Week 5

I can’t believe I’ve been here for a month already!! From here on out I don’t think I’ll give an entire summary of each day, but rather touch on the highlights of each week. I don’t have wireless internet access, so it’s impossible to update this every day.

            Since coming “home” to Klenčí pod Čerchovem, I spent a lot of time with Martina’s family. (Pavel’s family lives in Moravia, so I haven’t met them.) They are all done with school, so lots of family members gathered at Martina’s parents house for the start of summer vacation. I tried to explain to some of them that July 4th is a special holiday for the US for Independence Day. I told them my family all gathers and grills out and plays games and there are fireworks (that one took a while for them to figure out what I was talking about...they have fireworks only for the New Year) everywhere. I don’t think they really understood the fun and significance of the holiday. I guess you just have to experience it. So that day I knew my family was gathering, so I video chatted with them over Skype. It was SO nice to see my family again and in a small way be there at the party that I was sad to be missing.

            On the 5th Martina’s family had a big, 10-hour-long party with a few kegs of Chodovar (the delicious local beer that has replaced my old favorite) and live music by the family’s ridiculously talented multi-instrument musicians. Now that’s my kind of party! We ate, danced, talked, sang, ate, danced, talked, sang, ate, danced, etc. Everyone was so kind and invited me to participate in everything with them (which reminded me of my family) and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to share in this real-life experience with such a wonderful, welcoming family!

            On Tuesday the local priest, who serves about 7 villages in the area, came over for the evening. He is a young priest, about 30 years old, who drives a motorcycle and plays in the country-wide priest soccer league. Awesome! I asked some questions about the diocese, priests, and seminarians, and he said there are about 5 ordinations in the whole country each year, and nearly every priest has multiple parishes. (Hear that, seminarian friends? Learn Czech and help this country out!!) Often times priets from Poland will fill in the priestless parishes, but they don’t usually speak very good Czech, so the people don’t prefer that. After that little lesson, the priest asked the reason for my stay in the Czech Republic, and although I told him it was to better learn the language and the dudy, Pavel made me tell the priest Pavel‘s favorite thing to make me say, which he thinks is the real reason I’m here. “Moje mamínka řekla že sí tady nemám najít manžela, ale já bych chtela.” (I’m not sure if that’s fully correct typed out, but its close.) Translation: My mom said that I shouldn’t find a husband here, but I want to. Pavel simply delights in my admitting that and saying it in Czech to anyone who asks why I’m here. Sheesh! But since the priest was there I added that I’d like this non-existant husband to be Catholic. So he pulled out his cell phone, called a friend, told him what I had said, and handed me the phone. I ended up talking to a young, single, English-speakng, Catholic man who was on his way to the Czech Republic’s Catholic charismatic conference for young people. He asked if I’d be in Domažlice for the Chodské slavností (festival), and we agreed to meet there. I’m not really sure what I got myself into, but oh well. It’s sure to be funny.

            Throughout the week we spent lots of time with Martina’s family, mostly sharing meals. One day late in the week, Jan and I joined his grandma, great-aunt, (yeah, I don’t know how they’re in such good shape to hike through a forest, but they are) and some aunts and cousins on a hike up Výhledy mountain and through Česky les, which borders Germany. I found myself hanging around Jan and two of his male cousins around his age (13), which may be weird, but they spoke a little English to me and made the trip quite funny. Later, we all went to dinner and I got a Chodov beer and some smažený syr (fried cheese) for the first time. I had heard great things about it, but in my opinion its just like eating a fried mozzarella stick. But it was good. Jan also enjoyed making “pivola”, which was a combination of my beer and his Kofola, a Czech pop that is like Coca-Cola but a bit different. I like the mix, and I wish we had Kofola in the states! After dinner, the boys decided to take me on a little adventure through the field/farm across the street from their grandparents’ house because they wanted to show me the potatoes. We walked through corn and I explained that Nebraska is the Cornhusker state, and our corn gets super tall. It helped that Jan was wearing the Nebraska Huskers T-shirt I brought him! In the middle of the corn field was a potato field. They explained to me that potatoes are valuable and people will steal them if they're not in the middle of some other crop. It was a fun little adventure! After that I played some soccer and volleyball with Jan and some of his cousins, and I even taught them how to play a new game. It was a hit!

            The next day we went into Domažlice to buy groceries for the upcoming visitors (friends from Moravia), and Jan and I walked around the square to run some errands and search for kroj pieces in the antique shops. We went into the same one I had had luck in two years ago, and I ended up getting another apron and beaded vest!! The owner had several beaded vests which surprised me, but I chose the one in the best shape. If anyone is looking for antique kroj pieces I’ll let you know where the place is!

            Some of Pavel’s friends from Moravia came to Klenčí during the weekend, and we had lots of good food, lots of time at the swimming pool, and we even hiked up Čerchov mountain (8 miles total?). On Saturday night we went to the next town over (don’t remember the name) for their town celebration, with lots of music and dancing. My favorite part was dancing to two ‘valčík‘ songs (somewhere inbetween a waltz and a polka) with Pavel’s friend, who spun me around til I was dizzy. It was a fun night!

            Sunday morning Pavel and I went to church, then we had lunch and went to the swimming pool again. It was ridiculously hot out, so in the afternoon we mostly stayed inside and lounged. The friends headed back home, and Eliška and Jan went to their grandparents’ house in Moravia for the week. In the evening I took a sunset walk up to the Jinřich Šimon Baar statue on Výhledy Mountain, which looks out over Domažlice and some other Chodsko region towns. It was a nice walk, but since I went alone it definitely made me miss my friends back home!

            On Monday morning I’m heading to Pardubice, Czech Republic to visit my friend Helena and her family, who may actually be relatives of my mom’s family! We are going to try to figure that out while I’m there. After that I’m going to Bratislava, Slovakia to visit Mikulaš, who lived with my aunt and uncle (who will also be visiting!) in Omaha for a year. I won't be blogging because I won't have my laptop, but I’m very excited for the trip, and so blessed to have these wonderful connections in Europe!