Dreads.

chillin in the car
So, my (most) impulsive buy on saturday was one of those suicidal bunny books. I saw it, and it made me smile, so I bought it. I felt this picture would really reach out to all my Amurrrican friends.
so, there was this stamp. On the bread. Our whole family had to taste a piece to see if it was legitimately a bread stamp. It was.
They are even in Praha.
what the inside of clock towers looks like. Pretty cool, huh?
Starý Jičín
On one of our walks
Sun shining in at the Hrád
the hrád, again

Don't worry. I am not worried or trying out a new hairdo. I am just trying a more Dan Brownish writing style. Now, the protagonist needs an attractive female family member of yours to go solve mysteries about secret societies with.

Wow. I have gone like a whole week without blogging! Does this mean I actually have a life? Sort of. Last weekend was super busy,and super expensive. I went shopping in Ostrava with Jana on Saturday, then spent Sunday in Praha with a bunch of AFS friends. It was really fun, but I spent almost twice as much time on busses and trains than I did in Praha.

The zoo was cool, and we spent quite a while discussing how different languages call sloths. Most translate to lazy animal, which I guess the english does, too. I still feel so spoiled because English is the language everyone speaks in, and I was the only one who has it as a native language. Our little hang out group has kind of become Europe, minus Italy, Brazil and me. Sometimes, I hang out with the Asian girls, too. And the third group is Italy and South/Central America, minus Brazil. They always seem to have a lot of fun. We are not cliquey, but the whole AFS group is just too big to hang out with everyone.

I got my first and second "1"s at school today. One in music, taught by my favorite Czech/music teacher, and finally a one in math. Last time, I got a 2 because I said that three times nine was eighteen. Good old Dewan math talent right there! But at least I got partial credit, because it was only a two question test.

Music is hard to find when you live in a town of 25,000, so that has been a bit frustrating. Though, I am happy because yesterday,my music teacher invited me to be in the school chorus, which travels and does other fun stuff. I don§t know why she wanted me though, because I have a bit of a cold and can only sing on la when we are singing in Czech. They just go too fast! But, she, and pretty much all of my other teachers, have been super nice and understanding to me. Some just ignore me, which is fine with me, and some go out of their way to explain things for me, which is really sweet. I do feel really bad though, because I am running a little low on sleep, and I nodded off during biologie yesterday. And I was sitting in the front row. Oops!

I do not know what is wrong with American guys, but guys from other countries are totally different. They are gentlemen, and taller and sweet and not as shy, and it is really nice. I am not trying to sound gushy, but you American men really need to get cracking! One downside, I was traveling on the bus with my friend, Vinny, from Brazil, and we had to wait forever to get off, because he let all the women coming from the front get off first! But, I can deal with that. Speaking of that 5 hour bus ride from Nový Jičín to Praha, the guy in front of us was a party. He had pretty much the biggest hair I have ever seen, and it was crazy and curly and dreaded in parts. EW! White people with bad dreads is scarily common here. Not a fan. But he would shake out his hair and flop it over the seat, and there would always be one dread that lingered in front of Vinny. It was so horrible, we could not stop laughing. We tried to take pictures, but our timing was off.

We have had PE a few times now. It is fine. It is actaully really nice to just have a small group of girls for your PE class. We are doing shotput, so I can pretend to be learning quickly. Then, she will expect me to be decent when we get to sports requiring thinking, and boy, is she in for a surprise. But maybe, all these sausages and chocolate bars will make me better at sports. Seems unlikely, but hey, I am not in Kansas anymore. You never know.

I gave you guys my schedule last week, but there has been a change. I am thinking no Spanish, but putting Chemistry back in. Seems silly, and I don§t know why I would want to, but Chemistry is semi understandable now. Writing on the board makes a big difference, and he has started repeating everything in English. Writing on the board does me no good in Biologie. There, she only writes about half of what she wants on the board, and writes that in cursive with like every word abbreviated. I would be screwed if some words were not the same, like lipidy and saccharides. But some days are better than others

I am really starting to feel at home here. I can find most classrooms if I know what the number I am looking is. I have sort of figured out the devil that is školaonline.cz. The family dog and I are having a bit of a power struggle, but he will come around. After talking to my sister, yesterday, I think I have a hypothesis about the behavioral problems present in many dogs here. Between not being neutered and no obediance training, these dogs are just full of reasons to go nuts. And it drives me bananas!

So, this has been one long day. I had nula class this morning, sbor and then took the bus to Ostrava for orchestra. I have another viola. It has a price tag on it for about 15 dollars, but it sounds better than the other one. Chorus was reall nice. They sound awesome, and people actually know how to blend. I am a mezzo soprano, which is nice and comfy. And we sang some songs in English. Easy enough. Orchestr was good. It is easy, I came in as first stand viola, but there doesn§t seem to be anything harder. I just want to plant Nový Jičín in the middle of Prague. I love my family, my school and the town, just not the lack of music.

I am becoming slightly Czech-ier, I think. Along with occasionally forgetting English words, I have adjusted to the keyboard. And, I am addicted to a Czech soap opera, Ulice. I understood the drama for the first time the other day. Everyone thought he was gay, but apparently not. I think I am just in Glee withdrawal because hulu is witchy and won§t let you watch internationally.

It is funny. There are so many things here that you would get sued for in the US. Like the coffee vending machines that serve it in a little plastic cup, not the insulated ones. In fact, besides pictures of a friend sipping Starbucks, I haven§t seen an insulated cup anywhere. And, you see ads that are unbelievably sketchy. Like a giant teddy bear following a line of children. It just wouldn§t fly in the US. Talking with one of my European friends, he said this is probably because suing is much more expensive here,and really cheap in the USA. Though many silly precautions are taken in the US because of our sue-happy lifestyle, I do miss insulated cups.

Lots of random thoughts tonight. I did buy like 14 postcards in Praha, so if you want one, just drop me a line. Also, if you have any questions or things you want to hear me whine about. And candy corn makes me really happy. Thanks, Mums and Pops.