Slovakia Childrens Hospital

My company gives a lot of money to charity but as it is an American-based company, most of this money goes to organizations in the United States. This has bothered employees in Slovakia for the last few years. I've tried to get a budget for Slovak charities without success - maybe I haven't tried hard enough.

Anyway ... rather than wait around for the company or for me to convince the company, the employees decided to do something on their own. This is the third year we have 'adopted' the local Childrens Cancer Hospital in Bratislava (picture above).

We collect money from team members. Some employees work overtime for a month and donate the OT wages. We've been slowly stocking thier play/craft area ...

• Television
• Sound System
• Computers (2)
• Nintendo
• Movies/Books
• Craft supplies (paints, paper, etc)

This is the first year I went with them to deliver the gifts (my boss went the previous two years to represent the center). We went today. The director showed us around. The hospital is the largest in the country, caring for over 50% of all children with cancer in Slovakia.

She showed us the first wing for the 10-18 year olds. We got to meet some of the kids as we unloaded the gifts under the tree. The kids live in the hospital while getting treatment - parents are welcome as well. Some of the kids were telling us how they like to aggravate the staff by setting up passwords on the computers (the ones we bought last year), locking everyone else out. They were pretty funny.

We then took some chocolate eggs (the cool ones you get in Europe with the toys inside) and went to tour the second wing. The kids were so little (2, 3, 4 years old) - Bremen's age. They were so excited about the eggs. We started going room to room giving them out. There were 'sterile rooms' that we weren't allowed in but the nurse was sure to take in an egg. We then came to the last few rooms. I peeked in through the window ... cribs ... each of these rooms had a crib. A young couple came out with a little baby in their arms. A beautiful, tiny baby ... I can't imagine it ... they're just kids. I don't try hard enough.

Tag from Jamie

Sorry, Jamie - new to this blog/tag stuff. I assume that means I have to answer these questions:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. But not the thick, soup-like hot chocolate they have in Slovakia that Marcy loves.

2. Do you wrap presents or not? I like to wrap if I have time. I am usually too lazy and shop at the last minute (like on the 24th) so I end up doing bags. By the way, any ideas on what I can get Marcy for Christmas. It's only the 15th. I still have a lot of time.

3. Colored Lights or White? Colored unless you are doing those icicles on the house which have to be white.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.

5. When do you decorate? Most of the Christmas stuff is in Arizona. We travel back for the holidays so we don't do much decorating in Slovakia.

6. Favorite holiday dish? Ham ... there is usually a ham somewhere around the holidays at my dad or moms house - or both (even better).

7. Favorite memory as a child? We weren't aloud to open our bedroom doors on Christmas eve. So we'd stay up really late until we thought the parents were asleep. I'd lay down inside my room by the door, but my mouth up to the crack at the bottom of the door and talk to Teresa. The conversation usually went like this:

Kevin: You think they are asleep.
Teresa: Yea, go sneak out and see what's out there.
Kevin: No, you go.
Teresa: I don't want to get in trouble.
Kevin: Get Charlotte/Wendy to do it. She'll go.
Teresa: Charlotte/Wendy, go out and peak.
(door opens as Charlotte/Wendy sneaks out and comes back)
Kevin: What did you see?
Charlotte/Wendy: Bikes
Kevin: Cool
Dad (yelling from the other room): Be quite and go to bed or there will be no Christmas.

8. When & how did you learn about Santa? I think I first realized that Santa existed when I was 3 or 4. As I grew older I learned more about him. I think I was 6 when I learned he lived at the North Pole. I haven't learned a lot of new things about Santa in the last few years. I should get to know him better.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? As kids, pajamas and slipper unless the slippers were built into the pajams - score man.

10. How do you decorate your tree? I don't, Marcy does. But I remember the first year my mom switched to the 'themed' Christmas trees. It was very sad. As a kid I was no longer allowed to contribute. A kids view (at least mine) of a Christmas tree is not a single color or a single type of ornament. I love the mismatched trees as some ornaments, like the one you made in 1st grade, are important. And if Bremen wants to hang all the ornaments on only one branch of the tree, so be it. That makes it even better.

11. Snow...love it or dread it? Playing in it ... love it. Driving in it ... hate it. Throwing a blanket over you by the fire sipping hot chocolate while it falls outside ... love it.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but not well. I have to run into a wall to stop.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Bright orange 10-speed bike. I assume because I still remember it, it must be my favorite. I'm actually not a big fan of getting gifts. Giving them is fine.

14. What is the most important part of the holidays? Others

15. Favorite holiday dessert? Frosted, sugar cookies ... not too soft, not too crispy. Must be homemade, store bought ones are too soft and taste like cardboard. Decorating them yourself is great ... gotta have sprinkles too.

16. Favorite tradition? tradition, not sure really. My favorite thing is watching Bremen's face as he opens gifts. It's the best.

What we did today:

Today, I was a guest on the traditional boys Saturday out. You may have been told before that Kevin and Bremen usually spend Saturdays together, leaving me at home to sleep in or do...whatever. Today I had the privilage to join them on their trek to Aupark (a big mall with a playground and park behind it).

We began by parking by the river and walking across the UFO bridge to downtown, where the boys had a race through the pedestrian zone. We had lunch at McDonald's (a sin, I know) and learned a bit of trivia about bees (did you know it takes 2 million bees to make enough honey to fill one jar?).

Then we walked back across the bridge to the park. Passing the lounging police officers, we proceeded to kick everything in view, rocks, signs, statues, etc... walked on a bunch of displaced cooblestones, a bench, and eventually the path.

As you can see by the other dad and kid in the photo, it's not uncommon for dads to take their kids out by themselves in Slovakia. My friend Sharon and I used to wonder what kind of jobs these dads had, since we often saw them out with their kids in the middle of the week in the middle of the day quite often.

I made Kevin pose with this building. If you ask Bremen what this building is, he will tell you: It's Daddy's new work when they're done building it. That's right, folks, AT&T will be moving into this nice new shiny building in the new year (they're getting kicked out of their old building-mafia problems-not really, but the landlord did threaten to baricade the doors on them-Life is never simple for the AT&T Slovakia Country Manager).

Next we had to stop and let Bremen have a laughing fit, because when he crouched down (waiting for us to take the picture with the building), he farted. BOYS!

Then I saw this little advert for keeping Slovakia beautiful and thought I would share it with you all (okay, so I'm not such a girlie girl).

Next stop: Playground. We first came to this playground not long after we moved here. Bremen hadn't turned 2 years old yet and he was still in diapers.

He used to be so scared of the climbing equiptment that he couldn't walk on it on his own, and some points he wouldn't even attempt with help.

As you can see his play confidence has improved slightly as the years have passed.

Kevin, tired (can't imagine why, he actually took a 2 hour nap after we got back home-Kevin did-not Bremen), tried to take a break, but...

Bremen came over and said: Daddy play with me! So, he chased him around the playground, earning bewildered looks from all the other dads and their kids. Slovaks don't play like Kevin (actually, I'm not sure any nationality does).

Bremen's training for his future career as a pole dancer:

Actually, if you ask him what job he wants when he grows up, lately his response will be: I want to work at the CARWASH! That's due to his favorite CD: Bob and Larry sing the 70's (VeggieTales). After a minor shopping trip (they have a grocery store in the mall-we needed Pepsi light), he headed back through the park to our car.

Kevin found a weeping willow stick and wisely handed it to Bremen, who instantly began whipping him with it. OK New Rule: No whipping people. He got very good at using the whip-he said it was for horses.

Next he started running with his eyes closed saying: I can't see, I'm blind. We finally made it back to our car (no police to give us a parking ticket (I received my first parking ticket from a Slovak cop this week. Very embarrassing as I had the missionaries there to witness it. But at least they were able to translate for me.))

Well, I'm just one of the guys now.

Home Sweet Home!

Not looking forward to spending 14 hours on an airplane, and Although he will probably say he won't miss Kevin (he said that last time we went to the US) I know Bremen will miss his Daddy tremendously for the next 2 weeks.

Dresden, Germany

We have a new tradition that may get a little too expense to keep up if we ever move back to the United States ... For the past three years we've gone somewhere to see the tradtional Christmas Markets. The first year was Nuremburg, then Salzburg, and this year we went to Dresden. We tend to stick to German-speaking countires for these trips. First, not knowing the language sometimes gets a little old (Forget going to France if you don't speak fluent, accent-free French. Now that I think about it, forget going to France for any reason). Second, the thought of Christmas and Germany just kind of goes together, doesn't it?

We left Thursday morning around 9am. It's almost a direct route from Bratislava to Prague to Dreseden. We arrived in Prague at about 11:30 - lunch time. Took a few hours to hit the Christmas market in Prague and had lunch at the Red Hot Blues Jazz Club - best onion rings we've had in Europe ... actually the only onion rings we've ever found in Europe. The real reason to stop in Prague was not lunch or the Christmas market, but to visit a small American food store downtown; we are out of Pam Cooking Spray and wanted to stock up (you gotta have Pam ... well, you don't but life in the kitchen is not as easy without it). Anyway, the store was closed. Apparently the lady that owns it decided to be pregnant and sick that morning. I guess I'll have to grease and flour the pans.

We left Prague around 2pm. It's almost 2 hours more to Dresden. It would have been faster if it wasn't -5 degrees C outside with icy roads. I think I've mentioned how I hate driving on snow and ice. It was dark when we arrived (it gets dark early) and it took a while to find the apartment, but we made it. By the way, if you are traveling with kids go for apartment rentals instead of hotels - less money, multiple bedrooms and your own kitchen. We hit the grocery store (something I like to do anyway when visiting a different country) and went back to the apartment to make dinner.

The next two days were spent in Dresden. Dresden has 7 or 8 different Christmas markets, the biggest one has been held annually for the last 573 years - it was cool. There are rides for kids and lots of food to eat ... Kartofelpuffer with apple sauce, 1/2 meter long bratwurst, currywurst, chocolate apples, crepes, some sort of almond/cinamon pastry, roasted pigs (Bremen loved that) and everything else you can imagine. We had a blast. Here are the pics:


Some buildings in Prague - you have to ask Marcy (I have no idea)

Marcy was recommended this ice cream shop in Prague, just so happens to be on the most expensive street in the city. The ice cream was good ... but I also like Thrify Ice Cream (25 cents a scoop) ...

Some big, famous clock in Prague - again a Marcy question...

Dreseden - 573rd annual Christmas Market


Bremen said, "come here mom" and then proceeded to pull the branch of the Christmas tree back to have it smack her in the face ... see how happy he is?


Wandering the streets of Dreseden we found these cool buildings surrounding an enormous courtyard. It was dark, you can't see it well. If you come visit, we'll take you there.

After the trip, Bremen said his favorite part was riding the trams. Here we are buying a ticket.



One of the best things about Europe ... fresh cookies/pastries from the bakery.

Not very many pictures of Marcy on this trip - sorry.


Bremen loved the idea of chasing the street sweeper through the Fussganger Zone.

Bremen spent a lot of the time on my shoulders.


It rained - sorry, nothing else to say and it's 11pm and I need to work in the morning.

Yes, more rain.

It rained on the whole family.

Another market in Dresden. This one must be younger than 573 years. They didn't bother to say how old it was.


Other pictures of Dresden.

We were at the top of a church tower. They had pictures of what Dresden looked like after WWII - everything destroyed. Try explaining WWII to a 4-year old. He was really concerned and asked, "dad, were the American's bad 'cuz they bombed everyone." Bremen knows he is American and is quite proud of that. I think he was feeling a little hurt.


He didn't really want to pose with the toy soldier. We did get him to salute, but that picture didn't turn out.

I don't want to go to bed!

OK, The best thing about being a grown-up (or being old enough to be a grown-up) is not having to go to bed when you don't want to. The problem for me at the moment is I don't have anything to do to keep me up. I simply don't want to go to bed. And now, since this is going to be a true rambling blog, I feel a true blogger in every sense. I have nothing important or relevent to say. So I'll ramble. I love playlists. I haven't gotten the hang of putting them on the blog yet, so the same one is still on here and you have to click on it to hear it, so I doubt anyone ever listens to it, but I've spent hours making others and I've recently remembered, or been reminded of some great music I forgot about. I am ashamed to admit this as well. I haven't been following music for the past 10 years. Anything 'new' is foreign to me, so recently I've been kinda searching for 'new' music that's new to me that I like, so if anyone has any suggestions (I better think before I ask for this right?) I love The Shins-they're my Smiths for the modern times.
Someone's probably going to hate me for that coment. C'est la vie. My favorite all time song is Reel Around the Fountain. I'm listening to it now, and I have to say I want to die hearing it. I can't describe what it does to me.

I noticed today that someone in their infinite wisdom has created an electronic book. Wireless, paperless access to over 90,000 books, blogs, etc. This is probably a very good itea for todays market, but I, for one, will NEVER EVER own one. I love books and paper far too much. I also hate staring at a computer screen for too long, unless I'm shopping for shoes that i never have the nerve to buy. Anyway this thing just looks like an oversized PDA and I thought what an idiot to use that design. Wouldn't it have been infinitly cooler (and more sellable) to make it actually LOOK LIKE A BOOK! Imagine your sitting on a train, book in hand, that reads War in Peace on the cover, yet you're actually reading a trashy romance novel, or the sports page. People would think you're so tough to sit and read Tolstoy for hours on end when you're really just like everybody else. Yeah, so I swear an oath today to never use one of those things. I know this is a dangerous thing to do, especially since Kevin reminded me I said the same thing about Digital Cameras (I'm such a hypocrite).

That's probably enough of nothing for tonight, but I still don't want to go to bed. Ok I'll put some pictures on here I took when we went on a nature walk a few weeks ago (before the snow ruined everything). I know a few of them look very much alike, but I couldn't choose which I liked best and since I have the power I decided to put them all on. I hate it when I really need a tripod and I can't find it in the two seconds I spend looking for it, then spend the next 20 minutes after I get to what I want to photograph swearing at mysel

f for losing my tripod. These are the best of the bunch, low light, and it only got worse. I wish I wasn't such a wuss about the cold, I coulda got some snow shots. Oh, well, I think I better go to bed. This is sounding really boring.
Oh, By the way, Elise, I make lists too. I think I have about six or eight at any given time. I love that you can make lists on Amazon. It makes me nervous though, to make lists of things (like movies) I'd like to have, because then I'd have to find a place to put them.

Oh, I remembered the movie Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael today. I don't know why that's now on the blog, but that's what you get when you give me the keyboard at midnight. I need to watch it again, to see if it's anything like I remember it. Oh, and Drop Dead Fred. What ever happened to Phoebe Cates? And when's the last time you watched the original movie Buffy and the Vampire Slayer? I actually own this one. If it's been a while and you need a laugh, rent it. Everyone is in that stinking movie, like Batman Begins.

Has anyone else checked out Facebook yet? It's soooo high school it makes me laugh, but I'm on there now. Anything to get me to waste more time on the internet. I haven't put my heart into it or anything, but I like to waste time on the never-ending movie quiz, and yes, i do cheat sometimes. If people are going to be so stupid to put questions on there you can look up on imdb.com, I'm gonna do it. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about.
Peace out.

Happy Turkey Day!