28.9.06 - 7:04

*yawn* .. every day I've been here, I've woken around 7am like clockwork. Even back in Amsterdam. I've yet to 'sleep in' while being in Europe. It's quite possible the crisp morning air is what awakes me so peacefully in the morning. The air here is so.... natural. Especially up here in Liptovsky Peter. Every morning when I wake up, you can just see the sun peeking over the mountains, with the birds chirping their mellow tune. Such beautiful sights and sounds....

Today should prove to be interesting. We're heading off to 'Aquapark Tatralandia,' a beautiful resort, spa, and thermal waterpark. This place just looks amazing. We stopped by there yesterday, debating which of three thermal parks we wanted to go to, just looking around at what was offered. The Tatralandia location is truly a resort, offering up private bungalow apartments, nine different thermal pools, two indoor swimming pools, TWENTY different slides, massage centers, sauna centers, obstacle climing ropeway (situated about 50 feet up in the sky), and .. the kicker? .. a 'Western City'. Unfortunately, the whole wild west show is off for the remainder of the year, but it's still intriguing to look around at what Europeans factor to be the 'wild west' from back in the states. There's some cute little quirks in the advertising of the location, as some Slovak->English translations leave off a few letters, such as the sign that reads 'SHERIF'. Other cute items include the cacti made of old dead trees. It's quite a unique place, and it's a bit of a shame it's closed now, as I would have love to have seen 'what' they did.

Yesterday, I picked up a few things for a decent breakfast (while choco-flake cereal is good, it's boring after every morning). For a bit of a traditional breakfast, I have almost every main ingredient: vajce (eggs), chileb (bread), parky (which I assume is a hot dog or sausage), maslo (butter), and zemiaky (potatoes). Should be quite a bit of a feast! .. After such a big meal, wouldn't it just be so nice to relax in a spa?

Slovak culture doesn't quite serve a large breakfast. Even if it is the 'most important' meal of the day. Their biggest focus is on lunch, to which they have thier largest meal of the day then. Breakfast usually consists of something minor and basic with a splash of coffee or tea. Lunch can be any numerous amount of items. Being that I'm so 'used' to light lunches from my own standard, I've actually become quite addicted to the specialty Slovak pizzovy available at the bakery section of the grocery stores. It's a fairly large piece of fresh chileb (bread), with a dab of sauce, ham, and cheese scattered in the dead center. Surprisingly, very very cheap at 8.50sk each (roughly $0.28 each). This makes a delicious meal, and serves itself at a very small price. The kicker? You have to get to the market early, as once they make their batch for the day, that's it! .. I picked up the last six they had yesterday..just in case.

Another item I love here in Slovakia is 'Kofola'. Like I said in an earlier post, Maria found it quite odd, as most foriegners don't like such stuff. It's actually a Czech soda, but it has a very unique flavor. It's not sweet, nor sour, it's barely carbonated, and it has a taste of a combination mixture of RC Cola, Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer, and Dr. Pepper (none of which you can buy here!). The flavor is bold but satisfying. Definately a substance I will truly miss once I leave.

As for your 'American' drinks? .. That's quite limited to Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, and 7-Up. All of which have a flavor that is much less sweet that back in the states (this is a good thing - I don't see kids on a sugar buzz here all the freaking time).

The other day, I also came across some 'American-style' appliances the other day. A side-by-side refrigerator, equating to about a 22 cu. ft., was being sold at a market nearby. The price of it was surprisingly the price of our 'cheap Ropers' back home selling at around 21.900sk (about $730.00). What's odd is that it's a Samsung unit, which back at home begins retailing for nearly $2000.00. It's quite interesting here when you relate prices to those back home.

Most of the appliances here are small. Ovens and cooktops (and stoves) all relate to the same size of roughly 24" in width. Most of the refrigerators used here equate to a 5.0 - 15.0 cu. ft. (as people here frequent the market every few days). The range hoods are small and cute here too. As I had read before, the use of a microwave is very much limited here. While our cottage has a decent size microwave, we've yet to officially use it for anything except to quicky heat up some Slovak rolls. Everything here is fresh. The meat is cut daily, the bread is baked daily, and the produce is picked daily. It's all so wonderfully fresh and delicious. The prices just blow my mind. This is the cheapest place in the world when it comes to food.

Eh.. I guess this post was my pre-breakfast ranting for the day. Time to go make myself a good meal before a long day at the thermal pool!