Week One: “Vítejte v Rakovníku”

It has been awhile since I’ve updated my blog… I’ve decided that I will try to write once every week. I arrived to the Czech Republic on August 21 after a very stressful travelling experience. My connections were already tight, but a lot of my planes ended up being delayed. Because of this, I ended up running through the Calgary and Frankfurt airports. Thankfully, I arrived to Prague with an hour delay and met my host family! In this blog I will update you all on who I am staying with, as well as what I have been doing this entire week.

 

My host parents and Rotary Club met me at the airport with big signs. Here I met my YEO and found out that my first meeting is September 5 (not so important for you to know, but I need to remember (; ). My host parents are Ivana and Petr and I have a younger host brother Kuba who is ten years old. The first thing that we did was drive into Prague to register with the police station. After this, we drove for approx. 45 minutes to my new home… Rakovnik.

 

This entire week, I have been at a children’s day camp, similar to what we have in Canada. The parents will drop their kids off and there are various activities throughout the day. Kuba was already signed up for the camp before I arrived, but Ivana figured that it would be a great way for me to get to see the area. The age of the kids are between 5 and 12 years old. The day after I arrived I had to be at the camp at 8 am. When I arrived, I was introduced to the leaders (two of which were around my age) and I met some of Kuba’s friends. Not many of the kids spoke English, and if they did, they were often too intimidated to talk to me. Regardless, I have made some good friends with some of the kids and the leaders. I have found that being around the younger kids has been very beneficial this week. They ask me really basic questions that I understand and if at first I don’t get it, they try again but ask the question very slowly. Kuba has been a great friend as well, he will often tell me what is going on in English when I am standing around clueless… lol.

 

On the first day, we took a bus to a train museum. First, we went on a long walk through the forest. A lot of the kids for some reason love to run into the forest and grab mushrooms. It seems like the leaders want them to discard the mushrooms, but I’ve seen a lot of the kids stash them away in their lunch kits. Whenever there is a mushroom they’ll all point and yell for everyone to look at their discovery. On this walk I got to know Kuba very well and one of the leaders (Elizabeth in English). After this walk, we went to a train museum and got a tour. I didn’t understand anything, but there were a lot of old trains, which were interesting to look at. We all went to lunch in the town at a restaurant. The first lunch was a “sweet” lunch. It was dumplings with some sort of berry inside then whip cream on top. It was definitely different than the lunches that we’re used to in Canada, it seemed like a desert!

 

On the second day, we took a train to a nearby town called Krivoklat. We went there to see a castle and go to a forest education and research center. The castle was so beautiful and we got there very early so there were no tourists. We went to the very top and saw the village and the surrounding forest. Next, we went to the forest research centre. We spent close to three hours here. The building was a simulation of the forest. It had exhibits with different types of butterflies and animal noises. Also different types of mushrooms and twigs. It was very interesting, sort of like a museum for the forest. After this, we had a presentation about the different types of sounds you can hear in the forest. A man used various types of instruments to imitate the sounds of the different animals. We then went to eat lunch. This time it was fried chicken and potatoes… something that we would eat in Canada. After this, we went to a playground for the kids.

 

On the third day (and my last day this week) we went to see some firefighters. We walked across the town to go and learn about what the firefighters do. It was all information I knew from field trips when I was younger, but I still enjoyed watching. After this, we went to eat lunch at one of the high schools in the town. It was just a cafeteria and I had a soup with noodles and leaves. We then went to an “outdoor swimming pool” which was actually just a small lake. The kids spent several hours just in the water and on the waterslides. I was told to watch the kids to ensure everyone was safe. After this, we walked back to the place where the kids get picked up by their parents.

So far, my impression of Rakovnik has been extremely positive. I love the architecture; I hope to see more of the area in the next few weeks. This first week, although tiring, has been a lot of fun! I am picking up more of the language every day. I am very happy to be here!