Photos for the Year

There have been a number of photos that I wanted to share in relation to holidays and never got the chance. Starting with Halloween which is one of my favorite holidays. There's no trick or treating in Slovakia. We had a party for the kids and offered a prize for the best costume. They all showed up in great costumes and we created a haunted house for them. I played my "Sounds of Halloween" CD from the balcony as they approached the house. All the lights were off and there were only candles. We led them upstairs and made them put their hands in spagetti and olives and tried our best to be scary. Then we came back down stairs and had pizza and candy and juice. Even some of the parents dressed up.

Then on November 1st we celebrated the dead. I'm not sure what the name of that holiday was, but it produced some stunning photos. The cemetery about a block from our house that is full of everyone in Milan's family was lit up like Vegas. There was a ceremony and a lot of singing. Very lovely. We should do this in the US.


Finally, I'll tell you a little bit about Ples Season. According to Eastern European tradition, during the months of January and February, various organizations, charitable and otherwise, sponsor Formal Balls called Ples. We attended our first ples this year given by the hunting association that Milan's cousin, Michaela belongs to. Yes, she's a hunter. Her whole family hunts. The ples raises money for the organization and gets everyone blasted drunk in a high school gym. There was a live band and a giant raffle as well as a dinner. Unfortunately, Milan and I went with empty stomachs. We spent the first hour drinking only wine and gin and tonics and the result was a somewhat early evening. We enjoyed dancing and the food was very nice, traditional Slovak food, but I fell asleep before they finished the raffle. I remember though that some people actually won pheasants (dead ones with the feathers and heads etc.) I was glad not to win that one. I would have probably run screaming from the room. So, the photo is bad, but you get the idea. I thought I was fancy, but some people really went all out. Doesn't Milan look gorgeous?