Prešov - Preparing for Svinia

We had a meeting with Dr. Scheffel today and he gave us a bit of a rundown about what it's actually going to be like in Svinia tomorrow.

If I thought that reading his book would give me any sort of reassurance about the situation (it didn't) I was even more mistaken thinking that getting some hard facts about conditions directly from our teacher would ease my fears.

We are not to give the Roma any money, just gifts. We are not to drink the water or eat any meat-based food (Nie Mïso!), as there may be parasites in both that our Canadian stomachs will not be able to digest. We are not to take any Roma home with us. Oh, and there's a pack of feral dogs that may try and attack us, which we are then supposed to defend ourselves by kicking the dogs as hard as we can.

I want desperately to tackle this and possibly belong in this world of Anthropology, but there's no denying the fact that I have never been in conditions even remotely close to what we're going to see tomorrow, and I can only hope that I take everything as it comes and deal with it in a respectful and professional manner.

I want to be good at this, because the idea of studying cultures and people from around the world excites me in a way I haven't felt before. I've never had just one thing that I was passionate about; I've always been relatively good at a number of things (or terrible at even more things) and I've always envied people who just know what they want to do with their lives the second they leave high school. They pick a major, they finish their degree, they get a job, they make money and they live their damn life the way they always thought they would. I don't have a major, I work at Zellers when I'm not in school, I have no idea what I want to do with myself, and I might just be starting to actually live my life. I really hope I can do this.

All the Fanta, all the time!

There is a common room on the top floor of our grey cement villa that we spent most of the rest of the day in playing cards with Mark (who injured his ankle in some sort of hiking accident?) and watching German MTV on the ancient television in the corner. 

I even tried some 12% beer, which while adventurous for me, still tasted like the worst pair of gym socks I could ever imagine.

The contrast between Prague and our basic surroundings here in Prešov is stark and is taking some getting used to. But I think it's important to be open to all the experiences we're going to have on this trip, even the bad ones. I never thought I'd actually go to Europe, let alone go as part of an educational Field Study in eastern Europe to study "gypsies". I don't think that I would have chosen to go to any of the countries we're travelling to had I just been planning this as part of a vacation. It really is the trip of a lifetime and I can't wait to tackle the next challenge with gusto!