Sunday, November 20, 2011
Dobry
Den!
Since about a month before our June orientation, I have experienced the “Up”
part of emotions towards leaving for my year abroad in Czech Republic. I
don’t think we covered it, but I have realized since signing up for Rotary
exchange, we go through I guess a mini series of roller-coasters. Each
consisting of its own bumps, jumps, rolls, and chutes. When I first signed
up and found out I made it through interviews and had been picked, I was
excited of the possibility of a new and “foreign” journey that could
literally and metaphorically take me places in life that many others may
never have the chance to see or experience. That was the initial “climb” of
the roller coaster, the first drop, however, came not so long after. One day
I received a call that I was looking so forward to hearing. The call to
announce host country placement. My call came from Paula Roderick and a few
of the inbounds.
(since I have read some of the other journals from current Outbounds and
inbounds alike, I know honesty and emotions are a big part of telling our
personal stories so here’s my first possibly shocking roller coaster drop.)
When I had filled out my application I had put
1.Sweden
2.Denmark
3.Norway
4.Czech Republic
5.Estonia
When Ms. Paula and the girls announced the first time where I was going I
couldn’t understand what they said because of the inbounds different accents
all intermixing all at once. So I politely asked again (a little worried
that the first thing I heard didn’t sound a lot like “Sweden”) and when the
words Czech Republic came through my phones earpiece, (honesty 101) my heart
sank and I tried to give my best “thank you I’m so excited” through my
disappointment so that the girls wouldn’t think they upset me with the news.
My dad was an exchange student to Sweden in his gap year before college and
I had really been hoping to follow in his footsteps and share a life
experience with him since I had already (and still do) plan on attending
Florida State University (Go Noles!!) at some point in my life to follow
one of my mom’s life experiences. Even though I was bummed that I didn’t get
my first choice, I realize now that even though I didn’t want to hear it at
the time, this experience is my own and not my parents.
This leads me to my most recent and quite large up. Since about a month
before our June orientation, I have experienced the “Up” part of emotions
towards leaving for my year abroad in Czech Republic. Through talking to THE
BEST (sorry other Rotex but I got to represent) Rotex ever, Liz Kane, and to
others about how awesome the Czech Republic is, by looking at pictures, how
cool her experience was, and yes (OMG!!!) even through that AWFUL research
assignment that helped me learn so much about the country, I really have
become excited about this trip and the destination I was chosen. The
climax, I guess you could call it, occurred three days ago when I Skyped my
first family host sisters for the first time ever. I mean… wow.. Just wow.
When Rotex say to get connected with your host families now because that
will only inspire you more to study more and strive for success before you
even depart, they know what they are talking about. My 18 year old host
sister, Leona, is sadly going to have already left for her exchange trip to
Japan before I arrive in the Czech Republic so I will not be able to meet
her face to face, but my nine year old sister, Nikol, will still be there
and will be my little sister while I am with my first host family. She is
absolutely adorable and doesn’t speak any English. Leona was able to
translate back and forth between Nikol and I talking and one of the coolest
things I’ve ever heard is her response to my question, “are you ready to
have a Big Brother around?” and she said something along the lines of “ I am
very excited to have a big brother that will walk me to the bus stop, ride
with me to school, walk me over to school, and at the end of the day take
the same route back home because our schools are right across the street
from each other. My heart instantly flew somewhere around a bagillion
stories in the air. I was so excited and happy all at the same time. Someone
over there was EXCITED to have ME come live with THEM in their country for a
few months. Words can not explain it.
Long story short (too late for that) ((oh well J )) just talking to my
sisters on Skype has motivated me enough to ask Liz for an assignment while
I am off in Maine for three weeks so that I can have a larger vocabulary in
order to better communicate with my little host sister Nikol when I arrive
at the airport and see all of my first host family for the first time. Liz
has made 18 sets of note cards for me to memorize over the three weeks away.
This is as far as I am right now and I can not explain how motivated I am to
work towards this trip of a lifetime.
|
|
August 29
Dobry den!
Well its my first night in the Czech Republic and it has been nothing but
awesome so far! That is other than the tear jerking goodbyes to my family at
about 10:30 AM yesterday morning Florida time L. don’t worry mom and dad I’m
doing just fine and moje host otec Ales and host matka Michaela are
wonderful and especially little Nicole, my 9 year old host sister who
doesn’t speak any English. Today at lunch after being picked up from the
airport Nicole and I played tic-tac-toe on the back of a coloring sheet she
received. Even though we kept tying we both had wordless fun and we also
shared some dance moves we both knew J and yes, right in front of the rest
of the restaurant ha-ha. I love my new room and bathroom, ha-ha sorry Darby
but its a lot easier to keep stuff organized when its one person in a room.
Even as it is I would never take it over sharing rooms with you buddy. Messy
or not. I thought I was going to be able to be strong and not cry on my
morning of leaving but there was no way. It started after I had gotten
dressed in my rotary travel garb ( I literally have never used that word
before) and was waking up Darby and Kendall my sister and brother in the
USA. Thinking this could be the last time I see them hit me hard. Then came
the airport goodbyes after a not too shabby airport breakfast of French
toast and eggs with my family. I survived my mom’s embrace without tears and
then started sprouting them like a leak as I hugged my dad. Kendall was next
and this opened the leak to a steady flow. But when my best friend, my
partner in crime, my brother Darby came up I couldn’t help but completely
each strong beam that had been holding my emotions from falling. So many
memories flooded my mind of good times with him and I could not hold it
back.
Enough about the sadness, but to be honest I believe that may be the hardest
part of this whole trip.
The flying went smoothly except for a minor speed bump when I missed my
connecting flight from Amsterdam to Prague because of a late arrival but it
turned out completely fine. I’m here safe and that’s all that matters.
On the way home from the airport I caught glimpses of beauty from both
Prague and Brno’s historic awesomeness. I look forward to exploring more.
But my family lives on the edge of Brno, in a quaint (another never used
word) place called Old Lisen. Pictures will be up on face book soon.
Anyways I’m signing out and tomorrow I’m spending the day in Prague with my
new friend Kuba Mach. Its going to be great and I promise to upload tons of
pictures.
Dobrou noc a mluvim s yall later.
September 1
Well, well, well…
So everything continues to be awesome with a side of perfect on a hot golden
platter. Nothing less : )
I have (fortunately) yet to be home sick which for me is a good thing. My
parents know I used to have a problem with that just at two week summer
camps ha-ha(not fun…).
The 2nd day I was here I met a new friend Kuba Mach who is my exchange
sister’s(currently in Japan for her exchange) boyfriend and he is very cool.
We became friends quickly and effortlessly. He , my host Dad, and I went to
Prague (our ((Czech Republic)) Capitol City) because Aleš had some meetings.
Kuba toured me around Prague by Bus, Metro, and trolley-buses, for about 8
and ½ hours. It was really awesome the architecture is absolutely
breathtaking and I cant get enough of the cobblestone sidewalks and Prague
Castle and just all of it. To think that I only live two hours from this
beautiful city is exhilarating.
Yesterday Kuba toured me around our city Brno for about 6 hours and we saw
all the important buildings and also free-toured the dungeons of the biggest
castle in Brno. It was very cool but made me happy I didn’t have to live in
one of those cells for more than a day. Ha-ha.
Today was the first day of school. This will sound very weird. I enjoyed it.
I know. My Floridian parents are shaking their heads saying he’s lying.
Ha-ha. Totally true though, I love my classmates(we stay with the same group
of people all day so everyone becomes good friends throughout the year), my
teacher, the way the school works, oh, and school today was only 2 hours ; )
which made it better too : ). There’s a guy in my class who’s name is Martin
and he lived in Colorado for a year(I don’t know how long ago) a mluvite
anglitcky moc dobře!(he speaks English very well.) He showed me the school
and its very simple. Ponte Vedra High school is a 2 level, U-shaped school
with many, many, many class rooms on each level. My school here is L-shaped
with 3 classrooms on each level and a big field tucked next to the school
for gym.
Mom and Dad, everything’s great, I’m safe and beyond happy : ) nothing to
worry about.
Kendall, my little sister is just like you, she has a body made of noodles
and her gymnastics tricks are crazy. From knots to balls, she can form to
almost everything. She’s like a Czech Skylar.
Darby…. Stay lax, Bro. Protect our sister. Don’t mess with her too much
while I’m gone.
Anyway tomorrow’s another day. Peace out Floridian and American friends,
family, Rotarians, and Rotex.
September
8
Dobry den!!
Jsem moc dobře a ja mamarad moje rodina, moje kamarady, moje doma a
everything else : )
Today was very interesting. I had Spanish class for the first time since I
have been here. And I thought learning Czech in English was tough…. But no
worries, I am now officially (I think) trilingual! I speak perfect,
czec-lish, spang-lish, and span-ech!!!! : ) It surprised me though how I
perfectly understood 95% of what the teacher said in Spanish but as soon as
it was my turn to say my name, where I was from, and what I like to do in my
spare time, I couldn’t think of any Spanish words but only Czech words. Even
though I had studied 3 years of Spanish, the past three months of Czech have
completely taken over. It was like I was speaking to a friend in my Czech
school in Czec-lish but to the teacher in Span-ech. Filling unknown Spanish
words with Czech : ). Good times.
Ha-ha anyways I still love life here and here’s another interesting story
from today, I tried out for volleyball. It was actually more like a showing
a coach how I play so he can help find me the right volleyball club in the
city. I was only practicing with the team for maybe 45 minutes. And lets
just say that afterwards I felt like I played the worse I ever have. My
spirits were finally lifted when my dad Aleš told me that I had just
practiced with THE BEST TEAM IN BRNO of my age. They had been professionals.
Some of them even paid to play. And I had wondered why I played badly. He
told me I actually played well but the fact that every one on that team had
played all their lives and were planning to play volleyball the rest of
their lives. That explained why all their players had been at least 6’3 and
could jump like my one of my best friends Nate Cole (very good basketball
player). So I felt better about myself. : )
I have decided to still look for a volleyball team with the coach that
watched me today, but also keep enhancing my talent on the slack line.
(tight rope). I can always get really good in an uncommon sport : ).
So just about 20 minutes my dad was telling me about a little kids movie
that he took his daughter and my little sister Nikol to that he thought was
actually a pretty good movie. He said it was a musical and one of the
actresses is also one of the judges on “Czech Republic and Slovakia has
Talent” (just as awesome a show ((talent wise)) as America’s Got Talent (((
for those of you possibly doubting))) :P ) and she is a incredibly talented
singer. He was telling me about how she has a great vocal range and showed
me one of her music videos and after I showed him Josh Turner (country
singer) who I think has one of the best ranges of all the singers I know and
I showed him the song “Would You Go With Me” and he loved it.
After that I decided to show him my favorite country song of all time. My
Floridian Dad and I’s song. Yes, my real dad and I have a song that we
dedicate to our father son relationship : ). The song is “I’ve Been Watching
You” by Rodney Atkins. Halfway through the song I felt a pang of sadness as
I thought of saying goodbye to my dad in the airport. In the music video it
has clips of the dad and his four year old son doing activities. (to my
Father Darby Brower) when I said goodbye to you at the airport I had
flashbacks of watching baby videos of you and I doing things together and
you always had so much joy and love in your eyes. At my birthday parties,
when you would help me in those indoor playground places, when you and I
would spend time together listening to “Morning Wood” with Casey on the
fishing trip, and when you would help me in my biggest time of need when my
back was in bad shape. Dad you have always been so strong and you barely
ever cry. Listening and watching our song with my host dad made me miss you
more than anything.
I am so thankful for you and for supporting me to do this exchange because
so far it is the best year of my life and I know it can only get better : ).
You are the reason I am enjoying this part of my life so much and I can’t
thank you enough.
So I officially dedicate this extremely deep journal to my father Barrington
Darby Brower because he has always been my Rock to lean on : )
Czech Republic is wonderful, I have made many friends, I have tried so many
new foods (fried cheese is awesome ((its like a giant mozzarella stick)))
and my host family is nothing but great.
Tomorrow I leave for my first Inbound Orientation and I cannot wait to meet
the other kids lucky enough to come to these wonderful countries of Czech
Republic and Slovakia : )
Until next time,
SBJB
My new friend Kuba and I after touring Prague, our Capitol City
Sunday, November 20, 2011
02:58 PM
Dobry den! Cau! Ahoj! Jak se mate?
Good day! Hey! Hi! How are you?
These are only a fragment of the words and phrases that I have come to
use and know in the past (ehhh almost) three months I have lived in the
Czech Republic. Since my first few journals so much has happened and I will
do my best to compact it so I don’t write a book, which with all my
experiences right now, I promise would be a lengthy read, but surely a good
one.
My first orientation in Strecno Slovakia was wonderful. I have always
really liked being one of the first people to arrive at any Rotary weekend,
in Florida or here in District 2240 Slovak and Czech Republic. I enjoy being
able to play meet and greet with everyone that trickles in so that hopefully
I will know and have talked to everyone and I can break the ice with
teaching people how to slack line, throwing the American football, or by
playing Ninja, the best non-prop-large group game ever invented. It was
really interesting to see how people’s progress (or not) with the Czech
language were going. On Saturday of the Rotary weekend we all toured Strecno
Castle which was the first castle in Europe I had been to so it was a really
cool experience to hang out in something other than the Spanish fort in St.
Augustine . That night we had a very fun dance party and let me tell you,
Spanish people are the absolute best. My best friend from the Czech inbounds
is a guy named Alejandro Acosta and he is awesome. He and the other Latinos
basically ran the whole night playing DJ with YouTube and teaching everyone
to dance to each song. Being a goofy guy I of course donned the medium
(towel sized) Czech flag as a cape during the dance night as to distract
everyone from my ehh…dancing :D. Sunday (I think) we had a language test
after breakfast which I did averagely on. Because of that I have boosted my
Czech studies which you will read about in a little bit.
Fast forward to two weeks later where the strangest thing I’ve ever seen
occurred. There I was, sitting on my bus, listening to my Czech Rap half
asleep, normal morning right? Well, I decide to look out my window. I don’t
know why but I just did. One stop from the main bus station, Stara Osada,
the stop is Gajdosova and there is a big nice church and a subway station.
Well this particular chilly morning a man with a strange ponytail and goatee
decided to dance around some poor old ladies, on benches, and on the church
steps…without any clothes on… yes ladies and gentlemen, I saw my first
streaker… on my exchange. Was it a highlight? No, but definitely one of
those moments you won’t (unfortunately) forget. So I looked around the bus
and did what everyone else was doing. I turned forward and looked out the
windshield with a blank face like nothing happened. Normal morning right?
My other trips have included another to Slovakia with Katrina Platkova
(Slovak Rotex) and her husband to Spis Slovakia, where we stayed with her
mom and dad (who is a Rotarian) and we went to Spis Castle, the second
largest castle in central Europe. It was absolutely breath taking. We also
went to Slovak Paradise; a mountain where we hiked and has at the top a
giant slab of rock that juts out over empty space for hundreds of feet and
you can lie down and look over the edge. It was beautiful and had great
views. Lastly we hiked in High Tatras, and THERE WAS SNOW!!!! No big deal or
anything to us Floridians right? . It’s the biggest mountain range in
Slovakia and I can’t explain how wonderful it was but I have an album on
Facebook with only pictures from that hike. Gorgeous. My latest trip was to
Warsaw, Poland with my family and the Czech Republic Bartenders Association
because my dad is the president. It was the 60th annual International
Bartenders Association world championship for flair tending (flipping and
juggling the bottles while making the special cocktail) and classic
bartending (just making the special cocktail. Warsaw was very pretty but too
modern for me because I like more historical buildings and so on but still
very nice. My second Inbound Orientation was held in a city called Trebic,
where I and the other 14 exchange students visted an old Jewish town, a
beautiful old Jewish synagogue, and had a badminton tournament which my
second host brother and i won! We also had a Speaking language test the
first night after dinner as well as a three page written language test after
dinner. I was very excited to get the results back(98 out of 100 on the
written test) and find out that i currently have the best knowledge and use
of the Czech language in all the exchange students living here .
In my spare time I have begun to go to a Gymnastics hall with my friends
Petr Zilev and Michael Bejcek, to follow my childhood dream of becoming ….
Spiderman. We learn and practice flips, spins, jumps, and vaults, which is
what I’ve always wanted to learn to do but not had a place in Florida to try
it. Other sports include Floorball, a game much like hockey on a basketball
court, where you use a waffle ball instead of a puck, and sneakers instead
of skates. Unfortunately I use a golf swing which is not allowed but I am
learning fast. Slack line of course is still a favorite of mine (and now my
gymnastics friends) but indoor spinning has become another favorite. Not
only because one of my friends is the trainer, but it’s an awesome workout
for one hour. It has proven to me that it is not only for girls (it kicked
my butt the first time!). I have been to a hockey match(Kometa Brno((team
name))) and I have found the fans are exactly like ours at a high school or
college American football game, loud, obnoxious, and somehow singing or
chanting in tune, all at once, so that the bleachers shake. I have also
attended my first official Floorball game (Brno Bulldogs) and women’s
basketball game (the team name escapes me but our mascot is a Frog.
In school I am in class 3.X which has three subjects (history, geography,
PE) in English to see if learning in English helps learn the language
faster. Because of its effectiveness my friends only spoke to me in English
which (after I asked nicely) has stopped and we only speak Czech, but also I
now have three only Czech language subjects with class 3.A, an all Czech
class, when 3.X has English subjects. So everything is fixed so that I
receive optimal Czech language!
OH MY GOSH THE FOOD!!!! I guess where I could begin with this mystical
edible substance is when I was traveling with Katrina Platkova (Slovak
Rotex((Lives in Brno))) and another Rotex to my first Rotary weekend in
Slovakia. We stopped along the way at what is now my favorite restaurant in
the 2240 Czech and Slovak Rotary District, “Koliba Drietomica” where I had
one of my favorite Slovak dishes, “Halusky” which is potato dumplings with
cabbage(like warm sauerkraut), sheep cheese (like fried macaroni and
cheese), and pieces of sausage(delicious bite sized pieces of heaven). My
favorite desert is Knedliky s ovoce which are hot baseball sized desert
dumplings with a whole plum or nectarine cooked inside. Normally it’s served
with shredded cheese, melted butter, and powdered sugar. It’s truly one of
those meals where you have to think the whole time, “Pretend its
Thanksgiving so it’s ok to eat all of this delicious food and don’t feel bad
about it later…pretend its thanksgiving…” The list goes on and on of the
foods I love but now for the foods that are waiting to be tried but are
sometimes feared by foreigners in new countries. The first “interesting”
concoction I tested my insides with was in one of my Rotary club meetings. I
couldn’t read what the only thing on the menu was for dinner but the dinners
at Rotary had yet to be anything but silver platter worthy so I figured it
was going to be great. (WARNING- what I’m about to explain is not for the
weak of heart or stomach) What was on the plate was normal white boiled rice
with what looked like clear jell-o with pieces of meat floating around
inside of it. As I took the first forkful to my mouth my second host brother
and Rotex leaned over and asked, “So u like pig tongue huh? Good!”…..As I
forced my way through the tongue jell-o, the only thing in my mind was a
picture of me kissing a pig…. Nuff’ said. It didn’t taste good either
unfortunately… The next food that is not a normal thing to splash down into
my stomach acid was goose hearts. Yup. Goose hearts and w
So enough about the heavenly food here. Here’s a cool short story. A few
weeks ago I had a Skype call with my Moms dad, Sherman Bryan Jennings, or
for me and my siblings, “Peeps”. He had something very important to show me.
He contributed a certain amount of money to Rotary in my name and explained
some of my past “good deeds” to his Rotary Club of Orange Park and how I was
going exchange and I have received the Paul Harris Fellow award. I told him
how greatly honored I was to receive it and thanked him for doing it for me.
That really touched my heart because he is 90 years old now, still a lively
young man in my eyes as I always tell him . But he didn’t have to do that
and he went out of his way to do something wonderful for another and isn’t
that what Rotary is all about?
Anyways, about my current standing with learning Czech. My Czech lessons
in school are not very effective for me. I only have one lesson a week after
school on Tuesday and it’s only for 30-45 minutes. I have talked to the
teacher myself but because of his schedule he could not make more time for
us. So now I have two awesome Rotex friends who are helping me out. My good
friend Katrina Platkova teaches English in a school and she is my major
Czech Grammar teacher now. She gives me lessons for free whenever I have
time that works with her schedule and she has made me a HUGE grammar
workbook and everything. We normally meet Mondays before my rotary meeting
for about an hour, Wednesday after school for about two and a half hours,
the same on Friday and on the weekend Saturday or Sunday. She is a great
help and I think it’s really speeding up my Czech learning. On my own I do
homework from the grammar workbook and I learn words. When I left Florida I
knew 218 words from flashcards made from Liz Kane, a Rotex who lived in
Czech Republic two years ago. I am really proud of myself because I have
taken her general flash card idea and blown the number up from 218 to around
950 words in almost three months. My personal goal is to be the first
exchange student in Czech Republic to be functionally fluent a little
earlier than halfway through the year. I can already have conversations with
adults and teenagers most of the time understanding enough know what they
want to say and being able to respond with not so perfect grammar but I know
that will come with time and more practice.
So to those of you who took the time to read this, Dekuji moc, Thank you
so much and I hoped you enjoyed it. I have also decided to take a different
approach to blogs and I’ve started making video blogs on my YouTube channel
(Theredsurfer268) about my marvelous stay in the Czech Republic.
Again thank you to Rotary for this incredible opportunity that not too many
people can say they have and I promise to use it to the best of my ability.
As you can see from this lengthy journal I am making memories for a lifetime
here . Thank you for your attention!
Until next time,
Jennings Brower
|
Our
Districts
Jennings
Brower
Aaron
Alayna
Alison
Alison
Alyssa
Amber
Andrea
Anna
Ashley
Austin
Autumn
Britney
Carlos
Carter
Casey
Celia
Chantal
Chelsea
Crystal
Devante
Ellen
Emily
Jennings
Joe
Kate
Katie
Mackenzie
Miranda
Quinn
Vanessa
Guido
Maria
Steven