1.15.09 (Adam)

Sorry, this blog entry is a little overdue. We have been going non-stop, and I finally have some time to sit down and write about January 15. The day started out in our standard way; we split up into groups, and went to teach English in local schools. Our group ended up heading across the street at 7:45 to begin teaching. Our lessons have pretty much stayed the same, so we have become professionals at U.S. geography and singing the itsy-bitsy spider. After teaching four classes made the trek back across the street to get some lunch and rest for part of the afternoon.
The rest of our afternoon was great. We split up into two groups and visited two different children’s homes. These are essentially orphanages run by the state in which parents can put their children if they are becoming too much of a burden(Their parents can also take them home at any time.) We learned that the Czech Republic government gives parents money when they have children; some parents exploit this system and have kids only to get the money – then send them to the children’s home.
When our group first arrived, Ben, Aaron, Joanie, and I went around every floor trying to get kids to come hang out with us. Most of the kids were already in the gym, but we found 3 small siblings playing house. We were kindly offered some pretend tea and pretend cookies – which were delicious. The woman who was supervising them began to tell us about their story. She mentioned that their parents came to get them for Christmas, but ended up taking them back early because they were too much to handle. It really broke my heart that children this small had to deal with something this big.
After that, we went back downstairs to the cafeteria where the rest of our group – and the kids- were waiting. We started out playing cards and games with the kids. We had fun just interacting with the kids and watching them play. After a couple hours of games we tried to get them to line dance with us, and some of them did. The rest of the kids just watched us and laughed. Then, some of the older kids showed us their hip-hop dance (which, I must admit, was a lot better than our line dance.) Then they tried to teach it to us. We learned part of it, but let’s be honest – people from the Midwest can’t hip-hop dance.
When we were done embarrassing ourselves, we started talking with some of the hip-hop dancers. That surprised me because they were always acting like they were too cool for school, or at least too cool to talk to us. After talking with them for a while, one of them brought Ben and I out in the hallway and showed us his beat-boxing skills. This was some of the most impressive beat boxing I have ever heard, and he was only about 16. We got some on video, so hopefully you will be able to see it. I really wish I could remember his name, but he was too cool for a nametag and sometimes I’m too cool to remember names. This was a great end to our trip to the Children’s home. It was great to be able to just spend time with these kids and show them love- something they don’t get to see very often.

Adam