long overdue

once again I have a huge, huge, HUGE post....

From the anti-fascist rally to Jackson and Suzie's arrival, Thanksgiving, our trip to Budapest and finally my time in Prague coming to an end.

I took Jackson out for dinner for his birthday since I will not be able to spend it with him:

While they were in Prague we also went dancing:

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Mike and Sabila's







Afterwards, Suzie, Jackson and I traveled to BUDAPEST!!! It was just as cool and amazing as everyone had told me before hand. We spent the whole time walking, walking and walking some more. We tried to see as much as possible and I think we did a pretty good job.














as always, more pictures on flickr...

I realize this post is pretty picture heavy, but I'm much too tired to type it all out now... later... i promise!

Jackson and Suzie will be here is 12 hours!

new pictures up on flickr, blog soon!!

Yesterday Mikey and I were talking about non-verbal communication. I think that being in a country that speaks a foreign language has tweaked my nonverbal communication skills. I can make an educated guess about what someone is talking about based completely on their hand gestures and facial expressions. I may not always be correct, but I wouldn't be able to understand if I asked them, so I just assume I am. It's just easier that way, haha.

Mikey remarked that he's also become a talented mime. He claims he can carry on a deep conversation using only hand gestures. How impressive :)

We both agreed that being immersed in a different language has made us more aware of the English we use when trying to express an idea.


Thursday night, I discovered 1.5 liter bottles of champagne. They cost $5. oh la la!

krakow

Last weekend I was able to travel to Krakow, Poland. It was sort of a last minute thing... Salzberg, Brussels and a few other cities were in the running, but Krakow prevailed as other people we knew were headed there (which ended up being an organized group from the dorm of 80 people- ack!). So, 8 hours later, I found myself in Krakow.



Krakow is very very small and full of beautiful churches. The area is extremely religious, as it is the general belief that the dragon (devil) was slayed there.














Most of those churches were in the middle of town, around the market square (sorry for the blurriness in some of those photos- i did not want to use flash inside of the churches)






The main part of town is surrounded by a green, grassy ring. It is beautiful. There is almost NOTHING outside of the ring, it was strange. I felt like everyone that lived in Krakow must work in the tourist industry.





on the outskirts were the Prague Castle, the Globe House and a bunch of funny/confusing street signs:




girls with lollipops crossing...


no pedestrians, soccer, corners, cars or supervised children??


On Sunday, we visited Auschwitz and Birkenau. It was a really hard experience for me. It was something I wasn't looking forward to, but I knew it was important. It was really important. It is not something that I will ever forget. I... I cannot even put into words how strange it was to be there. It was a very emotional experience. I cannot believe that such a horrible horrible disgusting thing could have ever happened. I remember when we were in Berlin and our guide explained that they had put the Holocaust Memorial on the main road because they do not want people to forget what happened because if they forget, it could happen again.



I did not feel that it was appropriate to take pictures within either of the camps.


Something that has been troubling me since I returned is the population of Neo-Nazis in Prague. They are planning a march that is supposed to take place on November 11 ( i think?). They have stickers up around the city. I've been tearing them down and throwing them away.


That's all from me for now - I've got a midterm to study for!

Until next time,

virginia