THE LONG JOURNEY and the following days...

Okay my dear friends here is your friendly update. I suppose I should start from the beginning since my trip was not nearly as flawless as one would hope, but in truth I'm actually glad it wasn't or I would have missed out on a lot I experienced.

So, I arrived at pdx at 6:50 a.m. as my flight was to take off at 8:50. As we were supposed to be boarding the flight they let us know that there was a broken cable on the plane and that therefore it would be delayed until further notice. They did not have the needed part there to fix it, and so they would have to wait for it to arrive and then fix it. Since, I was not only going to Mineapoils but was flying international I had to wait in line so they could re-route me. So i waited in line, and they re-routed me, and my flight was to then take off at 12:10. As soon as I emerged from the ticket counter, this lady with this slight southern drawl approached me, told me she had talked to my mom while she was waiting to go through security and knew my story, and so she led me upstairs to the Club room, which is this v.i.p. room upstairs for first class members of northwest airlines. Anyways I sat and visted with her, her name was Jackie, as well as her husband Fred. They were from Tenessee and were in Portland visting their grandaughter who had recently moved there. So we visited and I told them all the places they needed to visit in Portland, Northwest 23rd, Pittock Mansion and so forth. It was weird telling them the in's and out's of a place I was getting ready to leave. I felt like an expert, and I guess in a sense I sort of am.

Anyways so I boarded the the flight at 12:10 p.m. and arrived in Mineapoplis at about four something. I went to the board to find my gate, went to my gate, collected my boarding pass from the very nice man, and went to go find food. So I found myself at Subway, and I ate, and then I went and found myself some coffee, because hello it's me we are talking about. So after all of that it was time to board the plane and I waited in line, boarded the plane and got comfortable. I had the window seat and as soon as I could sit down, this girl with this pinkish colored hair sat next to me. So we sat there for awhile not talking, but curiousity got the best of me and I wanted to know her story so I broke the ice. " Is Amsterdam your final destination?" I asked, and from there, there didn't seem to be a point where conversation ceased to exist.

So we are sitting on the flight to Amsterdam, having yet to take off, when the pilot comes over the intercom and informs us that there is an issue with the plane and that they are going to try and fix it as soon as possible. So we sit there. and we sit there. and we sit there. Meanwhile the girl next to me, whose name is Shannon, and I are getting to know eachother quite well. It turns out that no Amsterdam was not her final destination and that she was going to India on a missiont to teach women there how to read and write. The pink hair turned out to be an accident, her hair had been blonde the day before, and she tried to color it brown, and pink is what came out. She also turned out to be 22, although she looked about 15. Oh, and it was funny because after we talked for quite sometime, and I told her I was 16, she couldn't believe it. And she admitted to being afraid to talk to me, and had thought that I was like 20 or possibly older than her, and that she would have to be all quiet during the flight. We really laughed at that one. She also is married and has been since she was 19, and claims that being married is the best thing, that she had always been wary of it, but that it was so much better than she could have imagined. We talked all about the married life, and how her and husband met. Anyways while we were getting to know eachother 3 hours had passed, and we still hadn't left the ground. So they had us all get off that plane, and go get on another one.

We had the same seats ofcourse and so Shannon and I continued to have really good conversation, and then eventually we both drifted off to sleep. So then we arrived in Amsterdam late, naturally, since we'd left about 4 hours late, and I missed my connecting flight to Prague. This was at about 1p.m. and once I went and stood in line to get another flight there wasn't one available until 7:25 and so I had all that time to wander around the Amsterdam airport, which really wasn't so bad. Although I do believe that I may die of second hand smoke this year, they smoke everywhere. Anyways so I went and ate, and then I wandered around and kept sitting in different locations watching people, and let me just tell you, European men...well they just happen to be so much more attractive than boys at home, and they have this certain demeanor about them which just makes them that much more attractive. So i watched a lot of them, but sadly none of them were looking at me ( trust me, no one was looking at me, you should have seen me by this point, I looked like I'd been ran over several times).

So i take my flight to Prague, and I get there and go to baggage claim. Now you have to understand that I was rather worried about finding my luggage as my luggage had to be re-routed twice and so you can understand how it would have been quite easy for it to not get where it needed to be. So i stood at the baggage rounder, sliding my ring up and down my finger ( a nervous habit of mine, if you didn't know) and I waited and waited. and finally I spotted one of my bags, so I grabbed it and hauled it off. So then I waited. and waited. and after awhile there were no more people, and no more bags, and I was still one bag short. So I gathered up the bags that I did have and went to the baggage counter, but as I approched there was this big pile of all these bags, and I spotted one and swore it was mine. So instead of standing in line I marched right over to that bag, and looked at the tag, and sure enough it was mine. So i took my baggage claim tags out, showed them to the lady and was finally on my way.

As I walked out of the baggage claim area there were four friendly faces holding a sign that read my name. Martina- my host sister. Lanka- My host mothers cousin. Paul- Lanka's boyfriend. and Martina's grandfather.

I arrived at my house, which is quaint and has more character than any house at home, and is, in my opinion way better than the Holiday house. The staircase is wooden and spins around, a lot like in Princess movies you watch when you are younger. My bedroom is cozy, and is the largest one in the house, which makes me feel rather bad, because my intention was never to put anyone "out" in coming here. So by the time we got home that night it was midnight, and I showered and went to bed.

The next morning- my first day in the Czech, I did not awake unitl 1p.m. talk about jet lag. Anways, I got up and got ready, and then Lanka and I sat out on a walk to see the town. The town is not too large, it only consists of 100,000 people. So we walked to the towns main square, which was quite a walk, but it's flat land so really it's not a big deal. We sat in a cafe in the square and I had some coffee that I'll never be able to remember the name of, but it was good and had whip cream on top, and was in this glass cup that was clear and had a handle on the side.

After that we walked past my school, which is four stories, and went to catch the tram. My first tram ride in the Czech. Lanka explained the system, how to pay, and which stop is the one by my house. It costs 12 crowns for a ticket for twenty minutes which is more than plenty of time to get home, which is about 50 cents.

We went back to the house where we visted and had coffee, and I sat and played with Eva ( pronounced Eh va) who is two, and awfully cute, and I think I gained her approval after pushing her around in this basket that she is enthralled with.

Martina had been gone most of the day spending time with her boyfriend, but then she came home and brought him, his name is Oteek ( OH teeeek) and he is rather interesting looking, but he seems fairly nice. The trip however, which I didn't learn until later that night is that he is 22. I REPEAT 22, Martina is only 14. Yeah, I think I about fell over when she told me his age. She claims though that her mother loves him. Anyways I knew Martina and I would be good friends after that, because we both have a thing for older men, haha.

Anyways, after awhile I went upstairs, and I stared at my suitcases and decided that now was as good a time as ever to unpack. and so i did. Everything I own at this time is either hanging in my closet or in my cupboard thingys in my wardrobe. It makes staying her a bit more real.

Then Martina came upstairs and told me we were leaving for the concert in five minutes. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, we were going to a concert, in a pub. I was rather excited. So I slipped on a pair of jeans and my flats and was on my way. The pub we went to was called Mr.Brown's Pub and they had a sign painted on the wall that said " Black People" and made me laugh really hard. Martina's friend met us outside, and as we were about to walk in informed me that I didn't need to pay to get it, just to smile at the guy as I walked in, and he'd let me in. So I did, and he did, and he created a flower in sharpie on my arm to show I'd already paid, which still at the moment is on my arm, I didn't scrub as hard as I could have, I sort of want it to stay there. Anyways, the concert had already started before we had got there so the music could be heard as we were walking in. The atmosphere was all smokey as they can smoke in the pubs and smelled of cigarettes and weed. I kept meeting and being introduced to people. This one girl I met, Linda, well I believe I should only hang out with her if I want to find myself in trouble. She is a crazy one, and took quite the interest in me because she wants to improve her english. Anyways, she taught me cuss words in czech, and kept finding me throughout the night to talk to me. We stood and danced to the band for quite awhile, and then Lanka and I went and sat down and were talking to people. There were attractive boys all around, but it's sort of hard to talk to any of them when you can't speak the language. haha, that may be my motivation to learn faster. I however, am not doing too bad. I have quite a few of the basics down.

Anyways my friends, my first pub experience was amazing to say the least, and I really feel bad for us American kids, that we miss out on this until we are 21, because it is an awful lot of fun. Oh and europeans are all over eachother, so really don't complain about pda at home, you have no idea what pda is...really....haha.

Today I got up and got ready and Lanka and I took Eva for a walk, across the street there is a river and a path so we went walking there, apparently you can bike on that same path and get to that castle that is the background on my myspace...the land is flat here so I can't imagine it's to bad of a ride. Eva got tired of riding in the stroller and wanted me to carry her, so I did, I'm glad she likes me.

Oh I forgot, Martina and I went outside the pub together to get some fresh air, because it gets rather hot in that enviornment and we had good conversation, I really like her, her english isn't so good and so it is hard for us to communicate, but we both try and so it ends up working fairly well.

School starts tomorrow, although I will not be going. My host parents do not get home until the morning and I have to go into Prague and register at the police station, so maybe I will go to school tuesday, I'm not quite sure.

I really like it here, my house, my town, my city, my host sisters, I only hope my host parents take to me as well as the rest of their family. I really think I'm going to do well in this family, and I can't wait to find out how the rest of my time is going to unravel. The weird thing is that yes I'm still me, but I feel different, I don't know how quite to explain it, like I'm out of my normal element, and generally I don't dance, or at least don't feel comfortable doing so, but last night I was fine, I was having fun, and I wasn't worried about people around me because they were all doing the same thing. It just didn't feel as high pressure as it seems to me in the states, and I just like that is all, it just allows me to feel more confident in my own skin.

Okay, I think I've kept you updated. Hope all is well at home, or in whatever country you may be reading from. Live life, because as someone great once told me Life is short so you've got live fast. Don't worry about the past or the future, because all that matters is the moment in which you are living--right now.

So get out there and live, you only get one shot at this life thing
don't let it pass you by.