Skittles and Sour Milk

I was invited to go out with a group of my adult students to experience the game of Skittles, which is the English term for the game Kolky. Like you reading this, I still had no idea what the game was. It turns out, kolky is a game similar to bowling, or maybe nine pin.

We went to the Kolkarena (room with kolky lanes), which was a cowboy bar, complete with cowhides, deer antlers and German Cowboy and Indian movies. It was only missing the sawdust, swinging doors and a jukebox with Willie Nelson. Downstairs were motorcycles hanging on the walls, car seats for furniture, engine blocks for decoration, and the two Kolky lanes.

Like bowling, you take a ball and roll it down the lane trying to knock down the pins. The ball is smaller, though, and you palm it in your hand because there are no finger holes. The nine pins at the end of the lane are attached to strings which lift the pins and reset them after every turn. You score a point for each pin you knock down and the game ends after 50 or 100 turns.

It was a simple but wonderful game and we cheered each other on in broken English and Slovak.

Afterwards, my students decided that I needed to eat some authentic Slovak food to complete my night. We walked through the slush and puddles to a restaurant to enjoy Bryndzove Halusky, (a small potato dumpling, or gnocchi, with sheep cheese), and a big cup of sour milk. The milk came in a traditional wooden cup with a carved horse for the handle. I wish it tasted as good as the cup looked. Instead it was more like a cup of mixed yogurt and sour cream that left a look of complete horror on my face after I tried it. I'm glad they laughed and didn't take offence.

That's how everyone should take their experiences in a new place, with laughter and not judgment. Too bad that's rarely the case.