The past 4 days have been very busy for me in my schedule, even on the weekends. I'm constantly trying to do work, while also incorporating the work fields that my classes summarize. I'm having all the best of fun along the way, and I would never imagine doing any of these things that I've done here in Prague a year ago. It is quite a revelation.
On Saturday, I joined my host family, Jana, Petr, and Jan, down in a beautiful city called Písek. The city is one of the oldest here in the Czech Republic, known for it's historical bridge (older than the Charles Bridge in Prague), and the big river that flows through it. My host family had a cottage down there, and they were meeting with some family and friends for a little gathering on the weekend. Sidenote: Here in the Czech Republic, it is natural for an average family to have a weekend house/cottage to go to on the weekend. It's different in America, where we think if someone has another house somewhere, that it's a summer house, or an expensive time share in an exotic location/city. Anyways, we drove down to Písek, and arrived just in time for lunch. I met many of the family and friends present, but spent most of my time hanging out with Jan. There was also a big pig roasting for the evening meal, which kind of reminded me of my traditional Filipino meals back at home. Pig is always on the platter. So, after about an hour of meet and greets, Jana, Jan, myself, and some others went in cars up the the northern part of the river. There we were greeted by a man renting us canoes for the afternoon. We rode in the canoes on the river, all the way back to Písek, which took about 3 hours total. I was prepared to go canoeing, and I even got my own canoe, but it was quite difficult navigating my path with a small oar. I managed. By the time we got back to Písek, it was time for an early dinner and socializing. Petr, also gave me a little walking tour through the town to talk about some of its history. Things I found out:
- The flood of 2002 almost damaged the historical bridge.
- Yes, cobblestone exists EVERYWHERE in the Czech Republic.
- There is a big black bus that stops in different cities that serves you coffee...blind. The waiters are physically blind, and you are blindfolded upon entering the bus to experience what it is like not to see.
- Recycling cans are so cool.
- People practic sword fighting during the day in public.
- There was a castle here, but it was modernized overtime by hotels, restaurants, and other stores.
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| Jan (my host brother) and I, our after canoeing shot. |
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| Písek, my camera got an awesome shot of the town. |
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| It looks like I'm canoeing in a banana boat. Haha. So great being in nature though. |
The next day, Sunday, I slept in a bit because I was a little drained from the canoeing and touring. I was excited because I would be meeting up with the one and only family member that I would see during my time here in Prague: Aunt Diana. She and her girlfriends were traveling in the region, and she was staying for 2 nights at the Four Seasons Hotel in Prague. I arranged all of Sunday with her, and met up with her around 4:00pm. We had a little snack in the Four Seasons restaurant, then walked around the touristy parts of the city. Old Town Square, the wooden shops, the bohemian crystal stores, the marionette store, etc. It was just so nice to be with her, catch up, and walk around. We both share an equal love for the city, and she can't wait to come back again. The rest of the evening, we went shopping, drinking, and eating. We found a nice outdoor table under a heat lamp near the astronomical clock, ordered some wine, and watched the clock ring in. For dinner, we went to this lovely, fancy restaurant across the bridge, where we indulged in more wine, duck, rabbit, and goulaush. Unfortunately, my night had to come to an end, and I departed ways with my aunt and her friends after dinner. It was just so nice to spend time with her. Thanks Aunt Diana, and thanks again for the wrap-around knit scarf!
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| Aunt Diana and I in Old town Square. |
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| Us having some wine outside near the astrological clock tower. |
Monday through Wednesday, it was back to school. However, we spent a lot of time outside the school, and in the city for some of our classes. We went to the Institute of the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, where we learned first hand about the Secret Police and the files that were kept during the 1970's-80's. Czech Republic was still under communist rule, so there was a lot of discussion on the time period and what it was like to be a citizen at the time. The files had so many details, and the Secret Police consisted of over 15,000 members, most of who spent their time following an assigned person for years. They conjured up specific details, minutes on who you met with, pictures when you weren't looking, etc. It was hard to be private, even in the private part of your life.
Tuesday, I had a meeting for an interview with the Multicultural Center of Prague. I was arranging the interview to talk about the center, and gain more information on it for a project that I am working on. I was greeting by a great group of people, in a cozy center with many projects going on. The main project I was interested in was the
La Ngonpo project, which means "A Meeting Place" in India. The summary of the project is to use cross-cultural methods in education to introduce communication between two different locations/countries. The project is focused around the Czech Republic and India, but is looking to expand it's horizons in the future. While there, because I showed much interest, and they are looking to communicate with other countries, they offered me a flexible internship during my stay to assist with developing the project, and working on any of the English articles or research needed. I'll keep everyone updated on it, but I'm highly interested in the position. Here is a link to their website:
www.la-ngonpo.org
Tuesday night, my friend Tom had 2 extra tickets for the Opera that his host-mom had available. I was given one, and I saw a performance of Les Contes D'Hoffmann at the National Theater. I really enjoyed the performance, and had a successful first-time experience at the opera.
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| My view from my seat at the opera. |
Wednesday (today), we watched a movie at the MAT studio, called "Walking Too Fast," a movie also on the time period of the Secret Police. Then, we discussed about the environmental sector of CZ, and spent our day on bikes, seeing the city of Prague from a different perspective. The city is slowly becoming more populated, full of cars, trams, buses, taxis, and the buildup of traffic. It is taking away some of the crucial elements of the land and nature that citizens used to appreciate. So Auto*Mat is an organization that tries to make awareness of this issue through the creating of new bike paths, and how transportation can changed the view of a city. We acted as "cars & trams" and rode our bikes in the lanes with the other cars, riding behind trams, and swerving through traffic. I felt like a cyclist in NYC, traveling in the busy streets on a bike.
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| Artsy self picture of me biking today. Ahoj! |
Tomorrow, I leave for Poland and Slovakia. I won't be back until next Friday (19th), but I am bringing my computer. We start with Poland, and then make our way into Slovakia later on. I'm also preparing myself for the Holocaust site in Auschwitz, where I will get a more direct image of the Holocaust, as opposed to the Holocaust Museum I visited in Washington D.C. my junior year of high school. Here is the link to that website too:
http://en.auschwitz.org/z/
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