Katunka’s Updates
These are in reverse
chronological order, so start with the last update first.
Update 3-17-05
Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t written… in a long time… hee hee… so here starts the journey to Slovakia:
It all
started on Feb. 3rd which was a Wednesday. I was watching The Prince
and Me and eating some kind of nacho chips. The next morning I wasn’t feeling
well, but my mum made me go to school anyway. Right when I got to school I
called my mom to tell her that I wasn’t feeling well and that the bus ride
almost killed me. She said she would try to get to school as fast as possible.
I went through German class and then at the beginning of Geography this lady (I
forgot her name) came to tell me that my mom is waiting downstairs. If any of
you don’t know, my school is three stories high. I rested the whole day on
Friday because I was going to go to
We left at
about 3 on Friday afternoon and got to Zlin. Zlin is where Bruce is teaching.
Saturday we rested because my mom felt a little sick and I was still recovering
from the flu/throwing up on Thursday and Friday. Sunday we left for
On Monday
we played Foosball and ping pong mostly all day and then I went swimming while
Eric and Rachel studied. Tuesday was an OK day but sadly we met Aaron. Aaron is
a 23 year old guy who is going to school in
The hotel
was really nice. Three stars but to me it was four and a half. J
The next day, which was Thursday, we went skiing. It was nice and clear. Not a
cloud in the sky. Later that day we went to the spa place in our hotel. It had
eight saunas!!! I loved it there. Friday was a little foggy but other than that
it was good. Michaela continued her ski lessons for the second day. On Saturday
it was really foggy so we skied for only two hours. But we still had fun. And
then we went to the Spa place again. Sunday we packed our bags and left for
I’ll add about my birthday which was on March 7th. I had a bowling party like I had in 5th grade. I have to say this one was more fun because I had my cousins with me and a really great group of friends with me too. I got lots of nice presents. Oh, and did I mention that I had a lot of fun? My party was on Saturday (March 5th).
The following Wednesday we had a dance at my school. My best friend Eliska couldn’t come because she was sick. Everyone is sick these days. At the beginning we had problems with the loudspeakers, but then they started working again. We didn’t have a professional DJ like at the dances at Ladera but a student was our DJ. I liked that because at Ladera the DJ kept throwing out things and no one really focused on dancing. Here you just dance. And that’s what I call a real dance, when everyone dances, except the teachers. Hee hee. On Saturday (March 12th) I had a family party, with some of my mom’s friends and their kids. I had a lot of fun.
I thought that when I would be in Czech that I would have more time to write but even though I don’t do after-school activities I’m really busy. Well, got to go. Here is my email again: katunka@juno.com and here is my screen name: katunka11.
Update 2-1-05
Sorry I haven’t written in a long time. Here is what happened in January:
I started school and made many friends right away. In Czech the schedule for your school is different. What I mean is that instead of having the same classes every day each day is different.
Here is my schedule:
Monday - P.E., Performing Arts, Drama, History and then I.C.T. (computers)
Tuesday - Math, Art, Science, English
Wednesday - I.C.T., English, Geography, German
Thursday - German, Geography, English, Science, Math, P.E.
Friday - History, P.S.E., Math, Tutor Time, Science
Here are things about each subject:
P.E. - We are playing floor hockey. We play in a gym that has no heating because the heating doesn’t work for some reason. You can imagine how cold it gets when outside its 0 C. For this subject my teacher is OK.
Performing Arts - We are learning about movies by Charlie Chaplin, the movie Metropolis and now on to It’s a Wonderful Life. I don’t like the teacher at all. Ms. Miller
Drama - A boy in our class, David, wrote a play and in a couple of weeks we will perform it for the school. My teacher is the same one for P.E., Drama, and English.
History - We’re studying the French Revolution. I like history because we get to learn about something that in America I wouldn’t get to learn about. My teacher Ms. Cannon is super nice.
I.C.T. - Which is computers, and is not my most favorite class, but I like to talk with my friend. Right now we are finishing our PowerPoint presentations on Space. The teacher doesn’t really talk to us but he is OK.
Math - The teacher doesn’t really explain how to do the problems so you have to focus and ask lots of questions. Other then that it is OK. Mr. Hitchen
Art - Right now we are finishing our project. We had to draw ourselves lying in a pile of leaves, then how we woke up and what was in the woods, then we had to draw a picture of the inside of a bee hive. After that we had to draw our reaction, then what it felt like to be stung and then us running away from the bees. The teacher is Czech so it’s fun to goof around with him. We can also bring CD’s to listen to.
Science - We are doing experiments with magnets. The teacher is the same as for Math.
English - We are finishing up the play Henry V by Shakespeare. It is so boring. By the way, we aren’t performing the play we are just reading it. Never take Shakespeare, it’s too complicated.
Geography - We are learning about population and migration. I have Ms. Cannon again.
German - We are learning transportation. You can also take French.
P.S.E. - My friend and I are going to give a presentation about a charity from Czech. I have Ms. Cannon again.
Tutor Time - We either have an assembly or the teacher checks our Contact Book. The Contact Book is like an agenda but with a section for parents to write notes to teachers, and reasons why you were absent.
Hopefully that gave you an idea of what school is like. Oh, I forgot to say that I’m in Year 8 which means I’m in 7th grade. Our grade has only one class, same with all the other grades. Now on to my friends. My friends: Eliska, Anna, David, Peter, Karen, Milan, Josefina, Kate, Farzona (also goes by the name Fart), Klara, Neo, Kavita, Stephe, Julia, Remy and many more.
One weekend I went to my cottage in south Czech with my aunt, dad, and cousin. My dad’s car’s oil tank spilled and we had to wait at a gas station for one and a half hours! The next day, which was a Saturday, we went skiing to Germany and the ski lift on the two small hills is an upside down T. My cousin and I were going up and I fell off. To let you get the picture you lean on the upside down T and it pulls you up with your feet still touching the ground. Well my cousin fell on top of me and then quickly got up and started going back down to get on another. Well, I was left behind with my skies attached to the seat of the lift. The man stopped the machine and I quickly went down. At the end we went down the last hill and my aunt fell. She couldn’t get back up. It was so funny watching her try to get back up. The next day we went to a tower which is on a very long hill. We took our sleds and went down the hill. My cousin and I were going very slow and on the side of the road there were a couple of trees and then a hill. We were going so slowly and I didn’t feel like stopping so I let the sled hit the tree. Then we went to a very little ski place with two small hills. Since no one was there we went sliding down this very steep ski slope. We had lots of fun.
The next weekend my uncle also went with us. On Saturday it was -10 C outside!!! We went skiing to Germany and my dad said that my step-uncle will be at the same place with his girlfriend. We met them and wanted to go skiing but my aunt, cousin and I were so cold we went to go get a cup of hot tea. We drank our tea and went looking for my dad, two uncles and Sarka (the girlfriend of my step-uncle).We thought that they were still skiing down the 2 km hill and that we had missed them. Then all of a sudden the big chair lift stopped. We were at the top waiting when they announced something in German. The motor from the chair lift was too old and broke down. It was -10 C outside and we were waiting for them for 2 hours (my cousin and I went skiing down the little hill a couple of times) when finally we saw my dad, step-uncle, and Sarka. My dad said that they started climbing up the 2 km long hill, when my step-uncle called up to them from the bottom that a bus had come. My dad told my uncle to try to get on the bus and tell us (my aunt, cousin and me) that everyone was OK. They missed the bus but another one came so my uncle got on. He didn’t make it in time to tell us because the bus went all around the ski area and it took too long. Finally they got the motor to work and to get most of the people up. My dad told me that all the kids were crying because they were so cold.
Well I hope you liked the info. Hope school/work is going good for everyone. If you have AIM check it in the morning during the weekends because I might be on. -- Love Katerina
Update 1-2-05
Our apartment is very cool. I got an e-mail from Aunt Barb and she sent a picture of Liliy with Santa, it is very cute. Before Christmas I touched a tarantula and was 2 inches away from a scorpion. My mom's friend is coming over today with her husband and twin daughters who are 10. Tomorrow I'm going to school. My mom, Bruce and Michaela will go with me and talk with the principal I met last summer. I wonder what the classrooms look like. My mom went to look at the school and said it's about 4 stories tall, is at a dead end with woods around. When I think about it I picture the house from Madeline. For New Years I was at my dad's and Romanka (my cousin) stayed over night. Veronica and her mom were with us until 1 am. We (Romanka, Veronica, her mom, and I) went to Veronica's friend’s house (apartment) while Kristynka was falling asleep. Her friends are twins. The boys screamed while we played with their new race car tracks. Poor neighbors. Then we danced and went home. It was about 10 when we got back home and we watched TV and at 11:59 we went out on the balcony and watched some people fire their fireworks. Then we went to meet my dad's friend (the one with the spiders) outside and set off our own fireworks. After that we went up to my dad's friend's apartment and I got to hold the tarantula. We started to play a game when it was time to go.
Now let me tell you about the visit to my cottage which was after Christmas. We went for four days. On the first day we got there about 4 or 5 PM and Veronica, her mom and dad, and my grandma came about 5 or 6. My grandpa was already there. There was a little bit of snow on the sides of the street and over the grass. On the second day we went for a walk in the woods, and then we were going to see one of our friends who owns a restaurant but they were closed so we went to look and see if my great-uncles motor home was OK because they were in Prague for the holidays and winter because it would be to cold for him and his wife. Later that day we went swimming to the local inside pool. The next day Veronica and her parents went skiing while everyone else stayed at the cottage (Me, my dad, my step mom, grandma, grandpa and Kristynka) I couldn't go skiing because my skis were in the huge box that came the next day to Prague. All we did was relax around the house and after they came we went swimming again and this time everyone went - even Kristynka. It was Kristynka's first time in a pool and when we were changing in the girls’ locker room she started crying because when she goes to the doctor she has to be naked. She thought she was going to the doctor so she screamed for about a good half hour and then we put here into the little (which was empty, probably because of her screaming) pool and she loved the water. The next day we went to the look out tower in the woods. It was cold so we got hot tea from a little shop. Then we ate lunch and started to pack to go home.
Sorry I'm writing backwards in time of events. On Christmas Eve Romanka and her family came. Later that day around 4 we started to eat dinner and then we waited for Jesus to come and drop the presents under the tree. At 6 my dad came for me and I ate one more dinner at his place with Michaela (my step mom) and it was Kristynka's first Christmas. After we opened presents and then Veronica and her parents with my grandma came and we talked and I showed everyone my presents.
