It's been a few days since I've written, been having way too much fun here in Slovenia. Right now Natasa and I are hanging out in this pub in Begunje, a small town near Bled. Natasa's birthday was mad. A few of her friends came out to her house and we got majorly silly drinking sangria and eating curry and soya with rice. I also made some bruschetta while Natasa made some garlic bread. The sangria went over very well. Most of it was gone, I realized, this morning when we had some more time to clean up a bit more of the party mess from the 7th. The next morning we went to help Tine, this is a guy's name, who lives in Ljubljana. Natasa forced us to wake up early to make it out to his apartment by about 9:30. Tine was moving into his parents place and we moved a shitload of old stuff out and into this large dump truck to be hauled away. We hung out there until the middle of the afternoon. Natasa's friends are wacko, they know a surprising amount of English sayings, it really funny.
Afterwards we made our way to Natasa's parents house and hung out there and ate some of the leftover curry and soya with polenta. We spent the night there because
the next morning we were going for a hike in the mountains on the Slovenian/Austrian border. We drove for maybe an hour or so up this dirt road which was covered by snow and ice in some places. The hike was really incredible. We stopped about halfway up because Natasa was having some problems with her shoes. I couldn't make it up either since I was also slipping all over the place. Vanja's boyfriend and his buddy went to the top, they are skilled mountaineers, while we hung out in the area. It's really incredible out there. I had two shirts and my Marmot jacket on and I was doing OK in the sunlight. I also ware my gloves and over-gloves or shell. It helped against the wind, but my fingers and toes were freezing for a while until I warmed up while walking. Being out of the direct sunlight could be very cold. There were also spots on the trail that are exposed to wind. You walk out to view the valley into Austria and get blasted by a strong, cold wind.
We spent quite a bit of time on the mountain and then headed back to Natasa's parent's house for a little dinner, but not before stopping by a little cafe for some pivo's for the guys and coffee for the girls. They also had some world cup skiing on the TV so we watched that for a little while before we headed down the hill. I also forgot to mention we went to watch a slide show the evening we spent the night at Natasa's house. It was a really nice slide show, Natasa did some translating for me while we watched.
Last night we pretty much just hung out after all the running around and I answered some e-mail and stuff. Tonight we may head to a movie after Natasa finishes doing her English lesson down the way. I've really been having a good time here in Slovenia, it is a nice country. Unfortunately I will be leaving possibly on Wednesday to make my way to Berlin for Gabor's party. I will likely stop in Munich to also see Jona for a few days before I make the trip to Berlin. Tonight I also hope to figure out how I might also get to my workcamp in France. I'm considering heading to France on the 17th so I have a day to wash my clothes and get organized before I make the trek out in the hills. It looks like the small little village is in the hills as well, but I'm not certain if it will be like Zonca. It's interesting, the camp people blasted their info message in Spanish and English, not French. I'm almost out of beer here so it's time to practice my Slovenian and get another pivo.