I'm getting nostalgic...and I haven't even left yet!

….so it’s kind of appropriate on the day that I was originally supposed to fly back to the U.S. that I start thinking about leaving Prague. I can’t even fathom being ready to leave this place. It’s the daily routines as well as the random stories that I think about when I think about leaving. Don’t get me wrong…I can’t wait to see all of you back in the states….but it’s going to be really REALLY hard to leave. It’s different than when I came here. I left the states knowing that I would come back. Whereas here…I have no idea when, or if, I will be back. It’s just crazy to think about and it totally blows my mind. So while I’ve tried to keep you in touch with what I’ve been doing…you haven’t been here experiencing it by my side…so I think it will be weird trying to convey things to people when I get back. The everyday occurrences and the random memories…

Walking past this random asian restaurant every day…but never seeing anyone coming out or going into it.

Giving my seat up to old people on the metro. And watching all of the young couples canoodling (yes, I just used that word!). Metro surfing and staring at people…just as much as they stare back at you.

Reading in karlovo namesti park

Maly Buddha with Jill and all of our guests

Being able to walk across a city that feels so huge

Listening to the wailing of Jakub (host brother) playing the trumpet (…which most often sounds like a dying baby)

Talking with Zuzana (host mom) over breakfast in the morning

Watching random movies in Czech with my family (…ones I haven’t even seen yet in English…like Lord of the Rings and the Matrix)

Eating dinner with the family practically every night (and Tomas and Zuzana’s amazing cooking!)

My family joking me about my sleeping habits.

Getting lost in the city and discovering new places

Akropolis and funny waiters and Jill yelling “ne” at him when he tried to take away her plate (which only had like 2 veggies left on it)

Opera for under $3…and always sitting in the top most balcony

Seeing so much of myself in Rutka (host sister) …and how similar I was to her when I was 13

Rebeka (host sister) and how she continues to amaze me with her ability to speak Czech, English, and Italian fluently

Walking by the river and realizing the beauty of this city…

Jakub returning from a weeklong school trip…without having changed his socks all week

Rut and I dying Easter eggs…the old fashioned way

Rigdon and the random people she meets…like the rabbi, and the one-handed expat American poet

Taking the night bus with tons of people asleep or passed out

“You know what I saw today…a group of midgets”

Going to hear Tony Ackerman with Zuzana and Rebeka

The first time I met my family…and how funny my mom and dad are

How willing my family is to talk to me in English and translate things for me…even though I haven’t made much of an effort to speak Czech with them

Going to the farmhouse with my family and sitting around the kitchen table with 20 people singing songs

Taking the train to Tetin to go horseback riding with Jill…and trying to hitchhike there

Good cheap coffee and beer

Going to an international church and meeting really cool and interesting people of every nationality

Walking by buildings that seem so average…but taking a 2nd look to realize how much detail there is…and how old it is…and how beautiful it is

Going to school over Pepino’s…where hopefully the food tastes better than it smells (never actually tried it)

Being in Debolin making masks in the ceramics studio…just chilling with the Slovaks and how accepting and welcoming everyone was

Taking a hike through the snow from Debolin to the town…even though there was no path to follow

Eating at Motorest and the waiter that looked like Michael Jackson

“I think it’s part dachshund”

YUM!!!!

Coming home and having a full pot of tea always made



…I could go on for forever and a year. But I still can’t comprehend coming back to the states just yet. I definitely would not have been ready to leave tomorrow. So instead…I’m flying out to Madrid on the 25; then going to Rome for a few days; then to the south of Italy to Calabria for a few days; then catching a ferry across the sea to Croatia for a few days; then coming back to Prague before I leave! :D