Washchambers, Woostep, & Consonant Clusters.

I have come to realize that I have to stay up to date on this thing or it will die; it's only been about 6 days since the last time I updated and I am feeling a little intimidated. Updating feels daunting, but I will try my best to be succinct.

Let's start at the beginning. On Monday (which feels like months ago), we were split into groups and sent on a sort of scavenger hunt. Some of the groups were went to places like vineyards for wine tastings. My group was sent up a mountain. If you ever wanted to be the most conspicuous person ever, climb the hill (instead of taking the tram, whoops. didn't realize that was there) to the mini Eiffel tower in Prague when it's 85 degrees out with some other Americans. Not only will you be ungodly loud by nature (Czechs are SO QUIET IN PUBLIC. I am not) but you will also be sweaty, red, and complaining (loudly. did I mention Americans are loud?). A good bonding experience, but Lee, Natalie, Christie, and myself did not exactly endear ourselves to the locals. Another lesson learned during this outing: public transportation is not the place to make jokes, laugh loudly, or practice your very minimal Czech. Unless you enjoy elderly European women conspiring to murder you, in which case have fun!

[the mountain crew and I, the next day. Our mountain is in the background. We are still mad at it.]

My classes seem amazing. Somehow SIT is connected to all of the most amazing people in this city. My art teacher, besides being the most beautiful man I've ever been in the same room as, is pretty prominent (http://janpfeiffer.info). Our Czech teacher is the woman ambassadors, etc. hire to teach them Czech when they come here. We have about 50 million guest lecturers that I can't wait for. It's ridiculous.

[At school. From the left: me, Lenka (the homestay director), Hannah, Jenna, Zoe, and Lee].

Another highlight was that we got to attend an art show opening held in a psychiatric hospital. It was incredible, and we got to speak to the artist, who also happens to be a psychologist. We have an interview project later in the semester and I'm mostly planning to stalk her and make that happen.

Sidenote: to anyone who subtly (or not-so-subtly) warned me that studying abroad in Europe is a cop-out, or that it would be like staying in the US? WRONG. wrong. 1989 was awhile ago, but it is so interesting the impact socialism has had on everything here, still. There are a lot of contradictions (which is true of any culture, I think) that are interesting. Like, I want to say that in general people are much more private, but in other ways they aren't - Americans are more body-conscious, I think, and less open about the negative aspects. Many Czechs have told us that Americans are thought of as very fake. Why do we smile at people in the street we don't know? Why do we need to start conversations on public transportation? Why do we always say "fine!" when someone asks how we are? Also, being concerned about eating humanely-treated animal products? VERY foreign concept. I feel like these examples of cultural disparities are pretty superficial, but I could go on for days. Suffice it to say, this is not America, I am not in my comfort zone, everyone does not speak English, just because people are white does not mean that they are just like us.

To bring us to the present, I am writing this from my homestay room. I met my "parents" last night, and they are wonderful. They have two kids, Moijmir (he is 3) and Zora (she is almost 2) who I actually am not meeting until a few hours from now. They are smart and incredibly nice, and put me in a room full of books, a keyboard, and a guitar. And they bought flowers. And Moijmir painted me a picture. Things are (of course) awkward, but not as much as I was fearing. The feeling of absolute absurdity of living in a stranger's house comes and goes in waves, as does my awareness of how far I am from home.

Other things: absinthe is complicated, there is a Czech way of saying "tell me more" in conversation that sounds exactly like "fuck you" (creates confusion), Mexican food here is (shockingly!) not the same as Mexican food in So-Cal, one of the best things about Prague is that you can pretend it's the 1600s ALL THE TIME, and I have decided that I must learn to pack more lightly.

Ne schledenou! (which means goodbye, formally, in Czech. Say that ten times fast. You can't. Because you speak English and can't pronounce anything real).