Here, there, and everywhere.

I've been realizing today how insane this month is going to be. But then I came to the conclusion that it's only one month. It will be evil and hard and stressful, but after a while it'll be gone and I'll never have to see it again. Then it'll be December... and the first two weeks of that will be ridiculously full of finals... but that, too, will be over in a matter of days. And then I'll be finished with this nasty semester, and my family will be able to have a real Christmas. I'm ready to be warm and cozy and festive. It's been too long without it.

Ooh, we had our first mime performance on Halloween (Reformation Day, yes.). It was at one of the mime's church's Fall Festival, and we did 12 songs. Well, I only did 3... but it all went very well. It's odd how powerful those presentations are to people - everyone, not just the audience. I suppose it's something to do with how visual and physical it all is. It just effects people very strongly, which is precisely the reason I love it. Because otherwise we'd just be a bunch of weird kids making weird faces with our white paint and eyeliner.... but it's a lot more than that. And I'm very much looking forward to our next performance. :)

Ah! Now it's time for the most recent installment of Jana letters. She makes me so happy.

Hello Laura,
Do you like pizza? I love pizza. what you birhday? I 15.5. 2000. Herman is angrý! Do you like Karel IV, Czech king?

Hello Jana,
I LOVE pizza. American pizza is very different from Czech pizza, though... but both are very good. Have you ever had American pizza? My birthday is April 7. Our birthdays are only about a month apart :) Why is Herman angry? My cat is angry, but she is always a little angry.
I don't know much about Karel IV... will you tell me about him?
(Bip!)

Hello Laura,
sorry, my birthday is 15.4.; 15.5. was a mistake. Herman is always hungry, not angry :-)) It is funny.
Karel IV, he was separted from his mother when he was 3 years old and was imprisoned. At the age of 7 he was sent to France. He learned French, Latin and German. He could not speak English. At school, I will have a short prezentation on Karel IV. Do you like gifts? Karel IV died of pneumonia.
BYE BIP BYE BIP
(with a little help of my father)
Jana

Why can't everyone be as fantastic as this little Czech girl? While I was there, she was really into making thing with beads, and she made me a flower one day, and an angel another. The angel hangs from a wire on my bulletin board, so I see it every day. It was kind of funny; she gave it to me one night when we were driving back to Prague from Liberec (about two hours away) and along the way it kept getting lost somehow (slipping out of my hand when I fell asleep, etc.), but I (or somebody else) always ended up finding it again. When I woke up the next morning I still had it in my fist.

When I'm stressed about school or other things, I randomly remember things like that, and I just want to get on a plane and fly away again.