Mařenka v Americe

Well, week went past pretty quickly, and so here I go with another article, enjoy! 

I’d like to focus on my first experiences of America as well as on my daily routine. People often ask me about what is the biggest difference between Czech Republic and America. I always tell them: "The people." To be honest, hospitality and kindness of the people in Iowa stunned me. Most of the people I've met so far were out-going, talkative, kind and willing to help me with everything, despite I was complete stranger for them when I arrived. And from what I've seen and experienced, it goes the same way with other people. To start to talk to complete stranger is absolutely no big deal here, I don't know, I just feel you don't get to see that kind of hospitality often in Czech Republic. Last time I ended with my arrival to Des Moines right? Well, after all the flights and troubles, I was dead tired. I just basically ate some food, unpacked, spoke with my new family little bit, and then went to sleep. Despite the fact I was still pretty tired the next day (because of jet lag, time difference is 7 hours), at 25th August, we went to school to set up my schedule (about which I will tell you later) and to meet the football team. Coach introduced me to all the guys (around 90 members of the team), and then I watched the practice. Well, I think that football is a chapter for itself. I thought that I will have a good time playing football, but I never expected this kind of awesomeness. But when I'm thinking of it right now, I will probably write whole separate article about football and members of the team.  26th August, first day of school. First day of school was kinda laidback. Speaking about school, my schedule sustains of 7 different courses, which I have every day of the week in the same order. First class of the day is US Government, in which we learn mostly about US Constitution and questions of power, authority and legitimacy. Second is Advanced Scientific Frontiers, where we learn and experiment with genetics and crossing members of same species (fruit flies) with different features. Then we usually (except for Early Out Wednesday) have Junior Advisor Group, which is basically "study hall" class, where we can learn stuff that we need, or finish our homework. My third class is Psychology, not really much to say about that, we are learning things about human mind, brain and a lot of different topics. Next is Foods, where we learn about different types of foods and nutrition, and obviously, how to cook. Then we go for a lunch in school (not that I would eat that stuff they call food in school cafeteria). Then I have American Studies & Compositions, then US History (Civil War, Western Migration etc.). My last class of the day is Money Sense. That is probably the class I'm most glad that I took it about. We learn about how to invest in stocks, mutual funds and bonds, how to make a budget, how we should choose mortgage and how to handle our finances in general. I absolutely love this class and think that this type of class is something we could certainly use in our schools back in Czech Republic, because is directly connects to the real life, and is something every single one of us will have to deal with in the future. Well, that was kinda longer than I expected, so I will probably go over my daily routine next week. I'd be glad if anyone of you had some idea about what to write about in next articles, so if you'd like to hear about something specific, don't hesitate to hit me up on facebook or e-mail. Last but not least, credits to my man Matej Skorepa, for constantly bitching about how I should start writing a blog, wouldn't be doing this without you, thanks buddy!

See ya all next week!

Vazeni a mili, tyden utekl jako voda, a tak prichazi i muj dalsi clanek, enjoy! Rad bych se v tomto clanku soustredil hlavne na prvni zkusenosti, zazitky a dojmy z USA, a take se snad dostanu ke sve 'Denni rutine'. Asi bych nespocital kolikrat uz se mne nekdo zeptal na to co je ten nejvetsi rozdil mezi Amerikou a Ceskem. Odpovim vzdy naprosto stejne: "Lide." Kdyz jsem dorazil, byl jsem naprosto takrikajic okouzlen tim jak jsou vsichni hrozne mili, vstricni a schopni vam pomoct naprosto s cimkoliv, bez ohledu na to jestli jste uplny cizinec a clovek ktereho v zivote nevideli nebo dlouholety rodinny pritel. A z toho co jsem zatim videl a prozil, funguje to tady takhle s drtivou vetsinou lidi. Zacit se bavit s cizim clovekem a pozvat ho jeste ten vecer k sobe na veceri, s celou jeho rodinou, je tu na dennim poradku. Uprimne, neumim si predstavit ze by se neco podobneho stalo u nas v Cechach. Secteno a podtrzeno, lide jsou tu skutecne mili, hodni a vstricni za jakychkoliv okolnosti. Naposledy jsem skoncil u priletu do Des Moines, ze? No, po tech vsech hodinach na ceste, trmaceni se po letistich a vseho stresu, jsem se citil ze kazdou chvili padnu a usnu vecnym spankem. Jen jsem se pobavil s moji novou skvelou rodinkou, najedl se, vybalil kufr a potom asi 16 hodin spal. I potom co jsem se probudil jsem byl unaveny, casovy posun je 7 hodin (celkove mi trvalo asi tyden nez jsem se prizpusobil). 25. rijna jsem si udelal prvni vylet do skoly, abych si zvolil predmety (o kterych vam povim za chvili) a potkal se s kluky z fotbaloveho tymu. Coach me predstavil behem treninku (necekal jsem ze v tymu bude okolo 90 hracu), a potom jsem zustal asi dalsich 45 minut a sledoval jak probiha trenink. Od prvniho dne na me byli vsichni strasne mili, jak kluci tak treneri, i pres jejich vzezreni ktere pripomina spise medvedy nez lidi. Hned behem prvniho treninku, kdy jsem kluky jen sledoval, jich za mnou spousta pribehla s tim, ze kdybych neco nechapal nebo potreboval pomoct, tak ze jim mam bez problemu rict. No, a ted uz je to taky uplne jina pisnicka, fotbal a spoluhraci jsou kapitola sama pro sebe, pravdepodobne se tu v nejblizsi dobe objevi clanek jen o fotbalu a vse s nim spojenem. Uuu, 26. rijna, prvni den skoly. Ano, prvni den skoly byl nuda, nic moc jsme nedelali, hadam stejne jako v Cechach. Tak, konecne jsme se dostali ke skole, moje vyucovani zacina s hodinou US Government, kde se po vetsinu casu ucime o Americke ustave a otazkach sily, autority a legitimace co se vlady tyce. Druha hodina jsou takzvane Advanced Scientific Frontiers, coz je v podstate pokrocila biologie a genetika, tahle hodina zahruje i spoustu pokusu a laborek s krizenim jedincu ze stejneho druhu s ruznymi charakteristikami. Treti je tzv Junior Advisor Group (krome Early Out Wednesday) coz je v podstate volna hodina kdy mame cas na to si dodelat ukoly, ucit se na testy a podobne. Treti plnohodnotna hodina je Psychologie, predpokladam ze netreba vysvetlovat co je tematem vyuky. Dalsi jsou Foods, kde se ucime o jidle, jak s jidlem pracovat, jak varit a tak dale a tak dale. Potom mame obed, ne ze bych jedl to cemu rikaji jidlo ve skolni jidelne. Dalsi jsou American Studies & Composition (zde probirame literaturu, anglictinu a ruzne otazky jako "Proc jsme vlastne ve skole?"), a pote US History (Obcanska valka, zavrazdeni Lincolna, migrace na Zapad...). To nejlepsi mam nakonec, a to Money Sense. To je pravdepodobne hodina za kterou jsem nejvice vdecny. Behem dvou mesicu jsme stihli probehnout par temat jako jsou napriklad jak investovat do akcii, bondu a spolecnych fondu, cim se ridit pri vyberu akcii, jak si vytvorit realisticky budget, na co se ohlizet pri vybirani hypoteky a podobne. Muj nazor je takovy, ze neco podobneho kriticky chybi na skolach v Cesku (nebo alespon v Hradci), nebot jsou tyhle informace primo spojene se skutecnym zivotem, a troufnu si tvrdit ze kazdy z nas se proste bude muset potykat s podobnymi problemy v budoucnu.

No, to bylo trochu delsi nez jsem cekal, takze o moji denni rutine se doctete pristi tyden. Kdyby jste mel nekdo nejake dotazy, nebo treba chteli vedet nejake specificke informace o mem zivote v USA, urcite dejte vedet. A v neposledni rade, me velke diky patri mladenci jmenem Matej Skorepa, za neustale stezovani si a ryti do me ohledne toho, jak moc bych mel zacit psat blog. Diky Ti priteli, bez tebe bych jiste ochudil desetitisice (mozna statisice) ctenaru o pocteni o mem nudnem a stereotypnim zivote!

First day of school!
Prvni den ve skole!

School cafeteria
Skolni jidelna

Ballard wrestling room

School weight room
Skolni cinkarna

Meeting teammates for the first time!
Prvni setkani se spoluhraci!