A most brilliant afternoon

Yesterday I had one of my regular meetings with my friend, Romana. We are language partners, meeting regularly to speak English and Czech. Yesterday, she suggested that we go to the Vrtbovská zahrada (garden) in Malá Strana. I hadn't been yet and the day was beautiful so I was happy with her suggestion. We wandered through the baroque gardens - and of course, I didn't have my camera with me - and enjoyed the day. Then, she said that she wanted to take me to her friend Jindřich to see his very special and interesting well. Okay. Sure. I was a bit confused but what the heck. We walked a few blocks to the Pállfyho Palác.

There was a cafe there but more importantly a gathering. The Nonstop čtení 2009 (Nonstop Reading 2009) was taking place. From June 2 to 5, they will read nonstop literature written between 1969 and 1989, or literature of the normalization. It's the 12th year that they do it. The small courtyard in front of the building was strung with rope and plastic-coated articles and other pieces of literature. And there was a small party going on, people milling around, chatting, drinking wine, etc. So, when we arrived we met Jindřich and Romana took me to see the well. I had no idea what to expect. She took me through the building to a little apartment, then down and farther into the building finally to a well. It has been covered over and is dry but it's definitely a well, maybe 20-30 meters deep. She said that there is a legend about the well, that long ago (during the Middle Ages possibly?) 7 nuns were drowned there for having relations with a monk. He was not drowned; his punishment was to watch them being drowned. Typical.

So, after the well, we went back out to join the party and when asked where I'm from I answered, "US" and "Texas." Texas was the right answers. I had my hand kissed and people, okay older men, kept coming up or bringing others over, introducing themselves to me, speaking a little English but primarily Czech, making sure my wine glass was always full... It was also made known that I am trying to speak/undersand Czech so they enjoyed watching me perform. A common request when someone hears that I can "speak Czech" is to "say something, what can you say?" So, I say how I'm a student, doing research and impress them. Oh, and being an anthropologist was of interest also :).

Then, the afternoon turned a bit more surreal. The "boss" of the place - remember, I'm getting my information from my bad Czech and Romana's weak English so - I think his name was Karel - there wasn't a lot of names given just information about when someone was in the US. On that note, another man and I had an interesting conversation about the Czechs in Texas being forced to fight in the Civil War. When he was in the US, he became interested in the Civil War. Anyway, "Karel" asked if we had seen the special place, which I hadn't (????), so he led us inside to a different room and it was the quintessential scholar's living room. Slightly-crooked bookshelves everywhere, full of books, photos fillling any available wall space, oriental carpets on the floor, velvet-covered settee and chairs, piano stuck in the corner...it was a amazing. He told us to sit and then started to chuckle telling me that at one point, in the exact spot where I was sitting, sat Salman Rushdie. Oh, and Prince Charles sat in the spot next to me, apparently not at the same time. On the wall next to me was a photo of the Dalai Lama. Then he pointed out that behind me were pictures of Kurt Vonnegut and John Updike planting trees. Alan Ginsberg. Václav Havel. As my jaw dropped, my eyes got bigger. I was in the most amazing place I had ever been. And Karel so enjoyed showing it all to this young American. After staying at the event for about an hour, I had to leave; I had my Czech lesson. I didn't want to go! So, when I said my farewells, I had a valid excuse, although they said that I was having a Czech lesson with them already! But I'll return. Jindřich is a friend of Romana and her boyfriend and we have promised that I will return to talk with him....about anthropology, culture, society, drugs? It's probably a good thing that I went to my Czech class, I've got a lot to learn!

PS. Czech class was good. At least with Dana my understanding is improving and I was getting the gist of conversations at the reading...I can see the corner and am hurrying to turn it!

Jak se mám? (How's it going with me?)

So, I haven't talked much about how things are going for me. In a word, life is a bowl of cherries. Okay, cheesy. But, it's cherry season and my friend Hanka gave me a very large bag full. They are yummy! I believe the first time that I was introduced to cherries as a fresh fruit, I spent the afternoon drinking with a Slovakian woman in her backyard, back when I lived in DC. Anyway, things are going well. The only downside right now is that all of my American friends are leaving. Chris and Gail left last week. Kari leaves in a few weeks. Laura leaves in early July. But then I start Czech summer school...again. Yep, I putting myself not only into an intensive Czech language course in July, I am putting myself into a self-imposed boot camp. I plan to only speak english, listen to english, etc when necessary. Like communicating with people back home, english with my language partners, research when necessary. You'd think that is what I have been doing but no, I've been relying on english in a lot of places, especially socially. So, we'll see how it will go.

The research is going well, I think. I had a bit of a dry spell, not really getting much interest in response to my recruitment efforts in March and April but May was awesome! And I'm making some good connections. I did 3 interviews last week, when I had gone 3 weeks with no interviews so I'm really happy. In the meantime, I worked and helped with the trainings like Basic Life Support pictured here. I still have some serious gaps in my data but I can focus on trying to get that now. I'm concentrating on the idea of freedom of mobility as a key theme. Regardless what I find, I'll have some good stuff to write up :)

One thing that keeps coming up though is how I find Prague - most of the Czechs I meet ask me. I have a pretty standard answer: It's good. I think of Prague as another city that I know and have lived in, much like Houston (okay, never technically lived there but...) or Washington, DC. But it's the Czech people that I have more fun describing. So many people come here and complain about the Czech people, how rude they are. Well, first, Czechs are well-known for having impolite if not surly waitstaff, postal workers and other service people, which are the people that most tourists interact with. But, in their defense, this city of 1.7 million sees over 1 million tourists every year and the tourists that come here are, in my opinion, really annoying. They come because Prague is one of the cities that you must see while on a European tour. Check it off the list of places. And, not being on the euro, it's still cheaper than more Western parts of Europe...I mean Western geographically, not culturally, so please don't throw eggs at me ;) But in my view, Czechs are really friendly people. For example, these guys, we met at a music festival near Olomouc a few years ago...they were more than happy to share their homemade gin...of course, the next day I went partially blind in one eye....Granted, there are plenty of people that just can't be bothered with strangers or people that aren't part of their group - well, there is still a sense of privacy and some would even argue a socialist legacy of protection. Or, they are just busy people. But, when someone does open up, it's great! I have people inviting me to their homes, visits to the cities where they live or come from, taking a 2-hour train to Prague just for an interview...I think that Czechs just want to be cautious sometimes about their relationships, who they want to let into their lives, how much they want to let an outsider in, really, no real difference than most people. So, by generalizing, I'm trying to breakdown the bad stereotype, prove it wrong by my own experiences. And, I have to admit, I hate the tourists, too, and get irritated that I have to wade through crowds of people just live my daily life. That said, I need to finish this and head to the grocery store to possibly get yelled at by some disgruntled cashier.

So, in closing, things are going well. I have people to visit this summer, some short traveling to do, and then preparing for the parental visit in August. I think the next 5 months are going to fly.