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