This Moment

This Moment: One Photo without words that reminds me why I'm here.

(In the spirit of SouleMama)

Snow

Haven't I already waxed rhapsodic about snow? It muffles the noise and chaos of the world. It smooths over the faults and blemishes of the world. You can't help but love the peaceful picture of a city or a farm blanketed in snow. I grant you that snow has some destruction to its nature--but everything needs to be in balance.

A Most Peculiar Friday Night

I am certainly the last person who would have predicted that a Friday night in which I do not go Out On The Town would be atypical in my life, but as it turns out, it is. I've slowed down since Christmas, but until then, every Friday was dancing night. As it had been snowing since I walked to work on Friday morning, I thought I would have a rare Friday night in. But it being KT's last day in Prague and Nicole's last weekend before she started her farming adventure, I was coaxed into going to Nicole's flat for a soup dinner.

While you may think that Central Europe would get a lot of snow, this much is really uncommon here. It had only been snowing since 8am, but by four in the afternoon, the trains were a mess. I caught what I think was the 2:26 train at nearly 4 o'clock. When KT was convincing me to take the journey to Prague, I was so adamant that there was blizzard outside and she was being completely unreasonable. She kept telling me it was just a little snow. When I got to Prague, I realized that the reason she kept saying it was just a little snow was that... it was... in Prague. We were certainly getting much more snow in Kolín than Prague was getting.


I'm kind of sad that this is no longer a typical Friday night in my life. Hangin' out on couches, poking each other in the eyes with our toes. That's one of the downfalls of living out in the 'burbs--every time I come into the city, it's for something big, not for casual hang-out-time.


There aren't two people in the world with whom I enjoy casual hang out time more than KT and Nicole. Let's spoon on the couch, okay? 'Kay!

But as the evening progressed, I began to feel more and more sick. Spending hours outside in the cold is starting to get to my immune system, it seems. Between that and the fact that I don't trust CD (the Czech rail system) to get me home late at night during a blizzard, I decided to call it a night early. I headed back to Hlavni Nadraži where I found most trains to be delayed at least 70 minutes. The train I got took nearly twice as long as usual. But eventually, I made it back to Kolín...

...where Rasputin was waiting for me. As was a long, unplowed, snowy walk home.

But the snow clinging to my window (okno, neuter) made it all worthwhile! And it continued to snow for two more days. So look forward to pictures of my town after a snow storm with accumulation totaling more than the past three winters combined! Hurá!

Sometimes I think Sittin' On Trains...

I just counted the stack of tickets on my table and I have at least forty train tickets. This does not count round-trip tickets, tickets that didn't end up on my table, international train tickets, or metro/tram tickets. This means that I have ridden the train well over forty times in three months. So, I spend a lot of my time doing this.

About 2/3 of the trains I have taken are exactly like this. Big, red seats in compartments. The outside is green. There tends to be graffiti. But I love them. I love compartments in all their Hogwarts-Express-esque glory. Sometimes, there is even a woman who comes around with a snack cart.

A lot of the time, I get my own compartment. But if I don't, it's just as well. I find that trains make me fairly outgoing. Since they are also often home to young English and American kids backpacking across Europe, I also tend to find people to talk to on trains. "I can't help but notice you're speaking English," is our code for "Please talk to me!" Also, I tend to find a lot of nuns on the train. Why do I love sharing a compartment with nuns so much? I've become an old hat at watching the train as it gets to the platform to see which car is most likely to have an empty compartment or a compartment with a nun. I love the walk up-and-down the car to find the best compartment.

I love the views I get from the train. While I agree with William Pene du Bois that there is no better way to see the world than in a hot air balloon, trains are much more practical. I remember riding all the way from Penn Station to Plattsburgh this spring and how I saw parts of New York that I had never seen before (and also witnessed firsthand the epic failure that is American infrastructure). But I'm enjoying my train travel here as a way to see more of the Czech Republic.

Usually, I am just riding to and from Prague. But, I have now also taken the train to Dresden in Germany and twice to Bratislava in Slovakia. The latter destination provided me with a much bigger picture of the Czech Republic. There are mountains and fields and everything in between!

I also love that in Europe, trains are also so practical. You see freight trains carrying automobiles, milk trains, and best of all--post trains. I was waiting for my 1AM train to Bratislava and I saw a post train pass me in the snow. I imagined the train full of cards and presents going to brighten spirits all around the country on Christmas and suddenly, waiting wasn't so bad.

I also got to experience the first snow (October 15th!) on a train to Prague. I grant you that we did not have accumulation until last week, it was still beautiful!

One of the best parts of the train to and from Prague? As long as you get the usual one, you can stick your head out the window!

There is no better feeling in the world than sticking your head out of a train window!

Though, you have to be careful, there are poles that come mighty close to your face.



Not all of the trains I've ridden have been the big red bench compartment trains. Some of them are a bit swankier--particularly the longer rides. Sometimes, you can catch a train that is coming from a longer journey and get a nice seat for the 50 minute ride to Prague. This was my train home from Bratislava. It originated in Budapest and would take you to Berlin via Bratislava and Prague. It's insane to me that you can go that many places on one train. They're wonderful, wonderful things.

Note the light, temperature, and Muzak controls! Classy! Though, sometimes I end up in a train without compartments and have to ride in a big room with everyone. Not my favorite. I've also ended up on a commuter train that was like I imagine a 19th century LIRR train to be like... in not a good way.

On my way home from Bratislava, I got to see the snow all over the countryside! Unfortunately, nice train meant no sticking my head out the window.

But I could on this one. This was my ride to Bratislava the first time (3 trains, 7 hours... never again). I got to watch the sunrise through the snowfall on this train. That was, I admit, pretty amazing.

I was looking at apps the other day and there are a frightening number of mac apps for syncing your model trains. I thought Goodness gracious! Who cares about trains that much!?
As it turns out, I do, but I would prefer to be on one, not play with it. Don't even get me started on the glory of my Kilometres Book! 2000 km for 1 crown a kilometer. It is glorious.

The First Snow!

It's hard for me, in this blog, to not just let pictures do the talking. I take so many and that's how I documented Korea, but I am committed to actually writing this time. When people ask me my hobbies, I am so hesitant to say that I write. I don't write books, I don't write stories. I write blogs and journals and letters. But I do so with such fervor and dedication. Tweets can take me up to 20 minutes to perfect. A seven sentence LJ post might take the better part of an evening. So it's kind of ironic that in the last post, I was preaching the values of non-verbal communication when words are of such importance to me. I guess you have to find the proper balance.

Yesterday was the first snow in Kolín. I grant you that it did not accumulate, but it did snow most of the day and at times it was quite difficult to see. My camera did not capture it well because the snowflakes melted on the lens, but above was my walk to work. I cross this river every day, next to the oldest power plant in the CR. I've only lived places where I could walk to a fairly substantial body of water (the Long Island Sound, Connecticut River, Sincheon, Lake Champlain) if you don't count those few months in DeKalb. I guess it shouldn't be surprising because civilizations tend to spring up near bodies of water. But I don't understand how one could live without one.

You can kind of see the flurries in this picture of the corner near school. Since the weather hasn't been so agreeable, we've only been taking walks around the block instead of going to the park before lunch. On yesterday's walk, the little ones spent a lot of time sticking out their tongues and trying to catch snowflakes. It wasn't hard because the flakes were big globs of snow. I wished that I remembered the words to that Barney song, all I could remember was the part about rain, not the part about snow. I tried to make up my own in my head, If all the snowflakes were sugar-cubes and honey-cakes were the best I came up with. (As it turns out, it is "If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes" but I kind of like honey-cakes better, even if it doesn't fit the meter.)

Every morning, we put up the day and weather on this calendar that I designed. I'm pretty proud of it, and also the fact that it helped me learn the ever-so-useful Czech word suhízip, or Velcro. The kids love doing the weather. "Is it... sunny out?" "Nooooooo!" I had to take a picture of October 15th, the weather is snowy.

It had stopped snowing for part of the day and I was sad to take a train to Prague in the rain. But as we passed the fields and small villages that cover the 50 or so miles between Kolín and Prague, the rain turned back into snow! While most people wouldn't count that as a change for the better, I relished it. I opened the window to the bitter cold and stuck my head outside to snap a photo. Rain is so dreary and depressing, but snow always feels hopeful to me. There, is of course, the nostalgia of playing in snow as a child and the thought that with snow comes Christmas, but there's more to it than that. While rain assaults you, burrowing through your layers and soaking you to the core, snow tends to just land on top and you can easily brush it off. You only end up a little damp from snow, instead of completely soaked. Also, rain adds to the noise of city life, while snow muffles the sounds. Everything is so peaceful and quiet in the snow. With the first snow in this little town, I can honestly say that I am so happy to be here. I don't want to go home. This is the first time since I graduated that I have actually liked a place I've lived, no less loved it.

I think I am going to be spending a long time looking like this. Totally content in my little compartment on the train, imagining each new day on this adventure.