I went to the school on Friday, prepared and not so prepared. I was pretty much ready and willing to face the sixth grade class, but I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with the eighth and ninth grade classes. The sixth grade class was first with an hour break after it, and then I headed back up to the remaining two classes. To make two hours of class time shorter than they actually were, I'll just say that, although both of these older classes were a little harder, I still survived. The ninth grade was the hardest, mainly because most of the students just listened and didn't try and speak, although they know the most out of all the students I had previously "conversed" with. My conversation was mainly with just a couple of the students, and all the rest seemed to be content with just listening. I knew that this was probably what I was going to be faced with, but still I was a little surprised. Yesterday I went for the last time this year, and everything went just as well as last Tuesday.
Speaking of yesterday... Most of you probably have guessed that I drive my car to Trencin when I go there. Yesterday was no exception, but I also took my bike. After I got done at the school I went to Jozef A.'s house for lunch and then went with him to the church to help move some shelving. I drove my car to the church and once I parked (in an illegal place!) I found out that my battery was completely dead; I had been running on the alternator. We, Jozef and I, pushed my car to a better parking place and then tried to think of why the battery would be dead. I couldn't figure it out since I had just bought a new battery, plus I had replaced some burnt cables that go out of the alternator. (There is a break in the time frame here because I went riding, but it picks up later in the afternoon) We push-started the car and I drove it back to Jozef's house. I spent the night there with the plan to go with him to a couple of shops in the morning to try and figure out either what the problem was or if I could just buy an alternator (and fix the problem by elimination [which is sometimes what has to be done with an old car]). This morning we went and were told by a mechanic (who said he wouldn't do any work on the car because he had piles of other work) that it wasn't the alternator (he checked it) but that the belt was too slack. This was kind of embarrassing for me because I hadn't thought about checking the belt. I had tightened it a few weeks ago (when the battery first started charging right [hmmm!]) but it was already so loose that the idler pulley could be turned without trouble. So... we went to the other shop and got a belt (which the guy gave us because it was "old") and then went back to the house. After changing into the work clothes that I had in my trunk (for such a time as this), I went out to do the first "real" work on my car. Actually, the whole job was pretty easy and didn't take me more than an hour to do (even in the cold!). OK, so that's not the whole truth. The belt that the guy gave us was the wrong one (it was for the first model year which had a generator) which meant that we had to go back and get the right one (which we had to pay for). In all, the work wasn't all that much work. The outcome is that my battery now charges and I'm not so worried about throwing the timing belt (because I looked at it while I had things apart and decided that it had probably been replaced already). How boring it would be to own a new (new) car!
Yea, OK, so that last paragraph was longer than the first (but it seemed like a better story!), and I still haven't mentioned the bike riding. I'll make that...
Up the hill and down the hill. That's where we rode our bikes. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that I went riding with Lukas T. (who is a boy from one of the families that belongs to the church in Trencin). First we went into the woods that are above Trencin and rode some really crazy-steep drops/rises (I don't really know what to call them). This was pretty exhilarating, but soon we headed down through the city and on to the next place he wanted to show me. Then to the next place... then the next. And then, because it was getting dark and cold(er), we headed back to where my car was parked at the church.
No pictures. I didn't have my camera with me for any of the excitement. (I'm going to have to get another small camera so I won't have to lug around my big one) It's a pretty lame excuse for me, someone who likes taking pictures, to not have any new pictures to go with this post, but O well...
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