International Children's Festival of Folk Dances

After 8 months in Europe I finally saw some traditional folk dancing. It's something that I had wanted to experience especially in Central and Eastern Europe where rich cultural traditions have been rediscovered after the fall of communism. While out and about in Istanbul, a friend and I unexpectedly hit folk dancing gold. A free outdoor performance for the International Children's Festival of Folk Dances. BINGO!

Hungarian boys

Hungarian girls

We saw the most adorable kids from Turkey, Slovakia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Bosnia Herzegovina dressed in beautiful traditional clothing. They were kicking, jumping, twirling, and bouncing in ways I've never seen before. At one point a young Turkish boy ran up a human ramp made by the other boys and leaped down. Just like that, no big deal! So young and so talented! 

Bulgarian girls

Watching these kids made me want to go back to my childhood and be more culturally involved. I did ballet, gymnastics, piano lessons, and lots of other enriching activities. All of which were amazing but aren't connected with one culture. What tradition am I related to anyways? Italian-American? American? Texan? Perhaps my lack of traditional roots is why I am so interested in the cultures and traditions of others. 

Sparta Praha + Slavia Praha= FIRE!

I've been to one European football match before (flashback to my Olympique Lyonnais experience) but Czech football is in a league of its own. A friend scored us some tickets to one of the largest rival games in the Czech Republic- Sparta Praha vs Slavia Praha (3rd row for only 220 CZK- that's about $11)! We were in for quite an experience- surely one I will never forget.

Sparta Praha fans

Slavia Praha fans

This match wasn't actually about football, it was about fans. The fans were on fire... literally! First we saw flares then fire. My American and Northern Irish friends who were with me felt uncomfortable and prepared to evacuate. The fires seemed to be out of control! Hardly. According to our Czech friends it is completely normal. It is what the "Ultra" fans normally do to rile up the other team's "Ultra" fans. These hooligans are separated from other spectators by a high security metal railing fence with an anti-climb curved top. Conclusion: these guys challenge each other to the biggest fire in the stadium while at the same time being unable to escape quickly if something goes wrong. What does security do? They make an announcement "Please refrain from using pyrotechnics inside the stadium." So we drank our beers and ate our sausages while watching a football match illuminated by fire and engulfed in a stadium of smoke. Sparta Praha won 2-0. What a night!

Czechs Generalizing Czechs

The assignment for my class: Write some tips for a foreign visitor to your country.

 It was meant to be a lesson about ESL generalizations and social behavior but turned out to be more of a "what not to do" for me as the foreigner. I jotted down a few of the most interesting ones. Again these are straight from Czech students and I don't know if they are always applicable. Feel free to comment on their accuracy. 

• "It is not acceptable for women to pour alcohol at the dinner table." (Whoops!)
• "In general men shouldn't drink beer on a first date."
• "It's normal for young people not to tip at restaurants" (Hence the terrible customer service.)
• "You should never give two flowers as a gift unless it is for a funeral.
• "It is important put down a drink coaster before the waiter brings your beer." (Seriously, they will give you the stink eye if you forget.)
• "It is impolite to drink your beer before saying 'Na Zdraví'."
• "People expect you to give your seat up for children or old people on the bus" (I noticed this immediately.)

Of course there were other interesting tips but not necessarily appropriate to post on the internet-- especially because I don't know if they're true.

Photo of the Week: 'Tis the xmas market season

The season is in full throttle and I've never experienced anything quite like it. Christmas markets galore! All over central Europe the markets are hopping even after the sun goes down. Despite the Christian connotation of the Christmas holidays, the markets are just as prominent in the Czech Republic where there is a large atheist population. People swarm the outdoor stalls buying traditional holiday gifts or for something to warm their stomaches like hot chocolate, coffee, grog, or hot/mulled wine. Food is also easy and cheap to come by. The potatoes roasting next to grilled sausages and steaming pot of sauerkraut seem to sell themselves. Whatever your motive, the markets are well worth a stroll just to rub shoulders with locals or tourists alike and soak in the holiday season.

Happy Euroween!

Halloween in Europe is nothing to get excited about. There are no pumpkins, no candy corn, and no costumes. The lack of holiday spirit in Europe (especially the Czech Republic) inspired me to teach my Czech students about traditional American Halloween rituals, only to realize it's more of a "you have to be there" kind of holiday. My large arm motions and funny words earned me some crazy looks. Maybe I just looked like a childish American, but I refuse to hide my Halloween spirit. It was actually refreshing to teach my students about a new part of American culture that they didn't already learned about from movies and TV shows.

I'm all about carving pumpkins, bobbing for apples, costume parties, and haunted houses. If you recall last year I participated in the Columbia Zombie Walk. There were no zombies shuffling down the streets this Halloween, but I did visit the Joker (aka Ariana) and her s'more of a dog in Vienna, Austria. Jon and I attended a mostly American Halloween party which was invaded by a clan of Batman villains. The costumes at the party were incredibly resourceful and artistic. Along with the villains was Mr. T, a Care Bear, Mexican Dia de los Muertos skeletons, and many many more. Creativity is at its best when Walmart's convenient pre-packaged costumes are a continent away.

We celebrated Halloween with a appropriately named American drinking game called "Circle of Death". The "nine is a rhyme" card got a bit more complicated as English words were rhymed with German and the other languages represented in the circle of doomed poetry.

This Halloween I did not dunk my head into a bucket of water in search of a juicy apple. I did not pay a ridiculous amount of money or stand in a long queue to scream my head off as a man chases after me with a chainsaw. But I did get to look at All Hallow's Eve from another angle this year. I have realized that it is a rather absurd Americanized holiday but it is something that I love to participate in because it is a fun excuse to wear a crazy costume and play childish games with friends.

Dealing with the Swine

artwork by Genevieve Conti

It's almost cliché to write about, but the Swine flu is making its mark around the world. It's amusing to see what different institution are doing in order to prevent, or manage the swine flu for large populations:

At my University in Missouri, we have had over 100 hand sanitizer dispensers installed all over campus. Teachers who have a zero absence tolerance are required to insist that sick students do not attend class. As usual, we don't want to end up like the University of Kansas, who has half the student population ill with the swine flu.

Following the pandemic over to France, some schools are canceled and some students wear masks. But the most surprising of all is that schools are banning the traditional greeting of bisous, or kisses to both cheeks, in order to prevent sickness.

A typical saying in France, "Désolé, je suis malade" or "Sorry, I'm sick", is used to pardon oneself from kissing someone that you do not want to get physically close to. Now the saying will have to be "Désolé, vous pourriez être malade" or "Sorry, you might be sick".

Some are concerned that this ban could cause the death of bisous in France. By asking the younger generations to greet others from a distance, they might continue to do so as a trend.

Other places, like Germany and Spain are also asking people to greet others from afar and posting flyers to spread the word.

What are you doing to avoid the virus?

The Longest Way

My professor sent this video out to my blogging class. It's essentially a vlog (video log) of a man who walked from China to Germany and documented his mood, location, milage, and facial hair growth along the way. Watch it- I think it's worth a few minutes of your time.

EuroKulture Blogging Class

This semester I am taking a EuroKulture blogging class, a class related to the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Romance Language Department.

The purpose of it is to explore European culture via blogs in different languages and to comment on the European popular culture we discover complements of the world wide web. We're diving fast into the world of "weblogs" and soon we will have our website up for class blog posts. I will also submit my posts onto my personal blog. You can check it out the class blog at eurokulture.missouri.edu. Within the next week we will submit our first posts.