czech intensive, week two

Well, the intensive course was quite intense. Five hours per day in class certainly takes a toll, and it's difficult to  cram a language into your head in so short a time, but we all bore it well. I do think we owe a lot to the particular profesorka who was teaching us; her patience and repetition were vital.

On Tuesday she took us to a pizzaria, for an informal test to see how well we had progressed in the most practical of situations. Indeed, most of us hadn't gotten very far. You see, learning a language formally in a classroom is a totally different ballgame than in "real life", where people speak fast and use mostly words that you haven't learned yet.

A funny thing happened on the way to get pizza though. I was taking the tram down the hill so I could get to the metro and suddenly it stopped. I had to ask a Czech person what the voice on the loudspeaker was saying because I had no idea. He was just learning English but was able to communicate much more effectively than I could with my Czech. He just told me that there was a problem at some of the tram stations (including mine) and our car wouldn't be making those stops. I just stood around open-mouthed, not knowing what to do when my classmates tumbled out of the next tram. Good thing they were there! Together we walked down the the Metro station (only about 15 minutes). It turned out that a massive protest was blocking the tram! We had a nice view from our walk:

You can see the people on the street; the column of people stretches all the way across the bridge on the left

They were mostly police officers and other government workers who were protesting a 5% - 10% pay cut imposed by the state. Our profesorka said that it was the largest protest in fifteen years!

Wednesday was another beautiful day. I asked our profesorka if we could spend some time outside and she happily led us to a garden for the last hour of class. It was peaceful and walled out the noises of the city (horses' hooves on cobblestones as well as the occasional ambulance) with peacocks wandering around and ponds with fountains. After, my friends and I walked up to see a famous statue (/installation?) by the controversial Czech artist David Černý. It's in the courtyard of the Kafka museum (which I have not toured yet) and features two men.... well, see for yourself: 

Note that they are standing on the Czech Republic. One man's stream is directed over Prague, the other Brno (capital of Moravia). 

On Thursday after our exam (I got an A PLUS!) we went with the other class to the Cubist museum, which is in the same building as the Grand Orient Cafe (photos are in last week's post). There was some pretty sweet art there! I wished the gallery itself could have been a little more "cubist", but the caliber of the art made up for that lack. Because of the number of photos I took, I will post separately on the Cubist Museum.

After we finished wandering around the winding staircase and through the rooms of the gallery, most of us continued on with our professors to a music club/pub called the Lucerne. It was a strange place to bring us because it was somewhat overpriced and touristy. They did have Kozel černý on draft though, which is my favorite typical Czech beer, so the place was somewhat redeemed.

On Friday three of our classes went to a cinema that had been rented out for us. It was adorable, with two floors and a few small rooms with bars and tables. Imagine my triumph upon the realization that if needed I could work the old 16MM projector next to the stairs! There was film paraphernalia everywhere although the origins of most pieces were unclear. We watched Pelíšky, which compared and contrasted two Czech families living in Prague before the 1968 invasion. It was pretty good-- but not as good as Kolya. 


More later! Hope all's well with everyone. Happy Monday!