Sausages and Strudels

Hi friends,

Today is my cousin, Zan's, 24th birthday.  We celebrated today by going for dessert here in Ljubljana, as well as last Saturday at a restaurant in the Slovenian countryside.  The restaurant we went to is actually a farm, but on the weekend they have a small restaurant open.  The food is delicious, typical Slovenian food.  They even had homemade jabolcni sok (apple juice). 

Oh, but first, this is a card I made for Zan. 

 

The restaurant was about a 45 minute drive away, on the very top of a hill.  Zvonko, who is an avid biker, cycles this route in the summer.  It's very intense.  The drive reminded me of when me and my friend, Nicole, were driving on the curvy and nauseating Oregon and California coast.  But this road was sometimes one lane, gravel, and extremely curvy.  I didn't bother asking Zvonko what would happen if another car was coming around the bend, because I knew his answer would be to just pull over.  Pull over where?  And at his speeds?  (....Sometimes I like to pretend I'm riding a rollar coaster).  Maybe Europeans are born with a 6th sense of knowing when a car is coming from the other direction.....

                                               



Neza, Zan, me, and Ziga



Bostjan and Lucka



                                                                                                        



Neza, Nada, and Zvonko



Grandpa and Grandma Perovsek
(Anton is Grandma Strazar's cousin)

 

The food was wonderful.  Whenever I spend time with Zvonko and his family, they usually communicate in Slovenian, unless they need to tell me something.  I try to pick up on words that I know, and it's helping that I'm being exposed to the language.  Although they often make fun of me in Slovenian, laugh and me, and tell me I need to learn the language.....  Don't worry Zvonko, my feelings aren't hurt too bad. 

 Zvonko just came for the sausage.

 Oh, and the cappuccino.

 My apple strudel.  Europeans claim their food portions are smaller than American portions.

Need I say anymore?

 Old items remaining from the farm. 

Look at the iron.

 

  



Lucka, Zvonko, me, Ziga, Bostjan, Zan
Grandma Perovsek, Grandpa Perovsek, Neza, Nada



Vse Najboljse, Zan.

Kurent Kraziness

Zivjo!

I'm getting behind on my blog, but last weekend, the country of Slovenia celebrated Pust (pronounced Pooost), a holiday to scare winter away and welcome spring.  The oldest city in Slovenia, Ptuj (pronounced pit-tooowie), puts on a huge parade which has become Slovenia's biggest cultural event.  Everyone dresses up in costumes and, like I said in my previous blog post, everyone eats krofi. 

So to celebrate Pust, I went to Ptuj with Zvonko's family to watch the famous parade.  Ptuj actually dates back to the Stone age and was settled by the Celts by the late Iron Age. 

The Ptuj Town Hall

   

Oh look, a nun drinking wine.

  

And smoking cigarettes!

And the kurents arrive!  These beasts, who wear sheepskin and masks, are named after the Kurent, or a mythological creature believed to have the power to chase away winter and usher in spring.  They wear huge bells around their waists which they shake to make loud clanging noises.  There were 600 kurents!

Check them out in action.

 

Lovers.

Poor old ladies carrying their men.



 

Me with some kurents.

     Fun time.



Earning my krofi

Oh goodness, it's been a while.  I didn't write much about this past weekend, even though this weekend is almost here.  It was filled with Irish music, krofne, and kurents.  Polona took me to an Irish Pub where we saw a Slovenian Irish Band (Slovenian people playing Irish music).  It was sooo much fun.  This tiny pub was packed with people who came to see this 6 piece band play in kilts.  I'll try to upload a video....

On Saturday, Zvonko, Nada, and the girls had me over for an afternoon dinner, where Zvonko enjoyed his

(un)appetizing blood sausages.  But my food was delicious.  Eat, eat, eat! .....Is what I usually hear.  Eat more!   Since last weekend was Pust - celebrating the end of winter and the beginning of spring - everyone eats a ton of krofi.  (Pictures to come...)  So of course there were krofi for dessert.  But in order to earn my krofi, Zvonko told me that I had to go with the girls on an hour long walk.....

So we did....

There are large open fields with a path near Zvonko's house, which will take you to this brand new arena.  The mayor promised that if he was elected he would have it built.  He was elected, it was built. 

And there is a new soccer (football) field next to it.

This street is just around the corner from Zvonko's house. 

Strazarjeva Ulica.

More proof. 

And yes, I earned my krofi. 

Slovenian Stuff

Hey friends!

If you would like me to send you a postcard, please email me your address (bperhay@yahoo.com).  If you would like to send me a card,  :)  my address is Gosposvetska Cesta 2,  1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia! 

These are a few pictures of a pop-up card that I made for my roommate, whose name is also Rebecca.  I was emailing her for months before I came to Slovenia, and she told me basically everything that I needed to know about coming here.  I don't know what I would have done without her! 

The only art supplies I brought were my trusty exacto, a few watercolors, and some paper.  My sewing machine will be waiting for me when I get home....

"Hvala Lepa" means "Thank you very much."

I gave her this clutch that I made back home.

The other day I went for a walk in Tivoli Park,

which is the largest park in Ljubljana and only about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. 



The park is pretty hilly, and there is a church on the top of a hill, of course. 

                                                   adieu!

Family History

This past Sunday, Zvonko and Nada took me to see the cousin of my Grandma Strazar, Ana Perovsek.  On the way to Ana's house, they gave me a  little history lesson on Ana.  She lived in this house with her parents and her sister, Julijana, until they all passed away.  Ana once raised animals and worked the land while Julijana did the housework.  Ana, 87, is the only one left living in this house, which is at least 200 years old.  From the way Zvonko described Ana, she reminded me of an extreme Mimi Cimperman.  While she does have running water and electricity, the water is cold, her bathroom is basically an outhouse, she has a large bucket for bathing, and no phone.  She is extremely set in her ways and does not want any modern amenities.

When we arrived at her house, she was sleeping in her bedroom on top of one of those old Slovenian stoves/heaters.  Nada and I waited in a small entrance room while Zvonko went to go wake Ana.  This small room had framed collaged photographs of all of the relatives who lived in America, as well as some very old photographs of her own family.  Zvonko told me that the relatives in America were extremely special and these photographs were sacred to her, but it was kind of strange to see them hanging on the walls. 

When Ana entered the room where I was standing, she stopped quickly and turned her head to the right to look at me.  I will never forget that image.  I felt like I had been dropped in a world that existed about one hundred years ago and felt so out of place.  She had on these old clothes and shoes, and a babushka tied tight around her head.  She looked up at me with these watery blue eyes and just stared at me as she tried to put together who I was.  Of course I couldn't understand anything she said, and eventually she started crying, which Zvonko says she does quite often. 

These are the pictures she had hanging on her walls.



This is a picture of Ana's mother on the right, Franciska Zakrajsek,

and Franciska's mother, Agnes (Zitnik) Zakrajsek (I think...), on the left.

Ana and I.

She had started to cry...

Ana's house.

The room with the pictures hanging on the wall.

Ana's bedroom.  The stove/heater is on the left.

The following two pictures are of the house that my great-grandmother, Marija, lived in.  The house is no longer there, but Zvonko took me to see the land where it once stood. 

In this picture are Fr. Vic, Mimi, Ann, Tony, and Rosie (and two mystery people in the background)

 from when they visited Slovenija around 1988.




A little bit about our family tree....  Zvonko and I started filling out an online family tree on geni.com.  (Let me know if you would like to see the tree, and I will add you to the account.) 

My Great-Great Grandparents:

Agnes (Zitnik) Zakrajsek - Anton Zakrajsak

Their 4 Children (That we know of...)

1.)  Franciska (Zakrajsek) Perovsek married Matija Perovsek 

          Their 5 Children:

               Alojzij Perovsek

               Anton Perovsek married Marija (Colaric) Perovsek      

                    Zvonko and Bostjan

               Julijana Perovsek

               Ana Perovsek (The cousin that I visited)

               Franciska Perovsek

2.)  Marija (Zakrajsek) Cimperman married Joseph Cimperman
          Their 6 Children:

               Mary Cimperman

               Victor Cimperman

               Joseph Cimperman married Majda

                    Maria and Joseph

               Anthony Cimperman married Francis

                    Paula....(can't remember all 12! Sorry!)

               Ann (Cimperman) Strazar married Anton Strazar

                    Annette, Jim, Judy, Anthony

               Frank Cimperman

3.)  John Zakrajsek

4.)  Stefan Zakrajsek

That's just a little bit about our family tree.  If it's wrong or you can give me more information, let me know!  So, my great-great grandmother and grandfather, Anges (Zitnik) Zakrajsek and Anton Zakrajsek, and Zvonko's great-grandparents. 

That's all for now!

Proof that I'm a Slovenian!

So this past Sunday, Zvonko and Nada took me to see another one of my Grandma Strazar's cousins, which was quite an experience. I'll have more on that to come, but check this out! On our drive to see the cousin, we saw this sign close to Turjak, which is where my paternal great-grandfather, Frank Perhaj, was from. (Vulkanizer=tire dealer, I think...)