Na Shledanou Praha!

I promised Beth that I would do one last blog entry. A "I'm back in Kenosha and missing Prague...a lot." article. Life has gone back to normal. Hard classes. Lots of reading. A beautiful lake, but no more pretty Prague skyline. And overall, I miss it.

I miss the language and culture and hot chocolate and soup and friends and independence and..fun.

My dorm back at Carthage is beautiful. I'm in a 3rd floor single that overlooks the frozen lake and snow. And it's stunning. I've spent just about every waking moment with friends that I missed so much and even got to spend some time with family and CSA members.

All that aside, I look forward to being back abroad. Just goes to show you that it's about time to start planning the next trip. Whether or not that's Prague--we'll see--but if there's one thing I learned from this incredible time abroad, it's that the world is too large for me to spend life in one spot. I look forward to seeing it all. There are stories I haven't covered here, but will so happily share with you all in person.

One last thought about the whole thing:: Best. Five. Months. EVER.

Lucien watching the Eurofestival my last days in Prague

curious bout the inside of a tram??

wandering late at night

last czech money..

last night at slavia

One last thought for you all::

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

As they got rid of the Christmas markets and the beautiful tree, it took a bit of a Schultz turn..
Before::

After::

Goal:: finish blog before leaving Prague... Status:: Failed.

So as I write this, I'm sitting in my room listening to Frank Sinatra. My view is no longer of the beautiful Prague skyline. In fact, that view seems like a distant dream. But I'll get to this later.
There is little to still fill you in on during the period of time that I failed to live up to my obligation of updating this blog. And so I will do so quickly.
After welcoming in the new year, I traveled to Mnichovice for the third time to visit Pavel and Marcela. To the great luck of mom and myself, though, we also had a chance to meet Eva and Milan and their new baby boy, Antonin. After spending most of the day with Pavel, Marcela, and Evichka, we made the short hike up the hill to Milada's old house, where Eva and Milan live. The weekend proved to be family filled when we met up with Svatopluk and Vlasta the next day for dinner. And what amazing people they all were. It was incredible to see Pavel and Marcela again, as well as meeting 5 new people!

Evy

She is an absolute riot.

Visiting Eva a Milan

Dinner with Svata a Vlasta

The VR signs are still present in some places.

Fastforward to the present day

Just for one post, I will update you to my "round 3!" Tonight, I did the unthinkable..I ventured out after 8 pm..completely alone. It's not that I avoided going out at night for safety reasons..oh no..it's just weird to imagine going out alone...at night. For me, it's one thing to go to a cafe and read, or out to dinner alone. But when friends back home started saying, "you should go to the bars during these 2 weeks," my mind automatically said..no, no, no. Maybe that's just me though (the girl that decided to go to freshman homecoming alone..just cause I could..).
But, I completely forgot about the relaxed, calm, and yet vibrant atmosphere that is a jazz lounge. Well, either way, I had an absolutely incredible time.
I went to a small jazz club called U Staré Paní ("At the Old Lady"). I never would have thought about going out at night during my alone time either, if Chad hadn't put the idea in my head. He mentioned to me that a friend of his would be playing at this jazz lounge tonight, and so I went. And I'm so glad I did. I introduced myself to Karel and Marie, Chad's friends. I had the first full conversation since my mom left (apart from the short return by my suite-mate, Alex, before she moved to Spain.) And I enjoyed the music immensely. Karel and Marie, were extremely warm and inviting people and the whole experience worked out!
I left, with a spring in my step and a slight need to wander: so I did.
It's amazing what happens when you go slightly out of your comfort zone, even if the feat isn't difficult.

Dear permanent headache, Please make yourself less permanent. Thanks. Love, Manda

I am determined to get everything caught back up to date...at least before I leave the country for good and this blog ceases to have a purpose. Although, I have determined that I rather like blogging. Maybe I'll start a different one. A day in the life of Amanda. Oh yeah...that'd be exciting....

New Year's Eve was altogether too much fun. Back in the states, it becomes a holiday of drinking for many. Ok, maybe that's a universal thing. But there's a big difference when you can go out without worrying about being on the road with drunk drivers. Thank goodness for public transit.
The night was absolutely chaotic, and a tad humorous from the standpoint of being amongst thousands of drunken, screaming people, while being completely sober yourself.
People were setting off fireworks everywhere, usually without any consideration to the proximity of other people to them.  Apparently the number of accidents seems to increase with every year.
But aside from the danger factor, the scene was magical. Prague is magical to begin with, but add a bunch of glowing lights being set off from random places, and you've just tripled the "wow" factor.
Once midnight hit, we were standing on the bridge right near my faculty building.  That was when the chaos started. Fireworks from every direction. Front, back, side..the middle of the street right in front of you, etc.
Me, being the worry-wart that I am, was a little concerned for the safety of the drivers that drove past/over the fireworks right before or after they were being set off in the middle of the street. And by the time the fireworks had been going on for 5 minutes, Prague had disappeared to the smoggy fog that was the residue from the explosions.
It was absolutely incredible. The whole night was an unforgettable celebration of the last amazing year, and the future that this year has to hold. So I guess we'll find out what has yet to unfold.. :]

Mom and I took some time to wander Mala Strana as well

Right in the middle of the street.

Dear Czech police, Thank you for protecting the drunk people from the tram. Or..thank you for protecting the tram from the drunk people?? Either way, you definitely helped the woman standing in the middle of the tram tracks talking to her daughter to see the oncoming danger..

World travelers that we are..

..we took a 4 hour train ride to the beautiful village of, Český Krumlov. I had gone there once before, but in very different conditions. Last time I was there, it was sunny, warm, and invaded by tourists. This time around it was cold, icy, and abandoned. And you wanna know something? It was equally pretty both times...just in different ways.
Český Krumlov is located in southern Bohemia. Since it was a tad farther, mom and I chose to make it an overnight trip. The town has attracted a lot of tourists in recent years, but for good reason. It is easily (probably..) one of the prettiest towns in the world. After all, as Kerry once said, "I love going off the beaten path, but it's true that things become touristy for a reason."
Now, since we decided to take our time and spend an extra day there (so as to not feel rushed), it only made sense to get up at 4:30 am to catch the train there. (Right?) But it added something more. It meant that amazing feeling of getting on a train when it's pitch-black, falling fast asleep, and then waking up to the sun rising over the Czech countryside. I'm ok with that.
We booked a room at the hostel Merlin since it was only about $12 a night and it worked out so well. All we really needed was a heater, some beds, a bathroom, and a shelter from wind. They added a small Christmas tree in the hallway along with the necessities as well.
Well, in our crazy traveling, we forgot to eat more than a couple rohliky on the train, so we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant. As we walked in, they greeted us in English. One thing I (and mom) have made very sure to do, is to always reply in Czech, even if they intiate the English. It's only fair that you attempt to get by on as much as you know...and then, when it falters, you can fall back on the fact that they do speak your native language. Not to mention, after we spoke Czech, we got sent the "Czech waiter." You know: kind of burly, seemingly void of emotions, etc. A very stereotypical waiter in the CR. The food was incredible and I lucked out by choosing the duck/ham/pork/sauerkraut/bramborak plate.
Apart from that, our day was just filled with wandering (and ducking into random shops when we got too frozen.)
Overall, we also learned 2 major lessons:
1. When sitting in the cafe, and you order horká čokoláda (hot chocolate) and the waiter asks you if you want it "s šlehačkou", nod and say "ano." Even if you don't remember what that is at the moment. Note to self: when you finally remember what "šlehačka" is, don't loudly exclaim "whipped cream!!"
It doesn't give off a Czech persona....
2. If the returning train to Prague, does not match the time that you wrote down, it is not the correct train. In fact..it is very possibly going a different route. Case and point: (I drew you something)

The train ride was beautiful though. And it was only an extra 45 minutes or so. The conductor didn't make us pay extra, and mom saw rocks (and other pretty stuff!) so I'd say, sometimes, it is completely worth it to mess up.
And now that I have sufficiently shared my Český Krumlov shortcomings with you: here's some pictures!

Be grumpy like the waiter.

Poor sheep..

Only in the Czech Republic...

....Little kids feeding swarms of ducks in a mostly frozen pond.
Kids leave.
10 minutes later:
Man feeds duck.
Man slowly leads duck up the hill with bread.
Man catches duck.
Man kills duck.
MMM. dinner.

Man goes for duck number 2.


I don't think you understand how traumatized I am from the death of animals that I've seen in a span of a week. I have discovered one way in which I am ignorant: I DON'T EVER want to know where my food comes from.

Mom and I traveled to Tábor: the home of our ancestors. If you remember, Beth and I made the first trip to the town when she visited in November. Mom and I revisited Klokoty this time around. This is the church that my great-great-grandparents were married in. In addition, we were also able to find the house that they raised their daughter in before moving to the states. The history that we were stepping on was beyond words. We got lucky, by picking one of the nicest days in weeks. The weather wasn't cold, and it wasn't icy or snowy. Thank god, since Klokoty is a pilgrimage church. One bad ice patch and you'd find yourself at the bottom of a mountain that you don't want to be at the bottom of...

The only "falter" of the day was our attempt to order from a Czech menu when none of the food was recognizable. Normally, we are able to recognize at least three quarters of a menu. Things like Svíčková, kuřeci, šunka, etc. are all recognizable foods. Yet in our attempt to appear Czech (and due to the fact that we didn't see the English menu on the table..) we tried to order things we weren't completely sure about. Joke was on us.
I ended up with spicy chicken wings. Mom ended up with fried pork knuckles.
Thank goodness the food was good.
Lucky people that you are, I will now force you to look at 80 bazillion pictures I took in Tábor.

The street that my great-grandmother used to live on.

Our family house in Tábor!!!!!

Klokoty

Pilgrimag-ing

Klokoty

Klokoty. Mom made me be shorter than her.

I figured the English menu needed to be photographed....

Isn't she pretty?? :)

Remember those ducks I was talking about....?