Slovak vs America Food – Top 3 Differences

There are quite a few things here in Slovakia that are different than food in America. Now, I can’t say for certain that all of these are true, as I have only been here a week with only one family. But here is what I have observed to be different between the two cultures.

1. Meals: There is a definite difference between the meals here in Slovakia and the food in America. They eat soup so often, it is almost impossible to believe. Not that I am complaining, I like the soup, especially Goulash. Side note: I am not sure if Goulash is technically Slovak, because it is a Hungarian dish. However, I believe that Slovakia was controlled by Hungary pre-Czechoslovakia so does that make it count as a Slovak dish? They also eat much more food than I would expect. I go sit down for a meal, eat a large bowl of soup, being very full, then they offer me a whole bowl of spaghetti. Again; don’t take it as me complaining, it is just a lot of food.

So much soup!

2. Sweets: The sweets here are much more “bland” if that makes sense. What I was told by some others, and the internet somewhat agrees with this, is that Europe has restrictions on high fructose corn syrup, thus making the possibilities to have sweet candies like we do in the United States limited. Although it would not be fair to compare the candies and sweets of Europe to those of America, they are completely different in style and taste. The Slovak candies that I have tried don’t try to hit you with the straight up sweetness like they might in America, but they give you different textures and flavors. I don’t know if it is my words being lost in translation or not, but when they ask me if I want a candy, it brings in things like pretzels and these little peanut snacks. Either way, I think that the differences

Sweets are fantastic!

3. Costs: I lightly went over this in my daily update here, but the cost of food is absurdly cheap compared to the United States (at least where I am from). I want you to try and guess how much all of this came out to: full loaf of bread, large Czech chocolate, small chocolate muffin, 600ml Kofola, cheese spread (for bread), medium sized package of pretzels, and two Horalky bars. When I was picking out these snacks to try, I was ready to spend something like 15-25 USD, but when I had everything rung up at the register it came out to just over 6 Euros, or about $7.50!

All of the food I bought

Here is my quick list, what do you think? I might try doing another one some other day when I have more time, but for now, here is what you need to know about the food differences between America and Slovakia!
All of these pictures were taken on a Sony A6000. If you are looking for a great light weight camera that takes fantastic pictures, I would definitively recommend this setup here.

Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens

Uvalde Day 2: The First Practice Day

You might be wondering, day 2? What happened to day 1? Funny story, I left my SD card in my laptop, and didn’t notice that none of the pictures I was talking were being saved until I tried to record a video in the late afternoon. At that point, I got frustrated enough that I just said screw it, I will start this tomorrow. So, here I am now, technically it is day 1 of me writing, but it is the second day of flying for the 18m Nationals in Uvalde Texas.

There is one thing that I have noticed while here in Uvalde. The miserable, unbearable heat. The past two days it has been above 100° F, with humidity near 50% all day. I am unable to express just how oppressive this heat is. I will be sitting in the drivers seat of my car, in the shade, with the AC on full blast and still be sweating. The electric bills here must be through the roof because of how hard the air conditioners have to work. Good thing we went to work early!

This morning we got out to the airport early to get the glider ready, as we didn’t want to sit around moving the glider around in the heat. Once we got it all buttoned up, we towed it down to the line, where we found ourselves the first people out there. Something I noticed that would come into light later that one wing was significantly heavier than the other. If I am going to be completely honest I thought it was just me being lazy so I just ignored it. We later found out that one of the wings was mysteriously missing water…

The pilots meeting was productive, as everyone was doing their “Hi I am so and so, and I will be running this and that for the duration of the contest.” Although I was not paying much attention as I was looking up the used prices of BMW Z3s. Unfortunately out of my price range I found. Anyway, the task for today was not exceptionally long, it led the pilots up north first, then down south, and then back to the airport. Today was a fairly strong day so I had no worries.

For the first time today, I used the live tracker on the SSA website, and it took a few minutes to understand, but once I had gotten it down it was interesting to follow the different pilots. My dad’s was not updating accurately, so I had to somewhat guess when I would need to go and get him from the airport. He wasn’t too happy when I came a few minutes late, but in my defense I thought I was half an hour early.

Putting the glider away was a breeze, as we have had a little practice yesterday with the tie downs and the covers, although I really do think we should have put it away as it is thunder storming as of writing this. I guess I will have to see how it works out tomorrow!

 

 

 

Las Cruces – A Gem

Driving is something that I have a large love/hate relationship with. I love driving, being able to see unique cars and people, being able to see the countryside, and being able to experience the thrills of LA traffic. Being able to drive from my very suburb in the LA basin to the relatively middle of no where town of Las Cruces was something that  I probably would never forget.

 

The city of Las Cruces, or “The City of the Crosses” sits right below the Organ mountains, which are one of the most stunning mountains I have ever seen (and trust me when I say they are amazing, I live at the foot of a mountain!). After driving for a few hours, the casual rolling hills and the occasional plateaus I must admit got slightly repetitive. However, the Organ mountains are unbelievably amazing. The city of Las Cruces is a gem in the southern region of New Mexico

Pictures and Michigan Update

I have been very busy, traveling to Michigan to visit family, and driving up and down state to their cottage in Lewiston. However, the time I have had and the memories I have been able to make have been absolutely life changing. I am going to be very sad to have to leave them for a year, but I guess that is only what comes with becoming an exchange student!

I have plans on traveling around tomorrow, I am going to the mall with my cousin chandler tomorrow and I am hoping we will be going to a certain store while we are there… I will update with pictures and a full review tomorrow!

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I just thought that I would post some pictures of what I have been up to. Quite a few of my pictures are of my family on our pontoon boat. Please enjoy!

Sony A6000: First impressions

I have just gotten the Sony A6000 in the mail, and after using it for a while I have to say that it is pretty amazing. I am not professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination, I just decided to play around with some of the settings and try having a shot at manual mode. I hope that the more I use it, the more familiar I will be with the camera and the more crisp the pictures will come out to be. For now, here is what I got.

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The pictures are of my little brother Andrew, my new MSI laptop, and the skyline from the Etiwanda Preserve.