No Thought Involved 22.9.10

I’ll just do a quick rundown of my week so far before I forget some things. I’m hungry right now though, so how focused I can be and for that I apologize.

First things first! My parents are in town this week! It’s awesome. They brought me 7 pounds of brownie mix in addition to some other clothes that I found I could use (because really, who can’t use more clothes?). My dad did guarantee me that there would be no shoe charges on my credit card bill upon return to the states, and to that I responded of course not, they would be rechristened food expenses.

When my parents got into town on Sunday, I met up with them and we went on a nice little walking tour of their neighborhood. We went to the Charles Bridge first, went up the tower and looked out on a spectacular view of the city. I got a few pictures and hopefully those will be posted sometime soon. After spending a few minutes atop the tower, we walked across the bridge, stopping frequently to look at the street art. I love how much art there is here. On the bridge alone there were probably a dozen photography stands. The artists run the stands, so if you want to, you can talk to them about their work. Personally, my favorite part is reading their abstracts or bios because the translation from Czech to English is never smooth.

We finally reached the other side of the river and from there we explored some of New Town – though really, we were just looking for food. After passing on a number of restaurants, we finally found an adorable restaurant tucked behind the main streets. We all had pretty traditional Czech dishes and they didn’t disappoint. We also had our first round of beer as a family and toasted in typical Czech fashion (raise, clink, “na zdravi”, down, up, drink). The waiter obliged us and took a photo, so if I can get that from my mom, I’ll put that up later.

I know I already talked briefly about my first day of classes, but here are a few more details for those that might be interested:

I’m taking four classes in a typical week, with Cinema Dance rounding out my schedule as a weekend workshop in December. I’m taking Czech and Central European History, Comparative Economics: Economics of Transition, Czech language, and Europe and the United States: Transatlantic Relations Past and Present.

So far we haven’t done a whole lot since Monday and Tuesday were treated as syllabi days in all except for Czech. We did get an idea of what the semester will bring though, which was nice, since up to this point, we’ve all been enrolled in these classes without much to go on.

For Czech and Central European History, I have to write a 10-page paper and give an oral presentation on it at some point in the semester, and I really don’t know what to write about. That’s only a problem because I need to declare my topic by October 4^th along with an abstract and four preliminary sources. Any thoughts? Right now, I’m trying to decide between religious tolerance and the Hussite Wars or maybe take that same topic and look at it and its role in reformation of the Catholic church, Charles IV and his city planning, the Charles bridge and its economic impact on the city of Prague, or the history of the Jewish quarter – maybe its walls, but clearly here I need to think of more specific topics. I’m actually really excited about that course and the professor seems really cool – in fact, the reason I can blog right now is because he’s off to England to attend a conference at Oxford until Friday.

I already really like my economics class (though, I’m not sure how much math will be involved). So far I’ve had very traditional economic training, with instruction focusing mostly on market capitalism. If command economies were ever mentioned, it was really only in passing and with disdain. I don’t think this class will lose the disdain (as the professor appears to be quite pro-market), but at least we’ll look into other structures and what works and what doesn’t. That probably doesn’t sound too exciting to some of you, but you have to remember, I’m a nerd and I like to learn these things – I actually find it pleasant. Oh fun fact about this class: the professor announced that “people don’t have a hard time passing this class” and that he knows that we only have a few months in Europe and that people tend to travel a lot, so that if we find ourselves in need of points all we need to do is ask him for some extra work. I laughed a little.

My last new class, Europe and the United States: Transatlantic Relations, looks like it will be the hardest to get through. The professor doesn’t have the most engaging lecturing style and the first lecture topic he chose was very different from anything we would hear at our home universities, or at least that I’ve heard up to this point. The lecture began with the large question, “what is Europe?” I doubt anyone has tried to answer that before, or if you have, it’s the simple answer, “a continent.” But next time you look at a map, try and find the borders of that continent. That was pretty cool, but that’s when the lecture took a turn. From that, the professor launched into a lecture of European superiority, crediting Europeans with the creation of politics, philosophy, science and history. To give him some credit, he was trying to define these terms rather strictly, but I understand or hear the nuances in his definitions, so his claims seemed rather preposterous.

To articulate his point on philosophy, the professor cited the tragic tale of Oedipus. After regaling us with the tale (and skipping over more than one crucial detail), he arrived at a truly unique conclusion. I can’t even try to explain it because I really didn’t understand how he arrived there, but it was at this point, that I decided to raise my hand (yeah, I’m that kid). I asked the professor how Oedipus could be to blame for something that was out of his control and was predestined – thus his characterization as a tragic hero. My professor simply answered, “exactly” and then proceeded to reiterate his point. Needless to say, he lost more than a few of us at this point. Unsatisfied, I waited until class ended and approached the professor to ask him again. After a second conversation, I finally understood what he meant to say, though I still believe it isn’t what he said initially. The point he was trying to make was that philosophy arose because of events like that told in the tale of Oedipus, where the people were so shocked to discover that their beliefs had been so incorrect that they began to ask the crucial questions of philosophy, “what is…?”

I actually like the conclusion now that I understand it, though, I doubt it was that simple, and the evidence that the Greeks did it first seemed to be completely absent from the lecture. Still, I’m excited to try and decipher what my professor is trying to say for the rest of the semester, but maybe that’s just me.

Last thing on classes: for Czech class this weekend we were assigned a landmark in Prague and told to go visit it. After visiting it, we were asked to write down how to get there and present it to the class along with some interesting facts about the location. Most people went to their locations, but because I found myself with some free time on Monday between classes, I made a slide show with pictures of all the different stops (thank you Google Maps street view). When we started presenting and it was clear that no one else put in nearly as much effort, I felt really awkward. Hopefully my classmates don’t think I’m a jerk…

---Subject change without segue---

My phone hasn’t been working for a while now, so yesterday I finally made it to the T-Mobile store to try and get a replacement. Since it’s under warranty, you’d think that wouldn’t be an issue. Turns out they have a 30 day turnaround (though the clerk said it would probably be more like 10 days). For those math wizs, that’s 1/3 of my stay here, and I don’t know about anyone else, but living without a phone is really hard. I mean I already have issues finding things to do because I don’t call people and invite myself places, but now that people are actually incapable of calling me, I just don’t know if I’m going to be doing anything. Cool. Oh, and the best part of this whole thing? I asked how they would let me know when my phone was ready. They text you. HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?!

Okay, I’m out. But I really miss all of you. Yes, I’m having a great time, but sometimes you just crave the familiar.

Random thought: You know those people that all you need to do is see and no matter the situation, life seems a little brighter and you have a smile on your face? I love those people. I miss those people.

20.9.10 First Class and Cinema Dance

I just had my first class at CIEE and am now waiting for my second one. During the passing period, I went to get lunch with Devin and Meghan before lying on the grass. Upon returning to the study center, I hopped on the computer with the intention of checking my email when a file on the desktop caught my eye. Entitled Cinema Dance, I opened it, hoping to extract a few details about the class by the same name and in which I am enrolled. Here is what it had to say:

"CinemaDance 

"FAMU Intensive workshop 
Lecturer: Pavel Jech 
The place and the date will be announced (March 12-15) 
Contact: pavel.jech@famu.cz 

"CinemaDance is a pedagogical tool that helps prepare beginning filmmakers to create short films within a structured, supportive “boot camp” environment that promotes creativity and maximizes collaboration. 

"The three-day workshop starts with a journey to a remote location, beginning in the evening with a dance: Turkish belly dancing, Irish Jig, African rock and contemporary disco. The idea is to break down barriers and help the international medley of student filmmakers get to know and be comfortable with each other. Dance embodies many of the goals of filmmaking: individual and group creative expression is achieved through collaboration within a structured ritual that embodies rhythm, pacing, emotional exuberance, and sensual expression through the poetry of motion. 

"The workshop continues the next morning as the student filmmakers are placed into culturally diverse groups of four and randomly given roles: writer, director, producer and director of photography. Groups choose their own name, and make a pledge to cooperate and work in the best interests of their projects. 

"Themes and short screenplays are then developed with periodic consultation. After scouting locations and casting actors from among their peers (and faculty) each group develops a strategy for producing their project, and spends the evening finalizing casting, stories, locations and storyboarding. 

"The films are then shot in one day, and edited in the evening and following morning. On the final afternoon of the workshop, the completed films are screened before the workshop members for review, comment and celebration. 

"CinemaDance creates a sense of empowerment among the filmmakers. By completion, all the challenges of the boot camp have been met. The filmmakers have completed their shorts as a direct result of the collaborative process. The members have developed mutual respect for each other’s contributions and a deeper understanding of the art and craft of filmmaking."

Go ahead, laugh, but this "class" sounds like an amazing way to earn 3 credits. I go out into the woods, dance a little, shoot a movie and meet cool people, all in one weekend.

Street Art Disambiguation 18.9.10

Yesterday, Mira invited me to join him and his new girlfriend, Eva, to a street art workshop. I don’t know why, but I associate street art with spray paint and graffiti, legal or otherwise. Of course trying to confine a term as broad as art is a fool’s task, and yesterday showed me the folly of my ways.

The workshop was about expressing yourself and getting the emotion out without caring about how others saw it. While I appreciate the lesson, I can certainly still use some work. To tease some ideas out, the team running the workshop asked us four different questions about how we were feeling and such. My answer to a question I have since forgotten was “out of my element” and “lost in a foreign land.”  My first attempt was to represent earth, wind, fire and water in simple glyphs, but I couldn’t find any that I liked for fire and earth so I tried the lost in a foreign land part of my answer. I decided a compass with a question mark as the axis would suit my needs. Unfortunately, the idea never came to fruition because I couldn’t manipulate the material we were using for the stamps properly and so a lot of my design was lost. I also reversed everything properly except for the question mark for the stamp, which was frustrating. In the end, I wasn’t thrilled with my design and kicked myself for trying to add too much detail even after I had started the exercise by telling myself to keep it simple.

Mira and Eva had significantly more success however and their designs turned out really cool. Mira had a dancing man over flames (I don’t think he followed his answers to the questions) and Eva had a treble clef and music notes.

A few other fun details about this day trip and an explanation. The artist who ran the workshop came from Brno, the largest city in Moravia, and looked eerily like my neighbor, Pavel. Maybe it’s just me, but the bear and facial structure were just so similar. I tried to take a photo of him when I realized who he reminded me of, but I never got the straight on picture I was looking for. Now, for the explanation: the reason I felt so lost and out of my element at the art workshop is not because I don’t know my way around an art room, but because the workshop was held at one of Prague’s oldest mental institutions. Apparently the institution hosts a fair for the public during which they have live music, little stands of craft goods and workshops. Mira conveniently forgot to tell me where the workshop was. Maybe if he had, I would have figured out that we wouldn’t be spray-painting. Oh well, live and learn.

I probably would have thoroughly enjoyed the experience had I not forgotten my sweatshirt at home or had some food in my stomach. Just one or the other would have improved my demeanor significantly, but instead, by the end of the workshop I was shivering and hungry, never a good combination for me.

In the end though, I’ll look back on this Saturday with fond memories. I explored Prague with Mira. Discovered a few things about myself. I got a new roommate (Drew seems really nice and hopefully I’ll see him a bit more than Red). I broke the fast with Devin over some very tasty and cheap Vietnamese while watching the Badgers game. And I wrapped up the night with a little welcome to Slezska get together for Drew before dancing the night away at a club nearby. 

Culture Shock Moment 16.9.10

In my haste to get the week in review posted, I forgot my favorite and most memorable moment of the week.

I was sitting on the tram on my way to meet up with the other students for the farmer’s market when I overheard one of the most interesting conversations I’ve ever heard. Two kids, maybe ten or eleven years in age, were standing next to me talking about their lives. Fortunately for me, it was in English and I could understand what they were saying. One of the kids was Vietnamese, the other, I think, was an expat whose mother grew up in Columbia.

The kids swapped stories about the conditions in which they grew up, visas, and police corruption. The Vietnamese boy recounted his experience of running from the police and never staying in one place. Apparently his parent’s visas were not in order, so every few weeks they would have to find a new home. He smiled when he remembered that the time of greatest stability is when they lived next to the police station for three years.

When the conversation turned to police corruption I was taken aback. I’ve had exactly two encounters with the police, and entirely two too many, but mine were during traffic stops and I am the only one to blame. While my impressions of police officers from those encounters are not heart-warming, I have the utmost respect for the profession and empathize with the hardships they face everyday, from the long hours to the shouting, angry, and or dangerous citizens they encounter when fulfilling their obligations. These kids talked about living in Bosnia and their understanding that when a police officer stops you, you hand them $20 and be on your way.

Just before he got off the tram, the Vietnamese boy also talked about health care. His father got trapped under a tram once as it tried to move forward. While the man survived, he hurt his arm, but was unable to go to the hospital for fear of being deported. Instead of seeking professional medical treatment then, the boy’s father treated himself and stayed in the apartment for a few weeks while recovering.

Up to this point, the conversation was amazing to me, but what happened next is on a whole other level. The boys put smiles on, said their “good byes,” “’til next times” and went on with their lives as if this were all completely normal and natural. Maybe the conversation won’t affect their lives, but I know it has changed mine. 


Author's Note: I know I didn't do this story justice, and for that I apologize. It's one of those moments that I'll relive innumerable times in my head in the days, months and years to come, so maybe one day I'll have a more polished version to share. 

If You See the Pink Bunnies, You’re In the Right Place 17.9.10

Every once in a long while you’re given an opportunity to feel cultured, and it’s up to you to grasp it. Friday night, I had just such an opportunity: CIEE provided me with a ticket to the State Opera. One of my goals on this trip is to experience as many cultural events as possible, so I attended the opera with great anticipation at what I would behold.

I don’t know about you, but when I think Opera, I think large Italian women reaching unreachable notes as they bellow out a tale of eternal love. Turns out, the definition of opera is actually broader than that and on Friday night I discovered that first hand. First of all, full disclosure: the opera was in Czech, so I really have no idea what was going on. Then again, neither did the Czech buddies who came with us, so I wasn’t that far behind. Big picture, this guy was singing in his bedroom as he was trying to write when he said something about needing a guide. A guide, who looked a lot like a devil in human flesh, showed up and took him on his journey, which culminated in the gentleman falling in love with a maid. Along the way there were some characters that seemed to come straight out of the ‘80s, a man in boxers gesturing lewdly, houses that turned into a face, and most importantly, five pink Easter bunnies.

In case it’s not clear yet, this was not the traditional opera I was led to expect, but a modern and contemporary version. The music incorporated guitars, keyboards and horn instruments, the attire was anything but traditional, and there were five pink bunny suited people running around the stage as if it was a normal occurrence.

I wish I had pictures, but the opera frowns upon pictures during the performance, instead I hope this synopsis will suffice: Kudykam.

I knew I was going to have issues with the opera when I started nodding off after the first song. My head felt like it was on a gyro, it just couldn’t stay still, twisting and turning as my eyes rolled back into my head. Fortunately, there was a wooden beam behind me that hit me when I leaned back too far, effectively waking me up just enough to make sure I didn’t have a chance to snore. Don’t worry, that only happened two or three times. I tried to amuse myself and keep my eyes open by focusing on the choreography and trying to think of ways to adapt it to Humo. Obviously that’s not my job, but it helped in keeping me awake.

By the time intermission arrived, the question was really whether to stay or go find food before everything closed. I ended up staying, and am happy I am. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have seen the bunnies, and they really made the show. 

Week in Review 16.9.10

I have a few minutes to blog before having to get ready because tonight I’m going to the Opera! I haven’t posted in a few days, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything or seeing the sights.

On Wednesday, after purchasing my bus ticket for Budapest (did I mention that we leave at 7:30 AM on Friday? Awesome), I had dinner at Meghan’s. Edita, Meghan’s Czech buddy and roommate, made dinner with her boyfriend, Michal, another Czech buddy, and they offered me a plate. Never one to turn down food, I happily accepted and enjoyed a nice Mexican dinner.

After dinner we went to the strangest bar I’ve ever encountered. The bar is called the Big Lebowski and is modeled off of the movie: underachievers who don’t work hard but drink a lot of white Russians (if there are any Big Lebowski fans out there I mean no offense – I just don’t get the movie and never understood its appeal). The bar, which is a cross between a loft and a tree-house, is open Monday through Friday from 6-11 and on Saturdays from 6-10. Not only are the hours strange (who ever heard of a bar closing at 11?) but also they’re not fixed. Just like their prices, hours are subject to change “depending on the current mood” and the customer determines prices. That means that if you order a drink, on the way out, you pay what you think it was worth. Crazy.

The bar is fun even if you’re not drinking; they have a big screen television for sports fans, games like Chess, Checkers and Scrabble, a hookah and some awesome stuffed animals. What’s not to like?

--Thursday--

After class ended, I stayed around a little at CIEE to try and get a head start on some studying for my exam Friday morning before realizing that there were some students going to the farmer’s market at 4. When I looked at my watch I realized I had just enough time to go home, grab my camera, and meet the group at the tram stop. Just before I was about to leave I got a text message from Meghan asking me if Red was swapping rooms with a guy named Drew from the dorms. I hadn’t heard anything about it and told her as much. On my way out of the building however, Drew walked in and I asked him about it. Apparently Red had emailed him asking him if he would be okay with switching rooms. Just in case you’re wondering, no, Red hadn’t mentioned anything to me. Anyway, figuring that I might as well be helpful, I offered to show Drew the flat before going to the farmer’s market. Drew accepted the invitation and off we went.

I felt like I was showing a house to a potential buyer. I was talking about all of the conveniences and amenities that the flat provided from the quick and easy commute to class to the real shower in the bathroom. I even put cookies out and offered them like a true agent (thanks Dad). Red was in the apartment when we got back, so Drew and he talked a bit about what exactly was going on – apparently Red had come to Prague thinking that he was going to live with his friend Matt (they had tried to find their own apartment) and when that didn’t happen they were disappointed. Not one to give up though, they talked with CIEE about switching rooms and initially CIEE was resistant but after a call from Red’s father they became more accommodating and decided to permit the transfer.

After the house showing, we went to the farmer’s market. A couple of notes about Prague’s farmer’s market: 1) it does not compare to Madison’s – at all, 2) they sell this “Young Wine” which tastes more like cider than wine and it’s awesome, and 3) they have really good baked goods, just not cheesy bread or apple pies.

I bought a ton of vegetables at the farmer’s market for five or six dollars US, so when I got back home, I knew I had to cook. Meghan came over and we crafted a five-course (almost) feast. The first course was the simple but delicious, Caprese, which we followed by a combination of two courses, salad and a baked chicken. The salad had a few vegetables in it as well as a diced up avocado and we dressed it in French dressing – fun fact: French dressing in Prague isn’t red but yellow-ish. For the chicken we cracked an egg, dipped the breasts in it before putting in the flower and spices and then again quickly into the egg before putting it into the oven. I’d never cooked chicken like that before, so I’m glad to know how to do so, because it was quite good. I hope I get to keep experimenting with chicken and other dishes this semester, because one day I’d like to be as good as my dad (wishful thinking I know, but you have to start somewhere right?). Following the chicken we had gnocchi and roasted vegetables. We dressed the gnocchi in a red sauce I made with tomato sauce, sautéed mushrooms, onions and cucumbers and threw in some diced peppers for good measure. I probably included too many peppers, but the sauce was still good, you just had to eat around them. We wrapped up the meal with our fifth course, my delicious home-baked cookies.

After dinner we studied a bit for our Czech final which was the following day, but Meghan was tired and nodded off for a bit, so we called it a night. I studied for about another hour after she left, but was tired myself so I went to sleep as well.

I’m going to end this post here and get to Friday as soon as I can. Also, I hope to get some pictures up soon.

For all those out there fasting, I wish you all the best.

G’mar chatimah tovah. 

15.9.10 Booking it to Budapest

Okay, just a quick post before heading out for the night.

We had a quiz in Czech class this morning, which I think I did pretty well on, though I managed to forget one verb, so I was hitting myself for that. That being said, I had a pretty good day in Czech class as some things started clicking and I was seeing the patterns.

When I finally arrived back at my flat and had just sat down to relax for a while I get a frantic text from Meghan telling me to call her as soon as I have a moment. My phone’s audio is sketchy at best so I texted her back and she said that she had found tickets to Budapest for incredibly cheap prices for next weekend (not this coming) and wanted to know if I was in to join. Well, cheap may be cheap, but I still had to talk to my parents to make sure it was okay, so I hopped online and got the necessary approval so that we could buy the tickets tomorrow morning.

It wasn’t five minutes that I received another text saying that I should meet her outside the apartment immediately. Apparently she wanted to go buy the tickets tonight, so I grabbed some money, my passport and my camera bag and ran out the door.

We had exactly thirty minutes to get from our apartments to Florenc and buy the tickets before the shop closed for the evening. The following photos are evidence of our adventure:

The Wait.

The walk.

The run.

In the end we arrived at the ticket window with a few minutes to spare and purchased our tickets. I now have a round trip bus ticket to Budapest for $40 US, and we’re looking at a hostel for 9 euro a night. Not too shabby if yo ask me. 

Adventures in Cooking! 14.9.10

I bought a few breasts of chicken a while back but was waiting to find some chicken broth before I cooked them. I patiently waited, searching different grocery stores, but it was all for naught; it turns out Czechs don't use chicken broth. At a loss for what to do, I'm now experimenting.

I know you can cook chicken in a beer batter but have never tried it myself. So, tonight, that's exactly what I'm doing. I made a batter out of an egg, some butter and some beer. I salted, peppered and pounded my breasts of chicken (this sounds naughtier than it is) before dunking them in the batter. Now, I'm letting the chicken cool for a while in the refrigerator. I think I'm going to try to bake the chicken in some of the excess batter. I'll only use a little batter and hope that it evaporates, but in the mean time provides a little extra moisture.

If you've cooked before and know this is a terrible idea, please feel free to message me asap before I destroy my kitchen.

Oh, and I need some tips on how to separate eggs. I know the principle because of my Mom, but have yet to actually perform it. If you have any advice, or have a how-to video handy, I'd appreciate it.

All the best,

Stephen

Weekend Recap 14.9.10

So, first of all, pardon my absence. I kind of just took a five-day hiatus. I’m sure you managed to fill your days just fine without reading my blog. Alas, vacations don’t last forever and I have some catching up to do.

A brief run down of my weekend and week up to this point – Saturday I went to Kutna Hora, a wealthy city in the middle ages due to its silver deposits, and then went to Karlovy Lazne, the largest club in Central Europe. Sunday was a rehabilitation day as I recovered from a long day on Saturday before finally getting up and about for a picnic with Sarah along the river for dinner. Yesterday, Monday, was pretty routine – more Czech intensive, though when that was done, I cooked myself a miniature feast before going out to see a truly bizarre faux documentary called “The Greatest Czech.” Today was yet more Czech class followed by an expo of some extracurricular activities that are available to us as students this semester. Read on for some more details.

It may be early, but I have my camera.

To go to Kutna Hora, we had to wake up and meet at a bus station thirty minutes away at an ungodly hour, 8:45. Being the responsible young man I am (see here for details: Proof of my maturity), I went to sleep early Friday night and sacrificed a night at the clubs to insure that I wouldn’t miss the trip. I love to dance, it’s true, but there’s something about buildings that are 600 years old that is just so compelling to me.

Kutna Hora is about an hour and a half from Prague by bus, so we had some time to kill on the ride over. I had brought my iPod with me so, I plugged in and shared a headphone with Meghan, who sat with me, and began my version of the lecture for the popular Madison class, Black Music. I even offered a quiz every three minutes (following a song), by asking Meghan a few brief questions about what she’d just listened to. It was quickly apparent that my quizzes were unsolicited (apparently Meghan didn’t realize she’d signed up for my class), so I discontinued them and we listened to classic beats in peace.

A view of the cathedral of Kutna Hora greeted us immediately upon our arrival in the city, replete with flowers and flying buttresses; the cathedral was as impressive as any in Prague (as, we learned later, was the city’s intention). After a quick tour of the cathedral and a few fun facts (like that statues inside that look life size – because of their distance from the ground – are in fact 3 ½ meters tall) we moved on to the silver mines and the town’s museum.

Kutna Hora Cathedral

The museum was pretty cool, kind of typical, though they did have a large granary type building, which was used to bring the silver ore to the surface, that was open to walk in. A lot of the students went down into the mines to see the conditions a miner faced on a daily basis (except they brought flashlights). I think of myself as pretty brave, but I have a few fears in life, they include, but are not limited to: heights, confined spaces, dark spaces, and rejection. Caves, which qualify for multiple, are not places to which I like to volunteer my fragile psyche. So, I sat on the sidelines with a few other scaredy-cats and waited comfortably in the sun while the rest of the group trudged through cramped, damp spaces just to say they did. I should mention that I have done the cave thing before, so it’s not that I have never experienced these sensations, only that I didn’t want to do so again.

When the rest of the group finally returned, it was time for lunch. Yum. We went to a traditional beer garden for a hearty Czech meal (sans alcohol for me) before going to the Bone Church!

The Bone Church was crazy, disturbing, unique and quite frankly creepy. This is a church in which someone thought it would be a good idea to decorate with human bones. The result is a chandelier composed of every bone in a human body, arrangements of bones in the shape of crests, and huge pyramids of skulls and other bones. According to Wikipedia, somewhere between 40 and 70,000 people’s bones reside within the church.

The Bone Crest

Kids in the Bone Church

--Bus ride back to Prague = (uncomfortable) nap time--

Saturday night, after watching the Badgers roll to a win over San Jose State, I went out to dinner with Meghan, Anita, and Devin. I had already cooked for myself around five, so I wasn’t particularly hungry, but never one to turn down a meal, I accompanied them. We were going to go to the Vietnamese restaurant on our street, but it had just closed so we found a pizzeria and split two pizzas and a bottle of wine between the four of us.

Then we went to Karlovy Lanze! This is the biggest club in central Europe and consequently a huge tourist attraction (trap). Not only is it one of the only clubs I’ve been to that has a cover charge even for women, but also the beers are three to four times as expensive as in other places. That’s okay though, I didn’t go to the club to drink. I went to dance. I don’t know how the club manages it, but every floor was full. I mean sure, some, like the “Black Music” floor (which is what Czech’s apparently call Hip-Hop and R&B) had more people crammed onto the dance floor than the Oldies floor, but we still had a ton of fun during our sojourn on the oldies floor with friends like ABBA and Frankie Valli to entertain us.

After dancing for several hours and souring my clothes with sweat, we called it a night and tried our luck with the night tram. After a slight miscue (Devin took us to the wrong stop), I asked a lonely Russian student if she could help us find our way home. Happy for the company on her walk, she obliged and helped us navigate the streets of Prague and locate our tram stop.

--Fast forward to 7 PM Sunday--

My friend Sarah has invited me to have dinner with her along the river so I’m trying to get my act together and meet her at the tram stop before heading over to the river together.

I failed. First I went to the wrong stop, then I went the wrong direction, but fortunately, Sarah is understanding and didn’t seem to mind that I had kept her waiting for nearly ten minutes.

We found a nice little wall in a park on which to spread out our food. The wall was in a park, which I think is called Slovansky Ostrov, but just a block or two from the National Theater. Sarah brought a full spread and it was delicious. We had bread and cheese, tomatoes, raspberries, pistachios, Nutella for dessert and a bottle of wine (which we barely touched in the end).

Everything about the meal was enjoyable. We had good food, pleasant weather and great company. I’d only spoken with Sarah a few times before, so having a few hours to ourselves I definitely got to know her a bit better. We talked about a whole range of subjects from her anxiety of finding work to how she hates to be late to things. The conversation was organic and never felt forced. We embraced the lulls (something I always struggle with) and just looked out on the river until conversation picked back up naturally. We stayed at the river for a little over two hours before heading back.

At this point, this post is getting quite long, and I’ve already been told I’m verbose, so I’ll try to be more concise moving forward (besides, hearing about Czech class really isn’t that interesting).

--Monday Evening--

One of the extra curricular groups that I’ve signed up for this semester is Art and Film. So far it’s been some movie screenings and I missed the first one, but yesterday, Hanka invited us to attend a screening of The Greatest Czechs. It’s a weird movie. The basic premise is that a director who cannot get funding for a movie he wants to make is instead induced to make a movie about Czech world record holders (Guiness type records – so, the smallest motorcycle, the strongest man, etc.). The film follows him and his crew around as they shoot the movie all across the country.

Quite honestly, the best part of the movie came before the opening credits when the theater alerted us to their popcorn free culture through this add: Popcorn Free Culture.

After the movie, Meghan invited a few of us out to dinner to meet her friend Nicka from Switzerland who is in town for a few days. We found a small pub near the theater and settled in for some light conversation. I didn’t want to eat (I had cooked myself dinner before the movie) and I didn’t really want to drink a beer, so I ordered ice cream. I don’t know where I picked up this tendency, but when I don’t know what I want (the options all looked good), I ask the server what their favorite dish is. Some waiters try to be diplomatic and say they’re all good, but last night, I found a winner and she pointed to a dish with three scoops of ice cream, whipped cream (Hi Garson) and Pirouettes. It was a-mazing.

-- Tuesday’s Czech Class--

Side note: I apologize in advance for the negative tone of the following few paragraphs.

While I really wish that I could honestly say that everyone on this trip is my best friend that just wouldn’t be true. One such kid is in my Czech class. He seems to get along just fine with plenty of people, so I know it’s something about our personalities that just doesn’t mesh, but almost immediately it was clear that this great friendship wasn’t going to blossom between us.

You know that old social convention when someone says something self-deprecating you mitigate it, even if you cannot deny it (i.e. “Oh my, I am SO fat!” is followed by “Oh that’s not true, besides, who wants to be a twig.” – sorry, that’s the first example I could think of)? I don’t know if this kid missed that lesson in etiquette school, but the other day I confessed that I wasn’t very good at Czech (not a stretch of the imagination) and used some colorful language to really hammer in my point. Well, instead of dismissing my comments as a joke, he responds, “Yeah, you’re terrible.”

Cool, really cool. I know you don’t me that well yet buddy, but that’s not exactly a good way to get there. It’s one thing to agree with someone (“Yeah, you’re not great.”), but something completely different to leave absolutely no doubt on your opinion. I should also comment that this kid isn’t great at the language, he just has a head start because he took a few years of Latin and has worked with declensions. Prick.

Anyway, the reason I’m bringing him up today rather then last week when he actually made those comments is because he insulted our teacher today. Insult me, fine, I’ll get over it, but don’t insult someone who is there solely for your benefit. Don’t blame it on her that you stayed out too late and can barely function for class.

One of our exercises was to arrange dialogue in the proper order and match them with their corresponding pictures. Nothing was in order (even though this kid claimed they were) and when he discovered his mistake all he could say was how stupid everything was: how stupid the book was, how stupid the exercise was, how stupid the teacher was for assigning it.

I just grit my teeth and tried to ignore him, and for the rest of the lesson, I tried to participate even more. Not only did it give him fewer opportunities to complain (though with my numerous mistakes I’m sure he was just thinking about how terrible I was), but also I think it helped me. Who know that frustration could be such a motivating factor to learn a language?

--Extracurricular Expo--

I promised a few details on the extracurricular expo, so before I sign off, I’ll just get to that.

CIEE does a really amazing job at offering a ton of different ways to get to know the city through different groups and interest groups. Today wasn’t the interet groups, but different activities that we can participate in to get to know the city (and the surrounding area). Some of the activities that I looked into today are, in no particular order, yoga, walking tours, Chabad services for Yom Kippur, and some optional trips that the program offers to Vienna and, hopefully, Krakow. 

And with that, I have to go study for my quiz tomorrow! 

My Birthday and How I’ve Matured in 21 Years 7.9.10

I realized that I finished the last post and hadn’t said anything about my birthday! I’m now a few days removed and can think about it without getting nauseous, so some progress is definitely being made.

The entirety of what occurred on my birthday will likely remain a mystery for a long time, but I’ll share the parts I remember, but first let me preface, I am alive and I did not attempt the 21 shot salute.

Dinner Crew Minus Mira

Mira

My birthday celebrations started quite respectably with a small dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant that Mira recommended. At the dinner were Meghan, Anita, Devin, Adam and Mira. I didn’t have anything to drink with dinner, but I did have a very nice chicken dish. It was the leg and thigh with some scalloped potatoes and a gravy-like sauce.

My Dinner.

Mira and I had already run around and across town to pick up drinks for the party that night – I spent far too much money buying alcohol and discovered that I should never be trusted to buy liquor as I just kept putting more into the cart – so when we finished dinner, all that was left for us to do was show up. Red, who didn’t make it to dinner because he had to wait for his credit card to arrive (he lost his a few nights ago at the bars), had helped some girls down the street decorate the apartment for my birthday, so when I returned there were streamers and balloons everywhere.

Birthday Decorations!

I don’t know whose idea the decorations were, but it was pretty cool. It actually felt like a birthday party instead of just having a bunch of people over to drink. Clearly, my birthday spirit came out as a result, because shortly thereafter I was taking shots of a traditional Czech drink – it is distilled from herbs and such from the region and smells kind of like an eastern medicine (I can’t pinpoint it, but the dominant aroma is definitely from a familiar herb). We took three shots of that in quick succession and meanwhile I’m also sipping on a glass of champagne.

The world is not ready for this.

I think we ended up cramming about 30 people into my apartment (it was only crammed because we all congregated around the drinks were on the kitchen table). The rest of the night is a blur of rum and coke, absinthe and cake (someone brought me a birthday cake!), but I managed to mark down 14 shots (marking each shot as an equal and not counting the champagne or beer) which remained in the morning as a reminder of the mistakes of the prior night.

The Cake (a few shots deep)! 

The last thing I remember with any clarity is taking my first absinthe shot with Mira, immediately yelling at him about how terrible it was and how it tasted like cough syrup only to take two more within the minute. From that point on my memory turns into a montage of short clips starting at my front door going to the tram ride and swaying on the bars and ending with entering the club and going for the bathroom because I was sick.

Note: From here on out I can only regale you all with stories passed onto me by those who were present.

Apparently I spent nearly thirty minutes in the bathroom vomiting during which time I managed to attract the attention of every patron using the restroom. A few of the guys on the program utilized the bathroom during my reign of terror, but told Meghan that I was “fine” and that she should “go enjoy herself.” Thankfully Meghan didn’t believe them and got my attention long enough to get me to the door of the restroom and took my wallet, phone and tram pass out of my pockets to prevent me from falling victim to a pick pocket before letting me return to continue my sacrifice to the Ivory Goddess.

I eventually exited the restroom and went with Meghan toward the bar where she found us a booth. Someone handed me a bottle of water and thought I made a valiant attempt to drink it; I ended up spilling most of it on my shirt. When I finished with my water, I started to lie down on the bench.

At some point they (Meghan, Anita and Mira) shepherded me out of the bar to get back home. I guess I proved a difficult sheep, however, and stopped several times to lie down, most notably, in front of a church where I slept next to a homeless man. Somehow we managed to make it to the tram stop in time for the night tram and from there I was brought up to my room to go to sleep.

The Church!

First I needed to take my shirt off though, and thinking that I was really cool, I managed to strip my sweater, button up and undershirt all at once. Of course, taking a button up off without unbuttoning it is a recipe for disaster, as anyone with a clear mind would know. I didn’t have a clear mind at this point though and a clean rip in the center of the back of one of my favorite shirts is the result. I suppose in the grand scheme of things, a ripped shirt is a decent outcome considering my state.

Victory.

Though I wasn’t smart enough to unbutton my shirt, I did have the foresight to set my alarm for class the next morning before I started drinking. And when I say my alarm, I mean all four of them, two on each phone. It worked too, because I woke up for each alarm and got out of bed on the fourth attempt when I knew there were no more coming. Funny story though: when I woke up to the first alarm, I hear a groan from behind me. When I turned to investigate the source, I discovered that Mira had slept on the other side of my bed to make sure that I was okay through the night.

After finally getting out of bed, I showered and prepared myself as best I could for school, grabbing a banana, a bottle of water and a roll for breakfast. Thinking that I was doing okay and that I’d somehow escaped yet another hangover, I headed off to school. It was about an hour later that I found out just how wrong my initial impression was and suffered through three more hours of Czech with a miserably uneasy stomach. I trooped on though and made it through all of class (minus a few minutes before our break when I needed some fresh air) and even went on the two and a half hour walking tour of Prague Castle following class.

And with that, the tale of my birthday is concluded. I hope you enjoyed it.

A Full Days Work by Noon? 10.9.10 – 12:25

It’s only noon, but I’m already done for the day. Don’t worry; I still had a full schedule. This morning we had to go to the foreigner’s police to register as visiting aliens for the duration of our stay (apparently, if you don’t, you can be deported). My class had an 8 AM appointment on the other side of town, so I had to wake up at 6:15 (that was my first alarm, my final one was at 6:45, which is when I actually got out of bed). Still, I can’t remember the last time I woke up before 7. Not intentionally at least. The early appointment proved to be a blessing in disguise because it meant that we got out of there and on with our day first.

To help wake me up on the tram this morning I put in my iPod and started listening to some really quality music like Justin Bieber’s “Baby” & Keri Hilson’s "Knock You Down" Feat. Ne-Yo & Kanye West. Judge all you want, but tell me how those songs DON’T get you going and shoulder shaking? After playing that on repeat for a little while, I diversified a bit and added Justin Timberlake and a few others to the mix.

I think the most apt description of the Foreigner’s police is a DMV for people who don’t speak the same language – just imagine how excited the employees were to see a party of 80 Americans (and some Russians) show up at 8 in the morning. Fortunately for us, Ivana, one of the CIEE employees, had filled out pretty much all of our forms for us before we arrived and all we needed to do was add our signature; if we had been asked to do more, I’m confident many of us would not have been granted permission to remain in the country.

After we’d all gotten our passports stamped, our class for the day was to explore the mall. I know, I know, it’s a rough life I lead. The teachers prepared a handout for us and asked us to fill it in. The handout had questions about prices in the minimarket, the supermarket, the hours of the mall, and the like. It asked us about ten items we found and their prices and what certain stores sold. The exercise wasn’t particularly difficult, though I’m sure that if my partner had been motivated (she wasn’t) it could have been tedious and long. Instead, we tried to reason out what most of the stores were before trying to find them. I didn’t really want to argue with her or make her do the activity to the fullest, but I did want to do it properly, so in the end, I told her I’d find the last one while she went to the food court with another group to get food. I took the opportunity to find a few of the stores and double check our answers. It was a good thing too, because I found numerous mistakes. I should probably note that my partner was genuinely grateful for me going out and doing the work and would have helped if I had asked; I just didn’t want to make her do that when she was clearly tired and hungry.

Because we had the foreigner’s police this morning, when we finished the exercise at the mall, we were free to go. I plan on spending the afternoon relaxing around the flat, trying to edit some photos and listening to music and maybe going out around sunset to explore a little if the weather cooperates. Either way though, it’s going to be an early night because I haven’t had the best sleep this week and I have to wake up again for an early morning tomorrow for a field trip to Kutná Hora. I don’t really know what’s there, but hopefully I will after tomorrow!

Hope all is well back home! I miss you guys. Feel free to send comments on the blog (especially if you catch any typos) or if you have topics you’re interested in that I’m not addressing also let me know. For anyone who doesn’t know, you can reach me at sweiss3@wisc.edu.

Czech Lunch and Some Random Thoughts 9.9.10 – 17:26

Alright, I’ve got a little under an hour to get a few thoughts onto the page. So, as you may remember, this week is part one of two of our Czech intensive. It’s not unbearable by any means, but it definitely is intense. We have about four hours of class a day and now we’re also integrating field trips. Today’s was actually pretty sweet. I’ll get to that in a bit.

We had a quiz this morning and I am honestly impressed at my ability to learn something and forget it five minutes later. Petra, our teacher, reviewed the material with us before the quiz through various exercises and by the time I got to the quiz, I had forgotten what I’d written. I’m particularly bad at trying to fill in dialogue and respond to questions, the latter because you have to conjugate the verb which is something I’ve always been terrible at – just ask Frau D. and Frau Crowder! I think I stumbled through the quiz and will get a pretty decent grade on it, but I cannot understand how I ask questions and then promptly forget the answer. I definitely listen attentively, but it just doesn’t stick. Truthfully, it’s not just for language either, though I think it’s worse when I’m trying to think in a foreign language, but I do the same thing for math and other subjects, just when it comes to those types of subjects, I can work through the proof on my own. How do you work through a language?

We spent part of the morning working on our restaurant words and etiquette and then we got to go utilize them by going out for a meal with our Czech class. As I really enjoy eating, this was definitely my kind of field trip. I was going to order Goulash because Petra had recommended it highly, but they were out. Not to be deterred, I found another traditional Czech dish (Sirloin in a cream sauce with berries and whipped cream with bread dumplings), but that proved too popular and our tables ordered all of it, so that three of us didn’t get our meal. I ended up ordering pasta with cream sauce and a filet of Salmon with lemon. Though it wasn’t my first choice, it was quite tasty and definitely filled me up – cream sauce can do that.

When lunch finally wrapped up and we paid, it was 2:30. I wanted to head back to campus to look into my readers and sign up for a Czech buddy – someone I could just get together with and talk over dinner or go and play soccer sometime. CIEE has a list of them and hopefully I get a cool one. I also thought about volunteering, but a lot of what we do is teaching English and I’m not sure about that yet, so I have to think more about it.

On my walk to campus from the metro stop, I saw this little dog walking around, completely off his leash, just hopping around in the grass, and then running off to a different patch. I was looking around for the dog’s owner (it had a harness on) but he/she was nowhere to be seen. This is definitely not the first unleashed dog I’ve seen, and it actually seems quite common in Prague for the owners to just let the dogs wander freely. It’s one of those totally non-American things that stand out every time. I’m in no way condemning the practice, just that it would never happen in America and I freely admit that I believe the dogs thoroughly enjoy it compared to our leashing practice. It is strange to see though, especially when a dog walks around in front of you and your first thought is the dog is a stray and you should take it home to take care of it, until the owner comes up and yells at you for playing with their dog.

While I’m on the subject of my observations, one thing that I’ve noticed and really appreciated about the people in Prague is their willingness to help someone out. The city has a great public transportation system (if a little confusing at times) that will you get you just about anywhere in under an hour – my daily commutes is almost exactly thirty minutes. While people do have cars, plenty of people use the tram, including the elderly and the disabled. I don’t know why, but it seems to me that I’ve seen more blind individuals in Prague in the first two weeks than I have in Madison or the Twin Cities in the last couple years, though that may just be a consequence of where I go and when. Without fail, someone has guided every blind person I’ve seen onto the tram or metro, helping him or her navigate the doors and finding them a seat. These aren’t relatives either, because these people often go a different direction shortly after, but it’s not a problem because someone else fills in the gap to make sure that the blind individual gets around safely.

One example that I witnessed and proved particularly memorable was at a tram stop. I think of the trams like the trolley cars in San Francisco, though some of them look more like above ground subway cars than a trolley. The trams stop every few blocks and often one of the “platforms” is on an island in the middle of the road so that to get on or off, you have to cross the road. The other day when I was waiting for my tram I noticed a blind man crossing the road across the tram tracks. Almost immediately two men hopped into the road and guided the man across the road before returning and waiting for their stop.

Maybe this isn’t as cool to other people because it’s a normal consequence of public transportation, but for someone who’s never lived in a city with a good public transportation or used it regularly, I’ve never seen this demonstration of community. Honestly, I think it is more of a demonstration of the differences between two cultures: America’s which seems to have been built largely on properties of independence, autonomy and the sacredness of private property and the Czech culture which is only twenty years removed from a communist state. I know I’m generalizing a bit and simplifying what I’m sure is a very complicated question, but at a quick glance, it seems to me as if a sense of community is present here that is ominously absent in America at large.

And on that note… I need to get going. Tonight CIEE has put together a bowling activity for all of us, which should be fun. I know I still haven’t talked about my birthday at all, so I’ll try to get to that tomorrow – and at least tell you what I remember.

Na Schledanou!

7.9.10 - Quick Update on my Birthday!

It’s my lunch break right now, so I thought I would get a little blogging in. I’m in the midst of my first week of Czech intensive right now, and, well, it’s intense. We’re going through a bunch of basics - questions we’ll need to use, phrases that will be helpful (like slow down, or once more please), though to be honest, the hardest part is just pronouncing the words. With only one way to pronounce a word, you’d think it would be simple, but when the alphabet is changed on you, it takes some time to adjust.
I’ve never been very good at language, so the fact that I’m struggling isn’t really surprising to me. While there are a few people who are definitely picking it up more quickly than I am, I’m not doing terribly, so at least I can feel good about that. My teacher’s name is Petra and she’s very friendly. I’ve heard some of the other teachers are really relaxed in their styles, and while Petra doesn’t seem to fit that description, she doesn’t seem like the type that is in the business to teach in order to cause her students pain, but rather is one who wants her students to learn; this trait is definitely something I always admire in teachers, even if it means the class is more difficult.
Okay, but today is my birthday, and I’m sure I’ll get back to the Czech class in a future blog post, but I only have one day to revel in turning 21! Last night wasn’t a huge celebration, but I’m looking to make up for that tonight.
Last night, on the eve of my birthday, I met up with Hannah and Rebecca to go to dinner where we were joined by Rachel (Rebecca’s twin), and two kids named Jason who are both on the NYU trip and both go to Duke. We wandered near and around Old Town looking through some back alleys for quality restaurants. We ended up settling on a nice Czech place. We were seated in the basement and it definitely felt like they wanted to hide the loud American party, because after the one other table with people at it left, no one else was brought downstairs. Oh well, it was a good time, and this way we couldn’t bother anyone.
I already mentioned that Rachel and I live only a few blocks from one another, so we share the same Metro stop. It was really funny because as we were ascending the escalator toward the surface, we got to talking about how it is so easy to talk to one another because we have a really good friend in common - which is what I said in a previous post. Just the fact that we came to the same conclusion independently made me smile; it made me smile because it meant that she felt the same way and that we are on our way to being really good friends and who doesn’t like having really good friends?!
When I got back from dinner, Mira was cooking his dinner (at 11:30? crazy). Since the chicken was in the oven, he had some time and wanted to show me something. Apparently, he’d taken most of the night off from studying and had been trying to plan my birthday! He brought over his computer and showed me this enormous thought map (I don’t know how better to describe it, but it’s this program where he has different bubbles to organize his thoughts) dedicated solely to my birthday. He had looked into a few different restaurants, tried to see if they could accomodate a party, then started planning a pre-game at the flat and researched different games we could play. I think we decided on some classic drinking games like Kings but then also some more adventurous ones that I’m really excited about like Angel - where you are assigned someone and you act as their guardian angel for the night and are tasked with making sure that they have a good night; if you discover your own angel you win a prize. Hopefully everyone is willing to partake, because I think it would be pretty fun if everyone got into it. Then after the pre-game, Mira looked into three different clubs that we could attend - a smaller one that plays oldies and rock, a nice intimate one but with expensive beers, or the five floor mega club. I decided on the mega club for now because I wanted the most options and we thought it would have the most people, so hopefully that will live up to the hype!
I’ll of course keep you all posted on how it goes!
In the meantime - it’s days like birthdays when you really start to miss home. I’m not good at inviting people over to celebrate my birthday, so going around CIEE today and talking to people and telling them to come over was less that natural, whereas at home, I don’t know what I would do, but I wouldn’t care because I know I’d have a blast just being around people with whom I felt comfortable. It’s not that I feel uncomfortable here, just that I’m still new here and we’re all getting to know one another. I don’t know. I’m trying to type this stream of conscious so that I can get the most out before having to run back to Czech class in a few minutes.
Anyway, for everyone back home, know that I’m thinking of you and miss you all. For anyone here who is helping me celebrate my birthday, I’m really really grateful. I could totally see myself spending my birthday on my own just reading a book, so the fact that you’re going to go out with me means more than you know.
Na Shelandou!