PRAGUE WEEKEND days 87-89

Vanessa, Jessica, Josh L, and i hopped on a train early (very early) friday morning, off to our Rotary weekend in Prague. First stop Oloumoc where we will pick up Josh H and Meagan.. We were hoping for a cabin that would seat all six of us.. but with no luck we split into two groups and found some seats..
Once in Prague we had a huge echange student reunion in the main train station.. that turned some heads.. czechs dont hug very ofter... :) .. It was really cute. I had had quite a difficult time packing the present that I had purchased because of its sizse.. so for this short weekend.. i had a hoge mountain backpack.. that could have fit most of the things that i brought to the CzR.. needles to say i was especially happy once we ended our tram+ train travels and finally arrived at our hotel...

**side note** i bought a 4ft giant teddy bear for Gaby (the girl i was to buy for from Mexico)

We went out for a quick dinner, came back to the hotel to play some games with the rotex (who were in charge of running the weekend) then set up quite the little salon in our hotel room..

AND before i forget.. we had a czech test.. we knew there would be a written part but surpris!! there was an oral exam as well.... :(
i did ok on the written and made it through the oral.. we were given a "yes", a "no" or a "maybe".. I recieved a "maybe"... there was only one "yes given out.. so i didnt feel soo bad.. knowing my czech isnt soo great....

.. Back to the salon... there were originaly only going to be a few people who wanted a little flair in their har. but by the end of the evening darn near everyone had a little streak ofred or purple. The guys even joined in... one was so brave as to trust me to dye his entire fringe fushia purple!... ( i was the official hair dresser of the bunch :) ) There was evern a few hair cuts :).. just a trim for myself but then we (myself and allie) gave a few trims and a few new fringes.. A little later the Rotex came in and admired our lottle splashes of colour and we all talked till the wee hours..

Saturday, there was a scavenger hunt planned for most of the morning.. it was really great. It was a tad frosty out but it was an inventive way to show us the sites of prague.. Really fun! Later we went to a shopping center .. the only thing i purchased was some coffee and some crepes.. i was soo tired.. and the crepes really hit the spot!.. so much for souvenirs.. im sure ill be back so im not to worried about my lack of purchases.

We were all pretty tired from the lack of sleep and from walking all day...
.. but that didnt stop us from having another great night... we set up the salon again and a few more hair dye virgins got some colour.. and most of the people that had a streak already really wanted more.. We chatted with the Rotex all night agin.. I was talking with this one guy.. i dont remember his name.. but he was a competative vooseballer.. i didnt even know that was possible! but it was an interesting chatt :)

Sunday we had an early breakfast and it pretty rough... we had to say our goodbyes to everone.. the next rotary meeting isnt until the end of January.. and Lauren , our australian is heading home beofre the next reunion... it may be the last time we see her... :(.. it was rough...

*** once I got home from Prague and finished telling the family all about my weekend, I started talking to Vítek about how I was disappointed about missing Baníks last game.. Luckily Vítek works a few of Baníks games.. selling beverages.. and informed me of that there was a switch and that there last game was tomorrow night!!! So I called up Roman, inviting him out for a change :)

Dobrou noc

Anička

day 85

This morning I´m meeting Roman in the Cantine to work on his English. I think its really getting better :) Hes a really sweet guy.. who reall yreally loves Football (the football where you actually use your feet).. and for our little meeting he brought a long a bunch of football magasines to show me his favorite players.. and the articls that he writes for them..
I feel terrible though, everytime we hang out he invites me to do something with him on the weekends and im never around.. he invited me to go to Baníks last game (the local football team) which is on Sunday.. and Im in Prague.. I really wanted to see them play, they are such a source of pride for the peole of Ostrava and its a shame that im missing out...

*** this weekend in prague some of the gals have decided that they want to put a few small streaks of colour in their hair.. its very czech to have more than one.. or one crazy colour in your hair.. Its quite normal to see an elserly woman with purple hair.. ranging from the more common lavender.. all the way to violet!!.. They are definitely quite bold in that department. which was quite surprising since they are quite old fashioned.. or conservative in many others...

So happy to take part.. i picked up a few colours at the drug store!! im excited to see the resuluts!


Dobrou noc

Anička

day 84

ITS MY BROTHERS BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR william micheal patterson my favortist brother ever!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!


lovelovelovelvoelvoelovelovelovelovelovelovelove


LOVE YOU WILL!!!!!

Day 81

This weekend my host mom and sister are away at a workout weekend.. the women here are truly incredible! The men proud of their beer, their culture and their women (and many quite proudly sport their beer bellies..) while the women are crazy active.. many of them have jobs, while still are resposable for all the oldfashioned duties of the home.. and manage to find time to workout all the time!!! its truly crazy..

Anywasy....

Since the women are gone for the weekend i made sure that i had some plans for the weekend.. This morning Vítek, Kamil and I went to play badminton at Kamils firehall. It was great fun. We goofed around for a while then we had a little 3 person tournament. (i cam 3rd....) :)
Then we went out for lunch and ehaded home.. This afternoon I had plans with Roman and three of his friends to go to a french short film festival.

The collection of shortfilms was notably terrible... "Peur de Noir"
and yes infact i am!! which didnt help matter any. It turned out to be a collection of scary cartton stories about being scared of the dark.. the films were all in black and white...

It was nice spending more time with Roman and his friends, they were quite nice, but i was afrain for the better half of the "film festival".. Tomorrow im going secret santa shopping with Vanessa.. We decided to do Secret Santa with all of the Rotary Exchange students and we are exchanging next weekend in prague (a rotary weekend) I dont really know the person that Im supposed to buy for nearly as well as I should.. Im sure between Vanessa and I we will be able to figure it out!!

Dobrou Noc...

Anička

Small recap + day 80

So it has been quite a lengthy time since I have last written but Ive been really quite busy.. Actually I´ve had something almost every day.. I think it helps . Thats my conclusion anyway. Having something productive to do everyday or at least a small checklist of things to get done. It really helps to stay positive.

Im still tutoring English every Tuesday its great fun. We meet same time, same day, same place every week. Having something so constant really helps to establish a feeling of comfort and routine. We just talk for an hour or two and it helps his word recolection and mine.. If it werent for the English books that Ive been reading and the tutoring, I think that my English would be terrible.

My weekends have been really busy. Out of the past 4 weekends I´ve been away with Rotary for 3 of them. Its great to see the other exchange students, (truly love them!!) but its quite frustrating for both my host family and my friends. They don´t normally have much time after school , studies here are on a whole other level of intensity, so weekends are really the only time to hang out together. :( Its a real shame that Im busy at times. But my weekends are really great .

My free weekend was really really great though!!

Here they dont have a lëadership program in school but there is a group of students, "The Action team", which puts on a few theme days a year. This Friday (day 80.. november 21), was chocolate day. All of the students had to dress up in either black, brown or white.. then a group of us made chocolate pudding from scratch.. no "jell-o instant" over here.. and laddeled it out to whoever brought a cup. The class showing ther most chocolate pride was awarded a fantastic chocolate cake that one of my friends baked! It was really fun and an excellent end to the week. That evening I went to another Fishnet event, they hosted a čajovna. It was fantabulous!! really but really!! They had pillows all over the floor and fabrics drapiong from the ceilings all over the walls.. looking very authentic!!.. Then the head fishnet guy dressed into character and self appointed himself "Bobor" the official čaj man! Truly fantastic.. Ashley, the girl from texas that I believe i have mentioned before, and I talked all night and drew eachothers portraits.. with crayons and some craft paper.. they were fantastic might i add.. we totally have skills!!.. I stuck around to help with cleanup and chatt with the other. then a group of us went out for a bit.. SUper incredible fantasticle day!" truly smiles all round!!.. AND THERES MORE!! FIRST SNOW!! obviosly meaning.. first snow fight! it was wet. and freeyinging.. and fantastic!

ps.. i lost the battle of the snow terribly.. :(

pps.. i know it has been forever since ive written.. but i have abook that ive been writing things in.. so my blogs will still be pretty accurate. and i have about 16 of them all writen out its just a matter of having access to a computer.. and my families internet has been down for some while.. i know those are lame excuses.. but its true...

Love and miss you all!!!

Day 77

Rotary weekend was amazing! Josh, Vanessa and I met up with 3 more exchangees at the Třebič train stop and chatted with them untill we arrived! we were all soo excited to see everyone! Lauren (miss aussie) brought a friend who was visiting from Australia with her for the weekend.. Lucie. She is fantastic and fit in no problem!! we all go there and The Czech Republic Rotary head honcho gave quite a long shpeal about how some of us haven´t completed all of the paperwork quite properly and the like... but after he was finished we started some games and really had a good time. We met a few of the new faces that have just arrived ( and I thought that I arrived late..) and they are really fantastic! Night came around.. and I was rooming with pretty much the same crew as I was in Třebič.. I think Im closest with them!! Lauren (miss Aussie), her friend Lucie, Vanessa (miss london, ontario) and Kayla (miss wisconsin, USA). We stayed up most of the night laughing and gigeling over cosmos and some of the days events! Really good time.. Sunday we went for a little walk around the towns square and learned some of the history.. It was a pretty nice day out so none of us minded.. though it is starting to get a tad to cold for my liking.... Sunday ended pretty early.. we had lunch, grabbed our things then most of us went down to the Train station to hang out and say our final goodbyes... for one of the exchangees.. it was the last goodbye.
Viv is going back home on Saturday, after things just didn´t work out for her here... it will be the third one that we´ve lost. The first ( a belgian girl who we never met) was sent home within the first week or soo.. a mystery to us all. the second was Taylor.. he wasn´t really enjoying himself and had some medical preoblems.. but none of us really know his whole story... then theres viv. miss darling Viv. Shes been having a hard time from the start but she is really great and it was a really hard goodbye.. but she will be happier at home. So in a way we are happy for her.

The weekend over all was fantastic!! Vanessa, Kayla and I had some great adventures on the way home both in třebič and in Okřišky :)

Dobrou noc

Anička xoxo

Day 74

Oh my goodness.. its been a good week! and Ive been so excited for this weekend (a rotary weekend!!) that the time has just flown by!

School was school.. no difference there.. but I started my tutoring this week and tonight I finally made it to my first Fishnet event!
Tuesday was the first tutoring lesson.. we talked about Canada. It went really well. I brought some Candian currency and we disscussed the differences between who is represented on the canadian bills and on the czech bills aswell. we talked about everything. the chat lasted around 2 hours and it was great! it went much better than i was anticipating. Radek (the mans name that i am tutoring) had prepared some great questions and Lucy (the teacher) enjoyed taking part aswell. Lucy also has a small collection of english books that I was permitted to borrow from.. which I was eternally thankfull for, having finished all of my current material.. and I borrowed a few.

Tonight was absolutely fantastic!! Jarka invited me yet again to a fishnet event.. and i was able to attend! Fishnet is a group that works here (and in many other countries) to help connect youth with other youth in need of some guidance or assistance... Its an American based organisation and there are 5 americans here in Ostrava helping put on the fishnet activities. They put on activities frequently which many youth attend.. though its not an open event for everyone.. the people who do attend are encouraged to invite a friend.. So tonight was a games night.. scrabble, boggle, risk, monoploy.. and the like.. and Jarka invited me along. It was a great opportunity to meet the young adults here from the states and talk to them about there stay here in the Czech Republic. Its a three year or a few month program.. you pick which one you would like to sign up for.. everyone in Ostrava has been here at least one and a half years.. :)!! So they know the ins and outs of the town! really good conection to have! Everyone was really quite nice and I got a few new phone numbers aswell! next friday they are hosting a čajovna (teashop) and there putting together a bunch of teas and goodies. Exciting!!

Vítek met up with Jarka and I after and we made our way to a čajovna. Lovely! Its really quite a fantastic atmosphere to be in! very peacefull and calming.. Despite rthe fact that I haven´t found any ´chai´tea.. I found a tea that comes pretty darn close! :)

Tomorrow Vanessa, Josh and I leave for Jindřichuv Hradec (In-dree-koov hra-debts) for the rotary weekend! Im soo excited to see everyone and to travel on the train!!

YAY!!

Jsem s unavená, tak dobrou noc!!

Anička xoxo

Day 68

so today is sunday... a few days since I´ve updated.. but I´ve had a few down days: reading, trying to do some baking, and helping out around the house.. that I didn´t think would make for the best blog material.. so overal school is just the same as it always is.. But yesterday was quite eventfull so heres the update : I went out with a few new guy today. I´ve never been out with them before so im really excited§! Weŕe going to the gym then hitting up the pool to goof off and do some laps. It was supposed to be Roman, Vašek and a blond girl whose name i never quite caught.. but she backed out. When we go thtere the gym was closed so we went for a walk instead. The guys gave me a little tour of that end of town, since I had never explored the area.. then we stopped by a friends place to see if he wanted to come with us.. he wasn´t in but his brother was more than happy to tag along. So the 4 of us explored the playgrounds and the feilds at the other end of town then made our way to the pool. The pool was great fun! The guys walked me home and we made some plans for next week. I was planning for a quiet night at home when i got a call from Vanessa (an exchange student who lives near by from canada) asking if i was interested in going out with her aunt and her. Not one to turn down an opportunity i said of course! Turns out her aunts friend was Djing a disco at a local place and he had saved us a table! We were up dancing all night and even put in some song suggestions! (i asked for the twist :)!! ) It was a fantastic end to the day! really good day overall!!

Then today I spent moist of the day lounging around and reading one of the books that i borrowed from the exchange students. Fantastic read.. its called ´the constant gardner´.

tata for now Iĺl update again soon..

Čau, Anička

Day 63

Firstly I have to mention that last night, as I was sleeping innocently, a mosquito decided that I would be the perfect candidate for a surprise attack. Not only did I receive multiple bites all over my upper and lower body.. but the mosquito was so kind as to bite me right on the lid of my left eye, causing it to swell completely shut. As it remained for the duration of the day! From the (limited) looks of things now it, will be swollen for a few more days... I surely was a sight to see at school today, and everone made sure to come over and ask how I was doing and what the heck happened to me.. It was great fun and we all got a few good laughs out of it all. So school went well... :)

After school I took the tram down into the centre to meet with one my English teachers who had asked me to meet with her husband and her to practice their English.
We met at this lovely café and talked for about 2 hours. It was great. The couple is quite nice. So we have arranged that on Tuesdays we will meet and her husband and I (since her English is already quite good) will talk about a previously decided topic. Next weeks topic is Canada.

Its late, so I´m off to bed

Dobrou noc

Anička

Day 60

This morning, after a classic czech breakfast of rolls with an assortment of meats and cheeses, Vítek and I went out for another walk. We went up the mountains near by, where Vítek showed me this great spot where you can see the whole village down below. It took my breath away ( or was that the mighty hike up there??.. ) Anyways, it was amazing! Then we found some trails around the mountain and had fun getting lost in them for a while.. Then we found the BESTEST, the GRANDEST, the MOST FANTASTIC pile of leaves to jump in ever! You literally just had to fall forward into the leaves and you would be completely lost in them.. we had to swim our way out of it so we could jump back in!! it was really but truly great!!! Ive made a point of juming in every suitable pile of leaves Ive come across so far and slowly Vítek has come around and now jumps in them as frequently as I do with a similar look of child like happiness on his face! it was really Great and kept our attention for a good 45 minutes! Then we continued on our walk. We rolled down the ski hill that we came across then made are way to the river then back to the cottage for some lunch. Tonight I went over to Vanessa place for the night.. We watched Amazing Grace and had some chocolate... a gals night :) It was good fun!

But Its late now so i am off to bed.. we have some chatting to do!! lol

Dobrou Noc
Anička

Day 59

So tonight we headed up to the families Cottage. After school Vítek and I packed up some things and headed to the train station... I always get really excited heading to the train station!!
So we got to the cabin and enjoyed a mug of tea with Babíčka and Dědeček (grandma and grandpa), then Vítek and I headed out for a walk. He took me for a walk into the near by village, its quite small, and showed me around. It was great to hear some of the stories he had to share about his childhood in the cabin. It was really sweet. We all got in our jammies and watched a cute black and white Czech film, enjoying yet another mug of tea. (They drink a lot of tea here!!)

It was a great evening.. Dobrou Noc
Anička

Day 58

So today a band from California came and played at our school. It wasn´t really my kind of music but it was fantastic to talk with them after the show... they stuck around and talked with the group about life in the States and theirs tours.. They have been in the Czech republic for 5 weeks touring.. I stayed with them for a bit afterwards helping them with clean up to talk about their thoughts and experiences in the Czech Republic. It was a great opportunity and Im soo happy they came.

After they left and I cought up with my friends.. I found it really hard to come back to the czech reality. It was a pretty tough afternoon, their was a part of me that wished I could go with the group (touring some of the czech republic then head back home), but their was a greater part of me that realized what a mistake that would be. I can´t imagine walking away from an opportunity like this. It truely is fantastic here and my friends are really great! Supportive and kind, we have tons of fun together. Ive really bonded with a few of them. Im starting to see more of the subtle differences between the cultures and really starting to appreciate being able to see from a new perspective.. Its been really great and I look forward to the rest of my stay!

I messaged Vanessa and we met up in the center.. It was time for an exchange experience talk. We talked about our families, about home, about the ups and downs.. Its really great to have someone to chat with thats going through some of the same things.

The evening ended well with a chat with home. I got the chance to talk not opnly with my mom but with my dad and my brother for a bit. It really helps to ease your un easiness. Coming into the exchange I expected quite the opposite, that after chatting with home I would find it reaqlly hard to come back to my Czech Reality, but it really helps me actually. I guess its different for everyone.

So after it all it was a great day!

Love you all. Dobrou Noc,
Anička