Did we ever have the best day today! Absolutely nothing to do with the Slovak Language course, except that we can surely say that we experienced slovak culture at its best!
Amy and I began the day by walking into Modra to catch the bus to Trnava. After getting over the initial fear of language confusion, we managed to board the right bus at the right time and end up in the right spot. Now that's something to be proud of, but you can be assured that I will not get all cocky and presume that I'll know what to do in the future. I have certainly learned my lesson regarding traveling abroad and I know better than to presume anything at this point.
The plan for the day was to meet Lubos Mrena, a relative that I found on facebook after my visit to Slovakia in May of 2010. Marty and I had stopped in the town of Zavar, which is about 5 km from Trnava, and were led to the grave of my great grandfather, Josef Mrena, by a lovely woman who was working in the cemetery that day. I noticed that there were fresh flowers on the grave, which led me to believe that there must be relatives till living in the town to care for the grave.
One thing led to another, and after we returned from our trip, I began a search and found Lubos on Facebook. After a few messages exchanged, we realized that my father and his grandfather were first cousins, and the next thing you know, we were fb friends.
I had mentioned that we would be in the area, and Lubos expressed an interest in meeting with us, so today was the big day.
We arrived early and enjoyed a yummy coffee in the local shop while awaiting Lubos' arrival.
Afterwards, he took us to his home where we met his mother, father, and grandmother. I can honestly say that that was more fun that I would have ever expected. They were so excited to meet us.!
What was really rather amusing was that they seemed to think that since we were studying the Slovak language, we should be able to converse in Slovak. Luckily, we had Lubos to translate.
Teresia, Lubos' mother, was excited to tell us that she had seen the clip on the news about the program, and how excited we must be to be able to make the trip to the High Tatras. Well, wasn't that interesting? I suppose they neglected to mention that the trip was cancelled.
All in all, the day was fabulous. Just look at those smiling faces:
Isn't it just great when things come together like this? A great big thank you to Lubos!
