Sylvia and her cousins' graduation party

---

On Friday, we drove to Kosice to attend the graduation of Sylvia's cousin Ka. She has been studying in vet school for the last six years at a bilingual Slovak/English program. The graduation was held in the town theatre which has been very well restored. The graduation ceremony was rather short, but it might have been half as long if everything was not repeated in English. It is quite common for flowers to be given to graduates (and on just about every other imaginable occasion in Slovakia), so most everyone in the theatre held flowers. After the ceremony we met outside for pictures and then drove to nearby Moldava for a nice lunch and party.
The following evening was the large graduation party for both Ka and Sylvia, since she didn't really have a large family celebration in the United States. It was a very nice experience for me because of the nice traditions and foods I got to experience. Since the town of Janik is so close to the Hungarian border, Hungarian language and culture are strongly present in this region of Slovakia. On the menu for the party was Gulas, which has the consistency of soup and contained pork, beef, and wild boar meat as well as potatoes. Sylvia and Kas' grandmother made a very traditional kolach with poppy seed, which is my favorite. There were also plenty of libations.

---

Photos

Slovak Graduation
Ka bows to the audience after recieving her diploma.

Graduation Day Dinner
Ka enjoys her first meal as a doctor.

Cousin and Grandmother
Sylvia, Ka, and their grandmother after the graduation ceremony.

Sylvia's Cousins
This is my Slovak entourage. The one on the right is a bouncer at a gypsy club and the one on the left guards the Slovak president...so dont try anything.

Graduation Flowers
Okay, so every once in a while I get lucky and take a really awesome picture. This might be the best I've ever taken.

House Builders
Taking a break for a few celebratory drinks. The next door neighbors were in the process of demolishing an old house in order to build a new one. This structure was once used to hide Soviet military during World War II. Later during communism, the house was requried by law to fly a communist flag each year on the party's anniversary. This flag was given to me as a gift, which was very nice.

Sylvia and Ka
An American-style graduation cake. The lady who made the cake originally refused to make such a plain cake because she was worried it might ruin her reputation as a cake maker if someone were to see it! It was quite nice however.

Real Hungarian Gulas
Sylvia's aunt and uncle started making the gulas early in the afternoon. It is cooked in the large wood burning kettle on the right.

Gulas
Family members and friends enjoying the gulas.

Garden Party
The backyard garden was the perfect place for a nice graduation celebration.