Hey everyone,
So I realized the other day that it has been way too long since I have written everyone. Life has gone into overdrive here and the weeks are passing like days. It is hard for me to believe that it is the end of February.
So Life has been good thus far. January was filled with end of semester exams, grades, and balls (their version of prom, but there are 4 of them each year and not at the end of the year). So January was a very busy month. Here in Czech, the semester doesn't end until the 3rd week of January, and as many of you teachers know, it is a busy time... Sadly I didn't realize how busy it was.... And ps... any of you thinking of being teachers. Don't assign 7 page long papers to non native speakers and give yourself only a week to grade them all before the semester ends. :)
Along with work, I have made leaps and strides in my relationships with my students. I think after the initial shock and terror of being a teacher wore off, I have now been able to focus on getting to really know some of the students. Most of my weekends are filled with going bowling or out to pubs with the students. I can see that they genuinely want to know me and why on earth I would leave America to come live in this small town... its a great way to bring up my faith.
So now for a story. This will take a little bit, but it is really one of the most memorable experiences since I have been here.
I teach a class of adults on Tuesday nights. I have got to know them pretty well. So early in December two sisters in my class invited me and Joseph to come to a Hunter's Ples with them in mid January.
"What is a Hunter's ples?" I asked.
"It is a ball (dancing ball) for a group of hunters in a small village close by."
"Sure, why not." I answered.
Jump forward a month and Joseph and I get dressed up and a car picks us up at 7 prompt and drives us to a small village about 10 km away. And just to put it in perspective, Kralupy, where I live, has about 20,000 people. this village had maybe 1000 people. There is one pub in the village.
So we arrive and there is a town hall type place above the pub. Upstairs we walk in, check our coats and are introduced to the coat checker as one of our students nephews. They walk us into the next room and this is what we saw. 3 men, dressed in green Hunter's jackets and green fedoras with feathers sticking out of them. They stood proudly next to a homemade rack, for lack of a better word, on which about 40 pheasants, ducks, and rabbits hung by strings. On the floor in front of the rack, was a bed of fir branches, on which lay 3 wild boars, and 4 wild deer. The ones on the floor were gutted, the birds and rabbits were not. We were amazed!
"What are these for?" we asked.
"You can win these in a raffle. Only 5 crowns a ticket." (about a quarter)
So... we... being stupid guys had our eyes set on the huge 200 lb. boar. Because, I mean... how often can you say you won a boar in a raffle, then took it home and cooked it over a spit (which is what we quickly decided we had to do because that is what they do on Lost)
So we bought 20 tickets and the night started. A terrible 3 piece band, with no drummer but an accordion, guitariest and piano player, started to play. And the people danced! Everyone got out there and started to dance, and it wasn't long before they pulled Joseph and I onto the dance floor.
Now in a room of 60 Czech people, the Korean-American and very bearded American with shaggy hair stood out like a sore thumb. So we started dancing.. and the way that many of the old people here dance, they get in big circles and just kind of side step back and forth... But then they started to push Joseph and I into the middle. To which we just decided to dance as stupid as possible. So we would do as many dumb moves ie Moonwalk, the running man, the lawnmower... accracross circle. All the while pulling in 40-70 year old ladies to do them with us. It was classic.
Everyone was having a blast. And joseph even did an impromptu dance with a girl we were with. They were the only two on the floor for the song and everyone thought it was hilarious.
So at the end of the night, they finally got around to doing the raffle. They went through all of the small prizes first, then finally they started on the wild animals. By then there were probably around 100 people there and so we thought our odds were pretty good to win something, but we had our eyes set on that boar!
number after number missed us until it was the last one! The biggest boar! They called out the number
"202!!!"
WE .... didn't win it. It was a sad day. HOWEVER! one of the people in our group one a wild rabbit and gave it to us. Awesome!
Long story short, a day later my headmaster comes walking up to school (on a Sunday) and sees me in front of the school with a trashcan, a knife, a rabbit head, and blood all over my hands. It was brilliant!
So that's a quick story about our experience at the Hunter's Ball.
Here is me showing off our prize rabbit, very tired from the night.
and joseph never fails to take an awesome pictureI thank you all so much again for your prayers and your support. God is working in this place, sometimes it is hard to see, but I feel that "behind the scenes" peoples lives are being touched for the Kingdom.
On my last note, I am coming home for a 10 day visit on March 6th. I will be in the DFW area for most of the time. I would love to see any of you that want to grab lunch and catch up. please email me because I am trying to schedule out some stuff so I have plenty of time to catch up with the family.
That's all for now! Here are some pictures from a few of the events with the students. nothing special, just so you can see some of the stuff that is going on.
Love you all!
Aaron
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