For the memory books

Just wanted to quickly sum up for myself a couple of things that have happened over the past few days.

On Friday we drove 2 hours south of Prague to a tiny tiny villiage where a women from California and her Czech husband own an immense organic farm. It was absolutely utopian and ideal. The gardens were beautiful, there was a lake right across the street, the animals were plentiful and cute, etc. Just imagine a perfect farm, and you’re getting the picture. The women had a lunch prepared for us, so we feasted and then visited. She is also an artist, and uses the extra buildings on the farm (Which used to be a mill) as studio and gallery space. We explored that, then got to watch the turbine (which isn’t totally functioning and a bit scarey). She told us that the lake would be drained in a few days, and then one day at 3am hundreds of men would come out and beat the water, scaring the fish into the middle, where they could be caught with nets. Apparently this happens all over the country. We were going to try to see it, but nobody knows when it happens, since it’s determined by how fast the lake drains.

Next we drove to an equally little villiage nearby and saw a performance of The Little Prince. It was done in a sort of barn that was modernized and had a huge, nice stage. It reminded me of stories I’ve read in plays about children putting on school shows in the country. I have pictures, I’m not really doing it justice. It was done in Czech, but I had just read the book and the actors were so animated that it was fairly easy to understand. Afterwards, outside there was a sort of carnival with about a dozen stands selling various drinks, food, cookbooks, etc. The food was all delicious and really cheap. It was a neat example of a community gathering.

Yesterday (Saturday) Elena showed me more of Rostoky (which really isn’t very big), including some paths where I could run. We then went to a church/cemetary because it was the fifth anniversary of Jan’s father’s death. The cemetary was picturesque, with huge monolithic tombstones. Apparently the church used to be a sort of castle for Prague, so old kings had used it, which made it even more exciting. Again, I plan to return and take pictures. Oh, one funny thing: I was looking around at the tombstones and about every other one had “Romilda” or something like that on it. I couldn’t believe that so many Czech women had the same name, but eventually I figured out that it meant something like “rest in peace.”

Last night I was in the touristy section of Prague at night for the first time. It was crazy, but fun, though I’m glad I wasn’t there for very long.

Today I have a heap of homework to do, and this afternoon I’m going on my first adventure alone by train to visit a castle. Sorry this was more factual than entertaining, I’ll try to correct that next time.