A Working Holiday

Slovakia

July 25th, 2014

Paws, Amber’s Portuguese waterdog, scampered ahead of us into the field.  I climbed the rise and stopped to admire the view: rolling farmland, a couple of farmhouses nestled near forest edges, and windmills cutting into the sky.

After 3 cities full of beautiful churches, lovely rivers, interesting museums, amazing architecture, and miles upon miles of sidewalk in 90 degree weather, Alex and I were ready for a change of pace, which is just what we got at the Good Book Oasis.  Amber runs a guesthouse there for missionaries, and we had come to spend a few days helping out.

It felt good to break with the tourist routines.  We took a visit to Ikea and the local version of Home Depot for some supplies.  After spending considerable time in Ikea in 4 countries now, I think it’s safe to say it looks pretty much the same wherever you go.  Housing supplies stores have a bit more variety.  What intrigued me most about this one was their pet section, including live fish for sale.  Home Depot doesn’t sell fish, does it?

Maybe we needed some good, honest work after the dissipation of being tourists.  We weeded the front flowerbeds and transplanted some bushes in record time.  In the afternoon, covered in sweat and dust, I nodded in satisfaction as a nail disappeared into the board I was nailing to the wall of a storage shed to make a helmet rack. 

After tearing through the to-do lists during the day, we truly enjoyed movie and game nights with Amber in the evenings.  One of Amber’s Slovak friends came over one evening and taught us how to make halušky.  She showed us how to mix flour, water, and egg until it was just the right consistency, and then run the dough back and forth over a tool that looked like a mix between a strainer and a cutting board.  The dough fell in small pieces through the holes into the boiling water, where we let it cook.  The finished product (a kind of homemade noodle, basically) we mixed with sheep’s cheese and bacon.  Think of it as the Slovakian version of macaroni and cheese, comfort food at its finest.