They have Hare Krishnas in Bohemia?!?!?

Yes. Yes, they do.

But wait, it gets better: I will see some of these Bohemian Krishnas in person.

My mentor teacher in Hronov, Martin Vancl, is taking me to a music festival in Trutnov sometime around August 25. He tells me it is, and this is a direct quote, "the Woodstock of Bohemia". There is no way I am missing this!

Here's the festival poster, so you can whet your appetite for the report that is sure to follow . . . note the prominent billing of the Krishna camp:

My new home . . .

Jan has kindly sent some photos of the interior of his/my apartment in Hronov. It looks pretty comfortable, and not all that different from mine. As I have told many of you, there's a second bedroom with bunk beds so there's plenty of room for visitors! Come on over!

**Travel tip: If you haven't already, apply for your passport now--the State Department is incredibly backlogged with applications since the rule changes went into effect, so the average processing time of 3 months has been doubled. YIPES.

Schools out for summer!

I have been out of school for over a week, but Jan is just now proctoring final exams in Hronov. He emailed Sunday saying that he was feeling a little nervous for his students--I always feel the same way when I am giving a big test or assignment to kids, so I appreciate his empathy. I think he must be a good teacher. The fact that he is still in school also lets me know that I will have a longer work year next year, which is okay. Working more days still won't make up for all of the things that I won't be doing next year!

It was kind of hard to sign out at Junction City actually--and it feels very odd to have given up my keys. My classroom is my second home, and I keep wanting to go get things that I left there. Kids were very sweet in wishing me well on my next adventure, as you can see from the photos.





The roses that Linsy is holding in the second photo are the five roses she had delivered to me, one by one, throughout the day. Not only did she run all of my random errands all trimester, she got me roses! I don't deserve her, that's for sure . . .

The event that officially ended the school year, though, was a hike up Mt. Pisgah. The idea grew out of our Ken Kesey reading in Honors, specifically two articles he wrote about his son Jed, who was killed in a car accident at the age of 20. Kesey eventually had a memorial for Jed and his teammate placed on the top of Mt. Pisgah, so we hiked up to see it. Tyler picked some flowers to leave in Jed's memory, and we all joined hands and recited a famous Kesey comment related to his realization that we continue to love people after their death: "If love isn't stronger than death, then fuck it." Crass perhaps, but the message is certainly clear.



Amanda and I also visited the Ken Kesey statue in downtown Eugene with a few of her friends. I had grand plans to take the entire class to the U of O to see some of Kesey's manuscripts in their archives, and then take the whole group downtown to visit the bronze version of Ken, but I wasn't able to make the arrangements I wanted. It will have to go on the list for next time--but at least a few of us got there!



And so the 2006-2007 school year is over . . . now all my attention can be focused on preparing for my year in Hronov. Five weeks from tomorrow, I'll be on plane to Washington D.C.! It's just crazy!

A view of Hronov

Jan just sent me some more photos, taken from the apartment windows, to give me an idea of my neighborhood, as well as how the spring is progressing in Hronov. I definitely won't feel too out of place--it doesn't look a lot different than western Oregon.

It's just a really cute community! I am in love with this foot bridge already . . .

The white cafe/pub reminds me of all the little places we used to go in Germany. Why do I sense that I might quickly become a regular?

The sign in this photo reminds me that I need to get back on the wagon in practicing my Czech--what is "Kvetiny"? Hmmm . . . I think it might be a florist . . .