It's my life

Zach and me after the Pearl Jam concert. 

Me and Amy walking through Pribram. 

Kass and me. 

Our hiking group. From L, me, Ondra, Kass, Katie, Ben. 

Getting poked in the ear by straw. 

The area in which the last battle of WWII was fought. This is just ouside of a village called Slivice almost 10km from Pribram. It was fought on May 11, 1945. 

A rock on the battlefield with the inscription "We fell down, so they can live". 

Supposedly the last shot of WWII. The inscription below dates it as May 11,1945. It is in the side of a church in the village of Slivice. 

Check out the translation on the option third from the top. Appetizing? 

This is a long-overdue explanation of the pictures that are visible below this post. So, Pavla and I visited a town in Moravia, in the southeastern part of the Czech Republic, called Znojmo. Every year here they have a wine festival to celebrate the 3 week period in which burcak, a sweet wine, is good/available. Anytime before or after that it is too immature or too old. The festival also celebrates the time in the 15th century (I think) when a king (John Luxemborg maybe) once rode through their town. It was such a special even that today there is a parade commemorating the event that goes through town both on Friday night and on Saturday. The parade was complete with the King, princess, maidens, knights in full armor, falconers, hunting dogs, prisoners on ropes, executioners, and much more. To imagine this festival, think Octoberfest, replace the beer with bottles of wine and replace all the Germans with Czechs. While we didn't take advantage of all the available wine, it was still fun to experience the differences between Moravian Czech culture and Bohemia, where I live. We stayed with some friends of Pavla, the Prihodas, who were just downright hospitable and friendly. And the pictures below that are from English club with our students, which is always fun.

With Petra, our wonderful host for the Festival. 

One glass of good Moravian wine... 

Things escalated quickly...
(just kidding, Petra's dad just asked if I wanted to see his gun and of course I couldn't turn down that offer! It may surprise you but I'm not so much the gun type of person.) 

I will let you guess: which building in this picture displays Communist architecture? This is the Czech Republic, beautiful old buildings next to hideous newer ones built during Communism. Quite a contrast. 

With some guards. 

The city of Znojmo as seen from the top of a tower. 

On the phone with my parents in front of a castle outside of Znojmo. 

Long live the King! 

A cool picture of fireworks in Znojmo. 

Discussing life, with Terri, at English club. 

Terri and Pavla (students) at English club in Pribram. 

A note on the pictures you can view below. A couple weekends ago I went on a hike with Pavla and some other Czechs whom I don't really know. We hiked for 25km through nice Czech countryside on a day that had weather as close to perfect as we could hope for. After the hike some friends came down from Prague (Kass and Stacy) to visit us in Pribram. All in all a great weekend. The pictures below that are from an ESI retreat the weekend before the hike. All the Czech ESI teachers met in Prague for a time of fellowship and fun. It's been a good beginning to the year.

Taking a load off early on in the hike. 

The architecture. 

We found cows! 

Czech countryside. 

The Czech countryside.