Lauren Bardin -- Czech Republic / Salem Rotary

November 25, 2007

Hello everyone, How are you all? I'm trying to think where to start.... Honestly, this past month has not been too too exciting. I was sick for about 3 weeks of it. I found some sort of lump on my neck and went to the doctor a couple days later to find the lymph nodes in my neck were inflamed and I had to spend a week in bed and take antibiotics. It was pretty hard for me to hear that because I didn't feel awful and I'd never spent more than three days at home for a sickness. And here, when they say "stay at home and rest" they really mean rest. I was in bed all day and didn't go outside the house for about 5 days, it was torture for me. The following week, I felt very healthy and returned to the doctor, expecting him to tell me I was back to normal and I could return to school. But, he said the opposite. He was worried I could have mono and he told me to stay home for another week. That weekend was the Halloween gathering in Cesky Krumlov that we'd been planning for the past month and I'd just finished collecting my costume and making my accessories for it. So, I begged my host parents to let me go and they're the nicest people in the world so they of course said yes. The Halloween party was a lot of fun because I got to meet new exchange students from Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. We all dressed up and took pictures, carved pumpkins, played silly games, and laughed a lot. We also got to see the beautiful town of Cesky Krumlov and tour some castles and museums. When I came home I realized I was sick again and it was strep throat. I went to the doctor again and he couldn't do much, he just told me to sleep it off...of course. After another week I was back in school and it had never felt so good to be out and about. That Monday morning I woke up an hour early just because I was so excited to see people again!
One of my friend's host dad works at the nuclear power plant here in Trebic so I got to get a tour! Much of it was in Czech, but the part where we actually went inside and walked around was great. Actually, it was hilarious. We got to dress up in bright yellow lab coats, hard hats, and slipper things! Then we each got name tags with special electric codes and about 4 other things to pin on us. We never figured out what everything was for but I think half was to keep us from being radioactive and the other half was to keep track of us in case we got lost. It was pretty intense; we had to go through security cages and scan our name tags about every 5 minutes.
The past two Saturday nights I went to an ice hockey match. It's very very popular in the Czech Republic and even more popular in Trebic because the Trebic team is so talented. The first game I watched was a landslide and Trebic won, but the next was an overtime game with individual goals at the end. I don't know what they're called in ice hockey but they're similar to strokes in field hockey. The "thing" to do at the hockey games is to eat a sausage with mustard and a piece of bread. You don't use the bread as a roll though; you take a bite of the sausage then a bite of the piece of bread, bite of the sausage then a bite of the piece of bread, and so on. All Czechs do it, and they do it with just about every food. The only thing I can think of that's similar is having soup and some bread. But that's not really a good example, it's just funny because Czechs eat bread with everything, except soup, which we have it with. I'm getting used to it, it's interesting. But this month the hockey games are changed to Wednesday nights and I can't go because I have Czech lessons.
I just went to my first Czech lesson set up by Rotary and it was really good. The teacher is fun and encouraging and I think it will really help me. I am speaking Czech in my host family every day but I know they are speaking slow for me because when I try to speak to others it's much more difficult. It's such a different sound than I'd ever heard before so it's taken me a while just to get used to the pronunciation of the letters.
I mentioned in my last email that an English teacher from my school wanted me to help organize and run a Halloween party. I was worried I wouldn't be able to because it was when I was sick and supposed to be in bed 24/7, but luckily my host parents understood I was beginning to go crazy so they let me do it! I was really nervous at first because the teacher wanted me to tell the kids about Halloween's history then partake in a skit about Jack and the Devil. But, it turned out to be a lot of fun and the kids really liked it. We got to carve pumpkins too, so that was extra exciting. I had forgotten how difficult it is to actually carve them; I think Dad was usually the one handling the hard work and I just never realized it. Cleaning out the seeds and mushy stuff was always the best part. The Czech students couldn't believe we just used our hands, haha. I also learned a lot of Halloween that I never knew before, which was interesting. I didn't know it started as an ancient Celtic ritual in Ireland and farmers dressed up in animal hides and attended bonfires with animal sacrifices, did you? Then I learned all about how the Jack O'Lantern came to be and I got to act as the Devil in the skit....my acting skills haven't improved much.
I just recently started helping another English teacher in her class. She teachers an older grade of English students and she asked me to come in every Wednesday morning and "answer some questions." Little did I realize that I would be basically teaching the class. I don't mind, it's fun to be in charge. I read some stories in English, asked them questions about the reading, they did some writing activities, and the teacher insisted I ask them questions and make conversation from the activities in the book. I know teachers do it all the time, but it is hard! I felt strange asking the students why they were going to the gym after school and what they wanted to be doing in 10 years.
After being sick for so long I really felt like being active, so I started going to the fitness center near my house. Another exchange student goes with me so it makes it fun and entertaining too. The first time we went we were like, "huh, our gyms at home have bottles of spray and they make you wipe down the machines after you use them." ....then we looked around and realized EVERYONE had brought their own towels and laid on them while using a machine. oooops. We also felt a little funny because we were changing all the pins on the machines to about 30 lbs instead of 90lbs. I guess we'll work up to that....
Last weekend I went cross country skiing with my host family! It started out as my host Mom, host Dad, the little dog, and myself. About 100 feet through the snow and the dog was whimpering and refused to walk any further. It had on a special, high-tech coat thing, I don't understand what it's problem was. His coat was probably warmer than mine was. So my host Mom took him back to the car and my host Dad and I ventured out into the woods. It was fun and after a while I felt more comfortable. I only fell twice and my host Dad only saw me one of the times, thank goodness. He raced back to save me, it was so embarrassing. After a long trip, we came to the main road. But, we were lost and had to walk on the road with our skis and poles for about 20 minutes.....I was happy to see the car. It was a beautiful trail and so many times I wished I'd had my camera. It really looks a lot like home but something about snow on the ground always makes everything 100x prettier.
This coming weekend I am headed to Praha!(Prague) The ROTEX (previous exchange students) have organized a meeting for us this weekend. We'll do the typical tourist things and hopefully some shopping. We're staying in another hostel, which is such a great experience. I'm hoping there will be some snow on the ground and buildings to make pictures pretty pretty pretty. Tomorrow night I'm making STUFFING and chicken drumsticks for dinner! Wish me luck, I'll need it! There is a cooking school right next to my school and I always wonder why I'm not going there, I would definitely benefit from that kind of education. So, I hope all of you are doing very well. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are ready for the real holiday season! I miss you all, take care!!!!