in living color.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day.
It's amazing how just a little sunshine can make everything look so much more beautiful and colorful.

I decided to ban all things motorized today and walk wherever my legs decided to take me. I ended up at the Spilberk castle (castle turned prison turned park/tourist attraction) I pass the sign for it almost everyday and have been wanting to check it out, so today I finally got around to it. I had no idea what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a whole PARK! The castle itself was nothing too magnificent, but the view from the top and the pathway there was breathtaking. I think I spent a good two hours there just taking pictures and enjoying NATURE (a rare commodity around these parts!) I was surprised at how much something so simple and cheap can renew and revitalize my spirit. The day was so relaxing, so peaceful, and such a refreshing change from the dreary and drab days we've been having. I'm really looking forward to more sunny days because there are so many hidden treasures in Brno that I really want to explore sans winter coat and seventeen layers of clothes. I will admit, though, that one thing that will depart with the cold that I will definitely miss is the cute little bundles of children that waddle around downtown. They are so cute. I wish I had pictures of a few of them. Every kid is always bundled in big puffy jackets, gloves, hats, scarves - the works. But there's something different about them then kids from back home. I'm not sure what it is. But they are precious. And I will miss their layers. But not enough to wish the sun away ;)

Anyways,
here are a few pictures from today's adventures...

my studying is getting in the way of my abroad.

I realized I haven't said much about my school life here in Brno, so this (short!) post will be dedicated to just that: what my schooling is like. But first let me tell you what my schooling is NOT like. My education here is not that of a typical Erasmus (international) student.

The typical Erasmus life consists of sleeping in until 2 or 3, maybe going to class (if you feel like it) then staying out all night drinking pivo (beer). Class is just a nice time filler when you happen to wake up earlier than the parties start. The teachers of the typical Erasmus courses don't take attendance (appalling, right MC people!?) they don't give homework (WHAT?!) and usually instead of a final exam, you are required to write one paper for the whole course. It is basically a joke. Most students don't even go to class.

My life, however, is strikingly different. I am only enrolled in one of the "Erasmus" courses (Modern Czech Theater) and it really is a joke. We have three different professors that alternate each week, we meet once a week for 90 minutes, and for the whole course, we just have to write one paper on any topic related to theater. That's it. Crazy. The other normal class I am in is my Czech Language class. It is a little more challenging, mostly because it is a language course and if you don't go to class, you don't learn the grammar (obviously I learn plenty of vocab outside of class, given that my life is like one giant flashcard). We only have 1 exam for class at the end of the semester, but if we don't pass it, we don't pass the class. Last semester 45% of the class failed. But I'm really not too worried. I enjoy the class and I make an effort to go and learn something, so I'm already ahead of about 90% of the other students who don't care one way or the other.

Since I am taking the CELTA course, I have a much different set of expectations given me by my "tutors" (professors, basically). We are required to attend every class, which only meets on Wednesdays from 9am until 4:30 pm. If we miss one class (or even one section of one class) we fail the whole course. Unless we are on our death bed. In which case we fail sooner. Once a week we have what is called TP (and yes, I did double check my acronym accuracy this time!) which stands for Teaching Practice. We are required to teach 6 hours, 3 to upper-intermediate students and 3 to elementary students of English. We are observed during our TPs and given a pass/fail for each lesson we teach. We are also given a pass/fail for each lesson plan we make. We are only allowed to fail one part of one lesson (either the plan or the execution). Each lesson is 40 minutes long, with the exception of the midterm and final lessons, which are both 60 minutes. There are several other things required of us, but I won't go on. You get the idea.

Anyways, yesterday I had my midterm TP and let me tell you - It was exhausting. I was required to teach 4 narrative tenses enough for the students to be able to tell their own narrative using the 4 tenses properly. The students are upper-intermediate and are a lot of fun to teach, so that helps. Unfortunately, my knowledge of English grammar is quite shallow. So I spent 8 hours on Monday and about 4 more on Tuesday researching and preparing myself for questions on past simple (I worked), past perfect (I had worked) past continuous (I was working) and past perfect continuous (I had been working). In the end, I passed both parts of the lesson and am now preparing to climb mount everest. Because I feel like I could do that now. hahaha. The sad part, though, is that was my last time teaching the upper-intermediate class because no we switch and teach 4 lessons to the elementary students. This is going to be especially challenging for me because, well, I tend to talk a lot. And that is no good for students who can't quite yet understand the language well enough to understand a rambler. So it's going to be a good challenging few weeks.

All that to say, I am really enjoying my education here, as grueling as it is (and as much crap as I get from other students asking me why I am actually going to class and doing homework all the time..). I'm really looking forward to the end result and have already started looking online at job opportunities for teaching English. I've realized lately a restlessness in my heart to know more of the people of the world. Every Wednesday at the country presentations, I am reminded at how huge the world is and how many different kind of people there are and my heart does all these crazy things inside when I think about them all. I really want to know people who are different than me. And I know God is preparing so many awesome adventures for my life (with my husband!) in the near and distant future, so that's exciting. Also I'm getting married. Which is awesome. :)

Here are a few pictures of how I spent my Monday afternoon....

OCD and COD

OCD

This past weekend, I was supposed to travel to Krakow, Poland and on the way stop at Auschwitz (the largest Nazi concentration camp there was). Unfortunately, I woke up around 3am Friday morning (the bus was leaving at 6:30) and me and my stomach were at odds. Riding 6 hours in a bus was the last thing I wanted to do, so I opted out of going on the trip :( It was a hard decision to make, but I know that I would've been miserable on the trip if I had gone. To be honest, I think God was giving me a way to simply rest, something I don't often allow myself to do. So I spent Friday and Saturday mostly in bed (with one adventure to the store to try to buy some soup...) On Sunday, I was finally feeling good enough to actually get out of my bed and move around, so I spent a few minutes folding and putting away my laundry from a few days earlier (yes, i finally did laundry!) I mentioned to Magda that we needed to vacuum our rug and I think something must've snapped in her brain because she got in the CRAZIEST cleaning zone. Now, for those of you know know me, you know that I really enjoy cleaning (for the most part) and am generally a pretty clean person. Compared to Magda, I feel like Pigpen from Charlie Brown. She is crazy OCD, I'm pretty sure :) We spent approximately 3-4 hours yesterday cleaning every INCH of our room. And I'm not exaggerating. Magda vacuumed everything from our sweet burnt sienna window curtains to both our chairs to our shelves and everything in between. She then coached me on how to use a mop (because apparently I'm not very good at it) It was such a funny day. Magda continued to surprise me with the things she considered a necessity to clean and/or do. While she vacuumed, I tried to help out and move things and dust and what not and finally at one point she goes "You can just lay on your bed, Heather." haha. It was definitely a new experience for me. But now we have a spic and span room. All my friends always talk about how nasty their showers and toilets and sinks are, and I could never agree because ours really aren't that bad. And now I know why. :) Here are just a few pictures from our cleaning escapades... (Magda finally scolded me for taking pictures so I had to stop)

















COD

One thing that I've really come to love about living here is the large population of active old people. Since not many people drive cars, there are always plenty of cute old people (COD!) on the trams and buses and they always make for some good stories. For the most part, the old people here are pretty grumpy and rude (I mean, they did live through Communism and for the REALLY old ones, WWII) and generally don't interact with younger people (especially foreigners) except to make them get up if they need a seat on the tram/bus. It is the best thing ever, though, when an old person breaks this stereotype and does something unexpected, like smile at you. I know it seems comical, but it really can make your day when an old person smiles your way. I know, because I've experienced it first hand. A couple times, even! The other day, I was sitting on the bus on my way to class and this cuuuute little old lady sat down in the seat in front of me and set her bag on the floor between our feet. It fell forward onto my feet and she looked at me and said "Prominte!" (sorry!) I didn't know how to say it was okay back so I just smiled and tried to reassure her that it wasn't a big deal and she gave me the biggggest smile in return. It was so unexpected I couldn't stop smiling after that. We rode the rest of the way like that, her smiling, me smiling, general comraderie (even though we couldn't actually communicate) When my stop came, I got up to leave the bus and she turns to me and says "NA SHLEDANOU!" (good bye!) and had a beaming smile stretching from ear to ear. I honestly got choked up. I stammered a good bye in return and literally could not stop smiling the rest of the day as I thought about my sweet little new friend. It's great. I think what I love so much about instances like that one is that it is such a reminder that love always wins out. What I mean is, a lot of the older generation here has been hardened and made more stoic as a result of things they have lived through. But love still leaks through and it's such a joy to get to experience that. I wish I could speak the language fluently and talk to the cute old people just to hear their stories. I know they would be fascinating. But for now, I will just revel in the little ways I can communicate. And let God take it from there.

The Prague Blog.

Since I really need to get some sleep so I can write a lesson plan in the morning, I'm just going to cliff note this weekend's adventures in Prague. I'll come back later and tell in a more storylike format my feelings and thoughts on Prague. But for now, the simple facts will have to suffice. Sorry. :)

THE RUNDOWN:

Riding in cars – Rode in a REAL car for the first time since being here!






Walked around a bit – Getting our feet wet in Prague. Physically and metaphorically speaking.



St. Vitus’ Cathedral




Indonesian food for dinner – cooked by our sweet Indonesian friend Carolina. (car-oh-leeena)

Stories of Carolina’s Indonesian life during mealtime:

• Had a pet dog who was killed for food (felt bad until we found out..)
  
  
• She had 36 other pet dogs who weren’t (and they were just the 1st generations!)
  
  
• Bonnie with the long flowing locks (her mom’s favorite dog who frequented beauty salons)
  
  
• The dog hooked to an IV (her surgeon dad’s favorite dog who lived three extra days as a result)
  
  
• Dog cemetery (in her backyard, of course)
  
  
• Eating dog/pork in chicken blood (enough said.)
  
  
• Catering (gathering?) from the hospital as a young child
  
  
  
  
  

  The purple lady on the bus – Gotta love the older generation and their crazy stylish ways. Purple from head to foot. Tosh, you would’ve loved it.
  
  
  

  Sweet English speaking old lady on the bus – what? Old Czech people speaking English??? Hogwash! (nope, it’s true, she did. And we could’ve squeezed her to death she was so cute)
  
  
  

  The dancing building – Something about it made us take a crazy insane amount of pictures…
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The garden with peacocks – beautiful.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The airport (airport buddy!) – Jess switched her flight home so now we leave on the same day meaning we can ride to the airport together!!
  
  
  
  John lennon wall – Imagine all the people… who have put their grimey hands all over it. Didn’t stop us from doing the same…
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ROBBED/police station – As we were about to eat dinner, Jess’ purse was snatched right beneath our noses. We ran after the guy, but a moment too late. With a physical description from our waitress, we trudged down to the police station where we waited 2 hours for all the necessary paperwork and interviewing and reassuring to take place. Unfortunately for Jess, everything important was in her purse – passport, credit cards, school cards, ID, digital camera… Jess’ reaction when all was said and done? “Sometimes you just gotta give in and buy a new ticket” (in reference to a couple we saw at the airport trying to argue their way out of paying for new tickets after they had accidentally missed their flight) Jess is such a cool person.
  Church! – English speakers? Americans?! We’re not in Brno anymore…
  Birthday lunch (rib s!) – Happy birthday, Carolinka! Thanks for the yummy ribs!
  Ballet times 2 – Note to readers: La Sylphide and Napoli are two different ballets. For the price of one. Also, the Prague National Theater = FAVE.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lonely bus ride back to Brno – Jess and Carolina stayed an extra day so Jess could go to the American Embassy (unfortunately I have to prepare a lesson plan!) so I was trapped on a bus watching crazy, psychedelic Czech music videos for 2 hours.
  
  
  

  
  

It's a "Good Morning, Beautiful" day!

I woke up this morning in the best mood, even though it was 6am and I still had a good hour and a half until my alarm was set to go off. I've been feeling pretty crummy the past few days, so when I woke up this morning and my stomach and head weren't hurting, I was overjoyed. I'm pretty sure I literally jumped out of bed, anxious to greet the day. I was in such a good mood that I optimistically packed my sunglasses because I was convinced the sun would reflect my attitude and shine. (unfortunately this wasn't the case, but we'll get to that later) As I danced my way down the streets of Brno to my 8 hour class, I started thinking. (It happens when you have 30 minutes to yourself with nothing else to do) I wondered to myself - what is it about being sick that makes being healthy so wonderful? Why does it take being sick to make us thankful for our good health? Why can't I wake up every morning thankful for my health? I was rather convicted of this. Often times I wake up and my first thought is, "How soon can I go back to bed?" What a way to thank the Creator of Life for mercifully granting me one more breath, one more day, one more opportunity to experience his goodness. I should be overjoyed every morning. But the truth is, I'm not. It's something I plan to work on in life. Yeah, that's right, life. Because let's be honest, it's going to take me a lifetime to learn. But someday, I want to be able to wake up, feeling groggy and sniffly and achy and miserable and say "Good Morning, Beautiful." to my Creator and thank him for another beautiful day of a beautiful life.

I realized that because I woke up in such a great mood, my day was completely altered.
Because I was fixated on my God from the moment I entered consciousness, my attitude towards life was different.

Let me explain..

Today was one of those days that could've gone horribly wrong. For starters, I had to spend 8 hours learning the complexities of the English language. Brutal. On my way to class, I nearly was mauled to death by a vicious dog. I was literally dancing along the street (I had my ipod on) and this big black dog was ahead of me, being restrained by its owner from playfully greeting a dog across the street. In my disregard for anything else but my thoughts and my music, I accidentally stepped on his toe. He freaked out a little, his owner glared at me, and I fumbled an apology and went on my merry way. Well, I guess the owner wanted to scare me a bit, because she scurried by me and let her dog bark and snarl and growl and foam at the mouth as it tried its best to remove the muzzle over its snout (most dogs here are required to wear them, thankfully for me!) and chew straight through to my femur. It was pretty terrifying and could easily have put me in a bad mood. But all I could do was laugh. After class, I had about 30 minutes before I was scheduled to meet a few friends so we could go birthday shopping for another friend. The plan when I left my room this morning was to walk around outside in the beautiful sunshine with my sunglasses on and maybe even buy some fresh fruit from the outdoor market. Too bad. The moment I stepped outside and started to get my sunglasses out, the rain started to pour. In the 30 minutes I was waiting, the weather went from rain to sleet to hail and back to rain again. I wore my sunglasses anyways. And while I was waiting, I danced to some "Let the rain fall down" and ate gelato, despite the freezing temperature. It was so fun.

Today really made me realize the effect my attitude has on the quality of my life. It really is amazing how the decision to be joyful regardless of circumstances can radically change everything.

"This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!"

I hope all of you, whom I love SO much, can find joy in any circumstance. I know that most of you have much bigger, harder circumstances than the things I faced today, but God is bigger than it all. As is his joy. Life really is so much more fun when you can experience the joy that comes from worshiping our creator. Seriously. Try it. :)





There's still beauty to be found. :)

Hungary? Why wait? TAKE SOME PICTURES!

I know it's been forever. I am getting worse and worse at this whole blogging business!

Anyways, this past weekend was the first of four school-organized excursions to nearby countries/regions. Since I am ISEP-Direct, I get reimbursed for the trips, so of COURSE I'm going on all four (Budapest, Krakow, East Bohemia, and the Slovak Mountains)
We spent the weekend in a pretty nice hostel in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Budapest is divided into two parts - Buda and Pesti - that are separated from each other by the River Danube.




Buda on the left, Pest on the right


We left bright and early Friday morning to travel by bus to spend our first day exploring Pesti, the shopping district. Among our journeys we saw St. Stephen's Basilica,





the Parliament building,














the central market,










and a few random other monuments and buildings.














My favorites included the food in the central market (I had the most delicious hawaiian style crepe (pineapples, ham, corn, cream cheese, and mozzarella cheese)





, st. stephen's basilica (it was INCREDIBLY beautiful inside. i can't even tell you how beautiful. i took lots of pictures but they don't even do it justice, sorry),















and the sunset over Buda.






Though the forecast called for rain all weekend, we were actually blessed with more sunshine than we've had the whole time in Brno! Which made for a great weekend.





Friday night we were all pretty wiped out, so we had a group reading party in our hostel and were passed out (SOBER, mind you!) by 10pm.

Saturday morning's plans began with an 8am breakfast in the restaurant adjacent to the hostel. Our fees for the trip included breakfast, so we were all curious to see what our hardearned money would be paying for. Our imaginations flew from eggs and bacon to croissants and nutella to the more elaborate and extravagant french toast and waffles. By the time we entered the restaurant, we were practically drooling over the prospects of a nice, hot Hungarian breakfast. And then reality hit. haha.

Laying on the beautifully set plates in the restaurant were two saran-wrapped "sandwiches" made up of 2 slices of mystery meat, 2 paper thin slices of cucumber, and 1 slice of banana pepper wedged between two pieces of buttery bread. Yum. We gulped down our yummy, delicious sandwiches and washed it down with what we figured was tea and coffee left over from the commies. By the end of the meal, we could hardly contain our patience in waiting to have it again the next morning!





After our hearty breakfast, we ventured across the windy Danube to see what Buda had to offer





Among the highlights of Buda were Bishop Bill (our nickname for him, at least)





and Wendy the statue of liberty






Saturday afternoon was pretty 'lax, Jessica from Missouri and I walked around Margaret Island which was basically a big park full of people biking, jogging, picnicking, or playing some kind of sport and then headed back to the hostel to meet up with some friends for dinner. We had heard about this really cool inexpensive Italian restaurant that served homemade noodles and had basil trees on the tables for you to season with, but ended up at a pricey french restaurant with a sneaky waitress who tried everything she could to get as much money from us as possible. Gosh I love being a foreigner. Saturday night we were all exhausted from walking around and ready to not have to use our feet for a few hours. We were sound asleep by midnight.

Sunday morning we woke up to the sound of the fire alarm, casually packed our bags and headed down to eat another delicious breakfast. The fire alarm was the result of a few receptionists smoking in the office and went off for a good 35 minutes before the fire department arrived and figured out how to turn it off. Needless to say, this resulted in a bunch of tired and grumpy foreigners. The few of us who had already been awake when the alarm went off and don't run solely on coffee laughed as everyone else stumbled out of the hostel with much to say about the whole situation.

After breakfast, we loaded into the bus for one last tour of the city, a few pictures in hero's square




















and then we were on our way to the GYOR SPA. We all were looking very forward to the spas, which were made up of natural hot springs in the ground. Although we didn't get very many pictures, I can tell you this is really for the best. The spa itself was awesome; seeing hundreds of old men in speedos? Not so much. haha. The spa had several different pools to choose from differing in temperature, depth, location, and experience. Of all the different choices, my favorites were the outdoor spas (think of being in a hottub in the middle of winter and how great that feels) and one of the hotter spas that had shallower water and places where you lay down and look up at stars that had been cut into the ceiling. It was so relaxing. Definitely a great way to end a weekend full of walking and sightseeing!















All in all, Budapest was awesome. While Vienna still tops my list of favorite places, Budapest isn't far behind. :)


For those of you diehard readers, here are a few of my favorite legends of budapest:






The story of Bishop Bill (I honestly can't remember his real name, sorry!)
The story goes something like this:
Bishop Bill came to Budapest to share his Christian faith. The pagan worshipers of the city rejected him, rolled him down the rocky hill into the Danube, and let him drown. He was later remembered with remorse and I guess as a sort of retribution, they made a statue of him and placed it on the very hill where he met his death. The hill also happens to be the city's drinking water reservoir. We tried to stick straws in the ground and take a long gulp, but it didn't work out too well...






Statue of Liberty.
She was originally crafted with a sword in her hand but after the fall of communism, they removed the sword and put a "liberty leaf" in its place. There were also several communist soldier statues and dedications around her that were removed as sort of a purging the city of communism.






The chain bridge.
The story starts out with a man who lived in Pesti and his father who lived in Buda. The father died, but the man was unable to get to Buda due to poor weather conditions and the lack of a bridge connecting the two regions. For five days the man was stranded and unable to attend his father's funeral. As a result, he sought out to build a bridge.
Later, another guy attempted to make a bridge between Buda and Pest. He was so proud of his finished product that he boasted perfection in it, promising to drown himself in the river if any imperfection was found. Unfortunately for him (and also the lions guarding the bridge's entrances) his adversaries discovered the lions were completely tongueless and the man kept his word by drowning himself in the river. If you look closely, you can see for yourself that in fact, the lion's still do not have tongues!





Final stories:
St. Stephen's basilica-
The construction of St. Stephen's basilica was first began by St. Stephen himself. In the middle of building it, however, St. Stephan died and another guy took over. Before he had a chance to finish, natural disaster occurred and the whole structure crumbled. With the hungarian spirit of perseverance, one final guy successfully completed the building as it stands today (third time's a charm, right?)





Inside St. Stephen's basilica is none other than the HAND of St. Stephen himself. That's right, his right hand has been preserved for hundreds of years and even has its own little palace to rest in. Talk about crazy!









And finally, a few parting pictures for you...















This sign was posted in our hostel. I thought it was pretttty funny.


Ahoj for now! :)