It's my life

Last weekend was the annual ESI Cesky Krumlov Canoe Trip!! Billed as one of the most fun weekends of the year, this year was no exception and did not dissapoint! We took a bus down after school on Friday afternoon to Cesky Krumlov, a town in the south of the Czech Republic. We arrived around 6/7pm, put our stuff in the hostel and went to a 'Mexican' restaurant in town. The Czech Republic is not known for it's Mexican and with good reason, this restaurant being highly overpriced and offering a very limited selection of Mexican food. That night I took a walk with Kass around the city and up to the castle.
Saturday morning we woke up early to have a baptism. Katie, a good friend of ours and teacher up in Prague (though not with our organization), had accepted Jesus on this same canoe trip two years ago. And to bring it full circle she wanted to be baptized in Cesky Krumlov. It was a very special time with the majority of our close group of American friends in CZ.
Then we took buses upriver, hopped into canoes and canoed our way downstream, ending finally in the middle of Cesky Krumlov. I was paired with Kass first [how fitting :-)]. Halfway through we switched partners and I was with Katie for the last part. I had two wonderful 'canoe buddies' but the water was extremely low (less snow than usual melting) and so often we felt like we were canoeing on rocks. Because of this it took a lot longer than last year to go down the river, we finally pulled our canoe out of the river at about 7pm. That night we at Czech food and chatted with friends. But everyone was so beat from the river that we all went to bed earlier than expected. And Sunday we just traveled back to our respective towns.

So last week I taught Ondra and Jirka the game of frisbee golf. They had never played this before, much less heard of it. We took our frisbees onto the Svatou Horou where there is a nice mix of open grassy areas and wooded areas. So basically we played tree to tree, using the trees as the 'holes'. The winner of one tree, or person with the least number of throws to hit the trunk, would choose the next tree the group would throw to. They caught on fairly well, unfortunately two of the frisbees were very cheap and not good for...well...for throwing in general. I took one of them, Jirka the other, and Ondra had a nicer one. While I did beat them in the end :-) they did put up a fight.




Jirka trying to finish on the last "hole"...

And Ondra's last throw.

A post game shot with our frisbees.

So ESI had our End of the Year Retreat in Kutna Hora, a town just outside of Prague. This town is best known for it's Bone Church. The architects of the church used the skeletons of people to decorate the inside of the church, giving it a very...gruesome and creepy atmosphere. The retreat was really nice, but a bit emotional as it was my last official ESI retreat here in CZ, and last opportunity to see some of these people while in Europe.
Also in this group of shots below are pics from a date night with Kass...

Artwork at the Bone Church.

Kass and I. This picture is actually of our reflections in the door of her school in Prague.

Date night with Kass and some great Indian food.

Prague Castle and Vltava River near sunset.

So I have included here some random pictures I just stole off of Kass' computer. Some are old, some are new.

Mike (ESI teacher last year) and I on a train to Krakow, Poland spring of 2006.

So the end of the year is quickly approaching. The seniors have finished all their classes, and they only have their leaving exams ahead of them before they can say a final farewell to the Gymnazium and move on to bigger and better things (some of them). The rest of the school still has lessons till the end of June, but with class trips and other events, this time will go by very quickly. But Friday May 11 was the last day at school for the seniors, a special day entitled "Last Bell" because on this day they will hear the last bell of their adolescent school days. Lessons aren't actually held for the seniors on this day, on this day they do something special. It begins early in the morning when they wake up and put on some crazy outfit. Then they grab water bottles, water guns, etc and roam about town in groups terrorizing and holding people up for money (the money goes to their last party and to improvements in the school). They will also brand the name/number of their class in lipstick onto the forehead of anyone they catch. Then they meet back at school at 8am to initiate the junior class and designate them the new senior class. All in all it's a fun morning filled with water fights, lipstick tattoos, disgusting food, silly costumes, etc.

Each senior class in town (there are a few different high schools) makes a poster and puts it in a window of the main shopping district- Prague Street with pictures of each student and memories from their years together. This is the 4.C class poster.

Misa, Katka, Tereza finding younger students to pour water on.

Students of the 6.A class taking money from younger students upon threat of a soaking.

4.C students roaming the neighborhood.


4.C setting up the water gauntlet through which the junior students will run as part of their initiation.


At the end of the line there is a table of disgusting food and drinks prepared by the seniors. After getting drenched the junior students are made to kneel down and partake of this food and drink.

Ondra getting initiated.

Pavla at the end of the line.

Ben is a substitute class teacher for one of the junior classes. The regular teacher was sick that day and so Ben ran the gauntlet instead. Here he is warning the students not to throw water on him (they did a little).

And then he ate and drank.

So this blog is to show you how I spent my Easter holiday. In the Czech Republic, schools get off the Thursday and Friday before Easter weekend as well as the Monday following. Unlike last year's holiday which was a crazy trip to a foreign country, this Easter holiday was spent in the Czech Republic. In fact the farthest from Pribram I went was north of Prague, so maybe max 2 hours away.
It was quite laid back and a time that I really just got to enjoy not teaching for a few days. I got to spend some time with friends. Wednesday night Kass came down and we hung out in Pribram until Thursday evening when we headed up to Prague. Friday I went with some other ESIers Joel and Andrew up to Kralupy to visit Zach and to do some castleing (or castle hunting). You will see below some shots of our trek to find these castles.
Saturday I went to the most famous Czech castle- Karlstejn, just outside of Prague- with Kass and Courtney. Courtney had been an ESI teacher last year in Prague and had come back for a visit. And then Sunday Kass and I celebrated Easter by going to see the butterfly exhibit at the botanical gardens in Prague, among other things.
Early Monday morning I came back to Pribram to take part in a Czech Easter tradition, taught to me by the ever-helpful Ondra. The tradition boils down to boys running around with sticks and hitting girls, and the girls are obliged to give them candy, ribbons, and/or shots of liquor. The young branches used to hit the girls are supposed to transfer youth and beauty to the girls. But none of the girls I talked to felt much younger or more beautiful after being hit, most just felt sore across the bottom. So upon arriving at Ondra's apartment, I was given a stick (actually it is 3 young branches woven and tied together with ribbons at the top) made specially for me by Ondra's father, and taught the carol all boys must say as they hit the girls: Hody Hody Doprovody, Dejte Vejce Malovany...
So for the next few hours we wandered around town visiting Ondra's female friends and relatives. Upon arriving we would ring the doorbell. When let in we would hit each female in turn on the backside chanting this carol. Then then gave us eggs, tied ribbons onto our sticks, and then we sat around and chatted for a few minutes before moving on to the next vicitim's apartment.
I wonder how this tradition would fly in America...
Above and below, the two castles we searched for on Friday.

Meeting Svejk, a famous character from Czech literature.


With Joel crossing a bridge in search of our next castle.





Tradition also states that the girls we whip give us eggs, chocolate or real, which explains the pile of eggs in our laps.