Trudging along Posted on November 10th, 2005 by Johanna Johnson

I continue to trudge along. The word “trudge” is specifically chosen, because it reflects the best how gracefully I seem to be going along. It sometimes seems that everything I have tried to do has been promptly greeted by a roadblock. Second and third tries are often equally unsuccessful. As a result, I have had to take some back roads, and I now find myself in a somewhat different place than I was at this time last month.

Viktor and I tried to start a youth choir, and it was far from the raging success for which we had hoped. No one showed up, not one. I was supposed to teach music lessons, but no one signed up, not one (though I may now have one little future drummer and a pianist). I have tried to offer some new ideas for teaching English in the classroom, but they were not as enthusiastically accepted as I thought they might be. My focus has had to change somewhat: though I am still involved in all the same things I was before, I am now working on adding things, rather than changing things. I have added to my schedule three adult English classes a week (beginning, intermediate, advanced), which will begin this week. I have added another youth group, one that only meets to hang out and not necessarily to study the Bible and sing songs. I have added playtime with some of the kids from the school – though it is a bit embarrassing with those 10-year-olds can outrun me on the soccer field! Perhaps not being so focused on making existing things better will make me relax a little. And perhaps, though I may never see the results I crave, it will plant seeds for the future.

I recently spent four days in Prague, which was an amazing experience. The city itself is, of course, beautiful, and the visit fulfilled a long-standing dream of mine. I visited a friend from high school (she was a Slovak exchange student) who is studying there, and it was very enlightening to speak with her about some of the social situations in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. I became fascinated by the effect of Communism on this area, and my continued exploration of this will be an important piece of the puzzle that is life in Slovakia. She was also able to help me compare American and Slovakian schools, which was very helpful both in my job as an English teacher and also in my greater understanding of these people and what they value. As is the case with many people who study or serve abroad, learning about this new culture has given me an interesting new perspective on my own culture.