Bratislava: "The Little Big City"

Hello blog readers! I haven't posted in a while because internet access is limited in ol' Slovakia, but I'm going to try and give you a quick update of everything! First of all, how was your week? Are you enjoying summer? What are you doing for fun? Are you experiencing the Lord's steadfast love? Are you shining His light? Feel free to answer all of these questions and send them to me in an email :)

This week has been a good one in Bratislava. I arrived on Monday and have just spent the week in the office doing various work-related things (I would hope so). I'm staying with Alenka in a missionaries' house who are gone on furlough. It's nice to have a big shower and my own room :)

I got the official tour on Tuesday and it only took about an hour. They call Bratislava the "little big city" because it has all of the qualities of a big European city, but it's actually quite small. Like a lot of cities here, it has a very lovely old historical district, but the rest is your typical not-so-glorious town. Oh my word, there I go again. Vienna has spoiled me so badly.

I was supposed to interview the Slovak partners here who work at Radio 7 in the adjoining part of our building. Unfortunately, no one could meet with me this week, so I'll do most of the interviewing next Tuesday. I think Wednesday I'll head back to Vienna and finish my work there.

Did I even tell you why I'm in Bratislava? Heavens! I live inside my head most of the time, sorry. The TWR office in Bratislava works very closely with the office in Vienna, so I can easily do a lot of my work here. The original reason I'm here is because the partners of TWR Slovakia are celebrating their 20th anniversary so I'm interviewing staff members and writing an article for InfoSERV, the TWR family magazine.

And the director of TWR Slovakia wanted me to extend my stay, so I'm still here. Tomorrow Alenka and I are going to Budapest to take pictures for the TWR stock photography. I'm waaaaaaay excited because all of my life I've had this idea that Budapest was somewhere in the wilderness of Russia and only eskimos lived there with their camels and their leafy tea. Oh come on, give me a break. Do you know where Budapest is?

Last night I was able to spend some time with a missionary family and some other friends from Alenka's church group. I was really amazed by their children, Kathryn, 15, and Daniel, 17. It was a true blessing to talk to such mature and godly teenagers. It made me wonder what I was like as a 15 year-old (yikes). I felt like I should have been conveying my vast amounts of 22 year-old wisdom (haha) to them, but really, I feel wiser after just sitting and listening to them. They've spent eight years off and on in the States, but most of their lives have been in Europe. They shared their struggles with feeling at home in America and I answered their questions about American lingo and other cultural questions they had about the States. It was ironic talking to "American" kids about what it's like to live in America. I was really blessed about their openness to God's will for their lives. It was a maturity I haven't seen in a long time from kids their age. I feel proud of them and I don't even know them. I just know the Lord is going to use them in a great way. He already has :)

But I think that's all the news from my end. I can't believe that my time here is winding down to its last days. I only have two more weeks here and then one with my B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L sister in England! Woo-hoo! Shout out to Chelsey Amanda Hill! I love her! She's awesome! She's the prettiest girl ever! She's a great cook! She's classy! Ahem ... yeah, I'm pretty excited.

So, thanks for reading yet another snippet of my life. I know, you feel so privileged, right? RIGHT? Heh heh! I love you guys! God bless you this week!