11/25/2023- Tři měsíce!

This month has definitely been one of my favorites so far (even though there are only three to choose from). Near the end of October, I went to the Ostrava Zoo with my host family and my little "host cousins". It wasn't too cold yet so we walked for a couple hours and looked at most of the animals there. I found it really funny that some of the animals in the zoo were normal animals that you can find in PA. Apparently, animals like bears, chipmunks, and raccoons aren't native here, which surprised me because the nature and weather here are very similar to the nature and weather in Pennsylvania. The Ostrava Zoo took really good care of all the animals, which made me happy. Sometimes I don't enjoy zoos because I only think of the fact that the animals are contained in unfair situations just because humans want to be able to see them, but at the Ostrava Zoo, all the animals had big habitats and lots of things to keep them entertained.

Sometime in the last two months, I learned that mushroom hunting is a very common Czech hobby. Whenever I've gone on hikes with my host family, my host dad always finds the good mushrooms and collects them, and then we get to eat them for dinner! (I didn't think I liked mushrooms, but I've changed my mind.) We went on a hike and to my surprise, there was a small Halloween/fall gathering at the top of the hill. We drank some cider and had a Halloween-themed pizza before heading back home.

Halloween isn't widely celebrated in Czechia, but it is becoming more and more popular with younger children. No one does trick or treating (though I heard that one town was trying it out for the first time), but there were multiple parties and events for teenagers and children. My school decided to have a Halloween event for the first time this year. Everyone dressed up and for the first two hours of the day, there were different activities that we could go to. In one room there was a scary movie playing, in another, you could get snacks, in the art room there was pumpkin carving, and more. I dressed as a stereotypical Czech tourist because my friends thought it would be funny. I wore flip-flops with socks, a big button-down shirt, long shorts, a bucket hat, etc. It was really fun to hang out with my friends and see everyone's costumes. Even some of the teachers dressed up!

Some other fun things happened at the beginning of November. I went to a weekend camp with my host family and a group of kids, and then a couple of days later I had a class trip to Ostrava. We saw the Phil-harmonic orchestra of Ostrava and then we went to two different art museums. They were both kind of strange, but very interesting. After the class trip, my host family and I went to watch the new Hunger Games movie. A couple weekends later I went to another concert with my host sister and her two friends. The singer's name is Mirai. It was really fun; there were so many people screaming along to the songs and even though everything was in Czech I enjoyed myself a lot.

A day later I had a concert of my own! As mentioned before, I joined a band here called "Rumble!". We had a concert in this really cool club called Stoun. It used to be a bunker, so the atmosphere is really cool. I enjoyed myself so much; it felt like I was living one of my childhood dreams. I even sang some short parts in Czech, which I was very proud of because the pronunciation was not easy at all.

Last week was Thanksgiving, which was definitely a strange experience for me. All of my friends from Pennsylvania had a couple of days off of school and they were all celebrating, and for me, it was just a normal day. Most of my friends didn't even know Thanksgiving was a thing! It made me a little bit sad, but it wasn't too bad. I haven't actually felt very homesick yet. When I am tired or overwhelmed sometimes it can be worse, but I feel like I have been able to settle in here well, and even though I miss my family, I am having such cool experiences here that it's worth it. I'm sure I will feel homesick later on, but for now, I'm just enjoying my time here. I am thankful for a lot of things.

I'm thankful for my host family; we get closer and closer as time goes on. It will be very hard for me to switch families. I feel like they understand me and we are all very comfortable around each other. I'm also thankful for my relationship with God. I think it has gotten a lot stronger here because I have really had to make the decision for myself whether I will pursue it or not. I have chosen to continue to pursue my faith, and through that God has shown me some really cool things. I found a church here with lots of English speakers, and I am so excited to go to it more often and see where that takes me.

My Czech is advancing slowly. I often exchange easy phrases with my friends and they are always happy to teach me new things. I can understand a lot more than I can say, so sometimes I will be able to tell what my friends or teachers are talking about. Sometimes it is hard to pay attention when someone is speaking Czech because my brain has just learned to tune it out because of the effort it takes to translate 24/7. But I have been studying a lot and I think in the next couple of months I will progress faster and faster.

One thing I am looking forward to next week is my final dance performance! I have been practicing about once a week with my dance partner in our classes, and I have learned so many traditional dances here. I hope I remember them all and do well. My host family will go to watch me and the other students in my dance class, and we will perform all 20 of the dances that we learned. Wish me luck! I'll be sure to post pictures and videos on my Instagram and Facebook.

See you in a month :)