Owch!

Hello boys and girls!

I'm finally feeling like I'm over the jet lag... but it took two nights of going to bed at 9 to get there! :) This morning I got up, and as I puttered through my AM ritual, I just had this great sense of "wow, do I love being back in a routine!" It felt so good to put my bagel in the toaster, boil the water for my coffee, make my lunch... just chug along, doing all the little things I do every morning.

School felt very similar - just going through the same things that I do every Thursday. Today's gift from our motor speech disorders' prof was a large eraser, in honour of our midterms that we just wrote. She encouraged us to reflect on what went well and what went badly, and prepare ourselves to improve for the final. My eraser looks like chocolate, so I reflected mostly on how much I like chocolate, but I did briefly ruminate on the fact that I need to be a bit more "functional" and a bit less "theoretical" when I study for the final.

I took the train home from school, then stopped at the post office to hand in my student loan papers (I am, apparently, exceedingly special, because I did this once in September, and am now doing it again. The other girls only had to do it once. Maybe they'll give me extra money??), then stopped at Shoppers to buy my bus pass (the U-Pass was approved, come September my bus pass will be included in my tuition!), and then headed home. I puttered around a bit, had a snack, and then decided it was time for a run. I haven't run in about 2 weeks - it was awfully cold around midterms, so I went to the gym with my roomie, but not as regularly as I'd been running. And then I went to Prague, where I was lazy and fun-loving, and not running. So I pulled on my gear (I looked super cute, in case you're wondering), and headed out. Can I just say that two weeks does a LOT of damage to how well I run? I only lasted about 20 minutes, there was more walking than usual, I had an asthma attack, and a stitch in my side! I staggered home feeling fat and lazy, but proud of myself for doing something about it, and stretched for a while - I figure I'll be feeling this tomorrow. Note to self: Back to running 3-4 times a week, stat!

(I would just like to point out that by 4 o'clock, I'd been to school, gone to the post office, picked up my bus pass and gone for a run. I'm feeling productive.)

And now: some pictures! I took very, very few photos in Prague, and most of them are of the giraffes at the zoo. I won't bore you with those. :) But here are a few of people, my favourite subject, and a funny translation.

Adrian and Adam - looking highly entertained!


Courtney and Petr - my fabulous hosts. They're so cute!

Emily and I - she looks fabulous. I look... tired. We'll say tired.

Pirates of Caribbean: you see, Czech doesn't have determiners (a/the), so why should English?? Also, they spelled Caribbean wrong - isn't that awesome?! Pirates of Caribbean! Elizabeth Swann! Will Turner! They even had a Pirates of Caribbean II drinks list on the wall, but I didn't want to look too touristy, so I just photographed the menu.

That's all for today folks - have a good weekend!

Love,
Elizabeth

"I'm not lazy. I'm aggressively passive."

Nothing like laughing out loud in the Toronto airport while reading Douglas Coupland's J-Pod because of the quote that's in the title. It kind of sums up how I've felt since I've gotten home from Prague: jet lagged and aggressively passive!!

The end of my trip was as good as the beginning, if substantially more surreal. Chris, my ex-boyfriend, emailed me while I was staying at Courtney's (I hadn't heard from him in a while), and actually ended up coming to visit me while I was there. There were a couple moments when it seriously felt as though I'd never left, which was actually quite disconcerting! We went to the sports bar with Rob and Marta to watch some of the rugby, and to the best little cafe in Malostranska (where I had an amaaazing latte [Dylan Moran: They're all slumped on the lawn like dead bumblebees, drinking latte! They're all disaffected! It's like Berlin, 1949!]), and to see Babel.

Ooooh the irony. Not "like rain on your wedding day" complete and total lack of irony, but the real, *headdesk* kind of irony. The kind of irony where you go to see a movie all about failures to communicate on multiple levels, where 3 of the 4 storylines aren't in English, and the subtitles are in... Czech. *headdesk* Actually, the movie was good enough that I was still engrossed, despite only being able to understand about 25% of what was actually said. But still!

Coming home was not as smooth as getting there. There was a snowstorm in Toronto, so I got held up there for an additional four hours. By the time I got into bed at mum's, it was close on to 3. I decided to skip Monday's classes and just spend the time getting organized. Then grandma called to say that grandpa was in the hospital, so I headed down to the Wonk with mum to visit them. I bussed back into E-town on Tuesday morning, just in time to meet with Megs, discuss our respective reading weeks, and go into Child Language Disorders to do a presentation with her. By the time I got back to my place, it was 6-ish, and I was wiped. I tried to get some work done on my thesis, but mostly ended up talking to friends on MSN and unpacking. I finally gave up at around 8.30 and fell into bed. I'm feeling quite a bit better this morning!! Hopefully I can get lots done in my breaks today, 'cause I sure didn't get anything done anytime else!!

Ok. I'm off to shower, and then to start on a midterm that's due tomorrow. ;) Me? Procrastinate? Never! I'm insulted that you would think that.

Love you.
Ela

Feels like Home

Hi everyone! As you've likely guessed, I've made it safely into Prague. My first two flights were late, which led to very tight connections (the longest wait I had was the 10 minutes in Frankfurt, since the boarding line was so long...), but I made it into Praha on time! My flights were amazing - there's definitely something to be said for overseas flights right after midterms. Got on the plane, ate supper, watched 3/4 of The Queen, fell asleep, woke up, ate breakfast, de-planed. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

Courtney met me at the airport, and brought me back to her place to have a shower (worst part of travelling for 20 hrs. is how bad you smell at the end of it...) She and Petr have a gorgeous little flat that I just love, and I'm so pleased that they're letting me stay here. She and Petr and I then went for a walk around Letna park (it was a gloriously sunny day), and I had my first Czech beer in ten months in the beer garden at the top of the hill, overlooking the city. Dobre!

Then we went into town and met up with Adrian, and went for a wander. There a carnival meant to be on, but alas, we couldn't find it. We settled for walking the streets and popping into the little pub where the drunken Boston man yelled at us once... "vaguely reminiscent?!" and then it was on to the Afghan place. 12 people were there! We practically filled the whole place up. Just an aside - I had the roasted pumpkin, served with yogurt and curry spices, and it was phenomenal! We chatted away til about 10, and then we headed home. I slept like the dead!

Then yesterday we went for a walk to buy groceries, and then another walk to rent some DVDs. We came back to the flat, and Court made an incredible stuffed chicken dinner and we watched movies together. Falling into bed at around 11.30, I slept soundly til about 2 ... then the jet lag set in. Having had a similar experience last time, I was prepared - I dug my MP3 out from under the covers where it was sleeping with me, and listened to music til I fell back to sleep a few hours later.

Courtney and Petr are both now at work, so I got up lazily, had a shower, and did the cleanup from last night's dinner (hey - she cooked, I clean!). I'm going to spend this morning reading and relaxing, then eat lunch with Court, and then spend the afternoon wandering through Prague. Tonight we're having dinner at a restaurant I've never been to - but word on the street is that it has the best roast pork and cabbage in Prague! Fab!

So that's where I'm at so far. What I haven't managed to describe (not even in the slightest) is how at home I feel here. I was grinning like a retard on the bus, listening to the woman announce the stops. Going into the Delvita was heaven - the pastries and the breads! They're just so wonderful. The yogurt? So delicious. Then just Prague itself - the cobblestones, the dogs, the bizarre fashion statements... it's so good to be here. It feels like home.

Love,
Elizabeth

Hey - time!

I was definitely not anticipating having time to post so soon... but I just wrote a quiz, and finished with an hour to spare, so I thought I'd sit down and write a real post.

Like I said yesterday, life is stupid busy. I've been having a fabulous winter term socially: lots of time spent with friends! I hosted a good-sized breakfast for dinner party that was a lot of fun, and was a first opportunity for a lot of my friends to meet each other. There was lots of laughter, and a round-the-circle discussion of what each of us would say if we had to come up with a tagline for the movie "Centre Stage."

Anna-Lisa came over last week and we ordered in Chinese food (which I've never done before - I've always gone to the restaurant) and watched some more Black Books. I gleaned a new pick-up line, and will be trying it out at the soonest possible opportunity. "Do you like to eat? I do. Would you like to do it in the same room sometime?"

I spent Saturday with my dad running errands, and got some sweet new jogging pants and another sports bra. Unfortunately, it's disgusting outside. I'm trying to get up the courage to go to the track in the Van Vliet, but that means running in circles in front of other people. Anyway, back to what I was saying.... Dad and I picked Jake up and then went for dinner and to the monster trucks at Rexall - so much fun!! They had some really wicked moto-cross, and there was a fistfight between the quad teams. Ah, nothing says "family sporting event" quite like a fistfight.

I watched the Superbowl yesterday while I studied for today's exam... and the Colts won! Chris says I can't call them 'my team' since I don't watch very many games (or any, aside from yesterday's), but I say that I can! So: My team won! I had a bet with a friend, and he now owes me dinner and dessert. Life is gooood.

I leave for Prague in less than two weeks now - but I've got 3 midterms to write, a project and paper to start, and thesis stuff to continue on with. I'll get it all handled by the time I leave, but I have to admit that I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed with it all. I went for my medical (for clinic this summer) this morning, and the nurses were telling me I had to get my bloodwork done NOW (which I don't, but they were trying to be helpful), and I started feeling very stressed... so I hummed "Keep on the Sunny Side" all the way back to Corbett. Geeky, yes. Helpful? Also yes.

And hello! I leave for Prague in less than two weeks now. *wOOt* I'm so excited. I'm going to try and do it with two carry-ons and no checked luggage, but I'm going to have to practice packing for that stellar stunt. My friend Courtney's going to meet me at the airport, and then it's going to be a whirlwind tour of all my favourite people and palces!! After the people, I think I'm most looking forward to the food: I miss the old-school cabbage soup, goulash a knedlicky, and of course! fried cheese. Ah, my arteries are clogging in eager anticipation.

So that's my update. Later gators!

Ela

Miluje te, Praha!

Hi everyone,

my post's title means (roughly) "I love you, Prague." And I do love Prague. You all know that. And so therefore, you might be interested to know that I'm going back to Prague for reading week! Yaaaaaay! Things just fell into place last week, and it's so amazing. I'm incredibly, incredibly excited. There aren't words. :) Right now I'm working on making some arrangements with friends; I'm hoping they'll allow me to sleep on their floor for a few nights. Once more details are ironed out, I'll share them with you.

I had a really good weekend - hope you all did, too. Friday night I spent with Al. We watched some of Dylan Moran's stand-up comedy, and then the first season of Black Books and laughed ourselves silly. We also had some girly talk... and I didn't get home til 2. Very tired on Saturday!

Saturday was Chris' tea party, at which I cooked the samosas and discovered the amazingness of vegan chocolate cake from Cafe Mosaics. It was so, so delicious. I want one for my birthday! Chris had his usual selection of fabulous people there, and it was fun to chat with everyone. Allan and I left at about 6.30 to go to the Edmonton Rush game. I'd never seen lacrosse before, but I'm now totally hooked. It's very fast-paced and fun to watch, and the crowd really gets into it. I'm definitely looking forward to going to another game.

I went to church this morning and just about froze on my way there. I crept through the doors just in the nick of time, and went to sit with Allan who joined me this morning. I think that my Knox peeps were looking at us curiously and thinking "hmm... wonder who Elizabeth has with her this morning?" ;) Last week Megs had a male friend with her, so she and I discussed setting up a system where we bring a different man each week, just to give our very quiet church something interesting to chat about! :D

So that was my weekend! I'm off to do some reading (which may or may not be school related) and to go to bed. I can't believe that tomorrow's Monday already....

Elizabeth