Here are a few pics from our trip to Spain:

First, I made friends with a nice little stray spanish dog. I lured him over with food and then he let me pet him for a while!

Second, This is most of the people at our conference watching the Presidential Inauguration. Since we were all together when it was being broadcast, we decided to watch it.

After that is a picture of our hotel from the street.

Next is Mikey standing on the balcony off our room. We slept with the door open every night so we could hear the sea. It was really relaxing.

Last is a picture of the walking path and beach near our hotel. Nerja was ridiculously beautiful and I don't really think pictures can capture it fully.

Here are a few pictures from our student winter conferece. The top one is a picture of some of the brand new Slovak euro coins. The currency here changed on Jan. 1st from Slovak Crowns to the Euro. So, when we got off our bus at a gas station on the way home from our conference, we were paying in crowns, but getting change back in euros! It was wierd but exciting.

Next is a picture of Stephanie, Justin, and I playing games with some students from Bratislava and Presov. It was a trivia game like Trivial Pursuit, but it was all in Slovak! They helped us translate if we needed it!

Third is a picture of people skating on the frozen lake by our hostel.

Last is a picture of a group of students and staff that went on a hike during our free day at the conference. Mikey went with them, but I was with a group of girls having hot chocolate at a nearby hotel!

The Taylors Travel the World....By Cindy

January was a very busy month for us. Starting right after Christmas, actually, we began what seemed like an entire month of travelling! First, we had a conference for students called Zimna Salenica (Winter Conference). Several of the staff members from Bratislava spoke to the students about the Gospel and other aspects of the Christian life. We also had some training seminars, praise and worship, plus free time for fellowship. There were students from Kosice, Presov, and Bratislava. We were together from December 28th until the New Year. We were at a hostel in a village in central Slovakia. Slovaks celebrate New Year's with fireworks, so one of our team members Aaron set up a small fireworks display. The entire conference was a lot of fufn and while we were there I got the chance to share with the girls about some topics specific to women. It was the first time I have ever talked in front of a group using a translator! Mikey also got to share with all the students about spending time with God in His Word. Overall, the students really enjoyed our time at Zimna Salenica and so did we. There was a lake right by our hotel and it was completely frozen! People from the town were playing hockey on it and ice skating. We didn't have skates, but we went out and slid around on the ice for fun. None of the Americans on our team had every been on a lake that was frozen, we had only been ice skating at skating rinks in the US. One of the students had his iceskates with him and he let Mikey and some other guys try them out on the ice as well!

After we returned from our student winter conference, we were home in Kosice for about 5 days before leaving for another conference. This one was for all the Campus Crusade staff working in Slovakia. We spent time hearing from the director of Campus Crusade in this area of the world. His wife also shared with us about her experience of being on staff with Campus Crusade in Poland during communism. One of the Slovak staff in Bratislava, Mika, also had her father come and share with us about his experience of living as a Christian in SK under the rule of Communism. His story was heartbreaking and also showed the incredible courage that many Christians had in the former Soviet Union. He also shared with us the ways that he sees the effects of communism still affecting the people of Slovakia now and how we can be aware of that as we try to do ministry here.

We returned to Kosice for about 6 days after our staff conference before heading out again. This time we spent some time planning for the Spring semester and praying for God to work through us here. Mikey and I also went to my doctor during this break and we found out that we are expecting a boy! We were very excited and so were our families and friends when we shared the news with them. Then we headed out again. This time we went to Spain for a conference for STINTers (people who are serving overseas for one or two years with Campus Crusade for Christ). There were teams there from Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, and the NAMEstan area of the world. It was a very encouraging time for our team. We got to worship the Lord in English and to hear from people having similar experiences to our own this year. Although we love being here and feel called to serve the Lord in this way, it can be hard to spend so much time in another culture! This conference was in a town called Nerja right beside the Mediterranean Sea. Our room had a balcony that looked right out over the sea. Although the locals thought it was cold, it was in the 50' s and 60's the whole week! When we left Kosice it had been snowy and cold for weeks, so we thought this was a heat wave! Not to mention the fact that the sun stayed out until 6:30 or 7:00 at night instead of setting at 3:45 as it had been in SK! We really enjoyed our time in Nerja and we learned alot.

After Spain, it was back to the dark and cold again! We spent two days in Budapest, Hungary staying with friends and seeing the city. Mikey and I joined the staff of Campus Crusade with a girl who grew up in Budapest and still lives there now. Her name is Jodi and she spent a whole day showing us around Budapest. It was a lot of fun and we decided we need to go back again when it's warmer!

Then came the really crazy part of our world tour....we boarded a plane on January 27th and made a one week trip to the US for my brother's wedding! It was really fun to see so many family and friends while we were there, but the time change and the short trip was exhausting! We did get to see the incredible Steelers win the Super Bowl while we were home, which was great! Mikey's mom came up from TN to spend time with us as well and of course most of my extended family were in town for the wedding. While we were there we bought and got as presents alot of essential baby stuff to bring back with us! Of course we can get almost any baby thing we need here, but it is much easier to shop for that stuff when you can read the labels! We also registered for all kinds of other baby stuff we will need when we come back!

On February 4th, we finally made it back to Kosice for good! (Although our bags didn't make it for 3 more days!) We were exhausted but happy that we got to see so many people and places. The whole time we were gone, there were no classes at the universities here in SK. They take all of Jan. to study for and take exams from their first semester classes. So, it is actually just this week that classes are starting again! We are excited to see what God is going to do this semester as we try to help the ministry get ready to be run fully by Slovak staff!

The top picture was our Christmas card picture and the others are of the Christmas market on Hlavna.

At the top are the three little hams I made for Christmas. They ended up being way too much meat for 7 people, but that's what they get for having a non pig-eater make the ham! Haha....

Next is the girls on our team with their Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Amber (in the back) brought back matching pj's for herself, Steph (left) and Lindsey (right) when she went to the US for a wedding in early December.

The bottom picture is Mikey and I right after we opened our presents at our apartment. We are wearing the crowns from our Christmas poppers. My family always has them at Christmas at my Aunt Beth and Uncle Rich's house, so they sent them over for us to have. Inside they have a crown and some little toy plus some cheesy jokes. I got a whistle and Mikey got a hair scrunchie...I guess he is going to have grow his hair out if he wants to use it.....

Christmas Time in SK! by Cindy

Christmas wasn't quite the same here in Slovakia, but we had a really fun time experiencing the Holiday season in another country and culture. In early December a Christmas market was set up on Hlvana (the main shopping/walking street in town). It was made up of little wooden "cabins" where people were selling lots of homemade crafts and foods. We had fun exploring the market and finding neat things for ourselves and others! At Tesco (European Wal-Mart type store) we bought a small Christmas tree and a few decorations for it. It was nice to have something to decorate our little apartment with! We also receieved several cute little Christmas decorations from people in the States, so our apartment was festive enough to make us happy!

When Christmas finally came, we had lots of fun and WAY too much food! So...pretty similar to the US! Slovaks have three days of Christmas. They consider the 24th Christmas Day and then the next two days are Christmas as well. They spend Christmas Day celebrating and opening presents at home and going to church. Then on the 25th and 26th they travel to celebrate with extended family. We still celebrated Christmas on the 25th, but we celebrated a little on the 24th as well. One of the girls from our Bible Study, Zsu Zsu, had to stay in Kosice with her dad for the Holidays. Her dad is going through chemotherapy right now and he spends every third week here in Kosice getting his treatment. Unfortunately, his last treatment fell over the holidays and he had to be in the hospital during Christmas. Zsu Zsu studies here in Kosice, so she stayed in her dorm and her mom and brother celebrated Christmas at home. So, on the 24th, she came over for dinner and church with us. We had a traditional Slovak Christmas soup made with mushrooms, sauerkraut, and kilbasa. We also had potato soup for the less adventurous! Then we went to church at the Lutheran Church that we have been attending here. It was fun to celebrate Christ's coming together!

On Christmas Day Mikey and I opened presents here in our apartment early. We had presents for each other and some that had been mailed from friends and family back home. Then our whole team went to the girls' apartment for breakfast and opening the presents we got for each other. We had biscuits and gravy and monkey bread and then started opening presents. We had exchanged names for a secret santa and it was fun to see what everyone got for each other. Then we just kind of lounged around until time to make Christmas dinner. Everyone made a dish or two. I made three little hams (we couldn't find any normal size ones!). Which was weird since I don't eat any pork, but everyone else wanted ham so I made them! They don't have fully cooked hams here like they do in America, so I had to cook them first on the 24th and then glaze them and finish them off on the 25th. Everyone said they were tasty, so I guess they were. It was weird to cook something that I wouldn't taste...haha!

On Christmas night we talked to our families on our Vonage phone and Skype. Mikey's family left the camera on for us to watch people opening presents. His extended family was almost all there, so we got to say hello to lots of people! It was almost like being there. My family was together too and I talked to a lot of them on the phone to say Merry Christmas before they started Christmas dinner.

After Christmas day was over we just kind of relaxed in Kosice until it was time to go to our Winter Conference on the 28th. All in all, we really enjoyed our Christmas and even though we missed being with family we made some good memories here too!

Thanksgiving

Since we weren't able to spend Thanksgiving the usual way with family our team decided to travel for it.  We went to Prague in the Czech Republic.  It was quite an experience getting there.  We took a train for eight hours through the night, "sleeping" in one of the sleeper cars.  Aaron was the only one who really slept the whole night, but we made it.  

Prague is a beautiful city with a rich history and several beautiful cathedrals, which is ironic considering that they are one of the most atheistic countries in the world.  It was a great place to be able to relax, sight see and enjoy Thanksgiving.  Plus there were several American restaurants in town.  We had KFC, which made Aaron very happy, Subway, which made Cindy happy, and then for Thanksgiving we ate at TGIFriday's-not your traditional Thanksgiving food, but it was still great!  There was also another restaurant,  Bohemia Bagel that we ate breakfast at that had cheddar cheese on their bagel sandwiches, something that you can't get over here, so Cindy and I were very excited.  we love cheddar and have missed it.  

In Prague there was the Christmas market as well, so it was fun to peruse the shops with goodies and souvenirs.  The main Christmas market in Old Town Square opened the day we left so we didn't get to experience it, but we saw the lights and the decorations going up.  All-in-all it was a great trip.

Sunday, after we returned to Kosice, we had our real Thanksgiving dinner.  Cindy made turkey breast and everyone chipped in to complete the meal.  We ate turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, cornbread, green bean casserole, fruit and regular salads, followed by pumpkin pie and ouie-gouie butter cake.  It all was delicious!  We set up tables and ate like a big family, it was a great night.  Then we followed that up by decorating the Christmas tree at the girls' apartment, luckily some of the former STINTers had already bought a tree and ornaments.  So it ended up being a great Thanksgiving week with great time with our STINT team family!

Here's one of the Christmas markets and then the Charles Bridge, probably the best known spot in Prague.  It was under some reconstruction while we were there so I (Mikey) couldn't get a full picture of the beauty of the bridge.  

On the left is the Astronomical Clock, It tells month, day year, time and many other things as well, I can't remember what all our tour guide told us.  And on the hour it plays music and the twelve apostles pass by the windows above the clock while a skeleton rings a bell and then the rooster crows before the bells ring the time.  It's a very intricate clock.  On the right is Old Town Square with the Jan Hus Monument and the Church of Our Lady before Ty'n.  

Here's the girls getting ready to decorate the Christmas tree!