I talked to my student services advisor (Radka) a while ago about getting involved in some way with the Deaf community here or taking some Czech sign classes. She is awesome at her job and quickly found a community center for the Deaf here in Prague. They offered classes and when she talked to the woman on the phone she said that me taking classes shouldn't be a problem even though I don't know much Czech. Well that lady lied. After taking the tram and the bus out to Prague 4 we arrived at the center and met the teacher. He knows no ASL and no English so us communicating would be extremely difficult. But he did give us the contact information of another place in Prague that does the same work that they do but are focused more on youth. Radka emailed them and is waiting for a response...
Last Wednesday we had a CEA activity where we could sign up to go bowling. So of course since I didn't have anything else going on I took advantage of the free opportunity! We had three lanes and about half way though our first game Radka came and told us all that the top two bowlers of each lane would get to move on to the championship round. Well I made my parents proud and got first in my lane! With a score of 103 I think. I was bowling with a lane full of girls who didn't know what they were doing and asked me repeatedly, "Have you done this before?" Bowled? Who has never bowled in your life? I think it just is not a big event for midwest and east coast kids. What a shame. Well after finishing that first game I went on to the final round where the goal was to finish quickly because we wanted to go home. Well I ended up doing pretty well in this round too. I finished second with a score of 120-something. Somebody get me a Bowl-A-Rama-Mama's shirt!
Friday I went to the Petřín Tower with Hailey, Kelsey, and Hayley. This is also known as the Mini Eiffel as it is a replica of the real Eiffel tower. It is one fifth the size but stands at the same elevation as the Eiffel tower due to the fact it is on top of a hill (Thank you Rick Steves). We climbed the 299 steps to the top and had a nice view of the city. At the base of the tower there is a mirror maze that we wandered through and a rose garden that we looked at. Hayley and I decided to walk back down and go see the Monument to Victims of Communism Who Survived.
Saturday Hayley and I wanted to go to the Jewish Ghetto. We didn't think we would have any problems but upon arriving at the Old-New Synagogue we found that it was closed. Then we realized it was Saturday so of course it was going to be closed. So since we were nearby we decided to go see the astronomical clock chime and then wander towards Wenceslas Square. We didn't make it to Wenceslas Square but we did do some wandering around the city a little bit and went in to The Powder Tower which was just a small tower that used to store gun powder and was used as a lookout point in the medieval times. It was a nice afternoon. That evening we had some people from our program come over to our area of Prague and we cooked them dinner. It was nice to have people out here for a change.
Last night we had another free CEA activity that I was excited to partake in. Bobsledding. I was excited and was thinking it was going to be Cool Runnings style. I heard it wasn't on snow or ice but I still thought it was going to be a four person sled type of a thing. Once we got there we quickly learned it was not Cool Runnings style and it was one person sitting on a scooter/toboggan type of thing. It was still really fun and we all had a good time. It was definately something I would consider doing again. After bobsledding we went to Wenceslas Square for dinner where they had about a dozen little booths of different foods set up. It was delicious.
Last night we had another free CEA activity that I was excited to partake in. Bobsledding. I was excited and was thinking it was going to be Cool Runnings style. I heard it wasn't on snow or ice but I still thought it was going to be a four person sled type of a thing. Once we got there we quickly learned it was not Cool Runnings style and it was one person sitting on a scooter/toboggan type of thing. It was still really fun and we all had a good time. It was definately something I would consider doing again. After bobsledding we went to Wenceslas Square for dinner where they had about a dozen little booths of different foods set up. It was delicious.
In other news, my Czech is very slowly improving! I use little words here and there but outside of class I don't speak it too much. However we did learn an old Czech folk song in class last week and another new one today. So that is fun!
So I think that has caught you all up on the last week or so of me being here. Look forward to my next blog when I will tell you about my upcoming trip this weekend!
Miss you all!
Na shledanou!
Na shledanou!
oh man, i hate to admit it, but i would have been one of those stupid girls you bowled with. i mean, i've bowled many times before - but i can't hit the pins to save my life.
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