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

Friday, September 24, 2010

BIIIIIIGGGG

So, I brought Big Booty to the Czech Republic today. Please hold your applause. Quakadillyoma, too. Chemistry was really fun, as you may have figured out. Lots of love to all my pals back home, and to my newer ones here :)

And there is this girl who is doing a year abroad in Argentina, and I think we have the same glasses! Coolio! This may seem like a losse connection, but they are pretty distinctive glasses! "Czech" out her blog:

http://dontcryformecalifornia.com

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

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.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

RAWR!!! I am an irrelevant dinosaur!!!

So, what I am dying to blog about and see and show pictures from is still under wraps. But I will tell you guys that I had an absolutely amazing Saturday. the only downside was that it left me with a horrible cold, but then again, it is probably because of school. I guess the administration at school is really stingy.
Exhibit A: No heat, but school is FREEZING!
Exhibit B: I had my first test yesterday. I had to pay for the blue book to do it in. ouch.
Exhibit C: No kleenex! I did not have enough to deal with my faucet-nose cold, and it was a miserable day.

It makes me appreciate Harley, where teachers throw parties for you and give you presents :)
but mostly the heating. I have been wearing two cardigans layered over a long sleeve shirt and trying to be cool about it, but there is only so much "cool" I can stand.

But on the bright side, if you sit in the sun, it is almost okay, and I got my schedule figured out.

Ponděli
1. Zeměpis(geography)
2. French
3. Matematikas
4. Fyzika
5. Spanish
6. English

Úterý
0. and 1. Music
2. Matematikas
3. English
4. French
5. Biology
6. German

Středa
0. PE! Yuck!
1. česky jazyk
2. Math
3. Either music or IVT. We will have to wait and see.
4. French
5. free(maybe this means I can eat lunch at a reasonable hour/ not 2:30)
6. Fyzika

čtvrtek
1. German
2. Matematikas
3. Česky Jazyk
4. French
5. French
6. History
7. Lunch
8. Biology
9. Georgraphy

Pátek
0. PE This means catching the bus at 6:30 on Fridays!!!
1. English
2. Česky Jazyk
3. Fyzika, but it alternates weekly with chemistry, which I dropped, so we will see what happens then
4. Spanish
5. Music with Jana§s class
6. German

Definitely not my harley schedule, or how I would set it all up, but I wanted to stay with my class as much as possible, and take classes that I can understand a bit of. You may have noticed that my amount of language classes per day clocks in at just over three. But that is split between FIVE languages. Yowza. I was pretty proud of myself, until I talked to my Belgian friend, and he was like, "yeah, when I get home, I will have 6." Silly Belgians!

Enough about school. So, my main concern living in a small town is being able to keep up with my music. I have tried two "orchestras". One that bears a striking resemblance to Harley Band in Novy Jicin, and one very similar to KSSO in Ostrava. I really enjoyed the rehearsal I dropped into for the Ostrava Orchestra, and they have some really talented players, but it is no RPYO. I miss you guys soooooo much. I haven§t found a teacher yet either, but hopefully the music school in Novy Jicin will have some connections. Good news on the music front is that I have been offered violas from two places! There is a soon to be quartet at my gymnasium, and the Ostrava Orchestra would love to have me on Viola it seems. I guess I should not count my violas until they are tuned, a loose take on a common saying, but I am excited. I might have to have mum email me Bruch Romanze. I love that piece. but we will see.

Quick random notes:

Probably going to crash an AFS gathering in Prague this weekend after I found out that if you live near Prague, AFS goes on field trips every two weeks. SERIOUS city envy stemmed from this discovery.

Email me your addresses if you want a postcard. I am planning on buying some when i find them. P.S. I§ll email you mine if you have a hankering to write to me :D

Saw eclipse last night. My summary: Shirts come off of horrible actors, now let's kiss.

Really needs a better sense of direction. I got lost for like fifteen minutes in the town square this morning. It is about a three minute walk from school, and I have walked there from school.

Really needs to sleep more. My emotions are still crazy. I will be fine all day, then start unloading the dishwasher and burst into tears. For no reason! It is so frustrating.

Has never appreciated american towels so much. thanks, Mum and Papa.

Still not feeling the picture spirit, so you will have to wait.

Lots of Love!