training

Last weekend I went to Slovakia to visit friends there. Train travel. Which I love. Normally. I woke up super early to catch a train. Nicely caught the tram and metro to get to the train station. Bought a ticket, caught the train all handily. The train was late so I missed my connection in Bratislava, but it was OK because when I got off the train, across the platform was the next train leaving for Trnava. A slow train, but that's OK. And my phone worked in Slovakia so I could text Miska. And all the while I was thinking about how much I love traveling, how much I love train traveling. It was all perky.

All fine and dandy. I have a nice visit with Miska, and we walk around town and see all my old haunts. On Sunday I went to church, saw more people, and had lunch with a missionary family that I know. And then Rebecca drives me back to the station to catch a bus home. But after waiting a half hour for the bus (I was early b/c I knew it'd be full) the bus has absolutely no room: it's completely booked. So now I won't be getting home at a pleasant 8pm.

We go into the train station and ask for trains to Prague. Not getting in until after 11:00. Stinks. First I have to wait in Trnava another hour+. I walk around, sit at the station. When I get to Kuty, where I have to spend 1.5hrs, I find the station to be the size of my pinky (as Mark would say) and I sit there, eat the meager snacks I have, and listen to cartalk podcasts. (A good time to squander an hour, I figure.)

I hop on the train that matches my time, even though it doesn't say Prague: the ticket guy told me to get on it. It's jammed packed so I have to stand in the hallway at the end of the car. At the first station most people get off. I notice that a guy is fiddling with the links between the cars. Uncoupling? I have heard of cars uncoupling and going in two separate directions. But I just hope it's not the case, or at least that I'm in the right car. Wrong. Dead wrong. I take a seat in the car and as soon as we start moving the ticket lady makes it quite clear that I am not on the right train. She says something that certainly sounds like 'stupid' and everyone in the car is staring at me and holding back a snicker. Well, I tell her I don't understand Czech, and she prints out a little receipt that tells me when to get off and what trains to catch to get back to Prague. At 3:55am. I will arrive at 3:55am. A kind man across the aisle speaks a little English and makes sure I understand what to do. Later he even helps me know which station to Vystup. Which means exit. Which, once my my clears up and I calm down, I realize the lady must have been saying: I should have exited the train - vystup...something-or-other. She probably wasn't calling me stupid.

But I tell you what, there's not much more humbling than having a train-car-full of people staring at you trying not to laugh. At one point two ladies joined the kind man across the aisle who had helped me, and he totally explained the whole story. Like I wouldn't know they were talking about me as he tells a story and they both stare at me. I tried to act like I didn't understand: I didn't want to make him feel bad about it. But seriously.

Well, when I got off the train wherever I was supposed to be, there was directly a train to Olomouc, which was my next destination. So even though the print out says to wait 2 hours for a train, and then 2 more hours in Olomouc, I figure I may as well catch the first train to Olomouc, and then maybe, just maybe, there'd be an earlier train, or a bus I could take home.

Hopes crushed. I have four hours to kill in Olomouc waiting for a train that will get me home after 4 in the morning. That's when I cried. But I walked around, went into town and saw a pretty old church. And then just sat in the station for 2 hours. Eventually I got home. I did. The story ends with me being tucked up in bed as it should.

But first I had to find a compartment in the Prague train. The required entering a cabin where two people were sprawled sleeping on the benches making them get up for me. The lady continued to put her feet near me and the cabin smelled salty o' feet. When I got to Prague, the metro hadn't started running yet. I knew that would be the case, and had called Milan to ask for options. He told me of a bus, but suggested a taxi. I got ripped off, but I was home in 8 minutes, warm and snuggly and I didn't care one bit about the money.


so that's my story.

another room

I have another room, which is my own. And I like it very much. It gets the southern sun, which is my favorite. It's light, airy and spacious.

I've photographed it here for posterity.

(remember the lovely bedspread, Briana)I've found the perfect wall for the bike photo, Courtney.I've made a collage of good photos and postcards, + a Wyoming sticker

(and the dragonflies have found lovely places to hang)

And the views from the windows...

(the chimneys from Mary Poppins)

autumn

tanka

autumn. a bonfire

of leaves. morning peels us toward

pomegranate festivals.

and in the evening i bring

you soup cooled by my laughter.

- Sonia Sanchez

music

The last two days I've turned on seeqpod.com and listened to some of my old playlists, playlists that I made last year and listened to in the classroom.

And it makes me a little nostalgic for my old classroom in Atlanta. I'm there, with the winter sun pouring in the windows, the music playing softly from the back of the room, and we're discussing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I love music, and I like playing it softly in my classroom. Often it'd be playing when the students came in, and I'd leave it as long as they could handle it and stay focused. I remember my students last year enjoying Yael Naim and Cat Stevens.

Which reminds me of all the music I shared with my students over the years. The first year, there was a Billy Joel connection. One of my students like bj and at the end of the year, the kids really dug "We Didn't Start the Fire." But there were other songs that they got into, and one of them even made a cd of "eighth grade tunes" -- it included B Dylan and songs from the Garden State soundtrack that I played a lot.

The next year there was a lot of Dylan. One of my students was a huge Dylan fan, and that was a lot of fun. I think I played Hem and Sufjan in the classroom too sometimes.

I don't remember what I played the third year. But the fourth year I got into seeqpod.com and made a Cat Stevens playlist that was perfect for working with. So that was played a lot, and my students for some reason attached themselves to the "Longer Boats" song, which was at the end of the playlist, so they'd convince me not to turn it off till then...

in Prague

Going out for dinner to an American restaurant. How funny is that? It's owned by one of my student's parents. They just opened it. It's supposed to be some of the best "American food" in town. I'll tell you what American food is after I eat there.


I'm really here. Those are my feet, in the center of Prague.

I've been here over three weeks now. But I feel like only now I'm seeing things and taking it in. The first week was so foggy between being overwhelmed at everything, trying to start work, and recovering from jet lag. Then after a few days of feeling great, the allergies consumed me.

Ulg. My roommates got introduced the the freezer-of-pillows and dust warrior sooner than I might have liked. Maybe they think I'm crazy.... But really, I did go crazy freezing every article of bedding. And then when that didn't work, my sweaters. And then I had to get the comforter to the cleaners. Then a cold took over, and I was really sick...too sick to keep putting textiles in the freezer. But finally this week I've been getting better every day, and it is so good to look around and SEE things, and not just feel foggy.

My first weekend here I went on that canoe trip I aluded to earlier. Sorry I haven't written about it yet...maybe later. My third weekend was spent in bed with a bad cold, watching movies. My second weekend I actually made it to the Old Town Square and across the Charles Bridge.

I have photos for you.

Downtown isn't so far away - maybe 2+ miles as the pigeon flies. (Which there are a lot of here, but usually I don't see them flying.) I can tram or walk down to Namesti Miro, which is a square with a big pretty church and a metro stop.

I popped up two stops later at Mustek, at the bottom of Vaclavske Namesti, which is Wenceslaus's Square, and headed for Old Town Square.

Here's the clock tower, with its astronomical clock. There was a wedding photo shoot going on. Below is the Tyn church, which gives Prague its beautiful skyline (I think, anyway).
Then I wandered through the small streets toward the river, past this....

...and found myself looking at this excellent view.

You can see the Charles Bridge and the castle behind. Here are some photos from the crowded bridge. I'm saving the castle for another day.