Would I embrace the Slovak culture?

Part I: A Special Place in my Heart for the Heart of Europe

When I reached the age of 28 years, I decided to fulfill a dream.  Since high school I always wanted to work and live internationally.  It’s a romantic idea to live in another country, speak the language and understand the culture.  In high school and college I used to listen to short wave radio and learn about the language, culture and politics of countries such as the former Soviet Union, China, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Australia.  Radio is an interesting medium which requires one to use the mind’s eye to visualize content.   I used to imagine how the people lived in each country through the different radio accounts from country to country.  I also imagined what the radio stories were not telling me about the societies.  How can one really understand a country without living there? Once I tuned into a nation I would record a notch in my list of nations.  With my radio and maps I quickly became geographically competent in my teens.  I dreamed of visiting those countries.  As I approached my 30s it concerned me that I may never work abroad never mind notch off multiple countries.  To prevent such an outcome, I applied to the Peace Corps to serve in Kazakhstan.  Unfortunately, there were no spaces available.  I would have to wait another 6 months to go to Central Asia where the ‘Stans,’ which means place of, are located: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.  How amazing would it be to live and adventure through these countries?  How could I wait another 6 months?  To avoid putting life on hold, I decided to take whatever placement Peace Corps suggested.  One day the envelope arrived.  It reminded me of my college acceptance letter.  It came with a government issued yellow map, a fact sheet and cultural description.

The little country was located in the geographic heart of Europe:  Slovakia.  I remembered Czechoslovakia from my radio listening hobby.  I wondered what such a small country would be like.  There were mountains, lakes and rivers.  And there were lots of castle ruins.  An exciting moment came on the day I crossed the border from Austria into Slovakia.  People risked their lives to escape the Iron Curtain by crossing the opposite way at this same location near Bratislava.  I was entering into a new country and a new culture.  Would I embrace this country and culture as my own?