Christmas!!!!

Ok, so I have heard from a little bird (my mother) that people are really wanting to hear about Christmas, and are tired of waiting. Well, my friends, I have been busy with my family. Isn't that what you want to hear?

On the weekend of the 8-10, we had a family celebration in Pec with about 20 other people, mainly extended family on my host dad's side. It was really laid back, with dinner on Friday night lasting until 10:30, and drinks followed until 12:30. On Saturday, we went for a hike back to Deer Meadows. This time the little mountain restaurant wasn't closed, so we stopped for drinks again. The adults had their beer, and the teenagers had water. On the way back to the hotel, it started to rain. During the afternoon, people used the 'fitness facilities'. In other words, I went swimming. Dinner was a buffet, then we sat around for drinks as we listened to the folk group, again. Sunday morning was a time for pictures. We all looked at the pictures from last summer on the group boat in Croatia, then Karel (my host dad) brought out his pictures from Peru. I think there must have been around 2000 pictures that he took in the week and a half he was gone. No, I didn't add too many zeros to that figure. When we finished looking at all of them (an hour and a half later), we had lunch and said our goodbyes. It had been snowing all morning, and was starting to stick on the ski slopes by the time the 5 of us went back to Trutnov.

The next weekend was our weekend in Prague. We drove to town on Saturday, and met the next door neighbors for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Just FYI, European Chinese is different than American Chinese. Then, we checked into our hotel (look at the pictures under Prague Christmas on my Photobucket), and headed to the theatre. We had tickets to the 3:00 show. I was impressed with the theatre, but I was amazed when I was lead to the VIP balcony, and instructed to sit in the front row of the balcony. Yep, my family had connections. The musical was fantastic!!! It was a combination of Romeo and Juliet, Phantom of the Opera, and Les Mis. The plot was roughly: The plague hits the Christian part of Prague, and the Christians get mad that the Jews aren't dying. They want to fight each other, but the Rabbi's daughter and one of the Christians try to stop the fighting. They meet and fall in love. The Jews call on an ancient figure, Golem, to protect them. Golem is made of clay and cant talk, but had protected the ghetto in the past. Unfortunately, this time the ceremony to bring him to life goes wrong. He turns out to be an evil Golem, and falls in love with the Rabbi's daughter too. Things go wrong, people die, and in the end the Christians and Jews have to decide to unite if they want to destroy Golem. The best part was, there were English subtitles, so I understood everything. On Sunday, we had family shopping time at a huge mall in the suburbs. It was a very American thing to do, except a lot of the store were British or French. If you are somebody who loves to shop, go to those countries, not here. This country is for the history buffs and nature lovers. Anyway, back to topic.....

I cant believe that Christmas is already behind me. Yes, I know that there is still a week without school, but the actual day is over. This Friday, we had some of the neighbors over for a nice holiday meal. I'm impressed with the positive relationship the Rada family has with their neighbors. The weekend was lazy, but still festive. On Saturday, I helped to decorate the Christmas tree with cookies, chocolates, glass balls, straw figures, and straw lanyards. My host mom's parents arrived on Saturday, and they are really nice, kind people. I'm happy to say that I can answer all of their questions in Czech. The Grandma is also learning English (its a trend here), and I can answer most of the translation questions she has.

Sunday, Christmas Eve, was the day with all of the celebrations. In Europe, people celebrate Christmas on the 24th. In the morning, I made little boats with Misa (the 4 year old) out of walnut shells. We put little candles in them and floated them in a bucket of water. I have heard two stories about the boats: If they sink, you die OR the distance they float is how far from home you will travel in the coming year. Misa pushed them all around the bucket, so I don't know how far mine would have floated on their own. The good news is that they all floated. In the afternoon, I went on a walk with Misa and the grandparents. Dinner was carp and cold potato salad, the typical Czech meal. It was good, but I think I like American Christmas food better. No scales, no hard boiled eggs. Next, the young people (me, Katka, and Misa) we banished to the computer room and instructed to look for baby Jesus. Here, there is no Santa Claus. Jesus brings presents to good kids. Misa is a really smart kid, she told me that Santa delivers presents in America and Baby Jesus delivers them here. When we were allowed back into the living room, there were presents under the tree. Before opening them, we sat on the couch (all 7 of us) and sang songs. Of course they were traditional Czech carols, but I chimed in on the parts that I knew. Most of you know how bad of a singer I am, but I sang Silent Night in English at the request of the family. Then, the mad present opening time began. I think everyone liked their American/Australian gifts that I had carefully picked out, or at least I hope so. The rest of the night, we watched movies together on T.V. and enjoyed our new presents.

Saint Nicholas Day

Well, the Christmas season has really started. Tuesday was St. Nicholas day, which is the first round of presents for young children. My family and I went up to my host dad's hotel in Pec, where a celebration was organized for the guests. A rock band for kids played first, and the kids, aged baby to about 8, danced. They sang some Czech Christmas songs, traditional Czech kid songs, and some English songs. It was strange to see a man dressed in a Kiss costume singing to the group, and a man dressed as Freddie Mercury dancing around. As the teenagers and adults ate dinner, the traditional show began. A man dressed as St. Nick came out with an angel and some devils. Imagine a man in golden robes, a fake beard, and a pope's hat. Each child had their names called, and they had to recite a poem or sing a short song. The devil would try to convince St. Nick that they were a bad child, and they deserved to be carried off to Hell in his brown bag. The angels would argue that the child had been good, or deserved another chance. In the end, every child recieved a present (provided by the parents). It was scary for some of the youngest kids, because devils were staring them in the face, and all of the kids took it seriously.

Prague

Wow, Prague is definately one of my favorite cities in the world now. I have fallen under its spell. This weekend I revelled in the town for three days with my new friends and had only a small taste of what it has to offer.

Friday was a day off of school for me because I left Trutnov at 11:00 in the morning. It was a 2.5 hour drive by bus, but I used the time to listen to music and sleep. I love traveling alone here, it is so hastle free. I arrived on the outskirts of town and hopped on the metro to the main bus station. There I met some of the students and former students who lived in Prague or near-by towns. We walked to the hostel, which was really close, where the rest of the group was already checking in. After a short time to unpack and settle in, we all went to a local pub for dinner. We were typical tourists, loud and hungry. Next was a hockey game between one of the Prague teams (Praha Sparta) and another team from another town. The Canadians of the group were the craziest, dressed in Canada shirts and hats, and wrapped in Canadian flags. Being a southerner, I felt really lost in the game. Soccer is more my style, to watch and play. Sparta won, and there were tons of loud and excited fans around us as we walked back to the hostel. I stayed up until 2:00 talking to people, then crashed.

Saturday was supposed to be an 8:00 start, so I was up at 7:00, like most people. Unfortunately one of the organizers was late, and the departure time was changed to 'later'. There was a scavenger hunt planned for the morning, so we split into groups to explore Old Town. We left the hotel at 10:15, armed with questions to answer and a sack lunch. The Rotex (former exchange students) walked with us, but wouldn't help. At first my group would ask people on the street, but we didn't get very far. Soon we found ourselves in the main square. The people at the town hall were very helpful, especially since we tried to speak Czech instead of English, like most tourists. With a map and names of destinations, we found a famous beer hall, a church with an unusially large alter (St. Giles church), the bar where Pilsner was first tapped in Prague, and an upside down statue, amoung seeing many other things. When all of the groups met up again, we slowly started to walk towards the castle. We stopped at another beautiful church ( I cant find the name right now), walked across the Charels Bridge (too many people!!), and up the hill to the castle. The castle isn't a regular stone mass with lots of towers, it has regular-sized bilding on the outside with a breath-taking cathedral on the inside of the walls. We walked through the cathedral, which has the most amazing stain glass panels I have ever seen. We also had free time in the Golden Lane, a famous steet inside the castle. It wasn't as great as the guide books say, it was just like other shopping places in Prague. Next we all took a tram to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. After eating, we had free time in the main square. The Christmas markets started that day, so there was good shopping opportunities. A stage was set up, so the sounds of children singing American and Czech Christmas songs drifted through the air, along with the smell of roasting chestnuts and sweet things. Sure, there were masses of people, but it was still magical. Most of the group went ice skating next, but I wasn't ready to leave the square, and I don't do well on skates. A small group had the same thoughts, so we went to a cafe for hot chocolate or coffee while sitting under blankets and watching the giant flashing Christmas tree. Perfection. When the ice skating group finished, we all walked back to the hostel. We had a short meeting to announce the winners of the hunt, and my group tied for first place. We had Czech cake to celebrate. We all sat and talked for a while, but one guy had his lap-top full of movies, so I watched Eurotrip and Boondock Saints with a few people. We started to watch Kill Bill, but lost interest. I went to sleep at 5:00, and slept like a log.

At 8:30, I woke up and felt like I had been sleeping for 10 hours. This is not normal for me, but in times like this, I can run on adrenaline alone. People started to head to the train or bus station, and I soon organized with my host dad to meet him at the Holiday Inn. I know, how Czech. He was in town for a conference, so it was convient to ride back to Trutnov with him. We stopped at his friend's apartment for a quick lunch, then drove back. I napped for part of the time (understandable, right?). When we arrived at the house, it was all decorated inside (except, no tree), so the Christmas spirit is going strong here.