In the United States, we make friends quickly. When you start going to a new school, you meet someone and each lunch with them. Within a few days you are calling each other friends. By the end of the first week, someone will likely ask, "Have you made any friends yet?", and you can hopefully answer, "Yes". Some friends you may talk to every day. Other friends you may talk to only sometimes. Either way, you still call them a "friend".
In Slovakia, people take time to make friends. They want to make sure they that the relationship will be strong and last. When you call someone "friend", you know the friendship will last for a long time.
Adjusting to the way Slovaks make friends was tough for me. In Wisconsin, I had a lot of friends that I was always spending time with. When I came to Košice, I knew almost no one. I desperately wanted someone to hang out with and talk to. I was hoping this would happen quickly and help me find my place in this new city.
When I started working at the school, I met two other teachers that were about my age and spoke English well. We started eating lunch together a few times a week. I was feeling good, like maybe I had found some friends, but they viewed our relationship more as coworkers than friends.
A few weeks later, we began eating lunch together every day.
