Bianka

I have a goddaughter in Slovakia. I got to meet her for the first time at the beginning of July before I left for Texas. She was born back in January, so she's just about six months old now. 

Her name is Bianka

She's the daughter of the ex-boyfriend's brother and his girlfriend

To borrow words from my Aunt Helen, Bianka really is a doll

Gifts

Slovaks have a tradition of giving flowers to teachers at the end of the school year. This is a pretty big deal. The last day of school, students and teachers alike dress very nicely (think fancy Church attire) and students bring flowers and sometimes even small gifts to the their teachers. Each teacher spends the morning calling up and handing out each student his or her report card (usually with some anecdote or poem about each student). The students usually give their teachers the gifts and flowers at that time

While I don't have a specific class I am associated with (at Narnia there are the main teachers and then the after school club helpers assigned to each class... if I had to label my job, I'd say I'm just a glorified babysitter who moonlights as the Native English teacher), so I wasn't expecting anything from anyone. But I was pleasantly surprised to receive flowers in abundance. Mostly they were from my first graders, but they were beautiful all the same.

 Orange gerbera daisies, my absolute most favorite flower ever

I was able to enjoy the flowers for about a week before I flew back to Texas for the summer. I have to admit flowers bring a cheeriness I don't realize I enjoy until it's there.

Narnia

The last week of school Narnia held a Sports Day for the students to celebrate the end of the school year and to meet some of the government-sanctioned requirements for extra curricular activities in school (nothing like killing two birds with one stone, right!?)

Fourth and Second Graders

 While the guns were harmless (air soft), if you knew the two boys shooting the target you'd really question the judgement of handing them guns! 

 First graders - Natalka, Barbara and Simon

 More first graders - Matuš and Katka S

 Second graders with lovely painted faces - Dorotka and Petka

 Miss Nina Nina, who I believe was supposed to be a butterfly

 Fourth Graders

 Katka B and Moni S... after school club teachers who definitely know how to have a good time (love going to the pub with these ladies!)

 Fourth Graders

 First graders - Katka O and Katka S

 Adka

 Third Graders - Anežka and Kika

 Second graders - Kubo, Marco and Kamil

 Third Graders - Danielka and Katuška

 First grader Johanka (she's a little spitfire and I love her for it!)

 third graders - Šimon, Samko and Anička

 Third Grade Class! (Last Day of School)

 Third Graders teachers - Monika P, Monika S and Dana H (the principal of Narnia)

 Four of my first graders - (L-R) Timo, Matko, Me, Joannka and Maria Pia

Fourth Grade Class! (Last day of school)