Come along with me to my little corner of the world II

So before I get into my discussion of Bratislava, I have to mention the place in Slovakia that I went to which was spectacular. Zilina. It's the 5th largest city in Slovakia, but it only has about 85,000 residents. We ended up taking a bus from Krakow to Zilina which was horrific. Instead of taking 2.5 hours, the total trip took 6.5 hours with all the stops we had to make for lunch, traffic, and general motion sickness. The bus we had was ridiculous -- it fit 50 people and there were only 10 of us! It was like being on a boat on the road and every little country road twist and turn made the whole thing rock back and forth.

We ended up arriving in Zilina late and in the darkness. We had a small break before heading to Stanica for a performance. "Stanice" is the word for station in Czech. The event space was a cultural center that's been built into a working train station. The only train is cute and antique looking, but it still functions. A group of people that we met transformed the space at the station to have a performance space (with a bar. It's Central Europe, alcohol has to be involved). We went and saw a dance performance.

I was wary because some of the dance performances that we've seen have been just plain bizarre. Just ask me about "Dance Calligraphy" sometime. But I really enjoyed it because it seemed as though the dancers were having fun. We got to meet them and some of the other volunteers at dinner after the show. People were from ALL over. One dancer was from Germany, one was actually from Slovakia and the other was Swedish but lived in Vienna. The volunteers at Stanica were from Slovakia, France, and Lativa!

We got to help the French volunteers with one of their projects the next morning. They are taking a small park space near the Stanica and transforming it with art and general attention. They don't technically own the space, but the city which does does not have the time, effort, or money to fix it up. So each helps the other in a way, but it's technically not all on the up and up. We helped to rake leaves as well as to create mosaics around the park.
After that, it was on to Bratislava


How to Discourage Tourism, Central European Style

1. Have awful weather

We arrived in Bratislava on a bleak day. It remained bleak and gray for a majority of the trip. We had a lot of free time in Bratislava because of some illness/schedule mix ups that meant we did not get an official tour of the city or have the lecture on the Roma in Slovakia. More time to wander the streets by ourselves. Bratislava is supposed to be one of the most developing, "happening" cities in Europe at the moment. My hopes of disproving EuroTrip's portrayal of it were crushed as I was walking around. It's not the shithole described in in the movie, and let me tell you, I spent way more than $1.87.

2. Have a history of Communism

As if I needed one more reason to hate Communists, they positively destroyed this historic city. There's a bridge built in the 70's which crosses the Danube and in order to connect it into the city, they tore down much of the historic part of town. Which includes most of the old Jewish quarter. There's a beautiful old church now only about 10 meters from the highway. It's almost impossible as a pedestrian to figure out how to get from one side of the highway to the other. Which you have to do, if you want to see Bratislava Castle.

I'll give Bratislava Castle one thing. There are great views from the top, if you can make it up the hike. Unfortunately, most of the castle is under reconstruction at the moment. Not simply renovation, but they're actually rebuilding parts of it that were destroyed a long time ago so that it looks like it once was. I've been looking at museums not only for my own interest, but also because of a project I had to do for class on cultural events. The history museum at the Castle was perhaps the worst I've ever been to in my life. I wrote about it for class -- no desire to relive the negative reaction.

3. Close all major Cultural spaces (museums, restaurants, etc)

We tried to go to into the Castle. Closed. We tried to go to the Jewish Museum. Closed. We tried to enter a gallery of the National gallery. Closed. It's like the country has suddenly realized that by being on the Euro in 2009 means that they'll actually have tourists whose expectations will be a lot higher and so everything needs to be fixed. Perhaps that will encourage them to keep places open later at night. We went out to eat a few times and it seemed like nothing was open. And this was in the middle of the week, at about 8 at night!

We did make one crucial mistake when it came to food. My father loves to talk about the Polish-Mexican fusion restaurant he went to in London many years ago. When I was in Poland, I was tempted to eat in one but resisted. However, in Slovakia, there were not so many options so one day we found ourselves in a Mexican restaurant. I use the term "Mexican" lightly. Not only were there no Mexicans to be seen, but they also offered Pad Thai on the menu. The overall experience was horrific -- I felt nauseas the rest of the day. This photo is of how everyone rated the experience

We did get the chance to do a few interesting things in Bratislava. We went and visited their Communist era housing district, Petrzelka. It's referred to as "The Bronx of Bratislava." Now the New Yorkers on the trip took offense at this -- but hey, if it's an insult to New York, I think I'm okay with that. Gotta love that dirty water. Since privatization, the people have started painting these massive concrete blocks full of colors and designs. On the one hand, it's a bit strange to see huge orange buildings. On the other, I can imagine that if I lived there I'd like it better than gray concrete.

In Petrzelka was a NGO that we got to visit. It's not quite art therapy, but they provide art projects for mentally challenged adults. They also make the adults feel needed as they have partnerships with several businesses to sell their products. They do ceramics, paper work, and painting on glass. I bought a small something while I was there, in part because I met the man who made it and he was soo happy that I was interested in it.

On Friday night, the last night in Bratislava, we went to an Animal Collective concert. I think I'm a little old lady, but it wasn't my favorite part. It was too much sensory overload and I was tired -- I just wanted to sleep to get ready for Vienna.

Come along with me to my little corner of the world

I'm exhausted. This week has been full of getting my life back in order, both here in Prague as well as back in the States. Last week, however, was amazing in ways I don't think I can completely convey in words or even in pictures. The ridiculousness of situations, the confusing directions -- all small pieces of a whole puzzle.

We started off traveling to Krakow, Poland. It's a 7 hour train ride -- exactly the same amount of time it took to fly from JFK to London two months ago. I spent a good amount of time on my new project. My host mother will be having a baby in a month (!!!) and since my attempt to create delicious food failed, I'm trying to make something that I think I can actually accomplish: a baby blanket. I'm a good way through it at the moment and I'm hoping I can have time to finish it either before the baby comes or before I leave.

Krakow was, overall, one of the highlights of the trip. Not only did it have it's hilarious moments, such as when we passed Polish streetwalkers on our way from the train station to the hotel, but it also felt like a manageable city. I'm not always good with directions but I could orient myself incredibly well. The city is not that large and is incredibly walkable. There's also a certain spirituality to the place that's tied in with tradition that seems to be lacking in the Czech Republic (Poland being one of the most Catholic nations in Europe, Czech Republic is the most atheist).

Hitler wanted Krakow to be one of the centers of the Third Reich and so Krakow was not destroyed in WWII like many other cities. The range of architectural styles is impressive. There's also still a vibrant Jewish district in the city -- Prague's was greatly reduced and Bratislava's was essentially destroyed in Communism.

One thing that I did not do when I was in Krakow was go to Auschwitz. I considered it, as did most of the others in the group, but ultimately none of us went. Given that a large focus of my studies has been historical interpretation, I thought that it would be a simple decision. It's a little over an hour away from Krakow and going would have meant missing some of the other activities planned. Regardless, I can't even say enough how fantastic Krakow was.

How to Fall in Love with Poland


1. Go to the Main Market Square


Krakow has the largest main town square in Europe, with each length measuring about 800 m. In the center is the Old Cloth Hall which is now part of the national museum system (it's currently under construction). This main square is a hub of restaurant life, religious life, and activity.


St Mary's is one of the most recognizable churches in Krakow, a city that has a church on almost every block from every different period of time.


The main square also has a ton of street performers. Some of my favorites were the moving statues. There was also a breakdancing group called "Missionaries of Rhythm" which performed -- I was impressed that they would be able to dance like that on the cobblestones but they did! There were also a ton of musicians and vocalists performing.





Go to Wawel Castle. It's pronounced more like "vavel" and I can't help but think of the priest from The Princess Bride. There are amazing views of the city from the castle as well which just could not be captured on film as well as in person.

Also, I'm a bit of a museum nut and Krakow has some of the best museums I've seen on my trip so far. I think I learned as much from the lithics exhibit at the archaeology museum as I did in Intro to Archaeology (I swear I paid attention that day in class, but the TA made no sense)


So I'll continue posting on my adventures in Central Europe a little later (it's not letting me add anymore pictures at the moment) But I have a somewhat embarrassing story to share, so I'm going to hide it here at the end of the post so only those few who make it all the way to the end can laugh at me. So I've been having trouble with the internet here in the Czech Republic. I've been stealing wifi signals at my house, catching a few minutes here and there. I felt like a crack addict, trying to get a quick fix whenever possible. But my host family will be going out of town for the national holiday and I really wanted to be able to skype my brother who I haven't talked to at all since I left (who, by the way, I got the most amazing present for in Poland. Unfortunately, I can't share what it is here since he may read this). So I asked my host father about whether I could get internet in my room and he got really confused. He came into my room, reached behind the radiator, and SHABAAM!! GLORY!! An internet cable!!! So I feel like a real idiot, but hopefully this means some better communication in the future.

To come:

An essay "Why I wanted to Disprove Stereotypes about Bratislava...and can't"

Don't Speak, I Know What You're Thinking

I wish I could read minds.

That would make life much easier sometimes. For example, this afternoon when I interviewed someone for my Field Studies class as both practice and as hopefully a beginning into research topics for my independent study. I'm in the process of transcribing and listening to the tape I made now.

I apologize to anyone who has heard me talk, especially for long periods of time. Which is perhaps anyone who has met me. The tape hopefully is just showing me at my worst -- nervous, uncertain, and relying on poor grammar and annoying phrases when I can't think of anything else to say. Yes, I'm referring to "like" and "mmhmm"

My interview went pretty well but not in the direction I thought it would. I interviewed my history teacher about how history is taught in the Czech Republic. If anything, this whole experience has shown how much I want to be involved with education when I finish school. I thought that some of the differences between the Czech system and the American system were fascinating.

The talk was supposed to be more focused on how teaching history has changed since the fall of Communism and how modern history is taught, but it veered off from that especially towards the end. At one point, when the independent research project came up, we started talking about multiculturalism and the Roma and Vietnamese populations.

I think we take multiculturalism for granted in the United States. Yesterday, I saw a black person. In fact, I saw two. Now, this is not an unusual occurrence at home, but I had to stop and think how long it had been since I'd seen one. Five weeks. I'd gone 5 weeks without seeing a black person. And the ones I saw were American college students.

I don't think that Poland, Slovakia, and Austria are really any different -- those being the places I'm heading off to this weekend! We'll spend several days in Krakow before heading to Bratislava. After the Animal Collective shows, a few people from the program and I are hitting up Vienna for about 30 hours before hopping on a train and heading back to classes and real life. It's like a midterm break, except that it comes before our midterm crunch.

Bye, bye Miss American Pie

As many of you know, I love to bake. I pride myself in my pecan pie and for me, summer is defined by homemade blackberry pies. All the way homemade -- from picking the berries, making the dough, and putting it all together.

One of the most striking cultural differences you will find wherever you travel is food. Television, movies, music -- all of these can be downloaded and absorbed easily. But food? Unless you want to pay ridiculous prices at an import store, you're out of luck. When I was in the rural village with the art students, I had to answer the question, "What does peanut butter taste like?" followed by a series of questions about the possible usage of this item. Now, I was never really a fan of the PB and J, but it sticks out as a childhood memory.

So like the s'mores, my host family knew of the apple pie from American films and were most eager to try one for themselves. This, I thought, I can do. The actual food recipe that my mother sent to me may just be out of my cooking ability but baking is my forte. I wanted to bake them a pie to get to know my host siblings better, to say thank you for all the cakes they've made me, and to be a bigger part of the family.

This is what resulted.

How to Make the Worst and Most Embarrassing Pie EVER:

Step One: Find the Pan

After class one day, I went with some people from my program to Tesco to try and find a pie plate because when trying to describe pie to my host family, it was clear that they would not have such a dish. They refer to pie as a kind of cake, which makes a pie purist such as myself feel unsettled. Now, Tesco is a British company but they have several stores across the city. I figured of all places, they would have one.

And they did not. They had a very shallow tart dish and a cake pan. Knowing we had both of these items at home, I purchased neither. After much deliberation, I decided to cook the pie in...the cake pan

Step Two: Find the Ingredients

Apple pie is not that hard, in terms of ingredients, but I had to find the Czech words. Luckily, I knew many of them already

1. Flour -- mouka
2. Butter -- maslo
3. Water -- voda
4. Apple -- jablko
5. Sugar -- cukr
6. Cinnamon -- skořice
7. Nutmeg -- ??

Yes, that's right. I made the pie and I still don't know if I used the right ingredient. This did not translate so well into Czech. I got some word that had nut in it, what my host mother showed me looked different. It smelled similar, just with a different texture. This began my "ah, what the heck" attitude towards baking the pie.

Step Three: Measure the Ingredients

I love the United States, but why on Earth do we have to be on a completely different measuring system from the rest of the world? My mother, who I adore, converted only the temperature for me -- the only conversion I needed that my phone will do for me. The others required the internet which I rarely have at home now. When I tried to explain this dilemma to my host mother, she seemed to think it was of no issue. As I've gathered so far, the Czechs mostly just use recipes as a guideline but improvise.

Let me repeat -- IMPROVISE. You should never, under any circumstances, improvise a baked good. If Top Chef has taught me anything, you cannot fix a pastry once you go wrong.


Step Four: Make the Dough

I decided that since I was using the cake pan, I would make some additional pie crust. But only a little. Math, however, has never been my forte. I ended up with enough dough not only for the deep dish pan but also for two smaller tartlets. I also had to make the dough in the morning, put it in the fridge, and come back to it in the afternoon while we went to a Festival and visited with some friends.

Not only was it as hard as a rock, but it simply refused to be rolled out thinly. I knew then that I had used too much flour because I did not need any to cover the rolling pin or the countertop and the dough did not stick to anything. But at this point, there was nothing I could do except hammer away at it and hope that I could get it thin enough

Step Five: Assemble the raw ingredients

Aside from perhaps eating too many sugared apples, this was fine

Step Six: Combine, and cook in oven

So I used the temperatures my mother gave me, but I should have adjusted more for the timing of the pie. I cooked them for 40 minutes and they did not have that golden brown flaky look to them. My family was sooo excited to try them that we ate the little tartlets right then.

I cannot begin to describe how disappointed I was in the taste. The crust was ALL wrong, and the tartlets were so small that there was barely any filling. We're eating the cake-pie later tonight (I told them we needed vanilla ice cream, or vanilikova zmrzlina -- we ended up with hazelnut/vanilla) and I am praying, crossing my fingers and any other form of good luck that the big one is better.

Each Moment Has A Lesson For the Day

So I'm in the middle of writing an essay on the regional homestay last week in Northern Bohemia and am getting too bogged down in the analysis. As a study break, I'm going to see how much of the experience I can convey here. The pictures can only show so much --- they can't capture all the laughter from language gaffes (including some of my own, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone whose met me), the awkwardness of not knowing the language, and the sense of calm that comes from being in a place so small and isolated that time seems like a foreign concept.

So I went with two other girls from my program to Rehlovice, a small village of 400 people in Northern Bohemia near Usti nad Labem to study Czech-German relations and artistic endeavors to create better relations. Now, my host told me that there were 400 people in this town (although 800 before the expulsion of the Germans in 1948) but I don't think we ever saw more than about 20. Most of them in the local pub.



The first picture from the previous post was of one of the buildings on the cultural complex. It was a former brewery and farm that has been slowly converted into more livable space. The parts that have had less renovations are often inspiration for the artists who come on various retreats. The whole complex is covered with various pieces of artwork from over the years. Our host was a ceramics artist and so we saw many of her pieces in her studio. Her (much younger) boyfriend was also one of the artists who had constructed pieces. The girls and I got to help finish one of them. He and another artist had created a wooden floor in an old storage building. Actually, two floors. The first was decorated with their conceptions of the events of August 1968 and then covered with another floor to create a kind of time capsule.



While we were at Rehlovice, there was also a group of art students from a school in Moravia. Most of them were shy about speaking English with us, but some were not which was great fun.I had a very long conversation with one boy in the pub about American movies, films, bands and even politics. Granted, I think he knew more about it than I did and some of the programs he knew made me cringe. But no fear, we introduced several of them to one of the finer parts of American culture -- s'mores.

We also spent some time in the main urban center of Northern Bohemia -- Usti nad Labem (Labe = Elba. That took me a while to figure out. I wondered why so many towns were "nad Labem"). I really don't have any pictures from that because our time there was brief. The city is primarily made of cement and very block-like and modern with a handful of random old buildings thrown in. During World War II, Usti was one of the few places that was bombed in the region. We interviewed a woman who runs a cultural organization that tries to bring Czechs and Germans together.

After 5 days on the farm, we rejoined the rest of the group in Cesky Krumlov ie how Disney would depict the Czech Republic in Epcot. It's a small city with 16,000 people but the second most visited place after Prague in the Czech Republic. It's UNESCO protected which basically means it's devoid of any mid 1900's cement and block architecture. Also, the city was ignored for long stretches of time. During the wars, the proximity to the Austrian border rather than the German border helped to prevent any conflict from occurring in the city. The second picture from the previous blog is the view from the top of the castle there. I'm sure millions of people have taken that same photo.



While we were there, the city was having a special festival to celebrate people named Vaclav. It translates to the same as "Wenceslas" like the King in the Christmas song in English, but it's a popular name in the Czech Republic. The most popular President after the Czech Republic became it's own nation in 1993 was Vaclav Havel -- I've yet to hear anyone say something negative about him, except that his latest play was not as good as some of his previous works. In celebration, there was a marketplace in the town center which featured traditional Czech treats and crafts.




We went to some cool restaurants as well. The first was a medieval pub in which the waiters were required to wear some medieval garb. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were LARPers and wore those clothes on their free time, but LARPing in the Czech Republic is it's own entry to come some day. The other restaurant we went to was a Roma restaurant.

Roma people are, yet again, an entry unto themselves. I'm still learning about the complex relationship between European nations and the Roma people. They are still known as a transient population, so the fact that there was a Roma restaurant was fairly unique. We also got to listen to a Roma band perform some of their music. Now, I'm not a musicologist, so some of it sounded similar to what I'd heard of Czech music but at the same time there were some distinct differences.

The next day, I went to the regional museum. Now I love museums, but I've been fairly disappointed with the ones I've been to so far in the Czech Republic. I'm spoiled because my main point of reference is the Smithsonian museums which is truly beyond compare in quality. I could live in the Smithsonian and not be bored. However, I was only in the regional museum in Cesky Krumlov for about 10 minutes when I heard something conflicting with the sounds of "Euro-Indians" (this sounded a lot cooler than it actually was. Turns out it wasn't really trying to say that Europe had something comparable to Native Americans. It was about the history of native Americans and then some of them that had come to Europe)

Turns out it was small children dancing. I watched several different performances because it was so interesting. I did realize, however, that to them it was similar in many ways to school plays or dance recitals that students perform in the United States -- the matching outfits and hair, the jacket taken off right before the show and put back on right away, the numerous photos taken by pleased parents.

I really want to find a way to post the video, but it seems like that will be very difficult. I'll keep trying though -- it's precious.