School is going really well for me. I was worried that it would be really hard to meet people and become part of the class, but people have been super sweet to me. They translate what the teacher is saying and let me copy their notes, so I can figure them out later. A lot of my teachers seem really cool, and I hope that soon I will understand more.
Yesterday, my favorite class was French. The group I have been traveling around with are the Frenchies of 3.G. 3.G. is my tree class, or something like that, and we have most of our classes together. They take 5 hours of french a week and some English too, compared with the other class who take 5 hours of English and some German classes. My group is stronger in French, the other in English. Before school started, we joked around about how there would be more and less advanced English classes and which one would I be in, but I ain the less advanced! The teacher, who is also my head teacher, seems to think that I am a great teaching tool for her classes, but we will have to discuss that. It is hard, because it was very nice of the school to include me, and I am happy to help a bit and share about my culture, but I am here to experience Czech culture, not teach English. But, back to the point, today, I did not enjoy French quite as much because the teacher, who was different from yesterday, was speaking mostly Czech, compared with all French. Oh well! Two teachers, two teaching styles. today, i enjoyed český jazyk the most, which is funny, because technically, it should be the one I should understand the least, right? But he was explaining the different forms of literature, and most of them are cogantes, so I was happyhappyhappy.
We have ten minute breaks between each class, and I think those are the hardest times for me. During class, if people are talking, it usually in someway is connected to class, and can be explained. But between classes, I cannot figure out what they are talking about as easily. I guess it will get easier as my Czech improves, which it is slowly doing.
My host sister, Jana, is one grade ahead of me, so I see her in the halls and she helps me out around school. and we had lunch together today. It was my first Czech cafeteria lunch, and I am a little bit scared about my second. It was chicken with rice, a kiwi, some saladish thing, soup and fruit tea. The soup was a little greasy, but fine, but I was nervous to try the main course. The chicken had that canned cat food look. I gave in and started with the rice, and was eating contentedly until I saw a hair. Hair in your food happens, even back home at Harley, so I was prepared to just pull it out and ignore it. But it was not an innocent, ignorable hair. It was an "okay... I guess I§m done eating now" while running to clear your plate kind of hair. At my last haircut, Sofia told about her policy of always trying things twice. If you only try it once, it could have been a mishap, or badly prepared, and you might actually like it if you try again. So monday, here I come!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Whirlwind
The last few days have been jam-packed with adventures. I left home 2 weeks ago, and now I have been to Prague, learned how the past tense works, though I am not so good at using it yet, and am a student at a Czech high school! Yesterday, we woke up at four and drove to Prague. It is a few hours drive, but the day was so worth it. We soaked up Prague, literally. It was drizelly and cold, but I am ready to move there. the city has great energy and I felt like I fit right in. We rode the subway around everywhere and i think I understand underground Prague pretty well now. As for above ground, and anywhere in Nový Jičín, I am still clueless. Thank goodness for Jana! She seemed to know Prague like the back of her hand.
In the morning, we saw some tourist sights and I took a bunch of photos. Because of the weather, we did not end up going to Prague Castle, so now I have an excuse to go back. We spent a long time at the mall. I was so shopped out by the end! I got some post cards, books, shoes for school and a tank top. Oh, and in the Czech Republic, they charge you for everything! We went to good ol´ MickeyD´s for lunch, and I wanted ketchup for my fries, but you had to pay! I did not want ketchup that badly!
Paying for everything reminds me of the bathrooms here. You know in the musical Urinetown when everyone has to pay to pee, right? That is the Czech Republic! It is like 50 cents to use the bathroom, and if you wanted a shower at the train station, another two bucks! pretty crazy, I thought, but I guess it§s normal here. also, you know you§re in a different part of town when the bathrooms are lit in blue lights so you cannot see your veins. SKETCHY! But in my house, we have ě bathrooms. One with just a toilet and sink, the other with a tub/shower, sink, and washing machine and dryer. It is funky, but it makes sense.
I always thought that the US had the most "disposable" culture. We have single time use toothbrushes! But Czech culture is disposable in a different way. My family was surprised by the number of cars we have, and we do have a lot,but Czech culture is not all that "green". Yesterday at the mall, I was trying to ask Jana if she knew where I could buy a waterbottle to use for school. She did not understand what I meant. They drink a ton of bottled water here, even at home where they have tap water that is just fine. But the idea of buying an empty bottle to use again and again just for tap water does not make sense. Also, they have so much packaging on everything here. Maybe I just am noticing it more becasue they have less trashcans. The world will never know!
I had some more written, but it was just me whining, so here are some pictures!
At the "witch" gathering, with some of my host cousins
Traditional Czech campfire, I guess. Czech Smores: sausage, hardy bread and mustard. It was good, though. I liked watching the sausages cook.
The view on our walk
top of the hill
National Museum, or something like that. We did not go in, but I liked the fountain.
In the morning, we saw some tourist sights and I took a bunch of photos. Because of the weather, we did not end up going to Prague Castle, so now I have an excuse to go back. We spent a long time at the mall. I was so shopped out by the end! I got some post cards, books, shoes for school and a tank top. Oh, and in the Czech Republic, they charge you for everything! We went to good ol´ MickeyD´s for lunch, and I wanted ketchup for my fries, but you had to pay! I did not want ketchup that badly!
Paying for everything reminds me of the bathrooms here. You know in the musical Urinetown when everyone has to pay to pee, right? That is the Czech Republic! It is like 50 cents to use the bathroom, and if you wanted a shower at the train station, another two bucks! pretty crazy, I thought, but I guess it§s normal here. also, you know you§re in a different part of town when the bathrooms are lit in blue lights so you cannot see your veins. SKETCHY! But in my house, we have ě bathrooms. One with just a toilet and sink, the other with a tub/shower, sink, and washing machine and dryer. It is funky, but it makes sense.
I always thought that the US had the most "disposable" culture. We have single time use toothbrushes! But Czech culture is disposable in a different way. My family was surprised by the number of cars we have, and we do have a lot,but Czech culture is not all that "green". Yesterday at the mall, I was trying to ask Jana if she knew where I could buy a waterbottle to use for school. She did not understand what I meant. They drink a ton of bottled water here, even at home where they have tap water that is just fine. But the idea of buying an empty bottle to use again and again just for tap water does not make sense. Also, they have so much packaging on everything here. Maybe I just am noticing it more becasue they have less trashcans. The world will never know!
I had some more written, but it was just me whining, so here are some pictures!
At the "witch" gathering, with some of my host cousins
Traditional Czech campfire, I guess. Czech Smores: sausage, hardy bread and mustard. It was good, though. I liked watching the sausages cook.
The view on our walk
top of the hill
National Museum, or something like that. We did not go in, but I liked the fountain.
Beign a tourist and taking pictures of everything in Prague. Note the horses. I thought of Flash and Donny.
Looking up at the national theater
What happens when you try to make muffins not in a muffin pan. They tasted great though.
a cool mural we saw in Prague
VaclavSo, I always thought the worst music came from white rappers. Czech white rappers win that battle.
We went at 5 to see the clock go. It was pretty darn cool.
the three musketeers (of Prague)
the awesome clock
Karlův most- a very famous bridge
a cool tower
This made me laugh. which reminds me, I heard another four chord song the other day on the radio. :)
We went at 5 to see the clock go. It was pretty darn cool.
the three musketeers (of Prague)
the awesome clock
Karlův most- a very famous bridge
a cool tower
Good Luck???
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Weggies!
So, you know how in my last post, I said that I did not miss Wegmans yet? Well, now I do. I never anticipated how hard it would be to find mango and cardomom. I guess it´s my host father´s birthday today, so they´re having some friends over for a barbecue and they wanted me to make some Indian food. I tried to make a tandoori marinade from Chicken makhani spice mix, it was... interesting, but we will see how it tastes. I also made Indian rice pudding, which took about 10 years, and I doubled the recipe so we have kheer coming out of our ears.
but I really have not done anything exciting today, so here are some pictures.
The town square. It is gorgeous and like most Czech Houses, unabashedly colorful.
We made muffins. We did not have a muffin pan, because Mami does not believe in things with only one use, but we were able to borrow one from some relatives. But the muffins were quite tasty.
This one is for DV and my math class. DV was always talking about RC cola when we were doing matrices, but I had never seen any until now.
traditional Czech food. That is a hunk of Edam that has been battered and fried and served with french fries and tartar sauce. Which reminds me. In czech menus, they have a "meatless meals" section. First item on this one was fried cheese with ham. It is a different definition of meatless.
The garden, which I would classify as a farm. It is huge.
P.S.Did anyone else freak out when they heard Csardas at the beginning of "Alejandro"?
but I really have not done anything exciting today, so here are some pictures.
The town square. It is gorgeous and like most Czech Houses, unabashedly colorful.
We made muffins. We did not have a muffin pan, because Mami does not believe in things with only one use, but we were able to borrow one from some relatives. But the muffins were quite tasty.
This one is for DV and my math class. DV was always talking about RC cola when we were doing matrices, but I had never seen any until now.
traditional Czech food. That is a hunk of Edam that has been battered and fried and served with french fries and tartar sauce. Which reminds me. In czech menus, they have a "meatless meals" section. First item on this one was fried cheese with ham. It is a different definition of meatless.
The garden, which I would classify as a farm. It is huge.
P.S.Did anyone else freak out when they heard Csardas at the beginning of "Alejandro"?
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Starting to Adjust
Well, that might be a bit of a stretch. Things here are in that weird limbo between eerily the same and utterly different. I am still really happy here. I am not feeling homesick anymore, though I do miss all of you! But about the differences, here§s example A. so, the other day, we, Jana and I, were hanging out with some friends of Jana at a local pizzeria. BTW, If you are wondering about the randomly awkward passages, it is probably because if Czech keyboards have an apostrophe, they hide it very well. They were speaking in Czech, then would stop and try to explain what was going on to me in Czenglish. We ended speaking in French for a while. But somehow, one of the boys told me that Czech Chinese restaurants actually serve dog. I was a little bit scared, and a little bit not too surprised. They seem to eat everything here. I do not think I have tried anything to crazy yet, though. But tonight, my family and I went out for Italian food. I decided to have penne pesto, but I was too proud to use the English language menu, so I did not know exactly what was in there. It came, and it did not look or taste like any pesto I had ever had. Then, it dawned on me. what if the waitress had misunderstood pesto, and brought me pes (dog!!!!) instead?!?!? My family assured me that was not the case, but I admit, I was still a bit leery. I guess that is the boring homebody in me. Next time, I just accept that it is Czech Italian food, not AMerican Italian food like I am used to.
There were a few big differences that totally caught me off gaurd on arriving here. On our plane from JFK to Heathrow, it was boiling hot. The whole time!!! I had my pants rolled up like a winner, and I did not even touch my blanket. when we got to the airport, all I wanted was a glass of ice water. But in Europe, or at least the UK and the Czech Republic, ice is nowhere to be found. I do not think that my family even has a freezer. Also, did I mention the slímace (slugs) ? They really are as big as chihuahuas. I drew a comparison for my host family. They thought it was funny. Or maybe just how hysterical I was about it. my last big difference for today is Czech towels. They are small and thin and about as absorbant as a Wegmans bag. I do not miss Wegmans yet, because the bakery section of our local market is pretty cool. I am satisfied :p
Now, I will finally share some pictures. I have not taken too many, but here are some. Oh, and there is an awesome picture from our Czech orientation swirling around the web somewhere, or at least on some memory cards, so I will try to get my hands on it soon. The internet here is not so hot, so it may be easier said than done.
Eli and me. He was THE other Amurrrican going to the Czech Republic, so we traveled togetehr an dhe got to spend 2 orientations with me. Lucky kid.
Chillin, well roasting, on a hot Czech afternoon at our Orientation. Down the left: Me- USA, Gabriella- Chile, Vinicius- Brazil, Marina- Brazil
and up the right: Vanessa- Brazil, Sandra- Venezuela, Sofi- Venezuela and Joyce- Hong-Kong. Joyce was the only one from China, though there were many girls from Japan and Thailand. Thankfully the weather has cooled down a lot since then.
Fernando- Italy ( ala Lady Gaga "Alejandro" which became our orientaion theme song. Kind of like how Bad Romance was our camp anthem, and every grade did something with Lady gaga at horizons.) and Me
I wish I had taken pictures at our first orientation! Our little orientation group was two people headed to the Czech republic, 4 for Hungary and the 2 "Latvians." They were all so cool! I was sad watching everyone leave even though I had only met them the afternoon before.
You will get more pictures when I feel like it, so keep your pants on. Oh, and I am halfway through my first journal. I have been here 5 days. I might need to buy some more.
NEW FEATURE!!!!!! Czech Stutus: Improving quickly. Almost to level of babies before they say their first words.
There were a few big differences that totally caught me off gaurd on arriving here. On our plane from JFK to Heathrow, it was boiling hot. The whole time!!! I had my pants rolled up like a winner, and I did not even touch my blanket. when we got to the airport, all I wanted was a glass of ice water. But in Europe, or at least the UK and the Czech Republic, ice is nowhere to be found. I do not think that my family even has a freezer. Also, did I mention the slímace (slugs) ? They really are as big as chihuahuas. I drew a comparison for my host family. They thought it was funny. Or maybe just how hysterical I was about it. my last big difference for today is Czech towels. They are small and thin and about as absorbant as a Wegmans bag. I do not miss Wegmans yet, because the bakery section of our local market is pretty cool. I am satisfied :p
Now, I will finally share some pictures. I have not taken too many, but here are some. Oh, and there is an awesome picture from our Czech orientation swirling around the web somewhere, or at least on some memory cards, so I will try to get my hands on it soon. The internet here is not so hot, so it may be easier said than done.
Eli and me. He was THE other Amurrrican going to the Czech Republic, so we traveled togetehr an dhe got to spend 2 orientations with me. Lucky kid.
Chillin, well roasting, on a hot Czech afternoon at our Orientation. Down the left: Me- USA, Gabriella- Chile, Vinicius- Brazil, Marina- Brazil
and up the right: Vanessa- Brazil, Sandra- Venezuela, Sofi- Venezuela and Joyce- Hong-Kong. Joyce was the only one from China, though there were many girls from Japan and Thailand. Thankfully the weather has cooled down a lot since then.
Fernando- Italy ( ala Lady Gaga "Alejandro" which became our orientaion theme song. Kind of like how Bad Romance was our camp anthem, and every grade did something with Lady gaga at horizons.) and Me
I wish I had taken pictures at our first orientation! Our little orientation group was two people headed to the Czech republic, 4 for Hungary and the 2 "Latvians." They were all so cool! I was sad watching everyone leave even though I had only met them the afternoon before.
You will get more pictures when I feel like it, so keep your pants on. Oh, and I am halfway through my first journal. I have been here 5 days. I might need to buy some more.
NEW FEATURE!!!!!! Czech Stutus: Improving quickly. Almost to level of babies before they say their first words.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Jsem tady! I am here!
I arrived in the Czech Republic friday morning and it is great. I am still not adjusted to the keyboard yet, but I am improving. Jana, my amazing host sister has been my Czech teacher during the days, along with letting m efollow her around like a duckling in town. I thought it would be colder here, but it gets so hot in the afternoons. And nowhere has air conditioning! The food so far has been great. I think I have had some sort of potato product at every meal, besides breakfast. we also drink a lot of čaj, which is tea, and tons of soup. Lunch is hot and dinner and breakfast are smaller and cold. Oh, and they do not have ice cubes here! But the zmrzlina, ice-cream, is really good. They eat a lot of sweets. If any of you can get your hand on some Tatranky bars, do it! They are so good.
Enough about food. I have a funny story. So, at the orientation when we arrived there were about 40 students from all over the world. There were two of us from the US and a lot from Thailand. Everyone was super sweet. I ended up hanging out quite a bit with some Germans,a belgian, a swede, who I accidently asked where he lived in Switzerland, and a norwegian. They were a lot of fun, but I was spoiled by their excellent English. so, I had been at the orientation overnight and I realized that I never told my parents that I had made it safely. I asked My Belgian friend if I could borrow his laptop to send a quick email, but the keyboard was ridiculous! He is from flanders and his keyboard was AZERTY, not QWERTY. Here, it is QWERTZ. A bit tricky, but I wil get it soon. My email ended up being
i made it.
Everyone thought that was hilarious. Granted, I did too.
But life here is great and the town is gorgeous. Yesterdaz, I bought our bustickets. Jana had to practice with me a few times, though. Soon, I will be much better. I should go now to see if she needs a hand with lunch. Čau!
Enough about food. I have a funny story. So, at the orientation when we arrived there were about 40 students from all over the world. There were two of us from the US and a lot from Thailand. Everyone was super sweet. I ended up hanging out quite a bit with some Germans,a belgian, a swede, who I accidently asked where he lived in Switzerland, and a norwegian. They were a lot of fun, but I was spoiled by their excellent English. so, I had been at the orientation overnight and I realized that I never told my parents that I had made it safely. I asked My Belgian friend if I could borrow his laptop to send a quick email, but the keyboard was ridiculous! He is from flanders and his keyboard was AZERTY, not QWERTY. Here, it is QWERTZ. A bit tricky, but I wil get it soon. My email ended up being
i made it.
Everyone thought that was hilarious. Granted, I did too.
But life here is great and the town is gorgeous. Yesterdaz, I bought our bustickets. Jana had to practice with me a few times, though. Soon, I will be much better. I should go now to see if she needs a hand with lunch. Čau!
Friday, August 13, 2010
I'm a wee bit nervous...
It's coming so quickly. Now I've passed the 1 week mark. I found out today that my visa's not ready yet, so now I just wait with my fingers crossed. I'm sure it will all come through though. There's only one other US citizen going to the Czech Republic, and his is all set, so the AFS volunteer I talked to was confident that mine was on the way. I've been spending this week getting together with various friends before I leave. I'm going to miss everyone! Last night, we went to a Yoyo Ma concert. It was full of people, and we smuggled in some goat cheese, cucumbers, molasses cookies and gummy worms. At the concert venue, they don't want you to bring your own food because they sell crazy overpriced food, like $4 sodas! It was great, though. We're going to the beach today, so I'm pumped!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
It's starting to seem real
I got back late last night from a wonderful time at a music camp in Canada. I had a great two weeks. I landed there only knowing one person and left having made some really great friends. It was a bit reassuring to know that I can land somewhere and make friends. It makes getting to the Czech republic a little less scary, but there, I won't really be able to communicate. My czech is still non-existent. I leave in just over two weeks. This summer has zoomed by. It seems like school just ended yesterday. Now, I want to get together with all my friends before I leave. I'm finally starting to get a little nervous, but mostly just excited.
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