So Much to Tell You..

but no time to write about it. We are having a great time, taking lots of photos and I will write about all of it and post photos and slideshows when I get back home, I promise.

Hang in there.

Let the Fun Begin

Martina, Joey and I are now at the Vienna airport about to board the plane to begin our journey. We have 12 hours of nicotine free traveling ahead of us. :) I am hoping my download of Mad Men from last night finishes before we board.

More when I get in tonight.

What A Week

I am not sure how I really feel about it other than this morning I understood that it is not for me to worry about, they are things I have little or no control over so I will not allow this "course correction" (setback is the word I would have used yesterday.) to bring me down. Just to give you some background, I moved from the flat I have lived in for the last two years and have moved to a temporary flat 20 minutes outside of the city the second issues is trying to register my car in my name. There appears to be a new law in Slovakia that will not allow me to register a car because I have not lived here for 5 years. I am trying to get the exact law in question but the Relocation Firm which is helping me is also as confused by this as I and promise me they will figure out a way. The car issue is more of an typical government red tape issue i had not expected but should have. The real issue has been the move. I finally got it this morning, that I had spend the better part of 2 years there and I felt as if I was just starting to become part of the community and really knew the in's and out's of my little section of Petrzelka. Most people will never be able to understand why I love the place so much but it was the location and view from the flat that made it so special to me. I will also miss the people who have come and gone through those doors who I am not sure I will see again, life is funny they way people enter and exit your life sometimes. But right now as I write this I feel better because I will have the memories of so many great people and times in that flat. My only hope is the new tenets take my advice and keep the great energy the place has going.

So what is next for me? Monday I leave for the States with my friends Martina and Joey for a 15 day trek around the Eastern Seaboard from Richmond to D.C. to New Jersey for a Giants / Redskins football game, up to Camp then to the Beach House for a few days of relaxing and day trips into NYC. I will see about updates as I go but most likely I will not post much for a few weeks but be sure to check bak often just in case. Remember the site is Ad free so the only one who profits is my ego when i get my site hit report.

My New Car

1996 Audi A4 TDi 170000km
ABS - Airbags - Leather
CD - AC
Other than the rims, (spinners maybe?) I love it.

Update

So my permit is only good for one year, which sucks as I was hoping for a 2 year but no worries, renewal is just a formality and payment and I get to stay another year.

Waponi Woo ver. 2.0 was picked up today.

I should have a car by early next week. (I am looking now at an 1998 Audi A4 TDi)

And the cottage should be mine by the end of September.

Snoop Dog is growing at a rapid rate. I took her to the vet today for a quick check up and she is doing fine.

I will spend the weekend in Myjava for a Ska and Reggae festival.

That's all for now, I am busy and have shit to do. Later....

It's Official!!!

I am a legal Slovak resident now for two years. The papers have been issued and I pick them up on Wednesday. I can't tell you what a relief it is to have this done and off of my plate. The stress of wondering if anyone was ever going to figure out I had been here for 2 years illegally before I got my working and living papers.

Now what is on the agenda for me.
1st - Waponi Woo ver. 2.0 (don't worry if you don't understand, it means something to me, it is a promise I made to myself when I first got here.)

2nd - VW Golf TDi for around 3000 euro (the conversion rate of $1.42 to 1.00 euro is killing me)

3rd - Close on the sale of my cottage in Kremnica

4th - Find a place to rent in Kremnica while I am renovating the cottage.

Ok I need to get going as I have a ton of stuff I can now start in motion, things that have waited to long for this day.

More to follow.

I Have a New Girl in My Life

I meet her at Joey and Martina's cabin last Friday. I could not believe it, I saw her, we both walked up to each other, I reached out to touch her and it was like magic. Total love at first sight. She followed me up to the cabin and we have been together ever since. My pet name for her is Snoop Dog or Snoopy. She is soooo cute.

Photo of her..

Please feel free to leave comments or ratings. I always enjoy reading them.

Hi

Can't Sleep

So I Am Still Waiting....

I hoped that my visas and other documents would be finished by now. I misjudged the pace of government work in Slovakia but really I knew I was kidding myself to think it would be done by the end of July. So now I am hoping for the 15th of August. That is a more realistic date. Of course I could be wrong. These last few months have been stressful for me (remember - my level of high stress may be very different from yours, it's about perspective.) because I have many plans that are on hold until I get the temporary residency papers and working papers. The first thing I will do is buy a car, a VW Golf TDi. I am spending to much time in Kremnica not to get one and the TDi gets great milage. The other thing is the cabin, I want to start the reconstruction as quickly as I can. Even though I will not get electricity until December I want everything ready to go by then. I plan on selling my Honda when I return in September, there is no reason for me to keep it as I will be here for the next two years at least.

So what else? I am sitting out on the balcony smoking and writing as the rain gently falls on this cool gray day. I have not decided exactly where I will land on September 1st when I have to move out of my flat in Petrzelka. Part of me is thinking of making the move to Kremnica then and finding a small flat to rent for 6 moths to a year while I take care of the cabin renovations. But this will only happen if I get my papers by the 15th. I want to be positive I can stay before I make that move. If I still have not heard by the 15th I will concentrate on finding a temporary place to live for 1 month and still keep Kremnica on the back burner in case the paperwork does come through. But again I am hopeful that everything will all fall into place exactly when and where it needs to. We will see.

OK time for me to get some lunch, I will see if I am up for writing more later.

Ok today is better

Yes some days are not perfect in my life.

Tomorrow will be better.

Thanks Zeynep

My Turkish friend Zeynep came to visit me for 6 days. It was great to see her but most of all it was super to be able to show her Vienna and parts of Slovakia. We took over 700 photos over the last 6 days and I am currently working on a slideshow for her and you. We spent a day in Vienna, a few days in Bratislava but the highlight of the trip was the weekend in Kremnica. She was not expecting to go to such a place and she loves it as much as I do. I am not kidding when I say the place is magical to me. I also took her to a student party at HoPa which was fun for me to show her Uni. student life in Slovakia. We spent alot of time at night also walkng around Kremnica and Bratislava taking photos. Since the flowers have gone I have taken to my next favorite type of photography, over-exposed night shots, you will see what I am talking about when I post the video.

OK back to work on the slideshow.

Pohoda Video

I am still not ready to write about it yet, but this has helped me deal with some of it.

Pohoda Photos

Words to follow...I will get to it I promise.

It's Not Much, But At Least It Is Something

So it has taken me forever but I need to give you something to read, you have been very patient. So over the last few weeks I have been to Amsterdam and Kremnica and will go to a 3 day Music Festival tomorrow so I know if I don't write it now it will be another week before I get to it. So I am going to give you broad overview and will fill in the details later if I feel like it.

So Amsterdam, what a great time. It was super to get to see my friend Matt and I was so glad he wrote me about meeting him there. I was able to show him and others he works with my favorite parts of the city. We did a lot of walking around the city center and eating and drinking. The cool thing was because we are so far north it stays light so late your body is not sure what to do because you feel tired but it is light outside so you think it is earlier then it is.

The UFO, I am not sure exactly what it was but someone caught it on tape and put it on youtube. What I say was just one large bright orange light in the sky but I was cold and tired and had to pee and was close to my hotel so I only looked at it for about 30 seconds before I figured it was not doing much and I just kept walking. I did have my camera but it was all packed away in my bag and without my tripod it was not worth taking photos.

I was in Kremnica again last weekend and had a great time. I was the only one in the cottage Sunday night and it was so nice just to relax with no phone (battery was almost dead so I had it off) no electricity and a nice fire in the fire place and Bob Marley on the iPod. I had dinner in town (minestrone soup) came back to the cottage and chilled out for the evening.

Tomorrow I will go to the 3 day Bazant Pohoda Music Festival with a bunch of friends. I have no idea what to expect but I am really looking forward to it. I will let you know how it goes and hope to have photos to go with it.

Photos From Amsterdam

Here are some of the photos I took this weekend in Amsterdam. I had a great time and will write about all the things I did and saw, including a UFO.

(Yes a UFO)

Quick Amsterdam Update

I am having lunch in a cafe near my hotel and wanted to let you know I will have lots to write about. I am have a great time and the weather has been great so I have only been taking notes so I can write later. I may have some time tonight and for sure tomorrow so in the next 36 hours you should see the start of the words and photos.

Until then, class dismissed.

On My Way to Amsterdam

Just sitting in the Vienna airport waiting for my flight. I am so excited about this trip mostly because it happened so quickly and everything has fallen right into place for me, almost as if I wanted it this way. How could that happen? How can you make the universe give you exactly what you want? Easy, ask for it.

Time to board the plane, see ya....

Heading to Amsterdam for the Weekend

A friend of mine wrote me last night that he will be going to Amsterdam for a few days and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up with him. So at 2 am I started to look at flights and hotels, the price was about $800 for everything for 4 days of fun. It was a bit more than I was thinking about spending so I decided to sleep on it. So when I woke up 6 hours later I decided to double check it because at $800 it was a bit much for me to justify for 4 days (but it is Amsterdam). Well the Universe wants me in Amsterdam because when I checked again I found that the price had dropped to $380 for my flight and hotel room so I booked it and will leave tomorrow morning around 10:00 am and return on Tuesday night at 8:00 pm.

The weather looks like it is going to be perfect for the weekend so I hope to take a lot of photos. I have also sent an email to my friend Andy who lives there and I hope to be able to spend some time with him.

I can't wait!!!!!

I Like Woody's Idea

Yes We Are Stupid - Yes All of Us

What have we learned in 2,064 years?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled,
public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be
tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should
be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to
work, instead of living on public assistance."

- Cicero - 55 BC

So, evidently nothing..

New Photos of My Cabin

I have some new photos I took of the outside and inside of the cabin

Before cutting the grass

After cutting the grass

Front door

Kitchen

Living room / Bedroom

Toilet

Where the stairs and shower will go, trust me it will work.

And that is it, it is small but when I add two more floors for living and sleeping it will be perfect. I will take it from 250 sq ft to about 750 sq ft when I am done and it will sleep 5 - 6 people.

My Video of Istanbul

Click The HQ Button then Full Screen

I have had this video for some time on youtube but I forgot to post it here, so sorry for the delay but enjoy.

So Now I Understand

That the things (people, places, events, vsetko (everything) ) that has happened to me over the last few months that I did not understand, have and will continue to be the creation of my brain. And that all I need to do is be patient as my universe aligns to my wishes. (Are you still waiting for wish to come true? Are you focused on the right part of the wish? - Only the good and nothing else.)

Don't believe me, to bad it is easy to do once you understand the secret. And now that I have seen in action for myself the power that I have within me to not only change but to create my universe I have no reason to ever to return to the past. I now know that what I have felt and known for all these years is in fact the end product of those thoughts and feelings and now that I have greater control over it I will focus even more on those few things I want in my life and not think about anything else. I control what I control and nothing more.

Remember - good things happen to me because I want good things to happen to me, bad things do not happen to me because I don't want bad things to happen to me. It is as simple as that. Start that way, it is how I started and it made all the difference.

HOPA, Name-day and Other Things

HOPA = Horsky park student housing and one of the best places to party in Bratislava.

Name-day = A European tradition, like a birthday for your name.

Other Things = Kremnica

So yesterday, June 24th was my name-day in Slovakia. It is not Sean but John and since Sean is Irish for John it is the same. I spent my evening with a few friends who have just graduated from University (congratulations Vlado, Hopik and Katarina) so it was time to party in HOPA. (Then again it is always time to party in HOPA.) I was there until about 3am and had a great time. I got to meet and speak with a ton of new people. And it is always fun to watch Vlado get drunk and grab girls asses all night.

I know this comes as a big shock to most of you but I will go to Kremnica this weekend. I am not sure if the weather is going to be good but that really doesn't matter in Kremnica, what matters is the people I get to hang out with. I think we will have a full cottage this weekend which I love because I get to make chicken fajitas for people who have not had them yet. For me I have no plans other than just chillin' and sleeping. I have had a cold for about 3 weeks now and would really like it to go away.

That's all I have for you now. Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by.

Photos from Myjava

My friend Ara took some photos this weekend as I was not in the mood for taking any. (The weather had a big effect on this.)

So here is the link to the photos.

It was a Folklore Dance Festival that was a lot of fun inspite of the rain. The tent I got from Tesco for 8 euros held up well in the heavy rain, as long as I did not touch the sides of the tent I stayed dry. It was also great to meet somemany new great people this weekend. I have to thank my friend Martina for everything and everyone she has introduced me to in Slovakia, without her and Joey in my life I am not sure if I would have stayed here long enough to find out this is where I want to spend my life. Dakujem Mata.

I will be in Kremnica again this weekend and every weekend I can this summer. I will keep everyone updated on the progress of the cottage.

Other things that are going on, I have a visit from my friend Turkish friends, Zeynep in July and Irem in August. I am looking forward to showing them not only Slovakia but Vienna, Budapest and Prague.

I will return to the USA in September with my friends Joey and Martina for a 2 week stay. I plan on taking them to Virgina, Washington DC, Camp, NY City and the Beach House in New Jersey. It should be a great visit.

Ok that is enough for now I have other things to take care of. :)

Later dudes....

Lessons Learned UPDATED

I had been struggling all day with an issue I just could not figure out. Why the Universe presented me Thursday with what seemed at the time, a view into a dream I have been wanting to turn into reality, only to show me on Saturday (very, very clearly, which is what make it suck so much) that it was in fact taking it away from me. This sucks, plain and simple, the question is why? But it is not for me to question, I must accept that this is all out of my control and the Universe will do what it wants with me, whether I want it to or not. The lesson learned is I only let this bother me for 16 hours (this is a big improvement for me) before understanding that I have no idea what will happen next because of it, but if the past is an indicator, it is going to be worth the cost I payed today.

Live and Learn my friends.

UPDATE: So a few of you have asked me for more infomation about what I am talking about. The simple answer is no, I will not tell you. I sometimes write things here that are for me and me only and I use them as reminders to myself. When I post anything there is so much I don't post because of many different reasons, somethings I have to change because I know who reads this stuff, sometimes I tone things down as not to apear completely crazy, sometimes I am afriad I will shock someone so you get what you get and nothing more. Sorry but my reality, my rules. (some of you have guessed correctly (my mom knew but she is my mom and knows me as well as I know myself) but it is not about the cottage, that will happen.)

Life is Good

So another weekend in Kremnica. I can’t even begin to tell you how good I feel when I am here. While I will miss Camp this summer, Kremnica is the best analog I can find and will enjoy spending my summer rebuilding my cabin. (No, I have not bought it yet but I am in the process. I need to make sure I can get my papers before pulling the trigger but it will happen. And yes it will happen because I want it to. Have you not figured that out yet?) I have been here almost as much as I have been in Bratislava this month. This week I came back on Tuesday with Joey and we had a great night hanging out and talking. I am amazed at the improvement of his English over the last 6 months. We were able to talk about much more complex issues then in the past. They are slow conversations but still good. I need to keep reminding him to slow do because his brain gets so far ahead of his mouth sometimes. His English will progress at a much faster rate then my Slovak but I am learning. My vocabulary has not improved but my pronunciation and a reading are becoming much better. I tell my students the best way for them to speak a new language is to master the pronunciation first. If the other person knows exactly the words you are trying to say, they are then able to put them into the correct order and tense for you. But if you mess up the pronunciation it changes the meaning and you never what might happen. Like if you went to a restaurant and asked the waiter for a fork and mispronounce “fork”. (Fun for the waiter.) So I am now working more on my pronunciation then new vocabulary. I did get a great dictionary a few weeks ago that has been my main lesson book lately. It is a Slovak dictionary with big pictures, it’s for little kids and it is the best book I have found. It has both English and Slovak sentences about each picture which is helping me learn a little about sentence structure in Slovak. Unlike English word placement is not nearly as important in Slovak, which is another lesson I keep drilling into my students heads. If you misplace a word in english it can change the whole meaning of a sentence and can cause confusion.

SIDEBAR

I am currently in a cabin with no electricity and no internet but still able to write this. Thanks to the nice people at Asus and Apple computers for making great laptops. The Asus 1000HE was the best purchase I made in the last year. I get over 9 hours of battery life out of it. (even more if I only use it for music) And my Apple is good for at least 4.5 hours. Having the ability to run into town for a meal at the Modrý Cúckor (the Blue Cat) and get an hour of power and internet and BOOM I am back in business for at least a 50% battery charge is a nice luxury and a chance to have a good pizza or the best Minestrone soup I have ever had. (Currently enjoying a slice of leftover pizza from lunch today.) (Now I am in the Modrý Kocúr ordering dinner, the slice was good and I wanted soup only to find out they don’t have Minestrone soup tonight, which sucks, so I am going with a salad, I will let you know how it is.)

So my plans so far for the summer will be to get everything settled with the purchase of the cottage and start to do the renovations needed. As I said before it has running water but no electricity. I will add the second floor and raise and change the roof line. I will have drawings in the next few weeks, if my friend John has the time to draw them up for me. The question is where I put a balcony but right the south facing wall makes the most sense. I am also toying with the idea of rigging some kind of swing that will allow me to hang about 30 feet in the air hanging out like a bird in a tree with a great view to look at. (Mom, I will make safe, remember safety is no accident.) (By the way, my salad came and it is very good.) The cabin has a toilet already but I might change it. There is a space for a shower but I am not sure about my septic system size so I might go with an outside shower. And if any of you have had the wonderful experience of the outside shower you know what I am talking about. But this presents issues in the winter for me as I plan on being able to use the cottage year round. The other thing I will need is a small kitchen but that should be easy to put together (think Ikea) with a small fridge and oven and small area for a sink and work area. I will have a better idea of what I want to do once I get inside and see what exactly is already there and what I need to change.

So what are my other plans? My Turkish friend Zeynep will come to Bratislava sometime in late July for a visit. I would like to meet with my friends in Amsterdam at some point but I think I will wait until late September for that trip. I am going back to America in early September and will stay for a few weeks. My friends Joey and Martina are looking into coming with me, which would be super as I want to show them NYC, DC and the Beach House. I am starting to plan the Half Way to St. Patrick’s Day party we like to have every few years with my S.P.D. gang. Other plans include a 3 day music festival “Pohoda” in Slovakia, I will go with a bunch of people and am really looking forward to it. Next year we want to get a vendors license and sell chicken fajitas from a trailer. There is no Mexican food here and it is cheap and easy to make, I smell a big opportunity :) .

So that brings you somewhat up to date, there are other things and people I want to write about but I have yet to get the muse to get those together into cohesive thoughts worth writing yet. You will get them as soon as I do. It is not up to me.

Think Positive, Be Positive.

I Am Dropping Off the Grid For a Few Days

I will be back in Kremnica for the weekend. I will be speaking with the cottage owner and the head of the local cotage association this weekend. But I will also be studying my Slovak, as I am starting to make some progress I want to continue it. I hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

The Cabin

So here are some photos of the cottage I am looking to buy.

It is about 15.5 ft by 15.5 ft with a basement and I will add a "A" frame roof with a 3 foot knee wall for a second floor sleeping area thus giving me about 500 sq ft of living space, plus another 180 sq ft basement for storage.

This is looking directly East at the cabin

The front door is on the North wall but I might move it.

The back East wall

South side wall

The front terrace

Front Window

Looking West to my neighbors.

The side yard patio

The View

This is taken from the bottom of the property look back up towards the cottage which is hidden behind the trees.