One Month, and Counting

So, I apologize for the no-so-updated blog posts.  I really just don't what to write about these days.  I mean, the touristy things are over, classes are done, no more excursions, and no more work, right?  Well, I am in Prague, and I have been trying to make the best of it.

As of November 9th, I finished my classes at SIT.  I managed to cram a lot of work with 4 classes [Czech History, Arts, and Social Change I / Czech History, Arts, and Social Change II / Intensive Czech Language / and Field Study Seminar].  This last month I have been developing a project proposal for my final project.  It is counted as a class, but in reality, it is not a class, but an independent study.  That is what I have been working on since classes ended, and the final project will be presented and written just a few short days before I head back home to NY.

My project incorporates NGO activity, multicultural studies, and czech education.  I am representing the Multicultural Center of Prague in a project they developed called La Ngonpo.  I am traveling to schools in the Czech Republic to see how the project works in a class setting, observe the cross-cultural atmosphere in Czech schools, and evaluating the project with my own observations and questions.  I am traveling tomorrow to a city called Brno to attend my first class and I am very excited!  I'm not so happy about waking up at 5am though, haha.  As far as last week goes, I have been confirming these trips, visiting the Multicultural Center, and catching up on some sleep and sites in Prague.  So, needless to say, I have been taking it easy a bit, but now it's crunch time.  Less than one month and I will be back home in NY with my family and friends.  I sit here now, reading all the statuses and messages about Thanksgiving break, and I'm very jealous.  If you're smart and know your history, that whole Indian & Settlers meal that took place in America, yeah, that's where the holiday was created.  So no, they don't celebrate it in Europe.  However, me and my classmates are getting together to have our own little Thanksgiving feast on Thursday (I'm making the sweet potatoes).  I am looking forward to a nice, traditional, American meal.  The good news after that, my Uncle Vic is coming from London to visit! He'll be here all weekend and I'm VERY excited to see him and enjoy the funny martini-filled nights.

Some other little tidbits to entertain:
-I visited the club where Rihanna shot her "Don't Stop the Music" music video. Radost FX is the name.
-I attended my first film festival in Prague to see a collection of international films.
-I signed up for a gym (finally) in Prague.  It costs about $45 USD and takes me 45 minutes to get there, but it's worth it.
-I intern for the Multicultural Center about twice a week, reading articles, proof-reading English-translated publications, and evaluating projects.
-I spent a good portion of the past weekend blowing my nose, going through countless amounts of tissues, and coughing up a storm (a.k.a. I was sick).
-I witnessed some guy puking his brains out on the tram.  The driver stopped the tram, came out behind the wheel, and yelled at the guy, delaying us about 15 minutes in traffic.
-Another person fell on me (not on the tram) but on the bus.  He was covered in construction filth and left my lap covered in god-knows-what.

Well, that's pretty much my latest update.  I'll have more to talk about after my visit to the school in Brno, my Thanksgiving dinner, and my weekend with Uncle Vic.  But for now, 25 days until I'm home!

Hurricane Sandy for President

"Stranded" here in the Czech Republic has forced me to watch all the Hurricane updates from overseas. What a tease.  The biggest hurricane that hits the Northeast in 100 years, and I'm in Prague. I can't say I'm disappointed though, because unlike many of my family and friends, last night I had electricity and wasn't concerned about my safety.  I was too busy thinking about the safety of others though, friends, family, loved ones, etc.  Now that the storm has passed, I am glad to say that everything at home is okay, but watching the news feed last night as an outsider really shocked me.  I saw everything LIVE online, as it was happening.  What a different experience it has on me, not being present for the storm.  I did have my own storm here in Prague though, on Saturday, October 27th.  There was quite a lot of snow that coated Prague, my host community, and those around.  But hey, I can't complain about it, because what happened to the Northeast this week will go down in history books.

The view outside my window Saturday morning. SNOW!

Today in class, we had a very interesting lecture/debate about the election coming up in the Czech Republic and in the United States.  There were two representatives from the Czech campaign, who are assistants to the candidates, who came to our classroom to give an informal discussion about the election history and the views of their candidate.  The two candidates for president mentioned in today's discussion were: Jiří Dienstbier and Karel Schwarzenberg. It was a very interesting discussion today, because the politics and government here in the Czech Republic are very different from that of the U.S.

Since it is election season both here and in the U.S., here are some notes on what I learned today (skip to the bottom of the page if you're not interested in the political bulls**t):

• Eligibility for President: at least 40 years old, Czech citizen, participate in a 5 year term
• Election/Voting details:
• Direct vote/majority vote
• Two-round runoff voting
• New law of election passed in July 2012
• Election days are January 11th-12th this year
• Candidates register 66 days before election
• Candidates need 50,000 signatures in order to be a valid candidate (unless nominated by their party platform)
• Czech Constitution details:
• The president does not hold executive power like the U.S. president does
• Strong role in foreign policy
• Ratification process can only happen through the president
• The president does not have the role to be a "free leader of the world"
• Problems with the election and process:
• This is the FIRST time that the Czech public is directly voting for their president. Previous presidents have been appointed by the Parliament or the Communist regime. Therefore, it is hard to foresee how the election will go
• People are confused as to how the president will be represented (i.e. will he have a role in domestic policies, environment, negotiations, attending certain conferences, signing different documentation, etc.)
• This year, there is approximately 10 candidates who will run for president in the first round, all who have the mandatory requirements to run
• There is confusion in the public as to what each political party stands for
• Media plays a majorly low role in the campaign and events after the president is elected, which is unfortunate because the communication between media and the government is weaker
• Since it is the first time for a direct vote of the public, this may bring more instability to the government system
• National identity is unclear when it comes to the presidents opinion and the public vote

So, without further due, the title of my blog post Hurricane Sandy for President.  I was in a very political mood after everything that has happened today, and it made me question both campaigns (in the C.R. and the U.S.). First, the campaigns will definitely be put on hold in order to recover the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  I think it is a very responsible decision of Obama to focus on that, because he is still president of our country and needs to attend to the need of the Northeastern region.  With all the talk about Hurricane Sandy, politicians in the C.R. are also aware of the situation in the U.S., commenting and forcing candidates to talk about the issue as well.  So as a result, Hurricane Sandy really is the talk of the country, especially with elections and campaigns going on.

Well, thanks for reading, and if you're reading this, I assume that you Northeasterners have power back. Here is a photo of me and my friend John Cody from this past weekend. He's a great guy, working and traveling across Europe since he graduated this year from PC. 

P.S. Ahoj is pronounced "ah-hoy" like the sailors say. NOT "a-hoe".... mom. Haha

Me and John in Namesti Miru. Notice the snow. Haha.

Save the Last Dance for Me

With everything that's been going on lately, I have barely had any time to catch up on things. No, wait, that's a lie, I practically slept this whole weekend, so I had plenty of time.  Well, I'm blogging now, and I have a couple things to catch up on.

First off, I thought, going in, that Slovakia was going to be less of a favorite (out of all the places I've been so far).  Turns out, I enjoyed myself a lot trying to learn about the culture.  The key idea, is to want to have a good time.  I had all these negative thoughts going in, but once I volunteered for activities and opportunities, I found myself having a really great time. The trip there was intense, winding up and down hills and mountains in a van, getting really motion sick, but I battled through it.

So, upon arriving, Slovakia was very foggy, misty, murky, what have you, and you could barely see 5 feet in front of you.  The place where we were staying was up on a hill, so the weather was heavier.  However, we were staying on a farm, a farm ran by this wonderful family who sustained a life there for about 27 years.  They run a camp/community center where they try to assist locals and neighboring visitors with fun activities and events of all sorts.  The father, works all day on the farm, and altogether, produces fresh milk, makes homemade cheese, jam, bread, etc.  All of the food was delicious, especially the fresh milk from the cows.  On the farm, they had 3 pigs, 1 pony, 4 horses, 3 cows, 2 goats, 4 dogs, 5 cats, 1 rooster, and 8 chickens. Holy cow. I was not ready for all that animal.  But, it was very enjoyable, especially the farm dogs and the cats.

Some of the activities over the past couple of days included:
- Attending the cultural center in Černy Balóg
- Making handmade leather bracelets
- Visiting a traditional Slovakian home
- Weaving cloths
- Trying traditional Slovakian food
- Attending a historical lecture on Slovak "loggers"
- Taking a train to the logger workshop
- Taking part in logger activities
-Walking through a nature route
-Learning the traditional Slovak dance

Me in traditional Czech clothes. I know, get a good laugh now, because it won't be funny later.

Dora and I sawing the log. Pretty clean cut we had.

The view from the farm on the last day. After all the misty weather, the sun finally showed.

Now, according to the title of this blog, "Save the Last Dance for Me", I have done a lot of dancing in the past few days (no, not the hip-hop/pop kind either). The song in the title, is sung by none other than Michael Bublé, my idol.  I found it appropriate because it came across my iPod during my trip there in Slovakia, and I was always one for volunteering the dance portion of my stay.  For a good listen, Click Here. So, at the traditional Slovakian home, me and all my classmates, danced around and around, learning the moves, and dancing to the accordion.  The next day, we had a professional Slovak dance team come in and teach us a dance.  Personally, I did really well, and led most of the group with my dancing.  The instructors were very impressed, and if all else fails in life, I'm running off with them to Slovakia to dance in a Slovak costume, haha.

To sum up the trip, we stopped in another Slovak city called, Žilina, where we visited a "reborn" train stop for artists and people alike to express themselves in a new medium.  We also participated in a book-making workshop, where I crafted 2 book covers for these small notepads.  It was a lot of fun arts and craft time.  I ended my trip this past Friday, and I met up with the most fun-loving girl out there, Kelly Allen.  She and I are on BOP together and I continued my dancing with her as we attended the Lucerna Music Bar for the 80's & 90's Music Video Dance Party.  What an amazing time. So much fun. So, on this music note, I'll leave you with another song, not Michael Bublé, but a shout out to someone special. Enjoy. Click Here: Ho Hey - The Lumineers

Kelly and I at Lucerna Music Bar. We're so abroad.

Krakow, Poland

Thursday morning, I hopped on a train at the main terminal in Prague, and traveled to Krakow, Poland for the past couple days.  The train ride was long, but I enjoyed most of it because we had cabins (like the ride to Hogwarts in Harry Potter), and spoke with this nice Canadian couple who were backpacking through Europe.  The total travel time of our day went from 9:30am-5:30pm.  We spend most of our time on the train, all the way to a stop in Poland, where we transferred to another train to Krakow.

Upon arriving in Krakow, it was dusk already, and we slowly slumped our luggage to the hotel, approximately 10 minutes from the station. We got to a very nice hotel that had apartment style rooms, and of course I roomed with Dan and Tom.  That night, after having a delicious Polish meal, and many perogies for dinner, the bunch of us went to walk around a bit in the Old Town.  There was beautiful architecture. I definitely noticed a difference in the way that Krakow introduced itself, compared to Prague.  The cities had similar history, but architecturally and socially, the city had a different atmosphere to it.  I really enjoyed the people, seeing all type of city life and observing the culture in a different country.  Not to say that I like Poland better than the Czech Republic, but Krakow made a very good first impression to me.

The Krakow Old Town, where I spent most of my leisure time.

The following day was a bit adventurous.  We woke up early, and walked to the square where we met a Polish professor (who spoke very good English).  He talked to us about the period between the 1950's-1980's in Poland, and the communist period that erupted during that time.  He was very informative, telling us about Pope John Paul II, and his huge impact on society. PJPII showed society how Catholicism could be a gateway to their problems and prayers at the time, allowing for a religious revolution to Catholicism in Poland.  The population is approximately 95% Catholic, which goes to show that his presence had a big effect on the country.  I can accept that fact, because around every corner on the streets of Krakow, there is a picture of him, or a big statue of him, eyeing you down.  

Later on, the group of us went to an old factory building in Nova Huta, a town that was highly impacted by the communist regime.  The factory was reconstructed into a theatre, where many performances and shows take place.  I was surprised to know that The Killers, one of my favorite bands, performed there just two months ago.  Nova Huta is recognized as an old communist town because of the physical change that the town went through.  Though it's maintained its communist styles, the people are still marked by the communist period.

The archways in one of the church's I visited.  The design was absolutely gorgeous.

Saturday was the most interesting day out of my visit to Poland.  It was the day I went to Auschwitz, the concentration and death camp during the Holocaust.  I went alone, traveled about an hour to the camp from Krakow, and I wanted to be by myself for the experience.  Upon arriving, I signed up for the "English" speaking tour, and waited in the film room where I watch a short video on the camp.  I'm not going to go through the whole tour step by step because it is an experience that I'm mainly keeping to myself, unless it comes up during a discussion.  The camp has been maintained in it's entirety, but there have been several adjustments to make it more "tour" friendly.  It was deep, intense, personal levels of information, ranging from the arrival to the camp, the separating of the prisoners, the labels of the prisoners, the daily life routine, and the executions.  The most powerful moment for me was the hallway in one of the buildings.  It had all the recovered pictures of the prisoners upon their entrance to the camp.  No matter man, woman, or child, you were shaved, given a uniform, and your picture was taken as a form of identification.  If anything were to happen, an escape or an identification purpose came about, Nazis would use these photos to identify the prisoner.  However, that system stopped after 2 years because prisoners starved and died from hunger, leaving them emaciated and unhealthy, nothing compared to their photos upon arrival.  So, the hallway had all of those pictures, side by side, just staring at you as you walked down, seeing the hundreds of faces of people who were killed.  It was just awful, seeing their faces, knowing at the time, that they had no idea of what was to come.  My tour guide even mentioned that sometimes people walk through that hallway, relatives of the victims, and identify their relatives, finding some of their personal information from the time.  

The entrance gate to the camp. This is the original gate, and it welcomed prisoners with the slogan that translates to "work brings freedom."  Clearly, the slogan was a lie.

These were some of the buildings that the prisoners stayed in.  The living conditions were horrible, and over 1,000 people were crammed into one building.

The barbed wire that separated death and freedom.

So my day ended at Auschwitz, but I kept the experience to myself for the most part, and enjoyed the rest of my evening in Krakow.  Sunday was the last day in the city, and I had a very relaxing day.  I slept in, and woke up around 11:00am to get ready for the 12:00 noon mass at the famous St. Mary's Church in the center.  I knew that if there was any place I would attend a mass during my stay, it would be in Poland.  The church was magnificent, and although I didn't understand the words spoken in Polish, I understood the order and rituals of a daily Catholic mass enough to make out what was going on.  I knew that my Umpa would be proud, sitting alongside me, attending mass in a foreign country, and telling me the bit of history that comes with the location.  In a way, it did it for him.  Trying to experience what he experienced when he traveled the world.  And now i know.

The rest of my stay included a nice shopping trip to the big mall, and the market square.  I got some nice winter sweaters, and shopped around for some market items that turned out to be more of a "window shopping" experience.  

I now sit here, on a farm, in Slovakia.  That blog will come after this, once my stay here is finished on the farm.  I go back to Prague this Friday. But don't worry mom and dad, i'm not sleeping with the cows. Haha.

Canoes, Community, Cycling, and Contacts

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.

Jan (my host brother) and I, our after canoeing shot.

Písek, my camera got an awesome shot of the town.

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!

Aunt Diana and I in Old town Square.

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.

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. 

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/