Ja jsem sama.

Thoughts on being alone

I never lived alone before this year. Actually, I was never really alone, before now....  I don't think that there are many 23 year old adults living alone in this world, because to be quite frank, most of my friends back home still (1) live with their family or (2) have roommates... and up until this year, I did the same.

There are a lot of things that come with being alone. It's not just that feeling of isolation. Really, I wish it was JUST isolating. It's easy to overcome isolation... just make friends... however, when you are actually alone, there is something indescribable about it.

Sometimes, I LOVE living and being alone. Sometimes, I absolutely HATE it.

The hardest part, I think about being alone is having no one to talk to. By now, I have accepted the fact that I do not have anyone to talk to daily about things like (1) what I would love to do on the weekends, (2) what I would love to see in the movie theater, (3) some interesting gossip, (4) interesting news in the world today, (5) how someone's weekend was in general.... etc...etc...

I would like to point out that my Czech has improved dramatically since coming to this country, because I am incredibly lonely. Really, when you are alone in a new country, then you are really motivated to ask people, "Jak se mas?" "Jak se jmenujes?" "Okud jsi?" "Co delas?" "Co bude delat zitra?"

The responses are also very motivating for you to listen as well. When I first came here, it was really hard for me to tell the difference between two words... I'm not talking about the differences between "ano" and "ne," that's obvious and anyone can hear it... I'm talking about the natural pauses and rhythm of a spoken language. It was very overwhelming in my first month, when I had to listen... even now, I feel upset sometimes, when I cannot tell whether someone is asking me if I want to attend a lesson today or will I be attending a lesson at the gym today.... It's really rough, because even if you understand completely, coming up with a response is even harder. Sometimes, the person will ROLL their eyes, like you are a complete idiot. Sometimes, if they are nice, then they will repeat slowly... but normally, the person gets angry and I give up on making a sentence for the day....

I didn't expect the things that come with being alone... I didn't know what it meant to be alone. Quite frankly, no one tells you, "By the way, when you are alone, you will be your only friend, if you fail to learn the new language and attempt to speak to people everyday."

Needless to say, I don't really like being alone. It's a little depressing sometimes, when you realize that after 4 months of living in a new country, you only know about close to 30 verbs;  about 100-200 nouns; and have no idea how to do the past tense... only how to do the future and the present.

On the bright side, I think that by the time I leave this country, I will probably know around 40-50 verbs and hopefully have a sufficient vocabulary to actually speak about something other than, "Kam jedeme?" nebo "Co budeme delat ted'?"

Time is FLYING by!!!

SO much has happened, that I forgot I had a blog! Really, I forgot completely that I was not documenting the fun times I have been having here.

Let's back track to a few weeks ago.... I made some more American goodies for my students and forced them to eat some chocolate chip cookies. They LOVED them and I made sure the world found out about their new experience :) (If you are curious about this thing, it is called What YOUth Eat and you can find it on facebook.)

 Now a few days later,

....there were birthday celebrations (including my own... yes, I am now 23 years old). I went to Ceskebudejovice and Prague to celebrate with friends and other birthday folks :) (My birthday was not the only one during that time.)
 

Then I threw a Halloween party for my students :) We decorated treats, ate treats and finally watched a movie. It was loads of fun! 

I fed my student cake-pops.... I love cake pops.

 More recently, I have been attending parties with my colleagues and students. We are celebrating the fact that they will be completing their last year of Gymnasium in May. So, we made sure to have some good fun together (at a pub of course!). I actually went to two parties like the one pictured below.

 

Although these are many wonderful experiences, I have been experiencing some culture shock.... For example, seeing children pee in the street; accidentally attending mixed/nude saunas; finding houses made from styrofoam.... and making "American" foods with make-shift ingredients.

  

Even though it is sometimes difficult for me to overcome the cultural differences, I am still learning the language and trying to enjoy the good things in life.... Besides, my amazing colleagues and students have always helped me overcome anything that makes me sad!

Also, I fed my students guacomole on Friday (no there's no photo). It was their first time eating it and ... well, the girls liked it, but not the boys.

AHOJ! Until next time!

TVAROH DORT!

For those of you who have lived in another country, you know how hard it is to find cream cheese. They have Philadelphia Cream Cheese EVERYWHERE in the world, but it doesn't taste the same. I don't know how to describe it, but its as though there is less fat in it here. So, although I can find the ingredients, it still does not turn out properly.

However, today, I was able to make something that tastes almost exactly like American Cheese Cake! Tomorrow, I will feed it to my English Club. I hope they like it.

You might be wondering... well, how on earth can you make Cheese Cake without cream cheese. Here's how I did it:

Ingredients

the crust

2 tablespoons of Máslo (butter)

25-30 Piskoty (Vanilla wafers)

the filling

250g of Tvaroh Melko (milky)

250g of Tvaroh Tučny (fatty)

120g of Zakysaná Smetana (sour cream)

Mouka (flour)

3 Vejce (eggs)

150g of Vanilkový Cukr (vanilla sugar)

150g of Cukr (sugar)

1 teaspoon of Skořice (cinnamon)

1 teaspoon of Sůl(salt) 

Instructions

the crust

 crush the piskoty until fine and mix with the máslo. use this mixture to line the bottom of a 8x8 inch pan. bake the crust for 5 to 10 minutes at 150C.

the filling   

mix the two types of tvaroh and zakysaná smetana together with a wisk. once completely mixed and smooth, add the vejce. mix again with the whisk, until creamy (it will have a watery consistency, this is how it should be!). add the vanilkový cukr, cukr, skořice and sůl and whisk until all the sugar has dissolved (about 3-5 minutes). at this point, the mixture will be less "watery." to thicken it, add the flour a little bit at a time (use the whisk to mix it). stop, when the consistency should is something in between sour cream and a thick jelly. 

pour the mixture on top of the crust. place it in the oven at 150C for 30mins. make sure you check on the cake every 10 minutes, because there will be air bubbles and you need to physically slide your knife around the edges to get rid of them. after 30 mins., the center will still not be cooked. so raise the temperature to 200C and bake until the cake is golden. remove the cake, let it cool for 2 hours and add your desired topping (I used jam).

This cake tastes very similar to the traditional cheese cake and I have not had issues with it falling apart or tasting too much like a weird truffle. (The issue with recipes online is that they have this truffle-like flavor instead of that creamy sweet, but cheesy taste.)

Dobrou Chut!

Its been 7 weeks now and finally my computer is back in my hands!!! It works and I am so so so happy to use it. Really, life can become quite boring without one. Also, when you do not have a computer, it is difficult to create lesson plans for your students.

I suppose you are wondering what I did for the past two weeks? 

Well....I went to the Pilsner Fest (its like the Ocktoberfest, but in Pilsn), I had another meeting for my English Club and finally went to a horse race. 

I would like to point out that the Czech Republic is a "Beer Nation" and the most famous beer is Pilner Urquell. It is served cold and typically has foam. At the Pilsner Fest, I learned that foam is an important part of beer, because it indicates how "fresh" it is (also the more foam, the better).

The Pilsner Fest was really interesting, because I also saw a Bar Tending competition. There were actually judges judging how well bar tenders could pour the perfect glass of beer. It was very funny! Here are some photos from that weekend:

The first and last photo are from the Pilsner Fest and the middle one is of me tasting some Czech Cheese Cake (not the same as American Cheese Cake, but still pretty good!).

Another thing I have learned since being here is that the Czech like racing. They like racing cars, they like racing horses, they like running in races.....well I think you get the point. If its a race, then you should expect it to happen in the Czech Republic. 

So this weekend, I went to Paradubice for a horse race.

 

 Above are some pictures from it. The first one is of the crowd (and a funny building that might be falling apart) and the second are of the horse before the race. Sadly, I lost all of my bets, but it was fun watching!

LOOK, it's a picture from my Balcony (be jealous!!!!) :) The view is rather breath taking!

 Good Bye for now!

Do you have a bucket list for your life?

Well I do. I started it, when I was around 15 or 16. There were certain things I needed to do. I had to do! 

One of those things was meeting an Ambassador. Now, I can finally say that I have.

Meeting the US Ambassador: CHECK

In the above photo is my mentor, me and the Ambassador. My mentor has been incredibly helpful in teaching me how to teach, acclimating to Czech society and telling me about the culture here. Really, it was a great thing to meet the Ambassador with her.

Maybe I will be able to ´´Czech´´ off a few more things off my bucket list this year. Who knows? 

Four weeks in.... I am still pretty happy, but my computer was destroyed by the Czech Burcak.

Burcak is a young half fermented wine (see left). It is very sweet and tastey. There is a specific reason for this; it is still fermenting, when you purchase it. So...if you are not careful with it, it can explode on things and cause a huge mess. This is because the fermentation process results in lots of "bubbles." When you seal a bottle of this too tightly, then a lot of pressure can devoloped. Unfortunately, (in my case) I did not think of this. So, sadly, this wonderful drink exploded in my backpack, when I was transporting it home. My precious MacBook in addition to some other belongings were soaked.

Since, I was not close to my home, I knew that this would not end well.....
In total, my laptop and belongings spent a grueling 3-4 hours soaking in this sweet alcoholic concotion. I had to let my Czech textbooks dry on my clothing line. I also took apart my MacBook (to see if there is anything I can do... sadly I realized that the screen is completely broken, it needs a new battery and I do not have the proper tools to take out the hard drive so that I can atleast use it externally)... Unfortunately, the closest Apple Store is in Berlin and I do not make enough money to (1) pay someone to repair it or (2) buy a new computer.

So... in the mean time, my Czech has improved dramatically; I have joined a gym; and I am regularly going to Prague.  I am also spending a lot of my free time staring at my wall.... thinking.... about how much I would like to speak English with someone.... Did I mention no one in my town "speaks English" (except for my colleagues)?

This week, I went to Prague 3 times. 

I saw the King Tut Exhibit as well as

many landmarks. Currently, I am doing training.

I am hoping things will get a lot more interesting very soon!

Before I write about my first 2 weeks, I want to discuss my experience since graduating college in May 2013. It was a great summer full of a lot of memorable experiences. I immediately started by packing everything I own and flying to Chicago for an internship at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Then within a month, I flew to Ispra, Italy to work on a project with the E.U.'s E.C. Joint Research Centre (JRC). 

During my summer I made jet packs, saw amazing things and made great friendships with people I never want to forget. In total, I spent 8 weeks working at ANL and 4 at JRC. It was really difficult leaving, because there was an option to stay longer, but I had a flight to Czech Republic waiting for me. (I left Chicago on August 17 and my flight for Prague was on August 24.)

 

Chicago and Ispra were amazing, I know that I will make my way back to these places one day (maybe during grad school?)

Fast forward to August 27: Training in Brno

                 Training was a lot of fun. I was able to meet my fellow ETA's (great people!). We learned some class room activities as well as things to expect for our stay. Not to mention, there was plenty of time to take in the sites and meet some Czech grad students (who are studying English). 

Training really made me feel comfortable with my decision to spend a year in a completely different country... in a place where I do not really know the language or the culture!

After training, I moved to Pribram, where I had my first week of work. This went very well, but I learned that (1) I am afraid of my elevator, (2) my students hate physics and (3) that modern Czech art is really interesting!

Also, to mark my 2 week anniversary in this country, I was practicing my Czech with cats.

Who says that you don't need to know how to say "The cat is under the table" or "The cat is on the table"?