Prague and the Czech Republic

Blog

Leaving Herrang I was very sad. We had a meeting which I had to leave early to get to my bus, so I didn't have time to go around and say goodbye to people. I felt like I just packed up and left abruptly. So the next day, when I was tired, a little sick, travelling, and spending the night in a train station, was not so enjoyable. Luckily I had company, a polish girl called Anna (pronounced Ana) was going to the same airport for a flight that left at the same time as mine, so it was infinitely more bearable. Still, when I landed in Prague I was pretty worn out, and I had the best (and biggest) Chai Latte I've ever had while waiting for Mike.

It was good to see Mike. Another familiar face. I have met soo many people over the last six months and it's been very exciting, but it's a relief to see someone I already kinda know. It was the same when Amanda (another kiwi - dancing this time) turned up at the dance camp. We stayed at a monastery on the outskirts of Prague but we couldn't get in until 6pm so we went to a park to see what was behind the wall which had a gate that Mike had never seen open before. Turns out it's a park and (very small) palace, which now houses a museum. It was all very simple and elegant, understated. Nice.

That killed a couple of hours but I was dead on my feet so we went to the monastery and slept on the grass outside for a while. It was a lovely day and nice to not do anything. After picking up some stuff from a supermarket for breakfast we grabbed some dinner at a little pub thing (eggs and mustard = good), then it was time to go move in. And wow!! It was GORgeous!! Think summer school (for all you scder's) but relatively empty, long hallways filled with light and high ceilings... see my photos. Oh man.

That night we went for a wander, took the tram and saw the castle etc, I was wearing new jandals and I didn't realise how non-grippy they were, so I fell over..I was ok, but my camera wasn't :(. I broke the battery case, the camera still works but you have to hold it closed really tightly and it's old anyway, and...yeah. I bought another one the next day. Shiney...ooh...

Monday, after exchanging money (I had three different currencies in my wallet :P) and buying the camera, oh and I also bought a gingerbread house...coz it was sooo cute, we went to the Music Museum in Prague. It was sooo cool!! I'm not usually a museum-all-day person but I could have spent a week there, especially if they unlocked the brass instrument cases. Although the pianos were pretty cool too. They had one that was played by Lizst. And also one that was played by...Mozart!! I was like *worship**worship**worship**...so I went and paid my 40 crowns (2 euros) so I could take a photo. And then I could take photos of everything else too. Seriously, go check them out. Even if you've never looked at any of my photos before, this is one album worth seeing.

Then we walked around the centre for a bit. I saw the new town and old town squares, the pub where rutherford met up with some friends once(!!), the theatre where the premiere of Don Giovanni was held...need I go on? Oh, and after a beer (because I had no voice and was feeling the heat, and Mike was too I think) we went to the opera. It was Don Giovanni (lol), it was held in an attic, and the actors were marionettes!! They used recorded singing and oh it was hilarious! For the overture they had some musicians painted on the front and their arms and instruments moved, so they could sort of be controlled. So when the trumpets had a fanfare they would lift their trumpets to their mouths, then drop them immediately..while the note was still going. And the Flautist stayed permamnently in the playing position, but when he had a melody he would lurch to the side occasionally! Just for fun you know.
The puppets were even better. There was one part of the set, used for garden scenes, which had a swing, and when a puppet was swinging they were all over the show, kicking Don Giovanni in the face when he tried to look up her dress.. Of course, being puppets the people had limited control so when a slap in the face didn't work, the next option was a bodyslam. Haha!!

I went back after that, as I was getting a headache and I was really tired. I still am a bit sick actually, I haven't been able to talk properly for three days. :(. But I think I'm getting better now..I hope. This mornig we left at about 11am, and went to a couple of castles, the first one was more like a big house really, but the second was quite impressive. After that we drove for a bit, I fell asleep actually, and got to Mike's house in the South about 6:30. It is a cute little village here, and the house is old/being refurbished so we don't have a shower, but it's awesome and when he's done it'll be really nice. He's planning on turning one part of it into a recital room/music space. *Big Grin*.

The bread things here are different too, they're very big on poppy seeds as fillings, and damper. Yummy!!
So tonight we went to a chinese restaurant in the next town, (it was very good), came back and I had some poppyseed bread (think jam in the middle of a cream bun except not jam and no cream)..and I had a go on the bagpipes that I'm going to learn to play. They're different actually, I never thought I'd see someone piping and singing at the same time..these ones have bellows though! So it is actually possible. I'll get photos, and there were also some in the museum in Prague.

It's my bedtime now. I have been sleeping 8 hours a night and I slept part of the day in the car today, and I'm still tired. So yes. Have a good day!!

Sweden - An Overview

I spent five weeks in Sweden, and there's so much stuff I can't remember it all, and I don't want to remember it all! Five weeks of working, a little dancing, not so much sleeping..now I'm in Prague and a little sick.

Herrang Dance Camp had it's ups and downs but overall it was great and I met some awesome people! I have made so many friends and I have so many couches to go crash on...I hope that people will come and visit NZ too, although I can understand if they can't. Sweden is a bit like NZ, more so than Spain anyway, in terms of greenness, although the countryside doesn't really change much. You're driving along and you fall asleep and when you wake up it looks like you've moved about 5m down the road..but maybe that's just me!

For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, Herrang Dance Camp is a swing dancing school that runs for four weeks every summer. It is 'portable' in a sense, in that the buildings we use are the school and community centre, so it's all packed up during the year. I was there for five weeks because I helped with setup week too.

The Ice Cream Parlour, located in the school gym kitchen, makes the BEST banana bread ever..which is a bit like banana cake but also not, with walnuts and stuff. I'd go to get ice cream (which was delicious there too) and walk away with banana bread. Being staff, I was given free meals and accommodation and the chefs at the volunteer kitchen (the kitchen dedicated to camp workers) were great...they were also Spanish. They could dance. And they could play jazz...one had a guitar and the other a (double) bass!! Seriously, I was kinda annoyed. I mean I spend five months living in Spain and I have to come to SWEDEN to find spanish guys with similar interests. They were also from Barcelona, I guess that had something to do with it.

Anyway, on the subject of guys, I did find someone...for all you gossipmongers to chat about. I got on very well with one of the Swedish guys, only he's off to China in a couple of weeks until December so I don't know what will happen. And that's all I'm saying here!

I also managed to learn some Swedish. Yo (I don't know how to spell it but that's what it sounds like) is Yes, Nej (nay) is no, Tack (tahck) is thanks, Hej is hi and Hej-hej is bye..and I have the numbers one through twenty written down too. There are some similarities with Czech, and Polish...in Polish, Tack is yes (I believe) and in Czech it is 'so', as in soooo......what to do now?

Goal for next year: Learn to tap dance. I wanted to before, and now after watching classes and teachers..oh man!! Teach me too!!

There was lots of crazy stuff going on. We dressed up as Mosquitos, interrupted classes with a trumpet, had people strip down to their underwear and run through the camp...we had a camp pillow fight, I organised a couple of scavenger hunts, some air mattress racing on the lake (HUGE fun by the way!!)...also here's part of an email I wrote to Dad:

The cat at the place where I'm staying is so funny! It loves water!! He (called Nalle - Nah-leh) [which means teddy bear] spent the night on the bathroom floor and when I came in to have a shower he stayed just outside the curtains and, you know how Clover [one of our cats] used to hide under Natalie's bed? And then attack your ankles? He kinda did that to the water. Last night I turned the shower on to drip for about a minute for him, and he chased the water towards the drain. Crazy cat...

I also have to write about Prague so I'll stop here. The bad parts of the camp were mostly a problem due to lack of sleep so overall it was pretty good! Photos are on facebook. Some, anyway.

Hej-hej!!