New Country and a lot of Surprising Experiences

Our Songs of the Month

Freunde bleiben – Kayla Shyx, frytz
Lady (Hear Me Tonight) – Modjo
So weit weg wie es geht – Pablu
Training season – Dua Lipa
stupid song – Olivia Rodrigo
Rosa&rojo – D.Valentino

Since I arrived at the beginning of the month, Jare and I finally got to live together after she came a week later. It is difficult to make this short, to tell my friends about everything that has happened already, all that would just need about 45 minutes. But I will do my best.

At first, there was a lot of information: about my work, about TOTEM, about the apartment, the city… and meeting a lot of new people and also learning their names and how to pronounce them because that is completely different than in German. At first I was a little bit lost, because at home I usually have something to do like school stuff or something like that but now I was alone in a new city and a new country, where I don’t understand anything.

I spent my first weekend in the city centre at the „Busking Festival“, it was really nice, I enjoyed the different music acts. Also, it was amazing that something was happening. In Germany I lived in the countryside, a village with mostly older inhabitants and a lot of tourists, which means there are a lot of activities for them but not really for young people at my age. If I wanted to do something like that I’d have to ride the train for at least half an hour. So now you probably understand my enthusiasm.

After the weekend, I had my first team meeting with almost all of my colleagues. It was totally interesting even though I didn’t understand anything from what they said except the things that my colleague explained to me in English. Tuesday was also an exciting day, I was at a celebration in the station of TOTEM in Doubravka and have also seen a very special moment: the head of TOTEM received a special prize from the Senator for her work! I shook hands with really important people that I have never heard of before. After that my colleagues and I got little presents from the district, now I’ve got a T-shirt with a „I love District 4“ print on it.

Thursday, the arriving day of Jare. In the morning I prepared an information wall together with my colleague – a wall to show all the programs for the registration. It was a really nice morning because we used the opportunity to get to know each other better. In the afternoon I went to my coordinator, she invited me for dinner and I also met her family and her sweet dogs. We picked Jare up at the station together afterwards. She had a long journey, so she was really tired.

A lot has happened since then! It is unbelievable that this was just our first month here! On our first weekend here together, we went on a hike with a volunteer and a few clients, it was also pretty nice to see other parts of Czechia and I’m really looking forward to getting to know the rest of this country! It is a little bit different to go here for a hike, I’m used to climbing mountains because they are right in front of our door at home, so I get to spend some time there but it is really exhausting to go hiking at home. So it was nice that I finally had time to really look at nature and not just look at the ground with the fear of falling. I also enjoyed the pub that we were in afterwards, it was like a journey back in time but the ride with the train was even more fascinating because the trains were pretty old and I got a feeling of the past.

Since we started learning Czech in English, I realised how deep the language is connected with culture. It’s more than just expressing yourself. Sometimes it is really difficult for me to express my thoughts, for example, I don’t know the right word to explain some feelings. Also, there are some distinctions, in a few languages different words for little differences. Here is just a little example: a „knedlík“ in Czech is really similar to a „Knödel“ in Germany. It doesn’t have the same shape but we mean almost the same but in English you’re just saying „dumpling“ to everything of this kind. That’s the point „dumpling“ in Germany is the word for a Chinese dish made out of dough with a filling inside, also something completely different from the „Knödel“ in Germany.

Sometimes the Czech people are really confusing me! Mainly with their nicknames or „home versions“ of their names, as a colleague had explained to me. I don’t know but we don’t usually have anything similar to that. Of course, we also have nicknames and some people are called this way in their daily life but not in the same way like in the Czech Republic.

Back to what happened just in September. For the registration, Jare and I made coffee. Honestly I see our future as baristas, so if I won’t go to university, maybe we will see each other again in a Caffé, who knows… We were working for three and a half hours and sold five coffees, a total success! Okay, that was ironic but we used the time to get to know each other in a better way and I also did some research for a future video but despite that it was fun. The week after the activities finally started! On Monday morning, we were holding presentations for school classes about the European Solidarity Corps and about our work at TOTEM. We also prepared a game about our countries to bring in a little bit of culture. It was really fascinating because I thought everybody would know some sights from Germany but they pretty much surprised me that they didn’t know most of them. In the afternoon, our weekly activities started and it was great fun, we were nordic walking with a huge group of clients. On Wednesday, we had our first language conversations and it was pretty exciting because it was our first contact with clients almost on our own. I also had my first German conversation and I enjoyed it a lot. I really love the German language and holding classes. On the weekend I had the pleasure to attend TOTEM at the apple festival and help there at the infostand. There was an Apple cake competition and just for fun I took part. I didn’t thought, that this thing would be this big so I was pretty surprised when they announced that there were 36 cakes in common. A record, they told us. So I was even more surprised when they made it final that I was in fourth place with two other people. It was a crazy moment stepping on the stage and just understanding your name.

I just had a really funny realization: instead of learning more about the culture in Czechia, I’m learning more about my own culture and my cultural identity. The most interesting thing is that even though Czechia and Germany are direct neighbours, there are so many little differences of course apart from the language. I never really had the feeling that I’m a very German person but here I’m realising every day, how deep culture can go. Another interesting part is the intercultural contact with my roommate. She recently had a visit from her Spanish girlfriend and have discussed with her what is typically German and it was really funny because they like to watch a few German films but nobody in my area is talking about them. The first time they also taught me also how much I’m in love with my own language and my own country. I think Jare feels the same about Spain.

It is unbelievable that this was just the first month because it happened so much and now I’m pretty excited for the rest of the year. Hear you next month for another Blog!

Elisa