The Czechs… they do not age well.
I see this when I’m waiting (or most likely, sprinting) for the tram, or when I stride up the long hill to Vysehrad for morning classes. I see the old women totter on their feet, moving as slow as molasses through the crowds of thronging people or on the cobblestone sidewalks. Clutching canes or crutches, on unsteady feet they propel themselves forward, their faces wrinkled and weather-beaten, dressed in bland, unremarkable clothes. I don’t want to stare but sometimes I am mesmerized by their age, or just plain oldness. Maybe I haven’t spent too much time around the elderly in America, but here it just seems like people of advanced age have a harder time and are much more obvious.
In my head, I make up nonsensical stories about the lives of people I pass. I will say, that man there, he has a limp because he was clubbed by government forces during a peace rally in the ‘60s. Or perhaps, that old woman’s face is so careworn because her family suffered under the totalitarian communist state. I know it’s illogical, but that doesn’t stop my brain from projecting all that I have learned about Czech politics and recent history on to the people I may pass by in a day. Call it an advanced form of people-watching, if you will.
The weeks in this city are winding down. Only two more full weeks remain, and classes are already dwindling to final papers, presentations, and exams. I have been scrambling to clarify my final plans and make arrangements for the ensuing month and upcoming summer stretching ahead of me.
Are there any tangible changes in myself that I can record here? I know how to say, “Next weekend, I go to Berlin”, in Czech. I no longer recoil at the taste of beer. My grocery store decisions, if not Michelin level, are getting better. Plunk me down anywhere in Prague and I will figure out how to get home.
…is that it?
But really, the real changes are not this easy to encapsulate. Maybe I won’t even know the full extent of the effect of this experience for a while. As Nelson Mandela once said, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
Last week my father and sister came to visit me, as it was Brianna’s high school spring break and I had a brief respite from classes due to the Easter holiday. I enjoyed showing my family around, leading them to famous sites that I have become more familiar with. I took them to my favorite place in Prague, which is the National Memorial at Vítkov (link here: http://www.prague.net/vitkov-monument). This park is in the Zizkov district, northeast from where I live but still on the outskirts of Old Town. The largest equestrian statue in the world, depicting Jan Zizka, is located at the top, where a building houses a modern historical museum with tapes from the Velvet Revolution. My favorite part is the view, only accessed from the roof of the building. It is a 360 degree panorama view of the city, rivaling the vista from Petrin Hill. I always feel like I have a much better grasp of a city when I can see it from above, and pick out monuments or landmarks that I know. I am surprised, yet partly gratified, that the site is not more highly touted as a tourist attraction. I only happened upon it originally when a professor of mine took our class on an honest-to-God field trip.
Today I went to the Starbucks at Václavské námestí with the intention of starting a paper for one of my classes. I was expecting a message so as I settled down with my tea and bagel I left my Facebook chat open… bad decision. An hour and a half later, I failed to make progress on my paper but had instead engaged in animated conversation with about 10 friends, many of whom were in a different country. It was honestly really great to talk to everyone, but unfortunately this weekend is going to be rough work-wise. I’m already missing the Royal Wedding on television because I will be presenting at the Forum 2000 Foundation’s annual NGO Market (link here: http://www.forum2000.cz/en/projects/ngomarket/2011/).
Gotta make the best of it. Cheers to everyone back home, enjoy the improving weather and good luck on finals.
Love, Marina