"Infinite dreams"

Last night I went to visit the suburban kids of finland house#203 and I had quite a bit of fun, watching the O.C. with Per, chatting with Lucho, teasing Simon and drinking tea with the half-Chinese :-) Martin McGloin wasn't there, as usual :-)
Grzesiek had his IP last night in the hoegh, it was called INFINITE DREAMS and it was amazing. Everything was done with asidious detail... It was a story or a mumbling rather, where a guy was describing his confusion between where the line between reality and dreams is. A few more characters helped to magically illustrate the whole struggle of finding where is the border beyond which we stop dreaming and start real living. Or is it the other way round?
Now I am planning to finally get around to pack for tmr - I am going to a cabin for four days ->Norwegian cabin PBL. I hope to finish reading Okkupert kjaerleik by the end of the week, because I have my Norwegian oral on Monday.Wish me luck.
This is just a short post, to let you know I am not going to post anything for the following four days and also to make you look forward to the next posts, as I hope to take some nice pictures in Eikedalen :-)

"Our reality is a dream.
A dream, where you dream that I exist.
E."

Ceske intermezzo

Tenhle tyden nejdeme do skoly, jelikoz je tyden projektu. Vsichni prvaci maji povinne kurz prvni pomoci a model OSN.
Ve stredu v kantyne pousteli video z naseho modelu OSN. Ja jsem loni reprezentovala Benin, malinkatou africkou zemicku a to video prineslo strasne moc vzpominek. Ono se toho behem modelu OSN, zase tolik zasadniho nestalo, ale jenom videt nase druhaky, jak to organizuji.. a hlavne tu zmenu.. jak jsme vsichni vypadali.. No, bylo to krasne a dojemne, se na to koukat. Celej nas rocnik, se u toho videa hrozne smal, chudaci prvaci polovinu asi nechapali :-)
Letos se ale nebudu venovat ani prvni pomoci ani modelu OSN, ale mluveni norsky! Jejka..
Spolecne s Dainou (Lotyssko) a Linneou (Svedsko) a par cizima lidma jedeme na ctyri dny do nadhernych norskych hor! Takze,teste se na fotky...
A nezmrznete :-)

Room night

Last night we had a room event. We put the mattrasses down on the floor, watched a movie, consumed a bow of ice cream and drank a whole bottle of ice tea and of course chatted until we fell asleep :-) Very nice. Candles and incense sticks all around, the atmosphere was soaked with ultimate peace and calmness. I loved that. And I hope to experience many more of such moments this week, because it's PBL week and I am going to the Norwegian cabin - meaning skiing and speaking Norwegian :-)

How free is freedom of speech?

Last night we had a very controversial world today. For many, it ended up in tears and hatred. And it made me wonder. How far can freedom of speech go? If it is limited by politeness, can it still be considered as freedom? Well, I guess I will have to grab a philo student to understand this better.
Basically, we had this journalist/caricaturist from Jordan come over and he showed a few of his political cartoons (many unpublished) and he pissed of a couple of people. Well, to be more specific, all the Jews. He was very anti-American, although he did not consider himself to be. His cartoons, were very controversial, especially the one portraying holocaust and then showing the same picture, but replacing Jews with Palestinians and Nazi Germans with Israelis and that's were the whole quarrel started. I do not know what to think. I wasn't that touched by the cartoon, simply because it applies to me less than it does to Jews and also because I felt his point wasn't to "make a fair comparison" (quoting the Jordanian guy) between holocaust and the situation in Palestine, but to show that both of them were acts of extreme racism, btw Nareg came up with this point and I can only agree.
Another thing that made me wonder is.. how equal are religions in the world? And how connected are they to political issues? Last week we had a world today on danish cartoons making fun of prophet muhamed and quite a number of people supported the cartoons because for them it was the sign of ultimate freedom of speech in Denmark. The muslims expressed their disapproval in a rather polite manner (unlike the Jews last night), but still, I felt as if people did not listen to them fully.
But! When someone says something negative about Israel, that person may often straight away be accused of anti-semitism. And being anti-semitist and anti-us is the last thing we should want in the world today, right?
So, in the end it seems like it's okay to make fun of Muslims, but making fun of Jews does not quite fit into the whole "ultimate freedom of speech model".Why? Perhaps, there are many Danish Jews, perhaps more than Danish Muslims...
I know that this thing is MUCH MORE COMPLEX.. but these have been my impressions so far.
Dot.

Flekke classic

These are pictures from yesterday's fabulous walk to Flekke. The first pic shows Cheryl (Hong Kong) and Tonje (Norway) - two of my good friends in this tiny bit of land at the end of the world. And the second pic is a classic. YOu can see the student houses - on the left along the road, and then the school (the yellow building) and the cantina (the red building).
Btw, I heard a Polish UWC applicant has been reading this: good luck with the selection!
The Czech National Committee has already read all the apps, so ... let's see who gets into the second round :-)
more info at www.uwc.cz
:-)

Animal gallows

Terrible title, I know. I know...But!
Guess what happened last night. Thomas came to visit me and while we were talking and I wasn't paying attention to what he was doing, and suddenly I looked up and my bed looked like an animal graveyard! Thomas hung up all my soft toys all around my bed and they looked pathetic :-/ But in the end, it was a funny story, but it really did look freaky in the beginning. Too bad that I was too shocked to take any pictures.
Today I walked to Flekke with Cheryl and Tonje. I must say it was extremely nice. Sun was shining and we had a nice talk. We did a bit of shopping in the famous flekke shop and then got back to THEIR beloved Denmark house and concluded our BIG trip with one O.C. episode, a pack of chilli nuts and a couple of cookies. Perfect. Back to "THE O.C." episode (btw, I am NOT getting adicted to THE O.C. :-)) - we watched the episode Countdown in season one and it really reminded me of my New Year's Eve 2004/2005. Well.. it's over.
Btw, the Sexuality Forum was great, in my eyes at least. I am happy to live in a place, when a gay teacher can speak openly about his sexuality and where noone has to be ashamed for who they are.
All for today..
Shine on :-)

Sunshine reggae!

Today was a beautiful day. Slightly freezing, no rain, but sunshine all around! The only thing I miss is about half a meter of powder snow... But I hope to get that on Tuesday, when I arrive to Eikedalen. Eikedalen is about three or four hours south from here and I am going to spend my NORWEGIAN project week there. There are only two other RCN students going, which is nice on one hand, since I like those two and it will be something different than the college, on the other hand a whole bunch of other people is coming along, people we've never seen before.. and now the freaky part comes: three of them are teachers from a Norwegian school! Aiaiai.. Eg håpar at alt skal gå bra!
I got my bio test back this morning. Better than expected. Uffff.. Haven't got anything from d.studies yet. But that shouldn't be too bad either. So it looks like I survived all tests from last week.
We (second years) got our RoPs(records of progress) today! Yes, a bit late.. At least I could reflect on what happened last term.. haha no way I would do that! :-) rofl..
Sexuality forum tonight, will report on that later.
I have had some news from home (read:CZE) - it's incredibly freezing, below minus twenty. Thanks God for sunny Norway :-) At least for one day. It completely changed everybody's mood. Everyone was running around, smiling and chatting. Computer lab was empty. Completely empty. Amazing.
Gotta go and study d.studies now. Now. Before the study mood leaves again.. :-)


If you're hot, you're hot.
If you're not. Fake it!
- Alistair when explaining how to get good marks on bio paper 2 :-)

The voice of the neglected one

Today, I got an email from a certain Argentinian who lives in one of my most favourite rooms on campus :-) :

Thanks Vera, you keep building bridges between nations...you are a LINK GROUP 
person :)
'it sounded really clitche.. but you get my point.. my point is that you are 
amazing but you just have to come and visit ME (no half Chinese, no half 
African, no Swedish/'French-english-accent' guy ;), just MEEEEEEE....'

Sorry if you don't understand this... it's very internal. I know. 
My second years - try to guess who are Lucho's roomies this year:-)
And you can leave out the African since that is a first year :-)

GSA forum

Tomorrow, Per and I are going to chair a forum on sexuality organized by the gay straight alliance (GSA). We've been working on some questions to ask the panel.
Here are some of the questions that the panel is going to answer tomorrow:

1. How can you be sure of your sexuality? Can one's sexuality change over time? Does a Gay/Lesbian act make one a homosexual?
2. Would you be friends with a homosexual? Would you mind if one of your family members was homosexual? What would be your reaction when you found out?
3. Why is love considered to be wrong in some cases? Why should or shouldn't people support the rights of homosexuals and bisexuals?
4. Should homosexuals have strong communities?
5. If the social and legal sanctions against homosexuality were removed, would it increase?

Do YOU find them interesting?

Stesk po Cesku?

Kdyz jsem na zacatku ledna odjizdela zpatky na sever, tak jsem se citila nejak zvlastne. Doma v Cesku se mi moc libilo, ale uz kdyz jsem v Praze potkala Thomase, tak jsem se nemohla dockat, az budu ve Flekke a uvidim zbytek svych dobrych pratel.
Uz v letadle jsem vedela,ze mi po Cesku bude pekne smutno. Jsem tu jedina Ceska a ven z tohohle mista se nedostanu, takze jsem porad ve Flekke a vidim ty same tvare kazdy den.
Ale musim rict, ze stesk zatim nedorazil. Velkej podil na tom maji moji kamaradi. Naucili se sem tam neco cesky, zazpivali tu ceskou pisnicku na show a vubec se o tu malinkatou krasnou zemicku v srdci Evropy docela zajimaji.
Je proste krasne jit rano do skoly a slyset AHOJ ze vsech stran.Pomerne oblibena jsou tu ceska slova bez samohlasek (v zebricku popularity vede slovo "blb", vubec nevim proc :-), ale "krk" se taky chvilku drzel:-)). A vsechny moje spolubydlici umi "dobrou noc":-)
Clovek by nerekl, co par slovicek udela :-)
Samozrejme ve slovni zasobe vede Anna, Cheryl, Thomas, Bobby, Boris, Tiina a Nana :-)
Jsem tu mesic a uz ted mam hlavu plnou cizich jazyku, prosim, piste maily.. Muj pravopis je katastrofalni a potrebuju si ho kapanek procvicit, a hlavne a to predevsim - bych rada slysela, jak se kdo mate :-)

Comments/Komentare

.. to the Czech performance(or anything else) are more than welcome! you don't have to be a member of blogspot.com to add comments to this blog, so please,take advantage of it :-)
..uvitam pripominky k videu z ceske pisnicky z evropske show! nemusite se zalogovat jako clenove blogspot.com, takze toho vyuzijte a sdilejte svuj nazor :-)
a stahnout to video pujde jenom do soboty do vecera, tak toho prosim vyuzijte :-)
v.

kings of convenience

I am listening to KINGS OF CONVENIENCE... Currently fighting for my most favourite music ever.. Hard to describe.. maybe it's the memories connected to the songs as well.. I am that sort of a person.. the one who associates music with situations&people..
Kings of Convenience remind me of my friends here in Flekke..It's a Norwegian band "I suppose" :-)

Video: Czech song from the European show!

Can be downloaded at:

http://neodude.net/host/mov05125.mpg

until next saturday :-) Then thomas is gonna take it off.. so hurry up :-)

Photos from the show

I don't have many pics from the show last night, but I hope to add more as they appear on public exchange :-)
this is my farmer costume (basically boris' clothes :-)), a part of my czech song group when getting ready for the performance and then my roomies when I got home :-)

Ceska zviratka

Ranni zkouska byla spise ospala. ta na generalce byla trosku rekneme.. no nastvana.. Thomas se nejprv ukazal a pak uz vubec ne, takze jsem hledala pianistu.. Ale co se tyce peveckych vykonu ceskeho sboru,tak to vyslo, to jo. thomas prisel ke konci naseho vystoupeni na generalce, myslim, ze mu stacilo se na me podivat a bylo mu to jasny.. ;-) Takze jsme pak sli k nim na pokoj, vypili asi litr ovocneho caje a povidali si. Ptala jsem se ho, jake slovo ho napadne, kdyby mel popsat ceskou kulturu, tak jak ji poznal on. A on rekl "pohostinnost". :-)
Od osmi byla show.. Moc pekna! Line-dancing (jakozto typicka vec ze severni ameriky), pomada, pisne z celeho sveta, balkansky tanec, scenka o Britech jak pijou caj.. a samozrejme CESKA PISNICKA :-) Ktera mela obrovsky uspech, protoze moji spoluzaci se zaslouzili o vyborne provedeni zvirecich zvuku a muj ucitel biologie tomu dodal smrnc.
cele ceske vystoupeni mam na videu, ve spatne kvalite, ale donutim thomase, aby to dal nekam na net a pak sem dam odkaz, ju?
Na party jsem vcera byla jenom chvilicku, nejak me to nebavilo. Tak jsme se s Thomasem divali na "Spirited away" zajimavej japonskej animovanej film. thomasuv oblibenej a prave proto, ze ho videl tolikrat, tak usinal, no co si budem povidat, usnul a vzbouzel se jen na ty lepsi kousky toho filmu.. ja jsem usnula taky, ale spis vycerpanim a nedostatecnym porozumenim nad tim filmem, ale aspon na konec jsem se vzbudila, takze vim, jak to dopadlo, i kdyz nemam paru proc :-)
Dneska tu krasne snezi a ja padim na zkousku s divadlem STERK,ve dvanact hrajem,
tak pa

Evropska show se blizi...

Dneska rano v deset jsme meli zkousku na tu evropskou show, presne receno jen nasi pisnicku.. Deset rano je na zdejsi pomery silene brzo, takze jsem svuj cesky sbor nejprve musela vzbudit. Dokonce se ukazal i nas ucitel biologie a bude zpivat s nama, je to vazne srandovni a moc se mi to libi :-) Ma to stavu, tak doufam, ze to bude mit vecer uspech. :-)
Jinak s Perem to tyhle dny neni vubec lehke, mam zakazno mluvit anglicky, protoze ma dneska sve ustni zkousky ze svedstiny, takze musim mluvit po jeho..
Blizi se vyberove rizeni na UWC a letos pry bude i jedno stipendium sem na sever, tak jsem zvedava, koho to sem misto me poslou :-)

Nesnidam, nesvacim, nestihnu to, nestacim...

Dnesek byl silenej. Mela jsem sice jen dve hodiny, ale v obou dvouch testy. Byly docela tezke, ale uplne duta jsem nebyla, takze to snad nejak dopadne :-)
Jinak nyni by melo jit pridavat komentare k jednotlivym postum. anizby jste meli svuj login na blogspot.com. Budu rada, kdyz budete prispivat, ale prosim, ve vsi slusnosti :-)
Taky jsem stravila docela dobu pripravovanim veci na HIV prevention Red Cross Camp - bude trvat dva tydny, bude v Cesku, kdesi u Prahy a prijede tam asi deset skupin z ruznych Cervenych Krizu v Evrope plus sedum statecnych z Norske UWC.
Odpoledne jsem uplne odpadla a usnula v pokoji, Tiinuska me probudila o pul pate, ze mame jit k Fredovi (nas poradce) zacit pripravovat "tacos", takze jsme meli veceri u Freda a bylo to moc fajn. Vzdycky je s nim sranda. A pak jsme sli na world today o svobode slova a nabozenske toleranci. Moc zajimave a ponekud hadave tema..
ted mam meeting se sterkem a zitra rano zaciname uz v deset nacvicovat nase ceske vystoupeni.. snad se vsechno podari!
zdravim ze severu..

Some more pictures..

the previous pictures came mostly from Cheryl. The ones I have just put out here are mainly by Thomas. Enjoy, enjoy.. come and visit :-)
Some more artistic photos can be found on www.neodude.net in the photography section.

Thomas+Cheryl in the Czech Republic

Ceske cislo na European/North American show

Ahoj :-)
V sobotu vecer se tu kona Evropsko-severoamericka show. Rozhodla jsem se, ze pro ni pripravim neco hezkeho ceskeho... A hadejte s cim jsem nakonec prisla? S pisnickou od Uhlire&Sveraka "Kravy, kravy, jak si vlastne povidate?". A jak to cele bude vypadat? Tak nejprv mi dovolte predstavit vam ten zverinec:

• kravy: Liv (Dansko), Anna (Rusko), Per (Svedsko)
• kocky: Sara (Norsko), Tonje (Norsko), Lucho (Argentina)
• zaby: Tiina (Finsko), Anton (Nizozemi/Rusko)
  
• pejsci: Bobby (USA), Daina (Lotyssko)
• hadi: Silja (Fajerske ostrovy), Karina (Norsko), Nana (Ghana)
• kapri: Boris (Wales), Anna (Jamajka/Rusko)
• neme tvare (solo): moje ceska malickost..

Cele to bude doprovazeno pianem, na ktere bude hrat jeho velicenstvo Thomas (Hong Kong). Nikdo neveril, ze ho prinutim po tolika letech zase hrat na piano a navic na verejnosti :-) Jenze! Thomas byl poslednich deset dni v horeckach.. a pri jedne z mych pravidelnych navstev jsem se ho zeptala, jestli to na te show odehraje a on rekl, ze jo. Cela skupinka zajasala, ale on se v utery rozhodl uzdravit a vzpomnel si, ze to delat nechce.. Takze opet nasledovala vlna premlouvani, ale ted uz je to sichr :-) Skoda, ze to nemuzete slyset, jsou to vazne sikulky.. cesky jim to jde jako po masle:-) i kdyz se me neustale snazi presvedcit, ze ve zbytku sveta kravy delaji "mooo" a ne buuu :-)
Budu se to snazit nahrat na video a taky poridit nejake fotky. Maji roztomile kostymy.. :-)
V sobotu v osum drzte palce :-)
Cesku zdar!

Have you ever heard the sound? Of your head in the ground..?

Another few random lines from a song by Tracy Bonham. I have been listening to her songs quite a bit lately and I like the lyrics.. although they sound a bit weird when they are placed out of context. But it works like that with just about anything. Things are not the same without their environment.
there is so much going on in my life that I probably can't even remember it all at once. and perhaps I even don't want to. I have loads of meetings today. On one hand, it's really exhausting, running from one meeting to another, trying to do at least some schoolwork in any free minute that might pop up and not letting myself break down into pieces.
Things I would pick up from the past few days...
STERK - forum theatre on racism and problems with cultural integration. Per and I are handing the theatre roles over to a bunch of first years and becoming jokers/forum leaders. We had a first rehearsal with them last night. It's always hard to see a new face of something you have been doing for a long time and you somehow created a fixed image of. But I must say, that the first years have started getting into their roles and the slight changes they made in the characters will spice up the play. I think they are a talented and diverse bunch of people and they will do a good job. Their first performance is coming up really really really soon.. this sunday. The first performance is always a bit insecure, but I trust them and I am really happy. They have given a new face to STERK.
Gay straight alliance. I had four meetings yesterday. Most of them kind of stressful. GSA was the last one I went to and also the nicest one. It always sits amongst my most favourite meetings. Perhaps because of the relaxing atmosphere and the sense of ultimate honesty(gosh, it looks really cliche, when it's written down, sorry for that;-)).There is going to be a forum on sexuality next wednesday. I don't really know what to expect. There is going to be a panel (Mariano, Emily,Eduardo and Nikola) and Per and I are going to be chairing the forum, asking questions to the panel and then opening it to the audience. When preparing for it, we found some webpages with "commonly asked questions about sexuality" and found some really weird ones (e.g. "what kind of jobs do homosexuals get?"). Anyways, GSA meetings are always very nice and it's probably one of the times when I think of the Czech Republic the most. When I question the way some of my friends would act or feel towards a homosexual person. From what I have noticed at home (now meaning CZE), the people have definitely shifted their views and are a bit more tolerant, however I can sense how ridiculous SOME ppl find it and that makes me worried. But I guess it's something that we just have to go through. Something that will come with time.
I am going to Dale now to do "leksehjelp". Leksehjelp means helping with homework and it's basically sitting in a school for five hours and being available for students to ask questions - preferably about maths and english, but i guess i could be helpful in some other areas as well, it's just that my norwegian is not that good in some other fields, such as bio or physics :-)
When I get back I am organizing a one hour long rehearsal for the Czech performance for the European show and then a STERK rehearsal...
And btw I have a bio and development studies test tomorrow. yay..


Quote from the door (of FH#203)
"They are inferior. They are women. Remember."
-Lucho
(one of the strongest human right activists at the school :-))

I am fully occupied :-)

Today was just crazy. The only relaxing time was during my two free blocks in the morning. I tried to convince myself that I am getting up and doing somework, which did not really happen until cookie break, when I went to submit one of my uni apps. :-) I know I don't really have a chance to get a scholarship at SFU, but who knows. Miracles happen every day..
After school, I went to the college meeting (first years are getting for their MUN, yay! :-) haha.. where is the time when I was the ambassador of Benin.. haha :-)), then to STERK emergency meeting - Arne suddenly remembered that we have about 50 kids coming on Sunday and we are supposed to STERK (forum theatre about racism) for them. We have five first years joining and about four days to teach them the concept and the roles.. And the European/Nort American show is on Saturday and my huge Czech animal choir (? :-)))) needs to rehearse!! Aiaiai.. don't even know when I am gonna be able to gather them together.
And since my bio lab is due tmr, I am going to grab some people and measure the vital capacity of their lungs to finish my data collection and finally do the stupid write-up.
I am busy... I have two more meetings today..
The only calm moment is now.
- tiina and I are home, she's listening to some nice classical music, we're having our afternoon tea, while I am trying to type something to my blog, be on phone with Norwegian Red Cross and slowly get ready for my walk to bio lab.

-If I was a fish I would drown-

999

Magicke cislo. Pro dnesek urcite. Poslednich par dnu jsem se trapila s jednou eseji, ktera je jednim z pozadavku na prijeti na jednu skolu. Sance se na tu skolu dostat jsou opravdu mizive, ale zkusit se to musi. I kdyz za tuhle zkousku jsem teda fakt neco dala.. Dost nervu, aspon.
Dneska jsem tu esej dokoncila a sla ji ukazat Nicky. Nicky je strasne príma Britka, co se stara o nase prihlasky na vejsky. Ta esej mela mit max. 1000 slov.. No a ja prisla s eseji o 1226 slovech! A tak jsme stravily hodinu vybiranim, co vynechat. Bylo to tezke (jenom moje osnova mela 150 slov :-(), ale po umornem prefrazovani valne casti eseje jsme ponekolikate nechali zobrazit word count a jake cislo se nezobrazilo? 999! TRADÁ!
V sobotu tu bude Evropsko/Severoamericka show a tak pripravuju ceske cislo. Vic napisu pozdeji.
Dneska neprselo a jak mi to zlepsilo naladu...

Illusions never change into sth real

Current song(state of mind): Torn

Up and down, up and down... My mood has been jumping like an Easter rabbit (weird metaphore, eg veit, eg veit, but I am an A2 higher student, what would you expect? ;-)).
I just wanted to say "takk for hjelp" to everyone who was with me today - for every word of support, for every hug, every smile... Things can get difficult no matter where you are, and even though I was (note:past tense!) having a bit of a hard time today, I am glad I was here with you. If I felt similarly in some other corner of the world, I probaby wouldn't receive such a friendly help.
Takk for alt!
btw, I am listening to mellow songs, doing some school work, waiting for thomas to drop by and slowly getting out of my up&down mood.

Dead tears are memories

Something unpredictable but in the end it's right ...

(I know, this is short and perhaps a bit random, but think about it..., for a little while. tears hurt, but they always flow away and they usually bring something good, hard to see at first, but as time goes by, tears die and leave memories marked with a bit of sorrow but drowned in a mellow spirit)

Up&Down

I am having one of those days, when my mood dramatically changes approximately every ten minutes. I admire my roomies for bearing with me today.
Tiina is sick and she's been occupying my bed. So my corner is now full of Finnish books, herb tea and other Tiina's stuff. It's kind of nice to have her over, even though her bed is like three meters away from mine ;-) Last night, Tiina, Maria (my Slovak fellow :-)), Roosa (the other Finnish first year), Laura (first year from Denmark, but living in Kenya) and I watched Pride&Prejudice. It was really nice. We consumed one bar of Czech chocolate and one bar of Finnish chocolate:-) And we laughed at the extreme behavior of Mrs Bennet. At eleven we went to theparty, down in the Hoegh. I don't usually go. I don't usually feel like going. But last night was kind of nice. And while I was having fun, I missed two visitors. Bummer :-( But I hope they are going to drop by again today. Would be nice to talk to someone while fighting with uni apps, norwegian book, english written tasks and similar stugff. Back to the party. Although I don't go there very often, I think it's going to be one of the things I am going to miss once I leave this place. It's one of the few occasions to have sober fun.. I know I shouldn't think too much about what's gonna happen after I leave this happy bubble.. But I can't help it. I want to get ready for it. But I don't think it's really possible.
And after the party, I went to play cards with Boris, Karina and Silja (faroese first year). We had quite a bit of fun actually.. and we finished our evening/night talking about how easy it is to make some people blush. And believe or not, I was on the top of the list... aaargh.
I have loads to do today, so I'll cut this off.

Tea room.

I have started writing dots at the end of sentences. Now and then I even do that on MSN. I have taken this habit from Thomas. A bit weird at first. But now and then I feel like putting the full stop...
I love tea. It reminds me of so many chats in my life. And it has this Flekke magic. A lot of my second years end their letters/emails with "drink loads of tea and go on a lot of walks around the fjord". In a couple of months, I will be saying the same to my first years. Tea here is not only a good way how to kill pathogens, warm yourself up.. but it is a brilliant way how to warm up your soul. Talking with friends. Friends who are not friends for a week or a months. Not even for two years. We see each other for a limited period of time. But our friendship is timeless. I realize how much this cliche becomes true. I miss you, second years. I wish I could have a cup of tea with you now. Instead, I am going to go around the fjord and end up in Snikkarbua.
Thinking of you...

Double-me

Interesting week.Won't go into details too much. It's kinda funny to attempt to have a bilingual blog.
I don't write about the same things. Actually quite the opposite.
But why is that? Am I schizophrenic (God knows, how that's spelled)?
Hopefully not.
Maybe I do have two "selves". My UWC self and my Czech self. And I cannot say the same things to everyone, because they would be very hard to understand if the person hasn't gone through the same environment. I do talk about UWC to Czech people quite a bit. Afterall, it's a major part of my year I spent here at the end of the world. But I somehow choose.. I choose what can be interesting. However, I do not pick specific things to make this place more popular. I also mention personal stuff. But in a different way then I would to UWC people. My personal feelings are often connected to people at the college. And since folks here have a bit of a different mentality, it doesn't make any sense to go into detail. Because this place is so damn special, the way things work, I believe are unique to the UWC movement. Hard to describe. Again, another obstacle. Hard to identify, yet it exists. this kind of UWC spirit, trust, respect, honesty... lack of make-up :-) no that was just a joke :-) But actually quite an important one. I think that if some of my friends came to see UWC they would think that the people don't take a good care of themselves. Well, let's be frank, it's hard to look pretty after having slept three hours a night for about a week. One is glad to manage to open his eyes :-)
But I feel the same towards my UWC folks too. There are things that seem alien and weird to them.
It's almost like two different cultures.
Basically(a good indicator of the fact that what I have just expressed in the previous paragraphs can be easily summarized into the following sentence) it's just the fear of not being understood, that keeps me from picking what to write in different languages.
But there is something universal.
My privacy. Consisting of my feelings, experiences, emotions, dreams, falls...
I have my own privacy in both of my homes - Chotebor and Flekke. And there is one group of people I share my privacy with, in Norwegian they are called VENNER (oops, another language), in Czech we call them KAMARADI (sounds like comrades, huh? :-))and English uses the word friends. My friends are what matters. To them, I say the things that matter. And I don't have to worry about picking. Those people may not understand some parts of my background, but they know me good enough to stay behind me and support me. I trust my friends. I love them. No matter where they are and what they have done. I love them for what they mean to me. Not for what other people perceive as good.


"Every breath is like the one before... "

Kopretinova nalada

Tyhle dny jsou strasne zvlastni. Plne prace a uceni. Fyzicky vycerpavajici. I kdyz jsem na dnesek spala tri hodiny, tak se mi cely den vydaril... A pomalu mi dochazi proc. Posledni ctyri mesice byly nesmirne nestastne pro nekolik mych pratel tady na severu. Hlavne jednoho. Stravila jsem s nim hodne casu a nikdy v zivote jsem nevidela smutnejsi oci, nekoho koho by deprese provrtala skrz na skrz. Nekoho, kdo by v sobe mel takove prazdno, ze jedinym duvodem zustat na svete pro nej bylo to, aby neublizil lidem kolem sebe a nezkazil tak jejich zivoty. Vcera vecer tu tentyz kamarad byl taky a naznacil, ze se jeho postoj zvolna meni. A zacinam si toho vsimat, kdyz ho dojdu navstivit, tak vetsinou neco dela, vtipkuje vic nez predtim a hlavne nema takovy ten bolestny vyraz v ocich. Zije.
Nevim, jestli tohle dava smysl, asi ne... Ale jen si preju, aby jste vsichni nasli aspon na chvilicku takovy ten radostny stav duse,kdy vam kopretinove myslenky zahlti srdce. Prilis poeticke? Mozna. Ale tak se ted citim. Neni to euforicka radost. takova moje, ticha, vlastni. Krasna.

Polevim z vysokejch otacek...

... pohoda, klidek a tabacek
Tak to je pisnicka od Chinaski, kterou si zpiva moje spoluzacka ze Slovenska. Neustale ji na me zumrala, a tak jsme napsali jednomu memu kamaradovi, aby nam ji poslal...

tak me napadlo, nemas nahodou v mp3 jakousi pisnicku od chinaski ktera zacina pohoda klidek tabacek.. maria tusi "ze sa to vola" pohoda. Je to pro ni, rada si zpiva o tabacku... vsak vis, vsak vis  :) 
> diky moc,
> verka
> (a ta vychodni cast nasi zeme reprezentovana Mariou :))haha
>
> Maria: od 1. januara 1993 mame samostanty stat, prtestujem proti osloveniu "vychodna cast"
>
> januar znamena leden
> pozn. redaktora

A ted... mi dochazi, ze je jeste jedno dulezite sdeleni v te pisnicce, ktere pro me plati:
"volane cislo ted neodpovida"
muj telefon jaksi umrel, takze se mi nepokousejte ani psat, ani volat..
do 25. kvetna a mozna i za to datum budu mimo telefon..
Takze pouzivejte muj mail (verka.czech@seznam.cz).
A mejte pohodu a klidek :-)

Pozdravy do Ceske Republiky

Byla jsem poverena poslat jedno velke AHOJ tem vsem, kteri potkali Cheryl a Thomase behem jejich pobytu v srdci Evropy. Tem dvoum se v nasi vlasti moc libilo! Cherylininy (?) rodice se nadchli pro fotky z Ceska.. takze v kvetnu se pred navstevou Norska nejspis stavi v Praze.. Na fotce je Thomas a ja, pri ceste zpatky na sever. Byl strasne hyperaktivni, celou cestu radoby tancoval a zpival, div me nezranil :-) Zivot na severu je destivy..:-/

You may say I'm a dreamer

Today I was listening to the song IMAGINE by John Lennon for about a million times. I am a little idealist. I know and the song kind of sums up my idealism(meaning I dont agree with everything in the song, but most of it..). Actually, it was sent to me as a christmas gift from one of my friends, who said that it reminded him of me.
So, hence, I am going to copy the lyrics here and let you think to what extent it does/doesn't resemble me.

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Pics from grad ball of my old school

It was lovely :-) My former classmates really have something to be proud of. It took them a lot of energy to put the ball together, but the things they did... amazing indeed. For a while I missed being down there and walking on the carpet, but then I thought of what Flekke is like and I started feeling like an observer. This was their ball, it was perfect and there wasn't a spot for me. And I think that was good. Afterall, we all belong to the places where we are. At least temporarily...End of my attempts to be philosophical :-)
Tusen takk.

Hupky dupky zpatky do skoly

Tak jsem zpatky na severu. Vcerejsek jsem v podstate stravila vitanim se a objimanim se s lidmi. Je to zvlastni, jak strasne jsem si s nekterymi blizka. Me pocity se tak trochu podobaly tomu, co citim, kdyz se vracim do Ceska. Jsem stastna, ze jsem zpet v Norsku. Vlastne stastnejsi, nez jsem cekala...
Specialni dik patri Ilce za krabicku bonbonu, co mi darovala na letisti - jeste jsme je s klukama nesnedli, ale na palube jsme mlsali, to jo :-)
Vcera vecer prisli na navstevu Boris a Karina, jedni z mych nej kamaradu tady na dalekem severu, kde ani lisky nedavaji dobrou noc :-) Slupli jsme tabulku studentske pecete a pak jeste nejake finske cokolady, co jsem dostala od sve spolubydlici Tiiny.
Muj pokoj vypada jako cajovna.. Dostala jsem plno svicinku, olejovych lamp a vonnych tycinek a k tomu jsem si z domu privezla asi tak pul kufru caju. Takze kdybyste chteli zaskocit na caj ;-) Jsem tu pro vas...
Vim, ze jsem jeste zanedbala psani o zbytku mych vanocnich prazdnin... tak snad se jeste dostanu k tomu abych vam popsala

• maturitak me tridy
• vylet na chaloupku v Olesnici
• Bobby a jeho cesty po Cesku
• Silvestr s Nikem a Kate (moji nej kamaradi z druhaku)

Dneska jsem se asi pul hodiny bavila s norskou kamaradkou Tonje o pohadce TRI ORISKY PRO POPELKU. V Norsku je to strasne popularni a letos to davali na stedry den. A predstavte si, ze je to silene nadabovane. JEDNIM MUZSKYM HLASEM a navic se zpozdenim, takze nejprv slysite pulku vety cesky (puvodni zvuk neni smazany) a pak presto monotonni muzsky hlas puvabne popelky. Pisnicky ale zustaly v cestine, takze si Norove pry docela radi zazpivaji "Kdepak ty ptacku hnizdo mas?" ... :-) Pry to chteli pred lety predabovat do lepsi podoby, ale Norove se vzbourili.. Pry jsou zvykli na tu starou verzi... :-) haha..
Chci ziskat videokazetu "norske" popelky a mrknout se na to :-)

First day of my last term @ RCNUWC

a bit from today

English A2 Higher - 2nd years
(literature about war, title of our term is "war - what is it good for?"
Pete:"Any questions, guys?"
Liv:"Can we go to lunch"
Pete:"That's a good question."
Pete (thinking)
Pete: "Yes"
(and btw, we have eleven teaching weeks left and we are having our paper 1 on May 2nd...yay )

First and the only email from the czech republic

The following e-mail was written by Thomas, Cheryl and me after having spent about twelve hours in the Czech Republic. We sent it to some of our UWC fellows. Nobody except for Anna from Russia/Jamaica replied. Shame on the rest of you ;-)
Observant readers notice, that the e-mail lacks any kind of fluency. That's because everyone of us wrote a bit. The sarcastic parts are written by Thomas, the sweets of course by Cheryl and the bs in between... guess by who :-)

Dear all....

So, we have spent our first day in Czech Republic and have already
experienced the EXTREME eastern european culture...
We have created a book for quotes since the beginning of our journey and
here are some we would like to share with you, just in case you have not
having as much fun as we are right now.

On the plane....
Maria: I really like taking off and landing!!!
Thomas: Is it organsmic for you?
Maria: Yes...goo-gooo-gooo

Once we landed (orgasm included, at least for some ppl ;)), we received a
strange welcome. Two of Vera's friends came to the airport - they were
wearing flip flops, shorts, life jackets and summer hats and paddles! and
they pretended to be paddling all around...
Then it took us two hours to get to Vera's place.

Then we fooled around with lunch, then Cheryl and Vera slept like pigs while
Thomas participated in intellectual development (i.e. putting together a
puzzle). Although Thomas tried to wake them up by pouring water on their
faces, Cheryl just jerked a bit, and Vera was immobile.

We then proceeded to experience some of the 'culture shock' Vera's been
trying to convince Cheryl and Thomas about for a few months, but only
managed to meet a bunch of random Czech teenages, played a bit of tabletop
football thing, and drank some strong spirit disguised as a 'cultural
experience'. (It was supposedly called 'Slivovice'; I believe it's a mix of
vodka and gin.)

There was also something that was 'honey almond alcohol something or
rather', etc.

Somehow, all three of us made it back to Vera's place without killing any
dogs. Intoxication levels were at an all-time low.

This email is too long.

Have fun guys,
Cheryl, Vera & Thomas

Thomas and Cheryl in the Czech Republic

aka the land of low prices, post soviet regime and old buildings.. haha :-)
here are a few pics. Most of them taken by thomas.
It was nice to have them over. We went to a pub, visited some sights and went to Prague for a couple of days. Learning to say Czech words wasn't very easy for them, but I must say they managed very well (Cheryl is brilliant at even spelling the word "slivovice"which is, for those who are not eastern european or havent visited this corner of the world yet, a kind of alcohol.. distilled plums, basically."you get the drift").We went to loads of tea houses. Cheryl and Thomas could enjoy "proper" Chinese tea and I could just relax in a non-smoking envt. which doesn't really exist in Chotebor, my hometown. Btw, thomas and cheryl fell in love with my tiny (about a meter high) teddybear.. :-)

So this is Christmas.. break :-)

My Christmas break started on December 10th and finished on January 7th, ehm yesterday... This is a short summary of what I did.. details above ;-)

• Cheryl and Thomas, two crazy hongkongese came over for nine days... loads of fun, seeing two conservative asians in a bit-too-liberal central europe...
  
• preparation for christmas (including shopping for a grad dress;-))
• christmas, family, family reunions
• cabin trip to a small place called olesnice with my friends
• Bobby, a first year from USA came over for the last week of my break
  

So.. that was it. How was yours?
Mine was... emotional. short. relaxing and stressful at the same time.
contradictory?
yes.
bitter?
a bit.
sweet?
yes.
bittersweet.
"welcome back to flekke. how was your break?"

No jo... :-)

no jo, no jo...
ja vim.
Pekne ten blog odbyvam, takze mi dovolte, abych zase zacala. A snad ho udrzela :-)
Zdravim z Norska.. a omlouvam se za tu bilingualnost :-)