ich nonstop komentarov, nazorov a postojov az az, ale bolo to super. Zbytok prazdnin som iba vegetil na intraku a vychutnaval uzasne slnecne dni - pobehal som cele okolie na bajku. Pekne to tu je - ked pocasie pekne je ...

P.S. Anybody requires this in English?
P.S. 2 Ano Martina, lenivost a neoriginalnost ma premohla... ;-)

Gunnerside

2008-02-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

Just few pictures from our sunday 5 hour hike in Yorkshire Dales. It was quite cold and very windy, however it was nice and me and Guyla enjoyed it a lot! I really needed to get some fresh air -litteraly and ironicaly as well. I realised that I haven't left the school premises for almost a month!

Anglicke skolstvo

2008-01-27T10:41:00.000-08:00

Stale som este nepisal o agnlickom skolskom systeme... na zaciatku som toho moc nevedel, neskor sa mi to zdalo prilis nudne. Teraz - ked sa nic extra nove a zaujimave nedeje - aj tato tema je dobra! A hlavne som zistil, ze nie je skola ako skola. Celkovo sa sice na seba podobaju, ale po precitani si emailu od Martiny som zistil, ze na juhu Londyna maju trocha ine pomenovania aj organizaciu. U nas je to vzdy rovnako: zakladka, stredna a vyska. Sem tam sa vyskytne osemrocne gymnazium, ale to je asi tak vsetko. Tu tych nazvov maju viac!

Celkova struktura:

Skolstvo zacina v Pre-prep, ktora prijima deti od 2 rokov. Je to vsak skor skolka, aj ked trochu viac sofistikovana. Skolopovinnost si deti musia plnit uz od 4-5tich rokov nastupom na Junior school. Ta ma rocniky od 1 po 6. Potom deticky spravia mini prijimacky na druhy stupen, ktory sa vola Senior school, ale rocniky sa pocitaju dalej: od 7 po 11. Potom opat prijimacky tentoraz na 6th form, co su posledne dva rocnky cize year 12 a 13, ale skor su zname ako lower 6 a upper 6. Ja posobim na Senior school a Sixth form. Tie su fyzicky v jednej budove (aj ked s tromi pavilonmi) zatial co Junior school aj Pre-prep su extra budovy. Spolu so sportcentrom, 4mi internatnymi budovami a zopar rugby ihriskami a obrovskymi travnikmi tvoria cely areal skoly.
Organizacia skolskeho roka:

Celkovo je rok rozdeleny na 3 "terms", cize tri trimestre: autumn, easter a summer term. Kazdy term ma dost odlisnu dlzku - od 5 po 8 tyzdnov. Kazdy z nich ma uprostred prazdniny zvane Half-term a na konci End term holidays, aj ked tie su skor zname ako Vianoce, Velka noc a Letne prazdniny. Half-term je na nasej skole vzdy tyzden, ale na inych skolach aj dva. Spolu je to spusta prazdnin. Podme pocitat: 3 tyzdne z troch Half-termov, 3 tyzdne na Vianoce, 3 tyzdne na velku noc!!!! a 6-7 tyzdnov letne prazdiny. To je zhruba 15 tyzdnov. U nas je to 12, pokial si dobre pamatam... ci?

Jeden den:

No, ale oni si to pekne dobehnu cez den. Ten totiz zacina 8:35 am rannou registraciou ziakov a konci o 4pm. Kazde rano okrem stredy sa cela skola stretne v hlavnej hale na morning assembly (ranne zhromazdenie) co je 15 minutovy mix modlitieb, spevov, prednasok a skolskych oznamov. Niektore assemblies su super - o Afrike, triedeni odpadov, alebo zabavno-naucne mini divadelne predstavenia. Mnohe su vsak straaaaasneeeee nudneeee a moralisticke.Hodiny maju 40 min. Prve tri vsak idu bez prestavky, takze v realite maju 35, niekedy len 30. Po tretej hodine je ranna prestavka - pre ucitelov kavicka, cajicek, kolaciky a ovocie. Potom dalsie dve hodiny bez prestavky a potom hodina a stvrt na obed. Maju to dobre zorganizovane: na obedy sa chodi podla rocnikov na predpisany cas. Po obede su dalsie tri hodiny bez prestavky. Okrem 6th formerov ziaci nemaju volne hodiny, cize kazdy den 8 hodin, co je do tyzdna 40, vsakze... nasi ziaci sa stazovali ked mali 33...Vynimkou tohto uniformneho rozvrhu je streda. Rano je namiesto assembly stretnutie s tutorom, pripadne v ramci school house. Tiez po obede su 6th formeri na aktivitach -cize games. Tu si mozu zvolit brutalne veci - od klasiky ako rugby, basket, hokej az po exotiky ako bojove umenie, lezenie ci lukostrelba! Tipnite si, kde som ja?! Easy...

Znamkovanie:

No toto je kapitolka, ktoru este ani ja poriadne nechapem. Samozrejme, ze len kvoli tomu, ze nie som poriadne zapojeny do celeho systemu. Ziaci sice dostavaju reporty tak raz za term, ale o nejakej alternative nasho vysvedcenia som este nepocul. Co som si vsak vsimol hned na zaciatku bolo, ze tu vobec nefrcia na znamkach ako my. Testy su davane z hora – v ramci celeho departmentu, takze sa skoro pravidelne stava, ze niektore skupiny, zopar otazok z testu, ani nebrali. Maju prepracovany system pochval - od malych merrit sticker po vacsie yellow slips az po bronzove, strieborne a zlate certifikaty... A v podstate az do sixth form na tom celkom seriozne slapu. Akoze su sem tam male quizy, ale vobec nie v takej miere ako to bolo u nas. Maju tiez program AimHigh (ako GradePro na Lewisovi), ale nepozeral som sa donho. Co som si vsak vsimol, ze dolezita sucast reportu je ustne hodnotenie. Nuz to je vsetko pekne, ale podla mna hlavny dovod preco su taki neznamkofilni je, ze sa tu neda prepadnut. Znamky maju klasika od A po E, ale to si vsetko prospel... potom este je U akoze Unclassified. Co znamena, ze si to tak pokaslal(a), ze ti nemozu dat znamku... Ale aj ked to ako pokasles, maximalne tak prejdes do nizsej skupiny - maju tu Top set... az bottom set, podla urovne schopnosti... Ale do dalsieho rocnika prejdes. Inac tieto sets su super vec! V kazdom predmete su 4 ci 5 setov od najlepsich po najhorsich, cize triedy v nasom zmysle slova neexistuju, pretoze ziaci su v podstate na kazdej hodine v inom sete - aj ked vacsinou sa ti dobri drzia v setoch 1, 2, vo vsetkych predmetoch ako aj slabsi... Ucit bottom set je sice utrpenie, ale aspon vies, ze to su ti, ktorych napr. matika nebavi a v podstate s nou nechcu mat nic spolocne. Cize moc nevadi, ze sa ide pomaly - teda straaaasnnneee pomaly. Avsak top set slapu o sto sest a su fakt dobri - to je zasa uplna radost ucit.
Jedine v 6th form sa moze stat, ze pokial ziak nespravi skusky, tak mu "odporucia" zopakovat si rocnik... cize prepadak, ale takeho tu poznam jedneho jedineho!No a percenta? Az mi je to trapne, ja som si tak zvykol na tie na Lewisovi, ze toto je uplne pod uroven: A: 100 - 80% !!!!! B: 79 - 60%, C: 59 - 50, D: 49-40, E:39-30% a U je vsetko pod... Na com tu vsak slapu, su certifikaty. Prvy maju sancu ziskat na konci Senior school, cize v year 11. Oficialne sa to vola General Certificate of Secondary Education, ale vsetci o nom hovoria ako o GCSE. Ziaci pisu testy z 11tich predmetov!!!, ale celkova uroven je priemerna, dokonca anglicki ucitelia hovoria, ze v porovnani s A2 az prilis lahka.V sixth form maju ziaci Advanced Subsidiary, cize AS na konci lower 6 a potom hlavny a najdvolezitejsi A-level, resp. Advanced level, alebo A2. Pracoval som so ziakmi, co si opravovali minulorocne znamky ako aj s tohtorocnymi aplikantmi na oboch a je to minimalne na urovni nasej maturity ak nie viac! Takze celkovo za nami urcite nezaostavaju, skor naopak!Na zaver hodnotenia len jedno: je nehorazne pozitivisticke. V tomto sa na nich urcite nechytame. Kazda spravna odpoved je vyzdvihovana a vychvalovana klasickym "well done", alebo inou alternativou, pricom nespravna odpoved je skor odsunuta na stranu niecim ako "good effort", alebo "good idea". Zasnem a ucim sa kazdy den!

Hierarchia studentov:

Toto je parketa, ktora je u nas uplne neznama. Studenti maju podla rocnikov rozne privilegia a zaroven aj povinnosti. Na internate sa to odraza casom vecierky a sluzbami. Ti mladsi idu do postele skor, maju viac organizovany cas a robia trochu horsie sluzby - aj ked ziadna sikana! Ti starsi maju ovela viac volna aj slobody, ale zato aj viac zodpovednosti. Sixth formeri pomahaju s budickom a tick off (kontrola ziakov). Spomedzi upper six je na skole vybrany zhruba 30 "super studentov," ktori nosia cervene kravaty a tak sa volaju red tie. Ti maju dozor na chodbach, dbaju na to, aby vsetci ostatni nosili spravne upravene uniformy a aby sa nachadzali tam, kde sa nachadzat maju. Celkovo su dost respektovani a co je super, nie su to len jednickari! Skor take silne, moralne osobnosti skoly. A potom su hlavni studenti cize Head of school (pozor nie Headmaster) a Deputy Head a na internate mame Head of House. Ti maju najviac zodpovednosti a pomerne vyznamne pomahaju ucitelom - ich hlavna napln "prace" je organizovat red tie duties, ale maju aj silne slovo, co sa tyka akejkolvek skolskej akcie...

School house:

Na zaver len zmienka o rozdeleni studentov do school house. Pre Harry Poterovcov nic nove, ale priznam sa ja to moc nevnimam. My mame na skole styri domy s nazvami, ktore doteraz poriadne neviem. Studenti su do nich zaclenovani pomerne nahodne. Hlavny zmysel? Sutazenie a podporovanie sa... napr. tento tyzden bude house drama: kazdy house si pripravil divadelne predstavenie a v piatok bude divadlo!

Tak dufam, ze to nebolo prilis nudne... ale verim, ze sa najdu ludia, ktorych to zaujima.

A je to! Alebo ako sme s Ivom kopali kanale...

2008-01-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Myslim si, ze nezaskodi trochu zmeny, prenesme sa na chvilu z Anglicka na malebne Slovensko! Povodne som tento blog zakladal ako cestovatelsky dennik, coho je aj vacsina clankov dokazom, avsak clovek nemoze byt stale na ceste a tak sem tam potrebuje DOM. Takze teraz na tuto notu!

Zatial si trufam, ale pravda je taka, ze vobec neviem, co ma vsetko caka... moja jedina utecha je, ze sa nikam neponahlam a kludne budem byvat, kde sa da a kusok po kusku si budem stavat barak... nemam ani zenu, ani deti, tak je to pohoda... Ale uz teraz viem, ze bez kamosov, co to kupili vedla mna, by som bol bez sanci a aj s nimi si asi uplne sami nevystacime. Nehladiac na to, ze by som ten dom ani nekupil, pretoze typ nanho mam presne od kamosa, ktory bude mojim susedom. Aby som sa vyhol vsetkym tym osobnym zamenam, tak ho tu predstavim - postava cislo jedna sa vola Ivan. Niektore veci su fakt prilis velke susto na bandu amaterov.

By ste nas mali vidiet, ako sme v lete robili kanalizaciu!!! Uplne bez planov... teda nakreslil som si v pocitaci podorys celeho bytu, ale to len tak hlavne miestnosti. Kde presne bude wc a umyvadlo som riesil az na mieste, ked som zistil, ze to musim vediet uz teraz. Potom sme zacali kopat. To sice bola makacka, ale aspon pri tom nebolo treba moc rozmyslat. Dobre si vsimnite to slovicko moc! Ono totiz trebalo vediet, pod akym uhlom kopat pripojky a aky to ma mat spad a take detaily... to mal vsak uz Ivan pozistovane. Sranda prisla, ked sme skocili do Ziliny nakupovat potrubia! To sme sa chlapikov v obchode pytali, ake priemery sa naco pouzivaju a ake kolena (30 , 45, 60 stupnov...) sa kde maju davat. Vlastne sme ani nevedeli, co vsetko potrebujeme a samozrejme, ze sme nechceli kupovat nic zbytocne, lebo kazda trubka isla do stovak a my sme boli celkom svorc. Chlapik po 10 minutach zacinal byt zufaly, vyhlasujuc "Ani kokot o tom nevedia a idu robit kanalizaciu!" Nakoniec sme v tom shope boli 3 krat, ale nakupili sme vsetko, co bolo treba. A dokonca podla noriem!

Tym sa to vsak neskoncilo. Bolo totiz treba rurky a kolena spajat. Nie len ze je problem ich dat tam, kam potrebujes - to nie je hadica, ktora sa ohne a natoci, ako je potrebne. To su 5 metrove kanaly, ktore nerobia nic ine len zavadzaju! Najvacsia mordovacka bola pri samotnom spajani. Ani za svet to do seba nechcelo ist! To som prvy krat pocul Ivana seriozne nadavat! Akoze obaja nie sme najslabsi, ale tu sme sa dobre zapotili. Je to totiz robene s tesneniami a tie veru tesnia! Na jednom useku sme to vzdali. Tesnenie sme vyhodili, rurky nahriali nad varicom a spojili! Dufam, ze mi o par rokov nezacnu v kupelke presakovat hovna... ale nie, ono sa to tak inac robilo roky rokuce a stari majstri to tak robia doteraz, tie tesnenia su moderny vynalez a ako to sem tam byva, nie moc prakticky... Podobne sme vyriesili problem s dazdovou vodou. Tentokrat tam jedna trubka nechcela ist ani po dobrotky, ani po zlotky, tak sme ju pekne nahriali a spravili z nej pekne esicko... no, alebo teda chceli spravit. Nakoniec to bol skaredy pozuhvanec, ale splnilo to svoj ucel. Tak uz len zakopat a... a je to!

Pobavili ste sa? ... To som rad... som zvedavy, ake radosti ma este cakaju. Kanalizaciu som totiz - pred tym, ako som sa do nej pustil - povazoval za najlahsiu cast. Uvidime

Even more unusual...

2008-01-04T02:31:00.000-08:00

Silvester -or New year's eve as it is properly called in English - is traditionally the biggest party in the year. But why it so? Why do people celebrate it so much? Why do they get so crazy about it? Well I remember many New year's eves, and I associate them with nice memories. But strangely enough, all I can recall are bits and pieces. Before I turned teenage years I had celebrated it somewhere in mountains on our family sky trips. Lot of fireworks and possibility to stay up late. Later on I focused more on my friends and I wanted to spent this "magic" moment of the change of the year number with as many of them as possible. We were usually drunk and were doing crazy things -that's what we called fun and full enjoyment, sometimes even real life! But it was actually the very opposite: the wildest proof of immaturity. At least that's how I look at it now which doesn't mean I condemn anybody for doing so...

For last 3 years I realized that things are getting little silly and I felt that it's more and more not exactly my cup of tea. But years of "practise" were not so easily to be abolished. Oh, how I remember the New year's eve 3 years ago. I was with Efka at that time and she had been seriously sick for more than a week. I wanted to be sympathetic so I heroically professed that I am not going to drink! Well, good effort, but soon after we came to her friends apartment in Trnava I palled up with one chap who offered me a Fernet -to make long story short I ended up quite drunk... maybe not as much as years before, but still... no wonder Efka was angry. And so were I! Not because I had been drinking, but because I had done something what I have had said that I'm not going to do. (wow! If this sentence is flawless then I eat cow chips! Who can let me know?)

The next year, or last year it was much easier because I hadn't been drinking for a while and there were other people around me that didn't drink as well. So finally after approx. 13 years first sober New year's eve!

And this year, you wouldn't recognise me: I went to bed at 11 pm!!! Well it was midnight in Slovakia, so what? I had spent a whole week with my parents (see the article below) and really didn't feel like travelling two days to London (or Plymouth) and back and spending at least 100 quids and all this just for one night. In stead I had spent the night in meditations. I had sent loving kindness to all living creatures at eleven and soon after was sound asleep. The next day -first day of the year - I continued in meditation... what a great way to stick to Slovak idiom: "how on the new year so on the whole year" meaning what you do on the first day of the year you will do during the whole year (do they have any equivalent to this expression?). This was truly a celebration for me, and I'm very glad I had done it!

P.S. it's not true that there is no snow here... the pictures are actual

P.S. I would appropriate English comments because this article was (also) part of my studies...

Tak trochu netradicne vianoce

2007-12-31T05:33:00.000-08:00

Zacnem hned z hurta! Kolki z vas (kolko vas inac je? vobec netusim kto si to tu cita...) by ste tento obraz povazovali za "vianocny"? Alebo inac, kolki by ste si pri slove vianoce, predstavili nieco na sposob tohto obrazu? Nemusim byt zrovna jasnozrivec, aby som mohol tvrdit ze malkoto, ak vobec niekto. A predsa len, su na zemi minimalne piati ludia, pre ktorych je tento obraz symbolom hrejivej, prijemnej, rodinnej a hlavne vianocnej atmosfery. Vznikol totiz ako spolupraca celej mojej rodiny v ramci stedreho vecera. Naco pozerat telku, alebo sa prejedat kolacikmi, ked sa da tvorit? Tento kus papiera a farieb bude este dlho pripominat ako sme dokazali tvorivo a hlavne prijmne stravit spolocne cely tyzden. Akokolvek lahko to vyzera, viem velmi dobre ze nie hocijaky piati ludia dokazu zit spolu 24/7, bez chvilky sukromia, zavriet sa do maleho internateveho bytu, alebo auta a kazdy den podnikat spolocne akcie v case aj necase... O to je to krajsie ak je to vasa vlastna rodina.

Co sa vlastne udialo? Nuz potom ako som si dokonale oddychol a stravil prvy tyzden prazdnin sam, postupne sa to tu zacinalo zhustovat. Najprv prisla Nina, moja starsia sestra. S nou a spolu s dalsimi HMC ucitelmi sme pobehali York a Harrogate. Na vianoce (24-teho) sme zacali s vyzdobou a varenim. Nenechal som sa prehovorit na anglicke tradicie, vsetko pekne po slovensky! K veceru dorazil zbytok rodiny, segra Domca a Mama s Tatom. Ti boli nateseni od prvej minuty, stacilo ked videli auto, ktore som pozical na celi tyzden a uz mali vianoce! Ked hovorim ze po slovensky tak po slovenksy! Oslava hned 24-teho, nie 25-teho ako je to zvykom tu. Zemiakovy salat priamo zo slovenska a dokonca aj nejake tie kolaciky. Ja som sa postaral o kapustnicu a rybu -aj ked ta bola uz naporcovana a obalena. Kto by sa stym handrkoval a inac my nemavame ziveho kapra uz skoro dve desatrocia odkedy je Tato vegetarian. Vecera bola zo vsim vsude, dokonca aj ryba musela plavat!

No ale to by bolo na tradicie asi vsetko, zbytok uz bol typicky Valkovicovsky: proste iny! Stromcek nebol, ale zohnal som zopar haluzi a tie vytvorili potrebnu vianocnu aromu, takze sme boli vsetci patrcine naladeni. Cuduj sa svete nejake tie darceky sa tiez nasli. Ja som bol totiz zapadniar materialisticky a nic som nekupil -vsak pockame na povianocne zlavy a vrhneme sa na nakupy niekedy v stvrtok, alebo piatok, nie? Po klasickych hikackach a jeekackach pri rozbalovani darov sme zacali vymyslat. Najprv obraz, potom vselijake vtipne hry (meno slavnej osoby na chrbat a zisti kto si!) a hlavne pohoda.

Na dalsie dni som vzdy naplanoval nejaky ten spolocensko-kulturny program. Najprv som ich poprehanal po Harrogatestkych poliach. Taka mala vychadzka, ulicami, parkami, lesmi, poliami, bazinami, mastalmi a este trocha poliami. Bolo co pozerat a nad cim sa divit tak si niektori ani nevsimli ze spravili 20 km a trvalo nam to cca 6hod. Mama sice uz v polke tvrdila ze ma dost, ale ze je rada ze sa moze premoct. Tato ten obdivoval kazdy murik a kazdy schodik (ty co ste tu boli viete dobre ze to tu je sami mur!!!!). Ku koncu som zaregistroval ze su unaveni, ale to je dobre -aspon im tie ostatne vylety budu pripadat lahsie. A tak aj bolo. Na boxig day (druhy sviatok vianocny -vie niekto preco to tak volaju?) sme predsalen radsej zvolili mesto. York je inac zatial najkrajsie ake som v anglicku videl. Krasne, malebne a historicke mesto. Domi ako z rozpravky, ulicky ako namalovane. Pokial by neboli vsade blikajuce jelene a moderne obchody tak by si jeden kludne mohol mysliet ze je v stredoveku.

V stvrtok prisiel na rad highlight celeho vyletu (aspon teda podla mna) a to bol vylet do Lake District. Uz v aute bola super naladicka. Namiesto nasej klasickej "hadaj na co myslim", ktoru my inac volame "kicuda micuda" - z maderskeho co je to, kto je to -sme sa hrali ine slovne a inteligetne hry: vsak rodina vzdelancov nie? Neivem ako sa tie hry volaju, ale viem ze na ne treba mat dobru slovnu zasobu aj znalosti zo sveta znamych osobnosti, popripade dobru fantaziu! Kusok za Harrogate zacalo prsat a tak to bol pravy anglicky vylet -prsat totiz neprestalo cely den, resp. cele tri dni. Ale nenechali sme si tym pokazit vylet. Pekne sme dorazili az na naplanovane miesto -kusok od Keswicku- nahodili nepremokave oblecenie, resp. kto co mal a vydali sme sa na spociatku malu prechadzku. V lese bolo pekne, za lesom bolo este krajsie a tak z toho nakoniec bola celkom slusna 2 hodinova skoro-tura. Nie zle, na to ze kvapkat neprestalo! Vsak ked to tym ovciam nevadi, tak preco by nam malo, nie? Cestou spat sme sa este stavili na zapadnom pobrezi, ale nic extra nas tam necakalo.

Dalsi den bol nakupno-pozeraci: trebalo predsa aj tie darceky poriesit aj zistit kde to ten Janko byva. V obchodoch boli sice zlavy, ale na second-handy sa to nechyta a tak sme sa obdarovavali v obchodoch s prozaickymi nazvami ako Save the children, alebo Help the Aged... Mama bola v siedmom nebi, lebo si zevraj nikdy predtym nekupila, ci nedostala, 4 veci naraz -skor si myslim ze si to nepamata, ale vsak dobre. Cely cas si uzivala, pretoze 25 rokov nemohla! Ninka bola trochu spomalena a nechapala co sa to deje. Co to tu ti ludia robia? Ako sa mam spravat? Ako sa to robi? Nuz neda sa stale len modlit a meditovat aj ked neprotestoval by som. Tatko sa vytesoval z typickych anglickych svetrov a vpodstate vsetkeho ostatneho -typicky anglickeho! Dominika jasne davala najavo ako jej matkine aj fotrove spravanie lezie na nervy, ale zvladala to celkom dobre. Juj ako ich mam vsetkych rad. Ja som iba pozoroval, ale sem tam som sa zapojil. Po tom tyzdni samoty celkom prijemna zmena. Daleko mam vsak este od uplnej neutrality a nekonfliktnosti. Tiez mi sem tam uletela stiplava poznamka. A aj tento clanok by mohol byt menej ironicky... Napriek tymto, v podstate typickym cestovatelskym mini-konfliktom, ktore vzniknu skoro vzdy a vsade, kde sa stretne viac ako "jeden clovek" a stravi spolu s ostatnymi takmer veskeri cas.

Na sobotu prisiel narad druhy narodny park: Yorkshire Dales. Je tuhla hned za rohom, ale su to len take udolia a zvlnena krajna -na slovensku by sme to narodnym parkom urcite nenazvali- to by sme rovno mohli byt narodny park Slovenska republika! Ale pekne to napriek tomu bolo. Co sa mi vsak pacilo najviac bolo ze celi cas lialo -macky a psy, ziadne mrholenie! A my nic! Pekne sacky na hlavy, bundy a prsiplaste a idemo. Vynechali sme sice prechod poliami, pretoze do oblasti po troch dnoch prichadzaju zaplavy a travniky skor pripominaju ryzove polia, ale okrem toho sme sa nenechali okratit o nic. Pozreli sme si Aysgarath waterfalls, kde sa inac nakrucal Robin Hood s kevinom kostnerom, dali sme si cajicek v staruckej cajovni pri rieke a tak.

Posledny den mi uz dosli napady, a uz sme asi aj mali dost vsetkej tej action a tak sme sa iba isli poprechadzat po meste. A kde sa vzalo tu sa vzalo -krasne slnecne pocasie sa ukazalo! Pekna rozlucka. Dobre mi bolo s rodinkou mojou, trocha rodinnej atmosfery mi tu v chladnom aglicku prislo ako balzam na dusu, ale zaroven som si uvedomil ze uz dlho som snimi nebol na "vylete". A hlavne ze ja uz zahranicie nepovazujem za az tak "ine" az tak "zaujimave", hodne tolkeho porovnavania. Samozrejme ze su tu veci, ktore su ine, veci z ktorych sa ucim aj veci ktore sa mi az tak nepacia, ale uz nemaju pre mna az taky naboj ako napr. pre moju Mamu, ci Otca. Je to dobre? Ci zle? Ci na tom nezalezi?

cyklo vylet a samota

2007-12-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

Ako som uz spominal mam tyzden volna a skoro uplnej samoty, kym nepride cela moja rodina, a tak si to dokonale vychutnavam. Pekne po malych davkach si vyplnam dni aktivitami ktore ma naozaj bavia. Nechcem si to pokazit prilisnym planovanim a nahlenim sa a zaroven chcem mat klud a pohodu a tak vsetko pekne pomaly. Jedna-dve hlavne aktivitky za den a zbytok pekne relax, studium anglictiny a vypisovanie mailov.
Prve dni som vyslovene relaxoval a maloval, teraz nastal cas na trocha aktivnejsie travenie casu. Dnes rano som sa vybral na cyklo turu. Spomenul som to pre Gyulom a tak sa pridal ku mne. Isli sme do Riponu co je 12 mil. Neviem preco -zijem s milami uz treti rok a stale mam tu tendenciu ich podcenovat. Myslel som si ze to bude uplny veget, ale predsa len nie je najteplejsie a po chvilke som si vsimol ze tie mile ubiehaju akosi pomalsie. Na zaver som si vdaka slastnemu pocitu v nohach uvedomil ze som spravil viac ako 40 km, co je pre netrenovany zadok vcelku dost. Zbytok dna som stravil v pohodli mojho kresielka s sprtil som stovky anglickych slovickach ktore sa vyskytuju iba v knihach -boze kolko toho neviem!
No a viete co som si prave vsimol, resp. uvedomil? Ak ste zili niekde v zahranici tak ste si mozno uvedomili ze ste vela krat akysi smutny a ze vam chybaju priatelia. Mozno to vyznie divne, ale myslel som si ze nemam problem byt sam -uz viac krat som takto fungoval -aj v zahranici, aj doma... aj dlhsiu dobu, aj kratkodobo... a vacsinou to nebol problem. Ale tu som bol akysi nesvoj a zoparkrat som mal taku light depku. Avsak akonahle zacali prazdniny -cize som sam "este viac" tak som v pohode. Problem nie je skola, to by som asi musel zmenit zamestnanie... problemom su ludia okolo mna... Posledne dva roky som mal okolo seba tych najlepsich kamaratov a ludi s ktorymi si naozaj rozumiem a s ktorymi pravdepodobne zostatanem v kontakte este velmi dlho. Tu som prisiel do komunity ludi, ktori my toho vela nehovoria. Vsimol som si to hned na zaciatku a tak som si isiel svojou vlastnou cestou... ale aj tak som sa sem-tam citil sam. Akonahle vsak vsetci ludia, s ktorymi som tu v kontakte, odisli tak som ovela pozitivnejsii. Nechcem nikoho obvinovat ani sa vyhovarat. Ale Pokial musim kazdy den riesit problemy s inymi ludmi, pocuvat staznosti inych ludi, sledovat spravanie inych ludi tak ma to ovplyvnuje. Pokial musim zit v tomto mierne nehostinom prostredi, kde som cudzinec tak musim byt silnejsi -aky som teraz evidentne nestaci. Od zaciatku prazdnin som skoro uplne sam a je to super -idem si vlastnou cestou, organizujem si den ako chcem, nemusim pocuvat anglickych pubertakov a prisposobovat sa ucitelom, pripadne housemastrom. Prekvapilo ma to trocha pretoze v amerike som bol tiez sam -nesam. Vzdy boli okolo mna ludia, a viac krat sa stalo ze my nie uplne vyhovovali. Sem tam ma to hodilo do takej melancholickej nalady, ale zvladol som to. A hlavne som si myslel ze som sa naucil ako to zvladat. Asi nie uplne. Je mi jasne ze nemozem zit sam a ze vzdy budu okolo mna ludia -teda hlavne pokial budem pracovat a pohybovat sa v spolocnosti. Takze cesta samoty daleko nevedie -aspon zatial nie. Len teda preco ma ludia tolko ovplyvnuju. Teraz sa vyslovene tesim z kazdej minuty a este som sa ani chvilku nenudil. Prave naopak -zajtra pride moja sestra a v sobotu David (dalsi ucitel z HMC programu) s priatelkov a tak mam uz len neceli den pre seba sameho. Dufam ze do januara pridem nato ako sa nenechat ovplyvnovat ludmi okolo seba a byt v pohode zo svetom okolo mna ako aj zo sebou. Caka ma este pol roka v tomto viac menej statickom prostredi a vonkajsok moc nezmenim, tak musim zmenit vnutro, cize seba... a uzivat si skolsky rok tak isto ako prazdniny!
A samozrejme ide aj o to ze druhy ludia su aj velmi prospesny -okrem toho ze nam nastavuju neocenitelne zrkadlo, tak nam aj umoznuju milovat a pracovat s laskou...

(ak nahodou nieco z tohto posobi fasisticky, tak to len preto ze som nevedel najst lepsie slova...)

koniec bloku

2007-12-16T04:57:00.000-08:00

Tak prave mi zacali prazdniny... pekne som sa ulozil do mojho kresielka v obyvacke -perinka, cajik, knizka, compik a muzicka. Cele si to pekne vychutnam. Mam sice prazdnu chladnicku ale na nakupim dnes nejdem -can't be bothered, ako by povedali studenti. Je moc freshno na to aby som sa dal na taku vychadzku a vobec, na takyto chill out som sa tesil od zaciatku tyzdna. Neviem ako dlho vydrzim, ale par dni totalneho relaxu sa mi zide. Po vikende asi pojdem na malu cyklo cestu -ale najprv ho musim opravit, alebo prechadzku a platno s farbamy sa na mna tiez uz pekne usmievaju... juuuj vsetko pekne po malych dvakach a s dokonalou vsimavostou.

Pocas tyzdna som ju totozil dost casto stracal. Viem ze o praci je nuda pisat, ale ked clovek stravi 3/4 dna v skole tak sa ineho ani tak vela nedeje. Matika isla super. Mal som 28 hodin, pretoze jedna ucitelka isla na honeymoons do Himalaji a tak som mal year7, 8, 9, 10 a lower6, U6. Inac nebolo v tom vela ucenia, pretoze siedmaci a osmaci pisali velky test a tak som ich dozoroval, potom spusta opravovania a potom dve hodiny prechadzania testom. Lower six a upper six makaju na svojich past testoch... trocha vysvetlovania tam bolo ale trapas v U6 som spravil dve chyby... to uz je celkom serio matika, moja stredna a vyska su uz celkom daleko a v Bratislave som to neucil, ani tu som ich to neucil iba som prisiel na zaver termu a bum sprav snimi minulorocny exam test. Niektore veci sa podla mna u nas ani neucia, tak som si to musel nastudovat... no to je jedno, len vacsinou sa u starsich studentov respekt ziskava prehladom v danom predmete, takze chyby nie su bohvie co, aj ked samozrejme vsetci sme len ludia.
Najvacsia makacka boli y8 a y9, pretoze ti prvi su bottom set cize su z matiky uplne mimo a tym padom vyrusuju, nebavi ich to a hlavne tomu fakt nerozumeju... vela krat v spojeni s personalnymi problemami, a problemami pozornosti. Zatial co y9 su top set a ty su zase velmi dobri a tak si myslia ze si mozu aj vela dovolovat... jedno s druhym bol to celkom namahavy tyzden. Mozno aj preto ze posledne hodiny som sa snazil s nimi robit rozne akitivity ako kone a jazdci (rodinka moja pamatate si to?) a ine puzzle a hadanky a to je ovela narocnejsie na ukocirovanie pracovnej atmosfery v triede, hlavne ked k tebe nemaju taky respekt ako k anglickym ucitelom. Dnes som na y8 totolne nakrical, pretoze som nebol schopny im vysvetlit pravidla hry ktoru som si pripravil -proste ako banda opic: nepocuvali ani svojich spoluziakov. Bola to aktivita pri ktorej sme stali v kruhu v strede triedy a ja som bol v strede. Ziak na ktoreho som namieril pistolov si musel cupnut a zici po jeho lavici a pravici na seba museli vystrelit spravnu odpoved na otazku ktoru som povedal ja. Jasne ze neboli ticho, ale aby som nepocul vlastneho slova!!!! Hooops uslo mi "I am totaly pissed!!!" co detska hned zaregistrovali ako totalne inapropriate for teacher... fungovalo to chvilu... ale po chvili sa opat vratili do anarchie az to skoncilo prevratenou lavicou a to som mal uz dost! Nekrical som. Iba som ich vsetkych usadil na svoje miesta a zakazal im ceknut co len slovo. Do konca hodiny -dlhych 10 minut -nemohli nic robit a museli byt ticho ako mysi! Nikto ani necekol! Bol som fakt nahnevany a tak posledny den v skole mal 10 min. nudy. Na zaver som sa im ospravedlnil za to ze som zahresil, ale aj som si vyziadal ospravedlnenie od nich, pretoze ich spravanie tiez nebolo apropriate! Povedal som im ze su velmi narocny na zvladnutie a ze nie je fer ked ja pridem s aktivitami ktore su ine ako klasicka hodina a oni to totalne zrusia. Tiez som im vysvetlil ze od skoly nemozu ocakavat nic nerobenie... to nech ostanu doma! Vsetci pekne ako anielikovia sa ospravedlnili a pozelali mi happy christmas. Okrem tohto incidentu a trocha sklamania z tej hodiny v U6 mam inac velmi dobry pocit z celeho tyzdna. Ked ma ziaci vidia ucit tak sa voci mne spravaju inac, ako ked tam len tak sedim a pomaham inym ucitelom...

Tak to len tak na zaciatok. Ja mam teraz spustu casu a tak konecne budem mat cas vam vsetkym poriadne odpisat. Moja situacia sa celkom ustalila, ale stale sa sem tam stane ze so mnou trochu zametaju, nie je to lahke. Kolko krat si vravim ze mojemu housemastrovi poviem to alebo ono, a nakoniec je z rozhovoru len kopa zdvorilosti a "porozumenia". Moc sa to asi zmenit neda, aj ked kazda pripomienka, namietka a staznost urcite spravi svoje. Ale musi nasledovat bezchybny dokaz ze som hodny ich dovery... A priori nas podcenuju, takze je to tazke, ale kusok po kusku sa im snazim dokazovat ze mam hlavu a viem sa o veci postarat. Tym ze nie som uplne zacleneni do ucitelskeho kolektivu mi unikaju informacie o skolskych akciach -vela krat je to inac aj koli anglictine. Ked sa na staff meetingu vychrli 30 oznamov v priebehu 15tich minut tak zeregistrujem len tie co sa ma nevyhnutne tykaju a ked je to akysi "geography trip next week" tak to rychlo vysumi a prisumi to az ked pridem na hodinu a studenti nikde! Stalo sa mi to po prichode z Londyna co som bol dost nevyspaty a kebyze o tom viem tak spim o hodinu dlhsie!!!

Tak mili a drahi to by bolo vsetko. Ak mate osobnejsie, alebo konkretnejsie otazky neotalajte a napsite mi mail...

Boars Head Feast

2007-12-16T03:24:00.000-08:00

Ako vsetci viete toto je internatna skola a tak sa tu raz za cas deju aktivity, ktore na dennych skolach nemaju priestor. Jednou s nich je slavnostny vecer, zaver prveho bloku a privitanie vianoc: Boars Head Feast.
Rozpravalo sa tu o tejto hostine uz od zaciatku roka, ale moc som nevedel ze co to bude, okrem toho ze je to jedina noc ked si ziaci mozu robit srandu z ucitelov (teda oficialne). Slavnostna vecera s maskarnymi prvkami vyznela ako totalne sialenstvo. Vsetci piskali a saleli. Tiez som sa nechal trochu uniest a s mini vodnymi pistolimi sme sa strielali zo studentami. Potom honosna hlava prasata presla halou a mohli sme zacat jest. Prekvapivo jedla nebolo az tak vela a nebolo ani take dobre. Suche meso aj zemiaky, riesia to polievanim tzv. Gravy sauce, ktora tomu doda stavu, ale nechuti bohvie ako... klasicke anglicke jedlo: bez chuti. Potom presiel halou zapaleny puding a na stoloch sme mali traditional christmas puding.

Po celom tomto karnevalovom blaznovstve sme sa presunuli do skolskej haly a zacalo sa divadlo. Kazdy inernatny dom si pripravil vlastne predstavenie. Mame tu Lancaster house, kde su junior a senior chlapci do roku 9. Potom Brigs house a Mallinson house, kde su chalani od year 10 az do upper 6 a jeden dievcensky barak- Norfolk. Predstavenie mali aj skolsky red ties, co je najvacsia pozicia studentov v skole a na zaver sme boli mi ucitelia.
Poviem vam teda ze ziaci sa stym moc neparali. Vzdy sa zamerali na urcitu vlastnost daneho ucitela, bud typicke tyki, slova alebo gestikulaciu a totalne to zvelicili. Niekedy az prehnane a na hranici drzosti. Pravda je vsak ta ze som sa nasmial do sytosti. Vacsina udalosti bola pravdiva a mnohy ucitelia naozaj maju divne az uchylne sposobi spravania... vyslovene si to ziada sparodovanie. Zopar udalosti bolo vymyslenych, ale studenti opat dokazali ze ich pozornemu oku neunikne ziadna chybicka, alebo preslap a tu to pekne vsetko vyslo na svetlo! Niektori ucitelia boli v kazdom sketchy (predstaveni) ako napriklad moj housemaster, ktory je vyslovene preslaveny svojim "hi, are you OK? Ok, ok catch up with you later" alebo "thank you indeed!" a typickym vzticenym palcom.

Gyula bol tiez v troch predstaveniach. V dvoch ako plavec (minuly rok o sebe tvrdil ze je dobry plavec a na pretekoch plaval stylom prsia..., tento rok boli opat preteky -vsetci si zneho robili srandu a taktiez zistovali moje plavecke schopnosti. Ja som vzdy len tak neutralne odpovedal ze plavat viem, a ze nie som najhorsi... ked prisli preteky tak som ich suverejne vyhral a tak nikto nechapal. Nebolo to tazke a ja naozaj nie som bohvie aky borec iba ze rad plavem a tak sem tam skocim na bazen a v lete som na jazerach...) a v tretej hre bol samozrejme Boratom. Dost typicka reakcia studentov na nas vychodoeurpanou je ci sme z Kazachstanu, alebo klasicke poznamky ako "great success" ci "jak se mas?" (hlasky s filmu Borat, pre nezasvetenych). Nie je to bohvie co, ale uz som si na to zvykol. Gyula bol po predstaveni urazeny, ale ked sa na druhy den prisli baby ospravedlnit tak to poprel... Dobre bolo ze si robili srandu aj zo spoluziakov.

Ja som nebol ani v jednom predstaveni a iba baby ma raz spomenuli ako plaveckeho trenera Gyulu... Moze to znamenat dve veci: bud som pre nich nudny a nezaujimavy, alebo ma proste necheli zosmiesnit, pripadne nevedeli ako. Vsetci ucitelia mi hovorili ze fakt mozem byt rad, a ze to ze tam nie som je pozivitivne...

Christingle Service and some more

2007-12-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

Don't know what is christingle? Don't worry neither did I few hours before! Apparently it's is a big thing here, because we had a formal chapel tonight. So what it is then? Well just an orange pierced by toothpicks with gummy bears and stabbed by candle. Then almost ritually lighted by one candle form the front. Of course under scrutinising fire-hazard safety conditions. Traditions are different all around the world so I shouldn't be so negative, should I? This one started in 1749 in a church in Germany by a Bishop. His name was Bishop John de Watteville and he led worship among the Moravian Congregation in Marienborn, Germany. He was the creator of the Christingle service. Christingle means "Christ-Light." The whole service was as usually full of hymn singing, praying and students reading various speeches and "funny"-christian-for kids-orientated dialogues. At least they are trying to make it interesting. Actually at the beginning of the year I found it interesting, but now I am starting to find them ridiculous, naive and brainwashing. The main point was to create a christingle and after we have done so and sung some more songs the service was over.

But there are other things happening as well. After I came back from London I focused on teaching. In the last week one teacher is going for her honeymoons so I will take over all her lessons. Finally some action! So I have two weeks to assimilate with her classes. Right from beginning I can say that I enjoy it much more than the ones I had with my boss -head of Maths. This teacher is much more relaxed and so are the students. The way she teach is maybe little traditional but she is really nice and natural -not like... Nice is that except from year 8 she has top sets or set 3 in year 10. The students are divided into set according to their maths skills, so it's obviously better to teach set 1 then set 5 because the kids like what they are doing!

As you already know teaching is not the main area which occupies me here... there was an annual staff vs. students basketball match this Wednesday. We all knew that students are much better in the game, and in good physical shape -well what do you expect when they have trainings twice a week and match at least once a month! Unlike the teachers who never played to gather! Despite this tremendous disadvantage we were not hammered and the final score was 22:17 for students. Well done and much enjoyed! Then on Friday I participated in 4-a-side football, so my week was quite active as usual. I was on duty during the weekend, which meant that I had to be in the house all the time, but unlike the other assistants I have no problem with finding something to do, so I enjoyed it and relaxed as well.

Lastly a thing worth mentioning. In our house was one boy -Brano (names are changed just to protect my self). He was a trouble since beginning and I was told that he is in the boarding as a punishment for his previous problems. I had few serious issues with him. The last one happened this week. He and his roommates messed about just before the lights out, so me and Dano -the head of house- took care of it, or better to say Dano get really angry and yelled at them using vast variety of swear words. The next morning Brano called me "penis" because I haven't done anything to stop Dano... well altogether it was just too much so I have written a letter to Headmaster and Head of Boarding and poor Brano is expelled from boarding and also from school for two weeks -at least that's what I heard so far, but I still don't have the official answer...

Well that's it from last gossips... see ya!

London calling

2007-11-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

Takze tentokrat iba v slovencine pretoze sa ide ohovarat..., ale nie, proste len citatelia, o ktorych viem, tvoria dve skupiny: ty co citaju iba slovenske prispevky a ty co citaju iba anglicke prispevky, no a su aj taky ktori rozumeju obom jazykom, ale pravdepodobne si radsej precitaju tu slovensku verziu a tento clanok je len pre nich.

Nas squeeze team exploration pekne pokracuje a rozrasta sa. Tento vikend sa k jadru Katalin a Ja pridala nasa verna Martina a traja novacikovia: Guyla, David a Balint - celkom srandovna trojka, uz len tie mena zneju ako nejaka vtipna kreslena rozpravka... Vsetci traja su madarskej narodnosti zatial co prvi traja spomenuti su v podstate Ceskoslovaci, tak sme vytvorili nepisane dve skupinky. Nic v zlom, ale nasa skoro nadavka "ty si ale madar!" ma svoje opodstatnenie. Chlapci boli totiz trochu spomaleni a akoby z ineho sveta. Gyula sa zo vsetkeho tesi a vsetko pozoruje ako maly chlapec, David je naopak velky, rozumny, ale aj tvrdohlavy a netrpezlivy, zatial co Balint vyznel kludne a spokojne -neviem vsak ci to nebolo len preto ze si nebol isty svojou anglictinou.

S Guylom som cestoval v piatok hned po skole do Londyna. Tu v Harrogate si z neho skoro kazdy robi srandu a Sebastianovi a Nelly vyslovene lezie na nervy. Dost dobre som sa snim porozprval a snazil som sa mu trocha vysvetlit ze to jeho detinske spravanie spojene s poucovanim druhych moze naozaj ludi iritovat. Je vsak pravda ze to mysli dobre. Mna osobne to iba pobavuje a chalaniska mam celkom rad, len teda nema to tu lahke -cely jeho zjav akoby ziadal poznamky a nerespektovanie.

Dorazili sme neskoro v noci na Victoria station a vdaka detailnym instrukciam od Martini sme nasli jej skolu a intrak bez problemov. Vecer sme sa chvilku porozpravali a isli sme spat... pri lihani do postele sa ma Guyla spytal ci mi vadi chrapanie? Ja ze brutalne! A tak sa chalanisko bez slova zdvihol, zobral si madrac a spal v chodbicke... velmi mile gesto. Doteraz som vzdy trpel, alebo to riesil stuplami do usi, ktore som si vsak tentokrat zabudol.

Sobota bola celkom nabita. Najprv k nam dorazili Katalin so zbytkom a vidali sme sa na japosnku turistiku. Ked uz mam tu kameru tak by som ju mal aj vyuzit, nie? Ale co London je starodavne a historicke mesto, tak to stalo za to! Len ti ludia! Ako mravce, fuj... Londyn sa sice nepodoba na Chicago, ale svojou preludnenostou a velkostou som si pospominal na moj zivot vo velkomeste. Plus stretol som sa s Gonzalesom -ceskym kamosom z Chicaga a tak bolo na co spominat. Chalanisko je v anglicku par mesiacov, a tesne pred vikendom sa mi ozval ze je tu a ze ide do Londyna, ja ze tiez a tak sme si vymenili telefonne cisla... moc sa nezmenil: klasika ploskacka vo vacku a pobehovanie po meste. Domov soferoval 150 mil a to ze pil ho samozrejme vobec nevzrusovalo.

Na veceru sme skocili do China town, co zacina byt pomali moja klasika. V zahranici vacsinou jem zahranicne jedla... china, india, mexico... Na vecer sme planovali ist do baru, alebo na disku, ale nakoniec sme skoncili u Davida kde sme hrali konverzacno-herecke hry. Konecne banda ludi ktora sa vie zabavat aj bez alkoholu -aj ked mozne len preto ze sa nam ziaden nepodarilo kupit, pretoze vsetko bolo zavrete.

Nedela bola totalne spomalena, pretoze sme isli spat o 4tej rano a tak sme stavali o 10tej niektori na obed! S Martinou sme vytvorili akusi ceskoslovensku opoziciu a dost kruto sme sa zabavali na margo madarov -fakt som si nemohol pomoct, su to super chalani, ale niektore ich reakcie proste ziadaju komentar. Celkovo som si s Marinou dost dobre rozumel, co mi padlo ako balzam na dusu v tomto cudzom a velakrat nehostinnom prostredi... a hlavne prostredi samich chalanov, aspon teda co sa intraku tyka. Napisal by som aj viac, ale kedze si to bude asi aj ona citat, tak sa zdrzim komentara.
Z bytu sme sa vytrepali az po obede a tak to babi vzdali a nechali nas na pospas velkomestu. Nic to v Londyne sme sa stretli s Davidovou znamou Zitou (tiez madarka) a ona zavolala svoju kamosku,... fuha-neviem-ako-sa-volala... tato bola pre zmenu francuzka. Dievcatka boli pekne co len malina, ale aj patricne afektovane a tak som sa len prechadzal a pozoroval. Gyula bol v siedmom nebi. Uz som sa nedokazal, resp. nechcel preorientovat na ich hladinu. S Katalin a Martinou si rozumieme akosi bez slov, a tu to bolo len o slovach, celkovo dost zbytocnych slovach a tak som ich trochu posetril.
Zato na spiatocnej ceste som opat hodil hlboke debaty s Gyulom a chalanisko nie je vobec taky hlupi ako vyzera! Len ked ludia okolo sa vacsinou zujimaju iba o to ako ten druhy vyzera... Napr. hovoril ze pocity su hlboko za vedomim a ze je mozno az nemozne ich ovladat. Nuz nebit meditacie tak mu dam aj za pravdu...

A day that changed my life for the better.

2007-11-21T11:19:00.000-08:00

The day took place back in 1999, it was, in June, 9th June to be precise. I can still vividly recall the memories and feelings that I had on that particular day. The reason why I remember the date is because it is my birthday, but that is not the point.

The reason why this day stand out from the haze of all the other days, I have lived so far, is elswhere. I was on a four week train journey around Spain and had been ther for already a week. Since it was a low budget trip I was quite tired and also fed up with all the tickets arrangements and with all the difficulties one has to face when travelling on one’s own in foreign country. A little discomfort and occasional rush is a daily occurrence.
But not on this day. No, I decided to enjoy it as much as possible. So after I woke up I went straight to the beach. Oh, how much I love hot Mediterranean sun on my skin and sea watter in which to swim! No rush, no train-timetable checking, no misunderstandings with nonenglish speaking Spanish people. No thoughts like where am I going to sleep, or what am I going to eat. Not today. Today is my birth day and I am going to celebrate it! Everything that I am doing, I am doing with absolute consciousness and peace in my heart. Just here and now. I am lying on a beach in a small Spanish coast at town, fully enjoying the richness of the moment. Later on that day I bought my self fresh, juicy tropical fruits, and walked down the street appreciating their unique taste. Simple things like this were giving me unimaginable pleasure.

Nothing more happened, nothing more interesting. So I must explain why it changed my life. Well, it was the first birthday that I really lived through and fully appreciated. The first time I was truly happy with myself. The first time it was no problem being alone and not being lonely. This day helped me to leave behind the teenage depressions and step forward towards a possitve future, and that I call a change!

Lake District

2007-11-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

Squeeze team was very good idea. To be honest, at the beginning I thought it wouldn't last for long. I already met many other groups and teams of people outside Slovakia, and it was usually just temporary friendship. Only few exceptions, like Tomas Deli, are disproving the rule. I hope there will be more! First meeting of squeeze team was a big success so we decided to continue the action. Before I start to tell the story I have to say one thing: there is no exact definition of squeeze team -basically anybody who is open-minded and willing-to-travel can become a member. This time me, Katalin and Martina (Czech HMC teacher) decided to go to England's treasure land called Lake District. The highest mountains and most beautiful lakes are situated in this middle west part of England. It used to be peace of land responsible for many quarrels and hassles between Dukes and Kings because everybody wanted to have it in their shire.
Once again we went for the option which killed two birds with one stone: rent a car, which provides transport and accommodation... First plan was to meet at Friday night and sleep at my place in Harrogate since it is relatively close to the park. But my housemaster didn't really like the idea of two women sleeping in boys boarding house -strangely one would be OK! And the fact that they are teachers didn't help either. So we adjusted our plans and girls travelled over night. I picked them up on Saturday morning at 6:40... good time for starting the day, but it didn't happened. We didn't leave Harrogate until as late as 10 am. You know: shower, breakfast, renting car, shopping in supermarket...
But we managed to leave, and decided to go through Yorkshire Dales (another national park, even closer to Harrogate) just to have nice views from the car, rather than just go on highway. The weather forecast for the whole week was horrible -as Martina said: "It's going to rain dogs and cats" which obviously induce amusement among native speakers... Surprisingly for country famous for rain and fog it didn't look like it at all. In fact at mid-day it was so nice that I decided -as the driver of the car- for the whole team that we should do our today's hiking now. No matter we were just in the middle of our way, somewhere in the Dales. I just stopped on first parking lot available and we hiked small hill. I'm not sure but it was called something like Cam Heat... anyway it was just a nice walk beyond the village. Parking was ridiculously expansive so spent there only 2 hours. At least we just made it during the dry and sunny part of the day, because the forecast was slowly fulfilling... for the rest of the day we just drove towards the Lake district discussing where exactly we wanna go. Finally we decided to go to Coninston and tomorow go for peak with curious name: Old man of Coninston. Since we came to the town quite early and the dogs finally begun to fall we ended up in local pub, discussing, chatting and having fun. It's like healing balm for the soul to feel the mutual understanding, sharing common opinions and coming from similar backgrounds. Everything sounded so meaningful, so wise, so warm and nice! I'm sure girls will agree with me, even though the rum might made it easier for them to feel all of this.
We were looking for the place to sleep for a while but found one parking lot without the usual sign "no over night parking", eventually. The rain on the body of the car is lovely tune for peaceful night -well if you are trained and used to sleep in little more uncomfy conditions than warm bed with teady bear next to you...
The good spell was dwelling upon us, because the whole night rain ceased in morning and before we start to hike the Old man there was no rain at all. Everything was nicely washed out and refreshed. The air was chili and ground soaked, but the whole scenery was marvelous. I already mentioned that the altitudes in England are not that high, but the actual appearance of the mountains is not that bad. Old man is only 800m high, and the hills around it are not much higher, since the highest mountain in England (Scaffel Pike) is only 978m. But the numbers are not everything. Mountains here have only few trees so there are great views almost everywhere and they look massive and solid. They look reddish and brownish due to plant called Header, grass, fallen leaves and earth. Now they were full of autumn colours, bright and vivid. We didn't managed to reach the summit, because it was like 7 hours hike and we had only 5 if we wanted to be safe for the bus from Leeds to London. Well, it doesn't matter, because after few ours we reached clouds and the visibility was getting poor, so it wouldn't make much difference to get to the top, except the fact that we conquered the peak -witch just a human vanity anyway... The point was to be outside, to chat and to refresh our minds from monotonic days in the System! And we fulfilled this point, so it was all fine. On the way back we already discussed the further development of squeeze team... so this weekend we are meeting in London!
pics will come soon

len tak

2007-11-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

Pomaly sa dostavam na anglicku uroven ironie, drzosti a urazania. Celkovo tu totiz prevlada komunikacia, ktora v sebe zahrna vsetky tri spomenute vlastnosti... vacsinou to na zaver odlahcia niecim ako "I was just kidding...sir". Naivne som si myslel, ze som vytrenovany z intraku a privatu, ale tu to nadobuda dalsiu dimenziu.O asistentoch som uz pisal… zmenilo sa len jedno… komunikujem s nimi menej a menej.
Anglicki ucitelia okolo mna su uplne ine kafe. Po profesionalnej stranke sa mam co ucit. Po osobnostnej, cest zopar vynimkam, je to bieda. Same “Hello, how are you”... pricom to “you” je povedane tri metre od teba... Tak to tu cele sledujem a pozorujem. Tiez som zaregistroval akusi pychu, alebo ego, ktore je tu kruto davane dolu, pretoze Slovensko tu znie asi ako Azerbajdzan u nas! Niektori si uz vsimli ze ucit viem, ale priatelstvo z toho nevznikne.Pomaly si zvykam aj na dennu, resp. tyzdennu rutinu... uz sa ani nesnazim o bohvie ake nadvazovanie kontaktov. S ostatnymi asistentmi sa stretavam len pri jedle a sem tam v skole, ale skoro vobec sa nenavstevujeme a akosi polavili aj v sportovani, a tak si valim pekne sam... v pondelok CPE kurz angliny, v utorok vacsinou Duty na intraku, v stredu lezenie na stene, vo stvrtok plavaren, v piatok Duty, v sobotu behanie po meste, cekovanie miestnych secondhandov a outletov (uz som nakupil zopar vychytavok...) a v nedelu po obede hry a aktivity (futbal, basketbal, bedminton) a vecer chapel. Sem tam sa niekto prida, co je mila obmena, ale uz mi je jasne, ze pocas celeho roka tu ozajstnych priatelov mat nebudem.
Tak isto viem, ze co sa prace tyka, sa to asi velmi nezmeni. Je jedno, ci pracujem vela, alebo malo, plat mam taky isty... co je trocha nebezpecne (hrozi zlenivenie) ...zatial sa vytazujem naplno, aj ked ani zdaleka nie ako v BA (tam to vsak bolo dobrych 120%, co nie je zdrave). Nasiel som si zopar hodin chemie, kde tiez asistujem. Nic uchvatne, len pozorujem ucitela a triedu a sem tam niekomu pomozem. Z anglickeho nazvoslovia som dost mimo, ale teoriu si na prekvapenie pamatam. Sporty su teda pravidelnostou a dost vela casu travim v izbe, bud za internetom, alebo citanim... alebo pozeram telku - BBC ako trening listeningu... Co sa kurzu anglictiny tyka, tam by som mohol zabrat viac, ale akosi to odkladam. Vzdy dam prednost kamosom na internete ktorym odpisujem dlhe maily, alebo vypisovanim na blog... ako teraz!Ozvala sa mi Evka, bol to velke prekvapko... a znamenalo to pre mna vela, pretoze od rozchodu to boli prve slova, ktore som od nej pocul z jej vlastnej iniciativy...
Pomaly rozmyslam, co dalej. Anglicko by naozaj bola hlupost opustit, aj ked so samotnymi prachmi neviem neviem, uz som kupil kameru, a hned mi beha po rozume aj laptop... hroza tie materialisticke tuzby a chtice! Takze moje nastavenie na sporenie sa zatial nekona. Na stastie dom je dobra motivacia, aj ked stale to je len materia! Cesta na vychod to trocha vyvazuje! Tiez by som si rad niekedy zablbol a nebol stale prikladom, a niekedy tu toho mam plne zuby, ale vtedy si vzdy spomeniem na Little Miss Sunshine, kde jeden chlapik hovoril chalaniskovi, co nerozpraval, ze tie najhorsie casy ta najviac posuvaju dopredu!!!

Skotsko, in medias res (preklad, ine obrazky)

2007-11-02T13:09:00.001-07:00

Pondelok rano. Balime vsetky potrebne veci na 4dnovi vylet autom a v aute. Hura, auto sa stane nasim dopravnym prostriedkom a domov v jednom. Takze cena za prenajom vlastne zabila dve muchy jednou ranou... aj tak nie je mozne spat vonku v takychto podmienkach (5-10 C, vlhko, hmla... Britania...) bez spacakov. Takze sme zbalili periny (este nikdy som necestoval s niecim tak domacim...), mapy a teple handry a vyrazili sme.

Nasa prva destinacia bol Forth William, resp. Ben Nevis. Dramaticky efekt tejto hory, britskej najvyssej hory, je umocneny skutocnostou ze zacina stupat z nadmorskej vysky 9m na brehu jazera Loch Linnhe, az kym nevytvory monument 1334m vysoko nad mestom Forth William, co posobi tak trocha otcovsky. Samotne cislo neznie vela pre Europanov zvyknutych na Vysoke Tatry, Alpy pripadne Karpaty. Ale nez budes sudit, zober do uvahy, ze Skotsko lezi v severnejsom zemepisnom pasme, co vytvara klimu podobnu arktickym regionom, a nemal by si zanedbat ani fakt, ze zaciatok cesty je 9m nad urovnou mora, takze vyskovy rozdiel je presne vyska hory... Zapadne pravidla a bezpecnostne predpisy su trochu viac strnule, takze panika vo visitor centre sa nas pre istotu opytala, ci chceme zdolat ich pychu dnes? Bolo nieco okolo 14:00 a pocko bolo super (na Skotsko!). Pravdu povediac, vobec sme nepremyslali, jednoducho si to vybehneme nie? Ale ked nam tetula povedala ze to trva dobrych 7 hodin, pripadne 5 ak sme fakt vo forme, tak sme si to radsej rozmysleli. Dodala sice, ze sa to da stihnut aj za hodinu a pol, ale to je narodny rekord a ten asi neprekoname. Nema problema prideme zajtra!

Pre dnesok mozeme ocekovat Loch Ness. Dalsie senzacne a velmi zname miesto. Na mape sme nasli maly kopec, ktory sme sa rozhodli zdolat - nech sa dame do formy na to monstrum! Prijemna vychadzka. Spali sme na brehu jazera. Vecer sme si spravili malu disku okolo auta... traja ucitelia vypusteny z klietky! Jazero je temne a hlboke (280m!!!), obklopene kopcami. Cele Skotsko postrada stromy, takze kazdy kopec vyzera masivne a ponuka uchvatne vyhlady.

Bez ohladu na to, co budem pisat v najblizsich riadkoch, clovek by mal vzdy byt poriadne pripraveny na turu! Jednoducho pretoze je v horach. Ibaze ste totalne chtivi turisti a nemate vsetku tu potrebnu vybavu, tak potom proste chodte do toho! Ja som zdolal ten kopec v skejtackych teniskach, normalnych nohaviciach a vo vlnenom triku. To triko bolo teda riadne na chuja, ale co! Koho to trapi teraz? Spravili sme to za uctyhodnych 7 a pol hodiny hore a dole. Ziadna sranda! Ale je pravda, ze sme cely cas kecali, a tempo bolo tak do pohody. Podla cestovneho sprievodcu 9 z 10tich dni je vrch zahaleny v oblakoch. Pocas celej tury to vyzeralo, ze sa trafime do tejto predpovede a ze moc toho neuvidime - co je jeden z dovodov, preco sa ludia stveraju tak vysoko, nie? Bolo extremne veterno, zima a horna stvrtina Benu bola namocena v hustej mliecnej hmle. Ale mali sme naozaj stastie, pretoze tesne pred dosiahnutim vrcholu sa oblaky zacali vytracat a pocko spravilo jednu peknu 360tku, obnazujuc dych vyrazajuce vyhlady a ukazujuc prirodnu magiu -nazyvanu duha - tentokrat dokonca kruhovu. Ako to uz tak byva, cesta dolu bola ovela namahavejsia - hlavne cez tie nase skratky!

Streda. Opat sme sa raz zobudili na brehu jazera, ktore sa tu vsetky volaju Loch. Boli sme celkom zniceni, Ja zacinam mat celkom serioznu svalovku na lytkach. Nikde inde, jedine lytka, pravdepodobne to zapricinila ta schodovita cesta na vrchol Ben Nevisu. Neviete si predstavit lepsi step aerobik. Takze sme sa rozhodli pre trocha viac turisticky typ vyletu -vsetko z auta. Presli sme cely ostrov Isle of Sky, ktory nam bol odporucany ako jeden z highlightov Skotska. Ano, bol mily, ale kedze som stravil cely den na zadnych sedadlach auta, tak si pamatam tak akurat 15minutove zastavky na roznych miestach. Nezalezi, ake uchvatne boli, moc som si ich neuzil. Ako som mohol? Boli sme ako japonski turisti v Bratislave - fotky a wow citoslovce! Ale aspon sme spravili mnoho mil! Zamujimave bolo sledovat, co sa stane s tromi individuami zavretymi v limitovanom priestore po cely den, comu predchadzali dalsie dva dni spolu. Presne, ako som to uz zazil predtym, vyvinuli sme si vlastny jazyk a svojske vtipky... ako zvycajne spali sme pri nejakom Lochu.
Stvrtok. Vrchol tohto dna bol hned rano! Zastavili sme sa na kave a caji, ktore sme sa rozhodli vychutnat si na lavickach s uzasnym vyhladom na Atlanticky ocean. Dosiahli sme totiz koniec Skotska, smerujuc do mesta Tongue. Nevinny ranny caj sa premenil na extaticke kupanie sa v studenom oceane s vonkajsou teplotou menej ako 15 C na slnku!!! Utesy boli uzasne, plaz nadherna a ocean rozkosny a osviezujuci. Boli sme vo vode iba par minut, ale nasledujucu hodinu ci dve sme boli zenergetizovani ako po adrenalinovom soku z volneho padu.
Zbytok dna bol tiez bajecny. Vedeli sme ze sa nasa cesta blizi ku koncu a tak sme vela diskutovali a boli sme k sebe velmi mili. A samozrejme, ze sme si robili srandu z Britov a Skotov, vsak co ocakavate od troch cudzincocv na prvych prazdninach. Bolo to roztomile, uchvatne a tak dalej...

Skotsko, zaciatok (translation different pics)

2007-10-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

Prvy half-term v Ashville nebol az taky tazky, ale predsalen som narazil na zopar tazkosti. Ako ste sa mohli docitat v poslednom prispevku. Takze prve prazdniny prisli v tom pravom case. Pripravoval som sa na ne skoro mesiac. Samozrejme nie doslova, ale bookovanie listkov dopredu je ovela lacnejsie. Jedine, co mi bolo jasne bolo, ze chcem cele prazdniny stravit na ceste - ved viete, ze to je moja vasen! Nemrhal som ani minutou a vydal som sa priamo do Skotska, presnejsie do Perthu, kde Katalin a Bogdan na mna uz cakali. Katalin je slovenska HMC ucitelka, uci niekde juzne od Londyna a Bogdan je rumunsky HMC ucitel, no a on je na skole kusok od Perthu. Oboch som stretol v Cambridge na orientation na zaciatku roka.

Nase dobrodruzstvo sa prave zacalo. Hned prvy vecer sme skocili na male obcerstvenie v lokalnom bare, kde sme sledovali ako Anglicko prehrava v majstrovstvach sveta v rugby - co je tu pravdepodobne najpopularnejsi sport. Boli porazeni Juznou Afrikou, samozrejme vsak ze rugby nebola nasa hlavna atrakcia. Hlavny bod programu bolo prebrat plan na nasledujuci tyzden, pretoze doposial sme sa starali iba o to, ako sa dostat k Bogdanovi. Rozhodli sme sa, ze si poziciame auto, zvazili sme to ako najrozumnejsi sposob, ako preskumat (viacmenej) obrovske Skotsko v rozmedzi par dni (presnejsie 4roch)

Den potom - bola nedela - sa zacal velmi pomaly, no ved co ocakavate od troch ucitelov, ktori si uzivaju svoje prve prazdniny? Ale podarilo sa nam vybavit vsetko podla planu a po dobrych anglickych ranajkach (prekvapivo po dvoch mesiacoch nemam ziaden problem rano zosupovat slaninu, resp. sunku a vajicka na ranajky!) sme sa vidali do mesta, kde sme si prenajali novy Vauxhall Corsa (v Europe znamy ako Opel) za celkom slusnych 35£/den s plnym poistenim - ktore sme s radostou uvitali, pretoze nikto z nas nesoferoval auto na lavej strane cesty. V skutocnosti to nie je az take zlozite, staci sa preladit na ovladanie prevodovky lavou rukou - prava ruka sa najprv vzpiera a z casu na cas sama posmatra po prevodovke, ale narazi akurat tak na dvere sofera! Inokedy ta zasa ide slak trafit, ked vidis toho debila, ako ide priamo na teba... az ked ta tesne minie, si uvedomis ze ty si ten "debil," pretoze nevies, ze tu je to cele naopak! Vsetky tieto "prekazky" sa daju prekonat viac menej v priebehu jedneho dna. Co vsak trva dlhsie je prisposobit sa tym uzuckym cestam, ktore tu maju! Hlavne cesty su ako chodniky v Amerike (aj ked tie su tam skor nadrozmerne!) a lokalne cesty su skoro ako jednosmerky! Avsak perfektne sa hodia do krasneho obrazka celej krajny, presne ako tie americke pasuju do Ameriky! Po case sme si na to zvykli...
Prvy den sme isli iba do blizkeho St. Andrews, co malo byt studentske mesto. Az na skutocnost, ze sme tam nestretli ani jedneho studenta, to bolo utulne skotske mestecko. Zopar obrazkov by vas mohli dat do obrazu... Nebolo to zle, ale ani nic specialne - super vsak bolo, ze som konecne travil moj cas s fajnovymi ludmi. Ja som rozumel ich a oni posobili, ze rozumeju mna, aj ked sme vsetko len nie rovnaki. Jedina nasa spolocna vlastnost je nasa tvrdohlavost, ale neboli z toho ziadne problemy!!! V skutocnosti sme mali vela srandy a vyvinul sa z nas dobry tym aj na dlhsie cesty.
Ale o tom v nasledujucom prispevku.

Scotland, in medias res

2007-10-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

Monday morning. Pack all things necessary for 4 days trip by car and in the car. Yeah, car became our vehicle and house in one. So the price of rent covered the price of hotels as well, cause it is impossible to sleep outside in this kind out weather (5-10C, humid, foggy... Britain...) without sleeping bags, as naugthy British would say, we killed two birds with one stone... So we packed duvets (I have never ever traveled with some thing more homelike ...), maps and warm clobbers and departed. Our first destination was Forth William, or more precisely Ben Nevis. The dramatic effect of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, is emphasised by the fact that it begins its rise from sea-level on the shores of Loch Linnhe, to tower 1,344m (4,406ft ) above the town of Fort William, providing an almost paternal presence. It doesn't sound much for Europeans familiar with High Tatras, or Alps, or whatever other mountains. But before you judge, consider the fact that Scotland is more northerly latitude which creates climate similar to Arctic regions and you shouldn't neglect that the starting altitude is 9m, so you literally climb the whole 1340m. Western rules and safety precautions are little more rigid, so the guide at the visitor center asked us, if we want to climb it today. Well, yes? We were not really thinking about all these facts, we just wanted to go for a walk. It was something around 2pm and the weather was nice (relatively in Scotland, though!). She told us that the hike might take 7 to 8 hours, even though the good time is 5 hours and national record is 1 and 1/2 hour! So we were forced to change our plans. No problem, we will come tomorrow.For today we can check the Loch Ness. Another spectacular and well know place. We founded on a map small hill, which we decided to climb to get in shape for Ben Nevis. It was a lovely walk... We slept on the banks of Loch Ness, which can be characterised as dark and deep (280m), surrounded by hills. At the night we had a small dancing party around the car... teachers unleashed after two months! All Scotland lacks trees, so any kind of hill looks massive and offers amazing views.No matter what I will say in next few lines, one should be always well prepared for any hikes! Just because you are in mountain region! Only if you are really keen hiker, and don't have all the necessary equipment with you, then go for it. I did it in skateboard sneakers and regular trousers with cotton shirt! The last mentioned sucked a lot, but who cares now! It took us respectable 7 and 1/2 hours up and down - as the lady mentioned, but well we were talking all the time... anyway it is not short at all. According to the travel guide, 9 out of 10 days the summit is covered with clouds. During the whole climb it looked like we were not going to see much from the top, which is one of the reason you are doing the effort, isn't it? It was extremely windy, cold and upper quarter of Ben was dipped in thick milky fog. But we were really lucky because few meters before reaching the summit, the clouds started to vanish and as we get to the top, the weather turned 360 degrees, revealing breathtaking views and showing natur´s magic called rainbow - this time circular! As usually, the way down was more tiring and quite bones damaging, well especially on the shortcuts we took!Wednesday. Once again we woke up on the shore of a lake, they call them Loch here. We were quite wasted, I was starting to feel serious muscle fever on my calves. Nothing else, just calves, I guess it's from the steps-like-track on Ben Nevis. You can't imagine better step aerobic! So we decided to have a little more tourist-like trip in a car. We drove all around Isle of Sky, which was recommended as one of the highlights of Scotland. Yes, it was lovely but I spent all day in the back of our car, so all I remember are just few 15min. stops on various places. No matter how spectacular they were, I didn't really enjoyed them. How could I? We were like Japanese tourists in Bratislava -taking pictures, and making wow sounds! But at least we covered lot of miles! What was good on it, was that we were exploring what happens when 3 individuals close them self in rather limited space and spend there whole day - antecedent by other two days together. As I experienced before, we developed our own language and particular jokes... As usually we slept near some Loch.Thursday: The highlight of this day was the very morning! We stopped for coffee and tea, and decided to enjoy them on benches with marvelous view of Atlantic ocean. We reached the top of Scotland and we were aiming to town Tongue. The innocent morning tea extended into ecstatic swimming in the cold ocean with outside temperature not more than 15C on the sun! The cliffs were amazing, beach marvelous and ocean lovely and refreshing. We were in the water only for few minutes but during the next hour or two we were energized as after adrenalin shock from free fall.
The rest of the day was lovely, too. We knew that our trip is slowly coming to the end, so we discussed a lot and were really nice to each other. And of course, we made fun of British and Scottish people, well, what do you expect from three foreigners on theirs first break! It was lovely, marvelous and so on...

Scotland, getting started

2007-10-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

The first half-term at Ashville wasn't that hard, but I had to face some difficulties, eventually. As you might have read in the last article. So half-term break came at the right time. I was preparing for it almost for a month. Of course, just because booking tickets is much cheaper when you do it in advance. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to spend it entirely by travelling – well, you know that's my passion! I didn't waste a minute and went straight to Scotland, precisely Perth, where Katalin and Bogdan were already waiting for me. Katalin is Slovak HMC teacher, she was located somewhere south of London and Bogdan is Romania HMC teacher, he is at school close to Perth. I met both of them at the Cambridge orientation at the beginning of the school year.Our adventure was just about to begin. Right that evening we went for a small refreshment into local bar, where we saw England loosing worlds final in rugby - which is here probably the most popular sport. They have been beaten by South Africa, but anyway rugby wasn't the attraction. The aim was to discuss the plan for following week, because so far we were only worried about how to get to Bogdan's place. We decided to rent a car, as it sounded as the most sensible way how to explore (more less) vast Scotland within few days (exactly 4).The next day - it was Sunday - started very slowly, well what do you expect from tree teachers having first holidays? But we managed to do everything as planned, after good English breakfast (surprisingly after 2 months, I have no problem eating bacon and eggs in the morning!) we went to town and rent new Vauxhall Corsa (in Europe known as Opel) for quite decent £35/day with full insurance - which we gladly welcomed, because none of us drew a car on the left side of route. Actually, it is not that difficult, you just need to switch into left hand gear shifting -at the beginning the right hand seems to pop out accidentally, looking for the stick, but finding nothing but drivers door! And sometimes you get terrified that the stupid idiot in front of you is driving straight into you, it only after he miss you, that you realize that you are the one who should be called stupid for not knowing that here it is the other way around. All of these "hindrances" can be over come within one day, or so. But what takes longer, is to adjust into the tiny narrow streets and routes they have here! The main routes are like American sidewalks (here they call it pavement, but anyway they are rather to vast in America!) and the local routes are almost like one way streets! Well, but they fit well good together with the whole landscape, as the American do with American countryside. We get used to them... eventually.For the first day we went only to nearby St. Andrews, which was meant to be a students town. Except of the fact that we didn't meet any students, it was lovely little Scottish town. Few pictures should give you the picture... It wasn't bad, but nothing really spectacular - the great fact was that I was finally spending my time with fine people. I understood them and they looked like they understand me, even though we were all but different. The only common characteristic was our stubborness, but it didn't cause any problems at all! Actually we had lot of fun and ended up as a good team for longer journey.

But this will come in the following article.

Temna strana

2007-10-13T03:51:00.000-07:00

Posledny tyzden bol hrozny. Od pondelka po piatok, to vyzeralo ako keby som kazde rano vykrocil tou nespravnou nohou. Neviem presne opisat co sa dialo, ibaze sa veci vymikali mojej kontrole. Mozno praveto je ten problem, mozno sa snazim mat vsetko pod kontrolou, no nech je to co chce, skusim to dat vsetko von formou tohto blogu.
Uz som tu dost dlho na to aby som sa stotoznil s dennou rutinou, ale nie dost dlho na to aby som pochopil vsetko co sa deje okolo mna. Vsetko sa to zacalo v pondelok. Chvalil som sixth formerov, ale asi unahlene, v pondelok ma prekvapili. Aj napriek tomu ze to bola hodina po teste, cize clovek by predpokladal ze ucivo maju zopakovane, ziaci nemali ani potuchy, pripadne iba matne tusili o com som im hovoril. Ak by to nebolo ucivo priamo nadvezujuce na poslednu hodinu tak by som nemal namietky. Samozrejme ze moj problem nie je len ucenie. Cely den sa vliekol ako ukrainsky vlak a ja som sa citil akosi osamelo a smutne.

Preco osomelo? Nemam tu toho spravneho partaka. Ostatny asitenti su v pohode, ale nie su to presne moje typy ludi. Madarsky chlapik Guyla je trochu spomaleny a malo uprimny. Viem ze sa snazi byt dobrim prikladom pre ziakov a dobrym priatelom pre nas, jeho spravanie je vsak cudne, a to hlavne poslednou dobou. Mal na navseteve kamarata z Madarska, co pre nas znamenalo ze Guyla zrazu zmyzol. A ked priatel odysiel Gyula zrazu bol. Teraz sa snazi akosi vynahradit cele toto zmyznutie, co vyznieva este cudnejsie. Francuzka asistentka Nelly na mna posobi trochu nudne, je to asi len preto ze je pasivna, resp. jej aktivity su uplne ine ako moje. Sebastian, Nemecky asistant, je asi najviac v pohode, ale niektore jeho komenty a nazory su dost prudke. A potom tu je este Paula zo Spanielska, no aj ona je OK, ale akosi nevieme nadviazat hlboke rozhovori. Neberte to v zlom, ja ich mam rad, co chcem povedat je ze sa asi znas nestanu najlepsi priatelia. Uzil som si snimi vela srandy, mozno sa dobre vztahy len rozvinu... uvidime. Chyba mi dobry kamos na konstruktivne debaty -nie kritiku, nie staznosti, nie plytke rozhovori o vsednom zivote...
Pondelok pokracoval kurzom anlgictiny (Cambridge Proficiency English(CPE)), co ma uplne priklincovalo. Nie len ze je to velmi tazke, ale trva to 2 a pol hodiny! Asi vsetci viete ze moja gramatika, ani ta slovenska, nestoji za vela. Tento kurz ma vysoke ciele a doslova sa rype v gramatike ,dokonca aj niektori native speakeri ho povazuju za narocny. No posudte, moje prve skore s Reading bolo 12/25 a s Use of Englisch 8/18, co nie je dostatocne ani nahodou. Ostatny asistani studuju Anglictinu na Vyske, takze to zvladaju ovela lepsie, ale tiez hovorili ze to bolo tazke.
Nemohol som sa dockat vecera a beztarostneho zaspania z celeho tohto desu, dufajuc ze zajtrajsok bude lepsi. Ale nebol! Niektori ludia v skole ma zacinaju fakt nudit, alebo stvat? Nie vsetci, ale niektri ucitelia, ako napriklad moja sefka, Head of Maths Jully, su malo uprimny a napr. ona ma kritizuje za chyby ktore sama robi... Uz ma nebavi jej spravanie a moja pretvarka. Ako ucitelka nie je najhorsia, ale je velmi slabo zorganizovana a neuveritlene busy, co prenasa aj okolo seba. Tlaci ma aby som sa ponahlal s ucivom, co vedie k nepochopeniu uciva ziakmi a mojej nervozite na hodinach. Na skole je vsak mnoho kvalitnych ucitelov, obidivujem hlavne ich klud a pozitivisticky pristup, ktory u nas tak chyba! Da sa snimi perfektne porozpravat, ale prilezitosti na dlhe rozhovori je malo. Najhorsia vec na skole je asi ze nie som dostatocne oceneny, som len akysi asistant. Napr. tento tyzden som ucil iba 4 hodiny matiky, a pozoroval hordy hodin nudnej Jully. Tak som nevahal a poprosil zopar ucitelov chemie ci by som mohol participovat na ich hodinach (samozrejme pocas mojich volnych hodin). Na co Jully reagovala: "Ok, len aby si stihal pripravy na tvoje matematicke hodiny". Kurnik sopa, to akoze som uplny debil, alebo co? Cela skola je priserne prisna. Pravidla su na uplne vsetko. S mnohimi sa ztotoznujem, ale niektore su minimalne cudne: napr. nemozem byt v triede zo studentom bez toho aby bola na dverach sklenena tabula, taktiez nemozem mat studentov vo svojom byte v Mallinson house, jedine ze by som nechal otvorene dvere -vsetko pre moju bezbecnost!!! Internet je cenzurovany. Opet, pochopitelna zalezitost ak by to nebolo predimenzovane. Napr. som potreboval prelozit slovicko twat, ktore sa normalne nachadzalo v knihe, a boom, internetovy slovnik ma nepustil dalej. Mimochodom to slovo je drsna nadavka, ale aj tak! Nepozeral som nevhodne obrazky, necital nevhodny text, iba som potreboval prelozit slovo. Tak isto bol zablokovany aj yahoo a vsetky chat stranky, resp. studenti nemaju na tieto stranky pristup a ja musim na kazdu stranku poziadat odblokovanie. Takze yahoo fungovalo az po tyzdni co som prisiel. Cudne je ze do teraz som bol schopny prezerat si svoj vlastny blog, ale par dni do zadu naskakoval filter aj na moj blog!!! Ze chat filter! Do kelu aj snimi, to nie je chat, to je moja stranka. Takze teraz pisem na slepo, pretoze stranka kde to pisem funguje, ale vlastna stranka blogu je nedostupna. Proste pakaren. Uz som poziadal o odblokovanie, ale to potrva tak tyzden.
Posledna kvapka k celemu mojmu "fasa" pocitu bol moj naivny pokus o pomoc Samovi a Deanovi (studenti z mojho intraku) dostat sa do posilovne. Musia mat oficialne potrvdenie ze presli uvodnym treningom. V stredu vecer, po tom co som si zaplaval, som hodil ockom do posilovne. Bolo tam zopar studentov a tak som snimi hodil rec. Prisiel Sam a ze nemoze cvicit.
Dean: " preco?"
Sam: " Nemam potvrdenie."
Ja: "Mal si trening?"
Sam: "Jasne"
Ja: "Takze jedine co potrebujes je podpis?"
Sam:"NO"
Ja: "Som opravneny ti ho dat?"
Dean: "Asi hej"
Sam:" Asi iba ako ucitel telocviku, musis povedat ze si ucitel telocviku."
Ja: "Tak sa nanho zahram, podme tam" Tak sme isli na recepciu. Vsak predsa chcem pomoct, nie? Naivne som si myslel ze to je len na jeden vstup do telocvicne. Na recepcii vsak bol sefko celeho sportoveho centra a povedal nam ze podpis musi byt od ucitela ktory viedol trening. Tak som to nechal tak a povedal som Samovi nech pride zajtra aj S podpisom. Hned ako som odisiel som sa vsak citil uplne na hovno. Preco som vlasnte klamal? Bolo to take dolezite?
Na druhy den prisiel Niel (sef vsetkych intrakov, a sef mojho intraku) a povedal mi ze Dean a Sam maju pruser, pretoze sa nevhodne spravali v posilovni a boli drzi... a este som pocul ze si povedal ze si ucitel telocviku, je to pravda? Ah jaj, a tu to mam. No je to pravda, a moj blbi pocit z celeho tyzdna PRAVE dosiahol svoje maximum. Citil som sa ako maly chalpec vinny z klamstva plus este viac nahovno.
Proste to nie je moj tyzden. Ale ziadne strachy, teraz je uz tyzden zamnou a urcite pride spusta dobrych. Dalsi clanok sa bude volat "Svetla strana". Ja viem, viem, vyplakavanie a stazovanie sa nie je to co chcete citat, ale ked sa tak citim? Nebojte sa vsetko bude v pohode. Vsetko co potrebujem je trocha vsimavosti a pokoj v srdci!

Dark side

2007-10-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

I just have had a tough week! Since Monday till Friday it looked like I was waking up on the wrong side of the bed. I can't really explain what's wrong, but things were just not running as I expected. Maybe that's the problem, maybe I'm expecting too much, well whatever, I'll just get it out through this blog and hope it will be over.

It all started on Monday (8/10). I am here long enough to slip into the routine, but not long enough to understand everything what's going on around me. Last time, I was praising sixth formers, well but maybe too soon, surprised me on Monday. In spite of the fact that it was a lesson after a test, they had no clue, or just blurred idea about the stuff I was talking about... well if it was not connected to the previous lesson I would have no objections. Obviously it wasn't just this. The whole day was moving very slowly and I felt somehow lonesome.

It's probably because I have no real friend, for good constructive talks. No complains or pointless coments! Good discussion. The other assistants are fine, but they are not exactly my types. Hungarian lad Guyla is little slow and not really honest. Even though he is trying to be the best example for students and caring friend to us, his behaviour was rather strange, specially during last few weeks. His friend from Hungary visited him, and Guyla suddenly disappeared. Now he is trying to bridge the gap, which looks even more strange. The french assistant Nelly looks in my eyes boring, it's probably only because I find here too passive. Which is not a negative characteristic, she is just different then me. Sebastian, German assistant, is probably the most alright person, but still some of his statements are quite harsh. And there is also Paula from Spain, well she is fine, but we don't talk too much. Don't get me wrong, I like these guys, what I am saying is just that we are probably not going to be the best friends forever. I had lot of fun with them, and maybe the good relationship will be developed as time goes on... will see.

Monday, after school, we started our Cambridge Proficiency English (CPE) course, which nailed me, completely! I find it very hard. All you lads know that my grammar sucks, even in Slovak. This course have very high aims, so even native speakers may find it hard. Well my first scores from Reading was 12/25 and from Use of English 8/18 which is not satisfactory at all! The other assistants are actually studding English in they home countries, so they were coping much better, even though they sad it is hard for them.

I couldn't wait to get into the bed and just past out! Hoping that next day will be better. But that was not over! I'm starting to get sick of some people I am working with. With some of them I am in contact since beginning and I will remain till the end, because they are my bosses. Specially the Head of Maths Jully. There would be nothing wrong on that, if she were sincere. Maybe she is, but I was really annoyed, by some of her behaviour, like pushing me and rushing my lessons, which is leading to students confusion and me being nervous. Then there are people which I am just discovering as very trustworthy and discussion worthy persons.

The worst think in school is that I don't have enough challenge, and I am taken as assistant. For example this week I thought only 4 periods with upper 6, and observed tones of Head of maths lessons, so I asked chemistry teachers to attend some of their lessons. After I told her, she was like: "just make sure that you have enough time to do your job here at maths department". I am like, what the hell? Well and whole school is too strict. There are rules for everything. For example I can't be in room with one student if there is glass panel on the door, neither can I have boarders in my room at Mallinson house -it's for my safety!!! Or the Internet is filtered. It would be all right if it was not little too much, for example bare typing of vulgar world into online dictionary will filter the whole page, or I wasn't able to check my yahoo account at the beginning. Lastly I wasn't able to check my blog, so even this post is written without me seeing it on the page. I am able to access only the blog making page, but not the actual blog! Isn't it ridiculous?

The last drop into all of this was my naive attempt to help Sam and Dean (boarders from Mallinson house) to get into gym. They are supposed to have induction and they need a written proof of it. On Wednesday night, after I swam a little, I drop into the gym just to have a look. Sam told me that he can't go in because he doesn't have his proof of induction signed.

So I was like "did you have induction? ".

Sam:"yes of course"

Me: "So I guess I can sign it for you can't I?".

So we went to the reception, but Sam told me that I should pretend that I am a P.E. teacher. Well, whatever, I just wanna help, right? At the end we were told that it have to be signed by the person who did the induction. So I just left. But I immediately realized that I did wrong and knew that I should have not lie. On the other day Neil (head of boarding dropped by, and sad that Sam and Dean are banned from gym, because of their rood behavior. I am like: oh yeah, I was there, but I left, what happened? Neil: " Well they were rood, and had inappropriate behaviour..., but the stuff from gym sad that you sad that you are a P.E. teacher, is that right?" Dam it! I felt really stupid and humble. My bloody bad state of mind peaked right now. I felt guilt, during the rest of the week, which even increased my shitty mood.

But no worries, week is over and I'm sure that plenty of good ones will come. Next post will be called "Bright side". I know, I know crying and complaining is not what you want to read about, but I just felt like this. Don't worry I'll be fine. All I need is little of mindfulness and peace in my heart.

School activities 2

2007-09-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

As I already mentioned the schools activities doesn't focus only on sports. There are many other opportunities how to develop one's potentials. For example this Wednesday there was another annual event called Sponsored walk. I heard about it from here to there for last two weeks but could really get the point. It is only after I've done it I know what it is about. It is an event which has a very venerable goal to achieve: raise money for charities. But what's good on it is that it doesn't do it the usual way, like you just go and ask for donation. The whole school from 4 year old junior pupils till the 19 years old senior students, teachers and even some parents goes for a nice 16km walk around the Harrogate countryside. So once again I didn't waited till somebody will invite me and signed for duty on cross-walk, where I made sure that everybody would cross the street safely. After I was frozen to bones and everybody was gone I joined the last group of teachers. I didn't took long till we get to the edge of the town and hit a nice park with beautiful views. But that wasn't all. The marvelous pictures were just to come. Somewhere further down the public track we crossed some rough farms. The landscape we were in was exactly the one you are probably imagining right now: huge lawns (almost typical smooth English lawns -surprising for such harsh conditions), stone walls and brick houses. The climate was also copybook England -chili wind, cloudy sky and occasional drizzles.

During the walk I got to know the history of the whole idea. It started 35 years, originally it took place on may state holiday -so the whole families can join the walk and it was also longer about another 15 km. As time went on there were some adjustments done to it, but until 5 years ago it was left unchanged.

How are the money raised? Students are asking literally anybody they can for sponsorship. The sponsor can give anything they want so it may be as symbolic as 1£ and as generous as 100£. Last year the total amount was 25,000£!!! There are always 3-4 different charities where the money goes. This year there is already promise for 17,500£ but that's only what is promised on the sponsor slips. Usually the students raise more.

At the end of the walk I was little tired and frozen, but nicely refreshed and enchanted. It wasn't really a hike, we only walk in one level, but still it was quite long and the weather was as I described. It was a great occasion to chat with colleagues and to have a look on my surroundings. Looking forward to explore more.

School activities 1

2007-09-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

What I fancy on this school is the vast range of activities it offers to students. Sports are playing important role in the school life, but it doesn't stop there. Many schools in England are focusing only on one sport for boys (rugby, football or basketball) and one sport for girls (netball, swimming or hockey). Ashville tries to cover every common sport and leave the choice on students. Some every week day afternoon three is different sport fixture or practise. They even distinguish two types of physical education: one is called P.E., which consist of academic p.e. and then sports and the other one is called Games which aims to prepare a school team for particular sports. So every student goes through every sport and theory of sport and body behavior during p.e., but also work on his own interests in his favourite sport during games.

This Monday there was an annual staff vs. students hockey fixture. So I didn't hesitate and took part in it! Well it was only after I got to the pitch, that I realized that English hockey have nothing in common with our ice hockey neither the floor ball which I played several times at Lewis. Rules are quite complicated, there are many restrictions and the pitch is huge.

For example you can't touch the ball with other side of the stick, or with your feet. If it happens than the opponent gets the ball. That literally means that after one hour of playing I barely touched the ball, without ruining my teams changes to win. Who do you thing was the winner? Yes, it's obvious, that students are in better shape -their stamina can't be compared with 45 year old teacher. And of course their technique is developed during p.e and games so it was a small miracle that after the first half the score was 0:0. But after our endurance started to vanish the umpire whistled three goals in the second half and the game was over -I didn't even get sweat. Well at least I participated.

dva extremi

2007-09-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Dni si pekne plynu... ani nie prilis rychlo ani nie pomaly, just right! Uz poznam vsetkych 29 chalanov z mojho intraku (Mallinson house) a je tu celkom sranda. Samozrejme ze zatial viem pramalo z ich skutocnych vlastnosti, ale aj prvy dojem je dolezity. Vacsina z nich je z Hong-kongu, pripadne azie hrstka anglicanov, jeden cech a jeden nemec. Dost rychlo vsetci pochytili anglicky typ humoru -najprv ta urazia, pripadne povedia nieco nemiestne, ale vzapeti na to nasleduje I was just kidding. Dost sa tu "dba" na aroganciu a zosmiesnovanie druhych, ale kedze to robia vsetci tak sa proti tomu da rychlo obrnit a jednoducho si na to zvyknut. Tazke to vsak musi byt pre mladych cinanou, ktori sem chodia vo veku 13-14 rokov, ich anglictina je vacsinou velmi slaba, kulturne rozdieli ovela vacsie ako medzi Slovenskom a Anglickom, no a samozrejme ich vek... Asi najlahsia cesta ako to zvladnut je proste pridat sa do prudu a sekat frajera...

Zacal som ucit samostatne. Kvalita niektorych ucitelov na skole nie je bohvie aka a tak som rad ze si mozem robit veci po svojom a nemusim sa iba tupo pozerat ako niekto iny uci -je to sice uzitocne ale nie 20 hod. tyzdenne. Zatial mam na starosti year 10 (cca 15. rokov) a lower 6 (17nast). Ti prvi spomenuti sa mi snazia spravit peklo zo zivota zatial co ti druhy su uplne super.

Desiatakov je v triede 21 co je zhruba max. cislo na skole a sme v malej triede kde sa zmestime len tak tak. Nie je tam Smart board a meotar som dnes utieral od dobre stareho prachu... Pracujem s nimi na Transformaciach (posunutie, otocenie, zvacsovanie...) co je ako stvorene pre Smartboard, ale prave ja ju nemam. Zatial co v niektorych inych triedach sa ani nepouziva, pripadne sa pouziva len na normalne pisanie. Detska kecaju kedy mozu, uz som zopar poslal za dvere, davaja zostavaju zajtra "poskole" (Cez prestavku budu upratovat triedu) a jeden dostal green slip co je celkom seriozny zapis. Celkovo sa snazia robit vsetko co najpomalsie. Niekedy mam pocit ze nerozumeju ani jednoduchemu zapisu prikladov z knihy na ktorych maju pracovat (176/2,3). Vstupny test dopadol velmi slabo, neviem ci koli ich neznalosti, alebo nezaujme... Ich pristup je proste mam v pazi. Mna to neustale utisovanie a upozornovanie vyvadza z rovnovahy, neviem sa sustredit, bud robim chybi v matike alebo v anglictine, ziaci maju z toho zmetok a hodina je proste zabita.

Uplny kontrast je lower 6 (year 12). Tych mam v triede 11 je to uz vyber studentov ktori robia A-level maths (ekvivalent nasej maturity). Nie len ze su velmi bystri a chapavi (samozrejme ze nie vsetci), ale maju aj zaujem a da sa snimi perfektne diskutovat. Najdolezitejsie je proste ze sa pytaju ked nerozumeju, a pocitaju ked im dam zadanie. Niektore triky a finty sa tu ucia inac, takze vela krat si v podstate vymiename sposoby riesenia prikladov. Studenti maju prirodzeny respekt a zdravy zaujem. Po kazdej hodine som doslova ocareny a z triedy odchadzam s krasnym povznasajucim pocitom. Mam totiz dostatok kludu na to aby som veci mohol dobre vysvetlit, tym padom ziaci chapu co sa deje, za cim nasleduje ich samostatna praca a tym padom sa stiha spravit vsetko co sa ma. Proste radost ucit!

S tym prvym pristupom som sa uz stretol aj na slovensku takze si myslim ze som schopny to zvladnut aj ked tu som samozrejme ze vo vacsej nevyhode -nie len koli jazyku a tomu ze som cudzinec, ale aj koli mojmu postaveniu na skole -som len akysi asistent... Ten druhy pristup je pre mna zatial skoro uplne novy. Som si isty ze by som podobne nieco zazil vo 4-taku a 5-taku na seminaroch aj na Lewisovi, pretoze mnohi ziaci tam boli super, ale ucil som tam iba nizsie rocniky a tak sa to az to takychto krasnych extremov nevysplhalo.

Accomodation and the rest

2007-09-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

Tak zakladne veci ohladne mojho rocneho pobytu su vybavene a ja som ako tak zabehnuty do skolskej rutiny. Takze sa mozem vrhnut aj na veci ako je tento blog. Este som nepisal o byvani, ze ano?

Kym nebudem mat hotovy dom na Kontrcinej Lucke, tak toto tu bude urcite najluxusnejsie byvanie–jednoznacne to je najvacsi veget aky som kedy mal. V amerike som sa mal super -skoro vzdy som mal izbu sam pre seba, tu vsak mam mali, ale zato trojizbovy bytik. Je sucastou boarding house Mallinson. Rozlozenie izieb je jednoduche: kuchyna, obyvacka, spalna + satnik a kupelka. Najvacsi luxus vsak je ze neplatim najom a zakladna vybava je sucastou bytu. V amerike som platil celkom seriozne najomne plus som si musel kupovat skoro vsetko okrem pracky… Tu mam aj pracku, aj susicku aj zehlicku -vsetko pekne dolu v suterene. K vybave domu patria aj pocitace, spolocenska miestnost a studovna. Nezaostavaju ani nastroje na mrhanie casu ako stolny futbal, tenis ci play station. Jedine co mi asi vadi je ze mam telku v obyvacke co znamena ze niekedy do nej cumim -zatial mam vyhovorku: listening to proper english.

Vynahradza to sportova hala, ktora je sucastou skolskeho arealu. Su vnej dve telocvicne a bazen. Tento weekend bol uplny zabijak. Hrali sme bagminton, basketbal, volejbal a samozrejme som bol aj plavat. Svalovku mam hlavne na svaloch, ktore su okolo pistal na nohach zbytok sa da zvladnut. Neviem ci som tam niekedy vobec svalovku mal?! Takze chodza je celkom "radost". Na zaciatok to bolo dost z hurta. Zatial nemame skoro ziadne povinnosti a v podstate sa tu ine ako sport ani robit neda. Co som este nevychytal je stena na lezenie. Na vsetko tu maju predpisi a pravidla a tak na stene sa moze liezt iba s autorizovanou osobou (su dve na skole) a nemoze sa tam liezt pokiel je v hale iny program (basket, futbal...) co vlastne znamena ze stena zapada prachom. Nevadi skusim omrknut skaly v okoli.

Uplny vrchol celeho tohto blahobytu je ze mam v skole tri krat denne jedlo, takze vpodstate nemam kde minat prachy. Najblisie az ked pride zima a budem si musiet kupit teple veci, plus po mesiaci, dvoch by som si asi mal kupit aj nove sako a nohavice, pretoze zatial chodim stale v tom istom. Vyzera to fakt super, aj co sa finnancii tyka aj vsetkeho ostatneho. Dom v Kotrcinej sa v podstate uz stavia!