Wide Open Spaces

I still have a lot of more general entries, but since I’m suddenly doing things again (I’m feeling a little better but not really well enough to be doing what I’m doing, but I’m the most sick of not doing things), I need to write about actual activities.

Last night I went to the US Embassy for a Marines party. Yes, you read that right. One of the girls in my group worked at the embassy in Portugal over the summer, and she got really close to the Marines there, so she wanted to meet the Marines here and long story short we were invited to this “party.” I was pretty excited because I had no idea what to expect, yet I anticipated great things from the inside of an embassy. When we arrived, we had to go through a metal detector, hand over all cell phones, cameras, etc. for the duration of our stay, check our passports, wear two separate badges identifying us and our security level, and be escorted by a Marine at all times. The ten-minute ordeal of getting us inside, however, was probably the most exciting part of the whole affair. I was pretty disappointed by the fact that the “party” was held in this basement bar with a pool table and a karaoke machine that reminded me of thousands of Wisconsin bars, except for maybe crappier. For those of you who go to Carleton, Dad’s is way classier than the inside of this Embassy, and I’m not joking. Granted, we were probably in the least fancy area, but still. The company wasn’t great, either. We left pretty quickly. This is one of those topics that if you’re curious about more details, you should ask me when I’m not writing in my blog.

This morning I woke up feeling like I got hit by a truck, because thanks to the assault on my immune system, I now have a killer cold (cough, runny nose, the whole bit). As soon as I emerged from my room, Elena asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with them. I had planned on going into Prague, but I figured a short walk wouldn’t ruin those plans, and I’m in need of some exercise, so I said sure. We began by taking the path around the fields where I run, and about 1.5 miles in, we veered off in a direction I’d never taken. I found myself going down this rocky path about three times slower than Jan and Elena and praying with all my might that I would neither fall to my death or start an avalance. Suddenly, we were climbing up rocks, dodging under trees, leaping over creeks, etc, etc. The scenery alone was probably worth it: many leaves have fallen but there are still a lot of green trees, we were in a forest for a lot of the time, there were beautiful rivers and crazy rock formations, not to mention classic rolling hills. It sure was rigorous, though. It reminded me a lot of Devil’s Lake, except for the rocks were smaller and it wasn’t as well groomed.

Even more crazy, though, was the fact that the whole thing was like an adventure shopping trip for Elena. She was constantly yelling, “come on everyone and find nuts!” and we would all have to dash over to the tree and pick up all of the walnuts we saw. Or “Ah! Look at this beautiful mushroom!” and we’d all go searching for others like it (because if you find one, you’re likely to fine more of its ‘family’, or at least that’s what they keep telling me. At one point during the walk, we found a rustic apple tree, and Elena whipped out a knife and cut apples up for us, telling me that this was her favorite type, and we ended up bringing home a bag full of about 20 apples. So many times during the morning I thought to myself, “Where am I and what have they done with Prague?” It was insane to realize that I was actually closer to Prague than when I’m in the house, which is pretty darn close to Prague, yet I was having this ridiculous nature extravagganza.

3 hours later, I had completed one of the most strenuous hikes of my life. As we were nearing the house, Elena exclaimed wildly and started to pick a ton of these bright red football-shaped berry things, and asked me what we called them in English. I of course had no idea, and she started telling me how they were the seeds of some flower. I asked if she was picking them for us to plant or to eat, and she replied, “No no, we will dry them and use them to make tea.” All I could think was “Of course we will.” It’s just such a different life. I’m glad to know about these paths, though—we took one, but there were a ton of branches to explore—and I’ll go back for sure, but it wasn’t the best day for it.

When we got back, Elena whipped up some mushroom soup and this mushroom chicken pasta dish, and we all ate ourselves sick. I then started talking about going into Prague, but Elena said, “Don’t you want to come to this festival?” Well, I had no idea about any festival, but next thing I knew, I was there. It was in a village near Rostoky, and was basically a cute little gathering for families. It’s almost impossible to describe how rustic, quaint, and innocent things like this feel to me. They built an oven out of clay and wood (today, actually) and were baking bread in it at night. They made a sauna out of a tent they created from birch branches and skins of animals. They were selling their special town gulash. It’s just crazy. We went to two marionette puppet shows (both in Czech, both in this re-made barn, and both very interesting to watch), then stuck around in the barn (which doubles as a popular Prague club/pub) to watch the live band. The place got pretty full and the band was really entertaining. It was like a mix of polka and rock music, and of course had an accordian player, but it felt very modern, and it was fun to watch the people.
I realize how abruptly this is ending, but I’m getting really really tired. That’s what trekking across the Czech wilderness will do to you, I guess. More later. Maybe tomorrow I’ll make it to Prague?