Catch up

Sorry for the long gap between posts but our weeks have been pretty busy. When we're not in lecture we're 'out in the field'. Our fieldtrips this past week have been excellent.

Monday: We recuperated from the trip to Vienna and Karen made delicious pancakes. Vojta and Lubos (two of our host-students) took us to a hockey game between Pardubice (a provincial team) and Praha (whose team name is Sparta). Vojta wanted the provincial team to win because they were the clear underdog; at the same time he wanted Sparta to win because that would clinch the series and Sparta would be presented with the Cup ... and Vojta really wanted to see the cup. The fans were fairly rowdy but it was somehow all contained. Pardubice tromped Sparta and things got a little tense ... and Vojta was more sad than happy ... he had really wanted to see the cup. I enjoyed a klobasso (Kielbassa sausage served with rye bread, mustard and horseradish sauce .... so good but so bad for you) and a half litre of Budvar (Czech Budweiser) with the game. We also got these cool cardboard hockey helmets that were made for Sparta ... I foolishly wore mine for the rest of the night and later on was verbally acosted for it. Luckily, I didn't understand a word.

Tuesday we had a lecture on migration in Czechia and a lecture on the history of Czech industry. I feel like I now know a lot more about Czech geography than I do about US geography. Hmmm. Tuesday afternoon we took a trip to the household of friends of Professor Dusan's. They're a Czech-American couple- the wife is originally from Boulder and went to UNC for college (small, small world). She spoke about how she now feels like a foreigner wherever she goes. He used to be a civil engineer, trained under the Socialist state, and, after he met his wifte and moved Colorado to be with her, helped to build DIA (small, small, small world). But now he's ditched the engineer thing and is pursuing a career in film. They were great.

Wednesday we had our first full-day excursion. We visited a Chandelier factory (complete with glass blowers! Your favorite, Dad!), Prof. Dusan's second home in the countryside, and a former Soviet tank training ground. Prof Dusan's home has a very interesting history: after WWII (1948) all ethnically German people (especially members of the Nazi party) were forced to immigrate to Germany. Since vast numbers of Germans had settled in the borders of Czechia (the Sudetenland), there were entire towns left vacant after their departure. The Czech government seized all of the vacated land and houses (most of which were looted after the German's hasty departure). Dusan's father-in-law was a decorated war hero and was granted his pick of houses in the town of Kytlice. And that's how it became Dusan's summer house. Because of its well-kept condition it was recently declared a historic monument, which Dusan's father-in-law is very proud of. The mass exodus of Germans in 1948 had a monumental impact on Czech geography that is still being felt today.

The Soviet tank training ground was very peaceful- the Soviets only blew up 10% of it, leaving the other 90% in a pristine condition- in fact it is one of the best preserved environments in all of Czechia (one of our Profs keeps repeating that 'the environment was the biggest loser under Socialism'). Today it's something like a national park. It was originally built as a Nazi airbase in WWII, then as a Czechoslovak Army base but after 1968 it became a major Soviet institution. Brezhnev even paid it a visit. It was also home to an airfield that served as the base of about 40 MiGs. We got to go into one of the abandoned hangars. Pretty cool.

Thursday we visited a refugee camp in Northeast Bohemia. A social worker gave us a tour of the grounds- which used to be army barracks. People who make it to the Czech border and declare assylum are shipped here until a decision is made on their application. Only 5% of applications are accepted.

Next, we visited the Skoda (the s should have a hacek- pron. 'Shkoda') Car factory. Skoda is now a part of the VW Group but is a very Czech product. The factory itself is (one of?) the most modern in all of Europe. We got to visit three assembly lines- the gear box, engine, and final assembly lines.

Friday we had a lecture on Czech demography and then a trip to a pharmaceutical plant. Where they make sterile gels, liquid dosage products and ... suppositories. Yeah, yeah, one day I'll grow up and not laugh about suppositories, but that day definitely wasn't Friday. I had a hard time keeping a straight face as our guide explained the finer points of manufacturing suppositories. We even got to see them being packaged, along with athlete's foot cream, and children's cough syrup.

Saturday, we came here: Kutna Hora. A fairly tourist place, but still fun. We went on a tour of a 14th century silver mine that was pretty neat- it was a little to touristy for me but the mines themselves were amazing- especially the crawlspaces where the 14th century miners worked and the low-level of light they had to work in.
St. Barbara's church was also quite impressive.

It also has a really neat roof. The weather was definitely the best we've had so far- so, so, so beautiful.

The strangest thing at Kutna Hora was, by far, the 'Bone Church'.

Normal enough on the outside huh? Evidently sometime in the 19th century, a particular woodsmith got the great idea to decorate the interior with bones from the mass graves of plague victims. Initially it was legitimated by calling it a way to remind people that Christ's communion is made up of both the living and the dead ... but then he obviously got a little too carried away- as evidenced by the chandelier and huge 'bone crest'.

Yes, those mounds of white things behind the crest are also human bones, mostly skulls, in the shape of a pyrimad. Gross. So, that was our disturbing end to an otherwise fairly normal touristy day.

Today I did laundry and cooked some good ole American goulash ... which was a moderate success. This upcoming week we take a fieldtrip to Bratislava, capital of Slovkia. Na schledanou!