Week Seven of School Including a Little Trip to Prague!

Monday, I got to sleep in a little bit again and go to Brno later with Robert. We had breakfast at his office like usual, before my Czech lesson and school.

After school Ana and I went to our usual cafe where they still know exactly what we order every time. After chatting for awhile, it was time for me to get ready for another dance class. I was tired from such a long weekend, so I wasn’t super excited about going to dance class since it’s a lot of mental work for me to figure out what is going on. I got dressed up, got my stuff together, and headed off.

The class started off with waltz, which I did with Matěj. But then for the next dance they asked the guys to pick a new partner. This worried me a bit since I don’t know anyone in the class still, and my Czech still isn‘t great. A guy named Patrik asked me to dance, and of course I said yes, but immediately explained to him that I’m an American student and I don’t speak much Czech or understand much in class (of course all in Czech in case he didn’t speak English). Luckily for me, he did speak English, and was happy to teach me whatever new dance we did next. The first new dance that we learned was blues. I found it pretty simple once I watched a couple of times. As Patrik and I danced around we talked about exchange, how long I have/ will be here, how terrible the language is, and a little about the US. Next the teacher asked the girls to go pick their partners this time, but I hadn’t understood until it was too late. There are more girls than guys in the class, so I continued to sit with a few other girls until they got up and went who knows where. So I was the last one left on my side of the ballroom. The teacher walked over to me, and she doesn’t know who I am of course, so she started speaking in fast Czech to me. I tried to explain to her than I didn't understand Czech and I’m American, but she continued until she was yelling at me to stand up. I got up and walked across the room in the direction that she had pointed. As I was about to sit down with the other girl across the room, she looked at me and said ”Ne! Asistent!”. I finally put it all together in my head, that she wanted me to have one of the assistant teachers as my partner for this dance to try and even out the numbers a bit. Instead of asking him for a dance like I was supposed to, I walked up to him and told him I don’t understand the teacher because I am American and don’t speak Czech. He laughed a little and said he didn't speak English. It was going to be quite interesting trying to learn a new dance with him, but I was confident we could do it. First we learned a new edition to jive which took me just about the whole time to figure out. He and I figured out a way for me to learn better tough. I always mix up which foot to step with, so he would hold my hands and squeeze whichever one I needed to move my foot for. After we figured out this new trick everything went a lot better. After that we sat down for awhile and I’m assuming they talked about Salsa because that was the next dance we did but I didn’t understand so the assistant and I just had a little Czech/English mixed conversation about ourselves. Then we got up and learned Salsa! It went much better than Jive and we had a lot of fun! To end the class we had to listen to a song and figure out which dance we were supposed to do. Luckily for me my partner had been teaching for 6 years, and had been dancing his whole life, so he just told me what we were doing and I tried to go along. First was Polka, another dance that I struggle with a bit, but he said I was doing just fine. Our last dance of the night was waltz. By this time my legs were feeling quite weak and tired, so yet again I was thankful to be with a teacher who could keep us dancing just fine even when I kept messing up.

After dance class we took Matěj home like normal, had dinner, and then I went to bed.

Tuesday, I went to school like normal. After school I got a new flavor of ice cream, Lulo. I have absolutely no idea what it is, or how to explain it other than it was good.

Then I went and picked up Ana from school, which has become a regular Tuesday after school thing. We went and got some lunch for her, and then did some shopping. I bought some new jeans, that I have fallen in love with. I also tried on some shoes, but they didn’t have my size unfortunately.

Robert had told me on Monday that I was welcome to go to Prague with him on Wednesday instead of school, so of course I said yes. So Tuesday evening I talked to Honza (from Prague, exchange in Springfield, OR) about where to go, what to do, and what to see. He was so sweet, and made me a long list of places to go, and it even came with a map!

Wednesday, my first and definitely not last, trip to Prague!! I was supposed to get up at 5:30, but I accidentally slept another hour. So I rushed around the house and somehow managed to get ready in 10 minutes. Then Robert and I started our drive to Prague. I slept most of the way there until we started to enter the city. When we got to where his meeting would be held, he pointed me in the direction of the metro, and I went on my way.

First stop was the metro station to buy a ticket for public transportation for the day. It took me about 20 minutes to walk there, but I found it pretty easily. After buying my ticket I took one of the longest escalators I have ever seen, down to the metro. Going off of Honza’s list I decided to go to the old town square first and see the astrological clock. I just happened to show up right at 10, so the clock was moving and there were a ton of tourists everywhere. It was still kind of early in the morning, so I was a little cold, and I had a bit of time, so I went to one of the “regular“ sized shopping malls. It was 5 floors tall with around 200 shops. There, I found the dancing shoes that I couldn’t find in my size in Brno! After I had warmed up a bit, I moved on to going to Powder Tower. There, I took a couple of pictures and watched a guy blow giant bubbles. Next, I moved on to the famous Charles bridge. It was more amazing in person as one could imagine, so I took a million pictures. Then, I walked across and paid a visit to the Lennon wall. I still had a bit of time, so I went back across the bridge and decided to go up one of the bridge towers since I had heard that hardly anyone knows about it and it’s never crowded. I had heard correctly, and I was amazed. You could see everything, so of course I took a million more pictures and even asked the one other couple up there to take some pictures of me. Then I made my way back down the 140ish stairs. Finally I ended my day in Prague with a little lunch, before I met up with Robert to go back home.

When we got home, I helped him in the garden for a little while.

For dinner we had wine sausage, which is really good. It’s a really rich sausage that is way different than anything I have ever had before. After dinner we went to the club, but I was tired so I went home a little early.

I walked a total of 13.8km (8.6 miles), 19000 steps!

Thursday, I got up early and went back to school. After school I took advantage of the good weather and got one of my last ice creams until the warm weather comes back. This time I got "aronia berry". After my ice cream I took the bus home and hung out until the rest of the family got home. For dinner we had some tomato soup. After dinner I braided my hair, and I was still exhausted from my long day in Prague, so I went to bed kind of early. Friday, I went to my Czech lesson like usual before walking to school. After school I met up with Ana for awhile. We went and got a late lunch, and then we went shopping for a little while. After our little bit of shopping we went to the store and got some snacks to eat while we hung out at her house for the afternoon. When we went back to her house, we ate our snacks and then took a nap.

But we decided that it was Friday, and we shouldn't just be sitting around her house all afternoon. So we went to hang out in the park for awhile before heading up to the Špilberk castle. We took some pictures of the sun setting over the city, along with some photo shoots of each other in the beautiful lighting. When we were done taking pictures and walking around, it was time for me to catch the bus home. When I got back to the village, I was already a little bit late for the birthday celebration for Dana, so I rushed home to drop off my stuff and I headed to the club for the party.