Hey everyone! I'm in a really big rush right now. We had an awesome day yesterday. I woke up and had a meeting with University of Northern Virginia to go over one of the projects. After the meeting, I met with Jenny and Martin to discuss what materials need to be bought for the camp. I couldn't help buy the things because I had my own personal shopping to take care of. I still haven't bought any souveniers and I knew that I would be busy all day today with no time to buy anything. Martin had to tackle the list of materials, which included 5 watermelons, paint, glitter, scissors, notebooks, etc etc, by himself. I wonder how he managed. When we finished our meeting, I ate a quick meal at the school cafeteria and made my way to the market. Of course, whenever I need to find something I can't find my way. I've run into this market countless time while wandering around Prague, but yesterday it took me at least an hour and a half to find it. When I did find it, I realized I had missed it by only two blocks and I spent the other hour walking past it searching for it.
When I got to the market, I bought a bunch of stuff. I still don't know what to get my sister or my girlfriend or my mom, but I'm sure I'll be able to find things on my other travels. I found a place to sit and relax before I had my meeting with Jaro, to go over the final details of the camp agenda. I stole internet from a nearby hotel and was able to make a few phone calls home. When I met with Jaro, everything went well. I got to say good-bye and give him a few gifts from the other leaders in thanks for everything he has helped us with.
I left straight from training to go home to change and prepare for Ana's birthday party. Last night, we went to the mains square again to cheer on Brasil in the world cup. Brasil beat Chile 3 to 0 and it was a good time as always. There was a group of extremely drunk Mexicans at the game. I really wanted to ask what part they were from, but I decided not to because I didn't want to get wrapped up in a conversation in Spanish with the drunks. I probably should have, but I didn't (Sorry Dad!). After the game, we went back to the apartment in Prague, and decided where to go out. We ended up choosing a place nearby and I'm pretty sure Ana had a great 21st birthday with all of us. I didn't get home until after 6 AM this morning and have spent the morning typing the blogs that will be posted for the upcoming two weeks. They'll be posted every other day starting on July 1st.
Right now, home is looking pretty sad. We've all packed for camp and are prepared to move out when we come back on August 1st. I have still yet to pack, shower and eat before catching the train in an hour, but I think I'll manage. I just have to make sure that I have enough clothes for the two camps and our trip to Budapest and Vienna. I'm really bummed I wont be able to talk to anyone during the next 2 weeks, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the stories I have written. I'll probably be writing my next post in Vienna, or sometime during July, but until then, take care!!
Wish me luck and hopefully My BetterMyself is an awesome program for the students!!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Living in Czech: My House is Not Your House
Waking up this morning, I guess I was a little thankful that we didn't go out last night. I woke up feeling well rested and ready to go. I went to the Our Lady of Victory Church, home of the Infant Jesus of Prague. Many churches have statues of the Infant Jesus of Prague, so it was really nice to go to mass at this well known church. We went to the 12 PM English mass, which was said by an Indian priest. It was kind of hard to hear with the echos of his voice bouncing off the walls and ceiling of the beautiful church. Ana, Tete, and Zhou Lin came late because they got lost, but it was good to all share in the mass together. It was Zhou Lin's first time in a Catholic service, so she thought it was very nice. It was cool to share this experience with someone who doesn't know anything about the Catholic church.
After mass, Veronika, one of the AIESECers from Prague, took us around the neighborhood to show us a few things. We first stopped by this awesome park. There were people laying out in the sun, having picnics, enjoying the beautiful weather. Everyone else thought it was weird to see people enjoying the weather so much in public, but I thought it reminded me of summer in NYC and Sheep's Meadow in Central Park. From the park we made our way to Lennon's Wall. A graffiti painted and tagged wall dedicated to The Beatles and John Lennon. It was awesome. By far, the coolest thing I've seen in Prague. It's modern, urban, and hip-hop. Also, on the way to the wall there was a "Lover's Wall" with locks and stuff attached to the fence on the bridge that crosses the stream underneath. It was really cool and if the world isn't small enough, I saw, amongst the hearts and names and messages of love, a small "Colorado 2010" signature. Weirdly enough, I know my friend's younger sister had just recently been to Prague and been to Lennon's Wall, so I'll be sure to ask if she wrote that.
After Lennon Wall we were starving. We headed over to a restaurant a little after 2 and sat down to eat. I've heard Czech service is pretty terrible, but today was completely unbelievable. I've never had to wait an hour to get my food. The waitress quickly got our drinks when we sat down, but after ordering our food, she just walked by us time after time after time with no acknowledgment that we had been waiting so long. It was only after 45 minutes that we begin to show our frustration and she told us a few more minutes. When we finally got our food, we were all so hungry, we spent the next 20 minutes in silence eating everything in sight. It was decent food, but the service was so terrible I don't think any of us would return or recommend that place to anyone. I almost felt like telling the people entering to "Leave now, unless you want to get your food tomorrow morning!"
When we finished lunch, we headed to Petrin Hill, to get some spectacular views of the city from a tower on top of the hill. The tower looks like a mini-Eiffel Tower from Paris and is quite picturesque. On the way, we passed by a few modern art sculptures, one of giant naked babies with smashed in faces (metal sculptures) and the other called "The Hunger Wall," which represents the many people who starved to death during the Soviet control of Czech (something like that, I'm not really sure). We took the tram to the top of the hill, and ended up just taking a leisurely stroll through the park on the way down. We caught some great views of the city--better than the postcards. I decided to head home after the hill because I wanted to take the bike up the Vlatava from Roztoky and explore the Czech countryside, so I left the girls and headed back to the train station.
When I got home, I discovered the bike was gone, which was weird because we were the only people home, so I was sad I couldn't go for a ride along the river. Turns out, Jenny's roommate is back in the house. It was a really awkward night when we were all working in the living room, and he comes down asking to watch the football game on TV. Of course, we said yes and continued on with our work. He then asked where Jenny was, and I told him that she was home for the weekend. He questioned how we got into the house and if we had keys, and I told him we've just been using the ones by the door that Jenny had given to us. Then things got really awkward when he said that Jenny never told him or any of the other roommates that four people would be living in the house. He tried to express his frustration by saying that he has to pay to live in the house and it's not really fair that we have been living here for free, etc etc, and I tried to explain to him that Jenny had told all of us it was OK to live here... but I figured I might was well leave this between them and not get too involved. This is not my problem and I'm not going to deal with it. I felt bad for the guy because you better believe that I'd be pissed off if I had four strangers (from all different parts of the world) living in my house because my roommate said they could--we're using the bathroom, the kitchen, and for above anything else, I'm sleeping on the floor and Lessya is sleeping on the couch!! We've completely taken over the first level and it was totally not fair for the other people. But at the same time, he had spent the past 10 days at home, and there's nothing we can do about it now. It isn't our fault so, to make things better for the rest of the night we tried to keep quiet and clean our messes (although we had just cleaned the day before after Global Village --thank God because he would have had a fit if he had seen the kitchen yesterday).
Anyway, we all spent the rest of the night finishing our projects and night activities for the camp. Tomorrow Martin and Jenny have to buy all the materials and I've got a meeting at 10 am with the University of Northern Virginia (who has decided to be a partner again). We'll discuss briefly their expectations for one of the projects and then I'll do my souvenir shopping and any last minute sightseeing. Tomorrow is Ana's 21st birthday so we're all excited to spend the night out in celebration! I know I can't wait to finally have a night of fun!
After mass, Veronika, one of the AIESECers from Prague, took us around the neighborhood to show us a few things. We first stopped by this awesome park. There were people laying out in the sun, having picnics, enjoying the beautiful weather. Everyone else thought it was weird to see people enjoying the weather so much in public, but I thought it reminded me of summer in NYC and Sheep's Meadow in Central Park. From the park we made our way to Lennon's Wall. A graffiti painted and tagged wall dedicated to The Beatles and John Lennon. It was awesome. By far, the coolest thing I've seen in Prague. It's modern, urban, and hip-hop. Also, on the way to the wall there was a "Lover's Wall" with locks and stuff attached to the fence on the bridge that crosses the stream underneath. It was really cool and if the world isn't small enough, I saw, amongst the hearts and names and messages of love, a small "Colorado 2010" signature. Weirdly enough, I know my friend's younger sister had just recently been to Prague and been to Lennon's Wall, so I'll be sure to ask if she wrote that.
After Lennon Wall we were starving. We headed over to a restaurant a little after 2 and sat down to eat. I've heard Czech service is pretty terrible, but today was completely unbelievable. I've never had to wait an hour to get my food. The waitress quickly got our drinks when we sat down, but after ordering our food, she just walked by us time after time after time with no acknowledgment that we had been waiting so long. It was only after 45 minutes that we begin to show our frustration and she told us a few more minutes. When we finally got our food, we were all so hungry, we spent the next 20 minutes in silence eating everything in sight. It was decent food, but the service was so terrible I don't think any of us would return or recommend that place to anyone. I almost felt like telling the people entering to "Leave now, unless you want to get your food tomorrow morning!"
When we finished lunch, we headed to Petrin Hill, to get some spectacular views of the city from a tower on top of the hill. The tower looks like a mini-Eiffel Tower from Paris and is quite picturesque. On the way, we passed by a few modern art sculptures, one of giant naked babies with smashed in faces (metal sculptures) and the other called "The Hunger Wall," which represents the many people who starved to death during the Soviet control of Czech (something like that, I'm not really sure). We took the tram to the top of the hill, and ended up just taking a leisurely stroll through the park on the way down. We caught some great views of the city--better than the postcards. I decided to head home after the hill because I wanted to take the bike up the Vlatava from Roztoky and explore the Czech countryside, so I left the girls and headed back to the train station.
When I got home, I discovered the bike was gone, which was weird because we were the only people home, so I was sad I couldn't go for a ride along the river. Turns out, Jenny's roommate is back in the house. It was a really awkward night when we were all working in the living room, and he comes down asking to watch the football game on TV. Of course, we said yes and continued on with our work. He then asked where Jenny was, and I told him that she was home for the weekend. He questioned how we got into the house and if we had keys, and I told him we've just been using the ones by the door that Jenny had given to us. Then things got really awkward when he said that Jenny never told him or any of the other roommates that four people would be living in the house. He tried to express his frustration by saying that he has to pay to live in the house and it's not really fair that we have been living here for free, etc etc, and I tried to explain to him that Jenny had told all of us it was OK to live here... but I figured I might was well leave this between them and not get too involved. This is not my problem and I'm not going to deal with it. I felt bad for the guy because you better believe that I'd be pissed off if I had four strangers (from all different parts of the world) living in my house because my roommate said they could--we're using the bathroom, the kitchen, and for above anything else, I'm sleeping on the floor and Lessya is sleeping on the couch!! We've completely taken over the first level and it was totally not fair for the other people. But at the same time, he had spent the past 10 days at home, and there's nothing we can do about it now. It isn't our fault so, to make things better for the rest of the night we tried to keep quiet and clean our messes (although we had just cleaned the day before after Global Village --thank God because he would have had a fit if he had seen the kitchen yesterday).
Anyway, we all spent the rest of the night finishing our projects and night activities for the camp. Tomorrow Martin and Jenny have to buy all the materials and I've got a meeting at 10 am with the University of Northern Virginia (who has decided to be a partner again). We'll discuss briefly their expectations for one of the projects and then I'll do my souvenir shopping and any last minute sightseeing. Tomorrow is Ana's 21st birthday so we're all excited to spend the night out in celebration! I know I can't wait to finally have a night of fun!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Meet & Greet
Today just solidified the fact that this camp is going to be awesome. Let's begin with the morning. Last night, I went to bed after the beans were completely cooked and I left them in the fridge overnight, to be mashed in the morning. When I woke up at 8 AM, I began to prepare my burritos. I first mashed the beans, without a masher, using a serving spoon to try and find every bean. Then, I had to heat the tortillas, but I didn't want to use the microwave. By this time, Ekta was finishing her curry on the stove and Lessya had taken over the table to use as a dough cutting station to wrap her beef into beef pastry-type things. I was using the window sill to prepare my food because there was no counter space. I was using an open burner on the stove to heat the tortillas, and I began making the burritos. The first few were a little odd looking, but by the third or fourth one I got the hang of folding the burritos and I made a little assembly line. First the tortilla, then the beans, then salsa and then cheese. It was good. I made about a dozen burritos, and I still have extra beans left over. By 9:45 AM, we were rushing out the door. In the last 10 minutes, we wrapped all of our food, gathered all our materials for our tables, and were running out the door with plates, pots and backpacks.
It never fails. Whenever we're going somewhere, we always look like a bunch of clowns when we're traveling around Prague. I'm in a basketball jersey (because it's my "traditional" clothes), and all of us are with plates and bags. Ekta is carrying an actual pot from Jenny's house with curry and of course we have a case of 30 eggs for a game we're going to play with the students after the Global Village. When we got to the train station, we met up with the other four leaders and got to the university just in time to set up. When we got to the university, I realized that I had left my American hat and t-shirt at home, along with the American flag I had made on a piece of poster. Great. My table was practically empty, except for some notes I had written down earlier in the week. I had brought my computer, so I was planning on showing pictures, but of course, when I plugged in my external hard drive with my pictures and music and all, it wasn't recognized by my computer...I hope that doesn't mean something bad, but I still can't figure out the problem. We were able to give me a little something by getting me speakers and I used someone's computer to listen to KS 107.5 online, a hip-hop station from Denver, CO. It worked out OK.
At first, no one came to my table. I thought it might be because my burritos weren't hot anymore and if you've never seen a burrito before, they can look kind of weird. Eventually a few students came over, they ate my burrito hesitantly, but after the first bite they realized it didn't taste as bad as they looked. I actually had one and it was pretty good for my first time (they need more salt, cheese and better salsa, but overall B+). I was actually surprised at how interactive the students were during the Global Village. Compared to the other high school students, these were very outgoing and eager to ask questions. There were a lot of questions thrown at me, especially about me being Mexican. They were kind of confused that I had Mexican food and that I mentioned something about Mexico. I had to explain that since America has so many different types of people, it is common to ask people what their heritage is, in order to get a better understanding of who they are. They seemed to understand, but they were also curious about US-Mexican relations. They knew about the drug war and border issues between the US and Mexico and I was surprised how many questions they asked about it. While I was speaking, I tried to focus on the diversity of the US. I talked about the different regions of the US (Northeast, Mid-atlantic, South, Southwest, Mountains, West Coast, Mid-West) and how each region is different in speech, weather, lifestyle and the rest. They seemed to enjoy it.
After the Global Village, we went outside to play some games with them. We played the typical name games and get to know each other games. Which killed time and allowed us to be more comfortable. We also played a game where they had to "buy" materials at an auction and use these materials to build something to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped from a meter above. We wrapped up the afternoon by taking some time to talk in small groups about their expectations about camp and why they joined the program. We were really tired at the end of the day, but the students had a blast and it was a really great way to start off the weekend.
When it was time to go home, everyone went out to dinner (except Aysegul and Lessya--who wasn't feeling well) at a Czech restaurant. It was delicious food and I got some potato dish with bacon and cheese. Yum. My kind of food--salty, filling, and cheap! We headed home afterward to get ready to go out. I took a nap and when I woke up, I was bummed to see that everyone else had fallen asleep too. Lessya was awake, but she had decided that she wasn't going out. We asked the girls online if they wanted to go out, but they too were not in the mood...I guess we'll just go out the next time we're in Prague. Oh wait, who knows when that'll be. It's kind of disappointing that we're in an amazing city, but can't enjoy the night life because we're "too tired," or maybe too lazy to have some fun time. Or maybe I'm just over reacting, but to me, all work and no play means for a boring adventure.
Tomorrow, we're going to church and then to the Lennon Wall. Afterwards, I have to finish my project and work on the final schedule. I just found out today that I'm also going to have to meet with a university on Monday morning, so the time I had dedicated to sight-seeing and souvenier shopping is now interrupted by a meeting. I guess I'll just have to deal with it.
Until next time, take care!
It never fails. Whenever we're going somewhere, we always look like a bunch of clowns when we're traveling around Prague. I'm in a basketball jersey (because it's my "traditional" clothes), and all of us are with plates and bags. Ekta is carrying an actual pot from Jenny's house with curry and of course we have a case of 30 eggs for a game we're going to play with the students after the Global Village. When we got to the train station, we met up with the other four leaders and got to the university just in time to set up. When we got to the university, I realized that I had left my American hat and t-shirt at home, along with the American flag I had made on a piece of poster. Great. My table was practically empty, except for some notes I had written down earlier in the week. I had brought my computer, so I was planning on showing pictures, but of course, when I plugged in my external hard drive with my pictures and music and all, it wasn't recognized by my computer...I hope that doesn't mean something bad, but I still can't figure out the problem. We were able to give me a little something by getting me speakers and I used someone's computer to listen to KS 107.5 online, a hip-hop station from Denver, CO. It worked out OK.
At first, no one came to my table. I thought it might be because my burritos weren't hot anymore and if you've never seen a burrito before, they can look kind of weird. Eventually a few students came over, they ate my burrito hesitantly, but after the first bite they realized it didn't taste as bad as they looked. I actually had one and it was pretty good for my first time (they need more salt, cheese and better salsa, but overall B+). I was actually surprised at how interactive the students were during the Global Village. Compared to the other high school students, these were very outgoing and eager to ask questions. There were a lot of questions thrown at me, especially about me being Mexican. They were kind of confused that I had Mexican food and that I mentioned something about Mexico. I had to explain that since America has so many different types of people, it is common to ask people what their heritage is, in order to get a better understanding of who they are. They seemed to understand, but they were also curious about US-Mexican relations. They knew about the drug war and border issues between the US and Mexico and I was surprised how many questions they asked about it. While I was speaking, I tried to focus on the diversity of the US. I talked about the different regions of the US (Northeast, Mid-atlantic, South, Southwest, Mountains, West Coast, Mid-West) and how each region is different in speech, weather, lifestyle and the rest. They seemed to enjoy it.
After the Global Village, we went outside to play some games with them. We played the typical name games and get to know each other games. Which killed time and allowed us to be more comfortable. We also played a game where they had to "buy" materials at an auction and use these materials to build something to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped from a meter above. We wrapped up the afternoon by taking some time to talk in small groups about their expectations about camp and why they joined the program. We were really tired at the end of the day, but the students had a blast and it was a really great way to start off the weekend.
When it was time to go home, everyone went out to dinner (except Aysegul and Lessya--who wasn't feeling well) at a Czech restaurant. It was delicious food and I got some potato dish with bacon and cheese. Yum. My kind of food--salty, filling, and cheap! We headed home afterward to get ready to go out. I took a nap and when I woke up, I was bummed to see that everyone else had fallen asleep too. Lessya was awake, but she had decided that she wasn't going out. We asked the girls online if they wanted to go out, but they too were not in the mood...I guess we'll just go out the next time we're in Prague. Oh wait, who knows when that'll be. It's kind of disappointing that we're in an amazing city, but can't enjoy the night life because we're "too tired," or maybe too lazy to have some fun time. Or maybe I'm just over reacting, but to me, all work and no play means for a boring adventure.
Tomorrow, we're going to church and then to the Lennon Wall. Afterwards, I have to finish my project and work on the final schedule. I just found out today that I'm also going to have to meet with a university on Monday morning, so the time I had dedicated to sight-seeing and souvenier shopping is now interrupted by a meeting. I guess I'll just have to deal with it.
Until next time, take care!
Cooking Up Some Culture
Well, of course today was another adventure on the other side of the world.
We started the day off by meeting in Holesovice Nadrazi (Holesovice Station) and began our day's work in the park nearby. Today we came up with all the night activities for the camp. Among my favorites are:
After we finished, we went to the bus station to book our bus tickets for our trip in between the camps. It's official, we're going to Vienna and Budapest. Our bus tickets are as follows:
After buying tickets, I had to go to Tesco with Harrison, Lessya and Aysegul to buy the last of our Global Village ingredients. I found tortillas, cheese, and some chili/salsa to put in my burritos. The beans have been cooking for 3 hours now, and of course I didn't listen to my mom when she told me to make sure they were covered with water because they'll expand and absorb the water...so halfway through cooking the beans, I checked the pot, to find almost no water and the beans about to overflow out of the pot. I did some rearranging and now the beans should be OK. They still have a few more hours to cook.
For having never really cooked that much in my life, living over here has been a real challenge for Chef Regis. I think it's funny how all of us living here at Jenny's (Lessya, Ekta, and Aysegul) have never really cooked in our lives. We're all preparing "traditional" dishes from our countries...all for the very first time. I've never made beans and its funny that we're using Czech students as guinea pigs for our experiments in the kitchen. Aysegul is making a cous cous dish, with pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and spring onions. I've tried a small plate and it is quite good. Ekta is attempting to make curry (she get's mad when I say attempting) and Lessya is going to make beef empanadas --a la Kazakh. We're all laughing at our attempts at cooking.
Speaking of cooking abilities, I was quite shocked today when we were at the grocery store and I was looking for things to cook for dinner. I knew at the apartment we didn't have much in terms of groceries, but I decided to suck it up and just make something. If anything, we had eggs, potatoes, onions, garlic, and a few other things, so I could make a concoction of sorts. While perusing the meats section, I didn't feel like beef, chicken or pork, but I did find some tasty little morsels of rabbit. So I bought it, having no idea what to do with it. When I got home, I Googled "how to cook rabbit" and found some pretty funny stuff, but there was a link on the first page led me to the answer, "Excellent rabbit seasonings include parsley, rosemary, sage, bay leaf, lemon-grass, coriander, and basil." Hrmm...I know Jenny has spices and I just found out that Ekta has a bunch of spices in her bag, so...what the heck. I cut it up in thin pieces, rubbed some spices on it, threw it in some olive oil and BAM! it was done. I boiled a few potatoes to go on the side, and the result was a delicious feast that not only surprised myself but my tastebuds as well. Here's a picture:
It was delicious. I got to even torment vegetarian Ekta, asking her to guess what "innocent" animal I was eating today. She was only slightly amused. As for tomorrow, after the Global Village and Meet & Greet, we'll be going out around Prague. This weekend there are a bunch of free concerts going on around Prague (United Islands), so we're going to try and catch a few and enjoy the night free of work. Sunday, Ana, Tete, Zhou Lin, Harrison and I plan to go to mass and then finish all the projects and work we didn't get done the past few days. Until next time, take care!
We started the day off by meeting in Holesovice Nadrazi (Holesovice Station) and began our day's work in the park nearby. Today we came up with all the night activities for the camp. Among my favorites are:
- International Dance Night: Music from each country is played and each nation has a chance to show traditional dances. I'll be playing hip-hop and rock music (songs they already know), but I will not be preparing any dances.
- Capture the Flag: Run & Directed by me, this night game will give them a chance to paint their faces and their flag and play a crazy game of capture the flag.
- Amazing Race: A game, led by Ekta and I, which has the students do a number of tasks, with only one team winning the title of Amazing Race Champions.
- Talent Show
- Mr. & Miss MBM: A slightly modified version of Mr. Mullen or Mr. Fordham--a chance for some camp participants to show off their stuff and compete for the title of Mr. & Miss MBM
After we finished, we went to the bus station to book our bus tickets for our trip in between the camps. It's official, we're going to Vienna and Budapest. Our bus tickets are as follows:
- Brno--Vienna: July 13, 2010 <15:15 departure -- 18:00 arrival>
- Vienna--Budapest: July 15, 2010 <19:00 departure -- 21:50 arrival>
- Budapest--Brno: July 18, 2010 <9:15 departure -- 14:30 arrival>
After buying tickets, I had to go to Tesco with Harrison, Lessya and Aysegul to buy the last of our Global Village ingredients. I found tortillas, cheese, and some chili/salsa to put in my burritos. The beans have been cooking for 3 hours now, and of course I didn't listen to my mom when she told me to make sure they were covered with water because they'll expand and absorb the water...so halfway through cooking the beans, I checked the pot, to find almost no water and the beans about to overflow out of the pot. I did some rearranging and now the beans should be OK. They still have a few more hours to cook.
For having never really cooked that much in my life, living over here has been a real challenge for Chef Regis. I think it's funny how all of us living here at Jenny's (Lessya, Ekta, and Aysegul) have never really cooked in our lives. We're all preparing "traditional" dishes from our countries...all for the very first time. I've never made beans and its funny that we're using Czech students as guinea pigs for our experiments in the kitchen. Aysegul is making a cous cous dish, with pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and spring onions. I've tried a small plate and it is quite good. Ekta is attempting to make curry (she get's mad when I say attempting) and Lessya is going to make beef empanadas --a la Kazakh. We're all laughing at our attempts at cooking.
Speaking of cooking abilities, I was quite shocked today when we were at the grocery store and I was looking for things to cook for dinner. I knew at the apartment we didn't have much in terms of groceries, but I decided to suck it up and just make something. If anything, we had eggs, potatoes, onions, garlic, and a few other things, so I could make a concoction of sorts. While perusing the meats section, I didn't feel like beef, chicken or pork, but I did find some tasty little morsels of rabbit. So I bought it, having no idea what to do with it. When I got home, I Googled "how to cook rabbit" and found some pretty funny stuff, but there was a link on the first page led me to the answer, "Excellent rabbit seasonings include parsley, rosemary, sage, bay leaf, lemon-grass, coriander, and basil." Hrmm...I know Jenny has spices and I just found out that Ekta has a bunch of spices in her bag, so...what the heck. I cut it up in thin pieces, rubbed some spices on it, threw it in some olive oil and BAM! it was done. I boiled a few potatoes to go on the side, and the result was a delicious feast that not only surprised myself but my tastebuds as well. Here's a picture:
It was delicious. I got to even torment vegetarian Ekta, asking her to guess what "innocent" animal I was eating today. She was only slightly amused. As for tomorrow, after the Global Village and Meet & Greet, we'll be going out around Prague. This weekend there are a bunch of free concerts going on around Prague (United Islands), so we're going to try and catch a few and enjoy the night free of work. Sunday, Ana, Tete, Zhou Lin, Harrison and I plan to go to mass and then finish all the projects and work we didn't get done the past few days. Until next time, take care!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
I'm Just a Tourist
Today was a long day. We all had to wake up early to begin working on the projects for camp. Each group had one project to work on and it took all day, but for the most part we all completed our project and were able to leave a lot earlier than we had planned on.
Of course, my commute home couldn't be easy, because let's face it: I always have to have some story at the end of the day. I was saving this funny story for a later date (like during the camp when I have no internet and I have pre-written blog posts), but I guess the time has come for me to spill the beans. So, for the past week or so, I've been riding the train home with no ticket. Well, that's an exaggeration, because we all have monthly unlimited tickets to get around Prague, but like I said before, Roztoky is one stop outside of Prague. Being lazy and actually sometimes having no time to buy a ticket, I usually just slide by without a problem going from the last station in Prague to Roztoky. There's been a few times where I narrowly escaped the conductor. The first was when Ekta really forgot to buy her ticket, and he let us slide without a fine because a Ukranian woman on the train spoke Russian with Olessya (from Kazakhstan but who is Russian) and helped us out. Then, there was this time where I narrowly escaped the conductor by moving all the way to the last cart and just as we were arriving to our station, the doors opened and I jumped out before the conductor asked for my ticket. These are just a few of the times, but most of the time, I get checked, and they don't care, or sometimes we don't get checked at all. It really isn't a big deal. But then there was today.
As we boarded the train, none of us had the ticket from Sedlec (the last station in Prague) to Roztoky. We looked for the conductor and found her near the front of the train. We ran to the middle of the train, hoping to be checked before our station so that it wouldn't matter when we got off. Well, the good news was that the conductor checked our tickets while we were still in Prague, the bad news was that we were a minute from the last stop in Prague. This means the conductor said, "Sedlec" when she checked our tickets, and watched us while she waited in between cars. When the train stopped, and we didn't move, she yelled at us to get off the train. This is when we played the, "I'm a stupid tourist card," and acted like we didn't know what was going on. She fell for it for about .000001 second. She came over and said, "Get off!" I could tell she was pissed. We were by this point, so embarrassed, but still had to stick to our guns and pretend we didn't know what was going on. We told her we were getting off at Roztoky and she said, "No--ticket expired, get off!" We were not about to get off the train and wait for the next one--been there, done that, don't need to do it again. A woman who spoke some English helped us out a little bit and told us our monthly passes only are good in Prague and, still playing stupid, we asked if we could buy our ticket on the train. By this time, the entire cabin is looking at us, and the train is being delayed because the conductor is busy dealing with us. We finally convinced her to let us buy our tickets on the train and the train moved on.
When we got to our station, we were relived to be off the train and away from the embarrassment, but as we walked home, we realized just how stupid we were. We realized that while we boarded the train, we were discussing what to do if the conductor checked our tickets. We made the action plan to play stupid, in English, not thinking that other passengers could probably speak English and listen to us. So, not only did the woman help us get out of a huge fine do so out of kindness, she probably did so knowing fully well that we were LYING to the conductor, pretending to be stupid. What an embarrassment. I guess next time the conductor asks for our ticket, we'll tell him Roztoky, but if they don't ask....haha, I'll just have to be a stupid American tourist again.
Tonight I made some hamburgers for everyone. They were actually pretty good. Tomorrow I have to make the burritos and get ready for Global Village. I'll have more stories to tell soon, hope everyone is doing well over there in the USA.
Of course, my commute home couldn't be easy, because let's face it: I always have to have some story at the end of the day. I was saving this funny story for a later date (like during the camp when I have no internet and I have pre-written blog posts), but I guess the time has come for me to spill the beans. So, for the past week or so, I've been riding the train home with no ticket. Well, that's an exaggeration, because we all have monthly unlimited tickets to get around Prague, but like I said before, Roztoky is one stop outside of Prague. Being lazy and actually sometimes having no time to buy a ticket, I usually just slide by without a problem going from the last station in Prague to Roztoky. There's been a few times where I narrowly escaped the conductor. The first was when Ekta really forgot to buy her ticket, and he let us slide without a fine because a Ukranian woman on the train spoke Russian with Olessya (from Kazakhstan but who is Russian) and helped us out. Then, there was this time where I narrowly escaped the conductor by moving all the way to the last cart and just as we were arriving to our station, the doors opened and I jumped out before the conductor asked for my ticket. These are just a few of the times, but most of the time, I get checked, and they don't care, or sometimes we don't get checked at all. It really isn't a big deal. But then there was today.
As we boarded the train, none of us had the ticket from Sedlec (the last station in Prague) to Roztoky. We looked for the conductor and found her near the front of the train. We ran to the middle of the train, hoping to be checked before our station so that it wouldn't matter when we got off. Well, the good news was that the conductor checked our tickets while we were still in Prague, the bad news was that we were a minute from the last stop in Prague. This means the conductor said, "Sedlec" when she checked our tickets, and watched us while she waited in between cars. When the train stopped, and we didn't move, she yelled at us to get off the train. This is when we played the, "I'm a stupid tourist card," and acted like we didn't know what was going on. She fell for it for about .000001 second. She came over and said, "Get off!" I could tell she was pissed. We were by this point, so embarrassed, but still had to stick to our guns and pretend we didn't know what was going on. We told her we were getting off at Roztoky and she said, "No--ticket expired, get off!" We were not about to get off the train and wait for the next one--been there, done that, don't need to do it again. A woman who spoke some English helped us out a little bit and told us our monthly passes only are good in Prague and, still playing stupid, we asked if we could buy our ticket on the train. By this time, the entire cabin is looking at us, and the train is being delayed because the conductor is busy dealing with us. We finally convinced her to let us buy our tickets on the train and the train moved on.
When we got to our station, we were relived to be off the train and away from the embarrassment, but as we walked home, we realized just how stupid we were. We realized that while we boarded the train, we were discussing what to do if the conductor checked our tickets. We made the action plan to play stupid, in English, not thinking that other passengers could probably speak English and listen to us. So, not only did the woman help us get out of a huge fine do so out of kindness, she probably did so knowing fully well that we were LYING to the conductor, pretending to be stupid. What an embarrassment. I guess next time the conductor asks for our ticket, we'll tell him Roztoky, but if they don't ask....haha, I'll just have to be a stupid American tourist again.
Tonight I made some hamburgers for everyone. They were actually pretty good. Tomorrow I have to make the burritos and get ready for Global Village. I'll have more stories to tell soon, hope everyone is doing well over there in the USA.
Fresh Cuts
Well, after missing the party on Monday night, I was pretty annoyed, but I woke up on Tuesday with a clearer head and was able to start the day off on a good foot. We first went to the Anglo-American University in Prague for a session on their project that they will be conducting. Their project is titled, "Managing Your Online Reputation." It is a really interesting topic that is especially relevant for young teens today. It is a topic that transcends nations and will only continue to grow in importance. You can check out more about their project by clicking here.
After the meeting with AAU, we moved back to the AIESEC offices to begin the Camp Prep Week (CPW). This was what I was working on all of Monday night. We went over the schedule for the week and looked at a general picture of what camp will look like when we begin in a couple weeks. Actually, Camp 1 is only a week away right now, so it really is crunch time. After I went over the agenda, Jenny had a few things to say about logistics and after that we had a meeting while the others finished some cultural education. During the meeting we finalized the expectations of the universities and I received the last of the information I needed to get the facis started on creating the projects for camp.
After the day was over we went back to Letna, the beer garden on top of the hill overlooking Prague. We had a few drinks and made our way back to Jenny's to rest for the night. Jenny's roommate Roman had moved out because he was going to San Francisco for the summer, so I moved into his room and made myself at home on his bed (he invited me to do so of course). It was nice to be in a bedroom, rather then sleeping on the living room floor. I went to bed relatively early and woke up this morning rested and ready for the day.
Since I'm in charge of CPW, Jenny stayed at home and caught up on some much needed rest. When we got to the AIESEC offices, we began working on our Global Village materials. Lessya is making a Kazakh lamb dish, which kind of look like Indian samosas or hot pockets. Aysegul is making kisir, a Turkish dish--something with rice, Ekta (just to clarify, the correct spelling is E-k-t-a, even if my dyslexic fingers type Etka sometimes), is making Indian curry, Jolin is making fried rice, Tete is making "Chocolate Sausage", a Portuguese dessert, and Ana is making some chocolate something, which I can't pronounce or write. I'm going to represent the US with an attempt at bean burritos, but we'll see what happens. I may just have to order some McDonalds french fries...
After preparing what we needed for Global Village, we began working on the first project. This is a marketing strategy project for the Banking Institute of Prague. We each finished our parts by 5 PM, so we had the rest of the day free to run errands, go home and relax. I had a few things to get done before I went home. I'm in charge of planning the faci adventure in between the two camps. This means I'm in charge of booking the bus tickets, getting our hostels, finding out what to do, etc. I'm fine with doing this because the first time I came to Europe, I did the exact same thing. I'm used to it and it's fun! Have I told you what we're doing for our 6 day break?? We're planning on leaving from Brno (the 2nd largest city in Czech Republic, about 30 minutes away from camp) to Vienna, Austria. We'll stay in Vienna for 3 days, and leave to Budapest, Hungary for 3 days. I'm really excited.
Anyway, I was planning on heading to the bus station to price the tickets (I already have our schedule), but I also had to pick up some deodorant, eye solution, and soap at the store AND I had to get a haircut. Of course, if you remember me, I always have to get my haircut every 2 weeks because I can't stand when it gets "long". I found my deodorant and soap at the store, but I couldn't find any solution (and I'm about to run out). I'll have to look for that another day. I instead focused on the important things--getting my haircut. I found some free wireless internet and searched for hair salons near me. I found a few places, some were closed others were for ladies and I found one that didn't look so bad for $20 haircut. I thought it was a bit pricey, so I searched for barber shop instead. I found a few new places, but one was closed and the other was too far to walk. I figured that I'd might as well just bite the bullet and spend $20 on the haircut because eventually everything would close and then I'd have to deal with it another day after already spending 30 minutes looking around aimlessly.
I went into the place and found out that they spoke English, but they only took appointments. I understood and was ready to leave when the boss lady told me to wait. She talked to one of the girls and then came back and told me that if I could wait till 7 PM, they could cut my hair. I said OK, and waited the 20 minutes more. This was a great place! For $20 I was really enjoying the shampoo and the lady cut my hair very well. I was really pleased with everything. When I went to pay however, all my happy feelings went away. I had misread the prices (of course) and was reading the "Men's Cut with machine only". Well of course, after re-reading it I still don't know what "machine only means", but the one right below it says, "Men's Cut professional stylist". I don't know what that means either, but I do know now that Petra Měchurová (the name of the place) charges 800 CK for a "Men's Cut professional stylist"...if you do the math, it was about a $36 haircut. Thanks Prague, you've just taken over as "The Most Expensive Haircut in the World" for me. China is still in the lead for "Cheapest Haircuts Ever" charging $3 per haircut, followed by Mexico, coming in around $4 a cut. Well, now that I've spent my weekly allowance on one haircut, I think I'll be living off of bread and cheese for a while. If I don't post for a while, you'll know that I have starved to death and am being fed to the pigeons in Old Town Square. Until next time...cheers!
After the meeting with AAU, we moved back to the AIESEC offices to begin the Camp Prep Week (CPW). This was what I was working on all of Monday night. We went over the schedule for the week and looked at a general picture of what camp will look like when we begin in a couple weeks. Actually, Camp 1 is only a week away right now, so it really is crunch time. After I went over the agenda, Jenny had a few things to say about logistics and after that we had a meeting while the others finished some cultural education. During the meeting we finalized the expectations of the universities and I received the last of the information I needed to get the facis started on creating the projects for camp.
After the day was over we went back to Letna, the beer garden on top of the hill overlooking Prague. We had a few drinks and made our way back to Jenny's to rest for the night. Jenny's roommate Roman had moved out because he was going to San Francisco for the summer, so I moved into his room and made myself at home on his bed (he invited me to do so of course). It was nice to be in a bedroom, rather then sleeping on the living room floor. I went to bed relatively early and woke up this morning rested and ready for the day.
Since I'm in charge of CPW, Jenny stayed at home and caught up on some much needed rest. When we got to the AIESEC offices, we began working on our Global Village materials. Lessya is making a Kazakh lamb dish, which kind of look like Indian samosas or hot pockets. Aysegul is making kisir, a Turkish dish--something with rice, Ekta (just to clarify, the correct spelling is E-k-t-a, even if my dyslexic fingers type Etka sometimes), is making Indian curry, Jolin is making fried rice, Tete is making "Chocolate Sausage", a Portuguese dessert, and Ana is making some chocolate something, which I can't pronounce or write. I'm going to represent the US with an attempt at bean burritos, but we'll see what happens. I may just have to order some McDonalds french fries...
After preparing what we needed for Global Village, we began working on the first project. This is a marketing strategy project for the Banking Institute of Prague. We each finished our parts by 5 PM, so we had the rest of the day free to run errands, go home and relax. I had a few things to get done before I went home. I'm in charge of planning the faci adventure in between the two camps. This means I'm in charge of booking the bus tickets, getting our hostels, finding out what to do, etc. I'm fine with doing this because the first time I came to Europe, I did the exact same thing. I'm used to it and it's fun! Have I told you what we're doing for our 6 day break?? We're planning on leaving from Brno (the 2nd largest city in Czech Republic, about 30 minutes away from camp) to Vienna, Austria. We'll stay in Vienna for 3 days, and leave to Budapest, Hungary for 3 days. I'm really excited.
Anyway, I was planning on heading to the bus station to price the tickets (I already have our schedule), but I also had to pick up some deodorant, eye solution, and soap at the store AND I had to get a haircut. Of course, if you remember me, I always have to get my haircut every 2 weeks because I can't stand when it gets "long". I found my deodorant and soap at the store, but I couldn't find any solution (and I'm about to run out). I'll have to look for that another day. I instead focused on the important things--getting my haircut. I found some free wireless internet and searched for hair salons near me. I found a few places, some were closed others were for ladies and I found one that didn't look so bad for $20 haircut. I thought it was a bit pricey, so I searched for barber shop instead. I found a few new places, but one was closed and the other was too far to walk. I figured that I'd might as well just bite the bullet and spend $20 on the haircut because eventually everything would close and then I'd have to deal with it another day after already spending 30 minutes looking around aimlessly.
I went into the place and found out that they spoke English, but they only took appointments. I understood and was ready to leave when the boss lady told me to wait. She talked to one of the girls and then came back and told me that if I could wait till 7 PM, they could cut my hair. I said OK, and waited the 20 minutes more. This was a great place! For $20 I was really enjoying the shampoo and the lady cut my hair very well. I was really pleased with everything. When I went to pay however, all my happy feelings went away. I had misread the prices (of course) and was reading the "Men's Cut with machine only". Well of course, after re-reading it I still don't know what "machine only means", but the one right below it says, "Men's Cut professional stylist". I don't know what that means either, but I do know now that Petra Měchurová (the name of the place) charges 800 CK for a "Men's Cut professional stylist"...if you do the math, it was about a $36 haircut. Thanks Prague, you've just taken over as "The Most Expensive Haircut in the World" for me. China is still in the lead for "Cheapest Haircuts Ever" charging $3 per haircut, followed by Mexico, coming in around $4 a cut. Well, now that I've spent my weekly allowance on one haircut, I think I'll be living off of bread and cheese for a while. If I don't post for a while, you'll know that I have starved to death and am being fed to the pigeons in Old Town Square. Until next time...cheers!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Manic Monday
We started Monday off with a commute to the Banking Institute, a partner of MBM, to discuss their project that they want the students to complete while at camp. They were very helpful, giving us all the details of the project, what they expect from the students, and what kind of skills they want the students to leave with. It was a good session, I wish the other universities were as organized as the Banking Institute. Ana and Zhou Lin got lost on the way to the university, so they didn't make it to the meeting (I wasn't surprised that they'd get lost and miss the meeting. They were supposed to meet at the subway station near the school at 10 AM, but instead went to the AIESEC office). After the Banking Institute meeting, we went to Jenny's university and met up with the girls to eat.
We spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the the student-leader "Meet and Greet" we have planned on Saturday. Basically, we're going to have the opportunity to meet with about half of the students on Saturday, so we've decided to do a Global Village for them. Global Village is when each student has a table, and on that table they have stuff from their countries for display. For this Global Village we're all going to have some kind of food from our country to feed the students before the Meet & Greet officially starts. After the Global Village we'll have a quick overview of what to expect at the camp, what to bring, etc. and we'll finish the session with a fun activity that helps them get a "sneak peek" of what life will be like at the camp.
After working on that for the afternoon, everyone went home, but I had to meet with Jenny to go over some stuff we were supposed to talk about yesterday. Unfortunately, I found out that there was a lot of stuff that was supposed to be done yesterday that didn't get done. I knew of the tasks, but was unaware of the urgency that they needed to be done. The miscommunication eventually led me to be slightly overwhelmed. It wasn't made clear from the beginning what was expected of me, so I felt kind of slighted when I found out that I had unfinished work (not like I had so much time to work on it anyway). Besides the fact that Jenny didn't communicate to me what exactly she needed, it was also frustrating that some of my work (like planning the design of the projects) can't be done until I have all the information and expectations from the universities. I guess I should have asked more questions to be clear on what needed to be done, so from now on, when it comes to working, I need to be more serious.
I went to another meeting with Jaro, who has been helping me with agenda, and he gave me a lot of ideas how to get everything done this week. When I returned home it was already 8 PM, and everyone was getting ready for a get together at Jenny's house. Jenny was cooking some Czech food for everyone and the music was already playing. I had to do laundry, so I put it in right away, and brought my stuff upstairs to get ready to work. I worked the whole night, missing the party. The international interns from the other apartment came over, as well as some members of AIESEC Prague (Czech students). From what I could hear while I worked, it sounded like a great party. Someone brought their guitar and I could hear everyone singing songs like Green Day and some classics (I can't remember the song names). It was really depressing, but I got my work done (I'm not sure if it's exactly what is expected of me, but I'll have to wait until later today to find out any feedback). I went to bed around one, and woke up to the remains of the party. The apartment is a disaster zone, almost like my dorm room before we moved out on graduation day, which, trust me, was not-so-clean!
I'm looking forward to today so I can present what I have created for the week and see what people think. I hate sitting with the feeling that my work is incomplete or unsatisfactory, so I obviously will not be less stressed until it's perfect. That just who I am. I'll probably be blogging again tonight. I'm going to start taking more pictures of the Elite 8 (our group leader/facilitator team--AKA Faci Team or Facis for short). Until next time!
We spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the the student-leader "Meet and Greet" we have planned on Saturday. Basically, we're going to have the opportunity to meet with about half of the students on Saturday, so we've decided to do a Global Village for them. Global Village is when each student has a table, and on that table they have stuff from their countries for display. For this Global Village we're all going to have some kind of food from our country to feed the students before the Meet & Greet officially starts. After the Global Village we'll have a quick overview of what to expect at the camp, what to bring, etc. and we'll finish the session with a fun activity that helps them get a "sneak peek" of what life will be like at the camp.
After working on that for the afternoon, everyone went home, but I had to meet with Jenny to go over some stuff we were supposed to talk about yesterday. Unfortunately, I found out that there was a lot of stuff that was supposed to be done yesterday that didn't get done. I knew of the tasks, but was unaware of the urgency that they needed to be done. The miscommunication eventually led me to be slightly overwhelmed. It wasn't made clear from the beginning what was expected of me, so I felt kind of slighted when I found out that I had unfinished work (not like I had so much time to work on it anyway). Besides the fact that Jenny didn't communicate to me what exactly she needed, it was also frustrating that some of my work (like planning the design of the projects) can't be done until I have all the information and expectations from the universities. I guess I should have asked more questions to be clear on what needed to be done, so from now on, when it comes to working, I need to be more serious.
I went to another meeting with Jaro, who has been helping me with agenda, and he gave me a lot of ideas how to get everything done this week. When I returned home it was already 8 PM, and everyone was getting ready for a get together at Jenny's house. Jenny was cooking some Czech food for everyone and the music was already playing. I had to do laundry, so I put it in right away, and brought my stuff upstairs to get ready to work. I worked the whole night, missing the party. The international interns from the other apartment came over, as well as some members of AIESEC Prague (Czech students). From what I could hear while I worked, it sounded like a great party. Someone brought their guitar and I could hear everyone singing songs like Green Day and some classics (I can't remember the song names). It was really depressing, but I got my work done (I'm not sure if it's exactly what is expected of me, but I'll have to wait until later today to find out any feedback). I went to bed around one, and woke up to the remains of the party. The apartment is a disaster zone, almost like my dorm room before we moved out on graduation day, which, trust me, was not-so-clean!
I'm looking forward to today so I can present what I have created for the week and see what people think. I hate sitting with the feeling that my work is incomplete or unsatisfactory, so I obviously will not be less stressed until it's perfect. That just who I am. I'll probably be blogging again tonight. I'm going to start taking more pictures of the Elite 8 (our group leader/facilitator team--AKA Faci Team or Facis for short). Until next time!
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Elite 8
So Friday was another day full of training. We started off the day with a session on how to plan sessions/programs. This will come in handy when we begin to prepare the activities for the camp this week. After this, we ate at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Coming from America and having studied in China, I know the difference between authentic Chinese food and fast-food take out. Jolin, from China, has never been outside China, so she doesn't really know what "Chinese food" is to the rest of the world. I'll never forget the look on her face when we went to this restaurant. It first started when we sat down, and there were no chopsticks on the table. In the rest of the world, a lot of people can't use chopsticks, but explaining this was easy, because Jolin understands other cultures are different than hers. Then when we were choosing our food, she was all content to order some fried rice. When she went to order her meal, she was a little shocked to find that you have to order your rice separately from your entree. And if that wasn't enough, the final straw was when she spoke in Chinese to the waitress and the waitress did not understand. After this, Jolin was so upset she couldn't contain it, "What kind of Chinese restaurant is this place!?" I couldn't help but laugh. It was a pretty crappy restaurant, even by American-Chinese standards. No fortune cookie or anything.
After lunch we had a session by Prague College. This was "Working with Students Part II." It was by the worst workshop we've had all week. We couldn't really figure out what the point of it was, but in the end we got some good advice about dealing with Czech students, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. We then moved on to our final session, "Team Dynamics" with Vieroslava (Vieros) for short. By this time we were so exhausted with training and sessions we were practically delusional. We've heard enough about the importance of teamwork, the importance of being a leader, blah blah blah, the only thing we wanted to do was enjoy a beer or go to bed. But, we stuck it out through the end and made the best of our session.
We ended up coming home for an hour before we headed out for another weekend on the town. Friday night was a "Welcome to Prague" party for Pierre, the French intern who arrived earlier in the week to work for Accenture. By the time we got to the other flat (not Ana and Jolin's) there were about 15 other interns. New Zealand, Croatia, Colombia, Argentina, Romania, Mexico, Russia, Tunisia, India, Sweden, France, Czech Republic, and a few other countries were all represented at the AIESEC party. This is exactly why I joined. We enjoyed a few drinks, brought from all around the world, and proceeded to go out for the night. The morning train home was quite a journey, highlighted by a late night/early morning stop to KFC.
We slept in, for the first time in ages, and woke up to Jenny making some delicious Czech food. Aysegul's boyfriend's brother lives in Prague, so she left in the afternoon to meet up with him. I updated my blog, added pictures, etc. and took a nice nap. I woke up just in time to get ready to go out for the night. We ate a quick dinner and took the last train into Prague. This time we went straight out and didn't stop at any apartments beforehand. I really enjoy going out in Prague. There are hundreds of places, each with a unique crowd and different atmosphere.
This morning (Sunday), I woke up at 10 AM to check the bus schedule to go pick up Harrison (Taiwanese) from the airport. I found the next bus to the airport left at 10:40 AM, so I didn't even get to shower before I had to leave. I caught the bus, just to find out that I had caught it in the wrong direction (who knew that there was one bus stop for both directions...) and I ended up getting kicked out in who-knows-where again. Luckily, I found some random wireless internet and was able to check the bus schedules. Good news was I only had to wait 30 minutes for the next bus, bad news was that Harrison was going to be waiting another hour for me at the airport. There was nothing I could do, so I got a coffee at the only place around and caught the next bus. When I got to the airport, I found Harrison right away. He had just called Jenny from a payphone wondering where I was. I took him back to his apartment and introduced him to Ana (Brazil) and Jolin (China)--they are his new flatmates.
When we arrived, the girls were just hanging out. They were supposed to do a cultural simulation this afternoon, but when I arrived, the other girls (Olessya, Ekta, and Aysegul) still hadn't left Roztoky and it was already 3 PM. Harrison was tired, so I decided to go grocery shopping with Ana and Jolin while he took a rest. We skyped the girls and told them to meet at Ana & Jolin's apartment so they could begin their cultural simulation. While they were doing that, I could do the makeup session with Harrison and Tete (Portuguese) to catch them up on all the information they missed the past week. Tete was on her way from the airport with Jenny by now.
Right when we had everything all figured out, Ana get's a call from Ekta, who was still at Jenny's house. They were all ready to leave, when they noticed one small problem. They were now locked inside the house. See, Jenny and I are the only one's with keys to Jenny's house. Jenny had left early Sunday morning, before me, but I didn't know. So when I left this morning, I locked the house and went on my way. Now the girls were stuck in the house. Poor Ekta...always getting locked into places. We went grocery shopping, and received a phone call from them a few minutes later saying they had figured out a way out. They still won't tell me how they did it. All they said was, "Regis, we are smart girls and we don't need you for everything." Fair enough. I still don't know how they did it.
When they finally arrived at the apartment, Jenny had dropped off Tete and I began to do the make up session with Harrison and Tete. Welcome to Prague--now straight to work!! The session ended up taking 3 hours (an hour longer than I had planned) because there was just so much material to cover. The girls worked on their simulation for a while in the apartment, but eventually had to leave to take pictures of a few statues and find a few things around Prague. When we finished, Pierre had made an apple crisp of some sort, so we had a bit of dessert and left to go watch the Brazil game in Old Town Square.
We met up with the girls at Old Town Square, but the weather was cloudy and cold and we decided to leave a bit early. Harrison and Tete were exhausted, Pierre has work tomorrow and I had to get home to finish the agenda for the upcoming week. We have a ton of work to do this week, so I had to plan when we're going to do what. We caught the train home and made it back, just in time for me to finish my work and get to bed before 2 AM. I'm really glad that the final two group leaders are in Prague. Now we can really form a cohesive group and make this camp the best. It'll be nice to see how having two new dynamic personalities in our group. I can't wait to see how it pans out. For now, there will be more to come, but I need to sleep. Tomorrow is a long day.
After lunch we had a session by Prague College. This was "Working with Students Part II." It was by the worst workshop we've had all week. We couldn't really figure out what the point of it was, but in the end we got some good advice about dealing with Czech students, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. We then moved on to our final session, "Team Dynamics" with Vieroslava (Vieros) for short. By this time we were so exhausted with training and sessions we were practically delusional. We've heard enough about the importance of teamwork, the importance of being a leader, blah blah blah, the only thing we wanted to do was enjoy a beer or go to bed. But, we stuck it out through the end and made the best of our session.
We ended up coming home for an hour before we headed out for another weekend on the town. Friday night was a "Welcome to Prague" party for Pierre, the French intern who arrived earlier in the week to work for Accenture. By the time we got to the other flat (not Ana and Jolin's) there were about 15 other interns. New Zealand, Croatia, Colombia, Argentina, Romania, Mexico, Russia, Tunisia, India, Sweden, France, Czech Republic, and a few other countries were all represented at the AIESEC party. This is exactly why I joined. We enjoyed a few drinks, brought from all around the world, and proceeded to go out for the night. The morning train home was quite a journey, highlighted by a late night/early morning stop to KFC.
We slept in, for the first time in ages, and woke up to Jenny making some delicious Czech food. Aysegul's boyfriend's brother lives in Prague, so she left in the afternoon to meet up with him. I updated my blog, added pictures, etc. and took a nice nap. I woke up just in time to get ready to go out for the night. We ate a quick dinner and took the last train into Prague. This time we went straight out and didn't stop at any apartments beforehand. I really enjoy going out in Prague. There are hundreds of places, each with a unique crowd and different atmosphere.
This morning (Sunday), I woke up at 10 AM to check the bus schedule to go pick up Harrison (Taiwanese) from the airport. I found the next bus to the airport left at 10:40 AM, so I didn't even get to shower before I had to leave. I caught the bus, just to find out that I had caught it in the wrong direction (who knew that there was one bus stop for both directions...) and I ended up getting kicked out in who-knows-where again. Luckily, I found some random wireless internet and was able to check the bus schedules. Good news was I only had to wait 30 minutes for the next bus, bad news was that Harrison was going to be waiting another hour for me at the airport. There was nothing I could do, so I got a coffee at the only place around and caught the next bus. When I got to the airport, I found Harrison right away. He had just called Jenny from a payphone wondering where I was. I took him back to his apartment and introduced him to Ana (Brazil) and Jolin (China)--they are his new flatmates.
When we arrived, the girls were just hanging out. They were supposed to do a cultural simulation this afternoon, but when I arrived, the other girls (Olessya, Ekta, and Aysegul) still hadn't left Roztoky and it was already 3 PM. Harrison was tired, so I decided to go grocery shopping with Ana and Jolin while he took a rest. We skyped the girls and told them to meet at Ana & Jolin's apartment so they could begin their cultural simulation. While they were doing that, I could do the makeup session with Harrison and Tete (Portuguese) to catch them up on all the information they missed the past week. Tete was on her way from the airport with Jenny by now.
Right when we had everything all figured out, Ana get's a call from Ekta, who was still at Jenny's house. They were all ready to leave, when they noticed one small problem. They were now locked inside the house. See, Jenny and I are the only one's with keys to Jenny's house. Jenny had left early Sunday morning, before me, but I didn't know. So when I left this morning, I locked the house and went on my way. Now the girls were stuck in the house. Poor Ekta...always getting locked into places. We went grocery shopping, and received a phone call from them a few minutes later saying they had figured out a way out. They still won't tell me how they did it. All they said was, "Regis, we are smart girls and we don't need you for everything." Fair enough. I still don't know how they did it.
When they finally arrived at the apartment, Jenny had dropped off Tete and I began to do the make up session with Harrison and Tete. Welcome to Prague--now straight to work!! The session ended up taking 3 hours (an hour longer than I had planned) because there was just so much material to cover. The girls worked on their simulation for a while in the apartment, but eventually had to leave to take pictures of a few statues and find a few things around Prague. When we finished, Pierre had made an apple crisp of some sort, so we had a bit of dessert and left to go watch the Brazil game in Old Town Square.
We met up with the girls at Old Town Square, but the weather was cloudy and cold and we decided to leave a bit early. Harrison and Tete were exhausted, Pierre has work tomorrow and I had to get home to finish the agenda for the upcoming week. We have a ton of work to do this week, so I had to plan when we're going to do what. We caught the train home and made it back, just in time for me to finish my work and get to bed before 2 AM. I'm really glad that the final two group leaders are in Prague. Now we can really form a cohesive group and make this camp the best. It'll be nice to see how having two new dynamic personalities in our group. I can't wait to see how it pans out. For now, there will be more to come, but I need to sleep. Tomorrow is a long day.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Pictures have Developed
Here are the pictures!
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| Aroung Prague |
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| St. Charles Bridge and Prague Castle |
And here are some videos!
Enjoy!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Go, Go, Go...Literally!
I'm going to start chronologically with this entry, beginning with Tuesday, and I will try and be concise, although a lot has happened the past few days. I promise, there is a great ending and you won't be disappointed. On Tuesday, we began the day by getting up early. The previous night we had sat around talking and drinking Turkish coffee and Jenny had to break the news to the girls that with one more leader arriving the next day (Tuesday), her apartment (although spacious) would be unable to accommodate all the people. So, Tuesday, Brasilian Ana and Chinese Lin had to pack their bags and move to a new apartment. The train and subway to their apartment was an unpleasant one, solely in the fact that it was depressing knowing that these people I had just met and got to know are now living on the opposite side of town from the rest of us. It was almost like burning a newly built bridge. Although it's clearly not the end of the world, I really enjoyed their company because Ana and I can make the best of any situation and Lin and I talk about China and speak in Chinese.
When we arrived at the apartment I felt even worse. It looked like a shabby, dingy place, with plaster crumbling from the sides and laundry hanging and fluttering like rags from the balconies of the upper level apartments. The apartment wasn't too terrible on the inside, but it was definitely not as plush as our country house. We left from there back to Prague to get Ayesgül her monthly bus pass and to exchange money. Since Jenny had previous engagements, I was once again leading the girls around the city. Running errands was pretty easy and we finished in the early afternoon and headed to Prague Castle.
Prague Castle was amazing. The ancient complex is huge. The main dining hall was used for multiple royal events. The inauguration of the king was celebrated by a huge feast where high officials and prominent city members were invite to pay homage to their new ruler. Afterwards they would move to the cathedral to finish the coronation. The huge main hall, called Vladislav Hall, was also used as a jousting arena, where horses were brought in and the performers jousted for royal entertainment. I thought that was awesome. It was also used as a marketplace where vendors from all over the world would sell luxury items like spices, jewels, fur, and gold.
The royal hapel inside holds bones of many saints and as our audio tour guide told us. You'd be surprised to find that one of the patron saints of Czech Republic is buried in the royal chapel, All Saints Chapel. After a fire in which most of its Romanesque details were destroyed in 1541, the church was rebuilt in Baroque style. Prague Castle has much history of law, politics and religion and is a fascinating place. After touring the royal quarters, we made our way to Saint George's Basilica which was old and plain but held tombs of the royal family and the remains of St. Agnes, the Benedictine abess who started the first nunnery in Prague. She was actually a daughter of royalty and gave it up for a life of God. From St. George's we went to St. Vitus Cathedral, which was just as beautiful the second time around.The audio tour was an excellent choice while touring the many chapels within the cathedral. Come to find out they have a chapel for St. John Baptiste, the Virgin Mary, and the remains of St. Wenceslas are held here. The cathedral dates back to the 1300s.
By this time, we were all history and castle'd out so we made our way down to the Charles Bridge to cross and find something to eat. We were in a rush by now because we were supposed to meet Jenny and our newest trainee, Olessya from Kazakhstan, for the start of our official training as program leaders. We made it barely on time and continued to go over the agenda for the week and our upcoming plans. Rather then heading home after a long day of sightseeing and working, we decided to head to Old Town Square to watch the Brazil v North Korea soccer game.
Last time I was in Europe, it was FIFA World Cup 2006 in Munich, Germany. What an experience that was! I'm so glad to be back for another world cup where the people are so involved and so enthusiastic about the sport. We enjoyed a few beers and sat right next to a group of Brazilians (with Ana of course sporting her Brazilian shirt). Throughout the game, Portuguese cheers and curses were flowing from Ana and another Brazilian, Gil. During the commercial breaks, the other Brazilian group next to us got their drums out and played music to energize the crowd and get some dancing. I have a video to upload that is just fantastic. The Brazilian girls are dancing, their drums are shaking my legs with each beat, and the crowd is going wild. When Brazil scored (twice in fact), the uproar got even more uncontrollable. The best part was the fact that we were standing in one of the oldest and most historic parts of Prague.
The next day, Wednesday, we had a full day of education. We began with a Cultural Preparation session, which gave an overview of Czech culture and helped us understand cultural differences. We also prepared ourselves as ambassadors of our country and how to be conscience of the fact that some of the students have never met foreigners like ourselves and we must do our best to represent our countries. It is kind of funny to think that people that meet me will draw the conclusion that all Americans are just like me, but they will and they do.
For lunch, I actually met up with one of my really good friends from Fordham, Alexandra. Alexandra and I have been friends since freshman year, when she lived in the dorm building right across from mine. She is very good friends with Devon, one of the students I went to China with. She and her mother are doing a European tour, where they began in Budapest, Hungary, stopped in Prague from Tuesday night--Friday morning, and they'll continue on to Paris for a week or so before going back to the states (I think?). It was so nice to meet up with her and we enjoyed a relaxing lunch in Old Town Square, overlooking the Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church. Although I was a half-hour late for the next meeting, it was worth it to see my college friend (and fellow graduate)!
The second half of the day was spent on giving and receiving feedback and we ended the night early to arrive home at 10 PM. The rest of the night was spent working. We had to prepare for the next morning when we had to do a workshop with high school students on "How to give a presentation." Not to mention I had to stay up even later doing things for the camp agenda. We're still missing two group leaders who will both arrive on Sunday. This means that every session they miss, I need to update them on what they missed. Work work work...
Waking up this morning, I was completely unprepared for the Presentation Skills Workshop that we had to deliver. Luckily, there were only 5 students in each group, and Ana and I gave a great presentation. It was really a lot of fun and since this is a long post, I'll go into detail later on about Czech youth and culture. After the workshop, we had a meeting with our first university partner for My Better Myself. We met with the University of Northern Virginia and discussed what they expect from the student presentations and what the project will be like. They're thinking of making the students design a website called "iSanta.com", with restrictions on budgeting, planning, and design. It was informative, especially for me since I have to plan the projects and how they will be structured.
After that meeting, we moved to another session where we learned how to facilitate groups and debrief. The facilitating and debriefing session was really good. I got put in the hot seat without even knowing it and had to facilitate our group leaders through a task, but little did I know they had been told beforehand to act a certain way (i.e. one person asks tons of questions, one is very quiet, one is very talkative/enthusiastic, etc). I didn't even realize why everyone was acting so weird until after the exercise was over, but I learned a lot about how I reacted to the situation and it will definitely help me with the students during the camp.
After the session, it was already 9:20 PM and we were exhausted. We'd been thinking all day, with no time to relax, and only eating while we moved from one session to the next. The good news is that between sessions we had the chance to stop at a grocery store and pick up 30 eggs and some breakfast foods for the next few days. We've been scraping for food in the mornings and only had one bag of cornflakes left. After the last session, when it was finally time to go, we were all pretty excited that we were going to catch a 9:41 train home and have a few hours to relax before bed. When we had finished cleaning up, I locked the inner office door and we made our way into the hallway, where I locked the hallway door as well. We made our way down the stairs and out of the building. When the door closed behind me and the fresh evening air was finally refreshing my face, Aysegul (from Turkey) asked where was our Indian leader, Ekta...well, that was a good question. She didn't leave with us...and we just left the building...
It took me about half a second to realize that I had probably locked her in the office upstairs. When we left the inner office room, I locked the door. In the mini-lobby area of the AIESEC offices, there is a break room and restrooms. She must has snuck away to the bathroom without anyone noticing because we left the lobby, where I then locked the second office door. OK, so she's in the office. Bad, but not too bad.
It then took me about another half second to realize that we were outside the building. I only had keys to the offices, which are inside the building. Now, we were standing on the street, with no key card to enter the building. Etka is still in the office. Our train leaves in 10 minutes. Great. Luckily, we had Jaro (the person who led the facilitating and debriefing session), who speaks Czech. He tried buzzing security, but no one answered. He calls Jenny, she has the key card to the building. No answer...by now we're in shock because poor Etka is probably up in the office, wondering why the hell we left without her. She can't even get into the offices to yell out the window or sit on the couches. She's trapped in the mini-lobby, with the bathroom and break room. Poor Etka. By now we've pretty much decided we're going to miss our train home, but I figured we'd ring security one more time. He picked up, Jaro told him the situation, and he let us in. I immediately gave my backpack to Aysegul and sprinted up the 4 flights of stairs. I unlocked the door to Etka, patiently waiting on the other side. All I could say was--"LET'S GO! We're going to miss our train!" We sprinted down the stairs as fast as we could. She was wearing high heels because of our presentation this morning, so it wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.
When we got to the bottom, it was a whirlwind of bags flying and feet running. We said bye to Jaro as we sprinted to the train station, which is only one block away from the offices. Of course, I would be running to a train station in a foreign country because this is what I do best. I missed my train in Paris because we went to the wrong train station, I've sprinted to the airport terminal because the bus passed my stop, I've sprinted to Grand Central to catch the last train to Fordham...the list goes on, and now I have Prague.
The four of us sprinted to the train station and ran to the lobby, just to see the red lights of the train pulling away from us. Heaving, panting, and completely out of breath, we gave it our best, but it wasn't enough. And then we laughed. "How did you guys forget me!?"--Etka asked. We were cracking up. She's the one that went to the bathroom without telling anyone! Etka said when she got out of the restroom, her stuff was by the door where she had left it. She could hear us in the hallway and she banged and yelled at the door, just to hear our voices fade away as we descended. She called Ana, who was already on her way to the subway, and Ana assured her that we were on our way back to get her. What Ekta didn't know was that we were locked out of the building...so she was ready for the worst--a long night. When we finally got Ekta, running to the train station, we must have looked like the oddest bunch of people. An Indian, an American, a Turk and a Kazakh, all with bags and backpacks, and one of them carrying a package of 30 eggs. I joked that now we don't have to scramble our eggs tomorrow for breakfast because the sprint was just enough.
So now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is another day full of stuff, but then we get to enjoy a weekend break. I have absolutely nothing to do on Saturday except for sleeping in and partying all night--yea! I'll be up to date as much as possible. I have tons more to tell everyone but no time to write it. Also, my pictures are still on my computer--ready to go, but I need to figure out a new way to upload them since my Picasa web albums are not working properly. Until next time...
When we arrived at the apartment I felt even worse. It looked like a shabby, dingy place, with plaster crumbling from the sides and laundry hanging and fluttering like rags from the balconies of the upper level apartments. The apartment wasn't too terrible on the inside, but it was definitely not as plush as our country house. We left from there back to Prague to get Ayesgül her monthly bus pass and to exchange money. Since Jenny had previous engagements, I was once again leading the girls around the city. Running errands was pretty easy and we finished in the early afternoon and headed to Prague Castle.
Prague Castle was amazing. The ancient complex is huge. The main dining hall was used for multiple royal events. The inauguration of the king was celebrated by a huge feast where high officials and prominent city members were invite to pay homage to their new ruler. Afterwards they would move to the cathedral to finish the coronation. The huge main hall, called Vladislav Hall, was also used as a jousting arena, where horses were brought in and the performers jousted for royal entertainment. I thought that was awesome. It was also used as a marketplace where vendors from all over the world would sell luxury items like spices, jewels, fur, and gold.
The royal hapel inside holds bones of many saints and as our audio tour guide told us. You'd be surprised to find that one of the patron saints of Czech Republic is buried in the royal chapel, All Saints Chapel. After a fire in which most of its Romanesque details were destroyed in 1541, the church was rebuilt in Baroque style. Prague Castle has much history of law, politics and religion and is a fascinating place. After touring the royal quarters, we made our way to Saint George's Basilica which was old and plain but held tombs of the royal family and the remains of St. Agnes, the Benedictine abess who started the first nunnery in Prague. She was actually a daughter of royalty and gave it up for a life of God. From St. George's we went to St. Vitus Cathedral, which was just as beautiful the second time around.The audio tour was an excellent choice while touring the many chapels within the cathedral. Come to find out they have a chapel for St. John Baptiste, the Virgin Mary, and the remains of St. Wenceslas are held here. The cathedral dates back to the 1300s.
By this time, we were all history and castle'd out so we made our way down to the Charles Bridge to cross and find something to eat. We were in a rush by now because we were supposed to meet Jenny and our newest trainee, Olessya from Kazakhstan, for the start of our official training as program leaders. We made it barely on time and continued to go over the agenda for the week and our upcoming plans. Rather then heading home after a long day of sightseeing and working, we decided to head to Old Town Square to watch the Brazil v North Korea soccer game.
Last time I was in Europe, it was FIFA World Cup 2006 in Munich, Germany. What an experience that was! I'm so glad to be back for another world cup where the people are so involved and so enthusiastic about the sport. We enjoyed a few beers and sat right next to a group of Brazilians (with Ana of course sporting her Brazilian shirt). Throughout the game, Portuguese cheers and curses were flowing from Ana and another Brazilian, Gil. During the commercial breaks, the other Brazilian group next to us got their drums out and played music to energize the crowd and get some dancing. I have a video to upload that is just fantastic. The Brazilian girls are dancing, their drums are shaking my legs with each beat, and the crowd is going wild. When Brazil scored (twice in fact), the uproar got even more uncontrollable. The best part was the fact that we were standing in one of the oldest and most historic parts of Prague.
The next day, Wednesday, we had a full day of education. We began with a Cultural Preparation session, which gave an overview of Czech culture and helped us understand cultural differences. We also prepared ourselves as ambassadors of our country and how to be conscience of the fact that some of the students have never met foreigners like ourselves and we must do our best to represent our countries. It is kind of funny to think that people that meet me will draw the conclusion that all Americans are just like me, but they will and they do.
For lunch, I actually met up with one of my really good friends from Fordham, Alexandra. Alexandra and I have been friends since freshman year, when she lived in the dorm building right across from mine. She is very good friends with Devon, one of the students I went to China with. She and her mother are doing a European tour, where they began in Budapest, Hungary, stopped in Prague from Tuesday night--Friday morning, and they'll continue on to Paris for a week or so before going back to the states (I think?). It was so nice to meet up with her and we enjoyed a relaxing lunch in Old Town Square, overlooking the Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church. Although I was a half-hour late for the next meeting, it was worth it to see my college friend (and fellow graduate)!
The second half of the day was spent on giving and receiving feedback and we ended the night early to arrive home at 10 PM. The rest of the night was spent working. We had to prepare for the next morning when we had to do a workshop with high school students on "How to give a presentation." Not to mention I had to stay up even later doing things for the camp agenda. We're still missing two group leaders who will both arrive on Sunday. This means that every session they miss, I need to update them on what they missed. Work work work...
Waking up this morning, I was completely unprepared for the Presentation Skills Workshop that we had to deliver. Luckily, there were only 5 students in each group, and Ana and I gave a great presentation. It was really a lot of fun and since this is a long post, I'll go into detail later on about Czech youth and culture. After the workshop, we had a meeting with our first university partner for My Better Myself. We met with the University of Northern Virginia and discussed what they expect from the student presentations and what the project will be like. They're thinking of making the students design a website called "iSanta.com", with restrictions on budgeting, planning, and design. It was informative, especially for me since I have to plan the projects and how they will be structured.
After that meeting, we moved to another session where we learned how to facilitate groups and debrief. The facilitating and debriefing session was really good. I got put in the hot seat without even knowing it and had to facilitate our group leaders through a task, but little did I know they had been told beforehand to act a certain way (i.e. one person asks tons of questions, one is very quiet, one is very talkative/enthusiastic, etc). I didn't even realize why everyone was acting so weird until after the exercise was over, but I learned a lot about how I reacted to the situation and it will definitely help me with the students during the camp.
After the session, it was already 9:20 PM and we were exhausted. We'd been thinking all day, with no time to relax, and only eating while we moved from one session to the next. The good news is that between sessions we had the chance to stop at a grocery store and pick up 30 eggs and some breakfast foods for the next few days. We've been scraping for food in the mornings and only had one bag of cornflakes left. After the last session, when it was finally time to go, we were all pretty excited that we were going to catch a 9:41 train home and have a few hours to relax before bed. When we had finished cleaning up, I locked the inner office door and we made our way into the hallway, where I locked the hallway door as well. We made our way down the stairs and out of the building. When the door closed behind me and the fresh evening air was finally refreshing my face, Aysegul (from Turkey) asked where was our Indian leader, Ekta...well, that was a good question. She didn't leave with us...and we just left the building...
It took me about half a second to realize that I had probably locked her in the office upstairs. When we left the inner office room, I locked the door. In the mini-lobby area of the AIESEC offices, there is a break room and restrooms. She must has snuck away to the bathroom without anyone noticing because we left the lobby, where I then locked the second office door. OK, so she's in the office. Bad, but not too bad.
It then took me about another half second to realize that we were outside the building. I only had keys to the offices, which are inside the building. Now, we were standing on the street, with no key card to enter the building. Etka is still in the office. Our train leaves in 10 minutes. Great. Luckily, we had Jaro (the person who led the facilitating and debriefing session), who speaks Czech. He tried buzzing security, but no one answered. He calls Jenny, she has the key card to the building. No answer...by now we're in shock because poor Etka is probably up in the office, wondering why the hell we left without her. She can't even get into the offices to yell out the window or sit on the couches. She's trapped in the mini-lobby, with the bathroom and break room. Poor Etka. By now we've pretty much decided we're going to miss our train home, but I figured we'd ring security one more time. He picked up, Jaro told him the situation, and he let us in. I immediately gave my backpack to Aysegul and sprinted up the 4 flights of stairs. I unlocked the door to Etka, patiently waiting on the other side. All I could say was--"LET'S GO! We're going to miss our train!" We sprinted down the stairs as fast as we could. She was wearing high heels because of our presentation this morning, so it wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.
When we got to the bottom, it was a whirlwind of bags flying and feet running. We said bye to Jaro as we sprinted to the train station, which is only one block away from the offices. Of course, I would be running to a train station in a foreign country because this is what I do best. I missed my train in Paris because we went to the wrong train station, I've sprinted to the airport terminal because the bus passed my stop, I've sprinted to Grand Central to catch the last train to Fordham...the list goes on, and now I have Prague.
The four of us sprinted to the train station and ran to the lobby, just to see the red lights of the train pulling away from us. Heaving, panting, and completely out of breath, we gave it our best, but it wasn't enough. And then we laughed. "How did you guys forget me!?"--Etka asked. We were cracking up. She's the one that went to the bathroom without telling anyone! Etka said when she got out of the restroom, her stuff was by the door where she had left it. She could hear us in the hallway and she banged and yelled at the door, just to hear our voices fade away as we descended. She called Ana, who was already on her way to the subway, and Ana assured her that we were on our way back to get her. What Ekta didn't know was that we were locked out of the building...so she was ready for the worst--a long night. When we finally got Ekta, running to the train station, we must have looked like the oddest bunch of people. An Indian, an American, a Turk and a Kazakh, all with bags and backpacks, and one of them carrying a package of 30 eggs. I joked that now we don't have to scramble our eggs tomorrow for breakfast because the sprint was just enough.
So now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is another day full of stuff, but then we get to enjoy a weekend break. I have absolutely nothing to do on Saturday except for sleeping in and partying all night--yea! I'll be up to date as much as possible. I have tons more to tell everyone but no time to write it. Also, my pictures are still on my computer--ready to go, but I need to figure out a new way to upload them since my Picasa web albums are not working properly. Until next time...
Monday, June 14, 2010
The Melting Pot Grows Bigger
Today was a good day. We began the day by getting up and going into the city with Michelle, Jenny's friend. She helped the girls and I get monthly unlimited metro passes (the correct one this time) and from there we went to exchange money. I'm glad I was there to help the girls exchange money because I made sure they got a good rate at the exchange kiosk (24 EUR to CZK, which is pretty decent considering the current rate is 26 EUR to CZK) not to mention my awesome sense of direction allowed us to get around a little better. It's weird to think that I've only been here for 6 days and I already can take the train alone, get around the city, and even have a sense of direction without any help.
When we finished running errands, we met up with Jenny and had lunch. I went to Mcdonald's because we were near Wenscelas Square and I had already tried the bratwurst. McDonald's in Czech Republic was kind of a let down. It tastes very American, but it gets bonus points for several reasons. First, they have the Big Tasty, which they no longer serve in the US. This is what I got and it was in fact, big and tasty with the special Big Tasty sauce of course. Second, they get bonus points for a special promotion they are doing right now for the world cup. You can check it out by clicking here, and I don't know what it is but it looks delicious. I'm definitely going back to try it. It comes with waffle fries--enough said.
After lunch we continued on to Old Town Square, where we were able to take group pictures of ourselves in front of the Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church. We made our way over towards the Prague Castle, but soon realize we wouldn't have enough time to actually go inside, so instead we went to the Torture Museum, which was a total tourist trap for USD$7. It was alright, interesting at parts, but I could tell it was a trap by the amount of foreigners in there. We were right by the Charles Bridge, but by this time it was time to head back to Roztoky to eat and prepare for the evening. Jenny had to go to pick up Aysegul, our Turkish intern, from the airport, so I led the girls back to Masarykovo train station and yes, this time we made it back to the town in one piece and on time.
On the way home we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some things to cook for dinner, but each of us obviously have different tastes and different ideas for dinner. Ekta is completely vegetarian, she's never had any meat in her life, so obviously vegetables were the first place they started. I love meat, so I went straight to the meat section and got pork cuts. We got a bag of pasta, onions, mushrooms, cauliflower, a bell pepper, potatoes, and a few random things. It only cost us 65CZK each, which is like $3.
When we got home, Jenny was still not back from the airport. We were tired, but Ana Luisa (from Brazil) and I began chopping vegetables right away. Ekta joined in the cooking and we figured out that we're just going to have to use every spice in the kitchen to make something good that we all can eat. I knew that we had to steam the cauliflower, but Ana suggested we put onions and garlic to sautee the mushrooms. Ana Luisa and I have a funny relationship. She speaks to me in Spanish, I respond in English, and she yells at me. She also realizes that I don't take her crap and so when she gives me a hard time, I can give it right back at her. She kind of reminds me of my sister in a way. When Ayşegül and Jenny arrived, the kitchen was cookin' with some pork meat (sauteed in garlic and spices), cauliflower (with salt, pepper and butter--steamed), pasta (mixed with mushrooms sauteed in grilled onions and garlic--cooked slightly over butter and salt and pepper). It was probably the most random meal I've ever had because we didn't really know what we were doing and we were trying to take a little bit of Brazilian, American, and Indian cooking techniques. Although Ekta brought spices from New Delhi, we ended up not using them because we didn't really know which one to put in what dish! The end result was a fantastic mix of everything and it really wasn't that bad.
After dinner, we sat around and talked. I'm really enjoying spending time with so many people of different cultures. I speak Chinese with Lin and Spanish with Ana Luisa, but beyond that, it's fun to see how our cultures relate and absolutely differ. Differences in food, customs, and senses of humor all make it one big learning experience.
On a random note, I'm the only one that brought a plug adapter, so Lin Zhou, Ana Luisa and I are all sharing my one plug for now. I feel bad that I'm blogging while Ana's iPod and laptop are completely dead and Lin needs to recharge her camera battery...but, oh well.
Tomorrow we have a lot planned for the day. We begin by going to Prague Castle. This time, I will actually go inside and I can't wait. Afterward, we need to be ready for an evening session, where Jenny and I will explain the agenda/schedule for next week and the week after. I'm kind of nervous because I only have so much to explain about the schedule. A lot of it still needs to be filled in with creative games and time-filling activities that do not consist of working on the special skill-developing projects. I'm sure I'll manage. More to come.
When we finished running errands, we met up with Jenny and had lunch. I went to Mcdonald's because we were near Wenscelas Square and I had already tried the bratwurst. McDonald's in Czech Republic was kind of a let down. It tastes very American, but it gets bonus points for several reasons. First, they have the Big Tasty, which they no longer serve in the US. This is what I got and it was in fact, big and tasty with the special Big Tasty sauce of course. Second, they get bonus points for a special promotion they are doing right now for the world cup. You can check it out by clicking here, and I don't know what it is but it looks delicious. I'm definitely going back to try it. It comes with waffle fries--enough said.
After lunch we continued on to Old Town Square, where we were able to take group pictures of ourselves in front of the Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church. We made our way over towards the Prague Castle, but soon realize we wouldn't have enough time to actually go inside, so instead we went to the Torture Museum, which was a total tourist trap for USD$7. It was alright, interesting at parts, but I could tell it was a trap by the amount of foreigners in there. We were right by the Charles Bridge, but by this time it was time to head back to Roztoky to eat and prepare for the evening. Jenny had to go to pick up Aysegul, our Turkish intern, from the airport, so I led the girls back to Masarykovo train station and yes, this time we made it back to the town in one piece and on time.
On the way home we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some things to cook for dinner, but each of us obviously have different tastes and different ideas for dinner. Ekta is completely vegetarian, she's never had any meat in her life, so obviously vegetables were the first place they started. I love meat, so I went straight to the meat section and got pork cuts. We got a bag of pasta, onions, mushrooms, cauliflower, a bell pepper, potatoes, and a few random things. It only cost us 65CZK each, which is like $3.
When we got home, Jenny was still not back from the airport. We were tired, but Ana Luisa (from Brazil) and I began chopping vegetables right away. Ekta joined in the cooking and we figured out that we're just going to have to use every spice in the kitchen to make something good that we all can eat. I knew that we had to steam the cauliflower, but Ana suggested we put onions and garlic to sautee the mushrooms. Ana Luisa and I have a funny relationship. She speaks to me in Spanish, I respond in English, and she yells at me. She also realizes that I don't take her crap and so when she gives me a hard time, I can give it right back at her. She kind of reminds me of my sister in a way. When Ayşegül and Jenny arrived, the kitchen was cookin' with some pork meat (sauteed in garlic and spices), cauliflower (with salt, pepper and butter--steamed), pasta (mixed with mushrooms sauteed in grilled onions and garlic--cooked slightly over butter and salt and pepper). It was probably the most random meal I've ever had because we didn't really know what we were doing and we were trying to take a little bit of Brazilian, American, and Indian cooking techniques. Although Ekta brought spices from New Delhi, we ended up not using them because we didn't really know which one to put in what dish! The end result was a fantastic mix of everything and it really wasn't that bad.
After dinner, we sat around and talked. I'm really enjoying spending time with so many people of different cultures. I speak Chinese with Lin and Spanish with Ana Luisa, but beyond that, it's fun to see how our cultures relate and absolutely differ. Differences in food, customs, and senses of humor all make it one big learning experience.
On a random note, I'm the only one that brought a plug adapter, so Lin Zhou, Ana Luisa and I are all sharing my one plug for now. I feel bad that I'm blogging while Ana's iPod and laptop are completely dead and Lin needs to recharge her camera battery...but, oh well.
Another random note: Aysegul just made Turkish coffee, which was delicious. It is made by putting hot water and finely ground coffee together, with only a little bit of sugar. Surprisingly, it wasn't strong, but quite enjoyable. Let's see if I can go to bed now, being as it is 11:00 PM.
Tomorrow we have a lot planned for the day. We begin by going to Prague Castle. This time, I will actually go inside and I can't wait. Afterward, we need to be ready for an evening session, where Jenny and I will explain the agenda/schedule for next week and the week after. I'm kind of nervous because I only have so much to explain about the schedule. A lot of it still needs to be filled in with creative games and time-filling activities that do not consist of working on the special skill-developing projects. I'm sure I'll manage. More to come.
Meeting the Others
Since Saturday, a lot has been going on around over here. Saturday night, after the whole train fiasco, we ended up going out to Prague to meet some other international students here on their internships. When we arrived at their apartment they welcomed me to Prague and introduced themselves. Zrinka (Zizi) a girl from Croatia, Rusha an Indian girl from New Zealand, Tinzo a guy from Tunzania, a guy from Colombia, and a Brazilian guy. They are all really outgoing and had all been here for at least two months already. I think most of them plan to stay for more then 6 months. Prague, come to find out, typically hosts between 30-40 international exchanges a year. That's a lot for such a small city!
When it was time to go out it was already nearly 1 AM. Jenny and I had taken the last train into the city, an 11:30 PM, and since the trains do not run at night, planned to take the 4:41 AM home. That is just the way it works here. The first place we went to was a "music bar,"
or a club, that was kind of crowded but not too much. It was mostly filled with a bunch of random people from middle aged people who just wanted to dance, to some younger people there just for the drinks. The music playlist was a whole other story. A mix of 80s rock and Michael Jackson to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and random techno songs, overall it wasn't really good music to dance to. It was fun however to watch the unique dance moves of some select individuals, who grooved to their own tune or who simply just danced like they thought the world was ending. Those people were the most entertainment I got from the place because it was kind of awkward and pretty much like pulling teeth to force ourselves to make the best of it. After two hours of this, it was finally time to call it quits and we moved on. By now it was nearly 3 AM and in typical American fashion we stopped by a late night pizza place to grab a quick snack. I got a gyro, which was nice and fresh, and we moved on to the next place. We eventually found this place called "Hell," an underground club with smoke machines and gothic decorations. The DJ was really good even though I don't particularly like electronica. He played minimal techno, which means it has no words just beats mixed together, and I thought he was pretty good. This place was much better and nicer than the last place, but unfortunately there was one big problem. We were the only ones there. I mean there was one couple in a dark secluded corner and one guy dancing by himself--who would randomly shout when the music got really good and he couldn't contain his excitement (pretty funny)--and there were people along the bar, but mostly the place was empty. Bummer. We ended up making our own dance party until it was time to leave and Jenny and I caught our train and slept in.
When I woke up yesterday it was time for a busy day. Jenny left around 1 PM to pick up Ana Luisa, our Brazilian exchange who is going to camp with us. While she was gone I went to the store, bought eggs and bread, and worked on the schedule. When they returned from the airport, I was preparing to leave to pick up Ekta, our Indian exchange. I did have a chance to eat and talk with Ana before I left. She is very bubbly and outgoing, she brought two bottles of cachaça (a Brazilian liquor that is made from sugarcane) per my request, which was very nice of her, and she also insists that I practice my Spanish with her. We did get to speak long enough for her to call me a "drama queen," at which I laughed and just shook my head. This is coming from a girl who just complained that there are no Victoria Secrets around so she couldn't buy her lotion for her dry skin... Great.
I left for the airport by myself with just the numbers of the busses to guide me. Luckily I have a great sense of direction and I made to the airport without getting lost or missing my transfer. I greeted Ekta at the airport and bought her ticket for her and we began our journey back. We talked about many things, including life in India, her vegetarianism (she's never had meat in her life and not for religious purposes), life in Singapore and traveling.
Upon arriving at the house, Jenny had just left to pick up the other interns from the train station. The people we had hung out with the previous night were coming to say hi to the new interns. They brought with them a girl from Russia, Maria, and we went to the local pub in Jenny's town. The group was quite the mix. Ekta and Tinzo don't drink, Ekta just doesn't like it and Tinzo is Muslim. Ana, being a typical South American, was really excited to go out, but was happy to have a beer at the local pub instead.
The pub closed at 11 PM and on our way back we found Lin, our Chinese exchange, returning from the airport. We talked for a little while and I soon realize that I'm living with four international women. I'm just going to leave it at that. I fell asleep to them chit chatting about who knows what. I woke up this morning to see that they also invaded, but haven't yet taken over my sleeping space, but we will see how that goes. Today we are going to get the new interns settled into Prague, they need to buy train passes and get cell phones (which I refuse to buy for two weeks in Prague even though Jenny insists that I do so). I'll hopefully have a chance tonight to write again. Our exchange from Turkey comes in today so we'll have another addition to add to our group.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Searching for Myself
Well, well, well, where do I even begin? Let's start with yesterday. I got to sleep in until 9, and Jenny and I began work on the schedule for the camp right away. She left to go look at the apartment that some of the other leaders are going to have to stay at while they are here in Prague. It's about 30 minutes from Prague by metro (subway) in the opposite direction from us, which makes it about an hour away. While she was gone I mostly completed the two week schedule, giving the students plenty of breaks and plenty of time to work on the projects for the universities that will be seeing their work. Now, I need to think of night activities and figure out what projects will be done on what day. I'll definitely have to use input from the other leaders when they arrive tomorrow.
When Jenny came back, I had to go to the city to meet with Jaro (pronounced Yaro) about the agenda I completed. He gave me a lot of feedback about what camp should look like: time should be organized in a way that is structured, but needs to be flexible enough to give the kids the feeling that they are at a summer camp and not school. Furthermore, he emphasized that the schedule is going to have balanced correctly to give them a lot of motivation, especially during long periods of work. It's a delicate balance between work and play, but I think I can do it right. I'm excited to see how the first camp goes and how much the agenda changes (or doesn't).
After my meeting with Jaro at the AIESEC offices, he invited me to grab a quick bite to eat, and actually bought me my food. After talking with him more, it turns out, he's working for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in their audit department. He was originally was on track for their advisory department (I'm working for KPMG Advisory), but the financial crisis hit and it was either audit or unemployment, so he chose audit. After dinner, we went to this awesome beer garden on the other side of the Vlatva River. It was a little bit of a hike to get to because after we crossed the bridge we had to walk up a really tall hill. At the top, the beer garden looked over the entire city of Prague. The sun was setting and the spires were lit in hues of orange and red. Great scenery, great beer, and lots of fun.
Although they invited me out to a disco afterwards, I was unable to attend because I had my laptop, backpack, poor clothing, and Jenny's house keys (otherwise I would’ve loved to join them). When I got home, Jenny offered me wine and we sat outside on the patio enjoying the summer night. I showed her how to find satellites in the night sky, which is my favorite thing to do while I stargaze. Jenny's friend and fellow AIESECer Michelle came over around 1-2 AM and we played cards and had more wine. I soon found out that the sun rises at 4 AM in Czech Republic and we made our way to bed shortly afterwards.
I woke up this morning at 10 AM with Michelle telling me to get up and get ready to go before we missed the train. I had forgotten I told her I would go with her and her friend to the Czech National Bank the night before and although we were both tired, I knew we had to go together. We got to the train station and both of us were in pretty poor shape. Tired, not showered, and wearing the same clothes as the day before, I was clearly a mess. When we got to Prague, we got a slice of pizza from the train station (it was OK, but nowhere near NYC standards), and walked to the Czech National Bank. When we arrived, the line was out the door and around the block. Since today is some kind of Czech national holiday (kind of) the bank was giving free tours and it looked like all of Prague wanted to take advantage of that. There was no way the three of us were going to wait in the long line in the sweltering heat, so we decided to go somewhere nice and enjoy an ice cream: so we went to McDonalds!
I had a McFlurry with Michelle and Martin (different than the one who picked me up from the airport). Martin leaves soon for London to begin his AIESEC internship and he recently spent some time in the US. He told me that the Prague Castle is having a similar special and that I should go there, so after the McFlurry we parted ways and I headed across the famous Charles Bridge toward the Prague Castle. After crossing the bridge, I bought an over-priced tourist water because it was about as hot as Hades and I began walking to the castle. Prague Castle is the largest castle in the world, with beautiful gardens and the St. Vitus Cathedral, but it sits on top of a hill that overlooks Prague. When I made it to the castle, I went in the walls and through the courtyards. Apparently you still had to buy tickets to get in the buildings, so I went to the only free thing, St. Vitus Cathedral. This church is huge, awesome, and beautiful. It is a Roman Catholic cathedral, which holds tombs of kings, and has towering pillars inside along with a beautiful stained glass rose window and other adornments. The church has roots back to 925 AD, and the current cathedral was built in 1344, so it’s quite old.
Here’s when things get good. After the cathedral, I walked around the grounds more and made my way back to Prague. I got to the train station by tram and missed the train by about 2 minutes, so I waited for an hour for the next one. I was so tired, so overheated, so miserable by this point, I couldn’t even deal with myself. Sitting on the bench, my exhaustion caught up with me and I was so uncomfortable I could only close my eyes and wait. When the train got to the station, I jumped on to have some refuge from the heat and closed my eyes. Closing my eyes turned into a nice little power nap, and when I woke up, I was pleased to see the train had taken off. At the next stop, I looked out the window and enjoyed the beautiful Czech scenery, with the Vlatva River winding calmly next to the train. And then I realized, I didn’t recognize this countryside. And when we stopped at the next stop, I looked down the isle at the flashing sign that shows the next stop. Sure enough, I had slept right through my stop and was on my way to who knows where. I got off to find myself in a nice little village town with no terminal, just tracks and boarding platforms. I walked under the tracks to the other side and sat down alone at the empty station. By now, I was fed up with the heat, but luckily the hills provided shade on my side of the tracks. But now I began to wonder how long it is going to take for the next train, what am I going to do about a ticket, and a flurry of other questions. Of course, I have no phone service or wireless and there really isn’t anyone around besides some townspeople working on their houses nearby. Most Czech people over 35 don’t speak any English, so I knew it was pointless to ask them.
Naturally, I pulled out my cell phone and began to play games, listened to music, and I even wrote the first half of this blog. The train had to come eventually. I ended up waiting another hour before the next train arrived, taking me back to my stop and thankfully with no conductor to ask me for my ticket. When I walked in the door, I had a splitting headache and I was about two shades tanner from being outside all day. All I could think of on the walk home from the station was, “Good job Regis, now you really have something to tell everyone” and here I am. I took a two hour nap, and after waking up I asked Jenny what where doing tonight. I get what I deserve, because I had asked Jenny earlier if we could go out Saturday night and here it is, Saturday night and she’s got the evening planned for us, and I’m getting lost on trains after staying up to ungodly hours the night before…and I am the future of America. Don’t worry, this doesn’t happen often... (or does it?)
Stay tuned for more stories!
Naturally, I pulled out my cell phone and began to play games, listened to music, and I even wrote the first half of this blog. The train had to come eventually. I ended up waiting another hour before the next train arrived, taking me back to my stop and thankfully with no conductor to ask me for my ticket. When I walked in the door, I had a splitting headache and I was about two shades tanner from being outside all day. All I could think of on the walk home from the station was, “Good job Regis, now you really have something to tell everyone” and here I am. I took a two hour nap, and after waking up I asked Jenny what where doing tonight. I get what I deserve, because I had asked Jenny earlier if we could go out Saturday night and here it is, Saturday night and she’s got the evening planned for us, and I’m getting lost on trains after staying up to ungodly hours the night before…and I am the future of America. Don’t worry, this doesn’t happen often... (or does it?)
Stay tuned for more stories!
Friday, June 11, 2010
A day in AIESEC Prague
Today was day two in Prague and already I feel like I’ve been here for a whole month. I’ve learned so much, seen so much, and experienced so many new things that my brain can’t process it all. Today I took the train to Prague by myself to meet Jenny and Olga for lunch. I walked from the apartment to the train station, made it on time, and from Masarykovo Nádraži (Masarykovo station in Prague) to the university. Jenny’s university is very nice, it is the University of Economics in Prague and it has a small square outside with a statue of Winston Churchill. Walking into the University, Jenny introduced me to some fellow AIESECers who are members of AIESEC Prague. It was cool to see everyone speaking English and welcoming me to Prague, just the way I would greet someone when they come to New York on an internship. The university buildings are a little confusing because they added the new complex onto the old complex, and the floors don’t exactly line up. I almost died when we walked to the cafeteria and I saw a nice Sodexo sign smiling me in the face. I couldn’t help but laugh and think to myself, what great luck I have—that even after I graduate Sodexo finds me. For those of you who don’t know, Sodexo is the company that provides the cafeteria food at Fordham, prisons and to the president of the United States. The students warned me before we started, “It may look good, but it has no flavor.” Ironically, as much as I disdain Sodexo, I secretly love it and lo and behold, I actually liked the cafeteria food here too.
After lunch, it was time to work. Olga, Jenny and I went to the AIESEC club office and begin planning what to do for the Presentation Skills Workshop next Thursday. We came up with five basic elements that the students should walk away with:
- Preparing the presentation
- Goals of the presentation
- Body language and voice control
- Using visualizations
- Working with the audience
Each student will have to give five presentations and each time using more of the techniques that we teach them (which are much more detailed than I described, I just didn't want to bore anyone). I’m really excited about the work we did and it will be a good workshop for the students (sophomores in high school).
After this, we took a short break and Jenny and I went to pick up our Green Day tickets at the ticketpro dealer in Old Town. After, we ate dinner (at the cafeteria again), and made our way over to a lounge where AIESEC had planned a “Welcome to Prague” event for me. Going to the lounge, I walked in on a table of 12 AIESECers all sitting down talking and having drinks. Now I really know what it feels like to be a foreigner meeting a bunch of new people. Of course, we were the last people to arrive…which seems to be typical when meeting AIESEC interns. Even in New York, the foreigner is either waiting alone at the restaurant for the rest of us or they are the last one there after we’ve already ordered. I said hello, awkwardly, and sat down at the end of the table. The table was far too long to hear what was going on at the other end, but I made good conversation with my fellow Czech AIESECers near me. They were very friendly and spoke good English and we talked about random topics. They couldn’t help talk in Czech every once in a while, so I kind of just sipped my drink and pretended to listen and, of course, I would laugh whenever a funny joke was told…haha.
Overall, it was a good night. The drink specials ended at 8 PM so most of the group left around that time. Jenny had left to run a quick errand and wasn’t back until 9:30 PM, and by this time, I felt bad for the rest of the students who wanted to continue their night at a less expensive venue near their dorms while they waited with me for Jenny. I would have loved to join them, but I knew I couldn’t just leave to go to their dorms, which are 30 minutes away in the opposite direction, so we waited for Jenny and then parted ways. I’m pretty tired and it’s past my bed time (again), but today was a really eventful day. The heat has been unbearable, but I’m biting my tongue because it’s supposed to be 65°F and raining this weekend. Bummer. Anyway, I’m working on the Camp Agenda tomorrow and it should be a low key night aftewards. We’re just waiting for the other trainees to arrive before all the fun really begins. I miss everyone and my sister still hasn’t had her baby. I’m waiting for the e-mail! Take care and pictures to come tomorrow.
PS -- In the previous post I said I ate babufka for breakfast, it is spelled babuvka.
Overall, it was a good night. The drink specials ended at 8 PM so most of the group left around that time. Jenny had left to run a quick errand and wasn’t back until 9:30 PM, and by this time, I felt bad for the rest of the students who wanted to continue their night at a less expensive venue near their dorms while they waited with me for Jenny. I would have loved to join them, but I knew I couldn’t just leave to go to their dorms, which are 30 minutes away in the opposite direction, so we waited for Jenny and then parted ways. I’m pretty tired and it’s past my bed time (again), but today was a really eventful day. The heat has been unbearable, but I’m biting my tongue because it’s supposed to be 65°F and raining this weekend. Bummer. Anyway, I’m working on the Camp Agenda tomorrow and it should be a low key night aftewards. We’re just waiting for the other trainees to arrive before all the fun really begins. I miss everyone and my sister still hasn’t had her baby. I’m waiting for the e-mail! Take care and pictures to come tomorrow.
PS -- In the previous post I said I ate babufka for breakfast, it is spelled babuvka.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
I'm in for a Treat
Well, I just finished my first full day in Prague and it's 1:13AM. I woke up this morning around 4AM, with my body telling me to get up because I've been sleeping all "day" (in US time at least). When I finally fell back asleep, I had a few hours before my alarm clock went off. I took a shower and ate a little bit of babufka (coconut/chocolate breakfast cake/pastry) and Jenny (Jana) and I went off to catch the train to Prague. The train to Prague's city center is only 15 minutes from station to station, so it's not much different than a Metro North ticket to Grand Central from Fordham. Jenny had work to do all day, so I started off the day by walking to the Old Town Square. I was pleasantly surprised that at 10:30 in the morning, the summer sun was already warming the streets, but for that early, it was already way too hot. When I finally arrived I was greeted by Prague's famous Our Lady before Tyn Church, which still stands after six centuries (it was built in 1365 with it's towering spires completed in 1620. For more history: click here). Of course, they're doing reconstruction on the entire face of the main entrance. Through the scaffolding, there was one English sign that said "Please use side entrance". I walked to the side and the sign said "No Entry"...well, typical luck. I guess I'll have to see the inside later.
I moved on to other sights in the square and spent about 20 minutes looking inside another nearby church. This was St. Nicholas Church, a Baroque church built in 1735. It was great to look inside and it was a shelter from the heat, but it was smaller than I expected so I just took pictures and left. I then made my way down to the famous Prague Astronomical Clock. This medieval clock can tell time quite a number of ways. Built in 1490, the clock still functions today, although it is rather complicated and best explained if you're looking at the picture below:
It shows zodiac time (represented by the smaller black/middle circle), which has all the zodiac symbols. You'll notice that the summer month zodiacs take up more space than the winter zodiacs due to the longer days of the summer months. The large outer black circle is numbed 1-24, which symbolizes the ancient Czech calendar. It is the inside Roman Numerals that represent the current hours and minutes (which are indicated by the black indicators--pointing to the XI numeral above). The background is painted various colors to indicate the viewers perception of the sky. The blue indicates that it is daylight, the orange indicates sunset or sunrise, and the black indicates night time. The gilded sun has several meaningful movements. First, it moves with the position of the actual sun, with the outward pointing lines indicating the equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, etc. Also, the gilded sun moves with the sunlight and sits in the black area during the night time. There are a lot more features to the clock which I can't quite remember, but I'm sure you get the point: it's really cool.
After this I made my way around and found a place to rest and eat. I had a traditional Czech lunch of meat dumplings with cabbage and onions. The cabbage was more like sauerkraut, but the onions and dumplings were delicious. I couldn't even finish my plate it was so much food. After lunch, I made my way down to Wenceslas Square and the National Museum. I didn't want to go into the museum because I was meeting Martin at 3:30pm to buy my metro pass, so instead I found a seat and people watched.
I am so glad to be back in Europe!! I'm thinking I need to get myself a pair of capris, because those are the in thing to be wearing apparently. I thought of my sister today as I saw three pregnant ladies walking around. Each one was looking like she was ready to have a baby (which makes me think today may be the day), but the one that surprised me the most was the lady smoking a cigarette... Yup, she was smoking. I realized i missed the random street toilets that you have to pay to use, but I also realized that this time in Europe is a lot harder when you can't speak the language. I got approached by someone asking a question in Czech and all I could do was shrug and nod my head...
After people watching, I met up with Martin to buy my ticket. Here's the short version. I was supposed to get an unlimited monthly for the train only, but instead I got a 5-day unlimited subway/bus/train for the same price ($25). This may not sound bad, but what also happened was the ticket I bought was only unlimited within the city of Prague. I live in Roztoky. One stop outside of Prague. This meant I had two options. I could use the 5-day pass (which only gets me to the last stop in Prague) and buy an additional unlimited pass from the last Prague station to my station (Roztoky u Praha)--that would be an additional $4. OR I could buy an unlimited monthly for 550 CZK, and try and sell my unlimited 5-day pass. Well, there was no way the ticket officer was going to refund my money and I know (from NYC experience) that there's no way I'm going to sell a 5-day unlimited to a stranger...so I'm going to have to use the 5-day, buy the additional unlimited for the last train stop, and then buy another monthly pass when the 5-days are up. The good news is, however, is that my program is paying for all of the leader's unlimited monthly passes (so I get $25 back), the bad news is is that I bought a week-long pass for no reason. Martin nor I don't know where the confusion came from, but regardless, I'll be forced to buy a monthly next week rather than let my 5-day pass go to waste.
When I got home this evening (I met Jenny at the train), my legs were so tired from walking countless miles, I didn't want to do anything. Jenny and I made dinner "a la Jenny" as she called it, by throwing together random ingredients found in the cabinet. Some sausage sauteed in onion and garlic, with elbow macaroni and soy sauce for flavoring (and a spice that could've been rosemary or thyme--I have no clue). It was served with a side of mystery vegetable (which is round like an onion but tastes almost like a cucumber?) and some radishes (which I did not eat). To tell you how good it was, Jenny and I each had our first plate...and then I continued to finish the entire serving that was left in the pot. I felt like a typical American, eating everything in sight like a glutton, but it was delicious and I was hungry!
We finished the night by discussing my role as agenda manager for MBM. I have SO MUCH WORK TO DO! We went over our schedule for this week and tomorrow I begin. At noon, we're meeting at Jenny's university (University of Economics in Prague) to discuss and plan a "Presentation Skills Workshop" we will be conducting next week with high school students. This is unrelated to our program My Better Myself, but we are going to try and recruit some students to join our summer program (it's not full yet). Then immediately after that, Jenny and I are going to start working on a detailed day-by-day breakdown of the camps in July. After that, we are going to meet AIESEC Praha for a night of socializing (of course my favorite thing to do). Over the weekend, I'm preparing a schedule for what the other group leaders are going to do when training ends (June 22-28), which I have dubbed (Camp Prep Week). During CP Week the other leaders and myself are going to have to finalize the projects the students will work on during the camps as well as choose who will lead what programs and who will manage what sessions. Work work work work work...that's all I'm saying...it's now 2:18 AM, I need to go to bed, but I'm just going to say...I forgot for a day that I was here to work and not to just be a tourist. I'm in for a real treat--but really, it's going to be great!
I moved on to other sights in the square and spent about 20 minutes looking inside another nearby church. This was St. Nicholas Church, a Baroque church built in 1735. It was great to look inside and it was a shelter from the heat, but it was smaller than I expected so I just took pictures and left. I then made my way down to the famous Prague Astronomical Clock. This medieval clock can tell time quite a number of ways. Built in 1490, the clock still functions today, although it is rather complicated and best explained if you're looking at the picture below:
It shows zodiac time (represented by the smaller black/middle circle), which has all the zodiac symbols. You'll notice that the summer month zodiacs take up more space than the winter zodiacs due to the longer days of the summer months. The large outer black circle is numbed 1-24, which symbolizes the ancient Czech calendar. It is the inside Roman Numerals that represent the current hours and minutes (which are indicated by the black indicators--pointing to the XI numeral above). The background is painted various colors to indicate the viewers perception of the sky. The blue indicates that it is daylight, the orange indicates sunset or sunrise, and the black indicates night time. The gilded sun has several meaningful movements. First, it moves with the position of the actual sun, with the outward pointing lines indicating the equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, etc. Also, the gilded sun moves with the sunlight and sits in the black area during the night time. There are a lot more features to the clock which I can't quite remember, but I'm sure you get the point: it's really cool.
After this I made my way around and found a place to rest and eat. I had a traditional Czech lunch of meat dumplings with cabbage and onions. The cabbage was more like sauerkraut, but the onions and dumplings were delicious. I couldn't even finish my plate it was so much food. After lunch, I made my way down to Wenceslas Square and the National Museum. I didn't want to go into the museum because I was meeting Martin at 3:30pm to buy my metro pass, so instead I found a seat and people watched.
I am so glad to be back in Europe!! I'm thinking I need to get myself a pair of capris, because those are the in thing to be wearing apparently. I thought of my sister today as I saw three pregnant ladies walking around. Each one was looking like she was ready to have a baby (which makes me think today may be the day), but the one that surprised me the most was the lady smoking a cigarette... Yup, she was smoking. I realized i missed the random street toilets that you have to pay to use, but I also realized that this time in Europe is a lot harder when you can't speak the language. I got approached by someone asking a question in Czech and all I could do was shrug and nod my head...
After people watching, I met up with Martin to buy my ticket. Here's the short version. I was supposed to get an unlimited monthly for the train only, but instead I got a 5-day unlimited subway/bus/train for the same price ($25). This may not sound bad, but what also happened was the ticket I bought was only unlimited within the city of Prague. I live in Roztoky. One stop outside of Prague. This meant I had two options. I could use the 5-day pass (which only gets me to the last stop in Prague) and buy an additional unlimited pass from the last Prague station to my station (Roztoky u Praha)--that would be an additional $4. OR I could buy an unlimited monthly for 550 CZK, and try and sell my unlimited 5-day pass. Well, there was no way the ticket officer was going to refund my money and I know (from NYC experience) that there's no way I'm going to sell a 5-day unlimited to a stranger...so I'm going to have to use the 5-day, buy the additional unlimited for the last train stop, and then buy another monthly pass when the 5-days are up. The good news is, however, is that my program is paying for all of the leader's unlimited monthly passes (so I get $25 back), the bad news is is that I bought a week-long pass for no reason. Martin nor I don't know where the confusion came from, but regardless, I'll be forced to buy a monthly next week rather than let my 5-day pass go to waste.
When I got home this evening (I met Jenny at the train), my legs were so tired from walking countless miles, I didn't want to do anything. Jenny and I made dinner "a la Jenny" as she called it, by throwing together random ingredients found in the cabinet. Some sausage sauteed in onion and garlic, with elbow macaroni and soy sauce for flavoring (and a spice that could've been rosemary or thyme--I have no clue). It was served with a side of mystery vegetable (which is round like an onion but tastes almost like a cucumber?) and some radishes (which I did not eat). To tell you how good it was, Jenny and I each had our first plate...and then I continued to finish the entire serving that was left in the pot. I felt like a typical American, eating everything in sight like a glutton, but it was delicious and I was hungry!
We finished the night by discussing my role as agenda manager for MBM. I have SO MUCH WORK TO DO! We went over our schedule for this week and tomorrow I begin. At noon, we're meeting at Jenny's university (University of Economics in Prague) to discuss and plan a "Presentation Skills Workshop" we will be conducting next week with high school students. This is unrelated to our program My Better Myself, but we are going to try and recruit some students to join our summer program (it's not full yet). Then immediately after that, Jenny and I are going to start working on a detailed day-by-day breakdown of the camps in July. After that, we are going to meet AIESEC Praha for a night of socializing (of course my favorite thing to do). Over the weekend, I'm preparing a schedule for what the other group leaders are going to do when training ends (June 22-28), which I have dubbed (Camp Prep Week). During CP Week the other leaders and myself are going to have to finalize the projects the students will work on during the camps as well as choose who will lead what programs and who will manage what sessions. Work work work work work...that's all I'm saying...it's now 2:18 AM, I need to go to bed, but I'm just going to say...I forgot for a day that I was here to work and not to just be a tourist. I'm in for a real treat--but really, it's going to be great!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
I've Arrived in Prague
16 hours later...I've finally arrived in Prague. Let's start from the beginning. My trip begun at Denver International, waiting in an hour line to check my bag. Of course, I was waiting in the wrong line, but I eventually got my bag checked. I lucked out by going through a security line that was about to close, so that meant there was no lines and no waiting through security. My 8:00 PM flight left on time and after two weeks of weddings, graduation parties, and visiting friends, I was exhausted. I was lucky enough to have the adjacent seat empty, so I got to spread out and get comfortable. All I wanted to do was pass out, but I had to stay up for the delicious airplane food and enjoy a complimentary drink! I was kind of surprised to hear the British lady next to me (at least in her 60s) ordered a whiskey-sprite, but was even more surprised when she almost downed it quicker than I could pour my drink! I slept the entire flight and upon landing at London Heathrow, I felt pretty well rested.
London Heathrow was nice. I was really excited to see that they had a Wagamama, the "Tokyo Joe's" of the United Kingdom! It's definitely a notch up from Tokyo Joes and after converting the prices it's definitely about twice as expensive, but for me, it was totally worth it. I haven't had Wagamama since the last time I was in London in 2006. After enjoying my soba noodles with steak (& a Singha beer of course), I made my way to the gate to wait for my next flight. When I boarded my connecting flight to Prague, I passed out instantly before the plane took off. When I woke up, I realized I had slept an hour and a half...but naturally the plane hadn't moved from the gate. Being confused, I asked the gentleman next to me what the problem was and he explained that a circuit had shorted on the dashboard and they had finished repairing it but due to scheduling conflicts we were still delayed another 30 minutes. I'm glad they kept us on the hot plane for 2 hours sitting at the gate...it was really nice to wake up sweating with neck aches from napping in a cramped airplane seat. Really great. I also couldn't help but feel bad knowing that I had no cell phone and someone was supposed to pick me up from the airport. I really hoped they didn't leave me there alone.
After finally landing in Prague, I got my bags and was relieved to see Martin waiting for me in the lobby. By this time, a huge torrential downpour had started and buckets of water were falling from the sky. Luckily, the bus stop was covered and we didn't have to get wet, but the muggy bus ride to meet up with my boss was slightly reminiscent of the humid car rides I once took in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Martin dropped me off with Jana, my boss and host for MBM, and we made our way on another bus to her house in the suburbs of Prague.
Although I arrived at 10:00 PM, and the sun had barely set beyond the horizon, I could tell right away the house and neighborhood is beautiful. There are green pastures all around, a quiet and peaceful village town with a Tesco and a grocery store, and nice houses with patios and gates. She lives with 4 other people and will be adding a few more once the other leaders arrive. This is the place I'll call home for the next few weeks before the camps begin.
Tomorrow, Jana is busy with work stuff and Martin is still in school, so I'm going into Prague with Jana in the morning and will be wandering around on my own discovering the city the fast way. Martin will meet up with me after class, help me by a monthly metro card that is good on all of Prague's subways, busses and trains. I think it'll be no more than $25. I'll be sure to let you guys know what I discover tomorrow...
London Heathrow was nice. I was really excited to see that they had a Wagamama, the "Tokyo Joe's" of the United Kingdom! It's definitely a notch up from Tokyo Joes and after converting the prices it's definitely about twice as expensive, but for me, it was totally worth it. I haven't had Wagamama since the last time I was in London in 2006. After enjoying my soba noodles with steak (& a Singha beer of course), I made my way to the gate to wait for my next flight. When I boarded my connecting flight to Prague, I passed out instantly before the plane took off. When I woke up, I realized I had slept an hour and a half...but naturally the plane hadn't moved from the gate. Being confused, I asked the gentleman next to me what the problem was and he explained that a circuit had shorted on the dashboard and they had finished repairing it but due to scheduling conflicts we were still delayed another 30 minutes. I'm glad they kept us on the hot plane for 2 hours sitting at the gate...it was really nice to wake up sweating with neck aches from napping in a cramped airplane seat. Really great. I also couldn't help but feel bad knowing that I had no cell phone and someone was supposed to pick me up from the airport. I really hoped they didn't leave me there alone.
After finally landing in Prague, I got my bags and was relieved to see Martin waiting for me in the lobby. By this time, a huge torrential downpour had started and buckets of water were falling from the sky. Luckily, the bus stop was covered and we didn't have to get wet, but the muggy bus ride to meet up with my boss was slightly reminiscent of the humid car rides I once took in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Martin dropped me off with Jana, my boss and host for MBM, and we made our way on another bus to her house in the suburbs of Prague.
Although I arrived at 10:00 PM, and the sun had barely set beyond the horizon, I could tell right away the house and neighborhood is beautiful. There are green pastures all around, a quiet and peaceful village town with a Tesco and a grocery store, and nice houses with patios and gates. She lives with 4 other people and will be adding a few more once the other leaders arrive. This is the place I'll call home for the next few weeks before the camps begin.
Tomorrow, Jana is busy with work stuff and Martin is still in school, so I'm going into Prague with Jana in the morning and will be wandering around on my own discovering the city the fast way. Martin will meet up with me after class, help me by a monthly metro card that is good on all of Prague's subways, busses and trains. I think it'll be no more than $25. I'll be sure to let you guys know what I discover tomorrow...
Friday, June 4, 2010
Praha in Three
Well, it's been a while since I last updated, but it's been a busy month. Since my last entry I've graduated from Fordham, meaning I'm now an alumni--which makes me feel old--but on the other hand I've also received a degree--which makes it all worthwhile. Yesterday, my parents and I went shopping for new luggage. My previous set was on its last leg, having gone to China, Europe, Mexico, and numerous other places within the US. The new luggage is a great piece of gear for my next adventure and will hopefully last through many more to come.
The details of the summer program are starting to come together. The international leaders have been keeping in touch through a Google group, through which we can share information about ourselves and help each other out. During each camp there will be international nights where each of us has to represent our country. We've been giving feedback to each other about what we want to know about the other's country. I'm the most excited to talk to the leader from Izmir, Turkey. Since I have a few weeks after the camps, I definitely want to go to Turkey for a week and spend a few days in Istanbul, before making my way to Cappadocia for a few days. Cappadocia is a part of Turkey that has been molded by volcanoes and shaped by erosion. The rock formations are spectacular and the porous rock allows for underground cities, castles in the side of cliffs, giant rock columns, and much more. Here's how one blogger describes Cappadocia:
The details of the summer program are starting to come together. The international leaders have been keeping in touch through a Google group, through which we can share information about ourselves and help each other out. During each camp there will be international nights where each of us has to represent our country. We've been giving feedback to each other about what we want to know about the other's country. I'm the most excited to talk to the leader from Izmir, Turkey. Since I have a few weeks after the camps, I definitely want to go to Turkey for a week and spend a few days in Istanbul, before making my way to Cappadocia for a few days. Cappadocia is a part of Turkey that has been molded by volcanoes and shaped by erosion. The rock formations are spectacular and the porous rock allows for underground cities, castles in the side of cliffs, giant rock columns, and much more. Here's how one blogger describes Cappadocia:
“an incredible volcanic-created landscape of fairy chimneys, natural stone castles and underground dwellings of ancient civilizations and early Christian hideouts. It is one of those unique places on Earth where nature and humans lived in harmony over the years and left over amazing traces of Civilizations and Culture.”Check out some pictures here: Cappadocia, Turkey.
Besides Turkey, I plan to spend a few days in Berlin (Germany), Krakow (Poland), and Vienna (Austria). From Prague, Berlin and Vienna are 4-5 hours by train and Krakow is about 8.5 hours by train. I don’t know if I’ll have enough time to do all of them, but I’d really want to see these cities and at least do the tourist stuff.
When I’m actually in Prague, I’m going to be very busy. I’m a little disappointed that the weather forecast for my first week there is rain and a high of 70°F. But otherwise, when I arrive, I’ll be going straight to work on the projects that the students will have to complete in small teams (with their leader’s help). Right now, my boss has been working hard with the top four universities in Prague to get their input for what they would like the students to realize over their two week session with us. So far I worked with Lessya, from Kazakhstan, to outline the projects that we will be giving the students during the camp. I’ll tell you more about them once we figure out the details and have more information from the universities. One thing for sure that I’m looking forward to in Prague is a Green Day concert that all of the leaders and MBM staff are going to on June 29th! It’ll be a ton of fun even though I don’t listen to Green Day that much. I’ll probably have another update before I leave, but if not, the next post will be from Prague. Stay tuned, knowing me and travelling, it’s bound to be a great story…
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