Cool Slang

My classes this quarter are in a language center in downtown Prague. They mainly teach English here. I'm currently in the free computer lab which is the easiest place for me to access the internet. While writing an e-mail I looked up and noticed a poster of English slang which I think is pretty awesome. I've never used most of these words. But, I would like to start.

• pants- adj. very bad The concert was pants.
• shedload-n. a lot of something They've got shedloads of stuff for sale.]
• snaffle- v. to take something quickly I managed to snaffle a couple of biscuits.
• sorted- adj. provided with the things you want Are we sorted for alcohol tonight.

Maybe this is British slang that I am just not hip to. But snaffle is one of my new favourite words.

Anti-America

I had a particularly lovely day today. I walked through all the Mala Strana gardens and went to the Kampa Museum next to the Vltava. Today was a particularly hot day outside so I headed toward Cafe Slavia to get an ice cream Sundae. As I was about to cross the street, some police officers cut me off telling me I could not cross.

Around the corner came a flood of people waving flags, blowing whistles, and shouting a variety of things in Czech. Things I could not understand. Most of the flags said peace, but a few had pictures of missiles with X's through them. I shivered. I knew this was about me and my country.

Bush wants to build a radar site in the Czech Republic. The administration claims it is innocent enough. They just want to expand their positioning through Eastern Europe. But Eastern Europe knows better. The CR has a perfect positioning between Russia and Iran. The positioning of a radar base here is nothing more than a power play telling these two ever-threatening powers that America will still kick your ass if you try anything. It's all a big power play and the CR is nothing but a pawn.

It is completely understandable why the Czechs are so up in arms as well. This country has been bullied around by its fair share of world powers. The Austro-Hungarian empire set up shop in Prague Castle. Western powers essentially handed over a huge chunk of Czechoslovakia to Hilter without consulting any Czechs and then the Nazis marched right into the rest of the country a few months later. Soviet tanks periodically drove in and out of Prague to remind everyone that they were in charge. So, yeah, maybe this country is a little sick of being pushed around by big bully countries which is all America seems to be lately.

With so many problems within our own country, it seems illogical for our leaders to be spending almost all their time intimidating and invading sovereign nations. American imperialism is way out of hand and all in the name of freedom. What the fuck is that anyways? Just some people talking, right? But, at the same time, it is not necessarily fair for Czechs to walk down the streets with American flags that read "We Hate You" on the back side. I didn't vote for Bush. I don't support America's actions in the CR, in Iraq, etc. In fact, it seems that most Americans are not with our president. Our media lies to us about situations abroad, people's homes are illegally searched in the name of patriotism, in anyone should understand our frustrations Eastern Europe should.

Instead, Bush arrives in a week, and I find myself in situations like the one today where I am made to feel ashamed of my homeland which I do miss dearly. I would love to stand with the Czechs in Wenceslas Square and protest the Bush visit. But, frankly, I'm a little scared to.

Beer: A Love Story

My experience with beer has overall been negative. Up until a few months ago, beer brought to mind high school parties with warm PBR, college keggars with sticky floors, and overall a watery substance that makes me have to pee and feel a little bit fatter the next morning. I was not a beer girl. Vodka is the name of my game.

Things have changed though. In this country, beer is always the cheapest beverage on the menu. Costing usually between 75 cents and a $1.50. It is also just a part of the culture to sit down in a restaurant and wave off the waitress with "Pivo." You don't need to specify what kind. They will just bring you the cheapest they have on tap. And while in the States this usually means something horrifically watery and disgusting. Here, it's usually Budweiser Budvar or Pilsner Urquell both of which are rich and nourishing. Beer is like water here. Refreshing, cool, and plentiful.

My trip to the Pilsner brewery is also a highlight of my life with beer. The guided tour of the brewery is very informational and fascinating. But, by far, the best part is the cup of beer they give you in the end. Unpasteurized, unfiltered, amazing. It's rich, has a mixture of flavors and an almost sweet aftertaste while still holding onto the classic bitterness that one associates with a fine brew. Why can't all beer be like that? Well, it goes bad quicker. So for the sake of preservation, they take all the good stuff out. Beer at its core is far greater than we in America are led to believe.

Czechs are the number one consumers of beer in the world and they take the beverage seriously. It's a fundamental part of social life, meals, and czech culture in general. Today, I visited a brewery in Prague called Pivovarsky Dum (Brewery House). I sampled sour cherry flavored beer, coffee flavored beer amongst a variety of other beers and beer related food. It was so pleasant and already such a part of my life. I've never sat around drinking beers with friends so much in my life. The large beers don't even affect me anymore. I just LOVE the taste.

Beer needs a serious revamping in the States. We need to get rid of all these silly watery beers aimed at underage drinkers and embrace the flavor and culture that can be associated with fine beers. Most of all, the US needs to legalize drinking in public. Having a cool glass of beer in the park on a sunny day is by far one of the most pleasant summer activities and completely harmless. C'mon America, wake up and smell the beer.

28 Days Later...

I will be back in the US. I cannot believe that I only have two weeks left in Prague. This trip has gone by sooo fast. I definitely feel like I just got here. I'm not too worried though, because I definitely think that I will be back at some point in time. It is really sad though that everyone in the program is starting to report on the things that we will all inevitable miss: drinking in public, pastry stands in the subway, GOOD beer, trams, etc.

However, I would like to take this opportunity to do a little "God Bless America" rant. Last night as I was struggling to survive another bipolar shower of either scalding water or freezing water, I enumerated in my mind some of the things that I really do miss from home.

1. Free ice water at restaurants. This is the most obvious and what everyone says they miss about the US. But, it is true. Having to constantly pay for water sucks and seems really unfair for some reason.
2. Being able to communicate. I will LOVE being able to go into a restaurant and actually understand the menu, to go into the bank, post office, anywhere really and be able to voice what I need.
3. Smiling people. Czechs do not smile at one another or at all really. I cannot wait for all the superficially happy American faces that will embrace me when I disembark the train.
4. Internet. Not having Wikipedia access within my living space is unbearable and also makes doing homework rather difficult.
5. Spicy Food. Although kebabs in both Vienna and Krakow were pretty spicy, they still do not compare to fire cheetos, jalapeno poppers, etc.

And, I miss my people. Mostly when I daydream about home, I think about my family, my friends, my apartment, and how awesome I anticipate summer to be.

Young and Stupid

Sunday morning, 6AM, I got out of bed and got ready to take a three and a half hour train to Sokolov to willingly throw myself off a bridge. So goes the idiocy of extreme sports.

Ten of us decided to go bungee jumping off the tallest bridge in the Czech Republic. When the idea came up, my thoughts were "Sure" and "Sounds like fun." But, as I walked out to the middle of the bridge and looked down, my thoughts were mainly "Shit" and "No fucking way." The only other person as terrified as me was Max who happens to be terrified of heights. We were eighth and ninth to go, so we spent a lot of time trying to console one another. It didn't help that the contracts we signed were in Czech and all the people running it were also speaking rapid Czech.

Bungee Jumping is stupid. Why throw yourself off a bridge? It is one of the most counterintuitive things imaginable? Your entire body and mind is just saying "No, don't do this. You are going to die." But, I had paid 800 crowns ($40) so I had to go.

I don't even know how I did it. The guy behind me counted down, and I closed my eyes as tight as possible and just went. You are supposed to dive head first, but for anyone who wasn't on swim team with me or hasn't heard the story, I suck at diving and definitely usually kind of hop in instead of diving. So that is what I did. I jumped off and the world completely fell away. My eyes were closed, I couldn't hear anything besides the wind blowing past me, and I felt nothing but wind in my face. I had no thoughts. My head was completely clear. It also felt like I was falling for at least 5 or 10 minutes instead of 2 seconds. I didn't scream until I felt the bungee pulling me back. I only opened my eyes once I started heading back up. I opened them in time to see the bridge coming at me. I really thought I was going to hit it and die. But, alas, I did not. Instead, I hit the rope smack in the face. Basically, it was like jumping off a bridge and immediately being punched in the face for it. Then comes the spinning. I was trying to enjoy the view but could not because I was just spinning in circles very very fast. Being pulled back up was by far the best part. The view was pretty crazy and my heart was pounding and the adrenaline rush was a little overwhelming. When I reached the top, Raijan was taking pictures of me, Max was hugging me, some girl was giving me a certificate and I couldn't even thing straight. It was like I wasn't there. I felt like I had actually died and was now just walking around as a ghost. But eventually I remembered my lip was bleeding, my nose was bleeding, and I was really tired.

I slept very very well last night. I don't know if I will ever do that again. I'm really glad I did it, but I do not feel the need to ever repeat that action again.

Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpgjR5afc6k

A Walk to Remember

I got back from Berlin yesterday. That city is massive. Germans really value space. There are extensive gardens and parks everywhere and all the large and grandiose buildings are well spaced out. Although Berlin is the fourth largest city in Europe and packed with tourists, I never felt cramped or overwhelmed by all the people. My trip was overall really relaxing. Tuesday night was probably the most memorable.

In the morning we drove the bus throughout the city while Vera told us about the different sights and the history of the city. We only covered a tiny little area of the city in two whole hours. In the afternoon we went to the "Story of Berlin" museum which was sooooo extensive. The first room was empty with huge screens on the wall with fish. I guess that was Berlin a couple million years ago?? I really meant extensive. At the end was an uber-kitsch gift store where I got a snap bracelet with East Berlin traffic signals on it. Everyone was really jealous.

Afterwards Mike and Vera took us to "the best ice cream place in Europe." It was in the Sony center and was pretty impressive. Our sundaes were very large and really good. We all kind of had sugar comas when we were done. So a few of us wanted to go to the McDonalds downstairs to get something really quick and cheap. Some people in the group scoffed. But whatever. I had my first big Mac ever. Kinda gross. The not-too-cool-for-McDonald's group ended up being yours truly, Sarah, Sheila, Shaunna, Raihann, Iris, Rachel, Sick Matt, and Andrew. We were in West Berlin and kind of far from our hostel. But, our tram tickets had expired and were 2 euros which is way too expensive. So we walked.

As we turn the corner leaving the Sony center. Sheila's eyes got huge as she pointed in the distance and yelled "What are those?" Those were very very large metal see-saws in the middle of a hilly park. We ran over and rode them for about half an hour while taking pictures and laughing.

We continued walking and found the heart of the Sony center which is architecturally fascinating and the sun was setting directly behind. We took a lot of pictures jumping in the sunset. A little further on we found some remnants of the Berlin wall. There was gum all along the side and we decided to also donate our saliva to Berlin. I have spit sitting on the Berlin wall now. I left a piece of me in the motherland.

I'm now realizing that this isn't too amazing a story unless you were there. We eventually walked from west to east under the Brandenburg gate and saw some futuristic cars and laughed a lot and had a good time eventually having beers at the hostel bar and meeting some American soldiers on leave from duty in Iraq.

A good night, but yeah. You had to be there.

Doctor Doctor

I went to the doctor on Friday to beg for some drugs to cure this incurable sore throat. The doctor was Czech and the doctor's office was actually a little office where I was extensively interviewed about my ailments. After a while I hopped up on the examining table where I was told he was about to take my temperature. Then, the doctor lifted my arm and stuck the thermometer in my armpit. It really bothered me. I think that the armpit is one of the most inappropriate places to take a temperature in the sense that it doesn't really give a very good indicator as to the body's temperature not like the ear or throat would. And it wasn't a disposable thermometer either. He merely rinsed it under water when he was done. Ew. How many armpits has that thing seen? It's like that sex ed. theory that when you sleep with someone, you have inadvertently also slept with everyone they slept with. I feel like such an armpit slut.

Anyways, I was proscribed an antiobiotic throat spray called "Fusafunginum." Say that word out loud right now. Do it! It'll make your day that much better.

Cultural Differences Part Deux

I am really starting to enjoy the entirety of my program group now. I was very hesitant at first seeing as how 10/22 of them are Greek system people. Yikes! But, stereotypes have been broken down and I actually really enjoy them. However, it is like a whole new world. Their ways are strange to me. The main thing is the whole music thing. The Greek system soundtrack, apparently, consists of bad rap and dorky hip-hop. I do love my En Vogue, Salt-n-Peppa, Kanye West, etc. But, that's about as far as my knowledge of the genre really goes.

When we go out to clubs, we usually end up going to clubs that play this type of music. And then there is the dancing. To me, it is not really dancing as much as undulations and groping. Sheila taught me to "break off" which is a dance move I will only do when drunk although I end up feeling absolutely rediculous doing it. I'm too ashamed to explain the details. This whole hip-hop dancingness just plain makes me homesick for our good old fashioned Seattle dance parties which I've come to appreciate as wonderfully unique. Two instances in the past few days made me realize this.

Instance 1:
Before class yesterday, Alex was playing some music on his laptop. Good music, if I may add. Music I actually recognized. I asked him if he had "Don't Stop Believin.'" He rolled his eyes at me saying that of course he would have that timeless Journey classic. He played it and I couldn't stop myself from singing along and swaying. Matt turned to me and said "I cannot believe you like Foreigner."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I nearly had a heart attack. "First off this is Journey. Second, this song is AMAZING and the best mid-party tune ever." Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently none of them play the likes of Journey at their parties in Seattle (with the exception of Alex, I'm assuming.) I ask you, have these people not lived???

Instance 2:
Last night, for Brandon's birthday, everyone was going to go downtown to a hip-hop club called Chateau. I would normally go, but I have developed a nasty sore throat and really want to get better before we go to Berlin on Monday. I did hang out for a while in Max, Brandon, and Raijan's apartment though where I had a rather strange conversation with Sarah who is also getting sick. I explained to her why I could not be accompanying them.
"I totally get that. But it's a hip-hop club. So, I have to go," she told me.
"I guess I've just never been that into hip hop."
"Well, I just love to dance, ya know."
"Oh, I mean I really like to dance to," I explained in earnest. "I really really love to dance. I'm quite the dancing fool. But, just not to this kind of music. I'm not used to it at all."
"So you're into techno?" she grasped to understand my non-Greek ways.
"No, more like poppy dancy fun stuff. I don't know how to explain it."
"So dancing for you is like that jumping up and down stuff?"

How could I explain to her that it is so much more? That our dance parties in Seattle are the best in the world? Moral of the story, I felt the most homesick I have yet to feel on this trip. And, it made me anticipate summer sooooo much and our wonderful dance parties where Journey is not just embraced. It is adored.

Dreams Can Come True

This past weekend, the majority of the group went on a 70 mile bike trip throughout Southern Bohemia. It was absolutely beautiful and turned out to be a lot of fun. Czech people in the country side are so much nicer than the ones in Prague. Every once in a while we would pass other bikers and they would wave and say "Hello" which in Czech is "Ahoy!"

We got to spend a lot of quality time with our teachers Mike and Vera who are really interesting and all around great people. They are also married. Mike is a half-Taiwanese American and Vera is a born and raised Praguer. So it has constantly plagued my thoughts what their love story might be. Did they meet in Prague, America? Did she learn English for him? I was so curious, and finally this weekend I got answers. And it was better than I could have ever dreamed.

Vera is aside from being the coolest woman in the history of the world also the founder of the UW Prague program, and Mike was a student on the first year's program. Before you get weirded out, they are not too far apart in age. Their age difference is in fact very similar to the age difference between me and a certain teacher I recently had. They weren't involved at all during the program, it was only years later when she was visiting America to earn her PhD that their love was rekindled. They eventually married in Old Town Square Prague underneath the Astronomical Clock (an awesome sight indeed.) And now they have two of the greatest kids I've ever met. Sebastian (Sebi) a rambunctious 2-year-old and Tobias (Tobi) a delicate little pre-me at only one month old. They are the greatest family ever, and I absolutely adore them.

Their story gives hope to me and hopefully to all of you that student-teacher romances can happen and can be great. Just a lovely thought I wanted to share.

Cultural Seminar

For my classes here, we occasionally have excursions to various cultural hubs in the city. These little events are known as cultural seminars.

Today we went to the museum of Communism, which yes, is as awesome as it sounds. I bought my Dad a Stalin candle. Afterwards we started walking across town to see the memorial to the victims of communism. Today is a Labor Day so most of the streets were pretty deserted. As we approached the bridge that crosses the Vltava we notice that it is completely blocked off by police and there is smoke rising on the other side. Our cultural leader Misa ran over to ask a police man what was going on. She later informed us that there was an anarchist protest over by the memorial.

After a while they allowed us to cross the bridge, but we were still far from the memorial. What was in our way? Two tanks and about 50 police officers dressed in full swat team uniforms with Darth Vaderish helmets. Misa found out that the protest was anti-war on terrorism and mostly anti-American democracy. My friend Alex and I started practicing Scottish accents on the spot.

The tanks cleared, and Misa persisted to take us to the memorial. She calmed us saying that the anarchists were relatively peaceful and we should be thankful that we weren't near the Neo-Nazi rally which was taking place at Namesti Miru (peace square). Approaching the memorial was one of the most peculiar sites I've ever seen. The memorial itself is a series of large concrete stairs upon which were the Anarchists just hanging out with scarves tied around their faces. Facing them were about 20 Vader Cops, shields up and ready to go. But no one moved a muscle. It was a motherfucking staredown.

"But, they're so peaceful," I said quietly to myself. A nearby Czech overheard me and proceeded to explain to me that anarchists like to throw shit (literally) and would procede to do so once the police left. I didn't know whether this is true or not, but I decided to leave the memorial and get lunch at Bohemia Bagel nevertheless. About half an hour later all the police had left and the anarchists started walking home and my bagel was delicious.