It is November: the leaves are colored, fading, and disappearing. The wind is crisp, yet turns humid right before it rains or in the morning when it is foggy. Actually, there is a lot of life here in Blava: my roommate thought she had bed bugs cause she kept getting bit...then she found four really full mosquitoes in her room. Gross.

October ended with a four day weekend, so seven U.S. teachers got together and traveled .... to VENICE!! So crazy! I have always known people who dreamed of going to Venice, or watched movies (like James Bond) that were shot in Venice, but never dreamt that I would have the chance to go there. I love Italy! The landscape is full of trees, the tiled roofs are quaint, the food is soooo excellent (puts the Slovak ketchup sauced pizza and pasta to terrible shame), and the mosaics are gorgeous. We mostly walked around, drank, and ate, and enjoyed getting lost among the many canals and bridges. It was really fun to walk around on Halloween and see people of all ages in assorted masks and costumes. My favorite part of the trip was taking a boat ride to the Island of Murano to watch the glass blowers. The glass blowers were so skilled, the glass was so intricate and sparkly, and I got to sit in a gondola on the island! It was a quick, two day trip, meaning we spent almost as much time on the trains as we did in venice (I slept on the floor of the train for the first time, and bonded with our British compartment mate who kept dropping things on me all night!), but totally amazing. Gustav went too.

When I got back from Venice, I prepared to teach my last week on Hamlet and The Portrait of Dorian Gray. I have been trying to think of different activities to try in class, and fit in all of the things from the "year plan" of what we are supposed to do. It is amazing that the year plan is a document open to interpretation. This week, I transformed the "interview a character" part of the year plan into "interrogate a character" and we had a mock trial. It was a riot: the students totatlly got into their roles, I made them address me as Your Honor (I had a gavel of course), taught them to make objections, and so on. There are certainly some prospective lawyers in my class!

Cauko everyone!

Majka
(This is how Slovaks spell my name. It is the "cutest" most Slovak form of Maria)

Gustav and I enjoying some pasta....Lady and the Tramp style

We watched a guy make this. It is red because it is still that hot.

No words necessary

My flattie Laura and I....IN VENICE!

Taken from the Rialto Bridge