This past Saturday, Jarda and I had our first interview with Mila Plecharcek. It went fairly well, besides the fact that I had to continually switch between English and Czech, which made the whole 3-hour process completely exhausting for me. First impressions, from my side, are encouraging, yet I am leery. I realized that after our first interview that this project will be a lot of work: I must translate most of what I record, questions need to revised, my Czech must improve and I need to have a clear goal. All in a days work...
I've also been living with an eye towards next year. Jamie and I have been searching for new jobs and opportunities, as we both understand that our remaining 9 months will literally be a blink. I am excited to tell you that I have decided (tentatively) to join Americorps VISTA. This program is geared more towards adults who have experience and are willing to work with a non-profit to fight poverty all over the United States. The Vista program is excellent in the fact that it bestows more responsibility upon the volunteer to DEVELOP and implement programs that address the causes of poverty. With my history of work, I feel that I am able to apply my skills to a wide array of needs within the Americorps program: ecology, environmental sustainability and management, counseling, youth interaction, community development, adult education, economic development, etc... The greatest worth of the program is that it gives me an excellent opportunity to really 'flesh out' if this development 'work' is for me. I would like to go to graduate school, so I feel that the 12 months that I'm in the Americorps program will be a wonderful tool in assessing my own skills and passion for that kind of work. Also, you never know, I might get a permanent job out of it. :)
Jamie is searching for work in Environmental Education; she would like to be a director or have an administrative position.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Update
I wrote about a month and half ago that I was planning on writing/researching for a historical paper that deals with the oppression of protestant pastors under the Communist Regime; focusing mainly during the period of 'Normalization.' I wanted to update you on this work.
Just this past weekend, I fished through a few of the resources I have attained. Many of them have come from Mila Plechachek himself, which affords me the very unique opportunity of actually being able to read first-hand documents. Everything is real. Nothing is scanned, copied or stored away in some box, on a shelf, in the dank room of a library. My Czech is still, foundationally, conversational (or as Czechs like to say, 'v Hospodě), which is a very different language than the flowerly writing of academia and the often cryptic reports from the StB; it has been quite a challenge. My picture of the situation is getting clearer every month, but I still feel as if I am viewing this story through clouded lenses, or atleast, ones that are warped.
Throughout the past month, I have been randomly receiving emails from both Americans and Czechs who have been encouraging me. I don't know how many of them are finding out about the project, but they have all said one thing in common: it needs to be done. One of the realizations I have come to see, is that this 'history' that I am researching/talking about isn't very old at all. The Fall of Communism only occured 20 years ago--this year, in fact, marks the anniversary--which gives me hope that in a VERY small way, I am able to pay tribute to those who did suffer and did fight for political freedom. It is my small gift for them. In addition, while the church DID play quite a large role (Catholic and Protestant) in protest actions against the government, there has been surprisingly very little written about it. Of course, there have been many studies and some books published, but for the most part, a lot of the academic work has come from within the seminary or the denomination itself. There is nearly nothing written in English.
I don't want to call this paper an academic one, because I don't believe I can write an academic paper. It is a project rooted in personal interest. Many of these pastors have come to be my personal friends, so it is also a way for me to understand them on a deeper, more real level. There is still A LOT of work that needs to be done and I am just at the very beginning. My friend Jarda, a student of history at Charles University, has offered his assistance. We will be working together. I am also relying, to a large degree, on many of my friends in Policka who have helped me translate and write quetsions (thanks Madla!). Jarda and I will be meeting this weekend to discuss our next plan and to really get the 'ball rolling'. I plan on having many of the interviews completed by the end of winter, which means, it is time to get started.
Just this past weekend, I fished through a few of the resources I have attained. Many of them have come from Mila Plechachek himself, which affords me the very unique opportunity of actually being able to read first-hand documents. Everything is real. Nothing is scanned, copied or stored away in some box, on a shelf, in the dank room of a library. My Czech is still, foundationally, conversational (or as Czechs like to say, 'v Hospodě), which is a very different language than the flowerly writing of academia and the often cryptic reports from the StB; it has been quite a challenge. My picture of the situation is getting clearer every month, but I still feel as if I am viewing this story through clouded lenses, or atleast, ones that are warped.
Throughout the past month, I have been randomly receiving emails from both Americans and Czechs who have been encouraging me. I don't know how many of them are finding out about the project, but they have all said one thing in common: it needs to be done. One of the realizations I have come to see, is that this 'history' that I am researching/talking about isn't very old at all. The Fall of Communism only occured 20 years ago--this year, in fact, marks the anniversary--which gives me hope that in a VERY small way, I am able to pay tribute to those who did suffer and did fight for political freedom. It is my small gift for them. In addition, while the church DID play quite a large role (Catholic and Protestant) in protest actions against the government, there has been surprisingly very little written about it. Of course, there have been many studies and some books published, but for the most part, a lot of the academic work has come from within the seminary or the denomination itself. There is nearly nothing written in English.
I don't want to call this paper an academic one, because I don't believe I can write an academic paper. It is a project rooted in personal interest. Many of these pastors have come to be my personal friends, so it is also a way for me to understand them on a deeper, more real level. There is still A LOT of work that needs to be done and I am just at the very beginning. My friend Jarda, a student of history at Charles University, has offered his assistance. We will be working together. I am also relying, to a large degree, on many of my friends in Policka who have helped me translate and write quetsions (thanks Madla!). Jarda and I will be meeting this weekend to discuss our next plan and to really get the 'ball rolling'. I plan on having many of the interviews completed by the end of winter, which means, it is time to get started.
Reflections
Walking to work this morning I had to step over the brown/blackish snow-sludge that accumulates on the roadways; cover my bare chin from the stinging, blowing winter wind; clear the lenses of my glasses, so I was able to see properly; and, fight the 10 or so flakes that fell from 34,000 feet and somehow landed, of all places on this earth, in my eye. Today was an emphatic end to the season that we call fall. Snow has been coming down, consistently, for the past two days; this morning is by far the strongest. To say that Policka appears as if it is in the middle of February would be accurate.
The snow has found me in quite a relfective state. For the first part of this month, and the end of September, I chose not to post anything on the blog. Part of it was due to laziness, yes I admit, but another aspect was that I don't find many of my daily experiences that interesting/englightening/challenging anymore. Last year, there was always something to write about. Maybe it was the first snow, which ironically, came quite late. Or, I felt compelled to let you all in on a funny experience where a cultural exchange occured. Or, I relayed some deeper thoughts and struggles that I had had in adjusting to life here in the Czech Republic; however, this year, my experience really feels and is different.
I'm not so sure if I should call this year a year of 'change' or a year of 'comfort', because it really is neither. Yeah, my life situation in less than 10 months will be drastically new: I will no longer be here in the Czech Republic (hard to imagine), Jamie and I will be working COMPLETELY different jobs with unknown friends, we will most likely be speaking English all day every day, and we will be living somewhere, across the ocean, on a continent, that consists of only three gargantuan-size nations. Change is what I need to prepare for.
Yet, as I was writing earlier, the emotional and cultural struggles of a year ago are not nearly as strong. There aren't many days where my perception or my engrained attituded (which is often cultural in foundation--more than I like to admit) are sabotaged. I feel quite confident that I can adapt to any social situation that I am in, because I have enough of a precedent to have a firm conviction of how the Czech people will react to a certain statement, challenge or expressed opinion (of course this is not true for EVERY Czech person). I have grown to feel a little more connected within the network of the Policka community and Czech is becoming less and less of a barrier to communication every single day. I am comfortable. I feel excellent about these developments, but I must remember not to slide into complacencey. I must remind myself that each day there STILL is something to learn and that my Czech excursion WILL be over shortly. I have to try to live it.
One of the most terrifying possiblities, is that upon my return home, I will look back and regret that I didn't travel enough, or do a better job of cultivating relationships.
But, enough about the end. I have to think about now, today: the snow, the quaint baroque square with its dressings drapped in white, my favorite pub, the stars that peak out from behind the gothic steeple and the farm fields manured and plowed, prepared for the long slumber underneath frost.
The snow has found me in quite a relfective state. For the first part of this month, and the end of September, I chose not to post anything on the blog. Part of it was due to laziness, yes I admit, but another aspect was that I don't find many of my daily experiences that interesting/englightening/challenging anymore. Last year, there was always something to write about. Maybe it was the first snow, which ironically, came quite late. Or, I felt compelled to let you all in on a funny experience where a cultural exchange occured. Or, I relayed some deeper thoughts and struggles that I had had in adjusting to life here in the Czech Republic; however, this year, my experience really feels and is different.
I'm not so sure if I should call this year a year of 'change' or a year of 'comfort', because it really is neither. Yeah, my life situation in less than 10 months will be drastically new: I will no longer be here in the Czech Republic (hard to imagine), Jamie and I will be working COMPLETELY different jobs with unknown friends, we will most likely be speaking English all day every day, and we will be living somewhere, across the ocean, on a continent, that consists of only three gargantuan-size nations. Change is what I need to prepare for.
Yet, as I was writing earlier, the emotional and cultural struggles of a year ago are not nearly as strong. There aren't many days where my perception or my engrained attituded (which is often cultural in foundation--more than I like to admit) are sabotaged. I feel quite confident that I can adapt to any social situation that I am in, because I have enough of a precedent to have a firm conviction of how the Czech people will react to a certain statement, challenge or expressed opinion (of course this is not true for EVERY Czech person). I have grown to feel a little more connected within the network of the Policka community and Czech is becoming less and less of a barrier to communication every single day. I am comfortable. I feel excellent about these developments, but I must remember not to slide into complacencey. I must remind myself that each day there STILL is something to learn and that my Czech excursion WILL be over shortly. I have to try to live it.
One of the most terrifying possiblities, is that upon my return home, I will look back and regret that I didn't travel enough, or do a better job of cultivating relationships.
But, enough about the end. I have to think about now, today: the snow, the quaint baroque square with its dressings drapped in white, my favorite pub, the stars that peak out from behind the gothic steeple and the farm fields manured and plowed, prepared for the long slumber underneath frost.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
There next ones are not paintings, but my first attempts at print making :)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Caramel Apple Pops
Before coming to the Czech Repulic I bought a bag go caramel apple pops at Odd Lots (Big Lots for those of you who dont work at camp) in Bellefontaine, OH. I should have bought two, since they are so hard to come by, but hidensight is 20/20. The other day I realized that I only have 3 left. Yes it saddened me that my favorate candy is almost gone, but more so because of what these lolly pops have come to represent in my life.I remember when they first came out in 1995, I was in 5th grade, and they were the "cool thing" to have, plus they were great tasting, so would buy them when I had the chance (our school store sold them for a quarter). I would eat them on the bus ride home with my friend Amanda while we played cards (she always kicked my butt) or made string friendship bracelets. They lasted longer that most suckers because the caramel would get stuck our teeth and roof of our mouths and would take the entire hour ride home to eat.
They also remind me of highschool football games, because a friend of our family, Dave Jasek, would being a bag of suckers (caramel apple pops and tootsie pops) to every GM football game. After graduating, I would come back for some GM games and always make sure I had a lollypop for Dave since he has generously suppied our cheering section with them for atleast the 8 years I had gone to games.
Consiquently, since moving to Policka I have had a caramel apple pop in a cup on our desk with pens and scissors, as a reminder of home. So I guess this brings me to my shameless plea. If someone could send a bag of caramel apple pops it would really make my day (plus, we have some friends here that I have shared them with and I'm sure they wouldn't mind having another one :) )
Saturday, October 3, 2009
thoughts on our first year
Recently I have been thinking about our first year...what exactly does that mean? Our first year in the Czech Republic or our first year of marriage? For us, the two can't be seperated, so this post will be about both of them. I know that in the past Jeremy and I have shared a lot about our activities inside and out of the church, but not really about our personal struggles and joys. I feel like this is a good time to do so.
Newly weds in a new country
We got married four months before moving to the Czech Republic, and I would say that we had an ideal situation. We both worked at a YMCA camp as naturalists, where we had friends, a community, our first home, and it was comfortable. It was there that we started our transformation from girlfriend/boyfriend to a married couple. Those of you who are married know that this can be both fun and frustating, because no longer are you living only for yourself and your well being, but you need to make adjustments to your lifestyle to met the needs of the other person. Cooking dinner is a good example of this. I might want to eat soup, but Jeremy would want to eat pasta; therefore, we would have to come up with some other option that both of us could agree on. So we had alot of adjustments to make.
After coming to the Czech Republic it felt like we needed to re-do all of the adjustments we had made in Ohio, plus more, since we now lived in a completely foreign country. Honestly, I underestimated how difficult this change would be. Not only did we need to a adjust to the language, culture, food and people, but also the reactions of one another while these adjustments are taking place. For example, going to the grocery store. In the united states I know what I can and can't buy at the grocery store, but here I'm still trying to figure this out. During our first few months here, the grocery store was a stressful place full of people with carts, narrow isle ways, and ofcourse everything being in Czech. It would take me about forty minutes to find half the things I was looking for and I would come home frustrated because I couldn't find something, or I couldn't understand that the cashier said to me, or the person behind me was pushing their cart into my butt in hopes to making me go faster. I would then tell Jeremy about the experience in hopes that he would understand and help me to feel better. So we had new emotional struggles that we needed to help each other deal with.
I am an introvert and Jeremy is an extrovert. This combination can be good for sometimes, like planning things, but adds a level of stress to other things, mainly social interations. In the U.S. this was not as apperent, because there was never a time when we could not make our needs clear to someone, and I knew how to deal with my introvertedness. After our move I was completely out of my comfort zone and felt like I was drowning at time. There were so many emtional stress, but the biggest was learning a new language, which effected everything we did. Jeremy took the lead in most social settings since his Czech was better, and I was afraid, but this put an incredible amount of strain on him. Our first year I didn't do a good job of supporting him and practicing the language with him, which has created a wide gap in our ability to communicate in Czech, but also made him feel that he is was let down in a time of need.
Old hat
We came into a program that was going into it's 6th year. A group from Oklahoma, who knew Pastor Jan and his family, had been coming to Policka for 5 years to do a English summer camp at the church. After the 3rd year of camp, a young woman from the group, Kati, stayed to teach English out of the church year round. She stayed for two years and we were hired to take her place and add new ideas to the already existing program. I found this was more challenging than I thought it would be, mainly because the first year I didn't have a single helper for my seven kids classes. I had to rely on a dictionary and the higher level kids for communication, because my Czech was not at a level where I could help them understand what I was saying in English.
Another challange was the feeling that we needed to live up to the past programs. Which meant that we needed to really think about how to make existing programs, classes and the halloween party, as good as, if not better than in the past. Ofcourse this is difficult to do since we weren't here, and we can only go off of what Kati wrote on her blog and what the kids tell us they did and liked. My most feared phrase in class was "we already did this with Kati" because it meant not only that the kids would not listen to me while I explained what we were going to do, but also that it was nothing "new and exicting" for them. We did plan some completely new events, which were sucessful, but for the most part, it didn't seem like people were interested in coming. It was like they were tired of coming to events at the church being led by Americans.
I would say the most suprising challenge that arose stemmed from us being second in line. On a number of occations people would tell us how much easier it is for us since there are two of us. They would tell us how lonely Kati was, or how difficult it was for her to adjust. I would like to think that people were just trying to make us feel better, but it had the opposite effect. It made me feel like my struggles and feeling of loneliness were unwarented. Yes, Jeremy and I had one another, but we spent our first year not knowing anyone in our appartment building or really anyone outside the church. We did make some wonderful friends, whom we can never express how much their friendship means to us, but it was and is still lonely at times. I don't want to make this sound like I am saying that our time here was more difficult than Kati's, I just want to show that our struggles looked a little different.
We have about ten months left in Policka, so there is still more to learn and see, and ofcourse more people to meet. I would like to ask that you keep Jeremy and I in your thoughts. I would be a great deal to us. Peace.
Newly weds in a new country
We got married four months before moving to the Czech Republic, and I would say that we had an ideal situation. We both worked at a YMCA camp as naturalists, where we had friends, a community, our first home, and it was comfortable. It was there that we started our transformation from girlfriend/boyfriend to a married couple. Those of you who are married know that this can be both fun and frustating, because no longer are you living only for yourself and your well being, but you need to make adjustments to your lifestyle to met the needs of the other person. Cooking dinner is a good example of this. I might want to eat soup, but Jeremy would want to eat pasta; therefore, we would have to come up with some other option that both of us could agree on. So we had alot of adjustments to make.
After coming to the Czech Republic it felt like we needed to re-do all of the adjustments we had made in Ohio, plus more, since we now lived in a completely foreign country. Honestly, I underestimated how difficult this change would be. Not only did we need to a adjust to the language, culture, food and people, but also the reactions of one another while these adjustments are taking place. For example, going to the grocery store. In the united states I know what I can and can't buy at the grocery store, but here I'm still trying to figure this out. During our first few months here, the grocery store was a stressful place full of people with carts, narrow isle ways, and ofcourse everything being in Czech. It would take me about forty minutes to find half the things I was looking for and I would come home frustrated because I couldn't find something, or I couldn't understand that the cashier said to me, or the person behind me was pushing their cart into my butt in hopes to making me go faster. I would then tell Jeremy about the experience in hopes that he would understand and help me to feel better. So we had new emotional struggles that we needed to help each other deal with.
I am an introvert and Jeremy is an extrovert. This combination can be good for sometimes, like planning things, but adds a level of stress to other things, mainly social interations. In the U.S. this was not as apperent, because there was never a time when we could not make our needs clear to someone, and I knew how to deal with my introvertedness. After our move I was completely out of my comfort zone and felt like I was drowning at time. There were so many emtional stress, but the biggest was learning a new language, which effected everything we did. Jeremy took the lead in most social settings since his Czech was better, and I was afraid, but this put an incredible amount of strain on him. Our first year I didn't do a good job of supporting him and practicing the language with him, which has created a wide gap in our ability to communicate in Czech, but also made him feel that he is was let down in a time of need.
Old hat
We came into a program that was going into it's 6th year. A group from Oklahoma, who knew Pastor Jan and his family, had been coming to Policka for 5 years to do a English summer camp at the church. After the 3rd year of camp, a young woman from the group, Kati, stayed to teach English out of the church year round. She stayed for two years and we were hired to take her place and add new ideas to the already existing program. I found this was more challenging than I thought it would be, mainly because the first year I didn't have a single helper for my seven kids classes. I had to rely on a dictionary and the higher level kids for communication, because my Czech was not at a level where I could help them understand what I was saying in English.
Another challange was the feeling that we needed to live up to the past programs. Which meant that we needed to really think about how to make existing programs, classes and the halloween party, as good as, if not better than in the past. Ofcourse this is difficult to do since we weren't here, and we can only go off of what Kati wrote on her blog and what the kids tell us they did and liked. My most feared phrase in class was "we already did this with Kati" because it meant not only that the kids would not listen to me while I explained what we were going to do, but also that it was nothing "new and exicting" for them. We did plan some completely new events, which were sucessful, but for the most part, it didn't seem like people were interested in coming. It was like they were tired of coming to events at the church being led by Americans.
I would say the most suprising challenge that arose stemmed from us being second in line. On a number of occations people would tell us how much easier it is for us since there are two of us. They would tell us how lonely Kati was, or how difficult it was for her to adjust. I would like to think that people were just trying to make us feel better, but it had the opposite effect. It made me feel like my struggles and feeling of loneliness were unwarented. Yes, Jeremy and I had one another, but we spent our first year not knowing anyone in our appartment building or really anyone outside the church. We did make some wonderful friends, whom we can never express how much their friendship means to us, but it was and is still lonely at times. I don't want to make this sound like I am saying that our time here was more difficult than Kati's, I just want to show that our struggles looked a little different.
We have about ten months left in Policka, so there is still more to learn and see, and ofcourse more people to meet. I would like to ask that you keep Jeremy and I in your thoughts. I would be a great deal to us. Peace.
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