ITUNES is the devil. It tells me it's going to take 27 hours to download That Thing You Do!
Unfortunately, I have planned my ENTIRE evening around watching this movie. People are counting on me, dozens, and dozens, of people.
Well I guess the bar will have to do instead.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Jak Se Mas?
[Week 2 of 17]
Dobre!
So my host family, is amazing. Miroslav, my musican host father is always bringing back brilliant/ quirky/hilarious Czech movies for me to watch and makes this dynamite pizza with BACON FLAVORED CHEESE. (I know, I couldn't believe it either.) Daka, my host mom, is one of the sweetest women I've ever met and is determined to fatten me up before I leave. They have a fifteen year old daughter Nela who's perhaps even more obsessed with Gossip Girl than Molly and a thirty year old son, from Daka's first marriage, who I have yet to meet.
We live in Praha 5, which is just across the river from where I go to school, which is in Praha 2. My commute isn't too bad, but it's a lot father than I am used to... which I suppose means I'll have to learn the fine, and long overdue art of punctuality... slash waking up before noon. My commute to the CIEE Program center in Vyshrad is as follows: walk from house down through small park to tram at Klamovka (15 minutes), take tram across river to Charles Square (15 minutes), switch tram for two stops (3 minutes) , get off, walk UPHILL to class (15 mintes.) So in total it takes me anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to get from door to door.
The house is perfect, my family shares a two story house with Daka's brother and sister-in-law, who live on the floor above us. However, it's a bit more complicated than that as Daka and her brother don't really speak so the house is literally split in two, with each family having their own entrance to avoid confrontation. I don't know the full extent of the schism but from what I've been told Daka's brother's Russian wife isn't a very nice person.
I have my own room off of the living room with a perfectly tiny little bed and an equally adorable desk in the corner. The room used to be Nela's nursery and is aptly fitted with bright red teddy bear curtains and a lion king hanging lamp. I have a huge standing closet for all 8000 t-shirts I HAD to bring and plenty of room for all the dresses I brought just in case the sun comes out before I have to leave. I haven't gotten much of a chance to make the room my own just yet aside from the few pictures I've tacked up to the walls and random trinkets strewn about the shelves above my bed but I plan on getting more creative as time goes on.
As far as my studies goes I'm done with opening orientation and am now into my fourth day of intensive Czech. All in all it's going really well, the language is just as complicated and intense as I feared but I'm enjoying every minute of it. Class is every weekday from 9:3o to 2:30 until the 6th, except for today (we went out to lunch by the river) and tomorrow (we're going for some hands on practice: shopping.)
Yawn, more later, once I wake up.
Dobre!
So my host family, is amazing. Miroslav, my musican host father is always bringing back brilliant/ quirky/hilarious Czech movies for me to watch and makes this dynamite pizza with BACON FLAVORED CHEESE. (I know, I couldn't believe it either.) Daka, my host mom, is one of the sweetest women I've ever met and is determined to fatten me up before I leave. They have a fifteen year old daughter Nela who's perhaps even more obsessed with Gossip Girl than Molly and a thirty year old son, from Daka's first marriage, who I have yet to meet.
We live in Praha 5, which is just across the river from where I go to school, which is in Praha 2. My commute isn't too bad, but it's a lot father than I am used to... which I suppose means I'll have to learn the fine, and long overdue art of punctuality... slash waking up before noon. My commute to the CIEE Program center in Vyshrad is as follows: walk from house down through small park to tram at Klamovka (15 minutes), take tram across river to Charles Square (15 minutes), switch tram for two stops (3 minutes) , get off, walk UPHILL to class (15 mintes.) So in total it takes me anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to get from door to door.
The house is perfect, my family shares a two story house with Daka's brother and sister-in-law, who live on the floor above us. However, it's a bit more complicated than that as Daka and her brother don't really speak so the house is literally split in two, with each family having their own entrance to avoid confrontation. I don't know the full extent of the schism but from what I've been told Daka's brother's Russian wife isn't a very nice person.
I have my own room off of the living room with a perfectly tiny little bed and an equally adorable desk in the corner. The room used to be Nela's nursery and is aptly fitted with bright red teddy bear curtains and a lion king hanging lamp. I have a huge standing closet for all 8000 t-shirts I HAD to bring and plenty of room for all the dresses I brought just in case the sun comes out before I have to leave. I haven't gotten much of a chance to make the room my own just yet aside from the few pictures I've tacked up to the walls and random trinkets strewn about the shelves above my bed but I plan on getting more creative as time goes on.
As far as my studies goes I'm done with opening orientation and am now into my fourth day of intensive Czech. All in all it's going really well, the language is just as complicated and intense as I feared but I'm enjoying every minute of it. Class is every weekday from 9:3o to 2:30 until the 6th, except for today (we went out to lunch by the river) and tomorrow (we're going for some hands on practice: shopping.)
Yawn, more later, once I wake up.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Je Daleko, Je Daleko.
[Week 1 of 17]
Wow. So my first week here in the Czech Republic is already coming to a close, and I must say it's gone by at an alarming rate, although that may be due to the fact that I slept from Thursday night to this morning due to an ambitious final attack by the new years cold germs left hiding in my body... (cough, sniffle, cough) But that's irrelevant, shall we start from the beginning?
I arrived last Sunday into the mist and the rain of what, thanks to global warming, is now considered an average winters day. Exhausted after a red eye and a two hour layover in Zurich, I promptly ignored the gloom and dragged my concrete legs up to my temporary home on the second floor of the Holiday Inn. Upon entering I met Lauren, my roommate for the night. We didn't say much, she watching Gilmore Girls (why?) and I on the verge of a coma, and so after our brief introductions I climbed into bed fully clothed and passed out, sleeping through our brief (and from what I've been told redundant) welcome meeting, barely waking up in time for our first dinner abroad.
Post nap, we met in the hotel lobby in packs of twenty or so, all starving and eager for our first Czech adventure. Our groups were led by two of our "Czech Buddies," local students from Charles University who had volunteered to live with us in our various apartments or dorms in order to help us assimilate and adjust. So off we went into the bitter cold of the evening, down through Prague 4, from our hotel in Vysehard, down the ice slicked cobblestone streets to a local pub. Once there we all crowded in, a horde of annoying americans, and promptly ordered "pivo" (beer) for all. Small talk followed, and soon I discovered I was outnumbered, for all my comrades hailed from UCLA or Central Jersey. Beyond that, I discovered that the ratio of girls to guys, is a pleasantly unbalanced 3:1, no one knows where Middlebury is, and that a lot of parents offer their children money in return for abstaining for underage drinking. Personally, I will add this to the list of things I will not do as a parent, below airport leashes and above letting them have tv in their room... but that's just me; I've seen it backfire too many times, and as for the leashes... I don't think I even have to argue for that one. But I digress, dinner was excellent, we all decided on Svickova, (beef in creme sauce) which was amazing, and opted out of dessert in favor of rest.
Day two started with a bang, or rather, a very loud series of knocks coming from the hallway. I shot out of bed to see who it could be, for I had another hour of sleep to get in before my Dorm meeting, when to my surprise I was met with "Mary-Caitlin, the homestay meeting has started!" I wiped my eyes, "wait, what? I'm not in a homestay, in fact, my name isn't on any of the housing lists, but I was told..." Ivana quickly explained the unfortunate clerical error and urged me to get change and head downstairs for my host family would be arriving to pick me up within the hour.
I pack, I stumble, and downstairs I meet Miroslav.
....to be continued.
Wow. So my first week here in the Czech Republic is already coming to a close, and I must say it's gone by at an alarming rate, although that may be due to the fact that I slept from Thursday night to this morning due to an ambitious final attack by the new years cold germs left hiding in my body... (cough, sniffle, cough) But that's irrelevant, shall we start from the beginning?
I arrived last Sunday into the mist and the rain of what, thanks to global warming, is now considered an average winters day. Exhausted after a red eye and a two hour layover in Zurich, I promptly ignored the gloom and dragged my concrete legs up to my temporary home on the second floor of the Holiday Inn. Upon entering I met Lauren, my roommate for the night. We didn't say much, she watching Gilmore Girls (why?) and I on the verge of a coma, and so after our brief introductions I climbed into bed fully clothed and passed out, sleeping through our brief (and from what I've been told redundant) welcome meeting, barely waking up in time for our first dinner abroad.
Post nap, we met in the hotel lobby in packs of twenty or so, all starving and eager for our first Czech adventure. Our groups were led by two of our "Czech Buddies," local students from Charles University who had volunteered to live with us in our various apartments or dorms in order to help us assimilate and adjust. So off we went into the bitter cold of the evening, down through Prague 4, from our hotel in Vysehard, down the ice slicked cobblestone streets to a local pub. Once there we all crowded in, a horde of annoying americans, and promptly ordered "pivo" (beer) for all. Small talk followed, and soon I discovered I was outnumbered, for all my comrades hailed from UCLA or Central Jersey. Beyond that, I discovered that the ratio of girls to guys, is a pleasantly unbalanced 3:1, no one knows where Middlebury is, and that a lot of parents offer their children money in return for abstaining for underage drinking. Personally, I will add this to the list of things I will not do as a parent, below airport leashes and above letting them have tv in their room... but that's just me; I've seen it backfire too many times, and as for the leashes... I don't think I even have to argue for that one. But I digress, dinner was excellent, we all decided on Svickova, (beef in creme sauce) which was amazing, and opted out of dessert in favor of rest.
Day two started with a bang, or rather, a very loud series of knocks coming from the hallway. I shot out of bed to see who it could be, for I had another hour of sleep to get in before my Dorm meeting, when to my surprise I was met with "Mary-Caitlin, the homestay meeting has started!" I wiped my eyes, "wait, what? I'm not in a homestay, in fact, my name isn't on any of the housing lists, but I was told..." Ivana quickly explained the unfortunate clerical error and urged me to get change and head downstairs for my host family would be arriving to pick me up within the hour.
I pack, I stumble, and downstairs I meet Miroslav.
....to be continued.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Mapping the Western Territories.
So, at last/alas, I am home.
Aspen was wonderful, and if it's any of your business, I have told you this already, and if I haven't told you... well then, quite frankly, I'm not going to. Although some of you may be amused to discover I tried my hand at snowboarding and kicked ass...mostly... except when I was too busy snowballing down the mountain. I have bruises in strange places...
California was a very different kind of nice; I got to spend a lot of time with my family, which was duly needed and much appreciated. The weather wasn't too bad either. (70 biatch!) Unfortunately the job search is a bit stalled as my trip coincided with most peoples first few days back from the Christmas/New Years break. Never fear though! Los Angeles is my summer, movies movies movies, or maybe television, but a set regardless. *knocks on wood*
Blargh, so this is basically just an update on my Prague-ress (HAH! WIT!) Yeah... I know. I haven't received my visa from the consulate just yet, and I'm beginning to worry. The other day I met with a family friend who just got back from Prague and didn't get his visa until half way through, which, though terrifying, gives me a bit of hope that even if I don't get it in time they'll let me in anyway.
All around super excited be heading off; I leave a week from tomorrow to get there by the 19th, and then it's two weeks of intensive Czech: 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Not really looking forward to that, but it'll be amazingly worth it in the end. I'm still looking for a good volunteer program in the city; I have my heart set on working in an orphanage a few days a week. Other than that I'm just starting to pack and procrastinate...
Let the countdown begin.
<3
Aspen was wonderful, and if it's any of your business, I have told you this already, and if I haven't told you... well then, quite frankly, I'm not going to. Although some of you may be amused to discover I tried my hand at snowboarding and kicked ass...mostly... except when I was too busy snowballing down the mountain. I have bruises in strange places...
California was a very different kind of nice; I got to spend a lot of time with my family, which was duly needed and much appreciated. The weather wasn't too bad either. (70 biatch!) Unfortunately the job search is a bit stalled as my trip coincided with most peoples first few days back from the Christmas/New Years break. Never fear though! Los Angeles is my summer, movies movies movies, or maybe television, but a set regardless. *knocks on wood*
Blargh, so this is basically just an update on my Prague-ress (HAH! WIT!) Yeah... I know. I haven't received my visa from the consulate just yet, and I'm beginning to worry. The other day I met with a family friend who just got back from Prague and didn't get his visa until half way through, which, though terrifying, gives me a bit of hope that even if I don't get it in time they'll let me in anyway.
All around super excited be heading off; I leave a week from tomorrow to get there by the 19th, and then it's two weeks of intensive Czech: 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Not really looking forward to that, but it'll be amazingly worth it in the end. I'm still looking for a good volunteer program in the city; I have my heart set on working in an orphanage a few days a week. Other than that I'm just starting to pack and procrastinate...
Let the countdown begin.
<3
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