Sunday, February 6, 2011

In the words of David Bowie....

č-č-č-č-changes

I love Brno!!!! At the end of January, I left my small town life in Nový Jičín to start again in Brno. Brno is the second biggest city in the Czech Republic and they have the attitude to match. Note: Moravia is always better than Bohemia. It is just one of those facts of life. But back to me, life here is great and getting better everyday. I still always find myself on the wrong bus or standing in the wrong spot in the hallway, but I think I will figure it all out soon.

I couldn't have asked for a better family here. I was nervous, because I have 5 siblings here, but everyone has their own space, and mine is a loft! It is so cool! And my bed is one of those memory foam ones, and it feels sooooo good. I have 2 younger siblings, a little brother who loves to dance, and a little Meghan! Well, pretty close, anyways! And of course, 3 older, which has been great for making me feel like I have a social life :D

One of my favorite things in Brno is that they speak their own "dialect" of Czech. Like instead of a tram being a tramvaj, it's a šalina. Don't say tramvaj in brno, and don't say šalina in Praha, unless you want to get some funny looks!

Czech status update: Czech is still kicking my butt. Words are getting harder to learn because the ones I use in basic interactions, I know. It's ones that you don't always use but that are still important, like abstract ideas, that don't stick. Oh well! I am understanding most of what people say in conversations, but sometimes I just smile and nod. And laugh when everyone else does :D

I haven't been traveling too much lately, though we did have the AFS ski course last weekend. It was a lot of fun, but not such great skiing. Only two of us, me and Mos, from Thailand, had skiied before, so I ended up helping to teach my friend, Asher, from Mexico to ski. We had an awesome day.
My family here cooks so well, I had to buy bigger jeans. again. But I love having cooked food, as long as it isn't from the school cafeteria. I have never seen/tasted anything so repulsive as the food at our cafeteria here. Oh, and the day after a bad meal, steer clear of the soup, because rumor has it, they use leftovers :O

It's funny. This house is not nearly as full of every gadget for every purpose like in the US, and I don't really miss it. Dryers are nice and leave your towels soft, but on a rack, I don't have to worry about messing up my wool socks and sweaters. My family here doesn't have a TV, and I don't really miss that at all. If I want to vegetate, I can watch shows online. But without a TV, family time is really family time, with no hurrying to eat to watch your favorite show.

So, everything is sailing along just peachily here. Lots of love to all of you,
Meghan :D