28th October

I have never celebrated national holidays very much, but this day has somehow got a different meaning for me now as I am in Slovakia. Short explanation for non-Czechoslovaks: This is and independence day for Czechoslovakia, this country, which does not exist anymore, was formed on 28th October 1918. We do celebrate this day in the Czech republic, it is our national holiday, but here in Slovakia this day is not celebrated. And young people often even don't know what this date means. This has shocked me in the first moment, but on the other hand it is quite logical, they were 10 years or even younger when Czechoslovakia has split up. Not celebrating this date itselves is actually more strange for me, because in my opinion every nation should celebrate it's independence. And does this mean that splitting the federation was more significant for Slovak independence than creation of Czechoslovakia from disintegrating Habsburg empire? Well let's be kind and say that it is a result of euphoria after becoming totally independent state 12 years ago. After all, look in Czech calenders and check, how does Czech republic call the day of the federation splitting. The day of renewal of the independent Czech state... oh my god, what is that?

Home...

Last friday I visited home again after 6 weeks. In this case home means Litvinov, my true home, where I lived for the first 18 years of my life and which is still my official home stated in my ID card. However the meaning of the word "home" has changed a lot for me over last few years. Now there are 4 cities, which I can connect with this word: Litvinov, Prague, Reykjavik and Bratislava.
I have always considered myself to be Litvinov patriot, but after 4 years of being away I found that somehow I don't belong there anymore. Of course my parents and brother are staying there, but otherwise I feel like a visitor in the town. I am still a big fan of the local icehockey team and I also neve forget to mention where I am from, but matter of fact Litvinov seems to be rather my past.
After experiencing 3 different capital cities I can say that the I feel the best in a city of Prague size. That does not mean that I did not feel well in Reykjavik or in Bratislava now. Reykjavik enchanted me in the beginning with it's peace and lots of green. However after some time I started to miss the rush of a bigger city a little bit.
My first impression of Bratislava was not that nice, but now I am completely enjoying my stay here.
Actually it is question, how much I am able to separate my impressions about the place from the general feeling, which is mostly connected with the people I am meeting and who co-create my life in each of these places.
And another question is, how much can these preferences change during next years... Could it happen that I will end up living in a small town?