birthday part 2: Barcelona

I decided that the proper way to celebrate my 25 fabulous years was a weekend in Barcelona! Melissa and I had a rough start to our trip with a 2 hour delay in Prague airport and landing in the pouring rain, but after some sleep we woke to bright sunshine and the Mediterranean just down the street! In order to see all the highlights of the city we had a very busy few days.. We saw the fantastic architecture of Antoni Gaudi, ate fresh tapas, toured a couple museums and made plenty of time for the beach! Here is a slideshow of pics from our wonderful, tropical holiday.

100 seasons celebration

Who knew turning 25 would be so epic?? I was so lucky to have a fabulous birthday (even though it was Friday the 13th this year!) with my students, colleagues and friends here in Prague. I taught a couple of classes, took my post-secondary afternoon class to the zoo, and finished my day off with a picnic in the best Zizkov park in good company.

I took a page out of Wen's book and decided that this year I will make my birthday a week-long event. So I took my last holiday days from work and Melissa and I spent a long weekend in Barcelona- Happy birthday to me!!

4 May- the day of perfect attendance



morning post-secondary class

Back row: Michaela, Jindra, Kristina, Helena, Zuzka, Mira

Middle row: Petra, Jana, ME, Mila, Roman

Front row: Michal, Vojta, Petra, Klara

afternoon post-secondary class

Back row: Isabela, Katerina, Vladia, Vojta

Front row: Michaela, Julia

It was an IJV miracle. A once in a lifetime experience. ALL of my post-secondary students attended class today!! Luckily I brought my camera to school to snap a class picture for our year-long 'travel logue' project we've been working on for my afternoon class. I never would have guessed that I would need it for my morning class as well-- I absolutely HAD to document the whole group together. So feast your eyes on my 19-21 year old groups of post-secondary students who are lucky enough to have 3 hours of English lessons everyday!!   

Čarodejnice- Witches Night

Spring is full of traditions here in the Czech Republic. We have the madness that surrounds Easter followed by a few days of saying 'na shledanou' (goodbye) to winter. The last 3 days of April celebrate the name days of the 3 'winter men', and the story behind it is that these last 3 days of April are the final time for winter weather before gardeners can breathe easy and prepare for the crop season.

In a final celebration to the end of winter they have an extremely pagan celebration on the night of 30 April called Čarodejnice, or Witches Night. Appropriately, the people of the Czech Republic have massive organized parties where they make bonfires and burn witches made from sticks. People dress up in witch hats, cook sausages over the fire, and enjoy the festivities. In Prague there were many organized events and we chose one on the outskirts of the city to attend. It was a nice park and had a live band, tents and booths set up, and a few bonfires going until the thunderstorms set in.

Today, the 1st of May, is the Czech's version of Valentine's Day. People gather on Petrin Hill (where the mini Eiffel tower is) and kiss their loved ones by the statue of the Czech 'love poet', Karel Hynek Macha. It is said that if you don't kiss someone under a flowering tree on 1 May then the girl will turn ugly. Side note- it is also a national holiday reserved for any rallies or demonstrations in their post-1989 life, their Labor Day. What a combo!

love/hate the czech republic

A prime example of my love/hate relationship with the Czech Republic:
In class today...
me: Sooo the royal wedding is tomorrow-who is excited??!! Is anyone going to watch some of it on tv?
honza: Tomorrow? Really?
me: Yes, Honza. Haven't you read about it in the newspaper or heard about it on tv? This is kind of important.
jitka: Well, yes of course Natalie.
honza: But there is something with more important tomorrow.
me: More important than the royal wedding? What is it?
vojta: It is the world hockey championships.
klara: what means 'royal'?

Easter Monday in south Bohemia

Easter Monday-the real holiday in the Czech Republic- was spent in the popular southern town of Cesky Krumlov. Ben and Gerry spent the night en route to Vienna while I made it as a day trip. It is a very historic small town of 15,000 with lots of character, great architecture and a fantastic setting in a bend of the river Vlatava. The best thing to do here is simply walk around and soak in the atmosphere along the river and go up to the castle grounds for a better view. We ate, drank the local Eggenberg beer, and tried to find as many 5-petaled roses engraved around town representing the founding Ruzmberk family from 1302. Enjoy the pictures from our lovely and relaxing day in Krumlov!

Easter in the Czech Republic

Since Christmas in the Czech Republic was so entertaining to hear about I thought I would share the equally humourous tale around the Easter weekend traditions. Growing up in the US I was used to Easter starting on Wednesday night and going to church pretty much daily through Sunday. The Czech Republic is.... different.

First off, since the majority of Czech people are athiest there is no mention of anything religious. Easter to them is more of a celebration of Spring. The big Christmas markets are in place again, this time decorated with bright colored ribbons and faux flowers making them the 'Easter markets'. Replacing the huge pine trees are massive eggs and instead of detailed ornaments there are hand painted eggs. The St Nikolas gingerbread cookies are now shaped as bunnies. Very festive!

My favorite part about Easter traditions here are the events that happen on Easter Monday. As traditions has it, boys are allowed to hit girls with willow branches woven into whips. Now this may sound violent, but the boys are actually doing the girls a favor- legend has it that as the boys hit the girls with these tree whips there are actually transfering the 'power' from the willow to the girl to ensure that she doesn't 'dry up'. This is to say that the girls will remain youthful and pretty and not turn into old hags. Since the girls are supposed to be thankful for this gesture they are expected to give the boy a present after being beaten by the branches. Presents could be anything from a hand painted egg, candy, or a shot of alcohol. Then they tie a ribbon on the end of the boy's whip as a reward. The more ribbons the boys collect.... the drunker they become. (This part is still confusing to me.. communication barriers I think)

So I have been warned to 'watch my back' on Monday and to bring a pillow with me to protect my rear end. With Ben and Gerry in town we are planning to go down to Cesky Krumlov on Monday so Gerry and I will definitely have to be careful...