Today I had one of those days when you realize at about 10am that you forgot to put deoderant on, and then spend the rest of the day worrying about it.
Things have settled down quite a bit, so I don’t have that constant barrage of things to write about. That’s good, because I can catch up on things I’ve been meaning to tell you. For example:
Things that are Czech that you didn’t know were Czech
1. contact lenses
2. Gregor Mendel
3. propellors
4. nylons
5. Madeline Albright
6. Sigmund Freud
7. The word “robot”
That last one, “robot,” is a matter of considerable pride among the Czechs, meaning that no less than every single Czech person I’ve talked to for more than 10 minutes has within that time told me that a Czech man invented the word robot. Now go forth and win Jeopardy.
This is also a note to tell you that I might be taking a brief hiatus. I don’t think I’ll get a chance to write tomorrow, and on Friday morning I leave for my “regional stay.” We’re all being scattered to the far corners of the country to make grand discoveries and learn about ourselves. It should be interesting. I’m pretty excited about mine. I’m going to a town called Olomouc which is three hours by train to the east of Prague, and I’m staying with a family with two teenage girls. The girls speak English, the parents don’t at all. Over the weekend I’m just exploring the down, but then Monday through Wednesday I’m going to school with the girls. Another girl who did my program ended up going to the school for three weeks at the end to do her project there, and I’m thinking about doing that, as well. Most of their classes are in English, and she got to teach some by the end, so it sounds like a great opportunity.
On Thursday I meet up with the group at Cesky Krumlov. I know two things about Cesky Krumlov:
1. It’s considered a country town and it’s in the south of the Czech Repubil.
2. After the Czech people tell me about robot, they tell me to go to Cesky Krumlov. Seriously. In a voice that reminds me of that lady on Seinfeld who was always telling Jerry and Elaine “You have to see the baby.” So it should be good.
We return to Prague next Saturday, at which time I will update you about everything.
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2 comments:
I know how nice it feels to receive recognition for blog posts so I wanted to let you know that this is my favorite post so far. Probably because the Seinfeld reference made me feel very homey. I´m glad to hear everything´s going so well Claireface! Have fun in the country (or, el campo in Ecuador)!
That list is almost as impressive (OK, let's be honest, it's more impressive) than my list about Iowan inventions, but the latter is usually a defense mechanism to hide my slight shame from being raised in small-town Midwest.
However, for two weeks of my life in the middle of said upbrining, I was in Mistek, Czech Republic. I don't think you'd ever have a reason to go there, but let me know if you do (just to quench my curiosity). I've included a link to a map for your use: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mistek,+czech+republic&ie=UTF8&ll=49.676515,18.336182&spn=0.931319,2.570801&z=9&iwloc=addr&om=1
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