Poland is still amazing. Today we're in Warsaw, but I wanted to write about my experience yesterday in Oswiecim (Auschwitz) searching for places related to my paternal grandfather's family.
My grandfather grew up in the town, where he apprenticed as a monument maker with his grandmother's side of the family, who were stone masons. He stayed in Oswiecim for a little while after the war broke out, and then was taken to a labor camp. He went from labor camp to labor camp during the war, and after several marches at the end of the war, was liberated in April 1945.
From his oral history, I knew that he helped bury the torahs from Oswiecim's Great Synagogue right before the Germans came. I also knew the address of his family's apartment, and that the family of my great-great-grandmother, the stone masons, made lots of tombstones in the Jewish Cemetery.
An intern from the Auschwitz Jewish Center took us on a tour of the city. The second stop was the former site of the Great Synagogue, on the former Jewish street. He told us that about 10 years ago a survivor said that people buried things from the synagogue right before the Germans came, and so a group excavated the site and found about 400 Jewish artifacts. I told him that Zayde helped bury the torahs. It was pretty amazing to see some of the items they found in the museum, since it's very possible that he himself buried them.
A few minutes later we were on Jagielloinski (his street), now Wladyslawa Jagielly. Unfortunately, there is no 19 Jagielloniski anymore. The numbers jumped from 17 on one block to 23 on the next. In between there are corner buildings which have addresses of the cross street, and a parking lot. So my guess is that the building was knocked down, although the numbers on the even side of the street were consistently 10 lower than the numbers on the odd side. The street may have been renumbered, so I could have been completely off.
But like in Zarnowiec (my grandmother's town), every local that Jarka (my program director) talked to to try to figure out which may be the right building was very nice and willing to help. Since this time I was with my whole group, everyone really enjoyed the search and people were even arguing about which may be the right building and why. It was really a group effort.
We walked through the market square and then to the Jewish Cemetery, which is on the other side of town. I found two stones done by Wulkans, my great-great grandmother's family. Our guide said that all of the stones were found around the city and brought back to the cemetery after the war, so the stones are not related to the graves directly below them.
It was another great family history experience, and one that really does clash with what I'd heard about anti-Semitic Poles before I came.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Seeking Illumination
Hello!! I'm in Krakow now, and I just wanted to post quickly about my day today. I'll write more later about my time in this city, but it's been terrific.
This morning I went with my program director, Jarka, and a driver recommended by the Auschwitz Jewish Center, Simon, to my paternal grandmother's hometown. It's called Zarnowiec, and it's an hour north of Krakow. Pretty much all I knew about it was from my dad who visited in the 70s, Google Maps, which showed a very small town, and Wikipedia, which said that it was the seat of some governmental body and had a population of 830. My grandmother grew up there, and she is a Holocaust survivor.
The town was larger than I was expecting, it had a square in the center and several streets. As soon as we did, Simon started rolling down his window and asking people if they knew where the Jewish cemetery or synagogue might be or might have been. I was a little nervous about how people would react, but the first two people just politely said they didn't know anything. Then, we found an older man in the town square, who started talking and talking and talking. He was born before the war, and he said that his father was the leader of Zarnowiec before WWII, so he knew the town well. He led us around for about half an hour. He pointed to three building on the square and said that they were Jewish-owned businesses before the war, and he told us that one of the streets off the square was the Jewish street. He took us down it and said that one house used to be the new synagogue, and the old synagogue was across the street but the building is no longer there.
I asked him if he knew the name Weingarten, which is my grandma's maiden name, and he said he did not, but he took us to a house on the Jewish street where a woman lived who he thought might know the name. We ended up talking to her middle-aged sons (and by "we," I mean Simon and Jarka) who then asked their mother, but she didn't know the name either. We walked back to the square, and just as the man was about to leave us, he saw a very old man driving by, walked up to his car and just started knocking on the window. So they guy rolled it town, and he asked about Weingarten, and the man said he remembered the name. I know that memories change over time, so I wasn't sure how much of our guide's story to believe, or whether or not to believe that this man knew my grandmother's family, but it was still exciting.
Tomorrow we go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then we tour Jewish Oswiecim (Auschwitz) on Monday, which is where my paternal grandfather was from.
This morning I went with my program director, Jarka, and a driver recommended by the Auschwitz Jewish Center, Simon, to my paternal grandmother's hometown. It's called Zarnowiec, and it's an hour north of Krakow. Pretty much all I knew about it was from my dad who visited in the 70s, Google Maps, which showed a very small town, and Wikipedia, which said that it was the seat of some governmental body and had a population of 830. My grandmother grew up there, and she is a Holocaust survivor.
The town was larger than I was expecting, it had a square in the center and several streets. As soon as we did, Simon started rolling down his window and asking people if they knew where the Jewish cemetery or synagogue might be or might have been. I was a little nervous about how people would react, but the first two people just politely said they didn't know anything. Then, we found an older man in the town square, who started talking and talking and talking. He was born before the war, and he said that his father was the leader of Zarnowiec before WWII, so he knew the town well. He led us around for about half an hour. He pointed to three building on the square and said that they were Jewish-owned businesses before the war, and he told us that one of the streets off the square was the Jewish street. He took us down it and said that one house used to be the new synagogue, and the old synagogue was across the street but the building is no longer there.
I asked him if he knew the name Weingarten, which is my grandma's maiden name, and he said he did not, but he took us to a house on the Jewish street where a woman lived who he thought might know the name. We ended up talking to her middle-aged sons (and by "we," I mean Simon and Jarka) who then asked their mother, but she didn't know the name either. We walked back to the square, and just as the man was about to leave us, he saw a very old man driving by, walked up to his car and just started knocking on the window. So they guy rolled it town, and he asked about Weingarten, and the man said he remembered the name. I know that memories change over time, so I wasn't sure how much of our guide's story to believe, or whether or not to believe that this man knew my grandmother's family, but it was still exciting.
There was also a plaque in the Zarnowiec Cultural Building on the square that honored about 250 Poles and over 1,000 Jews from the town killed during the war. Right below it was a larger stone dedicated to a small resistance movement based there. Our guide told us that the "new" Jewish cemetery (1800s on) is today the site of a soccer field.
Overall it was much larger, friendlier, and more informational than I had expected. I've heard from many Jewish kids who go to Poland that it's cold (true) and anti-Semitic, and they can't wait to leave. Well, this is not at all the feeling I've had so far. I'll have to wait for the rest of the trip to really say, but so far so good.
I ended my day just now by watching Everything Is Illuminated, the movie where Elijah Wood plays an American Jew who goes to Ukraine to find his grandfather's town. I realized how lucky I was to find Zarnowiec and to meet such helpful people, and now just this morning seems so surreal. Also, my friend downloaded a version with Dutch subtitles, and since about half of the movie is in Ukranian, we could only understand when the son would translate into English for Elijah Wood. And that's exactly what today was like with Simon and Jarka talking to the locals and me anxiously awaiting translation.
Overall it was much larger, friendlier, and more informational than I had expected. I've heard from many Jewish kids who go to Poland that it's cold (true) and anti-Semitic, and they can't wait to leave. Well, this is not at all the feeling I've had so far. I'll have to wait for the rest of the trip to really say, but so far so good.
I ended my day just now by watching Everything Is Illuminated, the movie where Elijah Wood plays an American Jew who goes to Ukraine to find his grandfather's town. I realized how lucky I was to find Zarnowiec and to meet such helpful people, and now just this morning seems so surreal. Also, my friend downloaded a version with Dutch subtitles, and since about half of the movie is in Ukranian, we could only understand when the son would translate into English for Elijah Wood. And that's exactly what today was like with Simon and Jarka talking to the locals and me anxiously awaiting translation.
Tomorrow we go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then we tour Jewish Oswiecim (Auschwitz) on Monday, which is where my paternal grandfather was from.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
March Sadness
So my two favorite days of the year are the opening Thursday and Friday of March Madness. My bracket almost always gets busted, but I love following four games at a time for two whole days. It's pretty rough for me to be so far removed from the tournament this year, and to not really know anything about any of the teams. And tomorrow I leave for Poland, and by the time I get back I think there might only be 8 teams left.
I've continued to follow politics in the US very closely while I'm here, which is pretty easy to do with CNN and all the blogs. But I'd never realized how much human interaction has to do with following sports. It's really all about talking to people and watching games with other fans. I read ESPN.com and I watch Eurosport, but I still feel like I don't know what's going on.
I think I'm going to go to Jaromir Jagr's sports bar here on baseball's Opening Day to watch a few games, but I feel like no one else in the bar will care. And the A's might actually be good this year. Hopefully I'll find people in my program to talk baseball with, but they might also have trouble following what's going on back home.
It's hard adjusting to a country of hockey and soccer, but I'm going to try to make it to a few soccer games while I'm here and see if maybe I can get into that.
But really, I just miss the madness.
I've continued to follow politics in the US very closely while I'm here, which is pretty easy to do with CNN and all the blogs. But I'd never realized how much human interaction has to do with following sports. It's really all about talking to people and watching games with other fans. I read ESPN.com and I watch Eurosport, but I still feel like I don't know what's going on.
I think I'm going to go to Jaromir Jagr's sports bar here on baseball's Opening Day to watch a few games, but I feel like no one else in the bar will care. And the A's might actually be good this year. Hopefully I'll find people in my program to talk baseball with, but they might also have trouble following what's going on back home.
It's hard adjusting to a country of hockey and soccer, but I'm going to try to make it to a few soccer games while I'm here and see if maybe I can get into that.
But really, I just miss the madness.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Wien and Whoa, I'm Halfway There
My trip to Vienna didn't start off too well. An hour or two into the train ride, we stopped and a voice told us that we would be delayed for 30 minutes (this was later changed to 130 minutes). I looked out the window to see firefighters running across the tracks toward the back of our train, and police cars stopped on the road by the tracks. Then, a reporter came up to my car with a mic and started interviewing passengers. We think that our train hit someone. Then, after finally arriving after six and a half hours on the train, I was pretty surprised that in the station, there were NO signs for the metro. So it was quite an adventure just finding it. But don't worry, things got better.
We soon took the metro into the heart of the city, were we were quickly greeted by a salesman dressed in a cape and a triangle hat. Long story short... we bought tickets for that night to something called the Imperial Orchestra, which ended up being a lot of fun. The tickets were discounted and we got 2 free glasses of champagne each, so it was pretty hard to pass up. It was a symphony of 10 people playing mostly Strauss and Mozart (both from Vienna) and there were some opera singers and ballet dancers who joined in for some of the songs.
This was my first European hostel. I was pretty impressed with the cleanliness and the atmosphere, but as soon as we got home at the end of the first night, something sounded horribly wrong. And it was the guy sleeping in the bed next to me. When I was younger, I made something that has been called the "Dragon Noise," where I cleared my throat really loudly in my sleep. I think it must have sounded something like this, except I hope I wasn't this bad. It took me a few hours to fall asleep.... thank god he left the next day.
The next morning we went to the top of the Stephensdom, which is the central cathedral, and we had an amazing view of almost the entire city.
Then we somewhat spontaneously went to Shabbat services at the Stadttempel, the main synagogue that survived Kristallnacht because from the outside it looks like a normal office/apartment building. However, inside it is a perfect circle with two balconies, and beautiful.
Our next activity was probably my favorite in Vienna. It was the Naschmarkt, a super long street market. We went during the peak time, so it was packed, and there were endless stands selling fruit, vegetable
s, spices (pictured), meat etc. and then after all of that there was a flea market. If I was studying in Vienna I'd go there every day for lunch.
From there we headed to the Museum Quarter and went to the Kunsthistorisches, the Fine Arts Museum. I got really excited when I saw a couple paintings by Peter Brueghel that I learned about in my Art History class last semester. I will be seeing a lot of the things I learned about when I travel to Greece, Italy, France, and the UK in May, but seeing these two still made me really happy.
On Saturday night, we tried and failed to get standing room tickets for the Staatsoper, the main opera in Vienna. So we saw the Pink Panther 2. It was terrible, but we knew that going into it. Although all of the locals thought it was incredibly funny, which really confused us.
On Sunday we went to the Schloss Schonbrunn, the suburbuan Habsburg Palace, which is HUGE. It's one of those places that would be so much nicer in late spring and summer (mostly because of the massive gardens), but it was still beautiful.
So it was a packed 48 hours in Vienna, and we had a great time.
And now I'm realizing that it's mid-March, which means my program is halfway done. I knew it would go by fast, and I'm really glad that I'm staying a few weeks later in May and traveling before heading back to the US.
On Wednesday night I head to Poland with my Jewish Studies program. We're spending the first few days in Krakow, doing some Jewish and Polish cultural things. I'll be leaving my gorup for the afternoon on Saturday to take a cab about 45 minutes north of the city to the small town where my grandmother is from, and I'm really looking forward to that. Then we're going to Oswiecim or in German, Auschwitz. My grandfather is from there, so I'm also looking forward to going to the address where he grew up. Our last couple of days will be in Warsaw, and I'm skipping one of them to go to Majdanek, a death camp a couple hours away. I'll be back in Prague on Friday, the 27th, a few hours before my mom gets here! And from there it'll be a really fun parade of visitors for a couple weeks.
We soon took the metro into the heart of the city, were we were quickly greeted by a salesman dressed in a cape and a triangle hat. Long story short... we bought tickets for that night to something called the Imperial Orchestra, which ended up being a lot of fun. The tickets were discounted and we got 2 free glasses of champagne each, so it was pretty hard to pass up. It was a symphony of 10 people playing mostly Strauss and Mozart (both from Vienna) and there were some opera singers and ballet dancers who joined in for some of the songs.
This was my first European hostel. I was pretty impressed with the cleanliness and the atmosphere, but as soon as we got home at the end of the first night, something sounded horribly wrong. And it was the guy sleeping in the bed next to me. When I was younger, I made something that has been called the "Dragon Noise," where I cleared my throat really loudly in my sleep. I think it must have sounded something like this, except I hope I wasn't this bad. It took me a few hours to fall asleep.... thank god he left the next day.
The next morning we went to the top of the Stephensdom, which is the central cathedral, and we had an amazing view of almost the entire city.
Then we somewhat spontaneously went to Shabbat services at the Stadttempel, the main synagogue that survived Kristallnacht because from the outside it looks like a normal office/apartment building. However, inside it is a perfect circle with two balconies, and beautiful.
Our next activity was probably my favorite in Vienna. It was the Naschmarkt, a super long street market. We went during the peak time, so it was packed, and there were endless stands selling fruit, vegetable
s, spices (pictured), meat etc. and then after all of that there was a flea market. If I was studying in Vienna I'd go there every day for lunch.From there we headed to the Museum Quarter and went to the Kunsthistorisches, the Fine Arts Museum. I got really excited when I saw a couple paintings by Peter Brueghel that I learned about in my Art History class last semester. I will be seeing a lot of the things I learned about when I travel to Greece, Italy, France, and the UK in May, but seeing these two still made me really happy.
On Saturday night, we tried and failed to get standing room tickets for the Staatsoper, the main opera in Vienna. So we saw the Pink Panther 2. It was terrible, but we knew that going into it. Although all of the locals thought it was incredibly funny, which really confused us.
On Sunday we went to the Schloss Schonbrunn, the suburbuan Habsburg Palace, which is HUGE. It's one of those places that would be so much nicer in late spring and summer (mostly because of the massive gardens), but it was still beautiful.
So it was a packed 48 hours in Vienna, and we had a great time.
And now I'm realizing that it's mid-March, which means my program is halfway done. I knew it would go by fast, and I'm really glad that I'm staying a few weeks later in May and traveling before heading back to the US.
On Wednesday night I head to Poland with my Jewish Studies program. We're spending the first few days in Krakow, doing some Jewish and Polish cultural things. I'll be leaving my gorup for the afternoon on Saturday to take a cab about 45 minutes north of the city to the small town where my grandmother is from, and I'm really looking forward to that. Then we're going to Oswiecim or in German, Auschwitz. My grandfather is from there, so I'm also looking forward to going to the address where he grew up. Our last couple of days will be in Warsaw, and I'm skipping one of them to go to Majdanek, a death camp a couple hours away. I'll be back in Prague on Friday, the 27th, a few hours before my mom gets here! And from there it'll be a really fun parade of visitors for a couple weeks.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Rest of Skolská
Sometimes exactly what you're looking for is right in front of you. I've come to realize that this is so true about my street. I wanted to find a restaurant with great Czech cuisine. Czech. I wanted to find a fun pub where I can get beer that actually tastes good. Czech. And today, I wanted to find a quiet and comfortable cafe with good hot chocolate to study in. Czech. All on my street, within 2 minutes.
Cafe Therapy
This restaurant is super Czech. Not only does it have amazing goulash, but it also has incredibly rude service. It's the cafe that I live behind/above (its address is also Skolská 30), and the source of my wireless for the first month I was here. It's a pretty noisy place, which is a welcome change from most restaurants, and its filled with Czechs, which is a pretty good sign. It's called Therapy because half of the staff is composed of recovering drug addicts, and I think some of the profits go to help addicts. I would go there several times a week if it weren't for one rude waiter.
The "Czech Music Pub"
I think its name is Hloupy something. This place has the best beer I've ever tasted, and people who don't like beer at all seem to like the beer here. The bartender is a lot of fun and he makes fun of us Americans, but in a friendly way. They have live Czech music every Friday night, which I try not to miss. Oh and they have an amazing chocolate fondant dessert, which is really hard to resist.
Leica Gallery (pictured)
I finally went into this place today, and it's what made me realize I had to post about how much I love my street. It's a photo gallery that has a cafe in front. I went there today to study for my Czech quiz, and it was wonderful. The woman working the cafe is in charge of the gallery (or at least she's in every picture on the wall) and she was really nice. I ordered hot chocolate, and got the biggest hot chocolate I've ever seen! And it came with free water! I didn't even know what to do. So I just drank them both. I'll probably be studying there regularly from now on.
Cafe Therapy
This restaurant is super Czech. Not only does it have amazing goulash, but it also has incredibly rude service. It's the cafe that I live behind/above (its address is also Skolská 30), and the source of my wireless for the first month I was here. It's a pretty noisy place, which is a welcome change from most restaurants, and its filled with Czechs, which is a pretty good sign. It's called Therapy because half of the staff is composed of recovering drug addicts, and I think some of the profits go to help addicts. I would go there several times a week if it weren't for one rude waiter.
The "Czech Music Pub"
I think its name is Hloupy something. This place has the best beer I've ever tasted, and people who don't like beer at all seem to like the beer here. The bartender is a lot of fun and he makes fun of us Americans, but in a friendly way. They have live Czech music every Friday night, which I try not to miss. Oh and they have an amazing chocolate fondant dessert, which is really hard to resist.
Leica Gallery (pictured)
I finally went into this place today, and it's what made me realize I had to post about how much I love my street. It's a photo gallery that has a cafe in front. I went there today to study for my Czech quiz, and it was wonderful. The woman working the cafe is in charge of the gallery (or at least she's in every picture on the wall) and she was really nice. I ordered hot chocolate, and got the biggest hot chocolate I've ever seen! And it came with free water! I didn't even know what to do. So I just drank them both. I'll probably be studying there regularly from now on.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
10 Things I Miss About the US of A
This is how I spent my Politics class a few days ago...
I could probably just as easily make a list of the things I really don't miss.
1. Free Water
You usually have to pay about $1.50 for 1/3 liter of water at restaurants, which offsets the cheap prices of food in general. The best solution to this problem is beer. It's usually about $1.25 and 1/2 liter.
2. $20 Bills at ATMs
When you withdraw 2,000 korunas (about $100), you usually get a 2,000 koruna bill. Or sometimes two 1,000 koruna bills if you're lucky. But I did just find an ATM that gives out 200 koruna bills (about $10), which made my week. This will save me numerous angry glances and grunts from cashiers who have had the pleasure of breaking my huge bills.
3. The assumption that employees will be nice
It's usually about 50/50.
4. Dessert shops and grocery stores stay open late
The ice cream/dessert places around me all close at 8. Thank God the fried cheese and fried chicken stand is open 24 hours.
5. Dryers
They don't really use them here. But I've gotten used to having a drying rack instead, although 45 minutes in a dryer definitely beats 24 hours on a rack.
6. Milkshakes
I've gotten 1 milkshake here. It came in a wine glass. I don't know how anything in a wine glass can be called a milkshake.
7. Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
8. Diversity
This country is over 90% Czech, and such homogeneity is just not something I'm used to.
9. Small Class Discussions and Large Class Lectures
I'm not a fan of small class lectures, which is almost all I have here. I think I just need some distance from the professor if he's going to be talking at me for an hour plus. It's rough when there are only 10-15 people there and the professor is staring at you while he's lecturing.
10. English
I could probably just as easily make a list of the things I really don't miss.
1. Free Water
You usually have to pay about $1.50 for 1/3 liter of water at restaurants, which offsets the cheap prices of food in general. The best solution to this problem is beer. It's usually about $1.25 and 1/2 liter.
2. $20 Bills at ATMs
When you withdraw 2,000 korunas (about $100), you usually get a 2,000 koruna bill. Or sometimes two 1,000 koruna bills if you're lucky. But I did just find an ATM that gives out 200 koruna bills (about $10), which made my week. This will save me numerous angry glances and grunts from cashiers who have had the pleasure of breaking my huge bills.
3. The assumption that employees will be nice
It's usually about 50/50.
4. Dessert shops and grocery stores stay open late
The ice cream/dessert places around me all close at 8. Thank God the fried cheese and fried chicken stand is open 24 hours.
5. Dryers
They don't really use them here. But I've gotten used to having a drying rack instead, although 45 minutes in a dryer definitely beats 24 hours on a rack.
6. Milkshakes
I've gotten 1 milkshake here. It came in a wine glass. I don't know how anything in a wine glass can be called a milkshake.
7. Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
8. Diversity
This country is over 90% Czech, and such homogeneity is just not something I'm used to.
9. Small Class Discussions and Large Class Lectures
I'm not a fan of small class lectures, which is almost all I have here. I think I just need some distance from the professor if he's going to be talking at me for an hour plus. It's rough when there are only 10-15 people there and the professor is staring at you while he's lecturing.
10. English
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
After 14 Years, Wednesday is Still My Favorite Day
I think Wednesday became my favorite day because in elementary school, it was a minimum day. Ever since then I always think of it as a good day, even though in high school and college, there's really been no reason to. But now, in Prague, there is reason again to do so. I do have to wake up early for a 9 am class, but I don't have class between 10:30 and 3.
My friend, Yael, and I have used this time to explore Prague. For the first couple weeks, we went to museums in the area close to our classes. The first one was the Mucha Museum, which shows the work of Alphonse Mucha, who was from the Czech Republic. I'd never heard of him, but I guess he's pretty famous. The museum was really cool, especially his pencil sketches and I loved some of his prints. I think this one is the most famous.
The other museum we went to was the National Museum, which is the beautiful building at the end of Wenceslas Square. The view from that end of the square is amazing, and the snow made it even better. The interior of the building is even nicer than the exterior. They had a museum on the history of the Czechoslovak Republic, and the most interesting part was that they had the suit Franz Ferdinand was wearing when he was shot
. The neck is stained with blood. I'm not really sure why I keep seeing things related to him, or why there's so much about him in this country, but I know that he would always vacation in the Czech Republic. The bullet that killed him is at his resort castle somewhere in the Czech Republic. The museum also had an exhibit on the history of Czech hockey, which unfortunately we had to rush through to get back for class.
I also really enjoyed the amusing English around the museum. For some reason, instead of saying "tens of thousands," they said "dozens of thousands." One of my professors also said this. A blurb about something in the Czechoslovakia exhibit also said "bear" instead of "beer," but that's also a pretty common mistake on menus. My favorite was in the anthropology section, where they labeled one section, "Freshwater Sharks and Remarkable Fishes."
Last week we wandered south of Wenceslas Square, because we almost never do. We found Karlovo Namesti (Charles Square), which was a really nice and long park, which I'm sure I'll spend more time at when it warms up. We eventually ran into Charles University, the elite university of the Czech Republic, which was founded in 1348 (Take that, Harvard). We found a greenhouse that was part of the university, and paid a small fee to walk around. It was so strange to be in a tropical environment in the middle of Prague, but it was a lot of fun. They had some pretty awesome cacti.
Today I went to the YMCA, which is definitely an Eastern European Y. Most things in the city are either old and beautiful or new and modern. But this place just looks like something you would find in the old Soviet Union. The exercise bikes are probably left over from some East German training facitility. I think I broke part of the one I used today by leaning on it too much. They have a grand total of one treadmill, but since there's never more than 5 people there at a time, it's always free, which is nice. The spiral staircase down to the cardio room shakes a lot as you walk on it. But the best part about the Y is that the price for a two-hour workout, a locker, and a towel is $2.75. And that I cannot complain about.
And for a little update on future plans. On Friday my program is taking us to Parliament, which should be interesting. I hope they're not all freaking out because Western Europe just denied them a bailout, and Obama is saying he might not want a missile defense system against Russia. But they probably will be. Then on Sunday my program is taking us to Kutna Hora, a town about an hour away with a church that has dozens of thousands of human skeletons (I think from the Black Plague, but I'll let you know). I'm looking forward to it. And then next weekend I'm taking the train to Vienna with a couple friends, and my program goes to Poland for 9 days in 2 weeks. Busy busy!
My friend, Yael, and I have used this time to explore Prague. For the first couple weeks, we went to museums in the area close to our classes. The first one was the Mucha Museum, which shows the work of Alphonse Mucha, who was from the Czech Republic. I'd never heard of him, but I guess he's pretty famous. The museum was really cool, especially his pencil sketches and I loved some of his prints. I think this one is the most famous.
The other museum we went to was the National Museum, which is the beautiful building at the end of Wenceslas Square. The view from that end of the square is amazing, and the snow made it even better. The interior of the building is even nicer than the exterior. They had a museum on the history of the Czechoslovak Republic, and the most interesting part was that they had the suit Franz Ferdinand was wearing when he was shot
. The neck is stained with blood. I'm not really sure why I keep seeing things related to him, or why there's so much about him in this country, but I know that he would always vacation in the Czech Republic. The bullet that killed him is at his resort castle somewhere in the Czech Republic. The museum also had an exhibit on the history of Czech hockey, which unfortunately we had to rush through to get back for class.I also really enjoyed the amusing English around the museum. For some reason, instead of saying "tens of thousands," they said "dozens of thousands." One of my professors also said this. A blurb about something in the Czechoslovakia exhibit also said "bear" instead of "beer," but that's also a pretty common mistake on menus. My favorite was in the anthropology section, where they labeled one section, "Freshwater Sharks and Remarkable Fishes."
Last week we wandered south of Wenceslas Square, because we almost never do. We found Karlovo Namesti (Charles Square), which was a really nice and long park, which I'm sure I'll spend more time at when it warms up. We eventually ran into Charles University, the elite university of the Czech Republic, which was founded in 1348 (Take that, Harvard). We found a greenhouse that was part of the university, and paid a small fee to walk around. It was so strange to be in a tropical environment in the middle of Prague, but it was a lot of fun. They had some pretty awesome cacti.
Today I went to the YMCA, which is definitely an Eastern European Y. Most things in the city are either old and beautiful or new and modern. But this place just looks like something you would find in the old Soviet Union. The exercise bikes are probably left over from some East German training facitility. I think I broke part of the one I used today by leaning on it too much. They have a grand total of one treadmill, but since there's never more than 5 people there at a time, it's always free, which is nice. The spiral staircase down to the cardio room shakes a lot as you walk on it. But the best part about the Y is that the price for a two-hour workout, a locker, and a towel is $2.75. And that I cannot complain about.
And for a little update on future plans. On Friday my program is taking us to Parliament, which should be interesting. I hope they're not all freaking out because Western Europe just denied them a bailout, and Obama is saying he might not want a missile defense system against Russia. But they probably will be. Then on Sunday my program is taking us to Kutna Hora, a town about an hour away with a church that has dozens of thousands of human skeletons (I think from the Black Plague, but I'll let you know). I'm looking forward to it. And then next weekend I'm taking the train to Vienna with a couple friends, and my program goes to Poland for 9 days in 2 weeks. Busy busy!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Terezin
On Sunday, my program went to Terezin, the concentration camp that Jews and political prisoners, mostly from Czechoslovakia, went through before being transported to other camps including Auschwitz. Terezin is about an hour away from Prague, and it was the first camp I've visited.
Our guide was the most amazing part of the day. His name is Professor Felix Kolmer, and he is an acoustics professor at a university in Prague. But much more interestingly, he spent a few years in Terezin during the Holocaust as both a Jew and a political prisoner, and was also sent to Auschwitz. He escaped several times during the war. Now, among other roles, he serves as a tour guide at Terezin for visiting heads of state and other dignitaries. We were extremely lucky to have him as our guide.
At Terezin, we first visited the small fortress. The camp is divided in two. Almost all of the buildings were already there (some since 1780), so the Nazis simply took advantage of what was there and converted into a concentration camp. The small fortress is apparently what most camps look like – barracks, isolation cells, an execution area. The most terrifying part for me was when we walked into a room about the size of a freshman dorm room, and Prof. Kolmer told us that the Nazis would put 60-100 prisoners in the room, so there was not enough room to sit. Sometimes they would wait until everyone in the room, died, and then clear out the bodies. I should clarify that while Terezin was primarily a place for concentrating Jews/political prisoners, 35,000 people died there.
One of the most surprising things was how history overlaps. During World War I, the small fortress of Terezin held a group of Serbian nationalists who plotted and carried out the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. In this hallway is the cell is where the man who fired the shot lived during the war. During World War II, it served as an isolation cell on the men's side of the camp.
As we walked toward the execution area of the small fortress, I was already pretty scared. We came to an open area, that Prof. Kolmer said was the shooting range for guards. They needed practice with moving targets, so occasionally they would have Jews run across a wooden platform, and fire at them as they ran. Prof. Kolmer told us that he built t
hat wooden platform, and he didn't learn what it was used for until he looked at pictures from Terezin after the war. Then we walked into the adjacent execution area. He said that the Nazis felt that a bullet would be wasted if it was used to kill a Jew, so they constructed gallows. Prof. Kolmer built the steps and the platform, not knowing what they would be used for. He told us that he probably was kept alive because he was good at constructing things, which reminded me of how my grandfather was kept alive because he, too, was good at making things with his hands. I wonder if my grandfather ever struggled with thoughts about what the things he made would be used for.
Next we went to the Jewish Cemetery, and then stopped in the crematorium. Prof. Kolmer told us that one company made all of the crematoriums around Europe for the Nazis. And that company still exists. Today they make ventilation systems. Talk about irony.
Then we headed to the large fortress of Terezin, which was not at all what I expected. I knew it was ghetto-like, but I did not expect to find a small, beautiful town with parks and a nice town square. This was the "model camp," and it's where the Red Cross visited during the Holocaust and the Nazis showed off how great living conditions were. During the visit, musicians played on the square, and Jews could go wherever they wanted to. However, aside from the visit, Jews' movement was restricted and they were not permitted in the square or in other parts of the town. They lived in unbelievably cramped quarters.
Today, there are stores, restaurants, and hotels within the camp, and over a thousand people live there. After eating at a nice restaurant on the town square, Prof. Kolmer told us that Jews were tortured in the basement during the war. So much for a soothing lunch. We went to a couple museums — one about arts in the camp, and another about Jews during the war. But I thought the most interesting part of the large fortress was the synagogue. I don't know why, but I expected something that resembled a synagogue. Well, we wen
t in someone's side yard, and into what normally would have been their garage. But it was a synagogue, that of course was secret during the war. It was the size of a small garage, and had a very low ceiling. There was Hebrew on the wall, but because of floods in 2002, most of it was gone. But it was pretty amazing to see that Jews still created a place for prayer while in a concentration camp.
We visit Auschwitz in a couple weeks, which will probably be much more intense. Although from what I hear, Majdanek (a couple hours from Warsaw), is the best-preserved camp, so I just got permission from my program to skip an activity on our last day in Warsaw and take a day trip with a couple people to Majdanek. It will be one of the most fascinating and absolutely terryfing experiences of my life.
Our guide was the most amazing part of the day. His name is Professor Felix Kolmer, and he is an acoustics professor at a university in Prague. But much more interestingly, he spent a few years in Terezin during the Holocaust as both a Jew and a political prisoner, and was also sent to Auschwitz. He escaped several times during the war. Now, among other roles, he serves as a tour guide at Terezin for visiting heads of state and other dignitaries. We were extremely lucky to have him as our guide.
At Terezin, we first visited the small fortress. The camp is divided in two. Almost all of the buildings were already there (some since 1780), so the Nazis simply took advantage of what was there and converted into a concentration camp. The small fortress is apparently what most camps look like – barracks, isolation cells, an execution area. The most terrifying part for me was when we walked into a room about the size of a freshman dorm room, and Prof. Kolmer told us that the Nazis would put 60-100 prisoners in the room, so there was not enough room to sit. Sometimes they would wait until everyone in the room, died, and then clear out the bodies. I should clarify that while Terezin was primarily a place for concentrating Jews/political prisoners, 35,000 people died there.
One of the most surprising things was how history overlaps. During World War I, the small fortress of Terezin held a group of Serbian nationalists who plotted and carried out the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. In this hallway is the cell is where the man who fired the shot lived during the war. During World War II, it served as an isolation cell on the men's side of the camp.
As we walked toward the execution area of the small fortress, I was already pretty scared. We came to an open area, that Prof. Kolmer said was the shooting range for guards. They needed practice with moving targets, so occasionally they would have Jews run across a wooden platform, and fire at them as they ran. Prof. Kolmer told us that he built t
hat wooden platform, and he didn't learn what it was used for until he looked at pictures from Terezin after the war. Then we walked into the adjacent execution area. He said that the Nazis felt that a bullet would be wasted if it was used to kill a Jew, so they constructed gallows. Prof. Kolmer built the steps and the platform, not knowing what they would be used for. He told us that he probably was kept alive because he was good at constructing things, which reminded me of how my grandfather was kept alive because he, too, was good at making things with his hands. I wonder if my grandfather ever struggled with thoughts about what the things he made would be used for.Next we went to the Jewish Cemetery, and then stopped in the crematorium. Prof. Kolmer told us that one company made all of the crematoriums around Europe for the Nazis. And that company still exists. Today they make ventilation systems. Talk about irony.
Then we headed to the large fortress of Terezin, which was not at all what I expected. I knew it was ghetto-like, but I did not expect to find a small, beautiful town with parks and a nice town square. This was the "model camp," and it's where the Red Cross visited during the Holocaust and the Nazis showed off how great living conditions were. During the visit, musicians played on the square, and Jews could go wherever they wanted to. However, aside from the visit, Jews' movement was restricted and they were not permitted in the square or in other parts of the town. They lived in unbelievably cramped quarters.
Today, there are stores, restaurants, and hotels within the camp, and over a thousand people live there. After eating at a nice restaurant on the town square, Prof. Kolmer told us that Jews were tortured in the basement during the war. So much for a soothing lunch. We went to a couple museums — one about arts in the camp, and another about Jews during the war. But I thought the most interesting part of the large fortress was the synagogue. I don't know why, but I expected something that resembled a synagogue. Well, we wen
t in someone's side yard, and into what normally would have been their garage. But it was a synagogue, that of course was secret during the war. It was the size of a small garage, and had a very low ceiling. There was Hebrew on the wall, but because of floods in 2002, most of it was gone. But it was pretty amazing to see that Jews still created a place for prayer while in a concentration camp.We visit Auschwitz in a couple weeks, which will probably be much more intense. Although from what I hear, Majdanek (a couple hours from Warsaw), is the best-preserved camp, so I just got permission from my program to skip an activity on our last day in Warsaw and take a day trip with a couple people to Majdanek. It will be one of the most fascinating and absolutely terryfing experiences of my life.
When Humans Are Flying Squirrels
On Saturday, I went to my most anticipated event of the semester... the World Ski Jumping Championships!! They took place about an hour north of Prague, and the story of our adventure really begins with the bus. I went with two girls from my program, and we took a bus through this company called Student Agency. The ticket was about $7 round trip and included hot chocolate, a newspaper (In Czech, of course), and headphones to watch awful, awful (but amazing) Czech music videos. There was even one video that was a Czech cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." It was even funnier since I'd just watched the Ellen Degeneres and Josh Groban version of the song. I'm not sure which was better.
So we arrived in Liberec, which is in the former Sudetenland, so it's up by Germany and Poland. They have a beautiful town hall and some really pretty, colorful streets. We found a nice lunch place that had really comfy couches, although the service was a little bit too Czech for me... meaning, the waiter seemed to do everything else in the restaurant except wait on our table. But we were warm, so it was fine. We bought matching fleeces with the event logo and headed up to the mountain.
I think Yael put it best when she said... this event would never happen in the US. Not because it's such a funny sport (and they do have it in the US) but because of the way it was set up. The tram to the event dropped us off at the bottom of the mountain, so we had to walk up the mountain. I've never been to an outdoor winter sporting event in the US, so I guess it's possible that they make the crowd walk up an icy path for about 20 minutes and then walk up several hundred stairs, but I can't really see that happening. It was quite a workout.
Oh so I should probably mention the biggest disappointment of the day. The night before we went, I noticed on the tickets that it said that you would not be allowed to bring a camera in and if you did, you would be expelled from the event. So I took that to mean, "Don't bring a camera." And as soon as we got there, we found out that everyone else took that to mean, "You really should bring your camera." So I don't have any pictures from the day, but here's one of a ski jumper from the place we were at, and you can see how amazing of a view we had of the town:
For those of you who haven't seen ski jumping on tv, or even if you have, I'm going to try and explain it. Pretty much, there is a sloped track really high up, where a guy on skis sits and then slides down, picking up speed and reaching about 60 mph. Then, the slope levels off and he lifts his skis up and flies with them in a V, and his upper body parallel to the skis, and flies as far as he can. A good jump is over 125 meters, and the farthest we saw was 136 meters. The hill that they land on is really steep, and our seats were on the side of the track, at the base of the hill. And I should mention that this is the first year they've had women's ski jumping world championships. The best girls are about 13, which is scary.
The event itself was a lot of fun. It was the Men's Team Championships, and each country had 4 jumpers. Each of them jumped at least twice (trial round and first round) and then jumped again if their team made the final (8 teams did). All of the teams were European except Japan. The good seats were dominated by German fans, and the higher seats (where we were) were dominated by really loud Czechs. People had all sorts of noise makers, from Purim groggers to those annoying plastic hand-clap things that you shake, and they made noise for every single jump.
The announcer for the event surprisingly spoke primarily English, and he was incredibly entertaining. He didn't have the greatest command of the language, but he tried really hard. They blasted American hits from the last three decades (I think Bon Jovi got the most play), and it was definitely amusing to see middle aged Czech women dancing to "I Kissed a Girl." There were also cheerleaders on the side for almost the entire event, stepping back and forth to the beat, and I have no idea why.
In the end, the Austrians came out on top (by a lot), with Norway coming in second and Japan finishing a distant third. The Czechs were 5th, which was a good result for them, and the Germans didn't even make the final round, which probably made the Czech fans happy.
So we arrived in Liberec, which is in the former Sudetenland, so it's up by Germany and Poland. They have a beautiful town hall and some really pretty, colorful streets. We found a nice lunch place that had really comfy couches, although the service was a little bit too Czech for me... meaning, the waiter seemed to do everything else in the restaurant except wait on our table. But we were warm, so it was fine. We bought matching fleeces with the event logo and headed up to the mountain.
I think Yael put it best when she said... this event would never happen in the US. Not because it's such a funny sport (and they do have it in the US) but because of the way it was set up. The tram to the event dropped us off at the bottom of the mountain, so we had to walk up the mountain. I've never been to an outdoor winter sporting event in the US, so I guess it's possible that they make the crowd walk up an icy path for about 20 minutes and then walk up several hundred stairs, but I can't really see that happening. It was quite a workout.
Oh so I should probably mention the biggest disappointment of the day. The night before we went, I noticed on the tickets that it said that you would not be allowed to bring a camera in and if you did, you would be expelled from the event. So I took that to mean, "Don't bring a camera." And as soon as we got there, we found out that everyone else took that to mean, "You really should bring your camera." So I don't have any pictures from the day, but here's one of a ski jumper from the place we were at, and you can see how amazing of a view we had of the town:
For those of you who haven't seen ski jumping on tv, or even if you have, I'm going to try and explain it. Pretty much, there is a sloped track really high up, where a guy on skis sits and then slides down, picking up speed and reaching about 60 mph. Then, the slope levels off and he lifts his skis up and flies with them in a V, and his upper body parallel to the skis, and flies as far as he can. A good jump is over 125 meters, and the farthest we saw was 136 meters. The hill that they land on is really steep, and our seats were on the side of the track, at the base of the hill. And I should mention that this is the first year they've had women's ski jumping world championships. The best girls are about 13, which is scary.
The event itself was a lot of fun. It was the Men's Team Championships, and each country had 4 jumpers. Each of them jumped at least twice (trial round and first round) and then jumped again if their team made the final (8 teams did). All of the teams were European except Japan. The good seats were dominated by German fans, and the higher seats (where we were) were dominated by really loud Czechs. People had all sorts of noise makers, from Purim groggers to those annoying plastic hand-clap things that you shake, and they made noise for every single jump.
The announcer for the event surprisingly spoke primarily English, and he was incredibly entertaining. He didn't have the greatest command of the language, but he tried really hard. They blasted American hits from the last three decades (I think Bon Jovi got the most play), and it was definitely amusing to see middle aged Czech women dancing to "I Kissed a Girl." There were also cheerleaders on the side for almost the entire event, stepping back and forth to the beat, and I have no idea why.
In the end, the Austrians came out on top (by a lot), with Norway coming in second and Japan finishing a distant third. The Czechs were 5th, which was a good result for them, and the Germans didn't even make the final round, which probably made the Czech fans happy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)