Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Sayonara teenage years! I'm twenty :)

Jana Dvmolvo Hostel
Prague, Czech Republic
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
6:12 PM (USA)/ 12:12 AM (CR)



...

So I have A LOT to catch y'all up on because I was originally just going to post photos of what we had done instead of talking about it AND I have some pretty funny pics; however, the internet connection is SUPER flimsy and it's just not strong enough to upload them all.

But this is what we did this past week. HAD LOTS OF FUN WOO-HOO!

Starting on Thursday, it was Katy's birthday, so we got pretty and went out...DANCING!! aaaah! We had so much fun! The club was called Duplex and we were on the top floor of a building in Wencen Clas Square. We had a blast, and danced the night away...literally. Haha, we didn't catch Tram 51 until 4 AM, when the sky was just beginning to show signs of light. Funny thing is, when we FINALLY got on, we ran into two of the guys in our program! They had accidentally not gotten off at their stop and had to ride the whole circuit again to get back where they needed to go, so it worked out :)

Four hours later, on Friday, we woke up, took showers and went to the Bee Research Institute where we got to eat fresh honey from the hive, make wax molds and watch a queen bee get artificially inseminated, which was kind of crazy, because the technology we have today is just too cool for school. What they do is inseminate a queen bee then sell her to a farmer who then uses her for his bee hive that will pollinate his crops. They maximize the usefulness of honey bees very well. As Bob (our Sustainability teacher) would say, "They are doing some powerful things here." We also got a chance to see the facilities in addition to his (the guy that owned it all) country workshop.

Honestly it was the best time I'd ever had. I had the opportunity to take some crazy pictures and overall it was just what the doctor ordered.

THEN on Saturday, it was MY TWENTIETH BIRTHDAY!! and off we went (eight girls only) to a place called Cesky Krumlov, a rural place out of Prague that had an ancient castle and really cool things to do like raft and horseback ride. We took a bus in which I had a seat but some people didn't so they had to stand in the isle meaning I had a rear end in my face for three hours. I kid you not. A derier in my face for three hours...And you know to begin with I was like, you know this is just how they do it in Europe, people are more comfortable being close, naked (you should see some of the postcards around here...on second thought,just be glad you can't). Anyway, I was humming along, enjoying my fellow human's warmth, breathing, you know, this is humanity, ahhh, loving humannnn, HEY WHAT THE CRAP IS A BUTT DOING IN MY FREAKIN FACE?? OMG I'M GOING TO NEED SOME AIR!!

Basically, the inner hippie within me was running low on happy drugs and decided to cut his hair, burn the last of his incense and throw out all his hemp clothing...or to put another way, it was a bit too raw for this chick.

Either way we finally got there and went rafting on the Vltava for three GLORIOUS hours :) It was so peaceful and relaxing...oh yeah until we spun circles because us girls couldn't paddle and floated backwards past a tour group, all the while they laughed with their GUIDE...we didn't have a guide so I thought we were doing great :)

It was just so nice, the Czech Republic is made up of temperate forests and have a lot of mountains, so certain parts of the river looked just like something from Western NC or some where in the mid-west; it was so great :)

Also there were about 5 pubs on the river banks and we would hop out of our raft, drag the thing on shore, get refreshments and keep going. It was kind of amazing!! When we got back, we had supper went to bed. Now the sleeping situation is something to explain. We had a dorm room next to a boys dorm room and they had to go through ours to get to theirs. In the middle of the night we hear, "'Ello? 'Ello girls! wake up! want to take a liquer shot? wake up!"

haha, we had these crazy people asking us did we want to drink!! We told him no thanks, but thanks and he left. Pretty simple, but the best part was in the morning we woke up and the tray of shots were just sitting on the floor in the corner, chillin' like they were born to sit there. It was like a bad dream, "OMG...that DID really happen! I wasn't dreaming!"

Anyway, it was then Sunday, they funnest day yet!! Are you ready for this?? I'm not so sure you are...WE WENT HORSEBACK RIDING!!! AAAAAAH! It was sooooo much fun! And just like on the river, our trail ride looked just like home. Mountains with evergreens, dappled light through the trees...omgoodness, it was BEAUTIFUL and so relaxing...to a certain extent because I was laughing so hard.

Let me explain. Some of the girls had never ridden before and didn't know how to stop, go, turn or keep their horse from eating every plant in reach. We didn't stay in a single file line, some horses went off roading, into ditches and trees, and one time a horse got such a clump of weeds in her mouth that she ripped a dirt clod up with it. I nearly lost it, like you had to be there with the tour guide saying in broken english, "Kiiiiiick Hiiiiim! Kiiiiiiiick Hiiiiiiiim!" (and the girls were like, I don't want to hurt my horse! and I was like, don't worry you can't...just nudge him with your heels)

So we finally got back and I tipped the little tour guide extra because I felt like she had earned it with us. After that we went to the Cesky Krumlov Castle, took a tour, and then went to the gardens and MAD DASHED to the bus station barely making our ticketed time.

SO, let me just say, I had a GREAT and SAFE birthday, in part to all of you who are praying for me :) Everything went so well and I know that without our faith and prayers lots bad things could have happened. I know bad things can still happen but, I ALSO know with out a doubt y'all back home are helping me have a fun and safe time here :)

I love you all dearly and hopefully I can get some pictures up, even if it's just a few :)

XOXO, Christin

1 comment:

Unknown said...

omg christin i can so picture yall going backwards and then passing yalls tour guide haha i think i laughed for like 10min none stop haha im so glad that you had a great safe and fun 20th birthday haha well no more writing a 1 before the other number haha well unless you make it to 100 but you still have like 80yrs b4 that haha well I LOVE YOU! AND CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU! YAY YAY!

p.s. in 3 months i will be 17 (omg i am not mature enough to handle being 17 i mean lord i just got used to being 16 jaja < that spanish for haha ehtans mexi friend did that in a text message and i think ethan about lost it haha

Love You Mucho

<3C-Gray! aka lil sis