Wow, 2007 already?

i apologize, as again, i have no pictures. Internet has been tough to find, but i wanted to at least supply some dialogue. Also, the rest of this post is a bit outdated, as of the time of this writing, i have visited Plzen, which was cool, but i'll share about it in my next post. I wrote this one a few days ago, and wanted to get it up before it became too outdated! Fitz and Greg have a few pictures, though, so if you're dying for some visuals, you can try their blogs. Thanks to the many folks who have sent mail and more! Postcards are written, and will soon be in the mail. There's more to write, too, so don't feel forgotten if you don't get one soon!

So, the Czech way to ring in the New Year is quite different than that of the states’. It involves a lot of drinking (as does most everything else in this country), and a lot of fireworks, and not a lot of restraint. We made it into Wenceslas Square about 30 minutes or so before midnight, and the fireworks had already begun. It’s a bit atypical to see so many fireworks shooting off between so many large buildings. As midnight approached, the show only got bigger. Further off towards the opposite end of the square there was a band of some kind playing, or music at least playing.

Midnight came, and while the fireworks seemed to get bigger around the time of 12, there was no sign or anything that it was midnight, just a clock behind that no one really seemed to look at much. The fireworks went wild for several minutes, people cheered, sang, kissed, whatever people do in a large group when the new year comes around. We waited around for a while, then decided to try to go closer to where the music was as there was a stage and a concert earlier in the night. As we were walking, it was the closest i ever hope to being in a war zone. Fireworks were going off everywhere. There were street fires in the middle of the square, and people would just toss fireworks into them, and they’d go off all over the place, very near to where there were crowds of people. Sometimes someone would even toss a firecracker onto the sidewalk, and folks would just scatter. It wasn’t too bad, sometimes a bit unnerving, but more exciting to watch the reactions of the girls walking with us as mortars exploded 30 ft away. The street in the square was littered with broken glass, exploded fireworks, fires, and people. It was hard to imagine that anyone would drive on it again, let alone that by the next evening it would all be cleaned up.

We made it through the fireworks, and got to a point that was being blocked by security, so we ended up walking out of the square and tried a couple of places on the way that had outrageous covers (1800 Kc for one). A couple of us ended up back at the apartment, just chilling, while some others tried another dance club that turned out to be full. It turned out to be another very late night, but a good one, and a good way to ring in the New Year.

The biggest news as of late has been that i started work this week. I am working for the Caledonian School, and i taught the first class for them on the 4th, to a group from a kind of telecommunications company. Nice people, and i think it should be a fun class. It was an early morning, and i think they weren’t too excited about it, as they asked if we could change either our Tues. class or our Thurs. class to the afternoon. I was happy to oblige where my schedule would allow. Right now, i only have 15 hours, but will likely get more, up to 20. We’ll have to see what happens.

So yeah, that’s the latest. Gonna try to go to Plzen tomorrow, possibly tour the brewery and try some of Czech’s best beer closer to the source. Still some uncertainties about this whole thing, but the amount which i seem to trust is the amount by which they seem to disappear, which is kind of reassuring in some ways.

JC