Come Monday

"Mondays are not part of the productive work week." ~Dilbert, cartoon by Scott Adams

Feb 25, 2013
About halfway through the night, I realized that while my school supplies were bought and purchased, I had neglected to buy textbooks for any of my classes. Sitting up in bed in a slight panic, I adjusted my alarm clock thirty minutes earlier so I could get to the university bookstore before class.

When it went off, I got out of bed, dressed, and left right away. I ran into Machek on the tram. We had been in a couple of groups together for orientation. Like everyone else in the dorms, he and his roommate had spent the weekend sick. His roommate was still laid up with a bug and stayed home to sleep.

We talked on the tram about starting to travel. I told him I was excited to start seeing more of Europe but also relayed my hesitation of going alone after my escape from Terezin.

“You went to Terezin?” he asked.

“I did,” I said.

“How was that?”

“It was really interesting to see,” I said.

“There is the big camp in Poland. Um, what is it called?” he thought for a few seconds.

“Auschwitz?” I offered.

“Yes, Auschwitz,” he said. “Are you going to go there?”

“I think I’d like to,” I said.

“I went when I was very young. Like sixteen I think, and I did not like it,” he said.

When we got to school, Machek joined me in finding the book store so that he could check the prices of his books. When I went to pay, I again only had one of the $2,000 koruna notes from the ATM. The woman at the counter was hesitant to take it. She didn’t speak English, but called over her manager. He held it under a black light and told her it was ok.

In total, my books cost $7 USD.

My first class for the day was Basic Czech for Foreigners. Once again, the professor was late. When she did arrive, she set her bags on the front desk and, with a sigh, said, “I hate Mondays!”

Apparently, this too is a sentiment understood across cultures.

In class, we finished learning the Czech alphabet and started practicing some basic greetings. Thibaut, the student from France who I’d worked with last week, worked with me.

“I have read some articles from your blog,” he said. “It’s great!”

I was a little taken aback. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m glad you like it!”

We stumbled over all of the tongue bending words of the basic Czech phrases, before class ended. When it finished, I went to my next class that was right afterwards.

Between classes, I got an email from my friend Bryan back home. He asked me about a project for a Boy Scout event that was coming up. I told him I’d work on it a bit when I got back to the dorm. The reality was, my brain started working on it in that moment. All through Supply Chain Management, I found myself thinking about the project. For over a year, working on scout projects had been my life. It was certainly overwhelming at times, but it was also very fulfilling. It had been over a month since I’d worked on a anything scout-related. I knew that I was on this “life changing adventure” but my brain really liked the idea of solving a puzzle again.

When class ended, I went with Lucas to lunch. We’d met in class the week earlier and were going to do a project together on RFID for that class. I’d invited him to join me in the cafeteria, but he said he’d show me a nicer restaurant that was cheaper for students.

The restaurant turned out to be in the academic club room in the upper level of the Paradise building. They had a student combo every day that was a drink, soup, entrée, and dessert for 100 crowns ($5USD). We were joined by his girlfriend, Marketa, who helped translate the menu for me. The soup was beans and corn, in a thick creamy broth. The entrée for the day was roast beef served in bright orange gravy with a side rice. The dessert was a donut with banana cream filling.

As we ate, they asked me about my time in the Czech Republic.

“Do you like the beer?” Marketa asked.

“I actually don’t drink,” I said.

The both stared at me, wide eyed and slack jawed.

“I’ve tried the beer and the wine” I said. “I don’t really like them and I never drank back home so, I’ve just decided not to drink. I do like orange soda, though.”

They stared at each other and then back at me. “I’ve never met anyone who didn’t drink. Especially the Americans; they all come to Prague to party.”

“I’ve noticed that,” I said. “I came to Prague for this history and the culture”

“Really?” Lucas asked.

“Absolutely!” I said. “You guys have buildings that are older than my country. It’s amazing to me.”

“Do you like art?” Marketa asked.

“Kind of,” I said. “They aren’t my favorite exhibits, but like I said, the history fascinates me.”

She told me about an exhibit that was coming to Prague Castle. It was comprised of paintings by a Czech artist who had invented cubism (years before Picasso made it cool.)

After lunch, I thanked them for letting me join them. They said good-bye to each other Lucas and I continued to the second portion of our Supply Chain class. We had about twenty minutes till it started so we sat in the hallway talking.

“I watched some of the American election last fall,” he said. “Can I ask you who you voted for?”

I laughed a little and told him.

“In America, you have only two political parties?” he asked.

“Actually,” I said, “We have several parties. I want to say there were twelve on the ballot this year. But most of them don’t have enough money to get publicity and the media only covers the main two.”

“Really?” he asked. “We only ever hear of republicans and democrats. You can vote for any of them and then whoever gets most votes wins?”

“Not exactly,” I said. I debated how to explain the Electoral College but decided to give it a shot. “Each state gets a certain number of delegates. Whichever candidate wins in the state gets all of the delegates from that state.” I decided not to mention the quirks of Nebraska and Maine.

“That makes sense,” he said. I was surprised at his reaction since it doesn’t make sense to most Americans. “Keeps it fair for all the states, especially when it comes to campaigning.”

“That’s the idea,” I said.

When the class started, we went inside. We had to present our preliminary plan for our project. I explained to the professor that I thought it would be interesting to compare RFID to barcodes and then discuss which one we thought was more effective.

The professor agreed, but followed up asking, “Have you found anything specifically interesting in your research about RFID.”

Lucas jumped in. “I found one article that said they use it to track athletes when they run to get their time across the finish line.”

“Yes they do,” the professor said. “They also use it to track patients in hospitals when they are moved for tests.”

Each of the groups presented their ideas, and then we proceeded with the lecture. After class ended, I headed back to the dorms to start on the project Bryan had sent me.

While I felt a little guilty working on scout stuff in Prague, I loved it at the same time. It was fun digging back into my tool box and coming up with creative ideas. It was the exactly intellectual challenge I needed on a Monday.

While I was working, I got an email from our friend Matt down in Munich. He sent me some dates for a trip to come visit them and I got it on the calendar. My Dad also sent me some info to go visit some relatives in Germany which I’m starting to look into now.

I probably stayed up a little too late, but my first class on Tuesday isn’t till 12:45. After getting the blog updated and ready, I took a shower and headed to bed.