what is it... 4 months now?

Alrighty, moving forward :)

The Monday after Jindrichuv Hradec, there was no school, so my family and I took a trip to Ostrava for the evening, where I hung out with my friend Brian, from Wisconsin, and they had dinner with an old friend. Afterwards, we headed out to the Ranch to spend the night at babicka's house in Stramberk. It was nothing too special, but Ondrej's parents are very nice, and not in the best of health, so we tend to go up there as much as possible. Afterwards we visited the famous Stramberk tower at the top of the city, everyone else had already seen it before, but I had a good time :P after the tower, we bought some famous ear cookies, and headed home.

The following weekend, we went to Ondrej's brother’s house. The only think anyone said previous to our departure was "do you like pig?” As it turned out, this was a weekend devoted to eating, and preparing an entire pig. after the first wave of repulsion passed, it was actually really fascinating. I had no idea that pretty much every single part of the animal was made into something. My favorite part was filling small portions of the small intestine with ground up pig to make normal sausage and blood sausage. They really did let me help with the ENTIRE process... it was so cool! (although, I’m afraid this might have helped my opinion of meat :P) unfortunately my hands were kind of dirty so I couldn't take pictures, but everyone else did, so hopefully I’ll get copies :)

i was also really surprised at how much everyone liked the dead pig. We even took pictures with it on the meat hooks, and had the kids pet it and shake its hooves!

the following friday was the final ball for my dance class, lots of fun getting dressed up and showing off what we had learned :P

The weekend after, we drove my host sister, Hanka, back home to Prague. We spent one night and one day in the city, and it was beautiful! I took pictures, but unfortunately misplaced my wallet, so I couldn't buy anything :/ we ate at a super cool Indian restaurant, saw the Christmas market, visited the horse, spent the night in Hanka's apartment, had STARBUCKS coffee the next morning (:D), visited the Jewish district and Paris street, saw a really cool guy playing a recorder with his nose, then had to head home.

That Wednesday after school, my Dina, her parents, her grandma, a church friend, my host parents, my host moms nurse, and I all fit ourselves into one 9 person van and went to Vienna for the evening to see an impressionisms art exhibit and the Vienna Christmas market. It was some spectacular art (some privately owned) that I was told may never be displayed in another exhibit.On our way out of the art exhibit some one saw a strech hummer, everyone got excited and ran to look, it was hillarious :) we had some hash brown things, roasted chestnuts, hot wine/cider and i had chocolate covered strawberries... deeeelicious! then, we piled back in the car and back to CZ.

Another beautiful city, I only wish I could have spent more than 5 hours there :P

Friday afternoon I took the train to Ostrava, where I met Brian again. His rotary club had planned a bus trip to Budapest and Bratislava and he managed to get the ok for me to come along. That night I slept at his host parents house and the next morning at 5 we boarded the big purple pokka dotted bus. It was an awesome weekend with Brain, Kate, Christmas markets, and a copious supply of Becherovka. Unfortunately, it was a very foggy weekend, but we still got to see quite a bit. Budapest was beautiful, we were taken up to Catadella (at the top of Budapest) and showed around by a true native, coincidently also a rebound :) And last but not least, I spent my first night in a European hotel, and may I say, there are some significant differences. Sunday was spent in Bratislava, it was not quite as visually appealing as Budapest was, but still had a very nice market, and even better coffee :P That evening for dinner we went to a famous goose restaurant. it was the kind of place where you could only order the meat in units of whole geese, and as a gift at the end of the meal, they gave you the bones to take home to make soup with. The food was delicious, and we enjoyed goose soup the following Wednesday.

That Friday, I had the ball for my second dance class. Afterwards, I came home, slept for a couple hours, then hopped in the car to go to Italy for a week of skiing with my parents, some other doctors' families and Dina.

Besides the fact that is turns out I didn’t know as much about skiing as I thought I did, the week was really great. The Alps were spectacular, I couldn’t believe I was ACTUALLY there...

The little town our hotel/apartment was in was having a Bethlehem exhibit throughout the whole city, so we went out to see that almost every night.

The "around the mountain" ski day I had been told so much about, was unfortunately a little beyond my capability level. So instead of circling the mountain with my family, I hung out on the bunny slopes with two women who were more the relax and have fun type :) but I still got some gorgeous pictures!

What’s new...

1: In a hotel room, before it it possible to use electricity, you must first insert your door key card to a slot by the door... without this card in place, no lights will turn on :P

2: (one people probably already know) all cars are manual , I have seen one automatic shift car, and im almost sure it was a special import.

3: TV shows don't air on the hour and half hour. Because most TV stations cut out either most or all commercials during shows, they are not a half hour or hour long. It’s fairly normal to watch a show at 15:05 or 18:50. For example Kriminalka Las Vegas (CSI Las Vegas) airs Thursday at 21:35 :P

Rijen

First, I would like to say how much I miss the thanksgiving season… especially the Macys day parade… I can’t believe my friends are in New York, marching in the actual parade… and I can’t even watch it!

heres the link if your interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37BQnob1PbQ

Ok, so now that that has been said, things here have been going strong. Golfing, unfortunately, didn’t happen. But I did get to spend a quiet weekend with one of my future host families. On Saturday night I went out to the pub with Eva Hrabalova and then to the club for the snow night. It was definitely the best part, but I still can’t rid my room of tiny white fake snow. Sunday we went to the anthropology museum in Brno. It was interesting... but im not sure the translator they gave me was meant for normal english speakers, or that is, unless you have ever herd the term "latitudinal incisions" before. That evening I went shopping at a grocery store for the first time. I might be strange, but I thought it was a lot of fun: P I also helped them prepare their grandparents grave for all saints day, which was the following weekend.

The next weekend was the weekend of Halloween. Friday night, I carved yet another pumpkin with Dina and Martin at his house, and then rushed to my scout meeting at 6:30. I got through the door at 6:45, and was one of the first there J Saturday we woke up at 8 to meet Kristinka at Olympia mall in Brno for a day of mother daughter shopping day. I got some new cloths and got to try their hot chocolate and terra masu….. deeelicious. That night I went to a Halloween dance in Zlin that was organized by my friend Lucas. Spent the night at my counselor’s house and hung out with his family on Sunday. We went out for lunch at the Zlin chateau restaurant. Despite the less than timely service, the food was amazing! I had this chicken and apple dish with a potato biscuit…. I would eat it every day if I could, it was THAT good. For dissert I had hot chocolate with chili powder and some fruit fondue. J no wonder people gain weight on exchange… the food is just so delectable :P

That afternoon, Nicole and Lucas took me to the Zlin zoo. It was so fun, even tho I am pretty sure we were the only ones there… it might have had something to do with the 8 degree weather… but I don’t know… this was followed up but a short trip to a smallish carnival. Lukas and I rode the HAWK and then we all rode the bumper cars… too bad we weren’t allowed to bump the bumper cars… but nobody told me till afterwards… whoops! :P

The weekend of the 14^th and 15^th, I spent time with the Kromonovi family. They have two daughters who both went on exchange to Canada, so I had plenty of people to talk with. They picked me up on Saturday morning and we went out to Telč. Telč is famous for its super old buildings, and a lot of old Czech fairy tales. We toured the garden and ate lunch at the local restaurant. Next we went to Pani Kromon’s relative’s house for some treats and a walk around the lake. We found a super awesome “geocach” and I got a new pin for my rotary jacket. Afterwards we went to Olympia to see Michal Jacksons “This is It”. Good movie accompanied by another delicious (free) hot chocolate. The next morning I went back to their house for lunch and we made cookies J this time I got to make oatmeal raison… it was a good to have a little taste of home.

The following Monday I went to the family rotary meeting at a little club about a half hour from Kroměříž. A few moments after I walked in, my host parents stared excitedly calling my name and beckoning me toward the corner table. It turns out my friend Tim, a fellow exchange student, was there too. I hadn’t seen him since Strecno, so it was really cool to talk to him and catch up on what we had been doing. We also met my friend Hanna’s Canadian host family from her exchange/future mother and father in-law. They were both really interesting people, and since Tim and I were some of the few English speakers there, we got to spend some time getting to know them. They told me that Hannah and their son are getting married in Kroměříž in early July, and invited me to the wedding… It might be pushing it, but I really hope I’ll be able to attend!

this is Tim btw :P

Wednesday I took part in an aerobic competition… I didn’t even know such a thing existed until I was there, but it was actually not much different than a normal aerobic class… except with judges of course :P not being able to understand the instructor made things a little difficult, but I still made it to the second round(of course this might have had something to do with the fact that I knew the judges ;))

Friday morning I went with Eva to Brno for the morning, and then met up with Tim to catch a bus to our second rotary weekend in Jindřichův Hradec. After a not uneventful bus ride, we arrived at the hostel just 2 hours behind schedule. Everyone had already eaten, but luckily we didn’t miss our Czech test ;) ooo and i actually did quite well, i got 50 out of 54!

The weekend was just a lot of hanging out with the other students and having fun. On Saturday afternoon, we carved pumpkins. my groups pumpkin won 1st place! We were all suppose to make something for the thanksgiving feast on Saturday night, and we were told there would be a kitchen to cook in. well there was a kitchen, but it was lacking in a certain few things I usually like to have when cooking… such as hot water and measurements to say the least :P but as I have heard so many times “blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape”. So bend, we did, and it didn’t turn out so bad. There was only time to bake one batch, so I offered out the dough. I think everyone seemed to really enjoy my cookies and dough.

On the way home we stopped at the McDonalds drive thru for my first hamburger in CZ. Maybe it’s just me… but I’m pretty sure McDonalds tastes the same no matter where you are.

TO BE CONTINUED>>>>

1) There are amazing water commercials here. There is one with a huge group of dancers dancing in water and through waterfalls, and there is another with a model walking thru a fancy restaurant in a dress made only of water. They make drinking water seem so much more glamorous than I’ve ever seen before.

2) The majority of the milk we drink comes in little square boxes, and is not refrigerated. They are bought by 40 or 50 at a time, and we keep them in the cellar until we need them. Cold cartons of milk are not hard to find, but we only buy it if we have a special purpose for it.

3) Nobody knows what cookies are! I made a batch for my class, and people kept asking me what they were, and then made a funny face when I said they were “cookies”…. They thought they were small cakes or something to that accord.

2 months!!

so as you might have guessed, yesterday was my two month mark, and im feeling great :P

i dont remember my exact going ons , but ill give you the general overview.

at the begining of the my, my host sister who studies in prage came into town with her boyfriend. that saturday we went to climb the radagast mountain. it was a couple hour drive to get there, but once we arrived, it was a full days worth of hill climbing. about half way up was a huge statue of the pagan god Radagast (also the inspiration for radagast beer). and not 10 meters away was an out door cafe stand selling, you guessed it BEER! altho i didnt get to try it, i was informed that it was very good :)

once at the top it was about 5 degrees Celsius with heavy winds. we walked up to the little church to take some picture, then hurried to the hotle for some warm soup and tea.

yet another amazing view :)

the following weekend, my parents threw me a "welcome to czech!" party and invieted everyone involved with my rotary exchange here in CZ :P

it was a little late, but definitely not unappreciated. i finally succeded in baking chocolate chip cookies, and everone at the party seemed very impressed :)

that tuesday, my religion class went on a full day trip to olomocs. i believe it is the third largest city in CZ, and has a rich religious background. we visited three churches and one museum. after that we were set free for lunch. a couple girls i had not met before invited me to join them and we had some great half czech half english conversation. after lunch we got back on the bus and went home.

on friday i had my first private czech lesson... it went really well, and my teacher is really great. i cant wait till i can actually converse with my class mates! its gunna be great :P

last weekend, i went with Dina and her friend to my first cinema! actually its not too exciting, considering our local cinema is more like the Warner theare in morgantown, but i was cool. got to see "inglorious bastards", ironic because it was an american movie that was not dubded... but since it took place in europe, it was a mix of German, French and English... with only Czech subtitles... consequently, i only cought about 1/3 of the dialogue :P

on Saturday my friend Kristine from Trabec spent the night and we did a little carving pumpkin carving, followed by another movie in Zlin. it was quite crazy :D

this week at school has been quite... routine :P but i have been trying to eat school lunch more ofter, and its actually not too bad, the only problem is that they have huge portions! got out of school early today due to confirmation, so it was the perfect opportunity to catch up on the blog!

this weekend im scheduled to go golfing with the Hrabalovi family. i have never golfed before... so this should be fun!!! :D

i like bennys "3 differences" he does at the end of each blog, so i think im gunna give it a try :)

1) shoes are not worn in school. just like at home, you get to school and switch straight into slippers, and then change back when its time to go... its so comfy!

2) EVERYONE carries pocket sized tissue containers, and it is perfectly socially acceptable to loudly blow your nose whenever need be. im not complaining, i love a good, clear nose. it always beats constant sniffles, but it took some getting use to :P

3)whenever a teacher enters the classroom, the entire class stands, and doesn't sit till the teacher says so... i dont quite understand it, but its working well so far!

4) (i know its too many i just really wanted to say this one) there is not a bell that rings to signify the changing of classes. instead, a little song plays over the intercom... the first time i heard it, i had to ask what was going on :)

Update :)

ah, its abou time i wrote again, i have had trouble finding the time :P

My weekend in zlin was wonderful. On Saturday we went to Brno and toured Hrad Spilberk. I went to my first mall here in Czech. we had some ice cream and did a little bit of shopping. they had some great stores but I didn't recognize most of them. On Sunday I visited the old Bat'a factory. I couldn't believe the view from the top of the 21 building! At home we had a delicious lunch and I got to spend some quality time with their dog, Creepy :)

that week was pretty much uneventful. I went to my classes, and began to attend double dance lessons on Wednesdays :) Thursday was Ondrej and Eliska's 26th anniversary, so we went out to eat at a lovly restaurant in a neighboring town. That weekend Hana and her cousin Vladena came to town from Prague. They stayed here for Friday night, then on Saturday we hopped the vlek (train) to Stramberk for their grandmas 80th birthday... We stay at her house, yet again it had an amazing place... I guess Czech is blessed in that way. Most of the family was there that night, and I actually found some people to talk to... there were many little kids there that knew about as much czek as I do :P Everyone was there for a special mass on Sunday and a party afterwards. The Debef clan is a really great bunch of people :)

This weekend was super busy :D

Friday I attended my first scout meeting. We are planning for a ball this winter :) after that, I went to a local pub to celebrate Dina's 19th birthday, and from there went to Sludy. Eliska, Ondrej, myself, and a doctor friends drove to Trebec on Saturday morning to meet a group of doctors and their families for their yearly get together. We toured a pivovar and I met a girl who night be going on exchange next year :) at night we ate an excellent meal in the cellar of the winery we were staying at. Sunday morning we left for home where Zuzanna invited me to spend the day touring with some Dutch Rotarians that were in the area working on a program with autistic children and wanted to see the town. They were wonderful to talk to and I might (miiiight) get to visit them in Amsterdam this spring. I have my fingers crossed X-).

zuzanna Me only picture i got of the dutch Rotarians :P

Today was a Czech religious holiday honoring their patron saint, good king Vaclav, so, not school :P today we just relaxed in the house and tried (and failed) to make chocolate chip cookies.... but no worries, we have another attempt scheduled for this week. Wish us luck!

I miss everyone at home! i hope everyone is well :)

<3>

all that jazz

So, an update of my going ons (for the 2-3 people who actually read my blog ;-))

I went to my first official Rotary meeting two Mondays ago, and got to hand over my Morgantown North flag and a very special Morgantown pin I was fortunate enough to have found. I was told I would receive their flag at my next meeting. I think the meeting was mostly about me, but my Czech is still quite shaky, so I just sat there and tried to look like I understood them.

School started the next morning. I went for the entirety of 3 hours in which I met my main teacher, and went to first day of school mass. Since then school has been going very well and everyone had been very nice to me. Dina and my English teacher have been a huge help. Schedules are really wacky but I usually just follow the heard of kids and try not to get lost.

Last weekend my second host father drove me up to Strecno, Slovakia for my inbound orientation, where I got to see tons of people in cluding a girl from my district who when to Slovakia, and Jacqueline!!

That was a BLAST. We traded pins and cards and had fun getting to know each other.

Saturday we went took a boat ride (I got to help drive)to the Strecno and took a tour. It had a really amazing view

but the castle itself was rather uneventful. I got home Sunday night, watched a couple classic Czech movies and passed out.

Wednesday I went to my first dance class "Vyucovane Tance". The class teaches classic dances, and almost everyone around my age attends. it is also a class for proper edict, so we were all required to dress in formal suits and cocktail dresses. Eliska and Dina helped me pick out a beautiful pair of heals and advised me on my dress choice. Afterwards some friends asked me to join them for drinks at a pub down the street(all non-alcoholic in case anyone was wondering), and we had a really nice time.

Yesterday Zuzanna took me to an exercise ball class that meets each Thursday, and I think we are going to make that a habit. She is a English teacher, so she helps me with my Czech too. And

When I got home we had a nice dinner with Jitka and her husband.

Today I had my first music class at school. I'm not positive, but I think I joined the school choir... it looks like fun; hopefully it will fit in my schedule. Now I’m packing for a weekend at my Petr Lukovic's (my counselor) house. I haven’t really gotten to talk to him much, so I think this will be a good time to get to know him and his family, can’t wait :)