kuřecí feny

So. Turns out independent study is AMAZING. This is possibly coming from a girl who has yet to do any real work on hers yet, but let me tell you, after a ridiculously academically rigorous semester, a week of playing in Praha and playing with homestay siblings has been AMAZING.

Tomorrow evening, I am leaving to stay with my mask-maker-mentor. I have literally no idea what to expect/pack, so that should be interesting. Luckily, I am totally laid back and love not knowing what the plan is...NOT AT ALL. 

Last night, some of us went to one night of this alternative music festival called Alternativa. The music scene in Prague is pretty cool, because even bigger-name bands tend to be really friendly and interactive with their fans, in a way that definitely isn't true with big indie bands in the US. My friend Jenna's host sister's band was playing - I forget their name...something that translates to both five bitches and five chickens? or something? Whatever I just said is definitely made up - and they were SO GOOD. I wish I could see as much music when I get home as I have been here, but SIT probably isn't going to keep buying me concert tickets when the shows I want to see start being in LA.

Fun fact: when it's below freezing, and you have a lip ring, HALF OF YOUR FACE FREEZES. This is ABSOLUTELY NOT A JOKE. Anytime I am outside for more than five minutes, there is a one-inch radius around my lip ring that is just FREEZING. It is endlessly fascinating, and also causes the Czech people waiting for my train with me to disassociate themselves even further from the very-clearly American girl in the purple headphones (in what way am I clearly American, you ask? I literally have no idea, but I am. We all are. They just know. I mean, sometimes it's because we are rolling thirteen deep, speaking incredibly loud English, and carrying Czech textbooks, but other times I just think people who live in Prague can smell a statesider from a mile away. We must radiate a desire for sandwiches without 3 gallons of mayonnaise and a coffee cup that holds more than 3 ounces) because I look like this:

this is not an exaggeration.

Anyways, not much else to say. Clearly, since this blog post is 99% photobooth pictures of me biting my own face. I'll be somewhere in the woods art-making until Wednesday night, and then hanging out with Americans all day Thursday, AKA Thanksgiving. Oh, funny story about that: my friend Lee and I decided we would like to head up cooking. Turns out this is a 30 person ordeal. Apparently every American in Central Europe spends Thanksgiving at my Academic Director's house. I'm fine with it, because this is my first Thanksgiving not with my parents and I would like to be as busy as possible. If I can be having an emotional breakdown because I set a turkey on fire, as opposed to because I'm approximately 83,000 miles from home (geographically factual), then I will consider the day a success.

až díkůvzdání!

jan svankmajer be CRAZY.

It's come the time where I become horrendously lazy about keeping up with the blog-age. It also happens to be the time when it is TWENTY FIVE DEGREES OUTSIDE. I know, I know, it's going to get worse, that isn't actually that cold, blah blah blah BLAH, I HAVE ONLY EVER LIVED IN PORTLAND AND REDLANDS CALIFORNIA, PEOPLE. Redlands, also known as the land where people think I'm chased if they see me out for a run and it's below 60 (what other reason could I possibly have for leaving my house??!) and I have friends who skip eating for a week because the five minute walk to the commons in the rain is too much to bear. And yes, a week, because it just doesn't usually rain for more than a week.

So. Yes. It is freezing. And so beautiful! Everywhere you look the ground is carpeted with yellows and reds, and in the early morning the fall leaves are under such a thick layer of frost that it all glitters. It really does nothing to harm my ability to pretend to be a fairy princess.

Would you like to know what else does nothing to harm that ability? The fact that my independent study adviser is awesome and told me that my fairy princess shadow puppet should also serve as an 'autoportrait' (which I think is not-quite-fluent-in-English for self-portrait).

I think I should back up now: before I talk about my independent study, I should probably mention a few of the things that have happened since November 1st. Namely, finals and a lot of punching myself in the face. Czech is a really hard language. The history final was actually sort of fun (I mean, that's a huge lie, it was a four hour essay-based test, not even I think that's fun) just because it made me realize HOW GODDAMN MUCH I HAVE LEARNED THIS SEMESTER. Czech history is so interesting. Communism is so interesting. Vaclav Havel is so interesting. We also had our exhibition of our artwork for my studio art elective, which was fun. Here's something I painted!

These are sort of wonky because I took them on my ipod, and I don't have a photo of my favorite one on my computer, but I wanted to put them up here. My artist's statement is too long to put up, but what I was (trying to) do was to use all I had read about in Czech literature/history about the concept of the "other" in Czech culture, but also have fun with it. So I basically just painted a bunch of mushrooms trying to fit in with the crowd. And then I felt guilty for making them feel lonely so I let them hang out with each other, which is the one I put up. (I think there is some sort of joke to be made here about cliches and studying abroad and liberal arts and painting about ostracism and painting mushrooms and alternative education, but when there are too many options I sometimes get overwhelmed, so feel free to go to town) ("Wow, Naomi, studying art in Central Europe during undergrad and painting some mushrooms? When's the lesbian phase!") (Ugh. that was sub-par. Seriously, too many options is the death of me).

It is really crazy to me how used to this city I am. I remember everything looking so foreign when I first got here, and now it looks like a city I live in. It doesn't necessarily feel like home, but it feels comfortable, and I know my way around, and that's a really nice feeling. I hope I can come back someday.

my independent study is, frankly, going to be the most baller shit at the baller parade in baller town. No joke. I am working with this AMAZING Czech woman, who is the landlord of the apartment building our school is in, runs a coffee business, teaches at Charles University, makes masks and puppets out of wood, clay, paper, bronze, everything ever, and just published a book she's been working on for ten years about masks in different cultures. WHAT. 

So, the rest of my time here is going to look something like this: 

I'm spending this week deciding what figures I want to use for shadow puppets (about 6) and which I want to use for masks (about 3). All of them will be inspired by Czech fairy tales. Monday, she's going to take me to the store and help me buy materials, and then that night we are leaving for her cottage ("all you need to bring is something for cold". yeah, man, I am like five steps ahead of you.) so that she can teach me her REALLY INTENSE CRAFT. I guess we are going to make one mask out of this very specific type of clay/linoleum/weird other materials she didn't know the English words for, which will probably take an entire day. While we're waiting for stuff to dry, apparently her cottage is in a village with ancient stone sculptures and a bunch of galleries, including one of primitive Central European art. WHAT THE HELL IS MY LIFE??!

Then, Wednesday night, I return to Prague, in time for Thanksgiving, which my friend Lee and I offered to do all the cooking for, and which I found out today is a 30 person shindig. So, I hope they like eating mushroom gravy like it's soup because I literally have never cooked an animal before. OOOOOPS. 

The rest of my month will be spent working on finishing my pieces, until I return to my adviser's house again (if anyone is wondering why I haven't mentioned her by name, our program specifically asks us not to mention any of the employees on our blogs or facebooks) and she is going to help me film a short using my shadow puppets. She really wants me to write some music for it too (because my Academic Director told her that that was a thing I do, but it's just not. I could totally cover some indie music for it, but I do not write songs) which would be great but I don't know how realistic it is. ANYWAYS, then I will most likely be spending the rest of my time in Prague finishing up any pieces that aren't done and writing my 15 page paper about it. Plus, I'm really hoping to use some of my time during independent study to do the tourist-y things I haven't gotten a chance to do yet.

AND THEN I COME HOME.

The passage of time is horrendously baffling.

oh also, don't worry. i found more cats.

this is not a real blog post because it is finals week and even i can only procrastinate so much, but here's a cool thing my friend made from our trip to slovakia!

http://daniellelashley.shutterfly.com/22

dobrý den, listopad

I can't remember if this has happened every semester, or it's just now, but suddenly time seems to be getting away from me and it's a little scary. I know by December 17th I will be happy to get home, but after next week we are into independent study, and after independent study it's December 17th. So. I'm hoping I can fill up my time with enough activities that that the perpetually obnoxious passage of time doesn't get away from me too fast. And I just don't know if I'm ready to be a second-semester junior...what. Though I will have the world's most baller schedule next semester, so that's good. I do have a lot to look forward to. JUST NOT YET PLEASE. I'm already getting nostalgic for my S1 train to český brod. 

I think I know what I am going to do for my independent study! Apparently, my Academic Director is close personal friends with some sort of really talented Czech mask maker (you know, normal) so I may go stay with her for a few days and learn her apparently very strict and amazing technique. Part two involves reading as many Czech fairy tales as possible. Part 3 involves talking to some Czech people about which characters they think are the most important. Part 4 involves making masks (using aforementioned terrifyingly specific technique) to CREATE MY OWN MASKS for some of these creatures. Part 5 involves the heinously long research paper that is the only really necessary part of all this, but I think it will be really interesting. I want to focus on what (if anything) makes these fairytales and the characters in them uniquely Czech. 

Otherwise, things are good. My paintings are all due a week from tomorrow, and hopefully I can get some photos of them up here if I don't hate them as much as I do right now.  The concept is sort of ridiculous - focusing on the concept of the "other" in Czech literature, but utilizing mushrooms for imagery. Because I didn't feel like studying art while going abroad to Europe during liberal arts college was cliche enough, so now I'm painting mushrooms. Whatever. I'm having a good time. We are actually having a real live art show in our own space next Wednesday, which is sort of terrifying but really cool.

This Thursday, I'm going to the symphony(!) and Friday, we're going to see Plastic People of the Universe, which is a really famous band here because they were really involved with the dissident movement before the Velvet Revolution. I guess this concert is a lot of dissident bands getting together, some of which haven't played in years. This article knows more than I do: Czech Underground Bring Legendary Bands Together

I want to throw some pictures up here that I took during the trip I mentioned last time to Krakow/Slovakia/Vienna, but unfortunately my camera is only letting me load about 100 at a time before killing my computer, so right now it's only Krakow and the first part of Vienna. Hopefully some more later. 

krakow.

communist buses we got to get a tour in in nowa huta.

 

communist bus from the front.

SLOVAKIA HOW DO YOU LOOK LIKE THIS?

mandatory tray of shots at 11 AM. and again at 11.30. Love you too, Slovakian hospitality.

in some traditional slovakian garb, no biggie.

morgan rolling down this hill, because what else are you supposed to do when you find a hill that looks like this?

this man is giving us a cheese-making demonstration...

and we are THRILLED.

One last thing: for our regional stay fifty years ago (or, like, a month), Joe, Claire, and myself wanted to write a song. Our teacher was really adamant we use some Czech, since we're clearly fluent by now. So we decided to use all the Czech we knew and wrote this ridiculous thing. Disclaimer, it has sounded better before, but this is the only recording we did and it seems like a shame to not share it with the world. Plus, you get to hear me immediately criticize it at the end!


jak se mas

p.s. I am thinking about it, and realizing that since this is a very unfortunate-sounding recording AND it is doubtful that anyone reading this understands Czech and will get the jokes that this is sort of a silly thing to share...but I will keep it here anyways.