This Moment

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

(Inspired by SouleMama)

A Day That's Hard to Beat

It's summer time and that means summer vacation for most teachers. It's odd that I count myself lucky for not having 8 weeks off in the summer, but it means that I don't have to find a way to make up for two months without a salary. So, bring on summer school! Well, it's preschool, so it's not exactly summer school. Each week, we have a theme and fewer kids than usual since most are on holiday. We've got some kids who will be coming for a week or two who normally go to other schools that are closed for the summer. This week's theme was fairy tales. I took an idea my boss had about going to the forest to find a witch and ran with it. I came to school today dressed as a fairy (yeah, I've got angel wings--the kids are 3 and 4, they don't care). I told them I was not Colleen but in fact Serafina. They went with it. If only I could have a preschooler's abilities when it comes to suspension of disbelief! I told them that I needed their help to defeat a witch who was living in the forest. They gathered their magic wands and we walked to the island. We followed a trail of gingerbread to a very big, old tree where the witch was living. We circled around it and waved our wands, shouting, "Abra Kadabra!" and heard the witch cry as she flew away.

"Where did she go? I didn't see her!" asked a student.

"I saw her. She's gone. She's really gone!" replied another.

"Where did she go?"

"To Africa!" (This is their new favorite thing, going to Africa, sending someone to Africa... don't know what that's all about.)

They discussed it for a while until they were all certain that the witch had left. Our work having been completed, we headed to the playground.

Let me tell you, walking around town today dressed as an angel was quite an adventure. I got so many disapproving looks from old ladies. I wonder if they assumed the angel costume was something naughty. Did they think I was a stripper? But at the bus stop (yes, I rode public transportation dressed like that), a grandfather brought his grandkid over to me and told her I was an angel. He asked if she saw a devil around and she said no and that devils are scary. Then, when I got on the bus, he said, "We get to ride with the angel! We are so lucky!" The toddler seemed pleased.

A lot of old men wanted to talk to me, but couldn't figure out what to say. I walked past a lot of toothless stuttering. Someone joked that they were afraid I had come to take them to heaven. "It's not my time yet!" they were trying to say. I'm ashamed to say... I laughed a little.

The best response, however, came from a young gentleman at the park who turned to his friend and said what translates effectively to, "Dude, am I drunk, or is that an angel?"

When we got back to school, I said goodbye and closed the door. I promptly changed clothes and put up my hair. When I came back, I asked where they had been. They told me the story about a fairy taking them to the woods. Again, the ability to play into what is an obvious hoax... so jealous!

After work, I went to pick up the newspaper, knowing that two of my friends were going to be in the Dnes Magazine, but not aware of how prominent they would be. When I saw them as the teaser photo for the magazine on the cover of the newspaper itself, I wanted to say, "those are my friends!" to the shopkeeper. I was back in my angel costume at this point, so I thought it best to give her only one reason to stare.

When I opened the newspaper right outside of the shop, standing in town square, I pulled out this. Maybe I've been reading too many Victorian novels, but I found myself so shocked that I needed to sit down. This is unbelievable! I thought to myself, as I sat in the town square... in an angel costume... holding a magazine with my friends on the front cover. What a day!

Champagnta

This is going to be one of those intensely photo heavy, long posts. All photos courtesy of Jess, Andrea, and Sara as I did not have my camera. Most of the best days in my life are those days that I look back on and, in retrospect, realize were absolutely amazing. Some days, though, you realize in the moment that they will be the best days of your life. This is the story of one of those days. **

**

When I was 18, my main group of friends was referred to as "The Table." We ate lunch and dinner together every weekday while on the weekends we came together for brunch and dinner. The Table was primarily straight-edge, so our Friday and Saturday nights involved going to the movies, candy shop, or playing cards on Jenn and Denise's floor. But brunch on the weekend--that was our time. It was a marathon for us. Ten thirty to one. As many plates as we could eat. Glorious were the days when they had the make-your-own waffle station. Jenn seemed to live for them. Kim could pack in more food than any of us, despite her small frame. But brunch was always bittersweet. We knew we were fighting against the clock, that we had a full day of homework ahead of ourselves and no amount of scrambled eggs would make it go away. We would leave in the early afternoon, resigned to a day of study.

But in the real world, Sunday brunch isn't procrastination's last hurrah, it's the weekend's last hurrah. Whatever happened that weekend, however disappointing, there's still a full day ahead of you to turn it around. There's no homework looming overhead, but there is the knowledge that the week begins tomorrow. Every Sunday is like the last day of summer for a school kid. You know that it's all you've got left and you have to make the most out of it. Our traditional brunch has been referred to as the "Hangover Brunch" but to me it's more of a debriefing session. We gather at someone's flat to cook, eat, and have our last drinks of the weekend. This Sunday, we started with Bloody Marys (my first!) and after we ate our way through a few hours of lounging in the kitchen on the windowsill, we finished up brunch with Magical Mermaid Mimosas. When the pitcher was finished, we finally decided to move to the park to bask in the beautiful weather (in spite of all those warnings about volcanic ash). I looked, calculating, at the empty bottle of twist-off champagne, the full bottle, and the half-empty bottle of Fanta.

"Guys!" I shouted. "We pour half the bottle of champagne into the empty bottle, then top both off with the Fanta, put the caps back on, and bring them with us to the park!" Someone quipped about the beauty of twist-off champagne caps. But then, we did. And it was glorious. *

We went to the park and found the perfect spot in the sun to drink our Champagnta. **

And drink it we did! When you mix in Fanta, you can barely taste the 48 crown (~$2.50) bottle of champagne! *

We decided that the slightly opaque sparkly stuff in the green bottles looked like what they drink in the garden in the movie of Harriet the Spy and this made Champagnta even better. *

I was pretty excited to have dressed so ridiculously for brunch. "I strive to make every moment of my life a photo opportunity" may have been my Champagnta-tipsy quote of the day. *

But while we were laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, an Austrian boy in a photography class actually came over and asked to take pictures, so, really, we made an impression. *

You'll note that most pictures are of the five of us girls. Brunch is usually high in estrogen and any boys who end up with us seem a bit exhausted. There's a reason he's on his own little towel instead of The Blanket (The Definite Article Blanket, as it were). And that reason is girls and... **

PUPPIES! The park is full of them on a Sunday afternoon and the Czechs aren't big on leashes. We called over as many dogs as we could and attacked them with affection, making cooing noises. This dog, however, found us. We noticed her urinating on the head of a guy passed out a few yards from us. Then, suddenly, she was on our blanket. "She likes other people but not me," the owner said when he came to retrieve her. What we did not get a photo of was the pig.

"Is that man walking a pig?" asked Jess. We all looked over and debated whether or not it was indeed a pig.

"Is that pony?" asked Jess, about a very large poodle at a great distance.

But, the porcine leashed animal came closer, and revealed itself to, in fact, be a pig. Eventually, Lauren and I were on the way to the bathroom and I managed to ask the owner if we could pet it. He apathetically agreed. We pet a pig. Its nose was kind of sticky, its fur was sparse, but it was a pig, and we pet it. ***

Eventually, the one bottle of champagne split two ways ran out.

"Guys! We buy two more bottles of champagne and one bottle of Fanta..." I began.

"And split the champagne amongst four bottles and top it off with Fanta!" someone else finished.

So Sara and I went to the same shop where she had purchased the makings of the Magical Mermaid Mimosas to get more supplies. We ended up with the same cashier and Sara gleefully told her to have a good day. We certainly were having one. We returned triumphantly and the crowd applauded.

At this point, the splitting the bottles became an assembly line procedure. Pour the champagne, pour the Fanta, cap it, overturn it to mix but don't shake. ***

In the end, we had four more bottles of Champagnta. "I'll call you breakfast, and you brunch, and you lunch, and you dinner!" **

*

As we neared the end of the bottles, we did feats to show off how we were still not drunk including hand stands, somersaults, and cartwheels. Throughout the day, friends came and went. There was frisbee and football. There were guitars and surly chihuahuas. As the sun went behind the clouds and slowly began to set, we moved to the beer garden and had a last round of drinks and foosball for the weekend (for some of us, at least).

It seemed to most of us that Monday morning was more brutal after a beautiful Sunday, but I think that on some level we all preferred an amazing Sunday and rough Monday to two mediocre days.

*From Sara

** From Jess

*** From Andrea

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!

Expiration Dates and Extended Mixed Metaphors

I drink a lot of milk. This may come as a surprise to people who knew me as the I'm-allergic-to-soy-so-I-drink-rice-milk girl. But the story behind how I became an omnomnivore is for another time. I have learned that in the Czech Republic, expiration dates are pretty accurate. These are not the whimpy American "sell-by" or, worse yet, "enjoy-by" dates. They are expiration dates. They are, "Don't even bother opening the cap!" dates. When I get milk, I always drink a lot of it the first two days and then realize that I am running out and I don't want to go buy more, so I drink it sparingly, then all of a sudden the expiration date is looming and I know that at midnight my milk will turn into a pumpkin.

Last week, nothing seemed to go right. It was probably some time around 00:01 on 1 November that things started to go south, so I was resigned to considering November a bust. But this morning, I woke up and decided, "Dnes je nový týden. Bude to dobré." Today is a new week. It will be good. And it's all about attitude. I went to school, determined to have a good day, and I did! My boss casually brought up what a good job I am doing, which was good because it had been a nagging anxiety in the back of my mind for a week or two now--since I realized that I am here on a three-month trial period and I didn't actually know if my boss even liked me. But now I know that she thinks I am doing a great job and that the kids really love me. She told me that last week when I wasn't around, Ema was shouting from the bottom of the stairs, "Colleen! Colleen!" and would not accept her as a substitute. I had another parent-child class today and though they make me anxious, this one went really well.

As I was walking home, I was thinking about how this is the first time in my life that what I am doing doesn't have an expiration date. I do not have a planned end to living in the Czech Republic or working at my school. I love them both so much that I am content to think of it as an indefinite situation. But it's the first time when indefinite feels... good. I feel settled. I feel like if this were to be the job I take for the rest of my life, I would be happy. I would probably move to Prague and commute out to Kolín for school, but other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. My life has always gone from one definite ending date to another: elementary school, junior high, high school, college, NYSP, Korea, (okay there was that period of unemployment that seemed interminable but that's another story), camp... all of these things, I knew, would end in the near future. It's nice to not be searching for jobs while working one.

But while I bounced along the path home, on autopilot with dance music playing in my ears, I tried to silence the little voice in my back of my mind that keeps saying, "Visa visa visa!" When I got home, though, I had a message from a Czech friend saying that she spoke to a lawyer for me and they will help me. Everything will be okay! How could I ever leave a country where I've met such amazing people? All of the friends I've made, all of the people I work with, everyone tries so hard to make me feel welcome and happy in this country. And boy howdy do I ever!

When You...

A short post to remind myself that when you have friends like this...

And adventures like this...

And this...

And live in a town like this...

And this...

And when you spend your days as a human jungle gym, when your boss' husband calls to make sure that the DVD he sent you works so that he can give you more, when your co-worker invites you to climb hills on the weekends, when you get regular e-mails from your best friends, when you can get fried dough from a stand right outside your apartment, when your commute involves crossing a river and walking through a park, when you are praised for every word you learn, when you spend your Tuesday carving sugar beets like pumpkins, when you are surrounded by so much joy...

Even if you can't see Where the Wild Things Are for a few more weeks...

All is love.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Insert Soul/Seoul Pun Here

More about this weekend in Seoul! On Saturday, after we went to the palace, we decided to go to Insadong where we could go Christmas shopping and get some lunch. We got directions to somewhere with Western food, but it was so cold that we couldn't handle wandering around looking for it. We settled for burger king and enjoyed our first french fries in a long time.
Here Layna enjoys the BK.

The view of Insadong from Burger King. I love that pretty much no matter where you go in Korea, there's a mountain in the background--even in a touristy shopping district, as viewed from a Burger King.


After we were fed and warmed, we headed back into the cold for shopping. On the way, we met two groups of Free Huggers, who unfortunately do not exist in Daegu. Here, Layna gets a hug.


This might be my new favorite photo of all time. Because it is a Western tourist district, this guy totally expected us to take photos--excellent!


Just a shot of Insadong shopping. There were so many Westerners in Seoul that I was having a bit of culture shock. I'm used to actually going out for hours at a time and not seeing another Westerner the whole time--but in Seoul, they're everywhere!

This guy just looked so content with his fish frying stand. I took the picture because I realized that I had no photos of all the little food stands that are everywhere in Korea. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of how Maureen Ryan described Rome during the end of the Republic.

This was the other Free Hugger. She spoke English and after giving us hugs, asked me to sign something. She was incredibly impressed when I wrote my name in Hangul. She asked me where I was from and, as it turns out, she has lived on Long Island! She lived in Manhassett, which makes me wonder...what on earth would cause someone to go from Korea to Nassau?


At night, we tried to get to Namsan Tower, but got lost on the way. Here's one of the shots I got of Seoul at night from the very wrong path. It was better, though, because we were exhausted and ready to go back to Layna's apartment and roast chestnuts!

The next day, when we went out, it was snowing! It's hard to tell here, but there's definitely snow. Daegu had our first snow on Friday, so this was all so exciting. Apparently, we even got snow before NoHo.

Snowy park near Layna's apartment.

All and all, it was an excellent weekend! I'm so glad I got to go to Seoul before I leave. Layna was a wonderful host, as well.

Chapter Thirty-Three: 창덕궁 Palace

This weekend I visited Layna in Seoul and we went on many adventures. Our first stop was 창덕궁 (Changdeokgung) Palace. The palace was first built in 1405 but fell into disrepair after being destroyed in the Japanese invasion of 1592-1598. It was rebuilt during the seventeenth century and was the main palace for the Joseon Dynasty. Many of the buildings had to be rebuilt due to fire, but apparently they are all still real' historic. It's also freakin' huge. And it was in use until 1989.
Above is the entrance. It is called the Donhwamum Gate, first built in 1412, then restored in 1609. It is the oldest still-standing palatial gate in Korea.

The courtyard just as you pass through the gate.

Heading through another gate.

This is Injeongjeon Hall. It was built in 1405, restored in 1609, and last updated in 1908. It was used for "official ceremony, such as celebrations by royal subjects and receptions for foreign envoys." Injeongjeon Hall-aka the Throne Room. This is what you imagine when you think palace.



Hey look, it's a mountain. This happens a lot, as Layna says, when a country is 70% mountains.

The courtyard around Injeongjeon Hall.

"I'm in a palace!"

"...in Korea!"

Gettin' closer to the thrones.

I love the roofs. As always, they blow my mind with how much detail they can put onto a roof.

Inside Injeongjeon Hall

The throne!

I love the windows nearly as much as the roofs. I'm going to decorate my next apartment this way.

The money shot: Lookit that throne! Woo! (It should be noted that I'm not sure this is actually a throne, that's just what it appears to be.)

Korean forest on one side...

And Seoul's skyline on the other.

Nothin' like a little smog to remind you that you're in the city.

Courtyards, courtyards, courtyards.

Can't seem to find any information on this building in my guide. Alas.

Not an excellent shot, but I'm pretty sure this is Seonjeongjeon Hall, first built in 1461. The building was where the king would conduct business of state. It's the only building in the palace to still have the super-fancy blue tiled roof.


Somewhere around here is Heujijeondang which was the king's sleeping quarters and office. It was Westernized in the early 20th century. Hence the following photos.

Yeah, that don't look real' Korean to me. But it is pretty!

The outside of the building.

I love all the little overpasses between buildings. It reminds me of the tree houses in "Hook."

This courtyard, I believe, brings us into the Huwon, or "The Secret Garden."

Can't tell you how many times I have felt like this little Korean girl on a tour. Did I mention how cold it was? It was below freezing the whole day, apparently the high was about 23 degrees, and this tour was over an hour.
Here we are in Nakseonjae Area where the crown prince lived as well as other family members. The buildings do not have the typical painted roofs and would be much like aristocratic houses outside of the palace. They were used until 1989 when Bangja Lee, the wife of the last Crown Prince lived here.
You see that the buildings are raised with holes below them. This is for the typical Korean ondol heating system. There is a fire built below the floor and the heat goes up through the clay or stone floor. My apartment still has this kind of heating, 'cept without the fire underfoot. My boss at Hartsbrook used to talk about this as though it were cutting-edge green technology (we called it "toasty feet" heating) but in Korea it's been around for centuries.


This is what the little buildings look like inside. They look a lot like any Korean apartment I've seen, to be honest.



An iced-over pond! Love winter.
This is the Buyongji Area, which we were told many times was built for the "relaxation" of the royal family (though none of the area's activities sounded particularly relaxing to me). The pond was man-made with a design based on the traditional Korean concept of the universe. They believed that heaven is round and the earth is a rectangle--hence the rectangular pond and circular island. The building in the background is Juhamnu. It was built in 1778. The lower level was home to the royal archives known as Gyujanggak. Our tour guide said something about there being 170,000 volumes, but I might have misheard.
The little building in the front is called Yeonghwadang. As I understand it, from this location, the king "used to personally supervise state examinations to recruit civil and military officials." How intimidating would it be to have the king watching you take your GRE?


I can't find much information on this little building, known as Bujongjeon Pavilion, but its strange roof shape apparently has something to do with the shape of a lotus flower. Pretty neat!

The circular island of heaven.

"I want a picture of you in front of the lotus building" says Layna. I think I look pretty silly.

What's a Korean travel blog without a picture or two of magpies?

This gate, Bullomun, is apparently magical. If you cross through it you will increase your "longevity." Layna said that her first tour guide claimed it was meant to give you eternal life. Is it wishful thinking on one tour guide's part? The guide says this: "'Bullo' means 'not to age,' and embodies a wish for the king to live a long and healthy life." Apparently tour guide number 1 was just having some fun with her job.

Layna's "I'm at a palace!" pose.

This is the Aerjeonji Area--another man-made pond. The guide has some excellent words on this attraction of unknown age: "'Aeryeon' means 'loving the lotus,' which symbolizes the virtue of a gentleman." Yeah, ten points if you can figure out what that one means.

Finally, we have Euiduhap, where "it is said that Prince Hyomyeon, son of King Sunjo, enjoyed reading and contemplating."

I will post more pictures later of the rest of my journey in Seoul.