Smarna gora snafu

Hello!

As you might know, I like rock climbing, so I tried to find climbing opportunities here. I asked the streetwise owner of our language school, Primoz, where there might be climbing gyms for me. He suggested two places - one halfway to the coast, the other relatively close to Ljubljana. I was ecstatic.

The experience turned out to be eerily reminiscent of the other time we tried to find rock climbing.

It was an hour long bus ride out there. After leaving Ljubljana far behind, the bus dropped us off in a small country town. As sunday is considered a sabbath (even the law school where dad works is locked sunday) we saw no one around. We headed in the direction of the mountain, where we saw a building perched on the tiptop of the peak. This must be Smarna gora. The S in the name has an accent on it, it is pronounced Shmarna gora.

Mom, of course, took the name and turned it to Snorragora. "Are we at Snorragora?" she asked as we disembarked and the bus, our ticket back home, back to food and water and heat, trundled away.

We started walking in the direction of the mountain. We wound through a quaint village, asking directions from the only person we saw around. We were on the right course. He said that this hike would take about one hour. This was not good, as we had no supplies. We thought we would only go partway to scope out the lay of the land.

Ten minutes up and we met some fellow hikers going down. They, however said thirty minutes. This was good. Maybe we could go to the top after all. That must be where the rock climbing is.

After a while we came to a crossing of paths, asked directions, and found we only had twenty minutes left. Good, but we were getting cold. We also got on the right path.

After fifteen more minutes we came to a large plantation-like house with a tilled garden. This might be the restaurant we were promised. but there wasn't anyone at the house but the hikers. Then we knew we had more hiking to go.

On we went. There was a last steep slope and then we were there. There were people eating and drinking. Hooray!

Of course, all meat.

we got juice and some really good bread. I got some energy bars and we ate. Good.

Then, on the way back from a quick look at the view, we saw an indoor cafe. And there we had been freezing all the time.

A knee-jarring hike back down and we made it to the bus stop. Same line, different stop. This one was right next to the river sava, which is known for its sky-blue water. And it was - very very blue.

I was admiring the water quality when I heard a frantic "GARRETT! GARRETT!" I looked over in alarm and saw that the bus was there and trying to leave and I wasn't on it.

I rushed over and hopped on the bus. The kind bus driver waited but he seemed annoyed about it.

But the bus bumbles weren't over. As went, Avery and I noticed some bus police coming down the aisles looking like secret service arrestors. They had handcuffs and were making sure that everyone had paid to ride.

I was scared. Mom had charged here card for all of us. She had paid four fares with her card for the whole family to ride. So the card I carried had not been charged for me, and the inspectors would think I had busjumped!

They came, but as I was desparedly getting out my bus card dad caught up with them and told them that mom had paid for all of us. Phew. they got off at the next stop, but then two large men in impeccably tailored suits got on. We thought they were the slovenian FBI until dad saw two nameplates that said "Mormonski" we all breathed another sige of relief. No fraudulent investors or murderers on this bus.

at the next stop, ours to chang buses, the five bus line was right behind us so we jumped out. Correction - dad, mom, and jia jumped out and I was left with avery int he back of the bus and the doors wouldn't open.

I frantically jumped for the open doors button. The doors slid open and we made it home safely.

So still no rock climbing. Sigh. But at least when we get another tip-off of a climbing gym, we won't listen.

But then, third time pays for all, so who knows?

Hello all!



New developments, more posts!



The latest poll slightly differs from the last one - this is not a picture, its a



CLASSIFIED UNIL POLL CLOSE



Oh, sorry. Well, for all you linguists out there, here's a riddle! Please only vote twice.



Today we met with another fulbright scholar, and with him was a man who had a contact who could provide us with musical intruments.

And the votes are...

And the votes are...

Air Conditioner: zero

Radiator: zero

Shower: two

Hot water tank: zero

Toilet bowl: five

Man, you guys are getting too good at this!

Hi now, I am back AGAIN!

I will be back every time I post, don't I? (I am running out of greetings.)

Slovenia apparently shuts down on sunday. Fewer buses, shops closed, and NO
KROFI! A disaster I'm sure, but instead I got baklava so moist
I bit it and water squirted over me. It tasted really good, though.

Slovenia's flags take a different approach than most of the European flags. True, they have three colors - red, white, and blue in horizontal bars - but on the inside edge their is the Slovenian coat of arms, which is three mountains on a cobalt field with three stars (three is a magic number, isn't it?) The flag of Ljubljana is white and green with a grey castle surmounted by a green, roaring dragon on a red field. Talk about cool.

The flag of Slovenia.

The flag of Ljubljana

And what about the EU?

Call me and ex-patriot, but this flag is BORING!

We got our olympic coverage from a british channel called Eurosport, which broadcasts replays of the cross-country skiing all day except when other events actually happen.

For the commercials, there's "See if Andrew Lange takes his third gold in boblsedding, live on February THIRD! Then there's a commercial for Something with a woman who had so much fat injected into her lips that they take up more space that her eyes.

But we saw the olympics well enough, and are happy with Tina Maze taking home two silvers. We are expecting a large celebration in Preseren Square when she gets back.

Bye,

G-man

Pokljuka part two

Hello! I bring tidings of MORE adventures at the ski camp.

The resort we stayed at had one large slope, like the main slope at Cataloochee for those in asheville, from which a part was roped off as a bunny slope. The slope did not have a chairlift to get up, it had something that in slovene was called a sidro, which translates as anchor. And that was what it looked like. You hooked one spar of the anchor or the other under your bottom and it pulled you up the hill on your skis.

The class tried to speak as much as english as possible so that the slovene children could learn english. The instructor, Ziga, asked me to tell him what the english name for the Sidro was (I didn't know that it translated as anchor then.)

It looked like a bent T, so I offered, "T-lift?"

"T-lift?" he responed, confused that I would name a ski lift after a beverage.

"Um....well, actually, I've never seen one of these in the United States so I don't know what the name is. We used "Sidro" for the rest of the week.

We had several mishaps on the sidro. I tried to pick up a dropped pole, failed, fell, and as the sidro slipped off of me it came over and bashed me on the head. I was lucky that I had a helmet on, it saved me from a nasty head bonk. If you fall, it's good, because you don't plummet twenty feed in ski boots (which is like having dumbells tied to your feet in terms of mobility.) The bad side is that you have to ski back down to the line or walk the rest of the way up.

Several times on the first day, I wove back and forth over the Sidro track. At the top, there was an irate lift operator, standing steaming next to Ziga. Ziga told me that there was a sign that said "Do not swerve on the track", and only the fact that I didn't read slovene saved me from a chew-out. Sure enough, at the boarding point on the lift, I finally noticed a yellow sign that had a cross-out of a swervy track. Oops.

Whenever I tried to spell a word with the letter Y in it, no one knew the letter because it doesn't exist in the Slovene alphabet. Avery and my teacher, Mojca, told us that "Ipsilon" was Y in slovene, so whenever I needed to spell a Y I would put on a knowing expression and say, "Oh, right. Ipsilon."

Of course, I just got the same blank expressions as before.

On the second night, there was a disco, with an old guy spinning tracks and brain-damage music. The music was ALL in slovene, so I couldn't understand. Just as well, it seemed, when the other fourteen-year (shtirinayst) boy there told me that all the music was bad. So apparently no loss, though I couldn't judge that for myself.

Then the two rowdy twelve-year-olds went and PUT THEIR EARS right next to the two-foot speakers. I was astounded.

The party ended before I could get a drink, sadly.

That morning, our floor instructor (Blaz, said Blazh) came and woke us up wearing a rubber mask of an old scottish gent. Creepy. Then, the second-in-command (Edie, said Eedie) came in wearing a Transformers mask, saying things like "I am OPTIMUS PRIME." and "We must protect the Allspark Cube." Then, right as we were leaving to ski, "Autobots, transform, and roll out!" That elicited some laughs.

Before the disco that night there was a masquerade party. I wrapped a striped fleece blanket around me like a toga (pant pant) and put on sandals with no socks and went as a roman. There were two girls as clowns, with fake orange juice-color and shartruce-color hair. A kid had his entire hands and face covered in red face paint, and there were red marks on his chair the rest of the week. One young boy, as a bandit, had his hat stolen by an older boy and spent ten minutes chasing him around whacking him with the butt of his plastic pistol.

The instructors would video the day's performances and then replay them. Aside from the main track there was a narrow one shielded by some trees that had jumps on it. On the free runs, me, avery, and the other advanced boy named Mark would steer towards the jumps. Of course, everyone followed, and for the next five minutes it would be Jump, splat, Jump, splat. So Ziga said that there would be no more jumping on the free runs.

However, on the last day, he let all of us go off the jumps once. And he videoed it, all three successful jumps and seven falls. Then they replayed in slo-mo that night. It was hilarious.

Then the last night, spin the bottle. Everyone wanted me to play but I politely refused, as if you were hit it was either kiss the spinner or play truth or dare. All in slovene. So I politely refused.

That's all for now. Look out for the next post for ever MORE adventures of Pokljuka

G-man

HEEEEELLLOOO!!!

I'm FINALLY back, and boy, do I have a lot to tell!

How to start? Chronologically?

Hmm...

Well, I got an eleven-year-old and a nine-year-old for room mates. And there were only two beds. The eleven-year-old named Mark immediately plunked down on the single bed. This annoyed me but wasn't too bad as the single bed was a rollaway and I couldn't fit on it.

So, sleeping in the same bed with someone else. Well, the bed was actually two mattresses on one frame, each with it's own sheets and blankets. That was fine.

What do you do with room mates?, who speak Slovene? Well, I brought some playing cards, and taught them Speed and Slamwich. Lowrie (the other mate) loved Slamwich. At seven-thirty (when we got up), and after we dressed...

"Garrett, do you want to play Slap?"

At lunch,

"Garrett, let's play Slap!"

And at ten at night...

"Garrett, I want to play Slap. Will your seester play Slap?"

At night, though, I wanted to read The Hobbit to relax, so I would purposely lose the game. So Lowrie thought he was a champion. But all the playing did make him really good, so the last day when I really tried to beat him, I couldn't.

In Slovene, "J" is pronounced "Y", and Lowrie thought that Jacks were Jokers, and he pronounced them "Yoker." "A"s are also prounounced differently. Aces were "Ass"

A game of slamwich.

"Three"
"Nine"
"Yoker!"
"Ass!" Slap.

In speed, whenever a Jack was played, Lowrie would put an unrelated card, like a five on it. Mark, when he watched, would speak in slovene and correct Lowrie, "Blah blah blah. Slovene, Slovene, then,
Ne, Yoker, Ne Yoker!"

The food was AWFUL. For breakfast we had bread, with choices of single-serve foil packets of jam, honey, meat paste. butter, and chocolate spread. No fruit, no yogurt, no cereal, nothing. There was cereal and yogurt, actually, but it was for "private guests only', whoever they were. Lunch and dinner were always some meat-based meal. Lunch was a slab of meat with starch and a vegetable, dinner was a form of meat stew. For the first three lunches, Avery (who has changed her name to Hippolyta {see my mom's blog} therefore was called HEEEEPY, the Slovene way of saying it, so there was a lot of "Day, Heepy, Day, Heepy" (ie Go Hippie, Go Hippie)) and I had vegetarian-burger-type patties that were decent enough. Thursday and friday they ran out and we had saurkraut and pasta one lunch and mashed potatoes and veggies in cream sauce for the other.
You had hot tea to drink every meal, and that was all.


Dessert was alright. The night we had fruit salad. everyone took one bite and pushed the bowls away. Hippolyta and I each had three.

Skiing was the main focus. As we were being sorted by ability, the director (Primoz, pronounced Primaushe) asked me to spell Hippolyta.

"H-I-P-P-O-L-Y-T-A"

Well, they don't have Y in the slovenian alphabet, so

"What?"

"Y"

"I?"

"Y.

- yes, I"



Our group instructor was named Ziga, the Z, as in Jia, with an accent on J, and he and the rest of the instructors called Avery "Hippi" and they said it "Heepy."


We must have been crazy, going to a slovene camp. Most of the children there knew "Hello' and "Thank you" in slovene, and that was it. So the announcments were all in slovene, the conversation at the dinner table was slovene, and instructions were in slovene. We were lucky that all the camp instructors spoke fluent english. But every time someone talked to us, half of the time we didn't know we were being spoken to, and the other half we didn't know a word, even if we were listening.

At one point, Heepy was being asked about the Tic Tacs she was buying She, at that moment, as we were at every moment, was clueless and thought the woman was saying "Do you want these. " She kept saying Ja, and the woman kept saying blah blah blah,
"Ja", blah, blah, blah, and on and on it went until her friends started cracking up and it became clear that the woman was asking her "spearmint or peppermint, NOT "Do you want these"?"

So That's embarrassed in Slovenia for this week as well, having to repeat over and over that I didn't understand slovene. In english, I might add, so the other person didn't understand me either.

All in all, though, it was a really fun camp. And we skied enough to last me a day!


******

As for the poll...

Cabinet; no one

Shoe closet: one

Oven: no one

Refrigerator: five

Soap and Shampoo cabinet: two.

Total votes: eight

Winner: Refrigerator.

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! The next one needs to be a little harder, don't you think...

G-man

How did you get to be a stick player?

Hello.

To celebrate a current holiday (and the opening of the Olympics) Preseren Square (the center of Ljubljana) has been transformed into a carnival. A large stage has been set up, with brain-damage music blasting, people in crazy costumes, and lots of little food kiosks.

We started in a market for cheese, meat, and wine underneath a large building. There was a funny band playing. One was in a medeivalish costume with an accordion, one was in a full batman costume collecting money, and the third was dressed like a woman (no need for specifics.) And he was playing a stick.

No kidding, he had a large staff about one and a quarter inches thick, and another seven-inch long stick of the same staff, and he was banging it to the beat. Pretty funny.

Then we exited the market and went to the river, where we could hear the chicken dance from the square. Then another music started playing and a boat came up the Ljubljanica with twenty people dancing on the roof with no railings. That was funny. We enjoyed slices of Burek - pastry dough with apples or cheese or ham pizza. It was really good.

Mom and I then went of to get things for Valentines day, and dad and Avery went home.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, by the way.

Tomorrow we leave on a skiing trip, so I don't know if I will blog again for a while.

Good bye, good luck, good eating.

G-man