August 25, 2009 - "Language Independence" Day as well as North & South American "Evening of Nations"

This morning three of us from my Czech class went off on our own to find and explore a nearby village by bus. The trip got off on the wrong foot as we waited on the wrong side of the road and missed the first bus we could have taken. I'm not sure why that side had the departure information for the bus we wanted and the correct side had the arrival information - made it very confusing! The next bus took about three times as long to get the 20 kilometers, as it zigzagged through and stopped at all the small villages on the way. We met a classmate who lived near the village when we got there and he gave us a tour of the town. I was able to add a couple more Pernicky cookie cutters to the ones I've found so far, but still not the larger Christmas figures I was hoping to find.

Our Village - Rychnov nad Kněžnou

Outside the church

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The trip back went much faster, as we did not stop as often. Made it back in time for lunch and some free time before the preparation session for our evening presentation on the U.S. tonight. Had a detailed e-mail response from the CD and DVD store in Prague saying that none of the things I was hoping to find are currently available. They did let me know things they carried that I might want, so will have to look at them more closely and make some decisions.

Rehearsal went smoothly this afternoon, thanks to the help I had gotten from my Czech teacher before she left. Others were having multiple corrections made, but the coach thought I spoke clearly (even if I wasn't totaly sure what I was saying!) and the wording was acceptable:

Já jsem Frank Trnka z Minnesoty, z USA.

Bydlim blizko řeky Mississippi v Minneapolis.

Mám pro vás malou sladkost. Je vyrobena z javorového sirupu. Je od domorodých Američanů - Indiánů ze severni Minnesoty.

Moje video vám ukáže některá zajimavá a krásná mista podél řeky Mississippi v Minnesotě, v Minneapolis, ale také mnohem dále z jihu.

The presentation went well, in spite of the director's laptop dying right before we were to start and needing to set up another computer and get the sound going on that one. I think I've had the only presentation of slides synchronized to music. It went quickly and was over before people got tired of it. The U.S. group went first, which was very nice for us, as there were at least 8 South American groups and the program went on for over 3 hours. But the end people were comatose. I have now forgotten more about hydroelectric power in Paraguay than I ever cared to hear! Not sure why the speaker thought we would be interested in the facts and figures about that - perhaps she was a hydroelectric engineer and thought others would want to know? The maple candy I brought also went over well and is now gone so I don't need to bring any back in my luggage. The Tequila from Mexico and Caipirinha cocktails from Brazil were the hits of the evening, however. Off to bed for another long day tomorrow.

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