Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I hope everyone had a great day of relaxing and eating, things here have been really busy, but a lot of fun.

Thursday was a fairly normal day.  I woke up early in the morning for class at eight, and fear not, I wore my Thanksgiving lumberjack shirt.  We had school as usual, and afterwards I ended up going out to lunch with Dagmar (Germany/Poland), Anton (motherland), Dina (motherland), and Kristina (motherland/Israel).  Most restaurants here have a denní menu or denní nabídka, which is basically just their special of the day.  They're always really cheap (maximum $4), and a full portion.  We went to a vegetarian Indian restaurant, which was a little disappointing (sorry, Dag), as I was looking forward to some chicken tikka masala or keema mattar.  The food was really good, though, and it was certainly one of the most interesting foods I've had on Thanksgiving to say the least.  After that, I went on the hunt for some turkey, as Libor was coming over to make dinner.  After a while of searching, I gave up and just got chicken instead.  We ended up having chicken with peas, corn, and carrots, and I made mashed potatoes.  All in all, not a very exciting Thanksgiving dinner, but better than nothing.  After that, we went over to Ola and Kasia's (part of the Polish tribe, as I'm sure you know by now), where a bunch of people met.  We hung out there for a while, then hit the town.  I figure it was comparable to the first Thanksgiving, with the North American teaching the unknowing Europeans some moves on the dance floor.  Squanto would've been proud.

On Friday, Libor and I hopped on a Studentagency bus and headed up to Prague.  It took about an hour longer than it should've, as we were trapped in some horrific traffic outside of Kutná Hora, but finally, after more than two months of living in the Czech Republic again, I entered the capital city.  We caught the metro to Vltavská and then transferred to the tram, riding out to Petřiny.  JoEllen, who had the pleasure of living and teaching in Ostrava last year with Fulbright, is teaching at a high school in Prague, so we went out to her place.  It's actually the high school where we had our one-day orientation last August before we started teaching.  We made it out there, where she met us with her boyfriend, Martin, who's Czech.  It's a pretty sweet set-up, because they live in buildings right next to each other, so Libor and I ended up staying in her apartment, and she stayed with Martin.

Friday night was pretty low-key.  They made us pizza, and we spent the night just chatting and relaxing, preparing for the big day.  JoEllen and I hadn't seen each other in June, so it was really great to hang out again.  Saturday morning, though, the fun began.  JoEllen had been planning every detail for weeks, and Martin was assigned the task of finding us a turkey.  After calling several butchers in Prague, all of whom told him the smallest they could get would be 33lbs., he finally found one weighing in at a whopping 18.3lbs.  Also, its neck was still attached.  Yum.

Caution: American woman cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

Martin summed it up well, "It's beeeeaaaauuuutiful!"

The day turned out to be fairly Thanksgivingy.  Libor and I walked to Kaufland, something like Walmart, to buy an assortment of drinks for the day (I insisted on getting Coke, 'cause what's Thanksgiving without Coke?  I'm a Livingston, after all...), and then the three men spent the day on the couch while JoEllen slaved away.  Martin told us that in the morning, he had suggested a minor change to JoEllen's schedule and plans, and was promptly relieved of all duties in the kitchen.  I think he wanted our support in the matter, but I just said, "Martin, rule #1 of Thanksgiving.  Do not mess with an American woman today.  You will never win."  JoEllen heard me, and shouted from the kitchen that he should pay attention to what I was saying.  Anyways, I ended up being able to sneak into the kitchen and help Jo a little bit, and I made some quality mashed potatoes if I do say so myself.  I also chopped chocolate bars into chips, and later made my first attempt at baking, which was quite successful.  As dinnertime approached, the other guests arrived: Sujin, who was also on Fulbright with us last year, with her boyfriend Petr, a Czech, as well as Ian, a Scot, with his girlfriend Lucka, a Czech.  All in all, we were three Americans, four Czechs, and a Scot, an interesting line-up for Thanksgiving.  The food was ready, and we had a cornucopia (buh dum bum) of food: turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans, salad, and I can't remember what else.  It was amazing, and I can't give JoEllen enough credit for it.  Afterwards, I made chocolate chip cookies, and Sujin served a pumpkin pie she had baked.  That, my friends, is how you do an American Thanksgiving in a foreign country.

Happy Thanksgiving!  L to R: JoEllen, Martin, Ian, Lucka, Libor

Chocolate chip cookies are possible in Europe.

Sunday morning was lazy, but we made pancakes care of the Bisquick Mom forced me to take with me when I left the US in September.  Martin had Canadian maple syrup, and together the combination was fantastic.  All in all, we had a very American weekend, food-wise, culture-wise, and language-wise (I haven't spoken English nonstop since August, this weekend was a nice break and the opportunity to use real English, being with native speakers).  After breakfast (which was basically lunch), JoEllen packed us doggie bags, and Libor and I headed out into the city.  We caught the bus back to Brno at 3:30, but before that wandered around the center a bit.  Prague is absolutely one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, there is no doubt whatsoever about that.  At Christmastime, it's breath-taking.  We took the tram from JoEllen's to Malá Strana, meaning the "Small Side," which is right beneath Prague Castle and the former home of the Czech Republic's artistic scene, above all its authors.  We walked through that area, crossed Charles Bridge, and walked along Karlova Street up to Old Town Square.  From there, we continued on to Wenceslas Square, and then on to the bus station, where we sampled some Burger King.

Jo holding our Canadian syrup, Libor with the pancakes.

Looking at Prague Castle from Charles Bridge.

Old Town Square.

Things here are otherwise busy.  The semester is winding down, which is sad, the Christmas markets have opened, which is awesome, and I'm starting to get ready to head back to the US.  My work plans are changing, but there's no need to go into too much detail with that until things are finalized, but things are definitely looking up.

Yevgeniya, Michal, Kasia and me in front of Brno's tree.

That's all for now.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in the US, and am glad to be enjoying a great final week and a half with everyone in Europe!

Już Mówię po Polsku

Cześć!  If you remember from one of my earlier posts, entitled Nie Mówię po Polsku, then you should have some idea what the title means, as well as what cześć means.  Nie mówię po polsku means, "I don't speak Polish."  This blog's entitled Już Mówię po Polsku, meaning, "I already speak Polish."  I've been here in Brno for two months, I roll mostly with Poles and Russians, and, after this weekend, I've discovered my ability to understand more or less a huge chunk of Polish.  It's been a busy but fun and rewarding week, so allow me to tell you what's happening in Česká republika.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I've been trying to find a job here, so that I can then get a visa and stay.  I also need the money, so getting a job is crucial.  I was offered positions at two language schools, either way teaching English, each with its own advantages, each with its disadvantages.  I spent a few days mulling over the possibilities, and finally decided to work at the larger school, and they're going to help me take care of the visa and paperwork, which will hopefully go through quickly.  On Monday, I went and met with them, filled out the paperwork which will be filed for me to be a legal worker in the Czech Republic.  I'm not yet sure if they've filed it or not, because they're under the impression that they need to show my original diploma from UVM, although I've just used a copy in the past, and it hasn't been a problem.  Either way, I should hopefully get my diploma in the mail either tomorrow or Tuesday, and so the ball is already in motion for me to become legal here.  Once that paperwork is submitted, I can apply for a visa in Slovakia, and hopefully that won't take very long.

Thursday was a holiday here.  November 17th is one of the Czech Republic and Slovakia's independence days.  It might sound strange that I wrote "days," whereas in the US we of course only have the 4th of July as our independence day.  Remember, though, that the Czech Republic and Slovakia are right in the heart of Europe, and there have been several different regimes here throughout the centuries.  November 17th is known as Den boje za svobodu a demokracii, the Day of the Battle for Freedom and Democracy.  It was the day that began the Velvet Revolution in Soviet Czechoslovakia.  It's a very important day in their history for obvious reasons, leading to the independence of Czechoslovakia and eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.  I celebrated the day with Libor and Ola, from Poland, by going for a hike in Babí Lom, just outside of Brno.  It was a great hike, though we didn't go for as long as we planned.  In the morning, there was frost on the ground, and the day's high was supposed to be somewhere around 33°F.  We had planned to walk for 10km (about six miles), but instead only went 5km.  We took the bus to Vranov, a village outside of Brno, and from there hiked through the forest, across some cool rock formations, and down into the village of Lelekovice.  We had lunch there in a pizzeria, and Ola was nearly frozen to the core, so we caught the bus back to Brno.  It was a beautiful hike, though, and nice to be outside for such a long period of time.  It was a nice relief from the city, too.

A tree covered in frost.

The beginning of the path from Vranov to Lelekovice at about 10:30 in the morning.

In the middle of the forest.  There was a line between the leaves and the wall of frost.

Frozen Ola and happy Libor.  On a clear day, you'd be able to see the Alps in the background.

US mailbox in the middle of the Czech Republic!

On Friday, Libor and I met up in the afternoon and went to Náměstí Míru, the Square of Peace.  There's a nice park there, and in the middle a little sports complex.  There, we met Lukáš, a friend who Libor went to high school with, and we played squash.  I had never played before, and Libor thinks he played maybe once, but we both had no clue what the rules were, etc.  I read a little online before going, but we sat and watched the others until Lukáš could explain to us what we were supposed to do.  It was awesome, such a fun game, and we're going to start going more often now, along with badminton, like we already play.  Mára, who also went to high school with them, met us there, and then we all crossed the city (which is no easy feat, Brno's fairly large) to Lukáš' house.  This summer, he flew to Hanoi, and from there traveled all over Vietnam.  He spent a total of three weeks there, so invited us over to his house to cook Vietnamese food for us (the Vietnamese equivalent of spring rolls), and showed us his pictures from the trip.  It was amazing, and afterwards I told Libor we had better start looking into flights to Asia.  Lukáš liked to point out that he got an Adidas sports shirt for $5, a North Face jacket for maybe $20, all straight from the factory.  Not too shabby.  We then met up with Fanda and another Mára, who are also Libor's former classmates, and went out to a pub owned by, you'll never believe it, the mother of yet another classmate.  It was fun, they're a good group of guys, and a lot of fun to hang out with.

Last night, Ola and her roommate Kasia, who you'll remember from my entry about our adventure to the racetracks, invited a few people over to their place for a little party.  It was a mix of kids from school, but such a good time.  We ended up hanging out there all night, chatting, forcing Kristina to write things in Hebrew for us, watching Dina and Anton write in the Cyrillic alphabet, swapping music, playing games, and just all-around having a good time.  It was definitely one of the highlights of the semester so far.  Anton, from Russia, was here last year doing the same Czech course I'm doing now.  This year, he's a regular master's student.  I asked him if the group of kids last year was as good as this year, and he said not even close, that our year (and even our teacher has confirmed it) is some kind of a weird exception.  I'm definitely lucky that things fell into place that I could come here.

That's about it.  It's been on the one hand a relaxing weekend, but on the other always lots to do, seeing friends, etc.  We're now in the final weeks of the semester, so everybody's starting to get ready either to go home for the holidays, or to go home for good, which is scary to think about.  I'll be returning to the US on December 10th, flying into JFK.  My 90 days in the European Union will be up on December 13th, so it's best if I leave a few days earlier.  I'm flying out of Vienna, and Libor actually just got an interview for a job in Graz, so I'm flirting with the idea of sneaking down to Graz with him for a few days to see my friends there and enjoy Christmas in Austria, because let's face it, Austria is THE Christmas country.  Otherwise, I'm just wrapping things up here, getting ready to move out of my horrible apartment, trying to find a new place for when I return to Europe, and looking forward to going to Prague this weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving at JoEllen's!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US!!!

Two Month Anniversary

Greetings from chilly Brno.  Two months ago right now, I was sitting at Logan waiting to board my plane to Spain.

It's been a little while since I've written anything, as things here have been really crazy, but I decided to take the weekend off and relax a bit.  The past few weeks, I've been going nonstop between school, homework, friends, job hunting, interviews, rejections, interviews, rejections, interviews, rejections, interviews, potential employment, interviews, rejections.  Well, you see the pattern.

The good news, though, is that it appears I have a job!  I got hired at a private language school here in Brno, which mostly deals with company courses.  I'll be working full-time, that is, roughly 22 hours a week teaching, plus all the prep and travel time, as I physically have to go to all the different companies around Brno, they don't come to me.  I haven't 100% accepted the offer yet, as there is another possibility at a second school, where I'd teach in the same building all the time, and would also be able to translate and proofread.  It's a little up in the air right now, but at least I finally have concrete options!  I won't even bore you with the insane amount and variety of jobs I've applied for, as I think it would get confusing after a while (since there's been such a huge amount), but the long and short of it is: my days of being poor are potentially coming to a close.  Oh, and I'd finally be 100% legal in the European Union.

Otherwise, my life has been consumed by school.  I've said in my past entries that I love my classes and my classmates.  Well, that's all still true, if not moreso.  It's really great, as we're all so comfortable with each other, and it's just an awesome group of people.  The mix of countries and personalities really compliments itself, and I'm glad to be a part of it.  Everyone here really looks out for one another, and everybody's been really pushing for me to find a job, helping me in the search, "pressing their thumbs" (the Czech equivalent to "crossing their fingers"), and even from Ola, one of my Poles, getting a knee to the butt (apparently in Poland it's good luck).  Everyone's become so integral to each others' lives, and the program wouldn't be the same without them.

We've had some really fascinating discussions in school, but there's one that I'd like to share, and hopefully she won't be too horrified that I'm sharing this, as she reads my blogs.  I've mentioned in some of the past blogs that I have a friend here who was born in Russia and now lives in Israel.  Her name's Kristina, and I like to think of her as the anchor to a lot of our discussions.  For example, last week in class we were having a discussion about culture, our interpretation of culture, and the potential decline of culture in our countries.  She was the last to speak, and reminded us all that culture is a privilege.  How a person defines culture for himself is not important, just the possibility of having it, and having the opportunity to decide that is something in and of itself.  That's not the major story I want to share, though.

Two weeks ago, we were discussing our fears.  It was interesting to see what people had to say.  There were some who said spiders, others who said death.  I shared my absolute disdain for snakes.  Our teacher said, "But you're from the north, there aren't that many snakes there, are there?"  "No, the bad ones are all in the Southwest, but it doesn't matter, the ones in the north freak me out, too."  "What about marine animals?"  "Oh, they're not a problem.  My sisters and I used to catch crabs, sand sharks, etc.  They're normal.  Snakes are just gross."  The conversation progressed, and Kristina was up to bat.  She lived in the Czech Republic last year, in a town called Mariánské Lázně, in the west close to Germany.  In the Czech Republic, every city has sirens that notify its residents of any threat, be it for example an invasion (though, of course, chances of that are slim to none) to an environmental hazard to a biological disaster.  The Czech Republic has two atomic stations, one not too far from Brno, so the sirens and evacuation procedures are always kept up to date.  On the first Wednesday of every month in Brno at 12 noon, the sirens are tested.  The residents know this, so it's not a cause for alarm.  Foreigners, however, do not know this.  Kristina told us how when she was living in Mariánské Lázně, she was sleeping and the sirens went off one morning for a routine test.  Her initial reaction was to find her gas mask, find her parents, and go to the bunker.  Only after did she realize what was happening.  I'm always amazed hearing stories like that from the others, and seeing what's "normal" in their lives.  It's been such a fascinating and exciting experience so far, and I've met such interesting people from around the world who have all become such near and dear friends.

 For Thanksgiving weekend, Libor and I are hightailing it up to Prague.  JoEllen invited me for a Thanksgiving celebration, and so I'm bringing my trusty sidekick along so he can experience a proper Thanksgiving, not the poor excuse for the one I tried to cook in Austria.  JoEllen will be cooking, too, which means it'll be much better quality than what I attempted last year, and it'll be nice to be with friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, since I can't be home in RI for it.  We'll be celebrating on Saturday, though, rather than Thursday, so I'll still get to attempt to cook myself some turkey and see how it goes.  Thursdays have traditionally been the days where Libor and I play badminton and then end up finding a pub or cafe somewhere in the city to hang out for the evening, so maybe I'll leave it to the professionals and try and find turkey on some menu.

That's about it on this side of the ocean.  My Russian and Polish comprehension is getting better, and Machteld from Belgium is helping me learn some freaky, deaky Dutch.  In the next few days, things should be solidified with my work plans.  As of now, though, I'm looking at around December 10th to return to the US, and I can't wait to see everyone!

So that you can put some faces to names I've used, I'll throw in some pictures here of some of my friends.  Hopefully they're not too horrified that their pictures are on my blog.

My trusty sidekick Libor, whom you all know.  Dietlinde took this back in September.

Back: Lukasz (Poland), Marina (Belarus), Yevgeniya (Ukraine), Kristina (Russia/Israel)

, Front: Me, Anton (Russia)

My Poles.  Michal, Martyna, Katarzyna (Kasia)

More Poles: Kasia, Joanna, Ola

The Russian Delegation: Dina (middle), Katya (right)

Edik(Syria), Hristina(Macedonia), Martin(CZ), Michal/Martyna/Kasia/Joanna/Ola(PL), Me, Anton(Russia), Dagmar(Germany)

Na zdraví!  (Cheers!) Left to right: Martyna, Kasia, Asia, Machteld (Belgium), me, Anton, Dagmar, Martin, Edik, Daniel (Syria), Hristina, Michal

Left to Right: Yevgeniya, Anton, Hristina, Me, Marina, Therese (Sweden), Fredrik (Sweden), Mirka (Slovakia), Flic (England)