Prague Spring

“If your trip is low on magic moments, kick yourself andmake things happen,” ~Rick Steves, EuropeThrough the Backdoor

To be perfectly honest, part of the reason I’ve slowed downon the blogging is because I’ve grown a bit bored. Not of blogging! I lovesharing the stories and talking about the adventures with people back home.I’ve grown bored of the actual stories. It feels like every day has become apattern.

Go to school. Come home. Burn pasta. Blog.

Go to school. Come home. Burn pasta. Blog.

I’ve left the maze of adventure, and fallen somewhere into apath of routine.

There have been some interesting encounters the past fewdays. On Thursday, Ivana helped me find some things I needed in town and we hada great conversation about her upcoming trip to America. We specifically talkedabout how if she is caught drinking alcohol underage, she will be immediatelysent back to Prague. That evening, I joined Thibaut and Leo along with their fourth roommate Lourenco, and their friend Phillip (from Portugal) for dinner at the Italian restaurant across the street. We practiced speaking some Czech to the waiter—who’s Englishsuddenly improved when we used Czech phrases—and discussed religions fromaround the world. It was a fascinating conversation!

On Friday, I met with Karin and Elli to work on our groupproject for Management class. As each of us presented our theory of how toproceed on the project, it was again evident that there were different habits,motivation levels, and understanding across the three of us. It also led to agreat conversation, in which they asked me about some “bizarre” American habitslike smiling—which Elli thinks looks very sexualized and odd.

It’s been a beautiful sunny week, and on Friday, I stood outon my balcony to watch the sunset. It was daylight until almost 6:30pm. Afterit went down, I proceeded back to my evening ritual of burning my dinner.

In Skyping with my friends and parents, I’ve told them, Isuddenly feel like I’m walking around town thinking, “Oh. The CharlesBridge…again….” It’s no longer mysterious and historical; it just feels plainand routine. In a very twisted way, I found myself wishing I was going to theleadership retreat back home this weekend. How sad is that? I guess I justfigured, if I had to be bored in a routine, it might as well be the routine Iknow.

But even as I say these things—even now as I type them—Iknow the feelings are only temporary. I guess it’s only a natural part of life.Not every day can be the honeymoon. And in the upcoming weeks, I’m going to getto see a dozen different cities. The adventure is about to switch into fullthrottle and I know April is just going to fly by.

I’ve also come up with a few personal things I want to workon. One discovery I’ve made about myself over here is that I really do likebeing alone. I always felt guilty for being alone back home. I had this feelingof “what kind of worthless human being likes to be by himself instead of withpeople?” Having done so many things by myself recently, I’ve found that Iactually recharge from spending some time alone. I enjoy going to see things bymyself so that I can go to and delve into the history that interests me. I likesitting in my room blogging and Skyping so that I can process and remembereverything I’ve done.

That said, I absolutely love being around other people. Theconversations I’ve had with students from across the world have been amazing.Even just walking through the crowded streets makes me smile. When I thinkabout back home, I’ve always enjoyed being with people. I love helping ondifferent committees a church. In scouts, it’s not the work that I love doing,but the passionate and driven people that I get to work with. And when theweekend rolls around, I always look forward to hanging out with my two bestfriends.

So I think something I need to work on is finding a balance.Figuring out how to set aside some time for myself to recharge and remember,while also deliberately spending time immersing with other people.

I know that some of it happens naturally. Take this weekendfor instance.

Saturday March 16,2013
I think I am home alone this weekend. At least I haven’tseen my other roommates since Thursday or Friday so I’m assuming they are outtraveling. As I said, I have so many trips coming up in the next few weeks thatI just can’t wait for them to get here.

When I got up today, I needed to finish laundry and gogrocery shopping. Before I did those things, I wanted to find a cross.

Back home, I have a little golden cross that I wear almostevery day. It was a gift when I got confirmed, and while I originally only woreit on special occasions (like Christmas and Easter) I began wearing it tochurch more and more often. Soon I found that when I’d wear it to church, I’dforget to take it off, and then I’d keep it on for a few days. Within the lastyear, I just started wearing it every day. Not wanting to lose it, I left it athome, but since I got here, I keep reaching for it, only to panic when it’s notaround my neck.

With all the craft stores and souvenir shops, I figured itwouldn’t be too hard to find a cross necklace. If it came down to it, I knewthey sold them in some of the churches I’d visited. But I figured I’d wanderaround town a little and try to find one.

Eating a granola bar, I took the tram into Wenceslas Square.When I got there, I noticed that the trees on the upper end of the square weredecorated with colorful streamers. I was a bit embarrassed—especially after thestink I’d been making about being bored—that I hadn’t been down to that end ofthe square. I’d taken photos of the museum, but I hadn’t actually approached itor seen the square’s namesake statue of St. Wenceslas.

Walking down to see the decorations, I noticed that therewere a dozen or so booths set up by the colorful trees. From them, variousvendors were selling various foods and crafts. There were handmade hats, anddecorative crystal gems. The smells of roasted meats and home cooked pastrieswafted through the air.

I bought some trdelni’k (the bread roasted over charcoals)and enjoyed it sitting at a bench in the sun. There were tourists from all overthe world mulling about—far more than I’d seen in town so far—and languages ofall different dialects echoed around the square.

The bread was perfect! It was fresh off the coals and stilllight and doughy. I’ve gathered from a few of the English sides and articlesI’ve found about trdelni’k that the recipe involves sugar, cinnamon, almond,and caramel. It tastes awesome and is a “must-try” if you ever come to Prague.

When I finished eating, I got up and walked around to takesome pictures. I got a few of the Wenceslas statue, as well as some of thedecorative hotels and buildings that lined the square. I also looked at thestreamers that filled the trees. They were all different colors and really madethe town feel more like spring.

The saying “Prague Spring” is apparently quite famous acrossEurope. April and May are the busiest tourist seasons in the city, with just abit of spill over into June. I can certainly see why. Today for instance, itwasn’t hot, but standing in the sun was quite comfortable (the shade was stilla bit chilly.) The city also seems to come to life as it warms up. The colorsof the buildings become just as noticeable as their grand architecture andstructure. And the people wandering around the streets seem to give the city afresh breath and energy that had been—not absent but certainly—hibernating sinceI got here.

I decided my best bet to finding the cross I was looking forwas to try the little market over by the Astronomical clock. I walked down tothe opposite end of the square and was surprised to find yet another severalrows of booths and carts. As I proceeded into the alley that lead over to themarket, I found rows of carts that amazed me!

They we each tended by (pardon the phrase) “peasant-looking”people who were dressed in literal rags. The women wore flowing dressed anddecorative hats, while the men were in tunics and leggings. I don’t know ifthis was their culture of it was just a touristy shtick, but it looked surreal.Although their garb is not what caught my eye; their product did.

They were each selling hand painted Easter eggs.

The booths were surrounded by tourists each waving money andtrying to buy a few a few of the decorative treasure. I wedged my way in to geta few photos. The eggs were beautiful. They were decorated like fine china withevery different color present. I think I plan to buy one before Easter comes,but for today, my main aim was finding a cross.

I continued down the alley to where it opened up to thegreen roofed market. Walking around the different stands, I didn’t take me longto start finding crosses. There were little silver ones and tiny emerald ones.I found rosaries and crucifixes along with large jeweled crosses (they sort oflooked like the “ganster-style” of jewelery in the US.) In the end, I chose asmall wooden one.

As I went to remove it from the display rack, a woman camerushing around from the side of the booth.

“Prosim?” she said. “What you want?”

“This one,” I said, holding the cross.

“Twenty-five crowns,” she said, removing it from the displayand coiling it up. Twenty-five crowns is about a $1.05 back home.

I gave her a fifty crown coin I’d been carrying and she gaveme my change. She put the cross in a small paper bag and said “Thank you, goodday!” with a smile.

I tucked the cross and my change into my pocket. Walkingback to Wenceslas, I heard music. As I came into the square, there was a smallband with two guitars, a saxophone and a white cello playing Hava Nagila. People gathered to listento them and the “folksy” atmosphere was quite fun.

As I turned to walk back to the tram station, I saw that the9 had just pulled away. There would be another in six minutes, but I figuredI’d hang around the square a bit more. It was only mid-afternoon. At some pointI’d need lunch and now seemed like a good time.

Walking back up to the carts by the museum, I bought a dishfrom a couple that was roasting meats in a small oven. It was kind of like akebab with peppers, onions, chicken, and ham, served on a slice of bread. I satagain at a bench in the sun enjoying my food.

The chicken was super tender and juicy. Each bite wasincredible. The ham (which was more like thick cuts of bacon) was the best I’veever had. It had a large amount of fat on it, but it wasn’t grisly or chewy.The onion was good, but a bit strong (I’m not used to eating it as a main food,normally just as a spice) and while the peppers were flavorful, the roastedskin was a bit chewy.

As I was eating, an unshaven man came and sat next to me. Hebegan speaking quickly in Czech.

“Nerezumim Cesky,” I said. (I don’t understandCzech…although I understood what he wanted.)

“Money for food?” he said. “I live on streets.”

I nodded and reached into my pocket. The five crown coin issort of octagonal shaped and I felt around for its jagged edges. I found it andhanded it to him.

“It’s all I have,” I lied. “I’m sorry.”

His face lit up. “Thank you! Thank you!” he said.

Then, he put his arm around me, and gave me a hug.

I was so humbled and moved. I’d started the day looking fora trinket that would remind me of who I am what I believe. In the end, thenecklace didn’t do that for me; this man did by showing me gratitude andreminding me to be compassionate. I understood those lessons more from thisinteraction with him than from a cheap talisman around my neck.

After he ran off, I finished picking the meat out of myfood. I started munching on the bread. Like most Czech carbs, it was very richand heavy. As I was eating, another homeless man approached.

“Homeless,” he said. “Money?”

I didn’t want to give away any of my larger coins, and Iwasn’t sure I had any small ones left.

“Do you want this,” I said, offering him the peppers Iwasn’t going to eat.

His eyes grew to size of dinner plate. From the smile on hisface, you’d have thought I’d invited him to dinner at Prague castle. “Yes?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said handing him the peppers and breaking off halfof my bread.

“Oh! Thank you!” he said, and took it over to another benchwhere I saw him share it with a friend of his.

Walking through the sunlight, I returned to the tram stationand caught the 9 back to the dorm. On the ride back, I think I saw a ladywalking a cat on a leash, but I’m not completely sure what it was!

Back at the dorm, I emailed with Bryan’s aunt and got myairfare to Zurich booked. I then started debating adding a few more trips. Iemailed my parents to get their thoughts, before heading to the grocery store.

I am getting better at grocery shopping. Not only do I knowmy way around the store and the brands pretty well, but I am pretty good atbuying essentials and saving some money along the way. I’ve also learned thatthe Czechs are much more patient shoppers than Americans. Part of the reason I couldn’tfigure out the flow of traffic is they really have no flow. They just wait forthe person ahead of them to move and then they go where they want to go.

When I got back to the dorm, I wound up skyping with myfamily to get their opinion on more travel. I got to talk to each of them for agood length of time (as opposed to the quick little calls we’d beendoing.)  I shared with them a bit of my “boredom”but talking through it also allowed me to see that it was just temporary.

As my Mom and I talked about travel, she told me, “I don’twant you to come home and say, ‘I wish I’d gone there while I was over there.’I want you to do absolutely everything you think you might want to do.”

When I hung up with her, I knew she was right (again!) Thistrip is once in a life time experience and I need to get serious about that. Ofcourse, just like life, not every day can be a honeymoon…but everyday can be anadventure.

I plan to book a few more trips in the next few days. I alsoplan to get back into reading about the history of Prague so that I can pullback another layer of the veil to see what I might be missing.

I do love sharing the stories with everyone back home, and Ilove hearing from all of you as I travel around. Thank you again for your loveand support.

Here’s to the exciting next chapter…