Czech Experience

1.01.2009
Closed

With the beginning of a new year I decided to finish writting posts to this blog and move to a different one. I though that this blog was mainly about my stay in Canada and so it should stay like this. Furthermore, since I'm writting in English it'd be better to move to an English platform. Thus, the new address is Tad's experience. So far the user interface looks great, so see what happens next. See you there!

P.S.: Happy New Year!

11.11.2008
Czech Filharmony Orchestra

Classical music in the beautiful classicist building Rudolfinum

My grandfather and grandmother have bought a season ticket for concerts of classical music. Unfortunately, my grandma is sick now (hope she gets better soon), so I was invited to go to the concert instead of her. It was really an interestign experience

The first thing one notices when one enters the building is the beautiful interior – lots of paintings, decorations and classicism architectonical style. Microphones were hanged from the roof above the orchestra, so it made me wonder whether they record every concert. We were sitting in roughly a middle row closer to the left. The reason why I'm saying this is that my granddad told me they had picked up those seats because they were told that this row is the best in terms of both the acustics and the visibility. If one sits too close, some of the instruments are too loud and on the other hand if one sits too far, one can hardly see the musicians.

The orchestra was playing songs composed by 3 composers – Martinu und Mahler were two of them and I guess you might know them. There were several breaks in between the songs, but one was supposed to applaud only when all the songs by one artists were finished. You're guessing correctly the it was hard for me to find out when to clap my hands and when not. No big embarresment, though :) In addition, it's really funny that when the song is being playes everybody tries to keep quiet (naturaly), but after the song was finished everybody started coughing. It seemed as though everybody was waiting for that moment ... finally be allowed to cough, but I guess some of the people coughed just because everyone else was coughing as well. Why not to cough, if one has the chance now, right? :)

The person that interested me the most was the conductor. I was wondering whether every conductor moves his hands in the same way and if every little movement has its own meaning. I had the opportunity to talk with my granddad's friend who used to play the violin in the czech filharmony orchestra and he gave me lots of interesting answers. To begin with, he said every conductor has his own movements (a famous american conductor used just his right hand fingers, he said, but i'd have to see that myself). Furthermore, it's not really important to make dramatic movements – the orchestra just has to follow the given pace. The conductor's main task, though, is to balance all the instruments and especially balance them in the terms of loudness. Thus, he gives orders to particular players to either quiet down or to play louder. He also prepares this in advance which in turns means that every song is slightly different depending on the conductor. On top of that, one recognizes a good conductor by the fact that one can hear more from the music then what's just in the dots. The song should carry MORE – a message maybe. It could be a message about a struggle or love or whatever else, but there should be something. It's interesting that this kind of an approach is common to all profesionals who really enjoy their work. For example, matematicians find beauty in the mathematical problems that no one else can see (ordinary man would call such a mathematican crazy I guess :)). Mr. Spelina also told me that I probably won't hear this MORE in the music ... and yeahhh, I didn't.

It might look from above that I just focused on everything else but the music. However, I actually really enjoyed it :) It's interesting to close your eyes and just listen. Especially the last part by Mahler was really really good.

I normally don't listen to classic music, but I like going to the live performances once in a while. In fact, the classic music and heavy metal (to which I listen the most) have lots in common. If you listen to bands like Dream Theater or Nightwish you'll find out that lots of things are similar. Furthermore, if one reads the lyrics, one will realize that they are not just a meaningless scream. But this is a theme for another article.

3.11.2008
Being sick

A bit of thinking about sickness

I've been sick for a couple of days. Let's have a look at how it all started. We went to celebrate the end of the orienteering season (yeah ... famous Kapr) which means lots of fun, but also partying and running for two days with just a bit of sleep. I got a cold after that ... coughing and running nose ... However, it wasn't that bad and it even got better soon after, so I thought I was all right and didn't really pay attention to it. Maybe I just didn't want to have a break, so I kept going. As it turned out later this kind of impatience is not a good idea. But we'll get to that later. Then after two weeks of having a cold I went for a run as usually, but I wasn't feeling ok. Thus, I applied a method of doctor Trckova. It as as follows. When one doesn't feel good one goes for a run. If one feels fine after, everything is good. On the other hand, if one feels tired and not ok, it means something is wrong. Futhermore, one usually ends up being sick anyways because of the run. Therefore, the run catalyzes to illness so to say. It shows whether there's any and if yes it speeds up the process of getting it. So I went for a run the next day and my cheek cavity or sinus (not sure what the right word for it is) started to hurt. I went to see my doctor and I was told it's an inflammation. I got antibiotics and were asked to come after a week for a check-up.

Do you have the same feeling that only one condition isn't enough to make you sick? Every time I think about why I got sick I always can find many and it's true in this case as well.

After two days of antibiotics I started to feel fine. In fact, if I wasn't told I was sick, I wouldn't know it. Thus, up to the present day being sick is more like a relaxation. One can just lie in a bed and has lots of time for things one usually doesn't have time for. So far I've read three books, watched some movies, talked with friends I haven't talked for a while, looked up some stuff about watching TV through a satellite and more. Now tell me honestly, isn't being sick actually healthy?

30.10.2008
Teaching English

... what happens when one changes the role of a student for a role of a teacher

One of the many things I realized in Canada was that I like teaching. Thus, when I was back home and thinking about getting a part time job it came sort of naturally to say "Ok, I'm gonna teach English!"

There were basically three main reasons for that. First, in my opinion teaching is a really interesting thing to do. Secondly, I wanted to use the English skills I had learnt in Canada and finally, it looked like somebody would pay me for doing those two! Then I asked my classmate who teaches Spanish and English if the company she's working for is looking for new teachers. She said yes, so I went to an interview, had a try out lesson with two other teachers and then I was "ready" to teach myself. I was supposed to substitute for another teacher in a class of beginners. Moreover, there should have been around 7 students – women with the average age of 35. It turned out later that theese are the typical students that study English in such courses. Unfortunately, there were no men in the class I had, so I can't tell whether the following difference between the female and male students is true or not. ... The typical woman comes to the class with a notebook, textbook, her own dictionary and lots of pencils and highlighters. On the other hand, if you ask the typical male student to write something down, he takes a creased piece of paper from the back pocket of his jeans and asks the woman in front of him for a pencil. However, one should know that this story comes from a female teacher and I'm still waiting for the chance to check it out myself. But it sounds probable :)

When the lesson started I was feeling a bit nervous, but it actually would have been strange not to feel nervous. Futhermore, I've got the following experience from the orienteering competitions. If I'm not feeling nervouse before the start, it means I won't do well in that race. So, I was teaching the stuff I had prepared and everything was running smoothly. There were only two exceptions – I almost ended the class after 60 minutes instead of 90 (It was like we don't have enough time to finish this .... but hey, maybe we still have half an hour) and then we did an exercise (listening to a song and filling in the missing words in its lyrics and singing that song afterwards) that I thought would make the students relax. However, I think it actually made both them and me relax. I enjoyed the lesson and I hope the students weren't scared too much, because it was their first class this year. Hopefully, they came back again.

Now I teach 5 students and we have classes every Thursday. I have a feeling that we all learn something from every lesson – they hopefully something about English and I about teaching. I find it really challenging to come up with an exercise that fits the level of the students. For example, when teaching about the present perfect, it's hard to figure out what to teach and what not to teach. If one tells them too much, they'll think it's too complicated and they'll soon give up. On the other hand, if you don't tell them enough, they'll think: "Oh, that's so easy" and then they will have trouble with the exercises (and you don't dare to tell them that nobody really cares about this tense in America). I also found out that it's good if all the stuff you do with the students is somehow connected. For example, if they learn something about the present perfect it's nice if it appears in the article they are supposed to read. Then the next lesson they learn some new vocabulary and if they want to use it, they need the present perfect again. Therefore, they learn it even if they didn't do the homework :) Futhermore, I've heard a funny comment from a teacher: "If you're happy and smilling all the time, the students will buy everything you say." He said it as a joke, but it's so true. If you look like you don't understand what you're teaching, the students will become suspicious and they won't learn anything. On the other hand, if the teacher is relaxed the students relax as well and then they learn a lot. I also think that one learns the most when one figures it out oneself. I don't really know yet how to apply this to teaching English, though. However, I hope the news the students are asked to prepare for the beginning of every class work a bit in that way.

After I tried to teach students myself, our high school classes became very interesting – especially English. Now when one is a student again, one's point of view about the teacher changes. I started to look not just at WHAT they teach us, but HOW they teach us and if one looks at that after one tried to teach oneself it's really interesting. Now you can ask how effective this exercise is or how much do the students like it. I feel there's lots I can learn from my teachers, because they've got lots of experience. It's a pity that in English we mainly go over the final exam conversation themes like London, American History or Lifestyle or we do some exercises focused on some tricky grammar problems, because I can't use any of those for my students. If you have any tips for interesting English tasks or activities, I'd be glad if you write them to the comments.

As a bottom line I want to mention that it's lots of fun to teach students who are willing to learn something. However, I really don't want to be in the position of a high school teacher who sometimes has to teach although the students seem like they don't want to learn anything.

30.09.2008
Back to the Czech schooling system

Crazy/Absurd/Funny – if it's said in short

I've been going to the Czech school since 1st September again. I knew that my point of view about it will change after a year in Canada. Let's have a look at what has happened so far.

The first crazy/funny thing happened on the very first day. After our TA teacher read the ... I'd translate it as "students' rights and duties" ... she told us that the headmaster wanted to add something to it. The content of his message was as follows: "Please don't eat snacks of your classmates, because there were some cases of jaundice (hope it is the right word ... it's supposed to be some sort of disease) and we don't want you to get sick as well. The next day a stuff member happened to come to our classroom for some reason and she saw a kettle next to the window. My classmates used it for making coffee during the breaks. As soon as she realised we had such a thing in the classroom she told us we had to put it away, because it is dangerous to have it there. "However, if you have a written certificate that this particular kettle is safe you can keep it." I suggested making up "the confirmation", printing it and signing it ourselves. However, my classmates didn't realise that idea. Thus, they have no kettle now and they have to buy the coffee in the coffee machine. Well, maybe it was a coffee machine owner lobby :) ... and if you're wondering, I don't drink coffee ... yet :)

In order to contine in the same year of high school with my former classmates, I have to pass overall exams from the previous year from all the subjects ... including physed :). Almost all of them are done by now, but geography and math is still waiting. I'm happy that our headmaster has given me this chance, so I don't have to repeat one high school year. However, I think those overall exams are kind of funny. So far I've passed all of them which means either it's possible to learn all the stuff my classmates were studying the whole year in couple of days which suggests .... ehm ... that the whole year was just a waste of time or the exam is easy and that raises a question what is the purpose of writting it. Well, still two more exams to go and I'm looking forward when the whole thing is over ... and then we'll have a party!

Rouhly after a week of a regular shedule I started to have a strange feeling. For example, during history the teacher talks for 45 minutes and the students take notes. Well, what is the point of being there if you can study it yourself in 5 minutes? But ... no way of missing this class despite the fact I'm not going to have a final high school exam from history. However, I still need to be there ... to listen and to take notes ... I hate wasting time. In fact, I lot more prefer the Canadian way of teaching when students actively do something in the class. Instead of that the teacher tells you everything about WW2 and you take the notes, learn them, write the test and forget everything soon after, the teacher asks you to make a presentation about that topic for the whole class. That's lot more fun and I guess one remembers more. However, the students need to willing to do that. And this is in my opinion closely connected with the fact that the students have to take all the subjects while at high school in my country. Yes, I agree with the idea of the general education, but I think that one roughly knows what one likes to do and in which direction one wants to go in the last two year of high school. Thus, one should have the chance to pick up just a couple of subjects and not to be obligated to take them all. It'll be more fun for both the students and the teachers, because the students will be more interested and I bet it's awful trying to teach students who don't want to learn anything

So that's the situation. And what to do with it? It's not fun to feel like a university student who still has to go to high school. Moreover, I feel like we are playing some sort of an absurd game with the teachers. They pretend the stuff they teach us is important and we pretend we're learning it. However, I don't feel like geting bored during the classes and there are still many useful things one can do. Besides, why worry if it's just a game? Thus, I decided to make the most of my last high school year ... and who says it can't be fun? :)

I'm going to keep writting ... in English. So stay tunned!

P.S.: I have nothing against history – it just happened to be the example. In fact, I really like the modern history ... it's pity one finishes with the WWII and doesn't go further in most of the cases.

P.P.S: We passed the last overall exam! Officially in the last high school year again! I've got to say that most of the teachers were really friendly to us during the tests. I have a feeling that they didn't really care about the marks we were going to get, but they rather wanted to make sure we have learned and understood everything from the year we missed. I appreciate that. Thanks. In addition, the final high school exams look similar to those we just passed. It was nice that we can sort of try the final ones in advance.

12.08.2008
Family holiday in France

9 days of orienteering, lots of training, tons of food, wine and beer

As usual our family holiday turned out to be a training camp with lots of practices and orienteering races. We like it that way

We started our stay in Fontainbleau which is a beautiful small city just below Paris. There are awesome rocky terrains and that's the reason why we came there – to run. We always planned our training to be for example for 60', but something went wrong and it turned out to be 90'. This happened to us almost every practice, but it was fun. In the afternoon we usually went for a swim (swim up and then float back) to the river Seine which was surprisingly absolutely clean. We brought many cans of beer, but the beer was kinda warm because of the hot weather. Therefore, we "walked the beer" in the river. However, we didn't have a net and by the time we got it we run out of the beer. In fact we bought a cheap plastic ball (surprisingly turned out not to be made in China) which was sold in the right "beer net" for the walking purposes. In the late afternoon we had one more practice, then ate lots of great French food (cheese, fresh baguettes, nutella, wine, sausages, ... mmmm ..... definitely could go on a "French diet") and then slept like little babies.

After 4 days in Fontainbleau we moved on to Clermont-Ferrand for 3 days of orienteering. This part of France is famous for its volcanoes, so we did some trips after the races. This is always happening to us in France: It's sunny before we start hiking, but by the time we reach the top of the volcano the mist and clouds come, so we can hardly see. Finally, when we return to our car .... guess what ... sunny again! Despite that the volcanoes are really beautiful. We even found a huge cave system!

The 3 days of orienteering started like this: We went to the "check in". We didn't pay for the competition in advance because of some crazy money transfer fees from Czech crown to euro bank accounts, so we had to give them the money on the spot. However, they didn't even look like they wanted the payment, so we asked the lady:
"Where should we pay?"
"You guys didn't pay?"
"No, we've got to pay here."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, we haven't paid yet."
"Oh really?"
I wonder who come the French economy is running.

The first day started funny/scary (funny now/scary at the time). The sprint (means the winner's time should be somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes) was held at a flat top of a volcano. However, a huge thunderstorm came at the very same time as the first runner started to run. Thus, we asked to organizers if they were going to postpone the start times. The lightnings were hitting the ground all around us and we were at the highest point in the country, so obviously we were scared. However, the French organizers replied: "Don't worry, it's safe. We can hide in a tent, so nothing can happen to us." Yeah right ... looks like somebody didn't take Physics at school. Nobody got hit, though. We were all lucky.

We also met 3 Canadian orienteerers there – was totally impossible to miss the Canadian O tops. Well ... I said Canadians ... but it kinda turned out that one is actually Czech, the other one Swedish and just one of them was born in Canada. Was really nice to meet someone from Canada again – and also to hear "eh". Furthermore, although they live in Vancouver, they know lots of the orienteerers from Winnipeg.

We really enjoyed the area there – lots of volcanoes, interesting terrains for orienteering (just with the exception of the last day's course – the terrain had lots of details, but the wood was thick like crazy and the course was sooooo long) and nice campground with a lake that you can swim in. However, the French organization is kind of vague ... we've learned a French word here – "La Bordel"

Continuing on, we drove closer to the sea for 6 days of orienteering. The competitions took place on an awesome limestone rocky plateau. It was an open terrain (well, just beware of the undergrowth – tried to jump over a stone wall covered in undergrowth and kinda didn't "fly through") with big rocky areas – the rocks were sometimes going up and resembled towers or were located in depressions and then formed crevasses, little canyons or caves. Since it was really hot, we usually went for a swim to a lake or a river. The best was a visit to a steep rocky canyon with a beautiful clean and cold river. There were stones in it and it was possible to jump from them to the water. In this part of France one can found lots of old towns and villages. There is no need to follow a tourist guide – one just drives and stops wherever and the nice old buildings are always there.

We decided to go to the sea on the free day. It was rainy and cloudy only once during our stay in this part of France ... guess on which day was it. In fact, it turned out to be an advantage since the beach was almost empty and we didn't get burned. And then we got some sunshine in the afternoon.

To be continued ...

24.07.2008
Awesome Rockiiiieeeees!

Czech – father and son – expedition to the Canadian West

The mountains are huge – super super huge. It's not like in the Alps where you always can see something besides mountains. However, in the Rockies you can look in any direction and the ridges and summites are still there. You travel 200km and guess what ... the mountains are still all around you. It's sooo beautiful. I don't get why are you guys still living in Winnipeg :)

My father rented a car in Calgary, picked me up and we headed south as fast as we could from the crowded Stampede (Howdie?, yihaaa! :)). We drove through Fernie, turned north and ended up sleeping close to Kootenay NP. The next day we went for a one day hike in Panorama and then drove to Glacier NP where we slept one night at a backcountry campsite. Then 2 nights at Columbia Icefields, 1 night at Lake Louise, backpacking at Skoki lakes for one night, day hike in Yoho NP and finally two nights at Lake O'hara. Then we drove back to Calgary and flew back home.

2 black bears, 3 "fat squirrels", 1 ram, 3 deer, many squirrels and marmots – that's what we saw ... but no ... we saw the bears from the car. The wildlife isn't really wild, though. One bear was standing by the highway 1 and eating something (maybe a dead deer) and there were lots of people taking pictures of it from about 3 meters. Maybe the bear woke up in the mornign and though: "What should I do? Oh let's see what happens when I come to the road. Didn't get many autographs recently." We also needed to protect the food against "jumping squirrels" while eating in the backcountry. They come right in front of you and you think: "Is it gonna jump or not".

It was funny when we were asking the park stuff about backcountry camps. We asked whether we could meet a black or a grizzly bear there. The warden replied: "Well, there could be both." So we decided to make a noise and go. We also hanged the food on the bear pole, but it turned out to be more of a protection against us than against the bears. We didn't have enough food, but the bear pole prevented us from eating our tomorrow's supplies.

Several interesting things has happened to us. Firstly, we met a group of Japanese tourists with no backpacks in the middle of nowhere. The shortest car or bus acces was 17 km away, it was 10 in the morning and they didn't have any sleeping backs or tents. I still don't get how on earth could they got there! Just imagine typical older Japanese with big cameras around their necks and walking sticks! Secondly, we went to the Athabasca Glacier and there are signs where the glacier was at certain times. The interesting thing about it is that it has been receding since 1890 – the year the first white man saw it. They told us the process is speeding up, though. But still ... already since 1890! Thirdly, it was snowing one day and then the mountains looked like in a Christmas fairytale. The only problem was that it was the middle of July. I was suprised that it was pretty cold up there – we had to shake frost off our tent one morning. Finally, we met some interesting people during the hikes. There was a guy from Netherlands whom we asked why was he in Canada. He was thinking for a while and then said: "It's nothing special here, but I'm travelling around the world, so it's on my way, you know." In addition, we met a guy from the Czech Republic. The interesting thing about him were his eating habits. He ate a bun in the morning, then one granola bar for lunch and finally had some noodless for supper. He had to make a fire to warm them up, though, so when it was raining he just ate them in cold water. We asked him how come he was not hungry and he told us he was used to not eating breakfast back home, so now he got used to not eating anything for lunch. We were sitting with him at a table at Lake O'Hara and out of sudden the Canadians started to ask us if we wanted some food. "We had a rice leftover here .... my son didn't eat this hot dog ... here are some homemade muffins ...." I was hungry, so I accepted and ate almost everything. However, we decided not to make anymore prejudice about the "hungry and poor" Czechs after the muffins and went to sleep.

My flight home was interesting as well. The plane had to go back from the runway to return a guy who kept screaming "I can't breath, I can't breath!" He was yelling it at least for ten minutes and was calm while getting off, so I bet he was afraid of flying. I planned on sleeping during the flight from Torronto to Paris, but it kinda didn't work out. My neighbour was a swimmer from South Africa, so we talked and drunk Heinekens. Since the flight was late, they didn't manage to put my luggage to the next plane in time, so it didn't come. It looks like some sort of a tradition, because exactly the same happened to me when I was coming to Winnipeg. But at least we didn't have to carry the heavy bags from the airport home :) – they did it for us. Then party with my friends in the evening – awesome czech beer, playing the quitarr, singing .... everything's still the same here. Really nice to see my friends and family again, but I'm gonna miss Canada.

3.07.2008
Coming to Canada

A little piece of advice what to do and what not to do when you are about to go on high school exchange.
Dedicated to my lovely German cousin Laura

Last time I was trying to convince you that high school exchange is a wonderful experience that is definitely worth trying. Today we gonna have a look at the more practical stuff.

Before you go
In my opinion the main issue here is packing. My advice is the less the better. You gonna buy/get lots of stuff like T-shirts so there is no need to bring lots of them. Pack just what's neccessary. Do bring specialized stuff like sports equipment, but take it easy with clothes. If you bring lots, you gonna have troubles bringing it back. Think about what place you are going and what you might be doing there. In case of Winnipeg you definitely wanna bring scarfs, hats, gloves (+ the thin gloves you can put inside another pair) and a face mask. We often joke that if you survive a year in Winnipeg you're ready to live anywhere. I don't think it's useful to bring a suit, because the only occasion I'd wear it would be graduation. I made a mistake with taking stuff for wall climbing with me – it's heavy and I used it only once (and outside Winnipeg). However, I did regret not bringing stuff for skiing – the winter is long and there is lots of snow, so I ended up with my parents sending a big box filled with ski waxes, gloves, ...

To have a better idea what can be easily bought in Canada and what you should bring along, let's have a look at the Canadian prices. Basically, food and "little stuff" is more expensive whereas electronics and gas is cheaper. Clothes is either the same or in most of the cases cheaper than in the Czech Republic. If you wanna buy a laptop or MP3 player overseas go for it :)

Another question connected with packing is what to bring for your homestay. I gave them "photo book" about Prague, T-shirts and for Christmas I brought them some fancy glass that you can put on Christmas tree. Bring whatever you think is interesting, but if you wanna bring alcohol (something like "slivovice" or beer) then check whether your homestay are abstinents or not

I also have one advice for parents. It's great if you send your child a present for birthday, but please send something that is either adible (chocolate is an awesome idea) or easily carriable back home. Books and CD's are nice, but they are heavy and occupy too much space.

Finally, you should check stuff like whether your cell phone is going to work in the country you're going to, what is the voltage and shape of electric socket there, how does it work with a credit card and so on. However, your agency should be able to answer those questions for you.

On the way
Don't panic! In my opinion the flight is kind of the first test of your skills. It's good to know the number of the people who are going to meet you at the airport and to have a little cash in the currecncy of the airports you'll be going through. There is going to be a huuuuge line at the immigration, so don't panic if you miss your flight from there. It happened to almost every international student I know.

While there
After you succesfully arrived with all the stuff you gonna need and were picked up by your homestay family, start enjoying your life in Winnipeg. The transition can be hard (staying with people you don't really know, having no friends at the beginning, going through ups and downs with your English, ...), but I can tell you – it's gonna get better and you won't want to come back after your stay is over. I think it's useful to read the booklets that are provided by your agency and school about "Culture Shock". At least you will be aware what's going on and why you might be feeling depressed. However, the adaptation process is highly individual.

When you are there do speak in English. There might be other internationals that speak the same language as you, but you didn't come to talk in your mother language. Therefore, do use English as much as possible. I think it's useful to write down the new vocabulary you encounter and learn it.

At school you are going to select the subjects you want to study. Not only you can pick up almost anything, but you can sometimes also select the grade. In my opinion, you should go for the subjects that interests you and that are as hard as possible. The teachers sometimes might try to put you to "easy classes that are not even the same grade as the classes in your country back home" so ask about that – especially if you want to graduate. If you really like any subject you might want to ask about the IB or AP program (higher level classes, you can get university credits for them and you'll meet lots of nice people there)

At first you become friends with the other internationals. They also don't know anybody else, so they're keen on meeting new people. The Canadians already have their own friends, so they might not be the ones who start talking to you at first. Instead, start to chat with them yourself! Most of them will turn out to be interesting people, but it's up to you to initiate the conversation. My advice is don't be shy, talk, talk and talk. Don't be afraid about misunderstandings. It happens to everybody and it's something you gonna laugh with your friends after. In the beginning it's sometimes hard to properly understand what people say. Therefore, ask them to speak slowly and don't be afraid to ask tons of questions to make everything clear. There is nothing wrong with asking questions!

My final advice is to be open to new experience, try new things and meet lots of people. Enjoy your time!

Coming home
I'm sure that by this point you have already met lots of people and have many friends. You definititely wanna exchange a contact info like email, facebook, msn or whatever else with them. There is nothing worse than losing contact with somebody who you might not see again. Your contacts are your future, so keep in touch with them. Someone might be coming for a visit to your country or you might be coming back and it would be really nice if you can meet your friends again.

You can trust me that it's not easy to say goodbye when you're leaving. However, there is one phenomenon I've seen many times – soooo many couples start dating about a week before they leave. They liked each other the whole year, but now they finally realized that if they don't do anything they might not see each other anymore. So if there is anybody who you like, ask them out immediately. A year or a semester is shorter than you think. The time is highly valuable, so don't waste it and do whatever you wanna do .... NOW .. tomorrow is too late.

If you decided to go on an exchange I can honestly tell you that you're doing one of the best decisions of your life. Enjoy your stay and have fun!

1.07.2008
Exchange program

Get off your butt and explore Canada!

Have you ever been thinking about going for a year to a different country? Wanna learn English? Wanna have a very interesting experience? If yes, than it's time to go!

Now the question is where to go. If you don't wanna stay with reserved British people, learn an American accent or meet crazy animals in Australia then Manitoba with its friendly people is the right choice. Winnipeg is a city with about 700,000 inhabitants, so there is always lots to do. The city promises meeting tons of interesting people from all around the world. In terms of quality of education Canada is ranked as a country with one of the best high schools in the world. Now tell me ... what are you still waiting for?

If the money is a concern then I can assure you that yours (or most probably your parents) savings won't go in vain. In fact, mastering English is the very least you will learn. Spending year outside of your home will open your mind towards many new experiences and opinions. You gonna do things you have never thought you can do and meet people you have never thought you could speak to. I bet you gonna come back as a mature independent young adult with a new perspective at the world and your own family.

If you're afraid to leave home then you should think about that you got to leave your home at some point for sure. Furthermore, would you really let your fear miss this precious opprtunity? Yes, I agree it's not easy to leave all of your friends and family behind, but you'll see it's worth it. In fact, by leaving your family behind, you realize it's importance.

Now you migh ask, why the hell should I go to Winnipeg? Let me give you several reasons for that. First and most of all, it's the people. I've never met that many friendly and interesting people in my life who were always willing to explaing me stuff I didn't understand, give me a ride or lend me a bike for a triathlon race. Secondly, Winnipeg is one of the cheapest big cities in Canada and that's also the reason why many immigrants chose it as their first destination. That means you gonna meet people from all over the world – Serbia, Ukraine, South America, Fillipines and so on. It is very enriching to spend time with them since it opens you towards totally new experience. Thirdly, Winnipeg is quite a big city, so you won't get bored as it could happen if you end up in a tiny village in the States. One can go skating on the river in the winter, explore Canadian shopping centres like KP or Polo Park, go for a jogg to a park or simply for a dinner or a walk to the Forks. Finally, the quality of high school education in Canada is great. One can pick up subjects one like and the school offers many of them – not only the "clasical" ones like English, Math and Physics, but also cooking, hair dressing, carreer quest or an awesome physical education. The school also provides many extracurrical activities – there is a student council, key club, tutoring, natural helpers and lots of sport team that are on most of the cases based on "you wanna go, you're in". So remember, try doing something – not only you can experience something totally new, but it's also a perfect opportunity to meet new friends. Feel free to drink from the cup of the Canadian education – the taste is fabulous and the cup is bottomless.

No matter whether you choose to go for one semester or a full year I wish you the best luck. Be open, have fun and make the most of it! Enjoy your stay abroad!

The next article is going to be about the practical stuff what to do when you decide to go to a different country. We'll have a look at what to pack, what not to pack, what to do and what not to do and so on.

16.06.2008
Half Marathon

On Sunday I attended Manitoba Marathon  – jubilee 30th.

Lots of my friends were running the half as well – from school, cross-country skiing, orienteering ... and many people just came to cheer.

The start was sooo freaking early, so I had to get up at 5:30. We got to the start shortly after 6.15 and the actual start was sheduled for 7.00. This year the marathon broke a record in number of participants – there were over 13,000 competitors. Thus you can imagine how many people wanted to go to a washroom before the start. However, the organizators did a great job. The number of "cabin washrooms" was appropriate – it looked there exactly as at O-ringen. I guess there were over 200 cabins – Toitoi party ... actually a Dixie one :)

When I returned from a warm-up to the start there were already many people lined up and ready to go. Thus, I could either go to the back, fight it to the middle or go to the front. I decided to do the first one. Therefore me and my friend started right from the front line. It was an interesting feeling to stay with the top guys for the first two miles – there was the car with the time, motorbikes around ... and so many cheering people. That was great since one speeds up and don't even notices it. Lots of people yelled my name, but I still don't know who was it. I was feeling good and held a pace of 6 min a mile. I drunk and had a "spounge party" at almost every water station and that turned out to be a good idea. The "run through showers" are perfect and there was even one beer station. Started to fell tired at about 11th mile and the finish was kind of pain, but I ended up with time 1:17:52 and 10th place overall. My goal was to go under 1:20 and to beat Jason. The first went fine, but the second one not. This guy is a beast – he run 1:14:something. Great time man! No super intense guys were running here and I think the winning time was something about 1:12.

The organizators had a Czech flag (they make sure to have a flaf for every competitor from a different country) and even said something about the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, I haven't heard it. I wonder if there was someone else from my country as well.

Today it's kind of funny to walk. Especially when one goes downstairs one feels like 80 years old. There is now further damage – just a couple of blisters on places I'd never thought a blister could apper – on the edge of the foot and under a toe. Gonna take couple of rest days now. Yeaaaah ... love sitting in the hot tub. When at school it's funny to spot the people who run the marathon. You can tell as soon as you see them moving. Maybe we should do something like a wheel chair party now.

Halfmarathon and marathon results