Trip to Okoř... Take Two

Maybe you remember this picture from last year. This is a ruin of a castle... So... got all that soaked in? Ok, good. If you remember a bit about this place, I said that every year, thousands upon thousands of people make the 8 mile trek (walking on railroad tracks and walking trails, sometimes quite muddy) starting in Kralupy and ending at the famous ruins. It's nothing more than a fun experience that usually starts in the wee hours (i dunno, about 7 or 8, whenever you want to) and ends whenever you want. It depends how slow you are or how many breaks you take, or how much you drink perhaps as well. This is another thing. This trip brings about quite an array of people. There's the trampers who are always lookin for a good hike and fun frolick through the woods, there's the families who have decided to bring their youngins out for what could quite possibly the longest day of their life, and then there's the youth of Kralupy (our pride of the future, if you will), who come bearing gifts of "happiness" and "joy" in liquid form. They all come with their backpacks filled with their blankets and beverages of all sorts (sometimes it's water, but not on occasion). But sometimes it makes for good conversations on my part. As long as their not disgustingly drunk, it makes for some good laughs. But... like I mentioned last year (though my experience wasn't as strong as last year's) it is a bit sad to see just everyone sitting around being rather drunk at 1pm.

For me, my day started around 7ish when i woke up and walked with Benji. I really didn't have anyone that i was planning on going to Okor with, but I heard some people were leaving from the train station, so I went there, and met some students that I went with last year, and started walking with them. We started quite a bit later than last year, so this year was a bit more pleasant and a bit more awake for me. We walked and talked and had a good time. We met up with some other people after about 2 or 3 miles and continued walking as a larger group. About halfway, we decided to take a break, cuz we were tired and it was an exceptionally nice day with the sun out and everything, so we stopped in some field and played frisbee and ate the snacks that we had prepared. We were relaxing for a bit and then we continued walking. I stopped to say hello to a few different students and then a few more and then I had lost my group, so I stayed with some of my Sophomore students. They weren't as daring as the other students. They were always wanting to take these longs breaks and I thought we'd never get there. But finally, at about 1pm, we finally got there. So... after 5 hours, I made it. That's roughly 1.5 mph that I had averaged. I'm pretty proud about that. So... anyways. We got there, and played frisbee, ate some sausage, and relaxed, talked and napped in the sun. I know maybe I copped out, but I wasn't really in the mood to make the walk back, and I wanted to get back to Benji (who I had decided not to take with me. Which I'm glad I didn't cuz there were about a million dogs there). So, I bummed a ride back with one of my friends who had come to pick up some other people and what had taken me 5 hours to get there only took me about 15 minutes back. It's a beautiful invention, the car, you know.

So, my day at Okor was another success and full of fun. I really like this time. But the day wasn't over yet. I got home about 330 and walked Benji and ate dinner and did some other things, but then we had a school function. Our annual MusicFest! Last year was in this strange hall in the train station, but this year it was at this restaurant that I quite like Lidovy Dum, and it was a lot cooler I thought. Student bands come and perform and different music classes sing some songs. It's strange really I think because the only teacher that is there is the music teacher and me (last year also Mike) and I guess our principal came after a few hours. But there's really no supervision at this school function (which I need to stress is always held at a bar or pub or somewhere) and so most of the students are again drinking and smoking, and it's almost gotten to the point where I don't notice it anymore, but it's just funny sometimes about the differences here and in America. But it was a fun evening, but I had to go home quite early cuz i was exhausted and I needed to get some sleep, which sounded like quite a nice idea to experiment with.

So that's it folks. Today is the First day of April! Wow, that's kinda crazy to think about, but I'll take it. The weather is great and I'm quite enjoying it. Hope you enjoy. Talk to you soon.