Jonathanisms: January 2007

Sorry for not writing in quite a while. Things have been rather busy out here at the penthouse and I haven't found time to write. But I must tell you the story of our trip to the Tatra mountains.

In Slovakia, the day after Christmas is the biggest get down and boogie day of the year. It is called St. Stephan's day. Or as I referred to it: Boxing Day minus the Boxing. I mean come on, Boxing Day is the single greatest day of the year: you go to the mall, you're surrounded by the whole city, you get a few bargains, maybe catch the flu, but it's all good.

However as there are not many (if any - using Carrefour Laval as my comparison) malls in Slovakia and absolutely no good bargains at any of them (although I did buy the Vyvolena Connect 4 for less than $2 CAD), it is all different. Supposedly St. Stephen's day is the biggest clubbing day of the year. All the kids look forward to it all year long. In order to properly celebrate this important day, the Vyvolena (I have decided that henceforth "the Slovak" is not appropriate and my lady should be referred to as my "Vyvolena") and I decided to go to the Tatry mountains with several of our friends.

I could bore you with a minute by minute account of the trip but I won't. Why you ask? Because I like you.

In the Tatry mountains we were blessed with the most lovely weather, we went on two excellent hikes, got lost in the dark only once and I thought I was going to die only for 30 minutes (much better last time when I caught pneumonia and thought I was going to die for weeks). I also learnt how to prepare Slovak style for a hike: Kofola, Um and cheese.

We also got to ride a cable car to the second highest peak in the land.

The trip included visits to a bowling alley (where the pins were not standard bowling pins and had no pin action, but I digress) and to the local Aquapark. The Aquapark featured a real Eastern European steam sauna and a common changing room (quite strange). Oh and before I forget to mention, yes, men wear speedos for the most part. Too much information if you ask me.

But most of all I will remember this trip for the people with whom we got to share the experience. They were the ones who made this trip so memorable. Who was with us? Well here are some of them:

Ginty - A professional chess player from Lithuania. He was ranked number 1 in Lithuania before some sort of scandal rocked the Lithuanian chess world. Even though he didn't want to talk about chess too much, Ginty did mention that he prefers to move his pawns after his knights. So now you can at least say you learn something from reading my blog.

The Writer - Our host. He was kind enough to allow us to stay with him in his Winter villa. He's writing a book about a man who is searching for the killer of his family . The book brought him to the Slovak mountains to get inspiration for a chapter or two about a wolf. I would tell you more but you should just read the book (eventually.)

The Swedish Philosophy Professor - Pan Professor as we liked to call him was full of insight and amazement. It was he who understood the importance of laughter and helped me set up certain hilarious events throughout the trip. It was also he who told me I was going to die when we were left behind on one of our hikes. He also danced with the Vyvolena.

The Basketball All-Star - Resting up for a possible return to pro action. She was using the high altitude of the mountains to train.

The Siberian Rapper - A Siberian rap sensation, he came to the Slovak mountains in order to promote in the Western World his latest CD "Rap in the age of Siberia" and to get down to the funky beats at the Slovak clubs. Unfortunately he wasn't very impressed.

The Birthday Girl - The Writer's wife. Although it was her birthday, she gave us the biggest present with her smile.

Lastly, the Slovak Dancer - Tango, Merengue, Cha-Cha are all in her repertoire but when she laid eyes on the writer's dance moves there was only one reaction possible.

So here's the jonathanism for today: in order to enjoy a good time on a trip, it's important to have a diverse group of people with varied interests and backgrounds. For example if our group had solely been comprised of people who work, worked, would like to work for, would kill to work for, would sell their soul to work for the European Institutions that would have been boring. Thank goodness for diversity.