Essential sLOVEenia

Slovenian Beach Checklist

• water wings
• water shoes
• snorkel
• mask
• sunscreen
• towel
• snacks
• umbrella
• floatie raft

Optional:  bathing suit

Slovenian Food Questions
1.  If you put cheese on bread early in the morning and it sits in a hot car all day (temperature approximately 105 degrees F) how many hours can you wait to eat the cheese?  Keep in mind, it has been on bread, think grilled cheese.
2.  If you ask for ketchup at a restaurant (an unusual request as no one here eats it) and they bring you a 1/2 gallon container half full with lukewarm ketchup, do you eat it on your fried squid?


Choosing a restaurant to eat at in Slovenia
1.  Find some place without table cloths.  These indicate a high level of class.  Exceptions to this include if the seats at the tables are white plastic porch chairs.
2.  Make sure there are pictures of all food dishes on the menu.  Some people might think this is tacky.  Tacky is ordering small fried fish and not eating any of them (see last year's post- Dubrovnik).
3.  Beware when the waiter brings you the check and a free shot of Schnapps and says, "this is for the house."

Things to watch on Slovenian television
1.  A game played on a circular field with a rugby ball, football goal posts, kicking, throwing and occasional ball dribbling.  Definately not rugby.  Definately not soccer.  Definately not football or handball.
2.  Handball.
3.  Tour de France
4.  History Channel:  Kennedy's Body- seriously.  We watched this.  It was very very interesting.
5.  Unsolved Mysteries (on 24 hours a day as a matter of fact)

You might be in Slovenia if....
The person across from you at a restaurant looks down or way off to the side, and your first inquiry is, "what's wrong, is someone topless?"

Everything in a seafood restaurant comes with its head on.  Including shrimp.

You fall by rolling your ankle on the way back from the WC, and various people in three languages ask you if you are ok.

You set up your "spot" at the "beach"  (translation, two towels perched precariously on a large rock above the ocean) and literally 1 meter away an entire extended family sets up their refugee camp for the day complete with blankets, pillows, straw mats, snacks, sunblock and toys.  Notice a key missing thing.

Essential Slovenian
Ice cream:  sladoled
Water:  Voda
Mercator = grocery store
Thank you:  Hvala
Drug store:  Drogirija
Ketchup = ketchup