Lord of the Rings

Mom thinks the Lord of the Rings movies are a little scary for Macho. He's pretty tough, but he gets nightmares from scary stuff. Mom did let Jammy and Macho watch the cartoon version of The Lord of the Rings (1978) last week. Wouldn't you know it. That one is scary, too.

Macho's been drawing pictures of battles ever since.

A castle wall being battered down by orcs.

This orc has been shot through, and is bleeding from both sides.

Dead orcs everywhere.

The hero with a triumphant smile as he delivers the mortal blow.

Jammy Says . . .

. . . "Mom, a mouth is for eating, talking, and breathing when there is a really bad smell."

Óvoda

Macho in front of his óvoda 

Since he moved to Slovakia, Macho doesn't go to preschool anymore. Now he goes to óvoda.

showing how he's going to use his "claws"

Óvoda is a cross between preschool and daycare, but it is public - operated by the state. Óvoda is actually the Hungarian name for this program because Macho attends a Hungarian school in a Hungarian village. There are also Slovakian preschools in the Rožňava area and even an English preschool.  At Macho's óvoda there are about 12 children enrolled, and the ages range from 2-6 years. Kids are there from 7am to 4pm. They play and do crafts. They take walks. They eat lunch and 2 snacks. They change into pajamas and take a nap after lunch.


That nap part is the reason why Macho doesn't stay at óvodá until 4pm. He doesn't mind taking a nap after lunch. He likes his little óvoda bed. The problem is that Mom doesn't like it when Macho's not tired enough to go to bed at home at night. When he takes a nap at óvoda, he can easily stay awake until midnight.


So, every day, Mom comes and gets him after lunch. When she comes Macho likes to show her all of his new friends. "This is Gabika, and Robika, and Csabika, and little Kriszti, and big Kriszti, and Petike, and Tundeka, and Lyuzska . . . " Then he says goodbye to everyone in Hungarian, "Sziasztok!" They all reply in English, "Bye, Macho!"


Today nobody came to óvoda except Macho and Lyuzska. Everyone else was home sick. 


Macho didn't want to get in the car to go home because his shadow looked so cool. "Mom, do I look like a vampire? Why do vampires turn into bats? I am like a little baby vampire bat!"

Vampire shadow

Košice Zoo

Meet Tiki! (video)

Macho says . . .

. . . while eating his lunch, "Are we going to stay in Solakia [Slovakia] every day now?"

Mom, "Yes. Do you like that?"

Macho nods.

Waiting at LAX for a plane to Slovakia!