Life In Prague

"Dog Days"

In Prague, I was quite surprised to see that most of the dogs don't even have leashes when they are being walked on the street. Not only that, but there are so many dogs in general. Small dogs, big dogs, chihuahuas, docksons, and German Shepherds. The thing that makes this so remarkable to me, is that there are no leashes and the dogs are so well behaved. On the subway, they lay down on the ground next to their owners, while walking in the park, they don't stray too far from the path, and everywhere around the city the dogs in general are very well trained and well behaved. The funniest part about this whole thing is that Ekta and Zhou Lin are both afraid of dogs. And by afraid, I mean petrified of them. Ekta can't even walk on the same street as a dog, cowering every time they come near. Even for the smallest ones, she thinks they are vicious people-eating monsters. It's quite comical. Ana (from Brazil) always has to be her bodyguard when we are walking in public and the dogs come. She stands in between Ekta and the dogs, even though they never do anything more than sniff around and pee on trees. I don't think Ekta or Zhou Lin will ever get over her fear of dogs, no matter how many types we see or how many times we see them, but it'll never get old to see Ekta running around, avoiding the dogs path or to hear Zhou Lin squeek and hide.

"Morning Rituals"

One thing I wanted to talk about, was the morning ritual that we have to go through every day. With four people living in the living room of Jenny's house, we have three of us sleeping on the floor. We've removed all the cushions from the couches and use three to sleep on. This means that there is nothing to sit on when we use the couches and that the floor is covered by three makeshift beds. Every morning, when one alarm goes off, we all are forced to wake up to the other's schedule. Sometimes, the alarm is just snoozed, the person goes to shower, and then we really have to get up to turn off the ringtone. Speaking of showers, there are 4 people, using one bathroom, and none of us want to wake up to be the first to shower. This means that every morning, we wake up an hour before we have to leave, and somehow, one by one, we shower and get ready. Sometimes, we are forced to all get ready within 30 minutes because by the time we wake up, we've already wasted 20 minutes of the morning still laying in bed. It's the funniest when we wake up, and need to catch the train, and all of us are running around the living room, moving from suitcase to kitchen to bathroom to suitcase again. Each of us running into each other's path and getting in each other's way. There's also the fact that there are 4 girls and I. Which means that every morning, I have to deal with them doing their hair, picking their clothes and just taking forever to get ready for the day. I'm always shouting out "10 minutes left" or "5 minutes left" or even "Guys, we were supposed to leave 2 minutes ago!" I don't know how I survived the past two weeks like this...

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...

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.