Friday, October 22, 2010

yuhmuhyuhpuh

aka JMJP
aka "Ježíš Maria, JE PÁTEK!!!!"

I cannot believe I am already ONE FIFTH done with this year. Holy smokes! It feels remarkably short. It has been no ride down lazy river, but once you get on the Screaming Eagle, and stay while they lower the restraints :D, it is so worth waiting in line. I know that made absolutely no sense, btu my mind is already on vacation, since we are off to

BARCELONA

in a few hours
We will miss Monday and Tuesday of school, then we have the rest of the week off for vacation. My friend Joyce, originally from Hong Kong, now from Bohemia, is coming to visit me for a few days, and we are going to hang out and carve pumpkins and go to the pool and other good things. Off to Prague again on Saturday to have a girls day on the town. We are going to see something at the theater, so that should be buckets of fun.

I had a busy week. I went to a dance on monday. Here, almost everyone takes a dance course during their high school years. They master the waltz, polka, chacha, disco, and many more. The dance was a chance for them to show what they had learned and I am sure somebody benefited from the ticket prices. It was a lot of fun though. Everyone had gorgeous dresses, though some were a little too short for my tastes.

Wednesday, We had a big concert to celebrate a local composer. I swear that every piece of music I have played or sung here had been arranged by him. It was long, but it was nice to chill and talk with the chorus people. They are all super sweet, maybe even more than my classmates! but I guess they do not have to deal with me for as much time, so it is easier to be sweet!

Thursday, I came home and slept for three hours. Got up and had soem yoghurt and bread for dinner, listened to Jana§s presentation on Scotland, and went back to bed. And I was still tired yesterday! Oj!

Friday was good too! I just love it here! I will get a more sane post with some pictures up when we come home! Love you all!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Zelí

off topic, but trucks are cool too.
lots of peeling was involved
Apple cider machine, since I did not take any pictures while we were using it.
celery root? I was waiting for them to start screaming like in Harry Potter. I swear those were mandrakes.
:P Jealous yet?
individual buckets

Buckets and buckets. And there was more.


Happy as a banana from Panama in East Germany during the 1960's

chamber of deputees

BROWNIES!
The walk up to our house
the two boys in Morava
some friends from sbor
My house! It is gorgeous!
With Gabriella from Chile
Over due form our high tatras trip :D


Over 8 weeks now.
A basic run down of the last two weeks (in no particular order)

Visited the chamber of deputees in Prague- I have to admit, it was pretty lame.

helped MAKE apple cider!

drank mineral water from a tap in Kralovná Studanská

made Brownies! Jana and I used my mum§s amazing recipe, and they came out fine.

inhaled way to much cigarette smoke thanks to those wonderful people who persist in killing themselves

spent much more money than I should have- I even got ripped off by the bus man on my way home! He owes me 10 korun!

got an amazing box of goodies from home- shoulder rest for my viola, candy corn, an cozy purple sweater that I have been wearing non-stop for the last 3 days, silk long underwear and peanut butter were some of the highlights.

Failed my first test- like ever. Yay for Physics!!! It was destined to happen, though!

got to the Prague train station at 8:05 for a 8:11 train. Without a ticket. And I made it. Well, with some help from my Norwegian friend, Guro.

Donned some rain boots and stomped some cabbage into oblivion. Sauerkraut, here we come!

had another sleepover with my awesome host-sister, Jana. She lives down the hall :D

Taught Egyptian Rat Screw in Czech, semi successfully. Though Crazy Eights was a bigger hit.

Cried after hearing the last few bars of a song I have sung played.

Realized how much I love it here. Then forgot. Then remembered again.

Had a night with more drama than my favorite soap opera, ULICE!

Took the nap I have been meaning to take since I got here. And man, it was good.

By the way, when you are cold, you can borrow my bunda :p

Monday, October 4, 2010

6 weeks, chico chico chack!

I just got back from my AFS orientation, and it was so great. We spent the whole time hugging, talking, complaining, laughing, and just being with each other. I miss everyone already. It was just the students in Moravia, and I missed some of my friend sin Bohemia, but it was a really great group. There were about 20 of us, I think, but only two boys! It was so much fun to hear the little differences that other people are noticing. Like, my family has this amaying magnetic soap. In the shower and the bathroom sink, the soap has a little metal disk that lets it stick to a magnet next to the sink .Then it doen§t get soggy or anything. I thought it was great, and that all czech people do it that way. Turns out, it isn§t too common! It is always funny when you do not even realize you are making assumptions, then it turns out the norm is something totally different.

So, I have been with my host family for 6 weeks, as of today! At the same tiem, it feels like ages and like such a short time. Looking forward to when I go home seems simultaneously like I have forever until I get to see my friends back home again,a nd so close that I have already decided what I want my first meal home to be! If you are wondering, I am leaning towards thai curry, corn on the cob, fruit salad and strawberry rhubarb pie. Yum! Notice the strong presence of vegetables!

This is harder than I ever could have imagined. I have a great host family, and my Czech is coming relatively quickly, I think. But it is so hard for me to not be able to communicate easily everythign that I am feeling. I knew I loved to talk, but now that is is so much harder, I really appreciate every little thing more. There are definitely ups and downs though!

So, to commemorate my first six weeks, I decided to give you six lists of six things!

6 reasons my family would love it here:
  1. Mum-They drink tea A LOT!
  2. Mum, again-Light dinners. Lunch is usually the only hot meal I have, if I have it at school.
  3. Dad- well, it is famous for its beer, though I do not personally know. And they have really beautiful churches around here.
  4. Pretty much everybody- So much here is just gorgeous.
  5. Benjamin- MEATMEATMEAT- And bacon
  6. Nani- Czech monopoly is about horses. yeah. nuff said.
6 reasons I love it here
  1. Castles!!!
  2. I love hearing Czech people swear in english. Their accents are adorable.
  3. Food is relatively cheap. I can get two giant croissant-y chocolate dipped things at school for the equivalent of 60 cents. yum!
  4. Guláš with Knedlíky
  5. How close all of Europe is. It is still amazing to me.
  6. AFSers!!!!
6 more reasons I love it
  1. Kofola and Tatranky
  2. Bright colors everywhere
  3. That I can now sleep over my amazing AFS friends
  4. Hearing little stories, about how neighbors were either Russian or German during WWII, and you needed your passport to go to the local pizzeria from our neighborhood.
  5. How people react when you say you are from New York. Sometimes, I do not bother to explain that I am not from the city. :p
  6. Magnetic Soap
6 things I miss
  1. My family!
  2. All of my friends
  3. RPYO
  4. Kanack
  5. Warmth- they only turned on the heating at school today, and people do not hug as much here :(
  6. Vegetables and Fruit!!!!!! If I ever hear somebody complain about Harley lunches again, I am going to sock them.
6 songs that have been floating around in my head
  1. Alors On Danse
  2. Lady Marmalade
  3. My Beautiful Coat- It was Cruella§s solo when I played her in 101 Dalmatians.
  4. Airplane- It always makes me think of Horizons :D
  5. Hey Soul Sista- I hated this song in the US. But here, I am always humming it.
  6. Folding Chair by Regina Spektor- who incidentally did a concert in Ostrava like 1 month before I came :p
6 things that made my day
  1. freshly picked raspberries
  2. My unbelievably sweet classmates
  3. Hugs
  4. My new neon yellow sweatshirt
  5. Reading a postcard from my favorite person in Ottawa
  6. Having like 6 conversations going at once on facebook- I feel so popular :D