Sunday, August 28
Today was perhaps the best day so far. I woke up around 8:15 and made myself a hearty breakfast of three fried eggs- I was determined not to feel like I'm starving all day like I have ever since I arrived. I then proceeded to bake chocolate chip cookies without measuring cups, vanilla, a proper mixing bowl, or a written recipe. Amazingly, they turned out quite well.
Everyone gathered at our apartment at 10 for a meeting with Kim, our resident director. She gave us the brief history of the Prague Jewish community (it took over an hour). We then discussed academics and the classes we'll be taking in a week. We begin Intensive Czech tomorrow- I'm excited to finally be able to pronounce the names of tram and Metro stops. Also, I have the option of doing an internship instead of one elective. On Friday night, we went to Masorti (Conservative) services with Rabbi Hoffberg in a room in the Jewish town hall in the Jewish quarter of the old city (it's been in use by the Jewish community for hundreds of years- very cool building). I talked with the rabbi and he wants me to intern for him with the community. I will either be helping to organize/lead high holiday services or, more likely, I'll be working with the bar mitzvah class in some sort of teaching capacity. I'm really happy to get involved in teh Jewish community here, especially because it will make research for my thesis so much easier and give me access to a lot of resources. I've decided to change my thesis topic to the rebirth of the Jewish community in Prague rather than outside perceptions of Jews.
Anyhow, after the academics talk, we fuond out about our activity of the day. We had a seven hour scavenger hunt in three teams across the city to help us learn our way around. My teammates were Emily and Bess. We decided to take the challenge seriously- a prize was promised to the winner of the most points- and raced around the city acquiring brochures, beer coasters, tram tickets, newspapers, and other various souvenirs in addition to photographing ourselves in front of a wide range of landmarks. We visited sights like the Charles Bridge, the Jewish Museum, the Castle, two marionette operas that perform Don Giovanni, a faraway Metro station, the Czech National Library, the Prague City Library, the main post office, and the Jerusalemska Synagogue. I now feel incredibly familiar with the major areas of this city, and in the process of learning it all I had a ton of fun.
We met for dinner as the last leg of the race, where points were counted and our team won by a significant amount. We had a delicious dinner of mostly traditional Czech food- who knew a cabbage and horseradish salad would be so tasty?
Now, I think it is time for me to go back to my apartment and collapse. Tomorrow I will be learning Czech at 9 am. Love to all.
Everyone gathered at our apartment at 10 for a meeting with Kim, our resident director. She gave us the brief history of the Prague Jewish community (it took over an hour). We then discussed academics and the classes we'll be taking in a week. We begin Intensive Czech tomorrow- I'm excited to finally be able to pronounce the names of tram and Metro stops. Also, I have the option of doing an internship instead of one elective. On Friday night, we went to Masorti (Conservative) services with Rabbi Hoffberg in a room in the Jewish town hall in the Jewish quarter of the old city (it's been in use by the Jewish community for hundreds of years- very cool building). I talked with the rabbi and he wants me to intern for him with the community. I will either be helping to organize/lead high holiday services or, more likely, I'll be working with the bar mitzvah class in some sort of teaching capacity. I'm really happy to get involved in teh Jewish community here, especially because it will make research for my thesis so much easier and give me access to a lot of resources. I've decided to change my thesis topic to the rebirth of the Jewish community in Prague rather than outside perceptions of Jews.
Anyhow, after the academics talk, we fuond out about our activity of the day. We had a seven hour scavenger hunt in three teams across the city to help us learn our way around. My teammates were Emily and Bess. We decided to take the challenge seriously- a prize was promised to the winner of the most points- and raced around the city acquiring brochures, beer coasters, tram tickets, newspapers, and other various souvenirs in addition to photographing ourselves in front of a wide range of landmarks. We visited sights like the Charles Bridge, the Jewish Museum, the Castle, two marionette operas that perform Don Giovanni, a faraway Metro station, the Czech National Library, the Prague City Library, the main post office, and the Jerusalemska Synagogue. I now feel incredibly familiar with the major areas of this city, and in the process of learning it all I had a ton of fun.
We met for dinner as the last leg of the race, where points were counted and our team won by a significant amount. We had a delicious dinner of mostly traditional Czech food- who knew a cabbage and horseradish salad would be so tasty?
Now, I think it is time for me to go back to my apartment and collapse. Tomorrow I will be learning Czech at 9 am. Love to all.
posted by Unknown at 10:36 PM
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