Ostrava

This pretty much sums up Ostrava. (I didn't actually live with the guy in the middle, he was the neighbor that was over all the time.)

That's me and Liz, the girl I went with, in the middle with our two host brothers and the bottom one's girlfriend/possibly wife? We weren't clear on that.

I would've posted a couple of Liz and I with the kids we hung out with at the community center, but my academic director lectured all of us on privacy of kids and not putting them online...so I can email some if you ask!

I'm having a hard time writing about Ostrava. To be honest, it was a really hard, exhausting and overwhelming experience. Basically we went to live with a Roma family and work at a community center there. It would be the equivelant to spending a week in a poverty-striken area of an inner-city in the U.S...except the family spoke about as much English as I speak Czech. In other words, not very much.

For our group's debriefing in Český Krumlov, my academic director gave us these prompts which sum up my trip well, I think.

1. Greatest Challenges
- not giving up the first day at the center when we learned that a) it wasn't heated, b) a kid or kids had broken into the closet and stolen our wallets, but luckily they found mind (sans money) and c) spending a subsequent 3 hours in the police station that afternoon
- spending a full week in such an overwhelming environment: no privacy, no english, constant chain smoking from every family member, living with 6 other people including a 1 year old child, the intense smell of the house, the constant food being pushed on us, the loud talking, etc.
- when I got the stomach flu and was up all night puking in the one bathroom and then could barely get out of bed the next day

2. Most Bizarre Moment
- when I was sick in bed the next day, everyone still tried to bring me all this food and drinks and stuff...i couldn't really convey the subtley of "thanks for being so sweet and bringing me food, but it actually makes me feel worse because i'm so nauseus, so no thanks," when i all i could say was "no thank you, i'm sick." so the older son brought me some kind of mysterious liquid that was fizzing and told me to drink and was waiting for me to do it. I drank 2 sips and it was horrible! Luckily I didn't drink any more because I found out later from Liz that that mysterious mug was full of vegetable oil, water, and salt. Ack!

3. I will never look at LUNCH MEAT HAM the same way again (after having plate after plate put in front of me every morning for breakfast)

4. Greatest Lesson
- learning how much my environment effects my state of mind
- experiencing firsthand that poverty is not always new and interesting poverty, like living in a completely different culture, and that sometimes it's all-too-familiar...that it is uncomfortable and it just sucks
- learning that sometimes things suck, but to just recognize that and then try to appreciate the little moments that are funny or bizarre or interesting, etc.

So in the end, I am definitely happy to be back in Prague, but I really am glad that I went through it. I really did learn a lot and it ended well. The people were really nice and I feel like I gained a lot of political and social perspective that transcends just this culture.

The nicest moment of the week: the night before I left, my host mother gave me her beautiful scarf that I had complimented her on the first day. It was so sweet and the gesture meant so much - I'll never forget it.