Osvětim (Auschwitz)

No words.

Oh to speak Czech in Poland..

After a weekend in Poland, it is good to be 'home.'  The weekend started bright and early Friday morning with about 10.5 hours on the bus (we did get an hour for lunch).  And despite the fact that the trip was unbearably long, it was good to have all the AIFS students back together again. We all live in the same building, but we have created our own sub-groups (naturally..) and this was just a good refresher of our whole group.  It was great to catch up with those people that you "sometimes see and say hello to, but don't ever have a chance to sit down and talk." And it reemphasized how far we've really come after having been here for 2 and a half months..

Upon arriving in Krakow, we headed to the main square to grab a quick bite to eat. In a frantic attempt for all 54 of us to get a traditional Polish meal, we somehow seemed to end up at the same restaurant. And for some (odd..) reason, this was not very pleasing to the staff of the restaurant ;]. So instead, Annie, Kari, Court, and I headed down the street to the highly recommended Georgian restaurant..and oh man, was it worth it!

Now, to understand the next part of this story, I need to rewind a few months. Right before I left for Prague, mom pulled out all the old European money that her and dad had from their previous European adventures. Part of that was some Polish money from 20 or so years ago. Fast-forward to this weekend. Oh man, was I excited when I input the 1000 zlotych in the currency converter to be told I had close to $400 on my hands. Little did I know that Poland apparently changed their currency in the last 15 years to compensate for the overinflation the country used to have (100-1000%!!). Good thing I found out when the waitress said "This isn't real...not anymore at least." Crying shame. Apparently I can exchange the "old" zloty for the "new" zloty at the Polish National Bank. But my 1000 zlotych note is approximately worth 1 new zloty (35 cents). Not worth it in my opinion. I'd rather frame it!

Apart from that, our weekend mostly consisted of wandering around and sampling polish cuisine.

Sunday, we began the trip back to Prague (it was a short weekend..) with a 3 hour stop to Auschwitz along the way. I won't talk about it, because I don't think I can put it into words. I tend to express myself through photos (if you haven't noticed...) and so that is what I will do. But since I'm simply describing via photos, I think it deserves it's own blog. So look to the next one.

Capture Emotion

This week our photography goal was to capture 2 separate emotions. The first photo is from the Terezin concentration camp.

"The opposite of a profound truth may very well be another profound truth." -Bohr

After my failed attempt at attending Unitaria last week, I finally made it to service this week.

While I am doing everything possible to immerse myself within Czech culture, I have made a decision when it comes to church. My plan is to attend a Catholic service in Czech every Sunday morning and then to attend the English Unitarian service afterwards. Although it means that I am going to "church" twice every Sunday, I wouldn't change it for the world. And it has proved to be very interesting.  I actually learn Czech by going to the Catholic mass, since the mass is basically the same as back home. However, I still get my weekly dose of spiritual thought by going to Unitaria.

All of that aside, I have truly found my home away from home in the Unitaria congregation. I attended alone and when I got to the place it was held, I was greeted by a woman named Susan and Reverend Mark. Susan quickly introduced me to her friend Nancy, who is responsible for the music in the service.

In the first 2 minutes of our conversations, I found out that both ladies are from Chicago and Nancy actually worked at Carthage up until a year and a half ago when they moved to Prague. (So if anyone from Carthage knows a Nancy Henninger..!!) It's amazing what happens when you are 4000 miles from home. I also learned that Nancy lived in Germany for 28 years as an opera singer and used to teach at NIU. What a small world.

I won't reveal too much about the service, cause I doubt many actually will want to hear about it. But I will add this little tidbit: I have never felt more at home in any community. And the fact that I spent an additional 2 hours after service just talking with the members is absolute proof of that.

Intolerance

There are very few things that make me extremely mad.
However, when a person chooses to be hateful towards another due to culture, or a person chooses to judge that person based on their background, I have very little patience.
On my tour of the Jewish Quarter today, our tour guide decided to share this little treasure with us:
"Czechs are very tolerant of all religions. 'Cept Muslims. We don't like Muslims. I think it is cause we don't like explosions."

Problems with this previous statement::
1. You THINK that's why you don't like them? You don't actually know why you personally dislike an entire culture??
2. Judging an entire race based on a few extremists is unacceptable.
3. Explaining to the tour group that your entire country feels this way is unnecessary. And false. Your own personal views do not represent an entire country.
Being an American in Europe, I have seen and felt how horrible it is to be judged based on a stereotype. And I would never wish it upon anyone to be judged on the American stereotype. Why then, would you try to group your entire country together? Every country is made up of individual personalities and individual views. It is impossible, therefore, to say what "all of the Czech Republic" feels about a specific issue.

But it just goes to show you: intolerant people are universal. And we can't escape them.

Unfortunately.

☮

Peace comes in all shapes and sizes. It is in all forms. And it is always present. All you need to do is search for it.

I wandered across the John Lennon Wall today. I've been planning to go visit it since day one, but it always got put off.  "We'll go there tomorrow." "We'll go next week."
And then randomly, it happens to be along the path on my journey.

It's amazing how you wander across little reminders when you need them most.
Mother Universe is funny like that.

Raw eggs should not be left in your pocket..

Our next photography project was to photograph eggs. Seriously. And it was a chance to be creative.
So for now, I present to you my egg shots.
Comments always loved. Although I've already turned it in, feedback still appreciated!

Oh..and as evidenced by the title, don't ever place said decorated egg in your coat pocket to prevent you from dropping said egg. Because inevitably, you will lean over the bridge to get a cool shot of Prague and inevitably, said egg will crack..all over your coat pocket..

Scratch that..just remember to take the time to hardboil said egg.

As my photography professor says, "there is nothing a photographer wouldn't do for a shot."
That's great, but next time I'll just take the egg out of my pocket..