Week Five of School and My First Dance Class

Monday I had my first official Czech lesson. I have started going to Czech tutoring instead of going to my German classes. At my Czech lesson on Monday I learned my left and right, which was quite important for my dancing classes that would be later that day.

After my lesson I made my way to school for my classes. I had fun in art class playing with paint and creating things that look like a preschooler made them. But I had fun with my friends and playing around, and that's what's important.

After school I went to a cafe for awhile before realizing that I had gotten the meeting time wrong to get ready for dancing class. So I rushed to pay and run to Zora’s office. As I was getting ready for my dancing class, I ripped 3 pairs of pantyhose. I’m not a huge fan because I don’t have the patience to deal with them. Once I was finally dressed and ready to go, Zora and I got on a tram to the dancing school to meet my partner. We were a little late to meet Matěj because of my pantyhose fiasco. I changed into my dancing shoes and talked with Matěj for a little bit, before we headed into the ball room for class.

When I first walked in I was amazed. There were three different disco balls, a bunch of lights, and chairs around the perimeter of the giant ball room. The girls sat on one side and the boys on the other. I kind of sat by myself at first since I didn't know a single person in class and I wasn't sure how many of them would speak English. As the class started I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but I sat and listened anyways. Then all of the guys came around and picked a random partner, but there were many more girls than guys so many of the guys had two girls. I was in one of the many groups of three, with a girl who was sitting near me. We made a huge circle with our partners around the ball room. We introduced ourselves and I said "Ahoj, Jmenuji se Aurelia a jsem Američanka, tak nemluvím a nerozumím česky" (Hi my name is Aurelia and I am an American, so I don't speak or understand Czech). They thankfully spoke English and tried their best to explain what I needed to know. The first dance we learned was waltz, but in most cases we did it as a group of three which was a bit weird. I actually picked it up pretty quickly. The only times I messed up were as we went backwards around the corners. Sometimes I also tripped on the person behind me since we were all moving in the same direction but really close together. After waltz we moved on to learning Polka. When I heard the teacher say Polka, I was immediately excited, not because I love it, but I at least knew that one.... or at least I thought I did. When we started learning it, I quickly realized that Polka is danced completely differently in Lukovany. So I did my best to learn the correct way, but I found myself slipping back into the easier more simplified Lukovany version. After learning Polka, we finally had a little break. My feet surprisingly didn't really hurt from dancing in heels for a little over an hour straight. After our break, we learned another dance... cha cha! I thought it was going to be hard since some of the instructors were doing it during the break, but they were obviously dancing way advanced versions. It was actually pretty easy even though my legs were starting to feel like noodles.

After dance class Zora came and picked Matěj and I up and took us home since he lives in a nearby village. My feet finally hurt, and I realized it was because I had ripped the pantyhose, again, somehow right on my heel, and I had gotten a blister. We had a small dinner before I crashed and went to bed.

Tuesday, I went to school like normal, and then I hung out with Ana after school. We went and got late lunch at a Chinese restaurant that she likes. After lunch we went shopping for some winter clothes for her, and then I went and bought myself a Czech workbook so that I will have something to do in school. After shopping we decided to go to our favorite cafe for coffee and tea and of course some honey cake. We have been there a lot lately and they know our order now.

After hanging out, I took the normal bus home, but I somehow managed to get on a bus I thought was going to my village but it was only going half way instead. So when we go to the end of their route, they were yelling at me in Czech and I was very confused, and the last one on the bus. I slowly figured out that they wanted me off the bus and they asked me where I was going(in Czech of course). I told them I was going to Lukovany and I think they told me to wait on the other side of the road for 30 minutes and they would be back on a new route. So as I waited I tried to figure out where I had gone wrong, but I was still confused so I texted my host parents and told them I would be home in awhile. When I finally made it home, my family tried to help me figure out what had gone wrong, but we were all a bit confused. For dinner we had tortellini, which is a childhood comfort food for me, so that made my day better! We also finally received the official exchange student meeting pictures on facebook, which I have been excited to see.

Wednesday, I had to leave for school at 6:15 which is quite a bit earlier that I would ever even wake up for school in the US. I ended up being a little late to school, but it was just English class so it wasn't so bad. I was done with school by 11:30, so I went shopping for a little while before taking the bus home for lunch.

After I made myself some food, I went to pick walnuts and have some alone time. As I picked up the walnuts from our 3 trees, it got more and more windy. After I picked one big bucket of nuts, and filled all 6 of my pockets, I finally gave up. It was so windy that more nuts were falling before I could pick them up, so I called it good and went inside.

I still had some time to myself so I called my dad for the first time and talked to him and Lara about all of the adventures life had been taking me on. After a couple of hours on the phone it was time to say goodbye and go to dinner. After dinner we went to the club for a little while.

Thursday, I was extra tired for some reason, but I got it together and made it to school on time. I went to all my classes, including PE. The PE classes here are so interesting because they are so different from the US. This week we did some weird running warm-ups that I'm not even going to try to explain. Then we hula-hooped for awhile before I tried playing basketball. I made some baskets surprisingly.... well, in warmups but that still counts right?!(If you know my skills, you will be proud of this. lol) Then we cooled down with some friendly matches of ping-pong.

After school I went shopping for some more of my favorite... pantyhose, to replace all of the ones I ripped. Then I took the bus home and updated my blog. I also started talking to a guy who is an exchange student from Germany to Roseburg in my home district. I think it's amazing that I can talk to him and become friends without ever even meeting him.

Friday, I went to another Czech lesson before school. During this lesson, I learned some more foods that I didn't know yet, as well as how to count to 999! After our lesson I made my way to school to go to the rest of my classes. In my Czech language arts class, my teacher is trying to help me learn as much Czech as possible while also teaching his class. So, he had me write down some simple questions in Czech and ask different kids in my class the questions and see if I understood the answer. I think it went pretty well to be honest!

After school I went to Ana's house to just hang out. We made popcorn, helped her host dad with a project and laid on her bed talking about random things. Then I said goodbye and took the bus home again. I think I figured out the problem from earlier in the week and I haven't had any more problems with the bus. For dinner when I got home we had spaghetti. After dinner we went to the club again for awhile.

I am so happy it is finally the weekend!!!!