Easter Sunday and Monday

So I decided to go to Easter Mass on Sunday morning. I couldn’t find a church in English on the internet (Churches aren’t very technologically savvy). I decided to go to a big cathedral that we pass on the way to my friends apartment. It’s at Namesti Miru (Peace Square) so I hoped it’d be nice. It’s a beautiful building from the outside, very big, and I had never been inside but imagined it would be the same and just as decadent as the outside.

It was.

This was the biggest place I’ve ever been to mass at and it was damn intimidating. And of course I didn’t understand anything because it was in Czech, but it was Catholic, and being that I’ve probably gone to 320,493,834 masses in my life, I knew the procedure. When to sit, stand, kneel and respond (in English). Thank you parents : )

There weren’t that many people there, but my row was packed. I was next to two very old women who looked like they were from “the old country”. There were probably only about 20 pews per side but the space of the church was huge. Maybe the lack of people made it look even bigger and more intimidating. It came time for communion and I trembled as I said Amen and the priest put the host in my hand. I felt so out of place and uncomfortable it was incredible. The mass was nice and the space was beautiful, the stained glass kept me entertained during the words I didn’t understand.

The church was FREEZING. I’m used to masses at OLPH being packed and sweating my brains out because of the sheer body heat. I kept my coat and scarf on the entire time. I don’t know how these old ladies do this every week. The temperature added to the overall feeling in the church.

Also, there was a very very small child as an alterboy. He had to have been no older than 4. I’m not exaggerating at all. The rest of them were probably between 6-10. But this one little boy looked like he had just gotten baptized. I was amazed at how still and quiet he was the entire time on the alter. He also carried one of the big processional candles without burning the place down. I was impressed, but at the same time I felt a little awkward. No one else in the church seemed to notice or care, but I couldn’t help but watch him most of time. What went through his parent’s head? Who thought this was a good idea? But maybe he wanted to. Maybe one of the older alter boys was his brother and he wanted to wear the little white robe and sit in a chair too big for him and dangle his feet the entire mass..I don’t know and never will, but I was very taken aback.

This experience lead me to see why so many people don’t like Catholicism. It is very based on tradition and very ritualistic. Everything is done at a certain time, with certain words and actions. No change is tolerated. I can see how people become creatures of habits. It just seems odd that a religion that preaches such love and compassion is not as warm and welcoming as it should be. And yes, Catholicism has had its downs, but so does any institution, look at “democracy” and governments all over the world, especially in this part of the world. It also has its ups, all the great things it has done for the world and human kind. Some people take comfort in the traditional atmosphere, not me. I think that you can be religious and spiritual without having to be so outwardly action oriented (maybe not the right words). I think some of the most religious and spiritual people are those who internalize everything and turn it into practice in their lives. They believe in doing something because it’s the right thing to do. Spirituality is a very personal thing. I think that’s why I don’t like those preacher, evangelist extremist (Huckabee) people. There’s a difference between being spiritual and being fanatical.

So overall, this Easter was interesting. After mass I went to Ashley’s apartment where she made pancakes (American ones) that her mom sent her and we had maple syrup. We all ate them together (the whole apartment). I picked up some fruit for the pancakes and kinder eggs for everyone for easter since I miss getting and Easter basket. Then we just hung around all day and did a puzzle, played guitar and relaxed. It was wonderful. It was almost like a family holiday because it just felt like what Easter feels like at home. It was nice. Then we went out to dinner at Merlin’s (apparently they have good hot wings, but I don’t like spicy so I got something else). It was a solid Easter Sunday and I was happy about it : )

Central European Triangle Castle Tour Spring Break 08

10 castles in 7 days.

So after returning to Prague from a very very long 8 day trip with my program on our “spring break”, I feel like Prague is even more beautiful than before. Maybe because this is my new “home base” or maybe it’s because it really is the most beautiful city in Eastern Europe, but I really missed it. I didn’t realize how much until I left and came back.

Every day of the trip was packed with tours and sites and food and alcohol. It was exhausting. Even when we had free time it wasn’t spent sleeping in the hotels, it was spent seeing the sites of vienna, visiting the museums or walking around in the snow. The weather was awful pretty much the whole time except the one day we went into the Czech countryside to do a little hike and see some caves (Punkva Caves). They were awesome. It felt really nice to just be outside and be able to breath peaceful with the sun shining. I wore sunglasses for the first time since being here! Crazy.

So the places we went were as follows:

Trebic: A small town in southern Czech Republic. We saw a basilica, the Jewish quarter, and a synagogue.

Moravsky Krumlov: The home of Mucha’s Slavic Epic which is enormous and billiant (google it)

Brno: Museum of Roma Culture, tour of the city, went to a mexican dance club that night (pretty fun)

Kromeriz: The archbishop’s palace tour, stumbled on an easter fair market and ate a wonderful potato pancake and some candied street nuts..amazing. The smell is divine, really, that’s what heaven smells like.

Punkva Caves: caves. nature. wonderfulness. Castle Spilberk: An exhibit about functionalist architecture. The exhibit was kind of boring but an interesting concept and architectural movement.

Lednice and Valtice: Castles, minaret (a large tower built on the castle grounds by the royals just for fun), conservatory, gardens. It poured the entire day and we were outside pretty much the entire day. Tensions ran high.

Mikoluv: Wine tasting (fantastic old man who blew fire, everyone got very drunk that night, making the next day of tours just swell), tour of the town, the biggest wine barrel in Europe, another (get ready for this) castle, and Jewish quarter. This was by far the sleepiest town I’ve ever been to. The Irish pub closed at 1 on St. Patty’s day…

Devin: ANOTHER CASTLE! On the way to Bratislava we stopped and looked at this castle. I paid 10 crowns to pee (most expensive, usually its 3 or 4), but the castle was cool. Look for photos to come soon.

Bratislava: Tour of the city, ANOTHER CASTLE, lecture about Slovak economy (the educational part of the trip), a big church, and a big bridge.

Vienna: Tour with Wolfgang. We saw the most mozart look alikes in one square block, ate at some Vienna Coffee houses, had some sachel torte (famous dessert), and toured around in the sun, snow, rain, sleet, heat and cold. The weather was so unpredictable, one minute it was sunny and warm, the next snowing and freezing.

So that’s the short summary. I will try to post some photos but I didn’t have batteries in my camera for the first few towns. Also, on the way back to Prague, there was conveniently a 150 car pile up on the main high way so we had to take back roads through the Czech Republic to get pack to prague. Needless to say it took far to long to get home and I was getting antsy. We made it safe and sound and all is well. Since I’ve been back its been busy busy getting ready for the summer (jobs) and next year at school (class schedules, housing) as well as midterms this week in my classes here.

Next weekend Charlotte and I are off to Dublin and the next weekend I’m going to London to visit my friend Katie who is studying there because I got an awesome deal on a flight. Then traveling for the rest of my time here almost every weekend, then coming home. Time is flying.

Side note: Easter traditions here are weird. A boy buys something that resembles a pile of sticks tied together and decorated with ribbons and flowers. Then he goes around and whips (yes, whips) the girls he likes. In return the girls are supposed to give the boy eggs and/or pour water on them. I thought this was a joke, but its serious. People sell the “whips” on the streets and eggs in baskets. I hope that I don’t experience this tradition first hand…

Amsterdam ?

This past week has been surreal. Katie, my friend from AU, came to visit starting last saturday. She’s studying in London and had her spring break and decided to come visit me! It was funny showing people around here. It really made me feel like a “local” (I hate that word, but I can’t think of anything else right now) or an obnoxious tour guide. All I needed was a bright neon yellow umbrella. She was fun though. It was nice to see a familiar face here, especially someone who was super excited to see me too and see the city : ) We did all the touristy sites (Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, Malastraska, and the Lennon Wall), ate and drank a lot, saw some interesting theater performance and met some new friends at an awesome jazz club. Parents: when you come visit we will go there : )

Katie left on Thursday morning and Charlie arrived. I had class all day Thursday so we went out to eat with his friends from high school who are studying here as well. Friday I played tour guide again and we did the major sites, only to leave Prague at 5 to catch a flight to Amsterdam to meet up with our friends from AU who went there on their spring break. The flight went well and it was really nice to see everyone. It is difficult to coordinate things without cell phones, but I suppose that’s what people had to do before the 90’s.

We went to the VanGogh Museum, Anne Frank Huis (House), and did a canal cruise, which was pretty funny. We also rented bikes which was awesome and rode around Vondel Park for a while, very pretty. Everything was really really expensive and I kind of felt like I was in Disneyland, everything was really touristy. They are on the Euro so all the prices on the menu’s didn’t look bad, but then you convert them to dollars and it’s ridiculously expensive. I kept to my budget though, I even had some money left over that I’m going to save for when I visit another country that is also on the Euro.

The feel of the city overall is just very different from Prague, and even more different than the U.S., as all European cities are. I have no digital pictures from this adventure because I bought zinc batteries instead of alkaline..who knew there were different types that don’t work interchangeably. Oh well, I suppose you’ll have to wait till I process the film and print the photos and get to a scanner to put them online. That could be a very very long time, so don’t hold your breath.

I got back from Amsterdam at 10 Monday morning, meaning I left there at 6 am, getting up at 5:45 am. So I was pooped after that, and a long Monday of classes until 7:30 at night. Needless to say I slept really well monday night, which is the first time that’s happened in Prague in a few weeks. For some reason I just can’t fall asleep here or stay asleep. I’ve never had problems sleeping, but I think it has to do with my bed being uncomfortable.

And tomorrow we leave for the Central European (obtuse) Triangle trip with the program. We are traveling by mini bus with 15 students and 1 coordinator for a week to Brno and various UNESCO heritage sites in the Czech Republic, Bratislava Slovakia, and Vienna Austria for a day and a half. I wish we were spending more time in Vienna than Slovakia, but whatever. I’m excited to see those places but a little nervous about being on a bus with the same 15 people for a week. Just pray that the weather is nice. Trawinski’s: While in Austria I will keep an eye out for the Van Trapps and tell them grandma says hello.

I’m sorry this post wasn’t more intellectual or deep but my parents said everyone wanted an update, so here it is. Hope all is well in the states and I look forward to seeing everyone when I get home! More to come after we return from the triangle : )