Jan 2007

a new year, a new start

is it really already 2007?

03.01.2007 3 °C

Hey all,
You’ve been clamoring for my Christmas news, so here it is.
The weeks leading up to Christmas were insane (which is probably an understatement). By the time it was all over and we had one week left, I spent most of my time exhausted. I went to bed early every single night last week, very early. Like 9 and earlier. One night I even went to bed at 7:15! And even after all that, I still got sick over the weekend. I’m getting over that now. Mostly it’s just sniffles and a scratchy throat.
But the interesting part comes on Sunday, which was Christmas day. Yes, here they celebrate Christmas on the 24th, so we decided that we would celebrate it that day, and make it a day of Czech Christmas traditions.
Tradition #1: Carp. Czechs eat carp and potato salad on Christmas day. So, I made potato salad (which was very good, I must say), and the boys bought a carp and brought it home. Here, they buy their carp live. If they like, they can have it killed there in front of them, which is a rather horrific experience for the carp as it involves being bashed over the head and then having its throat slit. Other people take the live carp and throw it in a plastic bag and take it home wriggling and flopping on the tram and the metro until they get home, where it lives in the bathtub awaiting Christmas day. We decided to carry on the tradition. There were a total of 8 of us. The others are traveling elsewhere. So we get the carp, keep it in the bathtub for a couple hours, and then prepare him for death. Andy (who also named the carp Andy, after himself) took him to the kitchen and smacked him on the head to stun him, but it wasn’t a very hard smack, so the fish was still kinda moving. Then (BEWARE – story gets graphic), he started to slit the fish’s throat, but the knife wasn’t very sharp. With blood everywhere, the boys proceeded to, with the dull knife, saw the head off the fish as he flopped around in the sink, a process that took a lot longer than it should have. Poor fish, but thankfully Eliseo knew what he was doing and took over, cleaning and gutting the fish. Thank goodness, because no one else knew how to do it. Finally, the fish was marinated and cooked, and I even tried a little tiny piece because they put so much work into that fish.
Tradition #2: Light a candle at the cemetery in honor of the dead. We went to a nice cemetery, and by that time, it was dark out. So we tripped over graves that we couldn’t see and finally chose one at random to light a candle on. It was freezing out, and we were probably a little louder than we should have been in a cemetery. But to be honest, it’s either be loud, or be quiet and scared…
Tradition #3: Good luck stuff. I don’t really know what to call this, but the Czechs have all kinds of Christmas traditions that are supposed to bring good luck and a prosperous future or whatever. One is to cut an apple in half. If the seeds make a star shape, you’ll have good luck. Mine made a star shape (thank goodness, because a cross shape means you’ll die within the year). Another tradition is to put a little candle in a walnut shell and light it, make a wish, and float it on water. After many tries and a bowl full of tipping candles sputtering in the water, I think we finally succeeded when we learned that we should just cut the candle and make it very small. Yet another tradition is for girls to throw their shoe over their shoulders at the open door. If the toe of the shoe points out, she will be married within a year. If it points in, she’ll stay in the home that year. Mine landed sideways, and I have no idea what that means. My future is unknown? Thanks, shoe. You’re no help Another tradition is to melt lead and pour it into water, look at the shape, and supposedly see your future. We didn’t do that one. Don’t know where to find lead. I think it’s a really old tradition, and not many Czechs do it anymore.
Tradition #5: Open presents on Christmas eve. We didn’t really have any presents, but there were a couple gifts from students – mostly candy and cookies. But we enjoyed eating those! I guess it’s also a tradition to bake lots of Christmas cookies and give them away to everyone. We didn’t really do that either.
Tradition #6: Attend midnight mass on Christmas eve. This is probably about the only time most Czechs go to church. We went to the big cathedral at Prague castle, and it was packed. It was also freezing, as cathedrals are meant to be imposing fortresses of stone, but not warm and cozy. Especially when they leave the doors open. To be honest, it was incredibly boring, because everything was in Czech and we didn’t understand anything. To make things worse, we barely had a place to sit. I myself got to sit halfway on the pew and halfway on the edge, and it was so uncomfortable I just decided to stand anyway.
But it gets worse. What should have been a normal trip home turned crazy when we got to the tram stop and discovered that in honor of Christmas, no trams were coming to that stop at all that night. So we were left with no choice but to walk in the direction that the tram would have been going. It was freezing cold, and we ran half the way just to keep warm. We finally found another tram stop, and discovered that no trams would be coming for another 5 hours, and I’m not joking. So we kept walking in the cold. It felt like we were walking across the whole city, but in reality it probably wasn’t that far. It was just freezing cold. Finally, though, we found a night tram that was coming, and thank God we got to the stop just in time. It was so late by then though, it was already 2:30 a.m. We fell into bed exhausted that night – but not after a late snack because it had been so long since we had eaten that we were hungry again.
The 25th we sort of celebrated again. Although, it felt a lot less like Christmas and just more like a regular day. Nat and I cleaned house, a task that had been needing done for a very long time. Then I baked Christmas cookies, and that evening we went to a Christmas concern at the Rudolfinum, a famous and really nice music hall. I spent most of my time feeling underdressed, as I was wearing jeans. Not only that, but we sat above the orchestra. Yeah, that’s right. Actually above them, facing the audience. It was a little awkward, but after a while, we got used to it, and it was really nice.
The next day Nat and I went to the airport to pick up her family who were coming for a visit. They were supposed to arrive at 9. We got there right at 9, and waited at the gate. And waited. And waited. In fact, with no way to contact them, we just had to assume that they had taken another flight, and we ended up waiting by that gate for the next 4 and a half hours. We spent part of the time walking around, browsing through insanely-priced magazines, eating disgusting food at the food court (which was the worst foodcourt I’ve ever seen. There weren’t even separate establishments – just one big kitchen with different, very expensive menus), and making candy necklaces. Why candy necklaces? Why not? There was nothing else to do AT ALL! It was so boring. But finally, her family came, and we went shopping at Tesco, got them settled in, and invited the boys over for dinner. It was so much fun to be all together.
Then the next day, I guess that’s Thursday, we headed downtown to tour the city, mostly for the benefit of the visitors. We saw the astronomical clock strike the hour, looked at the Jewish Quarter (which is also very expensive), and walked down Pařižka street, which is the most expensive street in Prague. The stores on that street include Dior, Louis Vuitton, Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, and everything else famous and crazy expensive that you’ve ever heard of. The others went to Strahov monastery, but I went back home to take a long hot shower. I had been freezing all day outside, because it was so cold. I was sure that my toes were on the edge of frostbite.
That evening, it started snowing big fat flurries. It was beautiful. It was the first real snowfall of the year. We were all so excited. It’s mostly gone today, but I’m sure it’s not the last time. The trees and buildings all looked so pretty under the blanket of snow.
As for news about the school and the mission, things are going good so far. One of our students is continuing Bible studies, and I’ve gotten the opportunity to at least tell most of our classes that I’m a Christian. The new teacher is fitting in well and we’re all getting to know him. Things have been a bit lonely around here with half of us gone, but the quiet has been a relief.
Actually, the peace and quiet was shattered on New Year’s Eve. We went to Wenceslas Square to participate in a celebration that would have been extremely illegal in the United States. When I say that, I don’t mean illegal because of the large consumption of weed (though there was that). I mean that the fireworks display was insane. I guess, coming from a country where big fireworks displays are put on by professionals, I didn’t expect it to be a free-for-all. But that’s exactly what it was. No official fireworks, just big fireworks in the entire square going off constantly for over two hours. The crowds were huge, but somehow made room for the fireworks going off IN THE STREET.
I’m not sure you understand what I mean when I say that they were going off in the street, but I mean the fireworks were not actually in the sky. They were exploding in huge plumes of purple and green in the street. Only, these were the kind of fireworks that usually explode in the sky, only now they were going off next to crowds. People were throwing them under trams and at police cars, and as the evening went on, at each other. So, yeah, it was probably dangerous (please don’t worry – I’m ok), but apparently it happens here like that every year. I don’t know if it seems crazy just because I was so not expecting it, or because it really was crazy. The locals see it as completely normal though, and I think we were the only ones screaming in panic when the fireworks went off next to us. Everyone else just watched calmly. These people. You gotta love them.
Anyway I’m back at school and not sure I’m ready to start this yet, even though it’s already started. Looking ahead to yet 6 more months, the time feels short on the one hand, and yet so interminably long on the other. But the days come and go just like they always have.
Happy New Year to all of you. I love you all and think about you often. Keep me in your prayers.
Love
Missy