So, last night I decided to give it a-go and try going to the movies by myself. But, remember, here’s the thing, I’m in Slovakia, so the movie-going experience is just a wee-bit different. So I’ll start at the beginning, hopefully you’ll be able to picture it.

6:35 Left my apartment, to start to walk towards the tram stop of the #6 which will carry me to kino druzba (the movie theater I need to go to)

6:41 Tram #2 takes me to the tram #6 stop, I love it when trams time themselves like this

6:47 Tram #6 comes, I get on (tram checkers get on - and you have to show that you’re a legal passenger by presenting your ticket or your month pass, luckily I had returned mine earlier that day from a previous tram checker incident)

7:00 Arrive at Kino Druzba (the movie theater)

7:05 Purchase movie ticket for 99sk ($5)

7:07 Me, trying to figure out the system, because you see there is assigned seating at movie theaters here, I check my ticket - row 11, seat 7

7:10 I’m seated, with no one around, but some Slovak’s are crowded into their rows (I’m thinking, this would never fly in America)

7:15 still no one around and I’m starting to feel a bit like a loser, I’m really by myself at the movies

7:18 a burst of confidence - I’m really doing this. Not just alone at the movies, but alone IN Slovakia at the movies.

7:22 a couple arrives, and sits right beside me, with an entire empty row

7:28 the girl, of the couple, leans over to me to ask, “are you waiting on someone?” and i reply that i am not, she asks me if i can switch seats because they have a friend coming. I’m thinking, no problem, we have an entire empty row, why don’t we just stagger ourselves with 13 seats in between us, that could be an option.

7:29 I’ve moved seats, and I’m talking to this girl,

me -”do you study in Kosice?”

girl - “yes”

me - “what do you study”

girl- “english”

me - “I’m an American and I’ve lived in Slovakia for a year, I’m working and taking Slovak language here”

girl - “oh, I thought no one wanted to come to Kosice”

7:31 movie starts

7:33 a rush of girls floods our row, where clearly there are more girls than there are seats

7:35 i’m standing, we’re trying to figure out who has what seat, in Slovak, i feel out of place but not lonely, no, not lonely

7:40 i’m in my seat tucked between a guy (the friend of the couple that i was cuddling with at 7:22)

7:45 i’m well on my way to enjoying the movie

for the next 2 hours it’s something like this…

couple in front of me making out

couple beside me making out

couple behind me making out (i’m just assuming, i didn’t turn around)

9:50 it’s over, and i made it, so it’s off to the races to catch the tram back

9:55 tram #6 comes to carry me home

10:15 i’m home, back in my apartment, walk in to aaron sitting on the couch, carlyn in her room (door closed on the phone)

this is my life. this is somehow all normal. and it will be over soon and i will be sad.

there were many times throughout the night that i thought about taking video, but then i thought that it might be better explained than seen, sometimes it’s like that.

now, the next morning, i think about what this girl said,

i thought nobody wanted to come here.

i pray, that it’s been a testimony to many Slovaks that we’ve met and ministered to that we wanted to come here and we want them to know Jesus and that’s why i came, not to live in europe for a year (although i love that i can check this off my “things to do before I’m 30″ list, not to travel to cool places (although, that was fun and i got some good pictures). it was all about following God and i hope that it still is - I’m searching my heart on this now, as i’ve processed through the fact lately that “faith is not a feeling.”