Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Hradec Kralove

So, let me start of with my apologies for just leaving the adventure in our voyage away from Prague. We have been in the city, Hradec Kralove, where Andrea will be teaching since Friday evening. It is really a spectacular city, nothing big, but definitely not too small as suspect the town where I will be teaching will be. Andrea went into her school for the first time on Monday and was only there for an hour or so. Then they sent her home until this upcoming Friday as the meeting and such will be Czech. She explained to me that everyone in her school was nice and showed me her class schedule. It looks as though she will be working five days a week, but most of those days are very short. She told me a funny story about a fellow English teacher at her school, a guy about our age. Who told the ladies that were taking her around the school and introducing her to everyone to make sure to show her where his office is, the ladies with a laugh told her to steer clear of him. Pretty funny she is already getting hit on by one of her fellow teachers, but I know it is to be expected. So, no worries.
As for communication with my school, I have spoken with my contact at the school a couple of times. She told me I did not need to be at the school until Thursday morning around eight. However, she did tell me the Headmaster invited me to go on some sort of overnight retreat for what would have been today and tomorrow. I declined the offer on account that I felt it was too early to leave Andrea in this city alone for two days. Plus, my contact at the school told me that the Headmaster would understand as all the meeting would be in Czech, just as at Andrea's school. I think, also, I decided not to go out of my own anxiety, to be gone to some sort of retreat, by myself, not knowing how many people I would be able to communicate with, sounds a little scary. I could just picture myself, each evening sitting amongst a group of my colleagues, dumbfounded, not understanding a word and staring off into nowhere. I think my reasoning is understandable or, at least, somewhat justifiable.
Now I have got the boring work information out of way, I can share with you what we have been up to these last few days here in Hradec Kralove. Like I said previously, we arrived in Hradec Kralove on Friday evening, it must have been around five or six, still light outside. The kind principal's husband helped get us checked in and even helped carry our two hundred pounds of luggage up to our room. Opening the door into the room, Andrea let out a gasp, and then said, "I feel like I am moving into my freshman year dorm room." She has referred to the room as a dorm room several times since. To me, yes, it was small, but more than adequate. It has a television, which we get CNN in English on. About five or six other channels, but all those channels are either in French or Czech. It was interesting watching "The Boiler Room" for about 30 seconds in Czech. And most of our late nights before we go to sleep we simply watch CNN, catch up on our world news, and play cards. We are kind of running out of card games that interest us, but I am sure we will learn some more.
As for the rest of the room, beyond the television, which I guess is a high priority to me since I mentioned it so quickly and I am from America, there is one single bed and chair that turns into a bed. The first couple of night we tried sharing the single bed, but last night as I was pressed against the wall with little to no covers I decided to set up the couch-bed, not the most comfortable, but definitely more comfortable than the wall. Also, in the room there is desk perfect for my writing and a mini-fridge, doesn't fit much, but enough to get by. Lastly, the bathroom, yes, it is very tiny. Especially considering the fact I am sharing it with a women. I don't think I have a bit of the counter space occupied by any of the items I need. I keep my things in my things in my travel shaving kit and pull them out as needed.
Enough about the room, I am sure it boring you and it is the last of the things we came to Europe for, we came to travel, see the world as we had never before, and for me to write a book. Which by the way is going well. Our first few days here in Hradec Kralove have been spent exploring the city. We have been to the town square each and everyday, it is immaculate. The town square is exactly like the ones we had seen in Italy, but far less crowded. You will hopefully see pictures soon on my blog or if your friends with Andrea on Facebook you can see them on her homepage. The entire city center is paved with cobble stone streets, on those cobble stone streets are nothing but cafes, bars, and little boutiques. You really get the feeling you are in another world. Especially when I compare it to how we walked around the streets of New York City just a few days earlier. Every single building is unique. There are buildings, which are pink and with a bright yellow one right next to it. The amount of sculptures and monuments around the city really is unbelievable compared to the size of this city.
The city is steeped in history. I guess, from what I have read, this is the city where the Queen of Czechoslovakia would vacation to and where she would eventually retire too. Andrea and actually sat in the square today trying to guess which of the building had been the one to which all the Queens would move. We just could not come to agreement because there were two extraordinary buildings facing the town center. Either way, I guess you could say both building were fit for a Queen.
Besides exploring the town center for hours, we also we to one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen. It was actually on kind of a peninsula because on both sides ran the rivers flowing through the city and at the very end of the park the two rivers meet or it might have just been one of the rivers wrapping itself around the park. Well we were in the park we were lucky enough to be just in time to hear a concert. Not sure what type of music it was, but it was not bad. Nothing I would turn to on my radio, but definitely enjoyable. Even more entertaining than the band was the crowd of elderly who had gathered for the band. It was like a Coldplay, or some other band like that, concert for the golden oldies. I was just waiting for each of them to drop their canes and start dancing their asses off. It never happened, I left unfulfilled, but amazed at the gathering nonetheless.
Like I said that is about the most of our journey, nothing to exciting yet. A lot of exploring, simply discovering our new, their extremely old, surrounding. I swear you could just spend days on end walking the streets of this city and, I guess, for the most part that is what we have done. Tomorrow we are going to check a different park with a lake. So, I will have more updates soon and hopefully there won't be such a lapse in time so my memory will not fail me of the great details.

2 comments:

  1. Matt,

    i'm digging the updates. Hope getting back and forth from your place and Andrea's is easy enough! We'll start looking into when we can visit!

    Have fun,

    chris

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  2. Hey Matt,
    It happened to find your blog while I was looking for something on google. I see you r a bit nervous to be in a different country where you don t understand a word:-) If you or your girlfriend need some help, i m from the organization which helps international students in Hradec Králové (we r working on a new website: http://www.buddyhk.cz/buddyuhk/), so you can let me know...you can also join our trips, events etc. just ask :-) Have a nice time in Czech! My email is andrea.teichmannova@gmail.com, cell ph. 724702883

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