These past few days have been somewhat uneventful. Classes are gearing up to start (slash, have already started) so orientation activities are becoming fewer, meaning less organized fun, more spontaneous fun. Or something.
So just to recap and highlight some of the more interesting things:
Sunday morning, my friend Rachael and I braved the fierce -1 degree (C!) rain to attempt to find the only English speaking church service in all of Brno (according to a few various sources). Even though we gave ourselves 45 minutes to get there, between getting on and off all the wrong trams/buses/trollies and trying in vain to not step in massive puddles in hopes of keeping our feet semi-dry, we ended up being about 10 minutes late. The service was located in the upper room of a church and about 30 people from all over the world were in attendance. Technically it was considered a mass, though from my one time experience and Rachael's lifetime experience, we both would've considered it a very loose interpretation of Mass. The service itself was really cool. Imagine 30 people from various corners of the world squished into a tiny upstairs room all singing and sharing in English, though I would say only about 4 of us were native English speakers. The music consisted of a few voices leading the way, with 3 or 4 kids providing instrumental accompaniment in the form of wooden sticks, triangles, cabasas, bells... It was definitely different than anything I've ever been to, but in a really cool way. At one point, I couldn't help but think that heaven must be something like that... On a much larger scale, of course. While at some point I would love to attend a Czech service, I think Rachael and I are going to continue going to this one and hopefully get a chance to spend some quality time with a few of the people there afterwards! We found a really cute cafe just across the street and I ate the most delicious crepes (complete with bananas and nutella) and she had some sort of tasty espresso cake. Definitely worth a second visit, that's for sure! We decided we would treat ourselves there after church and use it as a time to pray for each other and the friends we are making at school.
Yesterday, the sun came out (first time since I've been here!) and so Jeongmin and I decided to do a little exploring in a less popular part of town. We wandered up and down streets, in and out of shops, and basically just spent our afternoon enjoying the city and the beautiful weather (a nice brisk 2 degrees - I didn't even wear a coat!) When our stomachs were so empty we couldn't bear it anymore, we went searching for the cafe Rachael and I had found in hopes of satisfying our craving for crepes. Unfortunately, I've inherited my mother's sense of direction and our quest turned into a wild goose hunt. By about the third "I'm pretty sure that's it!" we decided to give up and go in the next restaurant we saw. Little did we know it would be one of the fanciest restaurants in all of Brno. We knew the moment we walked in and saw the waiter standing there in a full tuxedo that we were in a little over our heads. But after perusing the menu and noticing that the prices weren't outrageous, we giggled to ourselves and decided to go through with it. We ended up being the only ones in the whole restaurant, and the waiter got a big kick out of us because we were certainly not dressed appropriately and the few words we knew in Czech were heavily accented, to say the least. Luckily he was very patient with us and enjoyed our own amusement. We ended up each ordering a complete lunch (originally we were just gonna go for soup and appetizers, but everything sounded so good!) I had Roast Duck over Red Cabbage with Czech Dumplings and Jeongmin had "something like pasta, i think"
My lunch. I ate every bite and loved every second of it. SO good.
Jeongmin's pasta that she later coated in Tabasco sauce after a confused look from the waiter.
The restaurant. Those people left right about the time we sat down. I'm not sure if that was just a coincidence or not... :/
After lunch, we ended up stumbling upon a similar cafe to the one we had been looking for all along and treated ourselves to - you guessed it - GELATO. Yum. So good, and SO cheap. Which is quite dangerous, really.
Today, I was supposed to have my first class for the TESOL program, Applied Linguistics. We had received an email saying to meet in classroom 301 in Building A of the Faculty of Arts at 1300. I ended up getting there about 15 minutes early and waited with two of the other American girls in the program until about 1330 when we decided maybe we had gone to the wrong location. After a fruitless search for the professor or someone who could speak English well enough to tell us where to look, we decided to go to the Czech class which started at 1400 (Originally we weren't going to be able to go) The second part of Applied Linguistics was supposed to start at 1500, so we asked our Czech teacher if we could leave early to see if the professor showed up to that, only to find out the classroom where we were supposed to meet was already being used by EU Translators. The lesson learned? The Czech university system and the American university system are not the same. One of the most frustrating things has been the lack of communication between faculty and students. Whereas we are used to being told beforehand when and where things are and what to bring and things of that nature, the Czechs have a much different way of doing things. The whole computerized system is absolutely CRAZY! Nothing is in the same place (ie, the place to register for classes is completely different than the place where you check your class schedule) It's so confusing. Tomorrow we are supposed to be meeting at 10am in the CELTA classroom to start our seminars, so we'll see how successful that is. :)
As for me, I've been feeling pretty anti-social lately. I'm not really sure why. But I've been keeping to myself a lot which is not really the best thing ever for me to be doing. So I guess just pray that I would have more of a desire to go out and meet more people and spend time with them. Especially these next few days. Magda is home in Poland straightening out her plans to stay here longer, so I have the room to myself. It's been really nice, but it just makes it a lot easier to stay in the room when nobody else is here and I can do whatever I want. Not to mention it's been snowing all day and it's absolutely frigid outside! But anyways, I need to be meeting people and pursuing relationships more, so please be praying for me!
Also, pray for my friends Toni and Laura. They are from Finland and both very sweet. They are actually engaged to be married! (Though, the date is some far undetermined far off time) They are not religious, but not antireligious, either, if that makes sense. Laura is very quiet and so nice and really does not care much for the whole party scene, whereas Toni is much more outgoing and loves a good party. Of all the conversations I've had with Laura, it's obvious that she is desperate for something more from life. Pray that God would provide one-on-one time for us (it is not very often that she is apart from Toni). Pray also that God would use that time with Laura to work in Laura and Toni's relationship. :)
"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." Isaiah 61:1-3
Roast Duck = YUM! maybe. ... the only duck I've ever had was at China King Buffet = not so good. Yours looks great.
ReplyDeleteI want to make a comment on your concern about being anti-social that will hopefully encourage you. I believe "anti-social" is probably way too strong a term for what you are experiencing Heather. I go through those times in the winter where I like to say I hybernate. I keep up my social obligations and functions because being around people is good for me. In over 20 years of feeling this way in the winter-time I have learned a few things that help me understand it. First of all, it's cold, which makes it harder to think about the whole Bundle Up phase of being social. Second of all, I use it to do a little more reflecting on who I am and what my relationship to all things around me is. You've been going pretty hard for the last couple weeks. It's a good thing to settle down with a quite spirit once in a while too.
Remember this: There are a lot of people praying for you while you're out of our sight. We are praying with excitement and thanks for the person you have always been, the person you are now and the person you are becoming through your visit there. If "anti-social" is correct, I pray for your frame of mind, that it is always connected with God and thank The Holy Spirit for always being there with you to encourage you and lead the way for you in your connections with all the people you meet.