I’ve looked forward to sharing this treat of a website for a while now. Marek Bennett is an American who’s been travelling through Slovakia and capturing his day-to-day life in comics and putting them online at his fun website Coffee + Dumpling + Komiks. I stop by Marek’s site every few days to take a look at what his latest inspiration in Slovakia has been. As you’ll see in a few seconds, Marek’s comics are especially funny for those with at least a basic Slovak vocabulary. He likes to play with words and language.
Below is the first post Marek put up on his site, answering the oft asked question “Why go to Slovakia?” I trust you’ll enjoy his answers to that question. If all goes well with this, I’d love to see Marek post more of his comics about Slovakia on 52 Weeks in Slovakia.
Marek will be stopping by over the next few days to answer any questions you might have in the comments section. - Allan
Why Go to Slovakia?
November 10, 2011
By Marek Bennett
Marek Bennett, a cartoonist and musician from New Hampshire, USA, leads arts-based creative programming with schools and community organizations for young artists of all ages. He is currently drawing travel comics about his adventures in eastern Slovakia and posting them to his website Coffee + Dumpling + Komiks.
Livia
Nov 11th, 2011SRDCE is the correct spelling and it has a vowel!
Marek Bennett
Nov 11th, 2011Thanks Livia! I realized that when I went to class in Bratislava! I have corrected it in the original comic, but I still need to correct it on the website…
Tatiana
Nov 11th, 2011Nice but you shouldn’t call your BABKA baba, that’s kind of rude. If you love her, she must be babka. Baba just mean old woman and usually not a nice one.
))
Melania
Nov 11th, 2011Strc prst skrz krk, no vowels can you say it?
hrst-fist
drz-hold
krst-baptism
and I can go on and on
Jana Mihal' Waitkus
Nov 11th, 2011Marek,
Your cartoon is wonderful- sums up all the reasons why I first went to Slovakia. And yep, every time I am in the Saris region, I feel like I am home.
Marek Bennett
Nov 11th, 2011Great, yes, that was one of the first sentences my cousins taught me… SKRčPRSTSKRZKRK!
SKRč HRST SKRZ TRS?
@Tatiana == Ha ha, that must be the Connecticut Italian influence, which made “BaBa” much easier for us to say than “baBKa”. I think I will have to draw a comics translation of us as kids calling dear sweet Baba “Old Woman”!
Marek Bennett
Nov 11th, 2011@Melania — Did you see the sentences I posted here: http://marekslovakia.wordpress.com/category/wrds-no-vowels/
Feel free to suggest your own, and I will draw them!
Tatiana
Nov 11th, 2011Saris is the best!!!!!!
Larry Paxton
Nov 11th, 2011Thanks for your cartoons, Marek, I will look forward to more, and they helped remind me of why I will be back in Slovakia next week for a quick visit. I lived in Slovakia for 3 years and never did master the common consonant words, let alone those that do have vowels in them, but I keep trying. I have been to the fascinating Levoca Cathedral at least 3 times and never thought of it in cartoon terms before. That will change my way of thinking wherever I am from now on!
JinAnna Trnka
Nov 12th, 2011Nice, I love it !!! lol
travelling all the time, never forget my Slovakia, even l
I am 2hardiscslovaksuiss living a tLake Genevaarea and artist also.
Marek Bennett
Nov 13th, 2011Larry == YES, the medieval church (roman AND orthodox) was definitely a high point for world comics culture… People are always surprised when I point it out, but for centuries the central media of Christian culture were primarily sequential graphic narratives… I have a basic list of resources for this topic here: http://comicsworkshop.wordpress.com/europe/ … but would appreciate more links from other travelling readers! — M
PS. I just got back from a weekend pilgrimmage to Bardejov (which as you all know is a UNESCO world heritage site thanks in part to the AMAZING medieval and gothic comics in the basilika there) — stay tuned to the blog for a comics report.
Melania
Nov 13th, 2011More words:
KLB – joint
KRB – fireplace
KRC – spazm
DLH – dept
Melania
Nov 13th, 2011Krc – spasm
Marek Bennett
Nov 13th, 2011DLH = debt
Dakujem…
Cynthia
Nov 15th, 2011Yeah, Tatiana, I called my Moravian grandmother “babka” also. It’s funny that the word ‘krč’ (spasm) is the root for the eastern Slovakian term for ‘pub’ or ‘bar’ “krčma”. Therefore, the Slovakian bartender can tell an unwitting foreigner that an eastern Slovakian bar is a place to drink and then have spasms !! (ha, ha) !!
Another reason to go to Slovakia is to buy your favorite Slovakian liquor and then have it shipped back home !! (Unless you want to share it with the stewardesses who check your carry-on during your flight back) !!
Marek Bennett
Nov 15th, 2011I have had good luck so far with taking bottles home in my suitcase. We will find out next week whether that remains true…
Tatiana
Nov 15th, 2011it’s funny how the US custom officers know our kind, when they see, where we are from, they ask about homemade alcohol and wine and korbaciky
))
Marek Bennett
Nov 16th, 2011Let´s see if they object to a halušky mill in my ukulele case…
MarianneB
Nov 16th, 2011But we called our grandmother Baba. Could it be a regional idiom? Her family came from a tiny village northeast of Kosice, and my grandfather came from close to the Hungarian border.
Tatiana
Nov 18th, 2011No Marianne, it’s not regional idiom. Baba basically means old woman, and back in the days, that’s what you would refer to. The proper name for grand mother is “stara mama” (old mother) or starka and some kids use it, but now it’s very common to call grandmother babka. However grandmothers (especially those old ones, not new generation) used to call themselves baba, my grandma used to do it too, but nowadays, it’s rude for grandchildren to refer to their grandmother as baba. It’s just not nice, we use word babka, what is supposed to be nicer, english doesn’t have equivalent to this kind of word usage.
Marek Bennett
Nov 18th, 2011I like to think Baba got a kick out of her grandchildren calling her “Old Lady.” If I had grandchildren in another country and I taught them to call me “Old Man” it would make me smile a lot.
admin
Nov 19th, 2011Marek,
Watch out for the halusky mill in the ukulele case, there have to be at least thirty ways that you can injure someone with that thing. If I were the TSA, I’d put you on the Do Not Fly List for carrying it around.
It looks like it was a great success thank you for sharing your work here on 52inSk, Marek. I’ve been enjoying the Baba/Babka discussion too and laughing each time I read it. Thank you!
Allan
P.S. Can “30 Ways to Injure Someone with a Halusky Mill” be a future comic of yours?
Cynthia
Nov 20th, 2011Tatiana, what are ‘korbačiky’ ?? Mark, I hope the wine bottles don’t break in your suitcases !! And I hope the custom’s officials don’t confiscate them if they don’t break !!
Marek Bennett
Nov 20th, 2011@admin == Possibly, although also considering “TOP TEN WAYS TO OVERFEED VISITING RELATIVES WITH HALUšKY MILL AND OTHER KITCHEN EQUIPMENT” … Thanks for your support & feedback, it is great to be in the 52inSK family!
@Tatiana == They are sheep cheese treats! Wine? Wine is a rather inefficient way of transporting alchohol, don´t you think? No, it is best to look for cargo at 50% content or higher… 8v)
== M
Tatiana
Nov 20th, 2011Cynthia, Korbaciky is smoked cheese braided into form of whip-korbac, they are very popular in Slovakia, and you can buy them in usa too. There is czechoslovak store in NYC, that carries them, I just ordered some myself.
Marek, well I wasn’t talking about normal wine, I don’t think customs would mind that, I was talking about homemade one, and you can’t buy that over here. Especially moravians love it and they are very proud of theirs.
Dana
Nov 27th, 2011Wow. I love your cartoons. I laughed so much this morning.Thank you.You made my day…Dana
Marek
Nov 28th, 2011Thanks, Dana — and YOU made MINE! — M
Eileen Backofen
Nov 28th, 2011Baba, babka, babicka??
We always called my grandmother ‘Baba.’ She was born in the Saris region in 1882 and came to America in 1900.
As I tried to relearn my childhood Slovak for our 2008 visit to Slovakia, my textbook used “babicka” for grandmother.
I thought “babka” was the cake-like bread that Baba used to make.
We’ve got a return trip planned for 2012. I better work on my language skills.
Tatiana
Nov 28th, 2011Eileen, babicka is also good but too long, in slovakia we cut all the long names and give them shorter equivalents. Btw. I am going to put end to babka as desert. I have never heard of “babka”, until I came to USA. There is what we call babovka, and it looks just like “american babka”. Maybe back in days babovka was called babka, just like grandma was baba, but with evolution of language it was probably changed, and so baba became babka, and cake became babovka, or it can be just the way americans changed names. They also call rohliky – ruglach, kolace became kolache, babovka is babka etc.
admin
Dec 2nd, 2011I’m enjoying this baba/babka/babovka discussion!
I bet Marek’s family loved hearing about it as they gathered around the Thanksgiving table this year.
Allan
Marek
Dec 2nd, 2011Allan —
Ha, honestly we spoke a lot more about the current debt crisis and the squeeze any bailout plan places on small economies like Slovakia… Doesn’t matter what you call your sweet little pensioner, if she’s on a fixed income and the taxes are going up!
That, and the eternal Slivovica Vs. Hruska debate… — M
admin
Dec 14th, 2011Marek,
It sounds like the standard American Thanksgiving discussion – the Slovak economy and discussion on the finer points of homemade alcohol. I’m hoping you brought them samples so that they could better deliver their opinions on the Slivovica v. Hruska debate.
Wishing you a speedy return to Slovakia.
Allan
Ludko
Dec 23rd, 2011I have seen ‘baba’ used as ‘old hag’, not very nice.