Veselé Vánoce!

This year I had a very merry Christmas, Czech style. Tana, one of my fabulous coworker-friends here, very thoughtfully invited me to spend Christmas with her (adorable) family. Czechs do Christmas a little bit differently than we do in the States, with the most obvious one being that they celebrate on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. But, they also have a vast collection of special traditions for the occasion. I'll try to give you the highlights in this post.

Above, you can see the nutshell boats. Each family member launches one (we did it in a bucket on the table, but the river is a popular place for this activity as well) and its a good sign if the boats all stay together... it means the family will too. All our little ships were rigourously tested by Daniella before use. Apparently its bad luck if one of them sinks!

Cutting the apples is another divination-oriented X-mas activity. You cut an apple in half, and if there is a star in the middle you will have good luck next year. (Spoiler alert: everyone gets a star).

Christmas cookies are a special favorite of mine. The white crescent shaped ones are perhaps the most iconic. Named "rolicek" (or little rolls, for the rolik bread they resemble) they are buttery and delicious and I don't even want to know how many I have consumed over the past week. Seriously, any numerical count would only horrify us all. I think "a lot" would be a safe estimate.

 

Melting lead is also traditional, although I think it was done mostly for my benefit. Playing with lead is probably not highly recommended for those at home in the States, but with a gift box this festive how can you not want to try? We melted the little bits of lead in the fire, then when its nice and melty you pour the hot metal into a bowl of cold water. The resulting shapes are then examined for (you guessed it) clues about your future. My results are below.

I think it looks quite cool. Perhaps I will make some exciting modern art next year? It sort of resembles a flower, and according to the handy lead melting kit leaflet a flower means true love and friendship are in store for me in the coming year. Can't ask for better than that, I guess. ^^

whiskey and wine (christmas time is here)

I had previously thought that the boozy office party was a specifically Korean phenomenon, enjoyable but unique. as it turns out, I was sorely mistaken. It appears that Principals in all countries enjoy congratulating their staff on all their hard work with shots of hard alcohol. go figure.

On an unrelated note: I have stumbled upon a name for my future band. (I cannot actually play a musical instrument, nor have I assembled any members. But first things first.) Musicians of the world take note, dibs have officially been called on the name "Obsolete Empires". T-shirts comming soon.

To je zima!

Baby, its cold outside. (Sorry! Couldn't help it. I've been singing that in my head for days.) Silver lining, though. Its very, very beautiful.

My school, Infotech, all covered in snow.

I think the snow improves the sculpture.

The sticker says "jsem tady -- dik!" or "I'm here, thanks!"

Thanksgiving pt.2

Well boys and girls, its that time again. I've finally gotten around to trasferring several weeks of accumulated photos from my camera to the computer, and you know what that means. Get ready for a gratuitous number of photos in this and the following posts.

First up, thanksgiving.

The English Office, getting into the Thanksgiving spirit.

I won't bore you with all the details, but we had a great time with thanksgiving at the IT school. Food was procured, decorations were hung and my directorial debut was a smashing success. 

My third year students hard at work on the hallway decorations.

Rehearsing for the big Thanksgiving Play.  (How awesome is this Mayflower?)

The "audience" piles in for the performance.  

Our thanksgiving "feast".  
(This spread is more impressive when your realize how difficult finding ingredients for a traditional thanksgiving is in Moravia.)

The students approve.  Dobrou chut!

Mmm, the delicious taste of American culture. Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Engish teacher.

inquiring minds want to know.

So, its been brought to my attention that I have acquired a small czech readership. Actually, mostly just Petr and his friends. (Ahoj!)

Anyhow, i have been requested to post something about whats weird to foreigners in the czech republic. This is harder than it sounds. Maybe I've been travelling too long, but things here seem more or less normal to me. Still, when a fellow fulbrighter posted this article on facebook, I knew it absolutely made the cut. I repost the entire AP story below, for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

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Czech towns deploy cardboard police in miniskirts

PRAGUE – Authorities say that life-sized cardboards of female police officers in miniskirts placed alongside roads have managed to slow down speeding drivers in several central Czech towns.
The mayor of the town of Mrakotin, Miroslav Pozar, said Thursday drivers, including him, automatically slow down when they see such officers.

Pozar dismissed allegations this was because the drivers want to look at the officer's legs, rather than her uniform.

In nearby Myslotin, a local radio recently provided a hat and an anorak to help such officer get warm, but they were stolen in a day.

Others made it away with the cardboard officer itself.

 

This is enough was always true.


We just haven't seen it.

-Rumi

Victory! (of a sort)

An importaint and exciting discovery has just been made. A breakthrough, if you will, in the European Home Sciences.

It turns out that there is hope for the large, formless masses known in these parts as "pillows". Although they are unweildly, lack the necessarry fluffiness and are in all other ways generally inferior to their American counterparts, help is on the way.

To my American compatriots in the Czech Republic and beyond I send this message: Do not despair! Simply take the "pillow" in question firmly in hand and force the entire object into a standard US pillow case. The "pillow", confused and disoriented by its newly restricted surroundings, can thus be made to take on a shape and density more closely resembling an actual pillow. (Fair warning: it will still be a bit lumpy and look rather odd).

We'll bring you more updates on this exciting story as they arrive.

Thanksgiving news roundup

Oh gosh. So much to write about. So much happens in a single day that there is no way I can sum up all that has been going on since last I wrote. My family came to visit me, and it was really really wonderful to see them. The usual family squabbles of course ensued, and ordering at a restaurant became a 30 minute minimum ordeal, still I was rushing off after school to spend every possible minute with them. As I get older, I realize that I am an extremely family oriented person. I am so lucky that they were able to make the trip out, to take time off of work and school and have me drag them around the Czech Republic (and occasionally Poland) and show them where I live and work.

Having them in town was also good becuase it reminded me that my czech isn't entirely hopeless. I often have only native speakers to compare myself to, and I don't use czech as often as I had thought I would, and so I feel like I am not learning. Guiding my family around, interpreting menus and directing taxis and trying to teach them some czech, reminded me that, at least for day-to-day interactions,  my czech is surprisingly sufficient. So yay for that! This week I am learning comparatives ...and reviewing weather.

Mostly because of the intense amounts of snow. Which I am loving. People here are surprised when I mention how beautiful the snow is. "Don't they have snow where you come from?" they ask. Well, yes we do. But it doesn't stay white and pretty for very long. Although once the temperature drops below zero I'm sure I'll be a bit less chipper about it.

Ah, we also had a thanksgiving assembly yesterday. The other english teachers worked super hard to help prepare, mostly because events like this aren't usually held at czech schools and so figuring out the logistics of exactly how to do it took a little while. In the end, it came off well. One of my fourth year classes performed a little play about the first thanksgiving (complete with pilgrims, indians and a paper mayflower) and there was also a powerpoint and a poem. I showed the Addams Family summer camp skit about Thanksgiving, partly because its hilarious and partly because I can't bear to teach them the same whitewashed, "the pilgrims and indians were best friends forever" myth that we usually feed to little kids. They are high schoolers, and language abilities aside they should learn something worthwhile from me about the world and about America. Addams family values was the obvious vehicle for this.... Anyway, they certainly enjoyed the inversion of the authority figures being roasted over a spit.

I also found the best possible outlet for a new czech word while on my way to the post office. An elderly woman was coming out of the grocery store with her little rolling bag, and the steps seemed super icy. Fortunately, the word of the day was "may I?" so I asked her, "Muže me?" She said yes, so I easily lifted the bag down the short steps and went back up to help her down as well. It was an easy thing for me to do, took no more than a few seconds out of my day and I did it without a second thought because somehow all old people remind me of my grandparents and so I want to help them, but if I hadn't known how to offer in czech I might have been too nervous to do it. What if she thinks I'm stealing her stuff? But, at the bottom, she litterally grabbed my hand and thanked me over and over (in czech), letting me know how troublesome those few steps would have been for her on her own. Needless to say, I felt warm and fuzzy for the rest of the day. Using czech successfully and helping people? thats a gold star day for sure.