Bezpečné jízdy na vás ... nashledanou Praha

This was a bittersweet moment for all of us this week. 25 came and many terrific friendships were formed. As I am packing up and preparing for my next journey, as others are as well, I have to say this was the best part of Prague...right here in this classroom. I thought about how we all are going to have such incredible adventures all over the world.
We toasted our to our futures in teaching around the world. What started over a year ago, with my first tentative steps in South Korea, to bring me here to Prague...made me realize there is a lot to going with the flow and not fighting the currents. You tend to struggle more by swimming against the tide and fighting your nature. There is a reason why I am drawn to teaching. For all the lessons I have learned, I learned the most from these bright and talented people...so full of life and adventure.

To dance...and just say YES...instead of no to your dreams. DREAM BIGGER and go in the direction of your dreams. You are the only one who holds yourself back.

Good bye Prague...and stay in touch.

the sun finally does rise in Prague

Have you ever been so thirsty to see a sunrise that you wake up your flatmate just to see it? I had been here for three weeks and the only sign was the brightening the clouds and that was how I knew the day had begun. Winter skies are often dark with pregnant clouds yielding their fat snow flakes. During the winter months, you have to have just a bit of faith that the sun still exists.

The sun was a shade of red I forgot existed. I was able to gaze with wonder at this red ball of light and reflect on the many sun rises I observed in South Korea. What I marvelled at was how the sun just appeared to always be white, a different position on our globe, a different season and I felt like I discovered a new view.

How each new day appears as something new and even though I appreciate winters far more now than I had in my youth, I always get up to see a sunrise. Perhaps it is in the promise of a new day, the power it represents. While we live we still have the power to make anything possible.

Sounds of The Prague Royal Orchestra

The old Bethlehem church had their outdoor statues adorned with flowers and gifts with the burning candles and homeless praying to statues. I was reminded of the classic line from Beowolf, "No god will help us when we can help ourselves." Often the stench of strong drink clouds a sober mind, and I wonder how many paths and directions we all go in at times, but no commentary on the lives of the street. No judgment about their lives. The streets are perfumed by the hot wine stands, the cheese rounds on display as the snow comes down and meat is roasted over open wood pits. I look and see etched faces in the marble and marvel at the gifts we all have. Down the road, I found a gift, in the Municipal House of Prague.
A brief description of the House which houses several restaurants and concert halls which I found while I was on a different quest and I opened the door and found heaven on earth. "The concert halls of the Municipal House is one of Prague´s most impressive and significant concert halls, primarly due to superior acoustic and its magnificient Art Nouveau interior. The building is crowned by the outstanding decor created by most of the prominent Czech artists of the day, namely the painters and the sculptors: Alfons Mucha, Max Svabinsky, Frantisek Zenisek, Bohumil Kafka, Josef Vaclav Myslbek."

In this place, I found all of my loves, art, jazz, Mozart and Vivaldi. I also was able to realize one of my dreams today, to sit in the front row and listen to heaven. I went in alone, but I am never lonely. My eyes filled with pink marble, the carvings, the paintings, the statues, and the feel of so much of the history of what it must have been like in the past and the flourishing of the future. I wanted to weep with the pleasure I was simply feeling just walking in the corridors or sitting in a booth while drinking a glass of wine. I wanted to multiple the time, the moments, and stretch it out and savour it.

My eyes were opened wide. How often to you go into a place and just feel the experience as if it was a holy moment? How often do you go to a place and realize where you are? The person that gave me my ticket at the booth saw in my eyes the deep love I had, and discounted my ticket. When I asked for a front row seat, she said to me, "I love to sit in the front row too. There is no other seat like it."

I saw them play, without anyone obscuring my view. I was incredibly happy to learn that as much as I wanted to photograph I could...and I hope they always allow their visitors to be able to have this opportunity. I don't know if I will ever be able to come back to Prague, but for now I am here.

I am amazed that people believe classical music will die. This violinist is a rock star. From the front row in Prague, in the Municipal House. With my little camera, I captured this moment. I am no expert film maker (ha ha ha), but what good is an experience if you can't share it.
That is why I am sharing it with you.

To...enjoy.

Dobry Den from Prague

If you want to feel like going back in time, there is nothing like taking a train during winter from Paris to Prague. The snows were coming down blanketing Europe delays and cancelations of all forms of travel, except for my charmed trains. I watched the ticker of the schedule canceling all Eurostar trains bound for the UK, and the other lines were on the brink of the same fate at Gare du Nord. I was one number off, and mine was still a go despite a 20 minute delay. Incredibly, I was booked to share a car with other femmes...but as fate would have it...I got a car all to myself. Getting the perk without having to pay for it when I boarded the change of trains in Köln Germany was like getting an unexpected gift. I however learned quickly why I was given two bottles of water...no running water on the train...so the irony of seeing a shower and the towels and soap reminded me of (ahem) a more horrific time in history.

I realized these routes had more horrific destinations, and I am sorry, but being on a train, where the end point was Moscow, really made me feel the full weight of history. Yes, I was (am) obsessed with the history of the second world war as we went along and through the dark snowy night...I crawled into the bed...really more of a litter and looked out the window, pulling the curtain down just enough to feel the rocking of the rails.
I arrived in Prague, met by a wonderful girl, named Helena. Helena's English had the most wonderful accent, perfectly imperfect English, that seemed to be the right dramatic effect to go along with the surrounding area. Helena later took the bulk of our motley crew on an adventurous tour, snow and all through the center of Prague. I feel like I have this growing love affair with the city, the cold, the snow, and of course the depth of the history that lies within their bones. Just over 11 million people live in the Czech Republic. Though they are apart of the EU, they resisted the Euro, which the people are very proud of that fact. As one local told me, 'it protected us from what the rest of Europe is going through.'
While we toasted our journey, our beginnings, we are this group of teachers who all breathed in for a moment what being here really means to each and every one of us. There is such a positive energy in this group that is unmistakable.
The beginnings of a journey that has a smile and a huge sense of humor, even if it means falling down a time or two in the snow...sliding down a hill and screaming at the top of my lungs as if I was 10 years old again...while I still can do it.
As this graph clearly illustrated for me...yes, 'I'm stronger...' but even more so...I am stronger than I even thought I was. Let's make most of this time...this adventure continues on.

Contemplation of an adventure...

I wanted to start this blog with a wonderful quote about travelling...about the virtues...about the real value...in the end I see how much I look forward to the motion of the journey. It isn't about arriving at a final destination...it is about the true picture of different lands, cultures, beliefs and ideologies that are fatal to the thought of being a close-mindset braggart. You feel something when you touch the soil...it could be aversion...it could be wonder...it could be seeing the differences and seeing the similarities.

However, what you really see is raw humanity. Sure I can enjoy the sights, the foods, the wines...but what I am not able to ever get bored with are people. People from all walks of life...that are on their own journeys...and there is something that happens to people when they travel...they forget themselves.

As with any dream, vision, or purpose you state for your life, I have come across this tantalizing prospect, which happens to come across at just the right time. I am at that point in my time in Korea where I had to start solidifying my next journey. My next destination will be Prague. I am trying very hard to keep my focus here in South Korea. There are things about Korea I will always treasure, but like a lover with the roving eye, my eyes have trouble focusing when I think about staying put for any significant amount of time. I keep thinking about how a person is only allotted so much time, and while I am able bodied enough, I need to live my life in one year increments. I threw away my 3, 5, and 10 year plans...because I realized I wasn't enjoying my life living that way. Time went too fast, and before I knew it...twenty years came and went in a flash. I have slowed down my life to savor it.

So my lust for life has propelled me to my planning stage.

I was going about planning my travels to Prague, with everything just about set, I fell into a state of dreading the flight. I thought about the long flight and thought to myself how it was going to be great once I got to Prague...but there was this twinge...this unbearable thought of how much of a waste it was to fly to Prague. I looked at the air route and found myself wishing for a road trip...to really see everything...but in a way where I wouldn't be weary. Though there would be time saved in travel...who wants to say they just flew over China, Russia, and a number of other countries...I wanted to see more than the cloud banks...I wanted to be there...to run across those that would go to the end of the line.

As soon as I saw the map...I realized it is something I just have to do. There really isn't any other choice for me...I have to do this trip. To not do this trip, well, it would be like ignoring my nature. I could feel all of the images of the types of people I would see, and there was something nostalgic about riding on a train...I could already feel my imagination getting ahead of myself. Far beyond an Ian Fleming or Agatha Christie novel...
My goal in life has been to travel the world...to go as many places as possible...and to somehow do it while in the process of living an everyday life. This journey will shrink my list down suitably...and leave me smiling, and drinking in the History of the ancients as I go along.

So I will be bringing in the new year some where in Russia...travelling for two weeks by rail...even though I could do it in one. Ah, there is a part of me that has always wanted to say, "From Russia, With Love"...but for now it's from Daegu, where today is Children's Day and Summer is just around the corner.