I am over halfway done with adding pictures to the blog.
I have not started my video slide show.
I have added my daily video blogs to my editing timeline.
I have put together a rough cut of a sped-up tour of our daily walk from dorms to the main square.
I got a bunny rabbit that I am spending way too much time staring at.
I promise I'll get everything together and I'll put it all on here!
...I also need to make a scrapbook!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Super late update...Continuing
Thursday
11:30 am Prague Time
10:30 am London Time
Location: Heathrow Airport
Well I got here all right. This morning was rather
adventurous. For some reason or another, my alarm did not go off. I am almost
100% sure I set it, because I remember figuring 4:45am would be good for
leaving by 5:30am, and then what that would be in Phoenix time since my phone
didn’t change time zones. Whatever happened, it didn’t go off and sometime
around 5:50am I am awoken by a knocking on the door. Ali gets up and it’s Kelly
and David. They are looking at us strangely and asking if we should be gone
already. I thought they were joking, playing some kind of light hearted joke.
But no. They weren’t. It was 5:50am. A sense of panic sets in and Ali and I
start to scramble. Kelly or David, I don’t know who, gets Julia who is the main
dorm organizer super star lady and she calls a cab for us (and gave me 500
crown for the cab, since Ali and I had no money left) and I rush through what I
had originally given myself 45 minutes for. We didn’t get to print our boarding
passes, but as far as I can tell nothing was forgotten. We were originally
going to take the metro to a bus station to go to the airport for cheap, so I
guess we should have made sure someone else knew so we could have had a backup
plan. The one time in my life that I can remember missing an alarm. Ridiculous.
The cab ended up being 668 kcz, and aside from Julia’s 500,
we had about 250 between the two of us. Thank Julia. I’m going to make her
brownies. At the airport there was basically no one so we went right up to the
British Airways counter to check our bags. Because I bought some stuff I
decided it would just make my life easier to check my backpack. Unfortunately I
have to pick it up in Dallas and re check it to Phoenix, I am hoping I have
enough time in between flights. We met up with 3 other people there and we all
got a bit to eat. I had a yummy chocolate muffin and blew the remaining 55 kcz
I had. I now have a 2 kcz piece for my scrapbook.
The flight was good save my right ear plugging up most
painfully for the last…30 minutes at least. The whole time all I could think
about what my friend who said her ears exploded or something on a plane and she
blacked out. That would just be too inconvenient for me right now. The flight
from Prague to London was 1 hour 35 minutes and I gained an hour.
Now I am sitting in Heathrow waiting to see what gate I need
to go to. It makes me really nervous that they don’t announce them until only
an hour or two before. And I’m not even 100% sure when my flight leaves. As far
as I can tell it’s 12:15 departure time and the gate opens at 10:55. It’s 10:41
so I just have to wait to see where my gate is.
I’m really afraid of blowing my nose now because my ears are
both unplugged and I would like to keep them that way. Ugh.
There is no internet that I am able to connect to here so I
am just typing this in word and I’ll post it in the blog when I get home, or
maybe when I’m in Dallas.
…
10:56 and it still says “gate opens at 10:55”
Le sigh
Ok, so I'm finishing this story on July 20th because I'm slow and my daily 9 to 5 internship and raiding schedule are keeping me busy.
I made my flight from London to Dallas and it was fine. I got food before the flight and the nice lady talked to me about my panda debit card and kept calling me madame.
I slept on and off the whole flight, it wasn't nearly as pleasant as my flight to London. And unfortunately, I was sitting in the middle seat and I hate asking the isle seat to move if I need to get up. My ears were fine again until the last 30 minutes and it was awful. I was holding my ears and one of the flight attendants asked me if my ears were plugged and told me to hold my nose and blow air to pop them. I said thanks but in my mind I was like, "you don't think I've tried to pop them? Do I look like I'm enjoying the feeling of my eyes bugging out of my head?"
Dallas is where the fun starts.
I picked up my bag and got to the gate. My phone said I had 3 hours until my plane started boarding. I grabbed some McDonald's and sat around for a bit. There was a little spa right across from my gate so I decided to get a pedicure. At some point I noticed the clock in the salon was an hour ahead of my phone. But, phones get their time based on a signal, right? So, my phone must be correct.
I spent about an hour sitting in the massage chair and letting my pretty teal-blue toes dry before I went back to the gate.
So I was sitting there, looking at my phone as it closed in to the time to depart. It was weird because I didn't hear anyone making announcements. I waited a while before I asked the guy next to me if he knew when the boarding for Phoenix was starting. He said he had no idea because he was going to Fresno. Fresno? Why was he at my gate? So I went to ask the lady and she said the flight to Phoenix had moved gates. It wasn't that far away so I walked as fast as I could. Out the window of the new gate I see the plane leaving. I go up to the lady, knowing what she is going to say. She said it departed. I missed it by like 5 minutes. So there I am in the airport and I'm trying not to cry. I ask her if there is another flight to Phoenix. Not until 8am the next morning. Great. She says there is one going to Tucson in 15 minutes that I should be able to make. She did something on the computer and said I was on that flight and just had to get over there. I don't think it's normal to get a free flight, but I probably looked pathetic and she probably felt bad for me.
So I am frantically calling my boyfriend and dad trying to see if someone can pick me up in Tucson in 2 hours. When I get to the new terminal the lady says there are 2 men that haven't shown up and if they do I don't get on the plane. One guy shows up. Luckily I got on.
So I'm still crying because it's practically been a 24 hour day and I'm wearing wedges and my bags are heavy and my nose is runny and I ran out of tissue. So of course I get the emergency exit seat. I'm the one who would have to hoist the 50 pound door and throw it aside to save all the innocent people on the plane. I hope everyone felt safe. I also felt really bad for the business guy who I was sitting next to who probably thought I was mental.
All in all I slept through the whole flight and my ears didn't even bug me. My dad was able to pick me up and I got to bed after 11pm. It was a long day.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
The Firemen's Ball
Wednesday at noon we had our final class and watched The Firemen's Ball.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061781/
Another Milos Foreman movie (Loves of a Blonde), The Firemen's Ball follows the plan to throw a party for the President's 86th birthday. The firemen are a group of bumbling idiots who represent the Communist Party.
This movie was banned soon after it was released in 1967 because it was offensive to the Communists. The movie, however, never mentions communism, so by admitting to the offensiveness, the Communists are admitting to their own stupidity.
One of my favorite parts of the movie is when an old man's house burns down, and the firemen bring him to the stage and award him with all of the raffle tickets from the night, and the man says something along the lines of "my house burned down, I need money, all of these are useless to me". It represents the sentiment that many people had for communism at the time.
After class I packed most of my things and at night I went to the Jazz Dock for several performances that are part of the month-long POMS festival in Prague.
I was there for about 3 hours, there was a cool female string quartet followed by an American duo and then a 3 part male jazz combo. I wanted to stay later, but it was really smoky in the bar and my throat was on fire.
When I got back to the dorms, I made sure my alarm was set for 4:30am. Ali and I were planning on leaving at 5:30 so we could take the metro to a bus to the airport since neither of us had enough money for a cab.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061781/
Another Milos Foreman movie (Loves of a Blonde), The Firemen's Ball follows the plan to throw a party for the President's 86th birthday. The firemen are a group of bumbling idiots who represent the Communist Party.
This movie was banned soon after it was released in 1967 because it was offensive to the Communists. The movie, however, never mentions communism, so by admitting to the offensiveness, the Communists are admitting to their own stupidity.
One of my favorite parts of the movie is when an old man's house burns down, and the firemen bring him to the stage and award him with all of the raffle tickets from the night, and the man says something along the lines of "my house burned down, I need money, all of these are useless to me". It represents the sentiment that many people had for communism at the time.
After class I packed most of my things and at night I went to the Jazz Dock for several performances that are part of the month-long POMS festival in Prague.
I was there for about 3 hours, there was a cool female string quartet followed by an American duo and then a 3 part male jazz combo. I wanted to stay later, but it was really smoky in the bar and my throat was on fire.
When I got back to the dorms, I made sure my alarm was set for 4:30am. Ali and I were planning on leaving at 5:30 so we could take the metro to a bus to the airport since neither of us had enough money for a cab.
Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday!
This title is to be said with the announcer voice like "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!"
Anywho, Tuesday we woke up early to go to Ledice. I was still feeling really under the weather and stuffy, but you do what you can.
We took the metro to a bus stop where we would catch a bus that would take us to Ledice in about 20 minutes. As we are waiting, what appears to be another school group walks up to the same stop. They are Czech and are staring at us. It seems like there are too many people to fit on the bus, but out teacher hands out the money so we can buy our tickets. When the bus comes, we all line up in front of the first door to buy our tickets, and the teacher from the other group goes through the second door and cuts in front of all of us to buy tickets for his whole class. They start getting seats from the second door as we are all still buying tickets.
I have a few choice words for this man.
By the time I get on the bus there is standing room only. You'd think some of the guys from the other group would have the decency to let girls sit down (especially girls who kept coughing and blowing their nose).
When the bus ride was finally over I let people from the other class out of the bus before me, only one of them said "thank you". Whatever.
Ledice was cold. I was not expecting cold weather because the entire week since we returned from Vienna has been warm, no jacket required. When we got to Ledice we all took a quick bathroom/food break and then met up to watch a video. It was nothing we didn't already know. Townspeople were blamed for a connection to Heidrich's assassination and so the men were all taken out and shot, and women and children were sent to work camps. The entire town was burned to the ground.
After the movie was a small exhibit with pictures and things. After that we were allowed to walk around by ourselves, I walked with a couple other people in the area where the town used to be; there was the remaining foundation of the farm where all the men were shot, a grouping of sculptures which acted as a memorial to the children, and a recreated foundation of the church. After walking around we went to the end of the rebuilt town to watch another movie. I fell asleep.
We went to wait for the bus after that and headed home.
I tried to nap for a little bit before getting ready for the dinner cruise.
When we got to the boat, we were all handed shots of something that is a drink that helps you digest or something. I took it with everyone else just to try, it was awful and my nose burned in a really bizarre kind of way.
The dinner was a buffet and there was chicken, sliced meats, cheeses, olives, bread, and some other things. As well as crepes and cake for dessert.
Everyone got on the top of the boat for a farewell speech from the teachers, and in the middle of the program director speaking, fireworks started going off. It was a really fun show, and one of the teachers said they planned it, but I don't know (at the jazz thing I went to the next night, fireworks went off from the same place).
When we all got back to the dorms, a group of us were in a sing-songy mood so we went down to the basement to sing along with classic rock songs from our ipods. Apparently everyone wants my music library.
Anywho, Tuesday we woke up early to go to Ledice. I was still feeling really under the weather and stuffy, but you do what you can.
We took the metro to a bus stop where we would catch a bus that would take us to Ledice in about 20 minutes. As we are waiting, what appears to be another school group walks up to the same stop. They are Czech and are staring at us. It seems like there are too many people to fit on the bus, but out teacher hands out the money so we can buy our tickets. When the bus comes, we all line up in front of the first door to buy our tickets, and the teacher from the other group goes through the second door and cuts in front of all of us to buy tickets for his whole class. They start getting seats from the second door as we are all still buying tickets.
I have a few choice words for this man.
By the time I get on the bus there is standing room only. You'd think some of the guys from the other group would have the decency to let girls sit down (especially girls who kept coughing and blowing their nose).
When the bus ride was finally over I let people from the other class out of the bus before me, only one of them said "thank you". Whatever.
Ledice was cold. I was not expecting cold weather because the entire week since we returned from Vienna has been warm, no jacket required. When we got to Ledice we all took a quick bathroom/food break and then met up to watch a video. It was nothing we didn't already know. Townspeople were blamed for a connection to Heidrich's assassination and so the men were all taken out and shot, and women and children were sent to work camps. The entire town was burned to the ground.
After the movie was a small exhibit with pictures and things. After that we were allowed to walk around by ourselves, I walked with a couple other people in the area where the town used to be; there was the remaining foundation of the farm where all the men were shot, a grouping of sculptures which acted as a memorial to the children, and a recreated foundation of the church. After walking around we went to the end of the rebuilt town to watch another movie. I fell asleep.
We went to wait for the bus after that and headed home.
I tried to nap for a little bit before getting ready for the dinner cruise.
When we got to the boat, we were all handed shots of something that is a drink that helps you digest or something. I took it with everyone else just to try, it was awful and my nose burned in a really bizarre kind of way.
The dinner was a buffet and there was chicken, sliced meats, cheeses, olives, bread, and some other things. As well as crepes and cake for dessert.
Everyone got on the top of the boat for a farewell speech from the teachers, and in the middle of the program director speaking, fireworks started going off. It was a really fun show, and one of the teachers said they planned it, but I don't know (at the jazz thing I went to the next night, fireworks went off from the same place).
When we all got back to the dorms, a group of us were in a sing-songy mood so we went down to the basement to sing along with classic rock songs from our ipods. Apparently everyone wants my music library.
Friday, June 29, 2012
DON'T STOP
So Monday night, Ali, Kelly, David, Chris and I went to the
movie theatre where I bought a poster earlier to see a Czech film with English
subtitles. It’s not something tourists normally do, so the theatre was mostly
empty, but everyone else who was there was Czech. There don’t appear to be
concessions like there are at movie theatres in America.
I was going to link the IMDB for this film, but it doesn’t
really seem to be there…in fact there is very little on the internet about it
at all. I guess it might be too new (as of this year) so it might be under the
US radar.
This movie is about 2 teenage guys who are part of the punk
movement in the 80s in Prague. It’s really cool because most of the locations
are places we’ve been. The trams and everything are as familiar as if I was
watching a movie filmed in Phoenix or Scottsdale. The movie was funny but still
dramatic and had an open ending like most Czech film. The main character was
adorable and the story was told through his eyes. He and his best friend try to
form a punk band while the main character struggles with his parents and
girlfriend who want him to stay in school. The Clash was the band that the main
character and his friend enjoyed most. In the 80s under Communism, music like
this was illegal and the movie did a good job of showing the subversiveness of
the punk movement. After the movie was over, I asked myself, “How am I going to
go back to watching American movies?”
We went to Boom after the movie to get ice cream and when we
were walking there, we passed a guy playing this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caisa_(instrument).
It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard. It was surprisingly loud even
in a busy square, and it made many notes at once. It sounded like the kind of
music I imagine faeries to play.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I've missed a few days, I'll update when I get home, or perhaps if I have a long lay over in London.
Briefly, I missed:
Monday Night: Don't Stop
Tuesday: Ledice, Good-bye Dinner Cruise
Wednesday: Fireman's Ball, packing, music at Jazz Dock
I leave Thursday morning at 8:25am and I gain 9 hours to get back in Phoenix sometime at night! (Hope I lose this cough by the time I fly).
Briefly, I missed:
Monday Night: Don't Stop
Tuesday: Ledice, Good-bye Dinner Cruise
Wednesday: Fireman's Ball, packing, music at Jazz Dock
I leave Thursday morning at 8:25am and I gain 9 hours to get back in Phoenix sometime at night! (Hope I lose this cough by the time I fly).
Monday, June 25, 2012
More Tea
Last night for dinner I tried to make my Czech spaghettios. But it was more like dehydrated pasta...so red sauce and pasta in shapes of planes, trains, and cars; the picture looked good but the directions were in Czech, so I decided to use Google translate just to be sure (I have made dehydrated food before and it's usually not too difficult).
This is what is translated to:
Instructions for preparation
topping the dustbag to 0.75 liters of cold water and stir well.
Soup Clearly, stirring occasionally to the boil and simmer for 12 minutes.
Well. Seems simple enough, so I did what it said and it was terrible. The noodles weren't even cooked. So I fail at life and ate a bowl of cereal.
Everyone left when Ali and I were pretending to go to sleep. It took me a while to finally get to sleep because of my congestion, but I was able to sleep through the night.
Fast forward to this morning, I woke up and my throat felt even worse. But that's how it always is in the mornings. I made breakfast and took a shower, still blowing my nose every 5 seconds and feeling overall messed up. I had another cup of Earl Grey with no sugar or honey. Meh.
The lecture was good, but I kept having to get up to blow my nose or cough my lungs out. It was delightful.
One cool thing we learned was that in most of Europe, the term "liberal" means slightly right of center, whereas in America it means leftist. It's part of a neoliberalism movement, according to Dr. Pehe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
After the lecture, Ali, Kelly, another guy from class, and I went to a tea house called Dobre that Kelly loves. I had a pot of Earl Grey (surprise) and pita with cinnamon sugar. The pita was amazing.
After that we walked to a movie theatre where they sell posters and shirts, I bought a poster for my boyfriend. We then walked across the street to this tiny record store called Happy Feet. I love records, but I usually buy them used so I think I must be spoiled with prices (Hospice of the Valley donation center, for example, sells 10 records for $1). The records in this store all seemed to be new, and they were all between 5 and 10 USD. I was thinking about getting some kind of Czech jazz record but I don't want to risk carrying it on the plane, and I don't know if I want to spend the money. It was also crowded so I might try to go back later and ask the lady who was working if she has any recommendations.
Tonight I am going to a Czech movie subtitled in English with Ali and Kelly so that should be fun!
This is what is translated to:
Instructions for preparation
topping the dustbag to 0.75 liters of cold water and stir well.
Soup Clearly, stirring occasionally to the boil and simmer for 12 minutes.
Well. Seems simple enough, so I did what it said and it was terrible. The noodles weren't even cooked. So I fail at life and ate a bowl of cereal.
Everyone left when Ali and I were pretending to go to sleep. It took me a while to finally get to sleep because of my congestion, but I was able to sleep through the night.
Fast forward to this morning, I woke up and my throat felt even worse. But that's how it always is in the mornings. I made breakfast and took a shower, still blowing my nose every 5 seconds and feeling overall messed up. I had another cup of Earl Grey with no sugar or honey. Meh.
The lecture was good, but I kept having to get up to blow my nose or cough my lungs out. It was delightful.
One cool thing we learned was that in most of Europe, the term "liberal" means slightly right of center, whereas in America it means leftist. It's part of a neoliberalism movement, according to Dr. Pehe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
After the lecture, Ali, Kelly, another guy from class, and I went to a tea house called Dobre that Kelly loves. I had a pot of Earl Grey (surprise) and pita with cinnamon sugar. The pita was amazing.
After that we walked to a movie theatre where they sell posters and shirts, I bought a poster for my boyfriend. We then walked across the street to this tiny record store called Happy Feet. I love records, but I usually buy them used so I think I must be spoiled with prices (Hospice of the Valley donation center, for example, sells 10 records for $1). The records in this store all seemed to be new, and they were all between 5 and 10 USD. I was thinking about getting some kind of Czech jazz record but I don't want to risk carrying it on the plane, and I don't know if I want to spend the money. It was also crowded so I might try to go back later and ask the lady who was working if she has any recommendations.
Tonight I am going to a Czech movie subtitled in English with Ali and Kelly so that should be fun!
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