Day 25... again

So... I have now composed myself J and will start again (saving throughout!)

Hello hello hello.. there is so much to fill you all in on! Its been a while since my last report, but there is a very good reason, which we´ll get to later. But there really is a ton of things to write in the blog today so it may seem a little jumpy and/or all over the place.. sorry in advance..
1. Mineral water is everywhere! Not just that Perrier, which I´ve never been to fond of, but dozens of different kinds. You can get it in flavors such as peach, white grape, or orange, which are really tastely, or unflavored. At restaurants if you ask for water you have to specify if you want it still, otherwise you will end up with .5 L of the fizzy stuff, which doesn´t quite go down the same if your not expecting it. The mineral water here also ddoesn´t have the same after taste that lingers in your mouth as the Perrier does, it goes down fresh. I am actually growing to like it. And people here drink it as if there is no end! My family goes through around 9 bottles (1.5 L each) a week..
2. I spent the 2 hours of my double block of Biology learning about wheat crops. Wheat crops.. I actually only understood about 50 words all class, the only reason I knew that we were talking about wheat crops was because of the teachers drawings on the board. I have a set of identical drawings in my book. Since i don´t understand the bulk of what the teacher is saying, I make sure that whenever he/she writes (draws in this case) anything on the board, I copy it down. This way I can either it later, so I have some idea what my classmates were learning all day.
3.The students here have much more respect for their teachers, or at least they show it in a more obvious way. At the start of each class when the teacher walks in, everyone stands. They stay standing until the teacher reaches their desk and lets them know that it is ok for them to now take a seat. When the bell goes at the end of class no one moves a muscle. No one stirs till the teacher says that is ok to pack up their things and exit the class. This can either be right at the bell, or a few minutes after. I have been there when the teacher takes the 10 minutes we have to get to our next class, to continue their lesson and we ar efaced with explaing our tardies to our next teacher. Most of the teachers are really nice, and either don´t make us stay after the bell, or they are understanding when we come in late because one of the other teachers has.
4. I did some digging around to find out the story behind the painted president hanging in every classroom.. Turns out (from what I´ve been told) 8-10 years ago it was law that the presidents picture hang in every classroom, and now it hangs there because of the headmasters preference. I still find eerie..
5. In English class the students ar elearning about the different tenses ... I didn´t know how many different tenses there were! I can use them in day to day life but I don´t think I could name them the way they are made to. I guess that s the difference between learning a second language and knowing your maternal language.. Then again, I can see my past English teachers shaking their heads now... I´m sure I´ve learned these tenses, along with their names, at some point in time.. I was especially nervous when the teacher proposed a competition. He wrote out a test where we had to name the tenses is the paragraph, list them in order of appearance, if anyone recieved a higher mark than me at the end of the test, they would be awarded points towards the prize given out at the end of the year.. I got them all right.. I wasn´t so sure though. I had stars beside one of them because I truely didn´t know if it was right...
6. The Physics Teacher finds it really amusing to have me. The foreigner, in her class. Every class she stops what she is doing, at random (I am convinced she does it to catch me off guard .. just to see my “deer caught in headlights” epression every class!), and starts to talk to me in Czech.. half the time I don´t even realise that she is talking to me.. Thank goodness for Pavel (the guy I sit next to).. he elbows me once he clues in that I haven´t. He has also mastered the art of translating what shes telling me without her noticing.. she won´t allow the students to talk to me in English. (She has a point there.. if they stopped talking to me in English I would sure learn Czech a whole lot faster... but they all want to practice their English. Here English is important if you want to have a good job, for many its a necessity... Its hard to get them to speak in Czech..) Normally I am able to muster up a few words in czech.. enough to show her that I´m making progress.. and if I freeze on the spot, then Pavel is there to bail me out.. whispering easy sentences for me to reiterate. She is really nice despite her quick quizes every so often..
7. Around day 18: I was just sitting in the cafeteria waiting for class to start, it was later in the afternoon because I had had spares in the morning, when a teacher came over to me and motioned for me to go with her. I followed her into the office, where I signed this paper ( I assumed that this was a similar routine to Penhighs.. when you come late you sign in at the office.. seemed safe to assume..... Never assume..). The teacher then motioned for me to follow her to one of the classrooms, (I didn´t know the school very well and it wasn´t out of the ordinary for a teacher to stop and show me the way to my She opened the door to 25 pairs of confused 13 year old eyes that watched me enter their class. I knew that something was off.. why was I in this class?? The teacher started to introduce me to the class... I didn´t understand until she said the word “Učitelka”. “Teacher”.... It took me a moment to realise the misunderstanding. This teacher thought that I was the substitute teacher she had been waiting for and she was introducing me to her class!!! After finding a student to help translate what was lost in translation, I made my way back to the cafeteria and waited for the bell, which went but moments later.
8. Almost everyday after school, Adam, Vitek, Jindra, and I head for the tram station. The boys have a little competition going that I have just recently become involved in.. The walk to the tram station takes about 4 minutes, or would if one were to walk at an average comfortable pace, and the boys compete, with themselves and their previous high scores, to see how long it takes to get there. The record to beat is 21 minutes... my best time is 14.. its a true talent to walk as slow as these boys manage to. There are rules to the challenge: the competitor is not allowed to come to a complete stop at any time, nor are they allowed to go an alternative route. We stick to the same route, and walk as slow as we can, while still maintaining a flow of sorts. The final showdown is in June.. I will keep you updates as to the results of practice rounds to come!
9. Kleenex.... or in Czech : Papírové Kapesníky (Pap-ear-ovair Cap-a-sneaky), is incredibly popular here! At first I thought it was just my family, but after seeing the kids at school and after the school trip ( which I will mention a little later), I have come to the conclusion that people from Ostrava, if not all of Czech, are heavily dependant and are large players in/on the Kleenex industry! My host brother won´t leave the house with a pack in his pockets!! There is a box (at least one) in every room in my house as well as a stash of pocket packs in the bathrooms...
10. Every Tuesday and Thursday night I watch this doctor soap opera with my family. Its the only television program that they all come together and watch religiously.. Its a terrible show.. Its tacky, predictable and full of really bad actors/actress´.. but its family bonding time. So I put on a smiley face on watch episode after episode... an hour of a half, two days a week... as the Rotary saying “Nothing is better or worse, just different” races through my head. I talked to some friends at sschool about the program.. turns out its not good by czech standards either.. they find it just as rediculous as I do.. but family bonding......
11. Day 17: I went to the center of Ostrava with Veronika to pick up some book from this fantastic Library. It was 4 stories tall with a side that was all windows!!! It was beautiful! We found the school books that she needed then went to the one of the malls. It had an escalator... its been a while since I´ve been in a mall with an escalator... (I feel so small town.... lol). I didn´t make any purchases.. but it was tons of fun window shopping. Then we went to a little coffee shop and had hot chocolate. Here the name is quite literal! The waiter brought out an amazing cup of bitter-sweet hot chocolate.. that you could sip if you wanted but you could enjoy it so much more with a teaspoon! That could be dangerous come winter and the colder weather! J Back in Poruba we went to a pizza shop for dinner (what I would call dinner.. what most Czechs would call their before dinner snack..). Here all of the Pizza is very thin crust, quite crispy. When I described the pizza from back home.. she laughed and called it a cake! All of the responses have been the same.. After Pizza, Veronika went home to study (school is taken quite seriously here) and I went to my schoold English Theatre performance of “Some Like It Hot”. It was a great play.. the story was cute, the actors and props were great, and I was able to hear my classmates speak in English. Originally I was there by myself, but Adam, who had had a small role, crept beside me afer he was finished and watched it with me. .. He gave me quite a start! It was pitch black and I wasn´t expecting anyone! It was really well done and was a great end to the day!!
12. Day 19: I was told by my family that we would be going out for dinner that evening and that I should dress up a little.. we would be eating with one of Czechs famous singers! I was really excited, I hadn´t been out with my family yet! So i put some effort into the eveing.. I had a shower, put on my evening face (for the guys out there.. that means make-up J), found my black dress and my favorite heels.. We all hopped in the car and headed to the restaurant looking quite put together. We passed the school, the restaurant I had thought we would be going to, and everything else that looked familiar after my short stay.. We drove for 2 hours to reach the restaurant. Dusan (host dad) said it took us a little longer because we had stopped to look at the red deer in amung the trees. The restaurant itself, looks something like I picture the Lost Moose Lodge to look like and its interior looks as though it was a hunters trophy case.. I was introduced to this famous Czech singer, known for old fashioned polka style singing (whose name I can´t pronounce), who happened to be Dusans brother. He´s a jolly man and the restaurant was filled with their family and friends.. The diner started with an appetizer of liver .... the first time I had ever had liver... I didn´t enjoy it very much, but decided that I would clear my plate out of respect and thanks.. if nothing else.. About half way through the appetizer, my host brother asks what kind of liver it was... (how i wish he hadn´t).. turns out it was red deer liver.. how fresh.. Thankfully the main course came out before I had a chance to finish what was before me. I was excited for the main course it was to be chicken, something familiar, and I had ordered a glass of milk. Something I had been sorely lacking. It was in fact chicken, what looked to be half of one, and beside it a huge helping of saukrout. My milk was a surprise though, turns out that its somewhat of a tradition to a sort of soured milk.. definitely not what I expected as I taking my first sip.. In Summary: I got all dressed up... drove two hours.. ate red deer liver, chicken and saukrout.. and washed it all down with soured milk. In the end I had so much fun! It was great meeting the family, listening to polka music, and dancing!
13. So my very last and final point on this blog.. I know I´m sorry that this one has been soo long but its been I´ve had a lot of time to cover.... Itś been so long since my last blog because I´ve been off traveling without access to a computer for the last 7 days.. Last Friday (the 19th) I left to Strečno, Slovakia for my Rotary District Orientation meeting, where I met all of the people staying in Slvakia... all 36 of them! It was great fun! Vanessa, Jessica and I drove down with a councelor Friday afternoon and had some great girl talk on the way there.. then we got there and got meet everyone with some fun introduction games. I roomed with a girl named Viv, from CR, who is fantastic.. so much fun, and two girls from Slovakia, Ava and Ruby. Both tons of fun as well.. The next Saturday morning was a little dry.. not weather wise.. it was pouring outside.. but we had the laying down of the rules and guidlines enforced through our district and went over some of the mandatory orientation subjects.. In the after noon we went for chilly raft ride down to a castle which we toured before walking back to the hotel for a disco. The Disco was fantastic fun! A few gals had noticed my make up and asked me to do theirs.. which I love to do! We had about 12 girls in our room all getting ready for the dance! The dance itself was great.. a disco ball.. fun lights and a dj! Then the Czechs went into one of the rooms and had an interesting game of Never Never Have I Ever! We took off early Sunday morning and arrived home around 11. I had just enough time to have a nap and re-pack then I was off on a school trip. We went through Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and for a brief moment touched the other side of the Estonia border. I came home early Friday morning after many good times and hours on the bus. But that will be my next blog.

I´ll write again soon

Dobrou noc
Anička


P.S. The nights are still hard, the feelings of being alone linger.. but its natual.. and it hasn´t rained since day 15.....

I love you all

Day 25

I just spent 2 hours writing a huge long blog.. theres a lot to catch all of you up on, and it just erased itself. I´ve been looking but theres no way of getting it back.. So just to let you all know there is a long blog coming.. and I will write it as soon as I compose myself....

Day 15

hello hello hello

So today it was raining again! I remember having told many people back at home over the years how much i enjoy the rain.. I take it back. I was lying.. just a bad joke.. Truly I am tired of this rain. Its just depressing! The day was a pretty average day.. ......................

except I´ve been noticing lately that I can´t shake this feeling of being alone. I know I have a rotary counselor here, and friends at school, and a magnificent host family, but its just not home .. my friends aren´t the friends I´ve had for years now.. the ones I have so many memories with and insiders between.. My family is great, but they aren´t what Im used to, their hugs are´fulfilling... their good nights just don´t have the warmth or kindness or familiarity to them.
I´m not saying I want to come home. This experience only comes around once in a lifetime.. I wouldn´t let myself come home... This is just one of the rough patches. Everyone said it would come.. I was just so confident, so comfortable, so content .... I never thought this day would come so soon..

I miss chats with my mom... the sibling quarrels and insiders with my brother.. and my dads hugs..... I miss my parents voices. I miss hugging them and I miss seeing them. I miss my brother more than he could ever know or try to understand. I miss the feeling of watching him grow up day to day and feeling like I, as the older sibling, helped.
I miss my grandmas eyes and my grandpas smile... I miss my omas laugh. ...

I miss my friends and their support, and the fun we have together. The insiders we share and the sound of their whispers...........



Taking a step back... I am a mess. My friends here are truly amazing.. the family better than I could have asked for.. yet I am a mess.

I am off to bed. I need sleep. I need sleep and to cuddle with something from home.. something familiar..

I love you all. I miss you all.

Tomorrow will be a new day. An exciting day. A rainy day. A day where I will learn 2 new words.. and talk to someone new. A Thursday.

Dobrou Noc
Anička.

Day 13

Today was a good day. Actually it was a great day!!
It started off terribly.. i tried to use my czech mobile as an alarm this morning and it didn´t work.. of course this morning instead of having to be at school at 750 as per the norm, I had to be there at 715 so that Dusan ( my dad ) and I could have a little chat with the Headmaster and Vice Headmaster about lunches in the cafeteria, and being in the school in general. So I woke up at 7, thanks to mom (Svetlana), had 10 min to get ready, 5 min to eat breakfast and was a few moments late for our meeting with the two heads of my school.. I was thankful that A) Dusan was late getting ready as well and B) our headmaster and vice are very nice. So we were in the Heads office till the bell (750) and the whole time I really didn´t have much of a clue as to what they were discussing.. turns out (here is where the day turns fabulous), that there is an open seat on the bus trip that is happening at the end of this month and my dad was trying to see if it would be ok if I went... So on the 21st I leave for a 5 day trip though Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, with a few friends from my class and a bunch of kids from my school, around 40. I am soo excited.. better yet, my family is paying for the trip! Dusan (brother) is also going on the bus trip and they said that if their daughter was here they would be paying for her to go as well so they were more than happy to cover the costs of the trip. In the end total cost of the trip from my end of things will be around 120 euro which will cover spending money and the fees of the planned events. So oh my goodness my day made a total 360! So afer finding this all out.. we leave his office and dad goes home and leaves me to my studies... I completely got lost.. I had no idea where my class was... so i had to go back to the office and ask the Vice headmaster (who is also my English Teacher) how to get to my class. After actually getting to class, i discovered that we didn´t have math today.. BONUS... and that we had Seminar today (Seminar is where you have a double block of something, for ex. English or Biology, something that you need to work at a little bit more or something that you really enjoy. Naturally I have an English Seminar because all the teachers want me in their class.) ........ DOUBLE BONUS........ I also had History, Czech and French. Thank goodness for French class. They speak France French so its different from Quebec French, but in the end its just French. Its a great feeling to be able to understand what the teacher is saying! At lunch.. I asked Jelka where the washrooms were to wash my hands and use the facilities.. she gave me the simple directions.. up the stairs and to my left. Which she was exctly right with.. what she neglected to mention was that the door to the boys washroom was right beside the door to the girls washroom.. So, after hearing about some of the horror stories at Language camp about which room was for whom. I decided it was better to ask. I went around the third floor till I found a stout blonde teacher and asked her for some assistance... She tried many times to explain which was which in English.. but it just wasn´t happening so she came with me to the washrooms and showed me which on it was.. Then after school, I walked to the tram station with Adam, Jelka, Jindra, and we had a good little chat. It was nice talking with Jindra and especially Adam, beacuse I hadn´t really had a converstaion with them before.. Today being only my third day of school. I ended up missing one of my trams, so I walked home.. in the pouring rain, settled down with a warm cup of tea and watched a movie. Shrek II to be specific. I watched it in Czech with English subtitles.. I think next time I will switch it so that the subtitles are in Czech. I think it will help more!! Later I got a call from Vitek and Jindra wondering if I wanted to go the pool with them.. of course I did! SO I hopped onto another Tram and made my way down to the pool. Man do the boys like their speedo shorts.. definitely still not used to it.. all in a matter of time I suppose... Swimming was great. They have a 50 meter pool which is just lovely, though slightly confusing since there are no lane ropes.. After 2 hours and a few moments of being sheer out of breath,( I swear by the end of this trip, my derrier will have been whipped into shape!), Vitek walked me home, where I enjoyed another peachy cup of tea.

So now I sit at the computer, yawning after my day and plan to mosey off to bed. So have a fantastic evening everyone!

Dobrou noc!

Anička

P.S. I don´t know if I have mentioned how amazing the transit system here is.. believe me its fantastic. They have Trams that are a lifeline to many people here like myself, buses, trains, taxis, not to mention that walking is very popular here as well, and still the roads are full of traffic. Crazy!!

Day 12

First of all I´m sorry for the huge time gap between this and the previous blog. I just came back from language camp in Třebič, where I have been for the last week, with very limited access to a computer.
Language camp was a blast! The inbounds are fabulous and we had tons of fun!! It was fantastic being able to meet some of the kids that are going through similar things.. interesting meals, new living arrangements, meeting new family and friends and dealing with a very difficult language.
I leave on Friday to Slovakia to meet the other half of our district. There was 20 inbounds at language camp, and I believe there is a similar number of inbounds staying in Slovakia, hopefully there is a little bit more of a diverse group over there.. Not that there is anything wrong with the Czech inbounds but there is a definite lack of diversity in comparison to district 5060. There is 1 Australian, 1 Brazilian, 2 Mexicans, 3 Canadians, and 13 Americans.. Out of the 20 of us there is 6 guys and 14 gals.
Compared to life in general here in the Czech Republic, the rules were very strict. We had breakfast at 730... lesson1, break, lesson 2, lunch, lesson 3, break, lesson 4, Dinner, Evening activity... Bed..... every night. There just was´t a lot of downtime for us to get to know each other. It was our first group meeting after all. We had to be in our own rooms by 10... lights out. sound asleep. Of course that didn´t happen, us gals know how to chat like no tomorrow, and apparently the boys downstairs were little chatty cathy´s themselves.
The first night, a girl from one of the other rooms came to have a little visit.. after 10, but before the rotary hall guard started duty :), we lost track of time and she ended up getting stuck in our room for the evening. We tried multiple times and had some pretty clever (if i do say so myself) plans to try to try and sneak her out of the room with out him noticing. For the rest of the week she just bunked with us. We had to much fun chatting it up for her to be in another room!! We also forgot to bring towels to the hostel.. assuming there would be some there.. .so between what ended up to be 5 gals in our room, we shared one bathroom and had community towels. Wednesday we made our way to the supermarket so we could buy some goodies for our evening chats........ escorted.. of course.. so we all stocked up for the remaining 3 nights. ( I bought their version of Keiffer (just for you moe... and for the lack of dairy products in my daily diet....), some vitamin C... there hasn´t been all that many fruits or veggies... a chocolate bar, and some flavored mineral water.) Two of the gals bought their items together and really went all out... and considering my purchases definitely didn´t make it till the wee hours of Saturday morning, I was very appreciative!
One of the evenings prior to our Supermarket binge, we went bowling. It was soo much fun! We all had a blast and our team did quite well. At the end of the evening prizes were awarded to top team (my team!!), Top boy (Cord), Top gal (Karmin), and second gal (Kayla)... because of the girl to boy ratio.. The bowling rink also awarded this bottle of Bubblee, a non-alcoholic beverage that was i a champagne bottle. Between the 5 of us we managed to obtain, 2 bottles of Bubblee, half of the top team prize..box of chocolates.. and the prize for second gal. A few of the gals had also purchased some chips while at the rink that we added to our lovely feast of goodies that we shared that evening over our chat :)
On the last night, just when we thought we would have a short little chat before heading off to bed, one of the girls remembered that I had mentioned that I cut my own hair, and came running out of the bathroom asking if I would cut hers. So we looked through all of our bags and came up with a pair of scissors! We sat there in the middle of our Hostel room, towels all around us to catch the hair as it fell, for about 2 hours.. A trim, with layers and some slight side bangs.... I was nervous as all get out! Then again.. so was she :) In the end it all worked out great, the cut was a success!!
In the end it was a great week, I made some great friends, saw a beautiful town, and even picked up a few words!
So I´m off to bed, I have school tomorrow and I have to make up for lost sleep!

Dobrou Noc!

Anička

P.S.
To the Rotary club: thank you ever so much for language camp, I´m no where near fluent, but it helped me to take a few baby steps towards being able to understand. Thank you.

Day 4

So I need to start off by saying that czechs love their swim shorts... their spandex/speedo swim shorts.... my host dad has a lovely pair (do speedos qualify as a "pair" like swim shorts do...please ponder this for a moment.. i know i have lately) of turquoise blue speedo's (see this is where its handy to know the qualifications of "pair".. do i or don't i plural that lovely little word... Speedo). I went swimming with some guys from class today.... again lovely speedos... and to mix things up just a tad.. though they really aren't much better... the spandex swim shorts.. nice short.. shorts.. Anyways .. i just thought you all should know! :) A couple other little things that i've noticed before i get to the days events... the toilet paper.. it's yellow.. not like a canary yellow more of a lemon chiffon.. .. . the toilets themselves.. don't have a visible water tank behind them like every other one I think I've ever seen... the toilet bowl just sticks out from the wall... then theres this big button that you push .. . .. Their pop bottles and most water bottles are 1,5 liters and almost every kid in school has one everyday.. (side note.. I'm listening to M.I.A. and am in a really good mood right now!!!)

So today.. school take 2!! Hahaha kinda wishing i had taken Biology... and Physics 12.. things would have made so much more sense today.. i took some notes here and there.. actually trying to be productive in class today.. and did homework when I got home. All my homework really was was to try and figure out the czech notes that i jotted down from the board... English class was as successful as ever :) we played some word games and things in class today.. in partners.. needless to say that my team had a bit of an unfair advantage .... it worked beautifully until the teacher clued in.. it took her a while... really not the brightest bulb in the bunch.. moving forwards... Mid czech class i made some plans to go swimming at the pool with some friends... We took the tram down to the pool.. it was closed .. :( So we walked back to my house. We have a pool so we went for a dip... it was hilarious.. they wanted to learn Butterfly... super funny.. but they were trying their darndest so i really tried not to laugh as they swam back and forth practically on top of each other hahaha... Swimming was tons of fun.. and i even got my host brother to come out and join in.. which is pretty big... I don't think he likes having to show around a foreigner... but it's been getting so much better and we were joking around tonight... I think that he's coming and waking me up tomorrow morning a 5... he was joking around and i kinda dared him to follow through.. so we'll see how that ends up..
Well.. I'll keep in touch.. I'm off to the pool again with Dusan (brother) ...

Love and laughter.. (lots of laughter!!!!)
Anna

Day 3

Ahoj. Jsem zde v Česká republika. Je to zde výborné. .... .. ... . Hey. I´m in the Czech Republic. I love it here! Its absolutely beautiful. I went to school today for the first time.. it was a little intimidating at first but the kids were very friendly. My host family has a daughter out on exchange in New York and before she left she talked to her friends and told that i would be coming. They treat me very nicely and the whole class is great. One thing that is different about the school here is that you only have one class of kids that you stay with. You are with those kids all year and take all of your classes together. So i´m very fortunate to have a great group of kids with me. Most of the time, the teachers come to the kids and not the other way around like in the Okanagan. We stay in the same class room for most of the day and the different teachers come and give their lesson. The class rooms here are quite bare.. only the essentials in each one that i was in today. Desks ( two people to a desk since they are fairly large), the chairs 2 or 3 small chalk boards and last but not least, a picture of their president mounted on the wall (in the top left hand of the main wall in every class) watching over the class... in a very Big Brother esq sort of way ( from the novel 1984 ). It´s exciting having all of these new surroundings and new people to meet and get to know.. I do notice that my English is actually becoming worse, the more and more I start to think (well try to think) in czech..

Travels were long and boring but i´m here now and thats all that really matters. Everyone is just so nice and helpful! My host my parents are amazing and really laid back.. i have a key to the house so i can come and go as i please as long as i let them know whats up..

So in the end there was nothing to worry about.

I better head off to bed.. school in the morning and it is 1030pm.. Iĺl try to keep in touch....



Dobrou noc... Ánichká (anna)

33 hours and 6 minutes....

Hello everyone and welcome to my very first ever blog entry! This entry will share a little of my journey thus far. To clarify, I have yet to leave my home and native land. No, that day of departure comes upon us on none other than September the 1st. Monday. This up coming Monday. The Monday that will arrive to say hello to the world in 14 hours and 23 minutes, then casually part and make way for Tuesday, taking me with it. Monday, my plane will settle itself down in Vancouver and wait patiently for the clock to tick... tick...tick.. to 18:44 at which time (hopefully) it will have a belly of eager passengers waiting for take off.
Throughout this experience, it has always felt so surreal. The departure date always in the distant future. Now the day has come, the day before the day I leave has finally arrived. Ive held the plane tickets in my very hands, gingerly of course, not wanting to damage these tickets to opportunity, but never the less, I have felt them materialize and become something very real.
This game of ups and downs, quite similar to a game of snakes and ladders, is almost over. Despite the snakes on our path my family and I sit comfortably on square 99, looking with mixed emotions on to square 100, the end. The end of my time at home, with friends and family around me, where my native language is spoken and my surroundings are familiar. The end of this game and start to the next. A new game, full of new people and experiences, new language and new surroundings. A game full of opportunity. This game of a lifetime starts in 32 hours and 40 minutes.
I packed last night. I packed my clothes and my life away into 2 nice and neat aubergine suitcases each sealed with a few tears and a few cheers of excitement. I have made checklists upon checklists and they have all been checked, with new ones in there places. I have run through the house ensuring I have all of the essentials. I have swept away tears at all of my friends departures, and now I am ready. I, Anna Lee Patterson, am leaving on Monday, September the1st, for a year long Rotary youth exchange in Ostrava. Czech Republic.
Though the reality of what I am doing has just hit me recently, despite the workshops and prep, and despite the butterflies in my stomach that seem to have taken up residence, I am ready.
As this is my first entry, I would like to have a shout out to everyone who helped make this possible. Everyone in Rotary, you have all helped immensely , thank you for this opportunity; Wade and Sue, you both have given me support and have opened your home many times in order to hel pout where you can; Helen and Linda, your hours of work with the passport and VISA side of things enables these exchanges to take place; my parents, who have spent endless hours helping me and buzzing around like bees to do what they could to help me on my way; Barb, I missed the initial meeting where they talked about the program and handed out the applications, if it hadnt been for you, I wouldnt have had the application to submit; lastly, Robert, you have been there the entire time, helping and guiding, I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything that you have done with this program. I know that Im not the only kid you have helped along the way, so on behalf of all of the kids whose lives you helped change, Thank you.
Looking down at the digital clock in front of me and noticing that there is 32 hours and 12 minutes until take off, I am ending this, my first ever blog entry, with the countdown firmly in place. Once abroad Ill find my way back to cyberspace to keep you all updated.
Na zdraví
Anna