Home

In Czech Republic, I would find myself singing, "Home--is where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there," and I continue to sing it here in Salt Lake City.  

The freakish reality of living in America confounds me.

Yet, I am glad to be here in the vast west.  I know this landscape, here in the desert basin of the former salt lake.  I love the heat and the dry air and the people who occupy my heart.  

  

3

I recently visited my sister's blog, Chaos on the Head, which I have not seen for a while--my loss.

Courtney's most recent post is her response to this blog-challenge:  

Need to list: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random, surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are being tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So she tagged me.  I started this response yesterday, but it's hard to think about these things--well, fears & goals and surprising bits, mainly.   Joys were easy.

3 Joys

1) Toast with almond butter and honey

2) A cool house on a hot day

3) Camping in the high Uintas with G & Z

3 Fears

1)  That I'll never figure out what I'm supposed to be doing.

2)  The North Pole, in all likelihood, will be ice-free this summer.  (ICE FREE!!! THE NORTH POLE!!!)

3)  That it's all over now, and all for oil. 

3 Goals

1)  To pay attention

2) To write a good book

3) To let my "love be more influential"

3 Current Obsessions/Collections

1)  Photographs

2)  I am obsessed by most things Czech

3)  My obsession with Czech-ness led me on an internet exploration that turned ugly. Last year, a gruesome and complicated crime took place in a town outside Brno, one of the CR's largest cities.  I won't describe it here, but for several ungodly hours, this case became an obsession.  If you want to foul your mind, or if you have no wish to foul your mind but are curious beyond caution, explore this depravity on your own.  

3 Random/Surprising Bits about Me

1)  At one point when I was very young, I danced every day during the summer for several hours.  I danced jazz, modern and ballet.  That summer I danced in point shoes, and my toes would regularly bleed through the pink satin.

2)  One branch of my family can trace its lineage back to Rollo the Viking.  

3)  I believe I have a memory of consciousness prior to acquiring language.

Okay, the end.  Tag: Jen, Hildur, Danna, Jennifer, and Liz.

Back in the U.S.A.

One week and one day.  I am still readjusting.   Zane transformed while I was away.   Beautifully.  

Saturday night, under one of those amazing Utah skies, I waited with Jen for Ani to come on stage.  Then she did  (after a guy from Wales whose name I am at present too lazy to look up); she was lovely and inspiring, as expected.  We waited for an hour in the sun, but with Jen, all is enjoyable.  

Z & G went fishing that day and we had trout for breakfast Sunday.  

This morning I am sitting in the Coffee Garden.  I had a brief conversation with Mr. Brill, whom I only see on the occasion that I find myself in this place.  He is, as ever, very entertaining. He reminded me of my 16-year-old self, the one he knew way back when in the 80's.  According to Brill, I was hyper-aggressive and amusing.  

Here I like the the classical music and the free wi-fi.  And the people watching, kinda.   I miss hearing Czech in the background and the ease with which it allows me to tune out conversations I have no business overhearing.   

Good-bye Czech Republic!

Kadov

I have been in Kadov with the family Tomanova since Monday evening. Vladka, my host, is the mayor of this village and the head of a coalition of 32 villages in this area. She lives here with her husband, Karel called Mike, and their two children, Karel and Katka. Mike is a wood-worker, a fisher, and a welder, which of course, makes me think of Porge.

The family lives in a 4-plex that was built during communism to house farmworkers. (Apparently, since the Czech Republic joined the EU, things have gone downhill for farmers as big corporations dominate the production of food, especially livestock products like milk.) The family (rodina) Tomanova has a fairly spacious, comfortable flat that they have improved by enlarging the bathroom and living area and adding lovely wood paneling. They live in the garden, though, according to Vladka, where they grow everything from lettuce to nectarines. Mike built a garden house where they like to eat. He also made a grill-smoker that I think George would envy.

Tuesday I rode the bus with Katka to school in Chanovice. There I helped a young woman in the info center translate the castle tour and the skanzen tour into English, which felt like contributing something! Yesterday, I slept for the entire day, which I must have needed. I was feeling so run down and rather ill.

Vladka took very good care of me. I feel at home here. She is a very interesting, hardworking woman, about my age. I hope I can do something to contribute to her English learning. Mike said if we come back next year that George, Zane, and I are welcome to stay in Kadov.

I hope we all will be here next year. George and Zane went to Strawberry last weekend and apparently, it snowed Saturday morning. But Zane caught two rainbow trout and one 17-inch brown! Woo-hoo!! I can´t wait to see my boys.

Last week, I wrote in my journal that something was pulling me to Kadov, but I had no idea what it was. On Monday, Vladka said, Life brings us the people we need to meet. I think I was meant to meet her and to spend my last week in the Czech Republic in this little village.

Photos: Cěsky Krumlov and Prachatice

Projektu Noví Ochí Končí

Not sure I got that title right, but the translation should be Project New Eyes Finishes...

Last night we had our closing party, and it was a fabulous close to this strange adventure.   Sadie designed a beautiful display of the photos Dave took in January of the kids in the Dětský Domov in Kašperský Hory.  She, Luboš, and some other helpers had asked the kids to talk about their photos.  The Czech quotes and English translations were displayed beneath each photo. 

Michael Kaly's project also was displayed.  In Chanovice, he had kids write essays about themselves in English.  

I gave a little speech in broken Czech.  Steve also presented his closing in Czech,

 much less haltingly. 

We had music from Mara, Maya, Martina, and Erin, then Illegal Beagle took the stage.  They rock.  It was great to see them for the first time so far from home.  A Czech metal band called Thin Ice closed the evening.  They had their own muse, a woman dancing in leather studded pants.  Hmmm....

I did not take photographs last night, which was kinda nice.  Dave, Alice, and Lucia went back to the Dětský Domov to take more pictures yesterday and then came to the party last night. With his permission, I'll post some of his images later.  

I stayed in Sušice, after all, and will travel to Kadov tomorrow.  My last week in the Czech Republic will be spent getting to know another Czech family.  I am looking forward to living in the country and learning about life in Kadov.  

Today I said a very tearful farewell to Pavlina and her mother.  I do not understand why I had an impact on them.  Her mother treated me like a daughter and Pavlina told me that I was a second mother to her.  

My mom & dad are on their way to Ghost Ranch.  They suggested that I should post more photos of myself, but I don't have many, really.   Here's one of Sadie, me and Pavlina in the tower of the Mětsky Urad (CityHall) here in Sušice.  

More Photos

From top to bottom: James and Símona; Tomaš and James; Maya, Jane, and Erin; Steve and his golden locks; fly-fishing on the Otava; Henry and others at the Socalovna welcoming on Sunday, June 1; Martina; Mouřenec, a 13th century church above Annin--pictured here is the ossuary; Maya, Sam, and Mirka dancing during a language lesson workshop; one of the windows of the Mountain Synagogue in Hartmanice.

 

last week of PNE

Well, the young'ns arrived on Sunday with Mike Polacek.  Seeing Henry and Keenan made me miss Zane immensely.  I understand from him that the chickens are thriving, he and G are casting and blasting, and that life in the commons is unsurprisingly weed-focused.  

Here in Sušice, I'm learning more about day-to-day life for Czechs.  I've met a wonderful young woman named Pavlína, whom I hope will be able to return with me to Salt Lake City next 

year.  Her mother has welcomed me with home-cooked meals and big motherly hugs.

 

Our page in the newspaper came out in the paper last week, but the image of me was Pinhead Heather, as you can see.  It matters not. We have another deadline tomorrow for the issue that will be released the weekend I

leave to come home.

Home is sounding sweet these days--real mountains, loved ones, good red wine.   I feel some ambivalence about leaving, of course, and before I leave, more adventures await. 

Tomorrow, I will visit České Krumlov,  which has a reputation as a jewel of a town here in CZ. On Thursday, I will move to Kadov, about five kilometers from Chanovice.  There I will be living with the Mayor of the village, a woman named Vladomíra Tomanová.  

You may notice that all Czech women's names end in ová.   For example, I stayed with the family Trnkovi in Lazny.  Vaček Trnkov is the name of the father and Melina Trnková is the mother's name.  My Czech is laughable, but I'm determined to learn.