More Friendships in the Czech Republic
It’s 6:30am on Thursday and I’m back in Vienna. I woke up in my own bed (it’s mine for the next 2 days anyways) at the usual 5:30 a.m., but forced myself back to sleep for an extra hour. I can already feel that this is going to be a home day. After several wonderful days of being social with good friends and traveling (which recharges some of my batteries), my introvert self needs to recharge its own batteries by having a quiet day alone at home catching up on work, doing laundry, finishing my packing, and, if there’s time, watching a movie… or two.
I am so grateful for my time in the Czech Republic. I always am. After the 2 days described in the previous 2 posts, I got to spend time with my good friends Lenka from Blansko …
and Lucka from Omice.
If you remember, I spent a day teaching at both Soña’s school and Lenka’s back in December (see post). Lenka’s extroverted nature is no doubt a strong contributing factor to my having learned the language so quickly back in the 90s. It used to take us forever to get to the shops down the street, not because she was pushing a baby stroller, but because we stopped to chat with everyone on the way. Between that and kitchen socials everywhere, it was the perfect learning environment! I really recommend total immersion in social cultures if you want to learn a language… although past lives also help! Anyway, it was great to have time alone with Lenka to catch up on life, both at her place and during our drive to Brno, where we met Lucka for a late lunch on Tuesday.
We had a delicious meal together at La Patas before visiting Lucka’s school nearby. Seems most of my friends here are teachers / principals. There are 4 classes of about 30 children each between the ages of 3 and 6. I was thrilled to see that these kindergarten children have also been colouring mandalas – no doubt Lucka’s influence. I returned the next day to spend 2.5 hours with Lucka’s class. They’ve been learning English, so I played and read stories with small groups at a time when they woke up from their naps (so cute!) and then the whole class demonstrated English songs and games they had learned. Again – so cute! Teachers here teach half days and there is extra staff for the kitchen (they get hot lunches and then healthy snacks after their nap) and to assist in dressing them up after school or piling up the little beds before playtime, etc. Seems like they’ve got a good system – except for all the bureaucratic tasks that Lucka explained takes away time and resources from the children.
I used to teach in a high school in this neighbourhood back in the 90s. Back then, all the apartment buildings were what I’ve heard called communist grey. Now, they’re painted all sorts of colours. I’ve noticed this in smaller towns like Adamov and Blansko too. I must say, I much prefer all the colour. The energy in Brno, however, simply doesn’t resonate as highly with me as that of the Czech countryside and towns like Blansko. During this trip, I got to spend 3 different days in and out of the city (including a tramway trip to downtown to pick up a few necessities for Bali – cheaper here than in Vienna by far). Although I could see myself living in the Czech Republic again one day, I wouldn’t want it to be in the city.
On Tuesday night, Lucka and I had a girl’s night at her house in Omice, a beautiful little village 11km from Brno. Her husband and youngest son had gone to Poland to watch the oldest son, Stefan Zigardy, play in the final playoffs of the Polish National Hockey League. Lucka stayed behind because she had an important meeting with other school directors and the mayor earlier that day (lucky for me). Our girls’ night consisted of pigging out on a variety of healthy and non-healthy snacks while we watched the game on her computer and I finished the previous post on mine. The game was tied 1-1 and had to go into overtime, so I really got to see Stefan, the goalie, in action. Unfortunately, after a few shots during the shootout (I had to look up the term as I’m so not into sports), the other team scored the winning goal. The finals continue, however – the champions have to win 4 games before earning the title. So far, it’s 1-1.
Wednesday morning, I woke up to the song of birds and had a few leisurely hours before Lucka came down for breakfast. We then went for a lovely walk through Omice. It may be a small village of 800, but Stefan isn’t the only sports star from around here. Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna also lives here now. During our walk, I found out it’s also a heritage site – there’s an old volcano here. As you can see in the shot where Lucka is crouching beside her dog Buddy, however, there’s not much of it left to see – only a small dip in the grass.
After a few days of cold and rainy weather, it was great to see the sun again. After our walk, we had a huge meal (Lucka can cook!) and headed to town. When we returned a few hours later, we visited her neighbour Klara, a professional ceramist. Wow! She does the occasional exhibition, but prefers to hang on to her work rather than sell it. Her studio and house are filled with gorgeous examples of the very many styles she has explored over 40+ years. Impressive and inspiring!
Lucka is on a similar spiritual path as mine, and so it was very special to share in a short clearing ceremony on Tuesday evening and to get an angel card reading right before I left on Wednesday. She has the same Doreen Virtue angel card deck as I had back in Canada – but the Czech version. I asked the angels for a general message about my trip to Bali – and got a very affirming response. Basically, the main reason I was guided to Bali is to further my studies to help fulfill my life’s purpose. My main block will have to do with healing around relationships of all kinds – no doubt because I find being around people somewhat challenging at times (I talk about that in my podcast interview) and I’ll be around 3 different groups while I’m there. I’m all for opportunities to grow in love and friendship, and if I meet my soul mate along the way, I won’t object 🙂 What will help me, according to Angel Bethany, is self-care, including spa treatments – there’s at least one included in my Flora Bowley workshop, but participants have been posting about spas for a couple of weeks now in our FB groups… Maybe I’ll add some of that during my week at the ashram. The result of my month there, according to Angel Maya, will be continued abundance of all kinds so that I may continue to fulfill my life’s purpose. In that, I have trusted and I’m glad to hear my following my guidance is still being supported. I’d say I’m going to have a great month – I knew that, but I’m being reassured. Yay!
Lucka drove me to the Student Agency bus for 7pm (they didn’t ask for ID this time…) and I was back at in my dorm room by 10pm. I’ve got quite a bit of work to do at home, on my art business e-course, and on marketing my new paintings before I leave for Bali on Saturday. I’m just so glad though that I got to spend time with my good friends in the Czech Republic before my next adventure. Děkuji vám dobré přátele!
Hello Dominique,
I have checked out your blog and found we have something in common: our European experiences. I, too, taught English with a volunteer organization (EFD) in 1992/3 in Slovakia. My town of Sala was an hour away from Vienna so that city became my weekend getaway. I have greatly enjoyed your pictures and writings of Czech Republic and Vienna; they’ve stirred great memories and it’s wonderful to see how the towns have kept their charm yet changed colors. Thanks for that walk down memory lane.
Hello Lynn, So glad to see you here – I don’t think I’ve been to that town and haven’t made it to Slovakia this trip. Neat to know we were in the same part of the world at the same time though – funny that didn’t come up in our conversations back in SK. I’ll have 2 more months of Vienna and environs after Bali, so stay tuned.
Dominique