Boulders and Barriers.

The sun finally came out on Saturday, which was a blessing considering it had rained for 8 days straight. Jamie and I went to Cachnov the week before and it was cold and rainy: the type of weather that seems to chill you down to your bones. I really wanted to take some of the guys bouldering, but I knew that if the weather turned ugly and even the slightest bit of rain fell on Friday night or Saturday morning, I would have to cancel the trip. Yet, the sun was shining and the morning did not have quite the bite that I expected. Needless to say, I was very happy walking towards the train station knowing that today would work out after all.

I met two guys Honza and Premek. I expected to meet Jirka, but he called and told us that he would not be able to make the trip, so it was just going to be three. I was happy with the small number, as it afforded me the opportunity to practice my Czech and get to know these two students. Both Premek and Honza are becoming my close friends. Premek is always good for a conversation about politics, history, culture and Honza is eager to share Czech music. I appreciate them both.

We hiked for 2 1/2 hours to Cytri Palice. Along the way we discussed culture, music, history and anything else that came to our minds. I told them that the big rocks would be down the path further, but we stopped to "practice" on a few boulders about 2 miles west of Cytri Palice. They were little bit hesitant to start climbing, but once our goal was set (the top) they had no problem jumping in with me. In fact, Premek and Honza both began asking questions and trying to figure out the best way to the top. It was a challenging boulder, as it was covered in moss and the rock was rounded, but we did climb up near the top. They both announced that it was quite fun and a little bit frightening. We then continued on our trek to Ctyri Palice, where we sat down to have lunch and would hope to climb the two largest and most difficult boulders of the day. In reality, the two largest boulders proved to be the least challenging and we hiked up to the top of them in less than 10 minutes. The look from the top was wonderful; we could see to the other side of the valley and the rolling hills beyond. We decided to hike back to Cachnov and along the way climb the last two rocks. I am thankful that the last two climbs proved to be quite technical, for bouldering, because it left Premek and Honza with a sense of accomplishment and a yearning to try bouldering again in the spring. All in all, we bouldered 5 rocks, hiked for 12 miles and got back to Policka before dinner; not a bad day!

Fun fact: the winter scenes from Narnia WERE taped in the Czech Republic, which means Jamie's observation, in the last post, was dead on!

Living in a foreign culture has its pleasures and its pains. There are many times when I feel down-right confused and vulnerable. You have to trust on a level that takes one out of their comfort zone. From the most basic conversation to a speech dealing with theory and thinking, I have to rely on other people. Those that translate are put in the position where they have to make a choice: are they going respect the person speaking, or will they change the words when it becomes suitable to them. Your meaning can be distorted through improper translation.
Often it is difficult to know even if they are talking about you! Yet, I know when something is being said that is not for my ears, because they usually change very quickly into Czech and then back into English; this is a very uncomfortable situation. We English speakers have a hard time doing this, because most people will try to hear what you are talking about, as many are perpetually "practicing" their English. Not having any privacy is a negative aspect of speaking a language that has become the de facto international tongue. Sometimes I wish that no one knew English, so Jamie and I could vent about frustrations without the fear of being understood! This is something the Czechs do not worry about, because they are sure (rightly so) that many foreigners don't speak Czech, so they can talk with a sense of secrecy. However, it is a delicate balance of trust. Czechs, just like the person translating, have decisions to make: will they speak in Czech knowing that they are leaving you out when it is convenient for them, or will they attempt to be open and transparent?
Out of all changes and difficulties that come from living in a foreign land, from food, to sport, to social expectations, nothing has been more frustrating than accepting the vulnerable position that I find myself in when I am in a social setting. To trust and to be respected takes on a completely different meaning when I have to attain these attributes through the mouth and tongue of a stranger.

Learning a new language is challenging: new words, grammar, sentence structure and a new alphabet. But, learning a new language can also be funny! Throughout the past two months, my Czech has been improving, but I have made my fair share of mistakes. I can only imagine how thickly-accented my words are and how often I bastardize the structure of sentences: "I want bar candy?!" Thankfully, Czechs are a forgiving people when it comes to speaking their very complex and unique language; they are usually more enamored with the fact that you are trying and will announce at once, "tův Cesky je moc dobrý!", which means, "your Czech is so good!" However, one must not be deceived. It is not your Czech that it is good, it is merely your effort at speaking this language that is admirable. So, without much ado, I will give you a snippet of my language mishaps. I hope you find these as enjoyable as me, and of course, as enjoyable as they were to the Czechs who heard them!

I once said:

"Premek, I would like to cook your parents for dinner", instead of saying, "Premek, I would like to cook your parents dinner".

Explaining to a notary secretary why I had two papers I announced:

"That paper is my wife", instead of, "that is my wife's paper."

Trying to tell Jirka that I thought his father was a kind man, I said:

"Jirka, your father is a nice man," which doesn't sound all that bad, until one realizes (ah, culture) that in the Czech Republic, what I really said was, "Jirka, your father is a very attractive man".

oh boy, remember earlier I spoke about being vulnerable.....

Hedgehogs, castles, and tlačenka

We have finished our first week of classes, and all in all Jeremy and I both feel good about them. There are things we will need to work on or change, but for our first week, it went well. I will need to find helpers for a few of my youngest classes, since we had trouble understanding one another. Jeremy seemed pleased with his classes, and I know he is going to make it fun and challenging for his students!


Anyway, on Thursday we were riding back to our appartment and we saw this little ball moving around in the grass, so naturally we stop to check it out. Turns out it was a hedgehog! Who knew that there were hedgehogs in the Czech Republic?! We also never knew that they were nocturnal...and they play dead. No joke, they do! We got super close to it and I look a picture with a flash and it didn't move a muscle until after we got back on our bikes and started to ride away. Good times.

Today (Sunday) we went to Svojanov with Bartošoví, which is a beautiful little place where Přemek's dad grew up. The entire day was great, from lunch at their house, which was amazing, to visiting Svohanov, a castle and then having dinner at a little resturant and meeting a woman who makes lace. Anyway, we went and saw the Castle of Svohanov, which was fun. It is a old little castle, which was still in pretty good shape seeing it was built in the 13th century. We took some fun pictures, drank some Kofola (pop) and then walked back to the house.


I think the most challenging thing about our Sunday adventure was eating at the small mill resturant and having tlačenka, which you can see to the right. We had our choice of three different foods, something made out of cheese, grilled chicken, and tlačenka. I choose the grilled chicken and Jeremy got tlačenka, after agreeing with me that we would split our meals. I am not going to lie, when it came out, I almost backed out on sharing my meal! There where two slices of it with onions and bread, and at first sight there is nothing that makes a foreigner want to eat it, because you can't help but wonder, "what is it?". The first bite was also a little difficult, because the texture is a mixture of hard and squishy, since it is made of pork meat and natural gelitin. The taste however, is not bad: it tasted like vinegar and onions. We were told later that homemade tlačenka is much better, but I think eating it once was enough for both of us.

Hiking is fun...and sometimes wet

Last Saturday Jeremy and I got on a train in Polička and went to Čachnov to go hiking along the blue trail. Our goal was to head south to Devět Skal and find some nice rocks that Jeremy could boulder with some guy friends this coming Saturday. We didn't make it quite that far since it was raining and cold and my left foot started to hurt a lot. We did end up finding our big rocks and had a good time doing it! It surprised me how well the paths here are marked. It seems like everywhere you go there is some sort of sign telling you where you can go, what path to take (blue, yellow, red...) and how many km it is to get there. We hiked as far as Čtyři Palice (9km or 5.6miles) and then went back to the train station, making our hike a total of 18km or 11.2miles.
I found it interesting that the vast majority of the trees where we have been are all pines that been planted. If there where more deciduous trees, the Czech country side would look just like western PA. The rows of trees did make our hike seem like we were walking through Narnia. When we did see a deciduous tree it seemed out of place and all most frightening, since the bark was much darker due to the rain and the natural curves of the trees were excerbated in contrast to the perfectly straight pines.
Needless to say, I think Jeremy and I will be taking every chance to explore more of the Czech country side durning our time here :)

Classes!

Jamie are in the middle of scheduling our classes. We are happy to announce that we have 106 students and are expecting more as the year goes on. The most popular classes have been the conversation classes for Adults, as we have a total of 20 students; thus, we have split the Adult classes into two sessions of 10 people. Jamie has done well with her conversation and has around 40 students all together. Our sports and art ideas have struggled to garner the interest and the numbers: sports has a total of 15 kids and art brings in the rear with 5 signed up. The classes for the high school-aged students are doing very well, as the University Prep has 12 students and the regular conversation class has 8. This is an excellent start to the year and we hope that through our efforts, the classes will grow in size.

This week, I am plan on taking a very small group of students bouldering. They have no idea what bouldering is, so I think it will be a challenging and exciting experience for them. In preparation for the trip, I looked up some areas that would be excellent for outdoor sports and found that there are some quality, beginner routes in our state, Pardubice Kraj. This Saturday, Jamie and I will jump on the train and head to the town of Cachnov and then hike to the village of Svratka. From Svratka, there are many options: Čtyři Palice, Drátník, Rybenské Perničky, Devět Skal and Bílá Skála, all of which possess prime bouldering locations. To the "North American" mindset, this might seem like a large trip; however, in the Czech Republic, things are not nearly as spread out. So, in all, the hiking and bouldering will take us about 7 hours to complete in full, which is not too overbearing. If Jamie and I like the route, I will take some of the young guys with me and we will have a "guy day" climbing and flexing our muscles, or in Czech, "muž den."

Last night I found myself walking home at around 8:30 pm in the company of three Czech youths: Honza, Lukaš and Madla. We had just finished band practice and I was walking back to our apartment, which is about a half-mile away from the Church. Madla and I were discussing the upcoming English classes when all of a sudden she asked me what I think about Czech people, and if she, Honza and Lukaš, were "typical Czechs?" I was taken back by the question, because I haven't had much time to think about the Czech people.
I told her that I believe the Czech people to be very humble in appearance and disinclined to bombastic personalities or narcissistic mentalities, which has its negative and positive aspects. For example, we Americans are open people: we give our opinions, show affection and generally are genial to strangers who are walking down the street. Czechs are not like this at all. If you happened to be walking down the street in a town like Policka, you would find that many of the people keep their eyes on the ground. Even if there are only two of you in an alley that is 10 feet wide, their gaze would be on the cobblestones; it feels a little bit cold. If you were to verbalize a greeting like " Dobrý Den", which is translated as "Good day", what you would get in return is a mumbled, barley audible reply. Is it because Czechs are a mean people? No, that is not the case. I think that it has to do with trust.

Czechs have a hard time trusting other people, especially ones they do not know. For forty years the totalitarian state ruled peoples' psyches, and in a way, it still does. Stalinist Communism was a system not only in control of state manufacturing and the political system, but it was a social philosophy that would manipulate minds by controlling mass quantities of information: books, news sources, dissidents, professors, television, art (socialist realism), music, etc. An easy way for the communists to remain in control of the people was by keeping tabs on all ideas coming in and going out of the nation. Thus, the Party became a long-armed spy machine manufacturing show-trials and using secret informers to keep tabs on the whole population. To western listeners, this might seem far fetched, but it becomes a reality when one is lucky enough to listen to Czech stories.

I know very few Czechs; I might know 45 people in all, yet, in those 45, there is a story. There have been numerous times I have heard Anna or Jan talk about family members and friends who were imprisoned for years at a time. Many of those who were thrown in prison were farmers or regular business people. They had no ties to political organizations and were not criminals. What they were, was a captive population that had no way to fight. Fish in a barrel, maybe?Some would spend years in terrible isolation, where their punishment was hard labor and only through back-breaking work would they earn their way back into society. And, when Czechs speak of it, they retell this history almost as if it is a common enough occurrence that it doesn't warrant further explanation, which makes sense, because many families have similar skeletons. It is life to the Czechs; it is their history. Communists controlled information by intimidation.

I often run through hypothetical situations in my mind. Many of the thoughts consist of a moral decision that must be made: would I stand up for an old women getting robbed, or would I march against injustice even if I knew my life would be jeopardized? I have realized that I always find myself winning; I know that I would do the right thing....right?? Many people always question why the Czechs didn't do more when they were suffering under Communism. I am beginning to see that when a question like that is put forth, to people who have lived through the oppression, it only serves to show the ignorance of the one who is asking. And, when Americans want to insult a liberal social policy as being "Communist", maybe they should think twice about what is REALLY being implied, as their statement only belies an out-of-touch notion of what communism was and a misconstrued retelling of history that serves to prove a moot point. I only hope that Czechs never hear Americans squabbling over the "commies" in the Democratic Party, because I would be ashamed as an American that the Czechs were so viciously assaulted, as it makes light of a hard, dark and very real past.

So, as you can see, there is always more than meets the eye when dealing with Czech people. Are they cold on the street? Yes, they can be. It only makes it that much better when a Czech does say hi to you and opens up, because you know that it is genuine, a real feeling of friendship and camaraderie. And this, I think, is where we Americans miss the point: we can be a little too fake when we put up our facade of happiness; but, then again, it might have to do with our history. After all, aren't we the "land of opportunity" and the bastion of the American Dream; being sad in America is against our whole paradigm. We haven't known hardship like the Czechs and the Czechs haven't known independence like us, so it all makes for a very "lucid-ambiguous" experience.

ruminations

The past few days have been full of moving and cleaning.

Jamie and I moved into our new apartment on Saturday and have been trying to make it into our home, which is quite difficult to do, because we don't have very many possessions. The apartment was given to us by a family in the church. It used to belong to the Grandfather, but he died unexpectedly about two years ago and the apartment sat empty.

What a wonderful sacrifice? I mean, it takes a lot to let two foreign Americans live in the home of your Grandfather; it is a prime example of the help and sacrificial mindset that seems to permeate this whole congregation.

Opening up the drawers and cupboards of our apartment has, surprisingly, been an intimate look into the past. Their Grandfather, Josef, kept everything: watches, pictures, clothes, hats, money, postcards, army pins, communist memorabilia and copious amounts of beer glasses. I often find myself ashamed and embarrassed to be gazing at such personal items, but I can't help but be thankful for them.

Jamie was rummaging around an old drawer, trying to make space for our books, when she found an old hat. It weighed a lot. Upon turning the hat over, we found dozens of small steel pins stuck into the fabric. Each pin was a small piece into his life. There were commemoration pins of the 5oth anniversary of the communist party, an award for driving over 500,000 kilometers (he was a bus driver), numerous gas station pins, the Czech flag wrapped amongst the Soviet sickle and hammer, a Praha Sparta (soccer team) and of course, some beer pins; after all, what would be a Czech hat without beer? I really loved the hat. Looking at the old logos and flags made me think about how life seemed to go on, even under Communism. Old men in America have pins on their hats, but instead of a communist commemorative pin, they usually signify a battle or are an American flag themselves; instead of a soccer team it might be a football team; and Exxon might be the gas of choice, not Benzin.

This question of what was life really like under communism creeps every now and then into my psyche. Watching old men and women brings only more confusion, as I see in their tired eyes and hands many years of hardship and true oppression. What have they seen? Do they feel cheated? I can't know, because I don't speak Czech well enough. I so badly want to ask questions. If I were to learn Czech for that reason, to learn about the people and how their history has influenced them, then it would be worth it. Yet, until then, I am stuck wondering aloud and quenching my hunger for answers by looking at photographs and pins....

Support News

Jamie and I are happy to inform you that we now have a set plan in regards to monetary donations! Thanks to the support of Tom and Tami Ribar, we now have a bank account open at National City Bank, which will be used solely for our ministry here in the Czech Republic.

To send us monetary donations, all you have to do is:
1. Write a Czech out to "Polička Mission"
2. Memo to Jeremy and Jamie Ault
3. Send it to this address:

699 Ross St.
Waynesburg, Pa
15370
This address will send the check directly to Tom and Tami's house. They will then take your donation and deposit it into the account and send the money, in a lump sum, every month.

Summer is now over, and a new school year has begun, which means that our English classes will be starting soon. The last week of "summer vacation" ment playing baseball with the Dus children (Marta, Tomas, and Magda), shopping for new shoes and going on a tour of Policka lead by Marta, Madla and Magda (shown in picture to the right). Although we had started work during this time, it still felt like summer. Now that the kids are in school and signing up for afterschool activities it feels like we are getting into a routine, even if all our work is mostly in preparation for our classes. Soon we will be moving into our appartment, which means no more living out of our suitcases; and, we need to start cooking for ourselves! I will be making many of our "american" favorites at first, but I can't wait to learn how to cook Czech meals. The interesting thing about Czech meals is not only the difference in the type of foods served, but also the structure of the meals. In the US, dinner is the largest meal. Here in the CZ, lunch is the biggest meal, and always contains a soup and then the main course. Also, what is eatin for breakfast and dinner are very similar: bread, cheese, and tea. Anna (Jan's wife) has already told me she will teach me how to make some of the soups that Jeremy and I have enjoyed so far, and some of the other meals we have liked. I also recently learned that they make home-made egg noodles here like my great aunt Irene and Betty, so hopefully I will be able to learn to make those as well.