Christmas time

Christmas
Akonáhle sa skončil Halloween ľudia začali s vianočnou výzdobou. Hádam každý druhý dom bol ovešaný vianočnými svetielkami. Moja hostrodina však nie je veľkým fanúšikom a tak by ste v našom dome žiadnu sviatočnú atmosféru nenašli. Jedlo na štedrovečernom stole bolo úplne odlišné ako u nás doma na Slovensku: jahňa, rebierka, losos, plnené zemiaky, sladké zemiaky, šalát, zelená fazuľa, ružičkový kel a ovocný šalát. Ako dezert sa podávali typické americké koláče (jablkový, čerešňový a pekanový) so zmrzlinou. Moja obľubená kombinácia je pekanový koláč so zmrzlinou. Tiež som napiekla zopár slovenských koláčov: kokosky, vanilkové rožky a perníky. Najväčším hitom boli kokosky.

Right after Halloween lots of people started to put up their Christmas decorations. People in the US are really into it. (Some people were crazy with their decorations, they had so many lights...) In the evening when the houses were lit up it was beautiful. However my hostfamily doesn't celebrate Christmas much, therefore our house didn't have any decorations. We had Christmas dinner together with friends. The food was totally different than in Slovakia: lamb, ribs, salmon, twice baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, green beans, Brussels sprout, fruit salad and for dessert apple, cherry and pecan pie with ice cream. I also baked some slovak cookies.

Crazy weather 14.12.2016

V stredu začínala škola o 2 hodiny neskôr kvôli námraze na cestách. Nie že by som nebola rada, že si môžem dlhšie pospať, ale predsalen posunúť školu kvôli námraze je nezmysel. No všetko sa to začalo až večer, keď sa strhla búrka. Namiesto sneženia, či dažďu sme mali mrznúci dážď. Také niečo som ešte nezažila, všade bol ľad. Ulice vyzerali naozaj ako z rozprávky, všetko bolo zamrznuté a zo všadiaľ viseli cencúle. Stromy sa lámali pod ťarchou ľadu a takisto potrhali elektrické vedenia. Ráno nás čakali dobré správy, škola je zatvorená. Nebolo sa čomu čudovať, keďže všade boli polámané konáre a takisto vypadla elektrina skoro v celom meste. Život bez prúdu nie je nič pre mňa. Okrem svetla, sme nemali ani len kúrenie, či teplú vodu. Bez prúdu sme boli viacero dní. Našťastie ostala škola zavretá v štvrtok aj v piatok, a tak sa nám predĺžili prázdniny. (Áno, tu v Amerike začínajú vianočné prázdniny už 19.12.) Mňa veľmi potešilo, že učitelia nám nestihli dať domáce úlohy na prázdniny.

On Wednesday the school was on a 2 hour delay due to icy roads. It is unbelievable that people in Eugene are scared to drive because of freezing temperature. The worst of it began in the evening when the storm started. Instead of snowing there was freezing rain, I haven't seen anything like that before. The whole town looked beautiful. There were icicles everywhere, even the threes were frozen. In the morninig we got lucky news, the school was closed. It was no wonder that school was closed, there were fallen branches everywhere and the power went out in most of the town. Living without electricity even  for a few days was a disaster, besides light we didn't even have heating and warm water. It was not for me. Since the power outages were widespread school remained closed until Friday. I was very happy,  because the teachers was no table to give out homework during holidays. (In the US winter break starts earlier (19.12.), but also ends earlier.)

Building gingerbread houses with family and friends