I’m almost there! I was going to wait until I got to my new home in Tisovec to write my first update, but I’m sitting on a bus winding my way through Moravia, getting punched in the face by someone’s potent body odor, feeling crazy-inspired.
We just had to take a minor detour through this tiny little town and it was like a teaser for village life. People’s gardens are going nuts! Apple, plum, and pear trees are ubiquitous and drooping with heavy loads of fresh, ripe fruit. What I suppose are fruit pickers fashioned out of branches rest against the trees for reaching those evasive, higher-up fruits. Yeah, these people know what’s up... Sunflowers that are easily taller than me explode out of densely packed patches, and vegetable gardens overflow as well.
We rounded one corner and I’m pretty sure the scene I saw was staged—a beautiful blond little girl was diligently playing in the sandbox in her backyard while about twenty feet away her equally gorgeous mother looked on and smiled while she collected herbs in the mid-morning light. An old man in old-fashioned clothes rode some sort of tractor contraption down the street with a huge smile plastered across his face. Working men milled around in their blue and green overalls, shooting the shit as they went about their business.
Basically, I’m stoked. I got to Prague at midnight on the 23 and took a few days to recover and hang out with my host family. Some of you may know that for the last three or four months I’ve pretty much been hopping from one adventure to the next without a lot (or any for that matter…) of down time in between. That means I have not really had time to process anything. Getting ready to head over here didn’t feel particularly crazy, it was just the next step in my weekly planner. Seriously, on August 22 I had written, “Move to SK.” Ok, maybe it was followed by an exclamation mark or two…
On the final leg of my three flight journey though, I had my first “WHAT AM I DOING!!!” moment. Suddenly being surrounded by Czech people—with their initially colder disposition, propensity not to use deodorant or antiperspirants, and that whole other language thing prompted me to ask what I had gotten myself into—had my quixotic expectations of a year among “my people” really landed me in a nightmare? I completely botched my first opportunity to speak Czech (the flight attendant greeted me with “dobry vecer” (good evening) and instead of replying in Czech I said “hello” or something equally worthless like an asshole.), fumbled through an awkward conversation about beverages with the woman sharing a row with me, and could understand none of the flight attendant’s safety shpeal “*super nasally* Laaaadies and gaaaaantalman……” It’s gonna be a long year, I thought to myself.
But then my bags came out right away and my host father Tomas was waiting for me with the good ol’ family Volkswagen van. It still makes that squeaky sound when bouncing over the cobblestone, the house still smells the same, my bed (the one I slept in when I studied abroad…) feels like I never left it, and the bathtub with the sprayer nozzle but no shower curtain and a drying rack above is still just as awkward to use. It makes my heart happy. And of course my host mom Jana was all smiles and hugs when I saw her—“Oh COOOOL!!”
If I was able to build such attachment to Prague in only four months, I’m pretty confident I will develop equal or greater fondness levels for Tisovec considering I will be here a little over twice as long. So yay! I’ve also been cramming insane propaganda down both of my sisters’ throats about how, “change is uncomfortable at first… it’s good to feel a little scared/worried/confused…” How about I listen to my own advice for a while, eh?
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