Slovenian Hospitality Chez Špeh

Many of you will be pleased to know that the last name of the family who hosted us for a few days last week, Špeh, means bacon or fat in Slovene. (Don't trust google translate on this one. Pons is much more reliable for translating Slovenian, And yes you can call the language Slovene OR Slovenian.) They told us this right after telling us that their 11 year-old daughter was a huge fan of eating meat (meso). Here and there I'll include little words in Slovene, mostly to prove that I'm learning, but also because I hope you'll also find it interesting.

I must apologize in advance for the length of this post, it turns out I have a lot to share about Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week. No one will know if you stop reading right now..

Natalija Špeh invited us to come to Velenje to do some field work with her class and offer short presentations on our backgrounds, education, and research interests. We were very excited for these few days as the beginning of our time in Ljubljana was marked by restlessness and some boredom. I was particularly excited to be pulled into a project, making a powerpoint about myself and about the interrelated nature of water, agriculture, and the environment, to the point that hours passed without my noticing. It also felt good to be appreciated for myself and not merely as Jedd's wife (žena) in this new place. Unfortunately, snow and ice prevented the bus (avtobus) from getting to our field work location, so the trip was postponed for a few weeks.

When we did go to Velenje, Natalija and her family were so generous and thoughtful in hosting us. Staying with them has been one of my favorite experiences in Slovenia so far. Per usual, Irena picked us up from just outside of Ljubljana (we biked there) and drove us to Ljubljana. She then had an academic meeting and graduation at the school (šola). We spent the afternoon (popoldne) and evening (zvečer) eating our way through Velenje with a stop at a bakery/cafe to eat some pastries with meat (meso) and cheese (sir) in them (which we discovered after buying them) and reading (berem) our books. Next we had a drink at the same hotel where we had stayed about a month before. Jedd had his favorite schnapps and I had a borovničke (blueberry liqueur). Then we went to a very good and very cheap Chinese restaurant where we were surprised that our "eggplant and three tastes" dish was actually fried eggplant with three different kinds of meat. We were also pleasantly surprised by the complimentary and delicious digestif.

There is a relatively large Chinese community in Slovenia and especially in Velenje due to tourism and also the Gorenje plant which produces appliances and was somewhat recently acquired by a Chinese buyer.

Late that night, we arrived at Natalija's house which is about a 25 minute drive from Velenje and the school where she teaches. We were shown to our room, offered delicious herbal tea (čaj) and honey (mel), and quickly fell asleep. Early the next morning we were greeted with coffee (kava), sweets from the graduation, and conversation with Natalija and her husband. I was downstairs for at least 5 minutes before I noticed Natalija's younger daughter reading on the platform above the hearth.

After dropping Ila off at school, we drove to Velenje and rushed to meet the bus full of 18 year-olds that took us to our field work destination. It was a karst spring that supplies the drinking water (voda) for Velenje. It was nice to hike and be outside and to watch the students quake ever so slightly as they read their short paragraphs in English (angleško) describing the karst's geological, geographical, cultural, and agricultural characteristics. I swear I only took pleasure in their pain because though the students are all in college, many acted much more like high school students--talking over their teacher and each other, swearing loudly in English because it's funnier in a foreign language, and grudgingly participating in the time spent hiking outdoors.

Jedd and I, meanwhile, really enjoyed hiking through the karst, speaking with some of the students and learning from them, exploring an agricultural homestead that is hundreds of years old (and one that is currently unoccupied and in a state of disrepair because the former owner had no children to take it on). We also enjoyed the end of the hike when we again got a bit lost looking for trail blazes that had been wiped out or reconfigured due to the wind storm last year that knocked over so many trees. We stopped at a very cool cave where human bones and other archeological wonders had been discovered and found our way back to the school.

Jedd and I each gave our presentations which Natalija was very pleased with, especially because she is sure the students were interested because they were very quiet. I think it's either that or they were just trying to figure out what we were talking about.

That afternoon Natalija took us and Irena out to a large late lunch and then we returned to her house. We were fortunate to watch the sun rise and set that day on the drive to and from Velenje, which was beautiful in the countryside. Back at the house, we admired the wooden home that they built ~10 years ago and slowly began to make conversation with her 17 year-old daughter Mina, who spoke English very well, and her 11-year old Ila, who was very shy to speak English.

As time went on, the daughters became more and more comfortable with us and we had more and more fun talking. Then we had a delicious dinner of salad from the garden, dressed with the local delicacy pumpkin seed oil, tomatoes and mozzarella, and bread baked by Natalija. Oh and of course some meso for the youngest carnivore.

The girls asked us if we'd play a game with them, which we were excited to do and we quickly discovered how competitive and eager our young friend Ila was. It turns out she could speak much more English than she had let on, especially when there was a game at stake. We played a simple game that translates something like "Don't get mad, man" and then a Catan-inspired dice game. In case you were wondering, I came in first, then Ila, then Mina, and then Jedd. In both games.

In the morning, everyone except for Natalija's husband, Matej, was off to work or school and he generously made us breakfast: coffee, sweets, museli, milk (that Natalija had biked over to the local farmer's house to collect), and eggs "the Slovene way," which just means cooked in bacon grease.

There was much talk of endurance racing, biking, skiing, and the excitement of the beginning of winter. Then Matej drove us, and his very well trained German Shepherd to a local regional protected area/park where we would see a waterfall and hike to a mountain hut.

The waterfall was very tall and impressive and we even saw (and heard) a huge chunk of ice slide off and break on the ground below. The hike was well marked and well-made especially considering its all done by volunteer labor through the local mountaineering clubs.

We were impressed with how steep the climb was, the worn away to ladder-width wooden steps, and the mountain rescue hut recently rebuilt on the top of the mountain. We were also very impressed by the cable that is used to transport goods to the mountain hut in the summer where tens of people can sleep and they have a full restaurant and bar.




I've already written so much here that I'm struggling to do it all justice here at the end. It was a great joy to be hiking in the woods in steep mountains with snow on the ground and a chill in the air. It was very special to be shown such a majestic place by a local who recreates, trains, and rescues in these mountains. It was warming to have a large shot of local pear (hruška) schnapps at the summit and an all-around perfect day outside.

For lunch, we had very good burgers, local craft beer, and an eye-full of strange pornographic dragon art at a small pub nearby.

Na zdravje (cheers) to the people of Slovenia and hvala lepa (thank you very much)

for all the generosity and hospitality they have shown us.