{"id":6929,"date":"2016-10-15T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T16:01:10","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T20:01:10","slug":"so-your-character-is-from-slovakia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/so-your-character-is-from-slovakia\/","title":{"rendered":"So Your Character is From Slovakia … Featuring Simona @ Girl with Cloudy Head"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nIt’s time for this month’s So Your Character is From Another Country! This is a monthly or bimonthly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last week’s <\/span>So Your Character is From China …<\/a><\/span> be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!<\/span><\/div>\n
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\nThis has to be the country I’m least familiar out of these posts so far. Before reading this post I knew next to nothing about Slovakia, only that it’s a country in Eastern Europe. I know so much more after reading this post!<\/span><\/div>\n
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\nDisclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.<\/span><\/span>
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\nHi, my name is Simona and I\u2019m from a little country in the heart of Europe called Slovakia. I\u2019m a student of the Slovak language and literature and the English language and literature in Bratislava. I\u2019m obsessive reader who loves adventures, especially those in books while I\u2019m safely tucked under my blanket. My biggest passion is writing because it seems that I have trouble finding really good friends in real life, so instead I create them myself. What else? I love yoga, meditation and food. Who doesn\u2019t love food? <\/span><\/div>\n
\nBlog<\/a>\/\/Twitter<\/a>\/\/Instagram<\/a>\/\/Pinterest<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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\nWhat do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?<\/b><\/span>
\nSlovakia has unique traditions. We celebrate Christmas but we don\u2019t have Santa Claus but Jesus Christ. He\u2019s the one who brings the gifts. Also, Easter is celebrated very differently than in other countries. We don\u2019t look for Easter eggs. Oh no. We, especially women, have \u201cway more fun\u201d on Easter Monday. <\/span>
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\nOn this day, men take whips from twigs, water, and perfume. At first they whip us then they pour the water over us and at last they scent us with the perfume. The reason is for us women to be healthy and beautiful for the rest of the year. Yeah, being thrown into a cold river in March doesn\u2019t sound healthy. Some men are gentler, some are brutal. And for that we have to give them money or an Easter egg so it\u2019s totally unfair. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Easter Monday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Tell me about your country’s environment. What are some of your favorite places?<\/b><\/span>
\nMy hometown is in the north of Slovakia, and it\u2019s called \u017dilina. It is surrounded by hills and mountains so Slovakia has mountainous parts in the north but also plain parts in the south. The biggest range of mountains is called High Tatra and it\u2019s simply beautiful. I love it there because it\u2019s so peaceful and the hikes are amazing. <\/span>
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\nAnother thing I love to visit are old villages, especially open-air museums where you can see how our nation lived in the past. The best known is \u010ci\u010dmany and the houses there are simply beautiful. But it\u2019s not just about the cottages, it\u2019s about the atmosphere. <\/span>
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Tell me about your country’s food. What are some of your favorite dishes?<\/b><\/span>
\nOh, Slovak food has specific flavor and I\u2019ve met more negative than positive opinions from foreigners. We have bryndza cheese that is a little bit salty, smoked sheep\u2019s cheese which is amazing! Our best known dish is called halushki with bryndza. They are gnocci with the bryndza cheese and it\u2019s delicious, I could eat it every day but it has distinctive taste. Another interesting food is boiled sheep whey but I must say I haven\u2019t had the courage to taste it yet. Most of our cuisine comes from chalets because they were quite common in the past. You can still visit some of them now, but they are rarer.<\/span>
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Tell me about any different speech patterns in your country. Slang? Idioms? Words for things such as \u201cbiscuits\u201d instead of \u201ccookies\u201d?<\/b><\/span>
\nIt\u2019s hard to tell because the Slovak language is so different from English. But just like English has a schwa which we don\u2019t have, the Slovak language has consonants such as \u0161 (pronounced as sh in sheep), \u013e, \u010d (pronounced as ch in watch), \u0165, \u017e, \u0148. Long vowels are heard in speech but also seen in written language because we have letters such as \u00e1, \u00ed, \u00e9, \u00f3, \u00fa and even \u00f4 which I don\u2019t know how to explain. You have to hear it.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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