Lauren Bardin -- Czech Republic

January 18, 2008

Ahoj,
Yes, it has been ages since I've last updated you. Sorry about that. Originally, I was waiting on purpose until after the holidays so I could tell you all about my experiences here, but the days after the holidays were just as busy. So, I have ample time now on this Friday afternoon before dinner with my host family. So, what has happened in the past month and a half?....

I went to Prague with the Rotary students and had a great time. I got some special tips from older ROTEX students about the city because I knew I would be venturing back soon to guide my cousins and friends around. I've really come to love the city, it's so amazing and I realize new things about it each time. I was in a great touring group with an intelligent leader (ROTEX) so we learned a lot about the history of people and architecture of buildings.

The next week was my birthday! I was a little worried about it because I knew it'd be different from home and I might feel forgotten. Also, I had a Rotary meeting that night and they are never really the highlight of my week. (I'm sure Rotary meetings at home are AWESOME though). Despite this, the day was fantastic. In school, my main class gave me a present and two girls gave me some cute gifts. My host family made me STUFFING (Stove Top that was sent from home) and chicken drum sticks and corn....YUM. And Rotary had a huge cake for me and they even sang happy birthday. My friend Kristen also had a cake because her birthday was the following week. We all thought we were getting out of our Czech speaches because of the cake and happy moods, but in a split second everything turned serious and it was time to stand up in front of everyone and speak Czech like you were fluent.&nbs! p; It wasn't too bad, although it was our first time in full Czech, so we were all very nervous. When I got home my host family gave me a photo album with pictures of us in it, it was really sweet. For "Happy Birthday" here, the person stands and shakes your hand and says, "Vsechno nejlepsi," which means "all the best." Even the kids do it, it seemed really formal but also sincere.

I'm sure there were a few early morning castle/church visits in the next couple weeks but I can't exactly pinpoint them. My host dad was really fond of taking me to them and getting pictures of the steples from every possible angle; some with me in them, some without, some with a tree branch, some without...these were intense moments for him. And I just clicked my camera haphazardly at everything I thought looked old. Nevertheless, I loved the visits.

Christmas holidays came very quickly and even though I had no school, it didn't feel like Christmas was in a few days. I wasn't very excited just because there was no leading up to it. I did sing Christmas songs in English class with my Australian friend on the last day of school, and that made me really happy, but outside of school, there wasn't much excitment going around. The houses didn't have decorations, their trees weren't put up (until the 23 or 24), there were no presents being wrapped and set under the tree. On the 23rd I went to a beautiful neighboring town with my host family and some of their friends. It was a nice visit but it was difficult because they were all being happy and loving towards each other and I knew my family was doing the same...but without me. The next day was Christmas(for Czech Republic). They celebrate everything on the 24th because they don't believe in Santa and that's just how their traditi! on has been. The morning was quiet, then we had a small lunch and went on a walk in the woods. There was no snow, but we had frozen fog, which was gorgeous and like nothing I'd ever seen before. Every tree branch, shrub branch, and blade of grass was individually iced over with snow/ice. It was similar to a cartoon; like when a bad guy fires ice at someone to freeze them, and they are frozen in place while running and their traces of motion are frozen also. Did that make any sense?? As I said, it's like nothing I'd ever seen before, so it's difficult to explain. But try and picture fog moving fast through the air and then immediately being frozen on everything. Anyway, it was pretty. After the walk, we decorated the tree, which was small and reminded me of a Charlie Brown christmas tree. Once it was decorated it was cute though and definitely had character. (They even put chocolate on their trees).&! nbsp; We soon at dinner, which is always carp soup, fried carp! , and po tato salad. .....yummmm..?? I wasn't too excited, but I tried it anyway. It wasn't as bad as I expected because it was fried and lost a lot of its flavor. Don't ask me why they eat carp, I asked many times and no one had an answer, they just do. (I like our prime rib or roasted ham better). After dinner we opened all the gifts. Oh! But first! My host sister played her oversized recorder, my other host sister recited some poem, and then I was put on the spot and they begged me to sing. I have no idea where they got the idea that I could or would actually do that, but they insisted. I finally convinced them that I was not a good singer and I never told them that, so then I just got to recite something also. Phewf, that was awkward. So then we opened presents. That was fun, it was cute to see everyones' reactions when they opened the gifts I gave them too. The next day I went to another fami! ly's house for the day. They have just taken a liking to me and have kind of adopted me as their part-time daughter, because their daughter is on exchange in America and their son goes to college in Nebraska. I visited other families with them, which is all the following days are made for; visiting with family and friends. They gave me ice skates for Christmas and the next day the mom and I went together. It was so much fun because I hadn't been in about 10 years....but she was really good; going backwards and doing loop things. Then I'd get stuck sailing through an intense ice hockey match with middle aged men charging after pucks flying 100 mph. It was fun though, it felt like a real Christmas after the ice skating for some reason.

The rest of the days went by as normal vacation days and all I could think about was my cousins and friends coming! On the 28th I went to Prague and met up with a friend who showed me all around the city and let me sleep at his host family's flat so I could meet my visitors early the next morning at the airport. All went well with them; we traveled back to Trebic for one night to met my host family and friends and see my town. Then we traveled back to Prague for the rest of the week; in which we toured everything/everywhere and ate some delicious food and had some great experiences. New Year's Eve was better than I ever thought it would be. We met up with some friends of mine from Trebic/Australia and headed to the main square, Wenceslas Square, where there were hundreds of people and millions of fireworks. These fireworks weren't like American fireworks....nooooooo..they were....much more dangerous! Everyone (you can bu! y any fireworks at any store...I did it in Trebic a few times before and had a blast) had fireworks and set them off everywhere and anywhere. Our group found a perfect standing spot in the middle of the length of the square and just observed. There was a show everywhere you looked and you had to be cautious at all times otherwise you'd have a spark hit you. (I didn't get hit, Tyler, on the other hand, haha...he fell over when it hit him because he was so shocked). Don't worry moms, it wasn't that dangerous. At one point during the night a tram stopped in the middle of the square and it was literally ATTACKED by people with fireworks.....ten seconds later, everyone was rushing out of the tram as it filled with smoke. The center looked like a war zone; smoke everywhere so you could hardly see the opposite side of the street, random explosions every couple seconds, and people running back and forth from side to side. It truly was amazi! ng, I would definitely make a trip back to Prague for another ! New Year s.

This past weekend I had to say goodbye to my best friend here, John, the Australian. He had to return home because his year was up as an exchange student(Australia has different seasons so they go from Jan.-Jan.). That was definitely the hardest time here so far. The next day I switched host families and now I'm with my new family....still trying to figure out if it's going to be okay or not. I was supposed to go to a different family, but that changed last minute, and now I'm living with Youth Exchange Office, who....was never really my favorite person in Trebic. But, he has a caring wife and a nice,fun son, so I think things will be fine.

Let's see...upcoming plans.... I'm going to a ski week in 2 weeks to the Sumava Mountains on the border of CR and Austria. I'm excited about that, although I'm sure I'll have a few sores and bruises when I return. I may be heading to Germany in March to visit a friend! I'm getting really excited about Doug visiting me in late Feb. or early March. I'm tryign to think of some fun, adventurous things to do with him here but I've been told to avoid hiking the mountains because avalanches are common.

The weeks are flying by faster than I can keep up with them and each day seems like it disappears before I realize it's begun. I was told the second half of the year goes by even faster than the first, but I don't know if that's possible. I don't know why it's flying by so fast but it truly is.

I hope everyone is enjoying what winter we have at home. I've heard it's nothing to brag about this year, but I think that's how it is everywhere. I hope you all had a pretty Christmas and New Year and have a great start to 2008!!!

Take care everyone, I miss you all!!!!! Love, Lauren