The Czech Life

---

This past week has found me sampling a slice of Czech life. I arrived in Olomouc on Friday and I spent 5 great days there. The family I stayed with consisted of a sweet old grandfather, mother, father, girl 14, girl 17, baby and my friend Martina so it was a bit crowded. However, I grew to love them all very quicky and most of them except the mom and baby spoke English. Voila! I was able to communicate with the mom using my Italian.
Close to their house was a cathedral which was so beautiful! Lining the outside were shops which sold among other things, fireworks! So, you could have had a little fun duirng mass. haha. While I was there, I had the opportunity to attend an outdoor film festival, all in Czech of course! My Czech is not so good, but one night they let me in for free and the other night a friend paid my way in, I can't complain.
However, my best experience was going to school with the girl, 17. She attends a bilingual high school and the two lessons, English and geometry were in English. Once a week, the English lesson is taught by Sam, a teacher from none other than Rhode Island! She was too fun! I ALMOST wish that I were in high school again. For their lesson that day, they were talking about weddings. She played a song about weddings by the Dixie Chicks, one of my favorites, and proceeded to dance and sing, causing the students to laugh loudly. Over the course of three lessons, they are planning an actual wedding and everyone has a part. There were not enough boys, so a girl is playing the father of the bride! Finally, at the ceremony, they are allowed to drink champagne in school even though the drinking age is 18!!! Never in the US would that happen. Geometry was not so eventful, but that is to be expected. When the teacher enters the room, all the students stand. I'd say this was one of my most favorite experiences thus far. It was a good day indeed because it was also the first day of snow!!!!! It was so pretty! I can't wait for winter!
Sadly, good times must come to an end and I had to leave the cutest baby in the world, George. Through my intensive lessons, I am sure he will speak English. Wednesday, I headed to Prague and I leave Saturday night on a 24 hr. train to Bucharest, Romania for a few days before I head to NYC. Immediately, I met a girl, Beth, at the hostel and we have been travelling together every second. She is Canadian and we are having so much fun. Prague is cheap and the water is more expensive than beer. So, to save money, I've been drinking beer instead. Finally, on a disappointing note, I bought some food at the store last night, only to have it stolen out of the fridge at the hostel. Some salami and cheese and Beth's food was gone too. So, all day we've been looking around for people who have salami breaths... We are convinced that people in the hostel are like piranas... waiting for someone to enter with food. GRRRRR Maybe I should be a private investigator.
FINALLY... Tomorrow I will make a day trip to Janovice and perhaps to nearby Spule on the German border where I still have relatives living there. It should be an interesting day.

---