Anyone in Slovakia?

where are you ? I go back and forth a bit with the family. Still deciding where to live.

I don't live here, but my wife is from here, so we spend quite a bit of time in her home town Spisska Nova Ves, which is a near 5 hour train journey from Bratislava. At one time we had contemplated moving here, even arranged a leave from my job so I could spend a few months here to see if I would be able to adapt.

A few weeks before we were due to leave some work issues forced me to abandon the plan, and we ended up staying in Ireland. That was a few years ago now. At some stage we probably will move here, once our kids are grown and have flown the nest, but for the time being it won't happen.

Even so, I love it over here, beautiful summers, beautiful winters, I've spent the last week sliding down ski slopes on my ass with my kids, and even though I eneded up sick from it, I still loved it. The people here are so nice, amazing scenery, and it's so peaceful and laid back.

I haven't spent much time in Bratislava so sorry can't speak of any expats in the area, though my wife says there was a couple of irish expat groups in the past when she studied in university there.

I hope everything goes well for you there. If you ever want to travel out to Spisska during the summer let me know, I'll be back over here July/August and could show you around.

Yeah the language is tough,, though to be honest I haven't made a huge effort as I don't live there. I know little bits and pieces, but my kids are fluent in it, so if the wife isn't around to translate for me, they will, which is adorable.

With the OP, I originally misread and thought he was in Bratislava, only afterwards I noticed it was Senica.

Have you's been to other parts of the country much? Any particular favourites?

Yeah, my wife talks to them in Slovak, and I in English. Our little one is 5 and our son is 3. I wasn't sure at first how it would work out, but they picked it up. I guess when they are young, obviously the old cliche that they are like a sponge, it's easier for them to learn. They picked up the English a bit quicker, maybe due to the fact that they would hear us conversing in English and other people talking to us in English, but there is no problems for them now with switching between both.

There are other Slovaks we know married to irish people, and they don't speak in this way and their kids haven't picked up the language. We met one at the airport on the way over, she has a 4 year old boy, and he can't speak a word of slovak, which I think is kinda sad, as I like that fact that my kids can come over and talk with their slovak grandparents and make Slovak friends without having a language barrier there.

As for moving over, at the time I think for me a change of scenery was something I was looking for in life, something different to try. My wife is very close to her family and missed them quite a lot, and I felt that if I could make something work for myself over here, then I would be willing to give it a shot.

But now, progression in my professional life, we bought a house, and the fact my daughter has started her school life and making friends and starting to develop an identity, I think early retirement may be what I'll be looking for when we consider moving over. I love spending time over here and we'll continue to try help our kids develop and maintain a slovak cultural identity, but for the foreseeable future, Ireland is where we will call home.