Damy a panove, jako prvni bych se vsem rad omluvil za momentalni absenci novych clanku, mel jsem ponekud napilno. A taky jsem byl trochu liny, jen trosicku. Kazdopadne vas neprekvapim a mozna zklamu fadnim "Mam se skvele", a prozradim vam ze jsem prozil dalsi 3 uzasne tydny 4 uzasne tydny 5 uzasnych tydnu, plne jak rutinnich radosti tak neobvyklych dobrodruzstvi. Zameril bych se predevsim na me prvni americke dikuvzdani, aneb den hostiny a nic nedelani, kteryzto nazev je mnohem presneji vystihujici. Hlavnim duvodem proc pro me dikuvzdani bylo zajimave to, ze jsme odjeli az do dalekeho Chicaga oslavit tyto svatky spolecne se sirsim okruhem rodiny. Dikuvzdani spada na datum 26.11., coz pro nas znamenalo ctvrtek. Dikybohu jsme dostali propustku ze skoly uz ve stredu, komu by se nelibil dvoudenni tyden ze? Huxley jsme opustili okolo 9 rano, a s radosti se vydali na 6-ti hodinovou vypravu smer 3. nejvetsi mesto USA! Na obed jsme se stavovali ve "World's largest truck stop", coz je pro vasi predstavu giganticka benzina, obsahujici nekolik restauraci, obchod, zabavni centrum, pradelnu, kadernik, zubare, nebo treba knihovnu (Ano, s trochou nadsazky by se zde dalo i zit). Okolo 16:00 jsme dorazili na misto urceni, aneb dum bratra moji host mamky, mestecko St.Charles. Ano, rikal jsem ze jsme jeli do Chicaga. Chicago je ponekud prostorne a vsude okolo centra jsou takzvane "suburbs", coz jsou vlastne mensi mestecka, srustajici s ostatnimi a konecne s centrem Chicaga. Pro predstavu, ze St.Charles do uplneho centra Chicaga se dostaneme priblizne za cas Hradec-Praha, pricemz projizdime prakticky jen mestem. No kazdopadne, do centra Chicaga jsem se nepodival az do patku. Ve stredu se nic moc nedelo, ve ctvrtek take ne, cely den probihal spankem, hranim na Xboxu a sledovanim filmu a serialu, proste idealni lenosici den! Slavna "Thanksgiving dinner" vlastne neni vubec dinner, jidlo jsme meli mezi 2-3 odpoledne. Hlavni hvezdou cele vecere je kruta, jak je zvykem ve vetsine americkych rodin. Krome kruty je na stole asi tak 765453 ruznych priloh, kazdy si urcite prijde na sve a uspokoji sve chutove poharky. V patek jsme se brzo rano vypravili smer downtown Chicago, coz trvalo priblizne hodinu (jak jsem se jiz zminil v predeslych vetach). Chicago jako takove se mi celkem libilo, myslim ze bych si zvykl na zivot ve vetsim meste, typove mi centrum Chicaga trochu pripominalo centrum Londyna. Nasi tour Chicagem jsme odstartovali slavnou deep dish pizzou, coz je vlastne neco jako hybrid mezi kolacem a pizzou, no kazdopadne mnamka! Pote jsme se vydali na prohlidku mistniho architektonickeho muzea, po cemz nasledovala prohlidka nejznamejsich ulic Chicaga, dokonce jsme meli i pruvodce co nam rekl nejake zajimavosti a historii mesta. Po ukonceni oficialni casti prohlidky jsme se vydali na prohlidku na vlastni pest, nase hlavni zastavka byla Millenium Park a slavna "Fazole". Dale jsme se pouze toulali po nejznamejsich ulicich, podivali se na Trump Tower a udelali nejake to povinne "Black Friday shopping". Pote jsme se vratili zpet do St.Charles a navstivili mistni kostel. Po dalsim prolenosenem veceru jsme se v sobotu dopoledne vydali na navstevu rodinnych pratel v jednom z dalsich malych mestecek okolo Chicaga (jmeno jsem zapomnel). Dotycna rodina jsou hinduiste, a jako soucast nasi navstevy jsme si udelali vylet do nedalekeho hinduistickeho chramu. Nevedel jsem co cekat, a navsteva chramu mi naprosto vyrazila dech, rozhodne nejkrasnejsi budova do ktere jsem se kdy podival. Po prochazce po chramu (ktery je mimochodem kompletne z bileho mramoru) jsme se stavili na indicke jidlo, a pomalu se vydali na cestu zpet - smer Huxley.
Co se tyce mimoskolnich aktivit, momentalne nejsem v zadnem skolnim sportu, takze se vlastne akorat valim doma a nic nedelam, jako klasicky stereotypni american. Vlastne taky obcas zajdu do fitka, jen sem tam. Krome toho muj volny cas obsahuje take jezdeni na basketbalove zapasy nasi skoly, obcasne movie night, proste klasicke aktivity teenagera, jak jinak take. Momentalne uz mame Vanocni volno, takze si toho lenoseni uzivam naplno, a snazim se nemyslet na Semester Tests a na fakt JAK NEUVERITELNE RYCHLE TO UTIKA. Zvlastni pomysleni na to ze bez prodlouzeni pobytu bych si uz za tri tydny balil kufry... No nicmene se snazim uzivat svuj cas tady naplno, a zatim se to dari na 100%! Takze Vesele Vanoce, Stastny novy rok, milujte se a mnozte se, a zase nekdy priste, peace!


Ladies and gentlemen, first I'd like to apologize for latest absence of my articles, I had a lot of things to do. I also was kinda lazy. Just a little bit. I will probably disappoint you with highly un-amusing "I'm having time of my life", but yeah, pretty much, that's how I feel right now.  I experienced another 3 weeks 4 weeks 5 unforgettable weeks, full of routine affairs as well as unusual adventures.
I'd like to focus mainly on my first American Thanksgiving, or as I'd like to call it, day of laziness & food. The main reason why Thanksgiving was so interesting to me was that we traveled to Chicago to celebrate it with our family. Thanksgiving is on 26th of November, which meant Thursday. Fortunately for us lucky school goers, we got the day off on Wednesday, making it nice and solid 2 day week, who wouldn't love that right? We left Huxley around 9 AM full of excitement (not really) and got mentaly ready for 6 hour long ride to 3rd largest city in the United States. For the lunch, we
stopped at the "world's largest truck stop", which was pretty funny if you ask me, you could basically live there. Around 4PM we finally arrived to Chicago, or more exactly, to small suburb of Chicago called St. Charles. St. Charles is around hour far from downtown Chicago. But anyways, I didn't get to visit downtown till Friday. The rest of Wednesday and Thursday was spend by laying around not doing anything, watching movies, playing Xbox etc. Yes, it was a blast! I figured out that Thanksgiving "Dinner" is not dinner at all, well at least at our house it was not, the food was served between 2PM and 3PM. The main star of our Thanksgiving was obviously turkey, served together with approximately 15365431 sides. We took of for Chicago in early morning on Friday. The ride was probably hour long, just as I said previously. I loved Chicago itself as a city, it reminded me of a center of London for example. In general, I think I would get used to living in big city like this. Our Chicago tour started with famous deep dish pizza (never had it before), which is basically a hybrid between a pie and a pizza. Just as I expected, it was deeeeeeelicious. After our great lunch, we set off for Chicago's architectonic museum tour, which was shortly followed by a tour around the most famous streets. We were even accompanied by a guide that told us few interesting facts about the city as well as about its history. After the end of official part of the tour with the guide, we decided to explore the wonders of the Windy City on our own, even though it was raining. But no rain will mess up our plans right?! Our main goal was visiting the Millennium Park and the notorious "Bean". Despite the rain, the place was crowded with tourists, so we early took off to cruise the most famous streets of Chicago, do some required Black Friday shopping and check out the Trump Tower.
After doing that, we said goodbye to Chicago and left back for St. Charles, where we visited local church. After another lazy, relaxing evening and night, we packed our things and hit the road to go to our family's friends living in another suburb of Chicago (forgot the name). This family is hindu, which was personally for me another interesting cultural experience to talk to them. Part of our trip was also visiting local hindu cathedral. To be honest I've never been to any place like this so I kind of didn't know what to expect. Well, it absolutely stunned me. Frankly, it was the single most beautiful building I've ever had honor of visiting. After the tour around the cathedral (which is by the way completely from white marble), we had some Indian food for lunch and slowly took of for Huxley. When it comes to outside of the school, or free time, activities, I'm not currently in any sport, so I'm basically laying on the couch not doing anything, eating and getting fat, just like every stereotypical American. I also go to the gym sometimes. Just every once in a while. My free time also includes watching basketball games of our team, occasional movie nights, basically typical teenager activities. Yes, it may sound little bit boring, but I'm having a absolutely wonderful time here! I'm also trying not to think about upcoming semester tests as well as about the fact how INCREDIBLY FAST time flies here, crazy to think that without the extension of my stay I'd leave in approximately in 2 weeks. However, I'm trying to get the best of my stay here, have fun and good times, and it's all going well, never felt better!
So Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and see you next time, peace!

Arriving to Chicago!

Deep dish pizza

Streets of Chicago

The Bean 

Random shot from architectonic museum

Astonishing hindu temple

Basketball game with the bros!

All right ladies and gentlemen, it has been a 2 weeks since my last article, and here I come back with a brand new one about my football experience! But hopefully, I'll also get to how did I deal with leaving all my "Czech" life behind, with feelings of homesickness etc. First of all, I gotta say, that signing up for football was one of the best things I could've done. So if you're a Ballard Bombers football member, thank you. I couldn't have even imagined of how awesome you guys will be, so thank you so much for all the good times we had, it helped me so much, especially soon after I arrived. When I came to watch the very first practice, I was really uncertain if I will even make any friends at all, I was thinking of how long will it take for me to fit in and become a part of the team. So yeah, I was pretty nervous. And the way how these guys behaved to me, how they started to talk to me right away, it just felt unbelievable to me. At the beginning, I was required to have a few practices without pads. I'm not gonna lie, it really felt weird to put on a helmet and pads for the first time. Right now, I'm kinda sad that I didn't come here earlier, so I could start training sooner and be completely ready for games as soon as season starts. Our first Varsity game was at city called Boone, and no, I was not playing. I was not even suiting up, I just wore a jersey and jeans. And I gotta say, at the beginning of the game, I was not really impressed. Well, I can honestly say that it changed drastically over the time of the game. When we went to the overtime with Boone, I suddenly understood why everyone make football such a big deal. After watching that game, I started to comprehend what each roles are about. And after few practices, I can honestly say that I fell for football. I gradually started to play at the JV games and even made my appearance at the Varsity games. Yes, Friday nights are really something special. Even in the morning, even at the school on Friday you can feel the atmosphere of the game day. It is kinda hard to describe the moments before the games in locker room, I guess you'd have to experience it yourself to actually get the idea. From the Monday JV games, over Wednesday guys nights and pre game practices, to Friday nights that were both painful and amazing, football was certainly the biggest and most amazing experience during my exchange. But it's not only about the sport and the hard work itself. I fell for football mostly because of the people in football team. I can say that it's probably hard to understand for people from Czech Republic, but the relationships between the guys are so awesome and friendly, it just felt unreal to me at first. Whole team eating dinner together basically 3 times a week? As I said before, I couldn't have hoped for a better group of guys (even though they can be a bunch of d***s sometimes :D). Statistics-wise, we were the 3rd team in the history of Ballard High School to make it through first round of play-offs, so I can honestly say that it has been one hell of the season. It was an honor guys, thank you very much.

Now, my sister recently asked me of how did I deal with all the pressure of leaving everything behind. Well, I think I just described one of the huge factors of my acclimatization here. One thing that also helped was that as soon as I left Czech Republic my mind instantly switched to "it's on you now" mode, so I kinda enjoy the "feeling of adventure" now. This journey here was certainly the most important step and thing in my life so far. No doubts about it, I can see how my mindset is changing overtime, as I experience new things here (and the religion is a huge factor here for me too, yeah, I'm surprised too). It is true that I still think about my previous life, and that I've been homesick (like 2 days so far, thankfully), but all the new lovely people, experiences and the entire new world around you will surely prevail over the feelings of homesickness. So if that hadn't been clear from my articles so far, if you're thinking of going to different country, alone, for a long period of time, JUST DO IT. Oh, and one more information, I recently decided to extend my exchange here, so I am staying whole school year instead of just one semester, yaaay!
See you next week!


Damy a panove, vazeni a mili, bratri a sestry je mym potesenim vas po delsi dobe privitat u jednoho z mych clanku. V dnesnim se doctete o tom jake jsem mel zkusenosti s americkym fotbalem a snad se take dostanu k tomu jak jsem se tu vyrovnaval se vsim tim natlakem a styskanim si po domove. 
Taaakze, jako prvni reknu, ze zapsat se na fotbal byla ta nejlepsi vec jakou jsem mohl udelat. Jsem neskutecne vdecny vsem klukum z tymu, diky nim to tu pro me je pohadka. 
Ani ve snu jsem si nemohl predstavit jak moc uzasne si budu fotbal uzivat, kolik zazitku si ze sezony odnesu, kolik zkusenosti mi fotbal da a hlavne jak moc mi tenhle kolektiv pomuze vyrovnavat se se vsim hned potom co jsem priletel. Kdyz jsem poprve vyrazil na trenink, poprve kluky videl, nebyl jsem si ani trochu jisty ze si najdu vubec nejake kamarady, premyslel jsem jak dlouho mi bude trvat nez alespon trochu zapadnu, tak ze na me kluci nebou koukat jako na "foreignera" ale jako na plnohodnotneho clena tymu. A to jak se ke me kluci chovali, jak se se mnou ihned zacli bavit a zvat na Movie & Halo nights a spolecne vecere, ohromilo me to. No, abych se vratil zpatky k fotbalu samotnemu, musel jsem povinne podstoupit cca tri treninky bez chranicu, lekarskou prohlidku, a az pote jsem byl ready pustit se do treninku na 100%. Nebudu lhat, kdyz jsem si poprve nasadil chranice a helmu, pripadal jsem si jako slon v porcelanu. Momentalne me trochu mrzi ze jsem nedorazil o tri tydny drive kdy zacinaly treninky, abych mohl byt driv ready na plnohodnotnou sezonu. Nase prvni "Varsity" zapas byl v mestecku Boone, ani jsem se neoblekal, na zapas jsem jel v kalhotech a dresu, a z lavicky sledoval jak se kluci rozcvicuji a rikal si jestli tohle je sport pro me. Ano, byl jsem  ze zacatku ponekud skepticky. Ze zacatku zapasu jsem si rikal ze to treba neni ani tak zajimave. A kdyz sel zapas do prodlouzeni, atmosfera byla nekde ve vesmiru a my jsme si na "sidelines" skakali po hlavach. Po tom co jsme vybojovali vitezstvi v prodlouzeni jsem pochopil proc tu vsichni delaji z fotbalu takovy big deal. Po par trenincich jsem zacal chapat jednotlive role a muzu uprimne rict ze po cca trech tydnech jsem se do fotbalu zamiloval. Postupne jsem zacal nastupovat v zakladu na "Junior Varsity" zapasech (kde jsem se v druhe pulce sezony stal kapitanem obrany kde jsem hral bud jako defensive end nebo outside linebacker) a take se objevovat v patecnich zapasech "Varsity" (ve "special teams" a na stejnych postech jako v JV). Jo, patecni vecery a noci jsou neco vskutku specialniho. Je to tezke vysvetlit, nicmene kazdemu bych pral aby si to zkusil na vlastni kuzi (jake to asi musi byt s fotbalem na vejsce nebo v NFL?). Dokonce i rano ve skole je citit atmosfera, vsichni uz premysleji o zapase a ne az tak o skole. :D A popsat ty chvile v kabine nez jdeme na zapas? Myslim si o sobe ze jsem dobry v pisemnem projevu, ale tohle jde jen tezko popsat. Kdyz nas trener hecuje a energie v kabine je nekde naprosto v oblacich, kdyz se pred vstupem na hriste s celym tymem modlime, kdyz stojime na hristi a hraje hymna... Kdyz 20 sekund pred koncem skorujeme na vitezstvi... Kdyz stojim na hristi vteriny pred snapem a nervozitu prevalcuje adrenalin, kdyz  pri tretim downu sundavam quaterbacka 5 yardu za line of scrimmage... Od pondelnich JV zapasu, pres drsne treninky a zabavu na guys nights, az po predzapasove treninky a patecni vecery (ktere byly i bolestive i uzasne), fotbal byl naprosto jiste nejvetsi a nejuzasnejsi zazitek a zkusenost meho dosavadniho pobytu. Ale to vsechno neni jen kvuli sportu samotnemu, ale hlavne kvuli lidem ktere jsem mel kolem sebe. Je tezke pravdepodobne tezke pochopit, ale behem sezony se z tymu opravdu stava jedna velka rodina... Jak uz jsem zminil v predeslych vetach, ani jsem nemohl doufat v lepsi skupinu kluku (asi proto jak dokazou byt obcas stejni k***ti jako mi drazi kamaradi v Hradci). Pokud bych mel mluvit o statistikach, byli jsme 3. tym v historii Ballard High School co postoupil pres prvni kolo statnich play-off, takze muzu rici ze to byla velmi uspesna sezona a pro me zazitek na cely zivot.

Nedavno se me ma draha sestricka zeptala na to jak se vyrovnavam s timhle vsim natlakem toho ze jsem tak daleko od domova a ze jsem prakticky nechal vse za sebou. Myslim si ze clankem o fotbale jsem ujasnil jeden ze zasadnich faktoru moji aklimatizace tady. Taky mi hrozne moc pomohlo prave to ze jsem tady "sam" a vse zalezi jen na me a na tom co si ja tady zaridim, coz si momentalne uzivam na 100%. Obecne, tahle cesta do USA byla bez debaty ten nejvetsi a nejdulezitejsi krok a zkusenost v mem zivote. Sam vidim jak se psychicky menim, jak se mi meni hodnoty, jak ziskavam vsechny nove zazitky a zkusenosti (k memu prekvapeni na me hodne pusobi i vira a to jaky dopad ma vira na lidi tady). Nebudu popirat to ze obcas myslim na svuj predesly zivot a na vsechny lidi v Cechach, ale dikybohu jsem byl "homesick" asi jen dva dny, ale vsichni ti novi pratele, lidi a nove prostredi vzdy predezenou pocity styskani. Pokud to do ted nebylo z mych clanku jasne, pokud mate moznost, prostredky a jen uvazujete nad tim jestli jet a nebo ne, na nic necekejte a skocte do toho po hlave. Oh, jeste jedna novinka, z puvodniho pul roku tady se stal rok, necekejte me zpet drive nez v cervnu, yaaay!
Tak zase za tyden!

During the game in Boone
Prvni zapas sezony!

Monday JV Game
Pondelni JV Game (moje malickost #18)

Before DC-G game!
Pred poslednim zapasem sezony!

Pre game practice
Ctvrtecni trenink!

                

My daily routine

Greetings to you, whoever you are, and welcome to the article about my daily routine. I'd like to start with brief description of my common day, and then describe what is special about each day. My day usually starts with a phrase: "Why am I doing this?" when my alarm clock goes off at 4:55. Yes, I get out of the bed that early. Dumb, I know. Then I brush my teeth, get ready for school etc., you know the drill. Then I quietly go downstairs, eat my breakfast, pack food for the day and take off for the gym. Gym in the morning before school was working out better for me, because of the football practices we had after school. But that will change soon, when the football season ends. Fortunately, we have a gym right in the school, which made things much easier for me. Then I go through all the classes in the school, which I wrote previous article about. We are in school usually till 3 PM. After school, we immediately go to a football training, which ends at 5 PM. My day continues with a dinner together with my family, then with making food for another day, taking shower and going to bed as early as I can. Now I'd like to focus on each day separately.

Monday 

Biggest difference against common day was JV (Junior Varsity) Football games. These games were held in small cities in Iowa. We left for these immediately after school, so it was basically instead of practices. But JV season is over now.

Tuesday

Tuesday, pretty common, full pads practice after school, not very interesting day for me.

Wednesday

Early out Wednesday, wohoo. School ends at 1:30 PM, so we have a time to go home and take a rest before practice, which starts at 3:20. Practice is either full pads, or only shoulders and helmet. After practice we always go for a "Guys night", when whole team goes to Ames to eat, usually either Hickory Park or Pizza Ranch. Then we just hang out in the mall etc. Guys nights are certainly one of the highlights of the week for me. 

Thursday

Thursday, regular day at school. After school we have a pre-game practice, which is very light contact practice, only in shorts, shirt and helmet. Then whole team gathers in school weight room and  coach has a motivational speech for us. Then we all have a team meal in school. 

Friday

Game day! Friday in school, everyone is excited about the game, not really paying attention to what we do at school. After school we usually go home, take a nap, relax for a little bit, then go back to school and get ready. Game starts at 7:30 PM, and doesn't end approximately till 9:30. If we win, then we go out to eat after the game to celebrate the victory!

Saturday

If you thought that I would get to sleep in on Saturday, then I have a bad news for you. Our after game practice starts at 7:30 AM, and it is basically just little bit of running and stretching. Coach does't want us to go party after the game, and that's the purpose of this early morning practice. Rest of Saturday for me is mix of eating, napping, reading or watching movies.

Sunday

On Sunday, I usually get up at 7:30, brush my teeth and have a breakfast. Then, at 8:10 whole family drives to Ames to Cornerstone Church. Sunday is No Technology Day in my family, so I spend rest  of the day reading, sleeping, or writing a blog. Once a two weeks I also call my parents on Sunday.

Well, that would be all for today, hopefully I helped you to imagine how my average, stereotypical  day looks like! See you next Sunday, still gotta figure out what I'm going to write about!

Vazeni a mili, vitejte do me denni rutiny!

Rad bych nejdriv zacal s popisem meho bezneho dne, a pote jednotlive rozebral jednotlive dny, tak snad se u toho neunudite! 

"Proc sakra tohle delam?" rikam si kdyz mi v 4:55 zazvoni budik a ja vim ze mam pred sebou silene dlouhy den. Ano, vstavam v 4:55. Ano, dobrovolne. Vytrmacim se z pokoje, ranni hygiena, pripravit veci do skoly, vsak to znate! Co nejpotiseji jdu do spodniho patra, balim si jidlo a chystam snidani. Obcas pri snidani napisu nejakou tu zpravu tem par kamaradum co mam v Cechach, jelikoz je to jedna z mala moznosti nekoho v Cesku zastihnout vzhuru. Jseam ready, a za svitu mesice vyrazim pesky do fitka. Jak jste mohli videt v minulem clanku, mame ve skole celkem decentni fitko, coz mi dost pomaha. Fitko pred skolou mi vyhovuje (vyhovovalo) kvuli kazdodennim treninku fotbalu hned po skole. Po fitku si dam ve skole sprchu, a jsem ready na studium!

Ve skole jsem do 15:00 a ihned po skole moje cesty smeruji na fotbalovy trenink, ktery konci cca v 17:20. Muj den pokracuje s veceri s rodinou, a nasledne aktivity s rodinou, kdy si treba jen povidame, sedime u krbu, koukame na filmy a tak dale. Pote si udelam jidlo na dalsi den, a snazim se chodit spat co mozna nejdrive! Joo, je to stereotypni, ale nevadi mi to ani v nejmensim. 

Taak, rad bych ted popsal co je specialniho na kazdem dnu!

Pondeli

Nejvetsi rozdil oproti beznemu dnu byli urcite JV (Junior Varsity) zapasy fotbalu, kde jsem si uzil spoustu srandy, ale o tom si povime v nekterem z nadchazejicich clanku! JV zapasy byli v ruznych mesteckach v Iowe, odjizdeli jsme na ne hned po skole, takze byly v podstate misto treninku.

Utery

Pro me asi nejnudnejsi den, vsechno v normalnim chodu, trenink v kompletnich chranicich (ramena, helma, nohy), rutina.

Streda

Early Out Wednesday, wohoo. Skola nam konci v 13:30, takze name cas si dojit domu, najist se a odpocinout si pred treninkem, ktery je bud v kompletnich chranicich nebo jen v helme a ramenou. Po treninku je cas na tzv. Guys night! Cely tym vyrazime do blizkeho mesta do nejake resaurace, kde mame spolecne veceri, po ktere nasleduje bezprizorni "flakani se" v obchodech, cukrarnach a podobne. Stredecni Guys Nights jsou pro me urcite jedny z nejlepsich casti tydne. 

Ctvrtek

Bezny den ve skole, ale jen lehoucky trenink, jen v triku, kratasech a helme. Po treninku se cely tym shromazdi spolecne v posilovne, kde k nam pote promlouva kouc (ano, motivacni reci presne jako na youtube a v americkych filmech). Nasledne mame cely tym spolecne jidlo v prostorach skolni jidelny (O pripravu jidla se staraji rodice clenu tymu).

Patek 

Game daaaay! Patek ve skole, vsichni jsou napumpovani kvuli vecernimu zapasu, ve skole je to znat, volnejsi den, nikdo se moc nesoustredi, proste patky jsou o fotbale, ne o skole! Po skole jedeme domu, odpocineme si pred zapasem, ktery zacina v 19:30. Ano, patecni vecery a noci jsou neco vskutku uzasneho a "special". Ale o tom vice v pristich clankach. Zapas konci cca v 21:45, a pokud slavime vyhru, jeste v noci jedeme do mesta do restaurace na pozdni veceri!

Sobota 

Jestli jste si mysleli ze se vyspim alespon v tu sobotu, tak vas pravdepodobne zklamu. Ranni trenink zacina v 7:30. Trenink trva asi tak pul hodiny, jen se probehneme, protahneme a jedeme zase domu. Ranni treninky mame jen protoze kouc nechce aby jsme po zapasech chodili na party a ponocovali. 

Nedele 

V nedeli vstavam v 7:30, oblecu se, udelam si snidani a cca v 8:10 odjizdime s celou rodinou do Ames (vedlejsi mesto) do kostela, ktery je velmi odlisny od toho, co mame my v Cechach. Obecne, cely jejich pristup k vire je trochu jiny, a ze sve vlastni zkusenosti muzu rict, ze je rozhodne o dost blizsi a pritazlivejsi pro neverici. Jinak nedele je den "bez technologii", takze zbytek dne travim spanim, jidlem, ctenim, nebo psanim blogu. Kazdou druhou nedeli take volam se svymi rodici v Cechach. 

Doufam ze jste si alespon trochu pocetli a mozna se i pobavili mym stereotypnim zivotem.

Tak zase priste!

One perk of waking up early
Jedna z mala vyhod brzkeho vstavani

Cornerstone Church
Kostely jsou tu ponekud odlisne od tech v Cechach

Monday JV Game
Pondelni JV zapas #18

                                                                                                        Charlie, losing it after Guys Night

                                                                                                              Klasicke stredecni vecery!

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!

Welcome to my experience!

So, after 2 months of living in America, I finally got myself to start writing a travel blog. I hope this blog will also help my other fellow students who were thinking of being part of exchange program. If that is your case, let me say it right away... If you have the opportunity, then DO IT.  But before we start, credits to my fabulous sister for setting this whole blog thing up, thank you! Although my first intention was to write in english only, my awesome sis made a valid point about my grandmas not going to able to read about my adventures, so for those from Czech Republic too lazy to sharpen their english, scroll down for Czech translation. My whole journey started during German language class (paradox right?), where I found little CCI Greenheart poster. I was always thinking about how awesome it would be to go somewhere as an exchange student, but I honestly never truly believed that I actually will go. Same week, I attended CCI meeting in my school, where they asked us if we might be interested in going abroad to study. We listed our preferences of place, duration etc... Then, 2 months later, I attended CCI tests (speaking, writing, reading, listening). After that, all what was left was signing an agreement and paying money. Once we did that, I received an email with all the paper work. Geeez, I gotta say, that part was the worst! In the end, when all was done, after numerous hassles with members of my family (Hi dad!), I sent my completed application to CCI Greenheart, and waited. After approximately 2 months of waiting, they found me a matching family, in little city called Huxley, state Iowa. Let me set this straight right now, I couldn't have wished for better fam! But I didn't know that back then in Czech, I got basic information about the family (family members, religion, daily routine etc.), school and city. Time flies, so I suddenly had myself thinking about how I will miss my family, friends and basically every single thing in my life. I was pretty scared before I left. The day had come, I'm sitting in a car heading to Vaclav Havel airport in Prague. Wow, I'm not scared anymore. Just kidding, I'm terrified. But I did my best to not to show my fam how scared I was. But as soon as I stepped inside that airplane, my mind instantly switched from "Don't know what to expect and I'm scared" mode to "You are on your own now" mode. I flew from Prague to Amsterdam, where I transferred for the first time. Amsterdam airport is one of the biggest airports in Europe, and I had only 50 minutes to find my terminal, get my ticket, and hop on a plane. Fortunately, I managed to all that pretty fast. So there I was, sitting in a plane, course Atlanta! This flight lasted about 10 hours, but it was kinda comfortable and relaxing for me. When I said that Amsterdam airport is big, I did not know what I'm talking about. Atlanta airport is one of the biggest airports in the world. Wow, that place is huge, they have a subway to get to different terminals. Fortunately, I had 3.5 hours to transfer, so I got my luggage, used self check-in to get my ticket, went through immigration department, wrote my parents and called my host family that I'm currently in Atlanta waiting for my flight to Des Moines. That flight was 2.5 hours, so thats approximately 14 hours of flights, 5 hours on airports, 7 hours time difference. Yes, I was tired. I was limping through Des Moines airport, and there they were, smiling and waving at me, with their big "Welcome to the USA" sign! Alright, that is enough for today, next week I'll publish another article about my daily routine and first expressions. If you want to contact me or have other questions about my journey, hit me up on Facebook (Mara Lukas), Snapchat (maraluk), or email (marek.lukas03@gmail.com). See you next sunday!




Taaaaak, po 2 mesicich jsem se konecne dokopal k tomu udelat neco produktivniho a mozna take pomoct ostatnim studentum uvazujicim o exchange pobytech. Pokud je tohle tvuj pripad, tak to reknu rovnou, pokud mas moznosti a prostredky, nevahej a do toho! Jeste nez zacnu, velke diky patri me skvele bozi uzasne sestricce za zarizeni cele tehle stranky! Jo a prej pro ni mate hlasovat v Blogerce roku, nevim co to je a nerozumim tomu, ale je to ma fabulous sister takze hlasujte, link @ her bio (to taky nevim co znamena) @ instagram ('dominikalukasova'). Tak, nezbytne promo mam za sebou, takze k veci! Cela tahle cesta do zamori zacala na hodine nemciny (paradox ze?) kde nam nase profesorka ukazala letacek od CCI Greenheart, za coz ji patri velke diky. Sice me asi sezere zaziva az se vratim s nemcinou na urovni houpaciho kone, ale co! Vzdycky jsem tak nejak premyslel ze by bylo skvele odjet studovat nekam do ciziny, ale uprimne jsem nikdy opravdu neveril ze se skutecne seberu a odletim.  Jeste ten samy tyden jsem se zucastnil schuzky CCI u nas ve skole, kde jsme dostali obecne zakladni informace o vymennych pobytech, a na oplatku jsme vypsali nase preference co se tyce mista, casu a podobne. V tuhle chvili bylo jeste vsechno absolutne nezavazne. Po 2 mesicich jsem se zucastnil CCI testu (mluveni, psani, cteni a poslech). Potom zbyvalo jen podepsat smlouvu a zaplatit. Jakmile jsme tak ucinili, prisla mi horda papiru, ktere byly potreba vyplnit, obehat, zaridit a tak dal, urcite si to umite predstavit. To byla nejhorsi cast cele teto akce, verte mi. Po par mesicich a nespoctu hadkach s jistymi cleny me familie (Ahoj tati!) jsem konecne poslal vyplnenou application do CCI Greenheart. Dal mi nezbyvalo nic nez cekat az se pro me najde vhodna rodina. A tak se stalo po priblizne 2-3 mesicich, kdyz se mi u me aplikace rozsvitila ikonka o "Matching family". Reknu to rovnou, nemohl jsem ani doufat v lepsi rodinu! Ale to jsem v tu chvili nevedel, dostal jsem jen zakladni informace o clenech rodiny, o meste a skole. Muj novy domov je ted male mestecko jmenem Huxley, stat Iowa. Cas leti neuveritelnym tempem, najednou zacinam premyslet o tom jak mi bude chybet rodina a pratele a vlastne muj zivot se vsim vsudy v Cechach. Budu uprimny, tak posledni mesic pred odjezdem jsem byl vcelku vystraseny. Sedim v aute smer letiste Vaclava Havla, a muj strach graduje. Jsem ale sikovnej kluk a nic na sobe nedam znat, prece nechci aby se ma familie stresovala jeste vic! Jakmile nastupuju na letadlo, v hlave okamzite prepinam z "Nevim co cekat a mam strach" modu do "Ted je to jen na mne" modu, coz mi neskutecne pomaha. Muj let z Prahy do Amsterdamu trva jen hodinu a pul. Amsterdam je jedno z nejvetsich letist v Evrope, a ja mam jen 50 minut na prestup, nervozita je zase tady! Nastesti zvladam najit terminal, ziskat letenku a naskocit na letadlo vcas, takze wohoo, smer Atlanta, Georgia. Let trva asi 10 hodin, ale mame pohodli, jidlo, filmy a hudbu, takze nestradam a let pro me neni nic hrozneho. Kdyz jsem rikal, ze Amsterdam je velke letiste, nemel jsem tuseni jsem o cem mluvim. Letiste v Atlante je jedno z nejvetsich na svete. To misto je vazne obri, maji dokonce vlastni metro ktere vas dopravi na jednotlive terminaly! Na prestup mam 3.5 hodiny, easy, letenku si zaridim na self check-inu, prochazim pres kontroly a imigracni, a potom mi nezbyva nic nez cekat na muj let do Des Moines (hlavni mesto Iowy). Vidam prvni americky fastfood, a jak muzete hadat, hned si jdu pro double cheeseburger, abych si to cekani trochu zprijemnil zejo! Pisu sms sve rodince v Cechach a volam moji host family. Let do Des Moines trva cca 2.5 hodiny, to je priblizne 14 hodin letu, 5 hodin na letistich, 7 hodin casovy rozdil. Ano, jsem unaveny. Tamhle jsou, vidim svoji novou rodinu, usmivajici se a mavajici na me s transparentem "Welcome to the USA"!
To by pro dnesek stacilo, pristi vikend sem hodim dalsi clanek o prvnich dojmech, zkusenostech a moji denni rutine! Pokud me chcete kontaktovat nebo mate nejake dodatecne dotazy, dejte vedet: Facebook (Mara Lukas), Snapchat (maraluk), nebo marek.lukas03@gmail.com. 

Arriving to Amsterdam!
Prilet do Amsterdamu!

Finally Des Moines, with my new lovely fam!
Konecne Des Moines, s moji novou uzasnou rodinou!