1) Our course ended a week ago. The day itself was shrouded
in mystery, as both alums and teachers had warned us that the last day was
going to hold a menacing surprise. “Just wait,” they said, “it won’t be
pleasant but you’ll be a better person for it.” We were all on edge anyway,
having stayed up for a few nights straight cramming for methodology and grammar
finals, so when we walked back into the room at 5pm that Friday and there were
lists of various schools for which we had to plan a lesson and substitute for a
90 minute class (with only 30 min to prepare a lesson) some people LOST it.
Pretty sure there were tears. We were scurrying to create impromptu lesson
plans when our instructors informed us that they had brought some materials to
help us out. They opened their briefcases and pulled out champagne and pastries
and said “congratulations, you made it…don’t forget to scare the next class!”
2) The next day was Saturday, and one of my students had
invited me on a tour of “unknown Prague.” Of course I was intrigued, and Ronya
was an interesting person anyway. She was always quiet and the other students
hated her because she was a wee bit more skilled than they but still insisted
upon speaking Czech in English class. She works for a publishing house in
Prague, and speaking English will make her more qualified for a promotion she’s
anticipating. Anyway, Lindsay, Andi and I met Ronya at the Astronomical Clock
in Old Town Square with a little trepidation—no idea what this tour would hold.
She gave the tour just like she was telling a story. The
main character was Czech Princess Anushka (St. Agnes), who had denounced
lucrative marriages in favor of the religious life. Ronya had drawn diagrams
and written out key words and phrases in a notebook so that she could remember
how to explain things in English. One of these phrases was “holy roller,” and
throughout the tour she continually referred to the princess as such. Lindsay,
Andi and I are still laughing. She took us to the hospital that Anushka
established, because there are secret chapels and a necropolis underneath.
There’s a flu epidemic in the city now, so we weren’t able to see much, but
when we walked outside again, Ronya whipped out a package. “Do you know what
this is?” she asked. We hesitated for a minute—suspicious Americans as always,
but Ronya had just handed us an insert of odd looking pills. “Veetameens!” she
exclaimed, “so you will not have flu!” It was precious, and so thoughtful. We
expressed our gratitude and quietly slid the pills in our pockets. Suspicious
Americans.
After that, Ronya took us to Princess Anushka’s convent. It
was beautiful, but sort of sad at the same time. The Czechs are not a religious
people. Anyone you meet will tell you in a heartbeat that they do not believe
in God, that it is as foolish as believing in Christmas (aka Santa Claus). The
convent was entirely empty of pews, an altar, icons—really anything at all. It’s
all walls and ceilings, emblematic of their national religious identity.
We proceeded to a nondescript building down the street, and
therein discovered an extensive gallery of 14th century religious
artwork. The pieces were breathtakingly beautiful and old—just chillin in this
building no unsuspecting person would have reason to enter. There were quite a
few people milling about, however, and Ronya pointed out a few more “holy
rollers” in the centuries old works. I’m still pondering what all of those
painting and sculptures mean to people who don’t believe in any of it. We finished
the tour with Czech fast food and the story of Princess Anushka’s beatification
just 5 days before the Velvet Revolution and the fall of communism in 1989. One of the many things I love about the Czechs
is that their hundreds of years of history is tied so tightly to the present—it’s
pretty cool to feel like we’re living a major part of it even right now with
their first democratic election.
3) The last few days: I feel unbelievably blessed to have
met so many incredible people here so far. It’s amazing to think that 6 weeks ago,
I didn’t know any of these people who are such a huge part of my life now. My
roommate Andi is one of these people—we could not have had more opposite backgrounds
yet could not be more fundamentally similar. We have been arranging our
apartment and gathering all the little things (you never think about needing a
huge soup pot until you’re knee deep in chopped vegetables and raw chicken with
nowhere to put them) and attempting to break the mental barrier that is
cooking/grocery shopping here.
One of our friends is having a housewarming potluck dinner
tonight, so I decided yesterday’s challenge of the day would be making a king
cake. Everyone’s pictures and tweets were making me so jealous! So I translated
the ingredients into Czech and set out on my adventure. It took about 7 stops,
a few drawings and a česky/anglicky dictionary, but I eventually found
everything I needed. FYI: Food coloring (potravinářské barvivo) is not a thing. I
had completely resigned myself to a lame white frosted king cake, when I entered
one last potraviny and shared a special moment with a worker who took me to a
side room with an entire shelf of the stuff.
Aside from using a peanut as the baby, it’s pretty legit. No
one in our group has ever heard of a king cake(travesty), so here’s hoping for
a good first impression.
I s’pose that’s enough for now. I start my new job Monday!
Send some good vibes my way :)
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