So this past weekend was really fun. Stephen came back into town and we had some good times traversing the city on Saturday. Jill, Christine, Yukako, Stephen and I went to a jazz club called Reduta on Friday night. It was really fun, and the old men in the jazz band were super cute. Bill Clinton apparently played his sax there back in the early 90s when Havel was president. Saturday night we went to the Magic Lantern theatre (where much of the Velvet Revolution was planned and implemented). The performance was pretty awesome, but the audience wasn’t so great. It was definitely a bunch of tourists and is just another example of how the arts here are becoming more and more commercialized.

Stephen actually ended up staying an extra day because his flight got cancelled because of all of the snow in Prague. So after 4 hours of sleep, and waiting in line for 8 hours with no food or sleep, he went a little crazy on the tram Sunday night.

Jill and I also took our first modern dance class…which was definitely interesting. It was really fun, but it was crazy trying to learn a combination while we were upside down and backwards, and in a different language. We also took a dance class on Monday called Nike Rockstar Hiphop…only because of it’s super cool (not really) name. It was actually really fun…so I think we’re going to go shopping for some super cool urban outfits for the next time we go (which will be this Saturday).

Not too much else is going on…just getting ready for our Vienna/Brno/Bratislava trip coming up this week.

Lidice and Terezin

Last week we took a day trip to Lidice and Terezin…both of which I hadn’t ever really heard about. However, after visiting them, it’s really crazy to see how quickly people forget things and forget or modify the past. It was also crazy to discover just how real the Holocaust was to people in Europe. As Americans, I don’t think we fully grasp the brutality and inhumanity of it all…and after seeing how desperate the Czech Republic was for a savior from Nazi control, it is really easy to see how they fell into the hands of the Soviet Union. Most camps in the Czech Republic were liberated by the Soviets, not the United States…this alone already determined the fate of the Czech Republic and its relationship to the USSR. It had to choose between the 2 superpowers, and they went with the one who had actually helped them most when they were under the power of a fascist dictator.

Lidice was a small mining village just outside of Prague. During WWII commandos had been sent from England to the Czech Republic to assassinate Heydrich (the Nazi security police chief). The attempt wounded him, and he died within a few days. Somehow a connection was made between Heydrich’s assassination and a family living in Lidice. The Nazis conducted 3 searches of the village without finding any evidence of the link between the assassination and Lidice. However, Hitler wanted revenge for the death, so orders were carried out to completely destroy the village. The 173 men of the village were collected together and shot. Workers from a concentration camp buried their bodies in a mass grave. The women went to Ravensbruck concentration camp. The children were also sent to extermination camps except the few who were appropriate for “Germanization” and were adopted by German families to be re-educated. It was never clear what the fate of the children was…but 88 of them were never heard from again. The Nazis then burned and razed the village to the ground. Of course this was not the worst of fascist tactics, but many people in the West took up the cause for Lidice and started “Lidice Lives” campaigns.

Terezin was one of the main work camps in the Czech Republic. It was basically used as a waiting place for transportations to other concentration and extermination camps. Out of the 87,000 prisoners who left on the transports, less than 4,000 survived. It was just crazy sitting there watching and listening to this video. It would talk about the transports from Terezin…1000 to Auschwitz, 2 survivors; 1000 to Dachau, no survivors; 17,000 to Auschwitz, 80 survivors, etc. While Terezin was not used as an extermination camp, many prisoners were executed or died from horrible living conditions. Over the entrance hung the words on all Nazi camps…work will make you free. Terezin was also the name of the city that housed the work camp. The city was used as a Jewish ghetto in WWII. The 7000 residents were forced to evacuate, and some 140,000 Jews were relocated to Terezin. In one building, there were 6000 people living in the attic.

It was definitely a hard day to get through…one of the few times I have truly confronted the past firsthand. Merely talking about something makes it easier to swallow…but go to a place where the rooms still small of urine and sweat…and where 60 men were forced to stand and sleep in a room with a single 3-inch diameter hole to breath through and no toilet…or where corpses were thrown into a room to await cremation…and history becomes a little more real and a little harder to choke down.

The monument dedicated to the 88 lost children of Lidice.


"Work Will Make You Free" over the Terezin work camp.

Testing a Nokia's Durability

Ok…so prepare yourself, because this is a great story.

So, I’m headed to meet Jill for a dance class, and I’m in the metro station switching metro lines. I’m standing there writing Jill a text message as the metro pulls up. I push the keypad too hard, and my phone goes flying out of my hand, bounces twice, hits the side of the metro that has just arrived, and falls down INTO the metro tunnel (i.e. under the metro). For approximately 2 seconds I am paralyzed with shock, because I can’t believe that this has just happened to me. I turn around, and this 15-year-old guy is looking at me, because he totally saw everything happen. He shrugs, and looks sympathetic, but moves on by to get onto the metro. So my first instinct is to immediately find someone who works in the metro station. So I go up 2 escalator flights to the information desk, but of course, it’s only open Monday through Friday (and this was Sunday). So I make my way back down to the line I was trying to catch to at least see where my cell phone has even fallen, because I hadn’t looked initially. As I’m running back down the escalators, I’m searching for anyone who might possibly work in transportation. I didn’t see a security guard or anyone else.

So I get back down to the bottom, and I go back to where I dropped it. I’m peering over the edge, and I see it sitting on a little cement ledge that is right by the wall of the tunnel. Now to understand where it was, picture the metro tunnel (about 5 feet deep, maybe 10 feet wide), two metal rails in the middle elevated over the bottom of the tunnel where there is a lot of standing water, and then the 6 inch protruding cement ledges on both of the outer edges. So this is a good spot for my phone to be…it’s not in the puddle of water in the middle of the tunnel, or on the tracks, or smashed into a million pieces. So I turn around to the people standing there, and start trying to find someone who speaks English. Eventually, I find these Irish people, and I’m explaining what has happened, thinking they might be able to help. So of course, everyone then proceeds to go to the edge of the tunnel and stare down at my cell phone. So I’m talking to this Irish women and ask her to hold my stuff, because I’m going to jump down into the tunnel and get my cell phone. Her husband is like “No, I don’t think that’s such a good idea because I think there might be live electrical current down there.” They suggest at least waiting for the next metro to come and go. So I appease them, and wait for the next metro to pass—of course they hopped on it all cheery-like saying “hope you get your cell phone, etc.”

So you have to understand that I am a poor college student, and the main thought in my mind at that moment was “Must get cell phone. I’m not paying another $100 for a cell phone, and I can’t survive the next 2 months without one.” So, you guessed it…I hopped into the tunnel and grabbed my cell phone (which was completely unharmed…props to Nokia for awesome durability). The top of the tunnel came up to about my eye level, and as I was getting ready to get out, I had the split second panic of “oh crap…I’m not getting out of here.” The situation was definitely complicated even more by the fact that I was not going to touch any part of the metal tracks…I wasn’t about to get electrocuted. But I pushed myself up enough to get my leg up (it’s a good thing I’m a dancer, and flexible), and literally rolled out of the tunnel. I stood up, and brushed myself off. I don’t think anyone saw me because everyone else had just gotten on the metro that left, and no one else was standing around. However, it was one of those moments that I wished I had had a friend there who could laugh at the ordeal with me (though there was plenty of laughter afterwards).

So in retrospect, it probably was not the smartest thing I’ve ever done. But I literally could find no one that was working in the station, and my adrenaline high and poor college student mentality got the best of me…and I jumped into a freakin metro tunnel!!! So that’s my crazy story for the week…and probably month…and hopefully for the rest of the time I’m here :D

P.S. And after all of this, I still made it to dance class on time :D

Unintentionally Out of Context

So there have been a couple of times this week where someone has said something completely normal, but it has been coupled with the mistake of being in a completely different context. Examples…

All 14 of us are on the bus headed to Terezin and Andrina asks if anyone has a band-aid for her finger. Sarah (our academic director) replies “No, I don’t have any band-aids.” Ivy then says “Suck it!” Of course, meaning that Andrina should suck her finger to stop the bleeding…but it was just funny right after Sarah’s comment…and from the person that would be least likely to say that phrase with it’s other connotation.
Other situation. We are sitting at the National Theatre waiting for The Bartered Bride to start (it’s an opera written by Smetana). We were in the last balcony (of which there are around 5 total), and I turn around to talk to the girls behind me, and I’m literally staring up their skirts because their seats are so high in relation to our row. So I say “Close your legs girls.” Maggie, who is sitting next to me, says “What?!?!?,” in astonishment. Of course, I was confused, but Miriam, who was sitting on the other side of Maggie, had just said something I hadn’t heard 2 seconds before I talked. She had said “What’s that smell?!” And, of course, Maggie thought that my answer of “close your legs girls” was in response to Miriam’s question. Hilarious!

Ass Burgers?!?!?

So this story must also be told…because it’s just too funny to be left unsaid. So I’m walking back from a café on Old Towne Square with Stephen and his friend Andrew, who is here for a week doing stuff for his graduate studies at UC Berkeley. I’m talking about my first day in Prague when we did the drop-off (see previous post). I was talking about having to guide everyone in my group on my own because Lauren had puked on the side of a street corner and wasn’t feeling so hot, and the other girl that was with us, Alex, has Aspergers disorder (the relevance being that she cannot understand maps and directions).

Stephen, with the greatest look of disbelief, looks back and forth between Andrew and I, and says, “What?!?!? Ass burgers?!?!” Ahahaha…it was absolutely hysterical!!! He had never heard of it before, and understandably, was dumbfounded at someone having ass burgers. So for all of you out there that have never heard of it, at least now you have been saved from the awkwardness of misconstruing the meaning of the disorder the next time you hear it pass in conversation.

Stephen Lee and KFC

So it must be said…both with major regret and shame…that I had my first experience with KFC last Saturday night. So I met up with Stephen on Friday night and we brought all of his stuff back to my host family’s house. Well we were planning on going out to dinner, but we sat around talking with my parents for a while. At like 10 o’clock, we finally made it around to leaving and headed towards a restaurant Tomas has suggested—Velryba. So we got there and the waiter came up and said something about drinks. So we thought he just wanted to get our drink orders first. So when he came back we ordered our drinks and then started to order our food and he was like “No!…I told you we only serve drinks after 10.” So we stayed to finish our drinks, and then headed out to find somewhere else to eat. By this point it was already 11:30. So we went to the part of Prague that I know best—Prague 2 where I have class. There’s this restaurant that we’ll eat at a lot called Radost. I knew it was open late, so we went there. Well…we got there, and apparently it turns into a club at night, and we didn’t want to have to pay a cover charge to eat dinner. So we started walking down the street where some other little restaurants are. We walked into a couple, but all of them were closing at midnight, and they wouldn’t seat us at 11:45. We finally tried our last resort, a little café called Meduza by the hotel we stayed at the first week. We got there and peeked in the window, but no one was eating food. So we grudgingly made our way back to the only thing we knew was still open…KFC. I know, I know…we didn’t want to do it….but we were starving! I don’t even eat at KFC in America. My stomach revolted at my spicy chicken strips…and we both hung our heads in shame when we left. And thus ends my first experience with fast food in Prague…I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing to be said about globalization. We were grateful that something was open late enough for us to eat…not so stoked that it had to be KFC. But at least it makes for a good story. And I wouldn’t have eaten KFC any other way…as a desperate and last attempt to appease a ravenous stomach.

P.S. Stephen Lee is here…way exciting! :D

...another Masopust

So I forgot to mention that we were part of another Masopust festival the following day—on Sunday. It was in the larger town of Jindrochuv Hradec. It definitely was not as intimate, but it was still fun. We just paraded down the street in costume into the main square, where they buried winter (which was for some reason symbolized as a cello), and then proclaimed it the last day to eat meat before Lent started. It was funny, because Philip asked me if I wanted any meat, and I was like, sure, I’m hungry, I’ll eat some meat. However, after I saw it, I negated my request. You had to pull the little stick at the end to rip the pig intestine, and then squirt it out like it was icing or something. Gross!

However, after the parade, we went back to the house where all the costumes were, and we sat around the wood stove and listened to a bunch of older people sing Czech folk songs. It was great! I still like the other Masopust celebration better, but this one was also pretty sweet!

We ended the week with a trip to Cesky Krumlov…which was also absolutely amazing!

...Masopust and Motorest

So I will try to summarize my week in Debolin as briefly as possible. I already talked a little bit about the village and Romana (the owner of the ceramics studio), so I will mainly talk about the 2 main things we did while we were there…Masopust and Motorest.

The closest equivalent to Masopust in America is Mardi Gras. “Masopust” literally means “meat before Lent,” and is a celebration right before the start of Lent. In the Czech Republic Masopust is an ancient Czech tradition with traditional characters. The tradition was completely obliterated twice—under the German occupation, and under Communism. It was a means towards nationalism under the Germans, and it was tied to religion under Communism…so it was banned. The festival itself has many traditional characters…I’ve shown a few below, but I will put up more pics soon. The bear is absolutely insane…he is a symbol of fertility, so he always has to be led by someone (fertility can’t run rampant), and pushes women into the snow.


The other great character was the chimney sweep. He brings good luck, and to do so he smears soot and ash all over people’s faces. The procession was lead by the 2 musicians, and we went to EVERY house in the village. Even if someone didn’t open the door, we played at least one song at each house.

The chimney sweep would also be towards the front, because he would smear the people’s faces with soot right away. There were many elderly people that were so excited to see us, and it is tradition for the owners of the houses we stopped at to provide food and drink to the paraders. The food of choice was doughnuts, and the drink of choice was shots of “spirits.” Apparently, much of the alcohol was homemade…with alcohol content up to 50-60%. So you can imagine the state of many people present. In fact, this old man kept trying to give me his cigarette and a shot at practically every house. The words “ne (no)” and “anglitsky (I only speak English)” didn’t ward him off. I was the designated walker that evening, but I will give a p.s.a. to everyone reading, to NEVER try Plum Vodka…it is absolutely disgusting!

At every house we would dance to a song and sing. They made us sing an American song…and all we could think of was “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt” …so sorry about that one folks! Not quite the best depiction of American culture. They also made the Slovaks sing a folk song, and the 2 Germans kept singing a song “Babicka.” It is also a tradition to steal something from every house (mainly alcohol), and it would be put into a baby carriage. So people would run up to the baby carriage and rock it jokingly…since it was full of hard liquor. We literally were going from house-to-house for 8 hours. We started at 10 am and went until 6 pm. It was absolutely insane! People would stop cars going down the street to smear them in ash and sing them a song…we even stopped a mack truck!!!

And like all other events in the town, we ended up at Motorest for an after party. It basically entailed more dancing, singing, and alcohol.

I will definitely always remember this experience…and how welcoming everyone in the community was. I’m sure they’ve never had 5 Americans in their small town ever! And they made us a part of their lives within a few hours. It makes you think about the things that transcend language…one being shared experiences. I could have sat at a table with the exact same people, and it would have probably been the most uninteresting experience of my life—because we wouldn’t have been able to communicate. But we were all doing the same thing that day…bringing joy to people and singing and dancing. It also makes me realize how important the fine arts are in crossing the language barrier. Things like theatre and dance and music and visual art don’t have to be in a language to understand them…they communicate without words. So yea…I got all analytical towards the end of this…but it’s great stuff to know…especially those out there who don’t support the arts :D

And a final word about my time in Debolin…would be Motorest—YUM!!! We act practically every meal there (besides the time we hiked to the larger town for pizza which was 3 miles away…in like 5 feet of snow…without a trail…but it was a great bonding experience!). I definitely had my share of traditional Czech food though. Dumplings and cabbage and meat. But it was definitely YUM!

Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mask-making...first day in Debolin

So today has been absolutely insane!!! I keep having to remind myself that I am in a small town in southern Bohemia. I am in a group with Ivy, Lauren, Alex, and Miriam. We got here yesterday by the train…it took about 3.5 hours, and we had to change twice. We were really nervous about missing our train, because we weren’t totally sure about the transfers. It was really funny, because at one station we went in to ask what platform we needed to go to, and the women didn’t speak English, but she motioned to the speakers. So they played the train information in English just for us. But we got here fine!

We are staying at a ceramics studio in a small town called Debolin. The village has about 300 people in it. I’m still not quite sure how the studio was started, but it’s fairly new. It also doubles as a bed and breakfast type thing (penzion), and each room has its own special theme. They are all really beautiful. Last night after we got here, we met Romana who is the owner of the studio. She doesn’t speak a whole lot of English, so she invited 3 of her friends here that are from Slovakia. They are Philip, Barbara, and Barbara. They are all the same age as us, which is nice. So we went to dinner at the Motorest (…the only restaurant in town), and had some traditional Czech cuisine. I had gulash, which was great! :D And of course, dumplings.

Today we had a bounteous breakfast, and then went on a walk of Debolin…which didn’t take very long. Apparently it used to be part of the Sudetanland, and there’s a street down the middle that split the town in two. One part was German, and the other side was Czech. After WWII, all of the Germans were expelled, and the village had kind of a rebirth. The Masopust festival was banned under Communism, so it didn’t really make a comeback until after the Revolution in 1989. It will be interesting to see how much this studio has affected the comeback of such a traditional Czech celebration. It will also be interesting to see how the village people view the studio. The people that started it aren’t from here, so I don’t know if they’re seen as outsiders, or if they’ve been accepted since they’ve been bringing back traditional Czech values.

After talking with Barbara, Barbara, and Philip, it’s definitely cool to get a different view on Masopust, and on Czech culture. They were angered by the way that Slovakia is depicted in Eurotrip and in Hostel (neither of which I’ve seen)…as a backwards nation that still hasn’t come out from the Communist era…and that hasn’t come into the 20th century. And the misconception that it’s still a part of the Czech Republic (i.e. Czechoslovakia). I’m sure it’s extremely frustrating to have people disregard your nationhood and your culture…way to go America for doing such a great job at that. All 3 of them are extremely intelligent…majoring in Marketing and Management and Communications. They also know like 5 different languages (…which is also pretty much everyone here…and makes me feel extremely ignorant).

Today was definitely sweet though. After our walk, we came back to the studio and took a tour of the whole building. The stuff they make here is amazing! Apparently Romana, the owner, can make 200 ceramic mugs in 8 hours!!! The normal rate is like 50 per 8 hours. Crazy! But we molded clay masks for our characters for the parade tomorrow. I’m going to be a bird. We then went to lunch at the Motorest again…and had dumplings and beef with whipped cream and cranberry sauce. After that, we picked out our costumes all afternoon. It was like playing dress-up…only with the most crazy and colorful clothes I’ve ever seen. I actually sewed ribbons on my shirt to look like feathers (…both my roomies would be proud…Janelle for my sewing abilities; and Mo for my ceramics endeavors). We literally were trying on costumes all afternoon. We then started doing paper mache type stuff to do sort of casting on the clay mold. Tomorrow we will paint the masks. Again, we ate dinner at the Motorest (…I had brambory…which is “pushed” potatoes with chives…it was amazing!). We came back and finished our masks…and I kept having to remind myself that I was in a ceramics studio, with 3 Slovaks, 2 Czechs, and 4 Americans, listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers, making masks, for an ancient traditional Czech celebration….crazy, I know!

I’m excited for the parade tomorrow. We will go to every house in the village and sing Czech songs and dance, etc. And then they give us "spirits. " Apparently people will start at 8 a.m…we won’t even be up by then! :D