There and back again
Oct. 14th, 2005 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tysolnaFor all the curious people, here's what I did from Thursday, September 27, til Tuesday, October 4th, on my trip to the Czech Republic.
Thursday
There were a couple of reasons why I drove to my grandma's on my own, a day later than my parents. One was that I had a work meeting on Thursday that I wanted to attend, as it would influence the rest of this semester. Once the meeting was over, I was on my way. Dad had printed out the route, which motorway / Autobahn to take where etc, so I was sure I would find the way. There were two cities I had a slight nervousness about, one was Bielefeld, a city I always lost my way in, and Ceské Budejovice, where I knew I had to immediately find the correct turning.
Anyway, Bielefeld was a dream to drive through. The motorway stretch of the trip was uneventful as usual, you don't get to see much there after all, though the Autobahn in Bavaria was most annoying, or rather, the fact that there were roadworks every couple of kilometres was annoying. I laughed out loud once, though, when a stretch of motorway was divided in the middle, one being further up a mountain, and the one I was driving on further down. At that moment, the band on my CD player started singing "Loch Lomond". You know, the one that goes, "You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road"... OK, maybe you had to be there.
A brief spell of "I want to go home"-panic ensued when I couldn't find the correct border crossing in the dark and rain - again, roadworks made finding the way almost impossible. Once in the Czech Republic, I was sure where to go, and so found both Klatovy and the house my cousin Zdenek lives in without any problems. I called my parents to tell them I'd arrived safely, and chatted with my cousin until well after midnight.
Friday
My cousin was also going to drive to my mum's party, but since he had to go to work, and there were builders in his house, he had intended to go in the afternoon. No problem, said I, I'll hang around town until then, and we'll go together. No sense in going in two cars, after all. So I spent the day walking through Klatovy, doing the "tourist thing" even though I knew the place since I was a kid, and taking a walk through the park to get rid of my nagging headache.
At around fourish Zdenek and I drove off to a village called Dalesice, which lies about 60 kilometres west of Brno, in Moravia. Having him as co-pilot was fun, and I could stop worrying about where to go, since he knew the way. We arrived safely in the evening, and went to the hotel where the German partygoers were staying to meet up with my parents. Mum was extremely happy to see me, she was rather worried about me going alone. Dad just said, "I know you can drive, so why worry?" Right, Dad. ;-)
Saturday
The day of the party had arrived. Dad was off with the Germans to do some sightseeing, while Mum and I used her car to get everything to the party place.
As is customary, the celebrations began around midday. The line of well-wishers was long, since Mom had invited everyone, immediate family, her cousins, some of whom she hadn't seen in years, Czech friends and friends from Germany. I think we were fifty-odd people, and that's with a few missing who couldn't be there. Lunch was served, a toast was said, speeches were held, mum was given gifts, and a lot of them, beautiful and thoughtful ones.
The food was excellent, as usual. A three-course lunch, coffee and ice cream in the afternoon, dinner, a late-night buffet snack, and always chips and cookies on the table (home-baked cookies, too, mum and I hadn't been the only ones standing in the kitchen baking).
A two-man band, well-known to us, was playing (three songs, short break, three songs, also customary), and everyone was dancing, even my grandma, and not only the usual slow songs that all the male relatives dance with the mother of the family. I had never thought I would see my 87-year-old grandma dance to rock-n-roll music.
Everyone was dancing, except one German. He was solidly refusing to dance, as he had the last time we had a party there, at my dad's birthday. Of course, we wouldn't let him alone, and everyone nettled him about not dancing.
Mum was dancing too, and very energetically, even though she confided in me that her knee was hurting like hell. She had had an operation last spring, and it still hurts sometimes. But she refused not to dance at her own party.
I was hanging around with my cousins, and occasionally my cousin's kids, getting back in touch with those people I was growing up with. One in particular I remember pulling my hair a lot, but then, I was five, and he was barely two. These days, I try to bring his four-year-old daughter our of her shyness around people.
During dinner, I sat with the Germans, who had no problem at all being integrated into the celebration. A couple of my family speak German, after all (and at least in the case of my young cousin Magda, the more she's had to drink the more she speaks German; she is very shy otherwise, even though she's a teacher), and we're an open, friendly, welcoming family. (That was something my ex-boyfriend didn't know how to handle. If and when I do find someone to share my life with, he had better be able to fit into the family gracefully.)
An indication of how much fun was had by all should be the fact that the party was originally scheduled to run from noon until about ten in the evening. We were still going strong at one in the morning, and only the fact that the keyboarder of the band was almost falling into his instruments from tiredness made us take pity. I found out later that they had been playing at a wedding the night before, so it was no wonder they were tired.
Sunday
Zdenek, my cousin, works in a Czech branch of a German company (Rodenstock; they make glasses), which was a blessing, since, being a German company, they have German holidays, and Monday, October 3rd, is "German Reunion Day". This meant that we didn't have to drive back to Klatovy on Sunday and could take a day of rest.
So we spent the day eating leftovers from the buffet table, wading through the veritable flower shop of bouquets my mom received, going through the presents and making a list of who gave what so that mum would be able to send notes of thanks with the correct presents named.
We chatted with the family - my two aunts, my uncle, various cousins - and generally had a relaxed day, which ended with a botte of "Kuestennebel", a North German Aniseed drink named after its misty colour, shared between my parents, mum's oldest sister, my cousin and myself.
Monday
We packed, said our goodbyes, and drove off at nine in the morning. Again, thanks to my cousin there was no problem finding the correct roads, and we arrived in Klatovy in time to meet with the guy who would install new drainpipes on my cousin's house.
I went to do a little shopping for all those tasty Czech things that I can't get here (beer, wine, cheese, tea, and cookies, mainly), as well as a gift for mum (what I originally wanted to give her hadn't arrived yet, so I bought her two DVDs of Czech films) and did some preliminary packing, as I wanted to be off early the next day.
Tuesday
I awoke, rested, even before my cousin who had to go to work at 7:30. So we had breakfast together, and he made me some sandwiches for the trip while I filled my thermos with coffee. Those sandwiches saved me later on.
Driving away from the Czech republic, I listened to Czech radio as long as I could. When I had to switch stations to a German (read: Bavarian) one, I had to laugh: almost the first thing I heard was advertising for a North German regional speciality (Grünkohl), spoken in North German dialect: "So mak wi dat!" Again, I guess you probably had to be there.
The roadworks on the Bavarian Autobahn which were only mildly annoying on the way south were now extremely irritating. In front of every roadworks was a (dang, I know the word in three different languages, but not in English: Stau. Sázpa. Embouteillement (sp?).) - right! Traffic jam! - of between five and 20 kilometres. Standing there cost me two hours' drive time. I was glad I had those sandwiches, they gave me much-needed energy.
I arrived home, tired and frustrated, at six in the evening, and realized I had better not relax. So I got myself a coffee and started unpacking, until it was time to go to band rehearsals for the gig, which was the other reason I had to drive on my own, to get back a day sooner than my parents. I was running on coffeine and adrenaline by that time, and thoroughly messed up almost all of my solos. Especially the one in "Raggle Taggle Gypsies", which made the bass player jokingly ask which song I had been playing just now. That solo and that remark came back to haunt me, as you know.
addendum: Wendesday
On Sunday, Mum remarked that she had suddenly realized that she hadn't got a birthday cake. Everyone gets a birthday cake, but she hadn't. I have no idea what had happened, maybe they thought we, or rather I, would bring one, or everyone had simply assumed that someone else would take care of it; anyway, there was no cake.
So, on Wednesday morning, I went shopping, and bought all the ingrediends for a cake. I had no time to really bake one myself, as my parents would be back the same afternoon, but there is no need to bake when you can assemble. I got ready-baked and cut round sponge cake, a round plate of Marzipan covering, chocolate roses, chocolate cream to write with. The only thing I made myself was the cream filling, and the decoration. Mum was happy, and so was Dad, he loves cake with cream filling. It didn't taste half bad, if I do say so myself.
So much for the 2000 kilometres trip; the pictures will appear in the next post. I think this one's long enough as it is. It was a fun trip, and now that I know I can drive there with no major problems, all I have to do is get my mum to lend me her car for another trip sometime soon.
Thursday
There were a couple of reasons why I drove to my grandma's on my own, a day later than my parents. One was that I had a work meeting on Thursday that I wanted to attend, as it would influence the rest of this semester. Once the meeting was over, I was on my way. Dad had printed out the route, which motorway / Autobahn to take where etc, so I was sure I would find the way. There were two cities I had a slight nervousness about, one was Bielefeld, a city I always lost my way in, and Ceské Budejovice, where I knew I had to immediately find the correct turning.
Anyway, Bielefeld was a dream to drive through. The motorway stretch of the trip was uneventful as usual, you don't get to see much there after all, though the Autobahn in Bavaria was most annoying, or rather, the fact that there were roadworks every couple of kilometres was annoying. I laughed out loud once, though, when a stretch of motorway was divided in the middle, one being further up a mountain, and the one I was driving on further down. At that moment, the band on my CD player started singing "Loch Lomond". You know, the one that goes, "You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road"... OK, maybe you had to be there.
A brief spell of "I want to go home"-panic ensued when I couldn't find the correct border crossing in the dark and rain - again, roadworks made finding the way almost impossible. Once in the Czech Republic, I was sure where to go, and so found both Klatovy and the house my cousin Zdenek lives in without any problems. I called my parents to tell them I'd arrived safely, and chatted with my cousin until well after midnight.
Friday
My cousin was also going to drive to my mum's party, but since he had to go to work, and there were builders in his house, he had intended to go in the afternoon. No problem, said I, I'll hang around town until then, and we'll go together. No sense in going in two cars, after all. So I spent the day walking through Klatovy, doing the "tourist thing" even though I knew the place since I was a kid, and taking a walk through the park to get rid of my nagging headache.
At around fourish Zdenek and I drove off to a village called Dalesice, which lies about 60 kilometres west of Brno, in Moravia. Having him as co-pilot was fun, and I could stop worrying about where to go, since he knew the way. We arrived safely in the evening, and went to the hotel where the German partygoers were staying to meet up with my parents. Mum was extremely happy to see me, she was rather worried about me going alone. Dad just said, "I know you can drive, so why worry?" Right, Dad. ;-)
Saturday
The day of the party had arrived. Dad was off with the Germans to do some sightseeing, while Mum and I used her car to get everything to the party place.
As is customary, the celebrations began around midday. The line of well-wishers was long, since Mom had invited everyone, immediate family, her cousins, some of whom she hadn't seen in years, Czech friends and friends from Germany. I think we were fifty-odd people, and that's with a few missing who couldn't be there. Lunch was served, a toast was said, speeches were held, mum was given gifts, and a lot of them, beautiful and thoughtful ones.
The food was excellent, as usual. A three-course lunch, coffee and ice cream in the afternoon, dinner, a late-night buffet snack, and always chips and cookies on the table (home-baked cookies, too, mum and I hadn't been the only ones standing in the kitchen baking).
A two-man band, well-known to us, was playing (three songs, short break, three songs, also customary), and everyone was dancing, even my grandma, and not only the usual slow songs that all the male relatives dance with the mother of the family. I had never thought I would see my 87-year-old grandma dance to rock-n-roll music.
Everyone was dancing, except one German. He was solidly refusing to dance, as he had the last time we had a party there, at my dad's birthday. Of course, we wouldn't let him alone, and everyone nettled him about not dancing.
Mum was dancing too, and very energetically, even though she confided in me that her knee was hurting like hell. She had had an operation last spring, and it still hurts sometimes. But she refused not to dance at her own party.
I was hanging around with my cousins, and occasionally my cousin's kids, getting back in touch with those people I was growing up with. One in particular I remember pulling my hair a lot, but then, I was five, and he was barely two. These days, I try to bring his four-year-old daughter our of her shyness around people.
During dinner, I sat with the Germans, who had no problem at all being integrated into the celebration. A couple of my family speak German, after all (and at least in the case of my young cousin Magda, the more she's had to drink the more she speaks German; she is very shy otherwise, even though she's a teacher), and we're an open, friendly, welcoming family. (That was something my ex-boyfriend didn't know how to handle. If and when I do find someone to share my life with, he had better be able to fit into the family gracefully.)
An indication of how much fun was had by all should be the fact that the party was originally scheduled to run from noon until about ten in the evening. We were still going strong at one in the morning, and only the fact that the keyboarder of the band was almost falling into his instruments from tiredness made us take pity. I found out later that they had been playing at a wedding the night before, so it was no wonder they were tired.
Sunday
Zdenek, my cousin, works in a Czech branch of a German company (Rodenstock; they make glasses), which was a blessing, since, being a German company, they have German holidays, and Monday, October 3rd, is "German Reunion Day". This meant that we didn't have to drive back to Klatovy on Sunday and could take a day of rest.
So we spent the day eating leftovers from the buffet table, wading through the veritable flower shop of bouquets my mom received, going through the presents and making a list of who gave what so that mum would be able to send notes of thanks with the correct presents named.
We chatted with the family - my two aunts, my uncle, various cousins - and generally had a relaxed day, which ended with a botte of "Kuestennebel", a North German Aniseed drink named after its misty colour, shared between my parents, mum's oldest sister, my cousin and myself.
Monday
We packed, said our goodbyes, and drove off at nine in the morning. Again, thanks to my cousin there was no problem finding the correct roads, and we arrived in Klatovy in time to meet with the guy who would install new drainpipes on my cousin's house.
I went to do a little shopping for all those tasty Czech things that I can't get here (beer, wine, cheese, tea, and cookies, mainly), as well as a gift for mum (what I originally wanted to give her hadn't arrived yet, so I bought her two DVDs of Czech films) and did some preliminary packing, as I wanted to be off early the next day.
Tuesday
I awoke, rested, even before my cousin who had to go to work at 7:30. So we had breakfast together, and he made me some sandwiches for the trip while I filled my thermos with coffee. Those sandwiches saved me later on.
Driving away from the Czech republic, I listened to Czech radio as long as I could. When I had to switch stations to a German (read: Bavarian) one, I had to laugh: almost the first thing I heard was advertising for a North German regional speciality (Grünkohl), spoken in North German dialect: "So mak wi dat!" Again, I guess you probably had to be there.
The roadworks on the Bavarian Autobahn which were only mildly annoying on the way south were now extremely irritating. In front of every roadworks was a (dang, I know the word in three different languages, but not in English: Stau. Sázpa. Embouteillement (sp?).) - right! Traffic jam! - of between five and 20 kilometres. Standing there cost me two hours' drive time. I was glad I had those sandwiches, they gave me much-needed energy.
I arrived home, tired and frustrated, at six in the evening, and realized I had better not relax. So I got myself a coffee and started unpacking, until it was time to go to band rehearsals for the gig, which was the other reason I had to drive on my own, to get back a day sooner than my parents. I was running on coffeine and adrenaline by that time, and thoroughly messed up almost all of my solos. Especially the one in "Raggle Taggle Gypsies", which made the bass player jokingly ask which song I had been playing just now. That solo and that remark came back to haunt me, as you know.
addendum: Wendesday
On Sunday, Mum remarked that she had suddenly realized that she hadn't got a birthday cake. Everyone gets a birthday cake, but she hadn't. I have no idea what had happened, maybe they thought we, or rather I, would bring one, or everyone had simply assumed that someone else would take care of it; anyway, there was no cake.
So, on Wednesday morning, I went shopping, and bought all the ingrediends for a cake. I had no time to really bake one myself, as my parents would be back the same afternoon, but there is no need to bake when you can assemble. I got ready-baked and cut round sponge cake, a round plate of Marzipan covering, chocolate roses, chocolate cream to write with. The only thing I made myself was the cream filling, and the decoration. Mum was happy, and so was Dad, he loves cake with cream filling. It didn't taste half bad, if I do say so myself.
So much for the 2000 kilometres trip; the pictures will appear in the next post. I think this one's long enough as it is. It was a fun trip, and now that I know I can drive there with no major problems, all I have to do is get my mum to lend me her car for another trip sometime soon.
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