Fakt Jo?

First of all, let me say that I realize that I have been making some mistakes in this blog. Some cringe-worthy mistakes, like making an allusion to Emerson when I mean Thoreau and spelling Hrabal’s name wrong consistently. In my defense, I noticed this on my own (suddenly and spontaneously, actually, while walking through Old Town. I feel like the aura of the intelligencia struck me and forced me to recall my faux pas (though it gave me no clue regarding how to pluralize “faux pas”)). So, I apologize for that and I think we can all take away a lesson about not believing everything you read on the internet.

I (personally- haha) took away a message about the power of my subconcious—a part of me which has been increasingly using Czech, or actually one Czech phrase: fakt jo. Yes, it’s pronounced “f***ed yo” and when uttered in the presence of at least two Americans, it’s guarenteed to elicit at least one childish giggle. It means “Really” as in “Truthfully” or “Is that right?”. It comes from the word “fact”, which makes a lot of sense, but the pronounciation is delightfully slated towards the more vulgar “auh” vowel sound. In any case, it’s certainly in my vocabulary, and I’ve been using it a lot recently, since many strange things have happened.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and on Thanksgiving I spent three hours in a Czech hospital. I am fine—thank you for the concern—I was interviewing a woman who had just had surgery near her spinal cord. I had emailed another round of contacts early this week asking if they had time to meet with me and answer a few questions. This woman, who works for the Ministry of Education, said, “Sure, I’m avaliable all week. I am in the hospital and visiting hours are yaddayadda.” Needless to say, I was intrigued, and also felt like I couldn’t say no after she offered to speak with me in the hospital. She gave me impecible (is that spelled right?) directions, and sure enough it was a real hospital and I really went to the Neurological ward. I guess I expected her to be in fairly good condition, but that wasn’t exactly the case. She had an IV in her arm, she didn’t sit up the whole time I was there, and she was clearly very physically weak. She was in a room with two other patients who were maybe in worse health than she. There was a strong hospital smell. It was the real thing.

I can report, though, that she’s supposedly going to be healthy enough to leave and fly on Monday, since she has plans to leave the country for business, so it must be better than it looks. In any case, she talked with me for over three hours. She was extremely intelligent and a really first-class lady—very well-versed in the issues and up-to-date on multiculturism and discrimination even by US standards. It was an enlightening and thought-provoking afternoon for me. I must say that she dominated the conversation (I am terrible at controlling interviews because I tend to just like to listen, and with someone like this, who was so interesting, it was impossible to interrupt), and I ended up only asking about two of the questions I had planned on, but it was really fascinating stuff. The sad part was that I think she was lonely and very much in need of visitors, which is partially why she was so excited to talk to me. I don’t think she knew it was Thanksgiving (not that it matters to anyone here), but I sort of needed someone to talk to, as well, so it was a good but exhausting afternoon.

At night, my director organized a Thanksgiving dinner for those of us still in Prague and some of her Czech friends. We had most of the traditional food, so I was satiated that way, and it was good company overall. No Packers, but I heard that they won, so that was okay. The best part of the night was that Simon came, and he had a really great time (or so he kept telling me—I think he had more wine than he should have). He asked me when I was leaving, and when I told him at the end of December, he was surprised and got sort of quiet. Later, he mentioned that it was too bad that I’d miss his birthday, and then still later he brought it up again and said that he had already bought me a ticket to this party that the school throws in January, and that it was a pity I wouldn’t be there. I don’t know what changed (we did cook “cow brains” together the night before, which was fun but not that big of an ordeal), but suddenly he likes me and maybe it’s silly but I mention it because it means a lot to me, I guess. Anyway, he also told me that today he’s getting a haircut!! (I don’t know if you recall, but he has huge curly afro-hair right now), but he wouldn’t tell me how he’s getting it cut, only that it involves a black-and-green dye job. I’m not sure whether his parents know any of this (they certainly are campaigning for him to get a haircut, but probably not whatever he’s getting), so it should be interesting when he gets back.

Today I had an interview, facilitated by (translated by) my advisor, with another really amazing woman. This time it was a Roma woman who used to organize a program for training Roma TAs and who now is a special education teacher (in a classroom with children with Autism and other learning disabilities, not with Roma students). We were in a café, and in the middle of our talk, the electricity went out. The “fakt jo” part was that nobody in the café reacted; we all went on talking, etc. just like nothing happened. Eventually, it came back on, but I was in awe of the composure of the group.

Yesterday I was near Andel, a large shopping mall, and I noticed that people were setting up many many stands, presumably for Christmas markets. I was a bit surprised about the location, but since it’s near a mall, I didn’t think twice. Today, however, I found similar set-ups had suddenly appeared in several other “empty” spaces that were not so logical, like right outside a church. This city is exploding with Christmas markets. It’s exciting, but overwhelming.

My friends have all remarked on old ladies here who have dyed their hair pink or blue—a common phenomenon in Prague, according to an inside source (a fellow student’s Czech boyfriend). I finally spotted my first pink-haired woman yesterday, and since then they’ve been everywhere. It’s hilarious, and I guess it’s intentional on their part.

I have a lot to look forward to right now, and suddenly a lot to do. I hope that you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.