It’s now been three weeks since we touched ground in Slovakia. Boy, has the time flown by. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been up to (check out our latest pictures from Slovakia).

The view from our apartment window.

We were quite fortunate to have been met at the airport by our good friends, Radko and Lucia Hulič, who flew from Slovakia with Zuzana’s parents to attend our wedding in California back in November 2001. Radko came with his car, and he also cajoled a friend into coming with his car. Between the two of them they were able to fit our seven 72 lb pieces of luggage into their two cars, as well as a stroller and 4 carry-on’s. (I still can’t believe we made it through customs with all that luggage!) We stored about half the luggage in a vacant apartment owned by our friends, Rod and Gabi Adamyk (Rod is an American missionary residing in KoÅ¡ice [pronounced “Koh-sheet-say”] with his Slovak wife and 3 kids). The rest came with us to a flat (aka apartment) owned by another friend, Marian Majurnik, who lives in San Francisco. We stayed there for three weeks until we could find an apartment of our own to rent.

Our primary activity since arriving here has been to find a place to live. That’s easier said that done in a place where new places aren’t being built. There are a few ads in the local newspaper that comes out weekly. But basically you have to know someone, because most of the decent apartments are rented to friends and family and don’t have to be advertised. At first we thought we might rent the place we were staying in. It was situated overlooking a lake and was newly renovated with new furniture and appliances. But in the end the cost was a great deal more than what we could afford.

Well, it turns out we were offered a flat by another friend, Maria Dezorzova, the very day we were supposed to move out of the place we were staying. And the way it came about was truly miraculous. We didn’t even ask her for the place. Her sister, Stefka, received a revelation in prayer that Majka should rent us her apartment. We soon arrived at an agreement to rent the place at an affordable price, and the owner, who was still living there, packed and moved out in a few days.

The apartment is located in a section of KoÅ¡ice called Ťahanovce. It’s a bit on the outskirts, but being the end of the line for a number of buses makes the journey easier to navigate. There are a couple of express buses that get to the town center in 10 minutes, but they stop running during summer vacation. Otherwise, it’s usually a 20 minute bus ride to town. On the other hand, we don’t have to go to the town center that often, and there are a lot of shops nearby.

What makes the place so right for us is that it’s on the far end of the housing complex with a view that overlooks a small village and a forested mountain. Other than the afternoon playtime hour (the building is peopled with a number of young families), the atmosphere is quiet and peaceful. (All I can hear right now is the chirping of birds which nest in the building crevices.) There is a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a small side office, and it’s fairly spacious for the type of flat, which resides on the fourth floor of a 12 story building. There are no stairs to go up, and the elevator is large enough to roll the stroller into without having to collapse it. To top it off, the apartment is fully furnished with a lot of newer furniture and modern appliances (refrigerator, washing machine, stove and oven). To sum it up, it couldn’t be more perfect for us … especially with high speed Internet access J.