One week to my big day

Long time no see, respectively long time no write. Let's catch up a little bit...

Phew, it has been already 5 years down under, can't believe it how time flies...

I have been enjoying life without uni duties for more than 1 year and still don't have enough of it...
So far there hasn't been any whim to enroll anywhere...

Because right now I have a big significant issue to deal with...

In September 2019 we went back to Czech rep for a short visit
so we also took advantage of more patient's friendly medical system,
mainly from the financial perspective. 

Ironically enough, on my mum's birthday the doctors found a tumor in my belly coming from my left ovary. 

This came as a huge surprise as I haven't suffered with any problems, no pain, no indicators. 

As this was found only 3 days prior my departure I decided to take the risk
and deal with this condition back down under. 

During the following 3 months I have undergone several tests including ultrasound or magnetic resonance
to doctors still not be able to 100% diagnose what the large mass in my belly is. 
Looks benign but they will be sure once they open me and check :D

Unfortunately what they could tell is that the tumor has oppressed my left kidney in such a way
that it completely lost its function and needs to be taken out together with the tumor. 

By the time I have already absorbed the overwhelming information
and just waiting for my big day to have it done. 

Even though I thought that I did all the prevention check ups,
I underestimated the aussie way of the gynecologic one.
Here you only go to your GP and ask for a pap smear test for checking the cervix cancer.
Unfortunately no palpable test and ultrasound is done here as it is in the Czech republic.
Now I know that patient in Ozz needs to be proactive and asks for all the test and examination
she wants to have done.  Especially, if you have this diagnosis in your family...Lesson learnt.

I reckon that images coming out of MRI are pretty cool, aren't they?

From a track to the saddle

Hey sis, I hope you still practise jogging. Tereza told me when I unpacked xmas present from her -  jogging suit. Well, no I don't. I had to answer frankly....But I can wear this to my riding anyway, so don't worry.
If I want to remember when was the last time I went out for jogging, I would have to check runkeeper.
And I ask to myself: How is possible that this kind of sport which I loved so much I have been neglecting so much.
It's not so straight to answer this. Every time I see people jogging, gracefully jumping in their pace, I wish I would be them. Or when I see some announcement of half marathon or other similar race I think that this time I'd force myself and start again to be ready for it.
I will use a nice oxymoron right now and yet that I am too lazy and everytime I am about to do some sport, I simply pick my bicycle.
I think that I am able to excercise more in the same time span and it is easier and convenient to get back home on the saddle rather than run. In other words, If I want to spend 1 hour of jogging, it will take me at least 1,5 hour to get to the park and back.
Yeah, I could ride my bike to the park and then run one circle.... I did this once and I think that my legs are completely use to different movements, I felt horrible ponderously.
Well, one day maybe, I will find that enthusiasm I used to have before.

                                                       My just serviced red dragon

Outback trip

Finally! The trip I have been looking forward to it for so long. 4 days outback trip by train and coach. Even before it started a few things had happend, good and bad, changes, surprises so I have decided to write a feed about it to captrure it better than just with pictures. I started to organise whole trip 1 month in advance, made a great itinery,

Sydney - Broken Hill by train and coach
Stay 2 days in Broken hill and enjoy the outback
Broken Hill - Adelaide by coach
Adelaide - Sydney - plane

Because, if there is something what we hate with Tomas, is backtracking!

Unfortunatelly, 2 weeks before our departure a lady from coach company, which runs coaches from Broken Hill to Adelide, called me to inform me, that all journeys were cancelled on Easter week. Well, this really hasn't made my day, so whats now?

We could fly from Broken Hill to Adelaide, the airticket cost like return ticket to the Czech rep. though, therefore we hadn't had any other option but backtracking.

On wednesday night I got back from work (our departure was scheduled on Thursday early morning) to find out, that Tomas forgot to make schnitzels for our trip! Dont worry, the schnitzels were frozen prefabrications, I couldn't ask for tenderizing, making triple layer and frying from Tomas, I am not so cruel. But he completely forgot as he thought that I will make them on wednesday morning, eventually I had some shift swap so I couldnt. The point is, this kind of assumption is going to be critical for us later. So we just made fun from this that all trip is ruined because we forget to make schnitzels.

Another kick came on Thursday arvo, when we arrived to Dubbo and we should change the train for coach. I jumped to coles to buy some necessities and because we still have some time we grabbed a beer. With some spare time we finished our beer and headed to bus terminal, where we saw nothing was happening. In a shock I checked the ticket and saw the departure time was 1:15, not 1:45 as I was wrongly thinking. I just fixed in my mind that we have an hour in Dubbo. Tom has seen the ticket the same day, but he just accepted my false assumption. After checking the schedule, we found out that the next coach is leaving tomorrow. I went to information and I was lucky, there were still some free seats in tommorow coach, anyway we have to spend night in Dubbo.

The following day we have enough spare time so we were heading to botanical garden where we saw how lucky we were as from 365 days there were only 3 the garden is closed. Of course, we picked the bad one :D

We didnt miss our coach that day, the lady from info centre told us: "You two, you stay here and dont go anywhere! :D " when we arrived 20 minutes earlier.

I was looking forward to observing the change of landscape from countryside to outback, but what I saw from the window was more savanna than Sahara. Then the dark fell and I saw pitch black. But what I found cool was the massive bumper in the front of the coach. The kangaroos were jumping quite frequently accross the road indeed.

The following day we went to Broken Hill Miners' memorial in the morning and for the afternoon I planned a walk to Living desert sculptures.(walk for me, for Tomas Todesmarsch). According to google only 7 km and 2 hours walking, easy. And the thing was, that sculptures are the prettiest during the sunset, so we hit the road at 3 pm. When we got like 2 km from the city, a coach was passing by, it stopped after a few meters and the driver asked us whether we want to go to see the sculptures. If so, we can hop in. From the distance we looked like two emus as he said and when the driver asked the others if they should give us a lift, they agreed. By that time we didnt realize how lucky we were, but eventually 7 Km according to google were 14 Km in reality, so I dont want to imagine the possible scenario. All the people were very nice to us, it was a group of pensioners from Adelaide. And we were for them typical silly people from city, who really underestimated the whole situation. Tomas has experienced the feeling, which people from Prague have when they are somewhere else and have to face the typical reaction (well, from Prague, what do you expect? :D) Here it was transfered to Australian conditions. Fortunatelly, they gave us a lift on the way back, so were safe and sound back in the hostel early. We really took the lesson from it, such as at least we should inform somebody from the hostel where we are going and always ask locals and never trust google! :D 

Outback trip

Konecne prisel vylet, na ktery jsem se tak dlouho tesila! 4 denni vylet vlakem a busem do pouste v New South Walesu. Uz pred jeho zacatkem se stalo par veci, mile i nemile zmeny a prekvapeni provazely cely vylet, tak jsem se rozhodla, ze to zvecnim i zapiskem do bloggu nez jen fotkami.
Cely vylet jsem zacala organizovat asi mesic predem, vymyslela nejlip proveditelny itinerar  nasledovne:
Sydney - Broken Hill vlakem/busem
Pobyt dva dny v Broken Hillu a uzit si outback a poust
Broken Hill - Adelaide busem
Adelaide - Sydney letadlem

Protoze jestli neco nemame s Tomaskem radi, tak je to "backtrackovani" neboli jet stejnou cestou tam i zpatky.

Bohuzel asi 14 dni pred zacatkem mi volala slecna z autobusove spolecnosti, ktera provozovala spojeni mezi Broken Hill a Adelaide, ze kvuli Velikonocum vsechny spoje rusi....No, opravdu me tato zprava nepotesila, protoze uz jsme meli koupenou letenku do Sydney z Adelaide na nedeli 16.4., tak co ted s tim?

Letet z Broken Hill do Adelaide slo, ale jelikoz je jedna o malou leteckou spolecnost (Rex), tak cena jedne letenky se rovnala skoro zpatnecni letence do Cech, takze to jsme rezolutne odmitly a bohuzel nam nezbylo nic jineho nez backtrackovat.

Ve stredu vecer jsem prisla z vecerni sichty(odjezd ve ct brzy rano), kde jsem ocekavala ze budou hotove (nebo aspon v procesu) rizky, ktere mel Tomik pripravit na nasi dlouhou cestu. Nebojte, rizky byly zmrazene prefabrikaty, opravdu jsem po Tomovi nemohla chtit naklepani, obaleni a usmazeni, takhle kruta nejsem! Ale on na to uplne zapomnel! Zafixoval si totiz, ze rizky udelam ve stredu rano ja, ale nakonec jsem musela prehodit nejaky sichty.....Tohleto zafixovani si se nam i pozdeji nevyplatilo. Nakonec jsme si z toho udelali srandu, ze je cely vylet zkazeny protoze se zapomnelo na rizky...

Dalsi kopanec prisel ve ct odpoledne, kdy jsme dorazili do Dubbo a meli jsme prestoupit z vlaku na coach. Nevim, proc jsme nemohli jet vlakem az do Broken Hill, protoze koleje tam vedou, mozna je nekde opravovali. No, v Dubbo jsem si skocila koupit par nezbytnosti do obchodu a protoze jsme meli cas, tak jsme si dali jedno pivko. Zodpovedne jsme se s predstihem zvedli a zamirili na nadrazi, kde jsme videli nebo spis nevideli nic. V soku kontroluju listek a hle! odjezd nebyl v 1:45 ale v 1:15. To jsem si zase pro zmenu zafixovala ja, ze mame v Dubbo hodinku na prestup. Tom mel listek ten samy den v ruce, ale proste prijal moji mylnou domnenku za svou. Kontrolujeme jizdni rad a zjistujeme, ze dalsi spoj jede az zitra...Jdu na informace a nastesi je v zitrejsim spoji misto, takze za maly poplatek prebukovavame listek. Nedobrovolne tedy travime noc v Dubbo. Nejdriv jsem myslela, ze v ramci usetreni prespime venku, ale teploty v noci padaji az k 10st a nemeli jsme s sebou spacaky, takze bookujeme motel na jednu noc.

Druhy den nam bus jede ve stejny den, takze mame dopoledne dost casu. Vypravili jsme se do botanicke zahrady, kde zjistujeme, jaky mame stesti, ze se strefime z 365 do 3 dnu, kdy je zahrada zavrena :D                                  

Tak jsme dosli jen na fotbalove hriste kde jsme se vyvalili na slunicku. Ono to totiz nebylo uplne kousek z motelu do zahrady, takze jsme  byli celkem unaveni. Po dostatecnem odpocinku razime na obed, kde si davame tradicni australsky velikonocni obed a sice, morske plody.  Ja si dala kalamary, takze me uprava smazenim neprekvapila, ale Tomik si dal squida (chobotnicka) a ty kousky byly taky smazeny. Asi z cele nabidky 20 jidel na velikonocnim menu byla tak 3 jidla nesmazena....brrr

Autobus do Broken Hillu jsme si tentokrat ujet nenechali, pani z informaci stala na nastupisti a rika mi, vy dva uz nikam nechodte, zustante tady :D 

Hodne jsem se tesila, ze cestou uvidim, jak se krajina postupne meni na nehostinnou poust, ale za okny to spis pripominalo africke savany nez Saharu. A pak padla tma, takze i kdyz jsme treba pak jeli mesicni krajinou, tak jsem to nevidela. Po jedenacte vecer konecne prijizdime do Broken Hillu a v hostelu padame do postele znaveni cestou. 

Rano druhy den se jdeme podivat na Miners' memorial na odpoledne jsem naplanovala prochazku, podle Tomaska by to byl Todesmarsch, na sochy v living desert area. Podle googlu jen 7 km, za 2 hodky bysme tam meli byt, pohoda. Cestou nas miji autobus, ktery po par metrech zastavuje a ridic se nas pta, jestli jdeme na sochy a jestli jo, tak at si nastoupime. Prej jsme z dalky vypadali jako emu a kdyz se ptal ostatnich, jestli nam maji zastavit, tak vsichni souhlasili. Ani jsme netusili, jaky se na nas usmalo stesti, protoze to byla jeste dalka k socham. Byli to moc mili lide, spis duchodci z Adelaide, pro ktery jsme byli neco jako cviceny opicky nebo atrakce, protoze jsme jako typicti mestaci podcenili situaci a vsechno nemuselo skoncit dobre.Hacek byl totiz v tom, ze sochy vypadaji nejlepe pri zapadu slunce, tak jsem vse nacasovala, abysme tam na zapad byli, ale pak uz jsem nejak nepocitala s tim, ze cesta zpatky muze byt za tmy. Vyprava nam pak nabidla at se k tim pripojime i na afternoon tea a svezli nas zase zpatky. Google nam tady totiz tak trosku lhal, protoze vzdalenost nebyla 7 km ale asi tak 14 km?! Proto si vsichni klepali na celo a ptali se nas, jak muzeme byt tak lehkovazni. V pousti totiz byva po setmeni docela zima, jak vsichni vime. Na to jsme byli pripraveni dalsi vrstvou obleceni, i vody jsme meli dost, ale treba baterku uz jsme s sebou nemeli. Tom si tak zkusil, jaky to asi maji Prazaci na venkove nebo vlastne vsude mimo Prahu, kde jsme "no jo, Prazaci" preneseno na Australske pomery :D

Rikame si, jestli je to normalni, ze jsou takhle vsude fajn mili a prijemni lide? Protoze Sydney proste neni Australie a my jsme ted konecne vylezli z tehle bubliny. 

Po jedenacte vecer jdeme spat a nastavuji budika na 3:25 protoze bus zpatky do Dubbo vyjizdi z Broken Hill uz v 3:45. Z vlastni zkusenosti si davame budiky oba, protoze se Tomovi uz stalo, ze se mu mobil jednou zaseknul, takze mame pojistku navzajem. No a rano zvoni jen jeden budik, koukam na to, jak je to mozny, a muj cas na mobilu se mi ukazuje o pul hodiny zpatky? Jako pri pomysleni, ze ten budik nastavime jen u me a nechame si ujet zase autobus, me poliva studeny pot. Na druhou stranu by se asi nic nestalo, protoze autobus mel pres pul hodiny zpozdeni, ale kdo to mohl vedet ze? Kdyby byval ten bus mel zpozdeni i v Dubbo pul hodiny tak ho stihneme taky :)

Posledni perlicka byl vypadek proudu ve vlaku na ceste zpatky do Sydney, kde jsme stravili cernou pulhodinku na miste, nez zavadu opravili....Rikali jsme si, paneboze, co se nam jeste prihodi?Koneckoncu, byl to super vylet, hooodne narocny na cestovani a vsechny ty prekvapeni ho udelali o to vic special.

My very first home made bread

After my quite successful attempt of the first dumplings it was a turn for a home made bread...
I had bought some dry yeast some time ago already so I had all ingredients needed.
But that wouldn't be me just to bake some normal bread...Because I had inherited some special ingredients from Jana, who had left Australia to New Zealand travelling, she passed me some seeds and green powder. I was a bit surprised looking at the green package and thinking what for is that...?
She told me that I can use that for bread baking....all right....so I looked up some recipes on the web...Honestly I was quite surprised how many alternatives came up in english google but not a one in czech...Nevermind.....the result was fair enouh for the first attempt....The dough was quite sticky so next time I can only improve it...Tomas resolutely has refused to taste it firstly as it looks as if it was rotten but then after one bite he has to admit thats actually quite tasty...

So thats my first Hulk Bread :)

Big step ahead...

Hi guys,
it's quite long time since my last feed. It wasn't to much to write about anyway...
But now the really important moment lays in front of us...With Tomas we have been planning to
apply for partnership visa for a while, however we really started to did something about it last month.
There was an option that I will study MBA and Tomas meanwhile will have unlimited working visa. For the first sight that idea was perfect, although on the second though I was thinking like that: "I don't really want to study just because of visa." And then I got idea to try to get "normal working visa" based my previous experience and education. (Note: Since immigration policy of Australia is quite complicated matter I don't want to specify the visa exactly because most of you will know nothing anyway). So I decided to visit very capable immigration agent and talked to him about my situation. There could be some possibility to get that visa, however I would need to work hard on my English to get better results and then more point on scale. More I would need to check my czech studies in special institution and after I would need to complete some particular subjects anyway.
So we have adjusted our plans little bit. Now I have been studying English again. And again the same course I took when I arrived here. CAE Cambridge course. I can remember how desperate was I during that first course. Now I feel more relaxed despite the fact I really need to get better results what is quite hard. By the begining of December I am going to take the exam, so still I have enough time to study. And by the end of February I will go to university, but no to study MBA, however Master of Professional Accountant in order to take the subjects I would need to complete anyway if I want to try to get working visa.
So last week we paid a fortune for that schools, visa and health cover. Our budget was so tight that I needed to ask for a favour my dear Pavi to lend me some money to survive. And yesterday with exactly $50 we went shopping grocery for the next week. Tomas crossed out items from shopping list and noted down the price to control total expenses. While paying at self-assistant check out we faced the cruel truth and yet we spend 6 cents more :D The last item in our basket was lettuce for one dollar. Tomas was about to steal it, but I don't know why I am so honest person and I forced him to pay for it by money he had for his transport card. It was really amusing moment and no wonder that Tomas called me Mirek Dusin from Club of quick arrows.

Nice moments at sandpit

Histeric child due to hanky

Let the ideas come in your mind

I had another nice skype call with my grandpa yeasterday. Since he has got some healthy problems he hasnt gone out very often. But honestly he always prefers to stay at home and be busy by doing D.I.Y. stuff in a garage rather then go for a trip with grandma. Anyway a few days ago he did go out - to buy some thing for his D.I.Y of course and in this occasion he popped in a restaurant where my beloved sister works. And he really enjoyed just observing people´s acting. In the restaurant there were 2 young women, one certainly was a mother as she had a baby with her and her friend. The mother was eating her soup, meanwhile she was talking to somebody else on her cellphone and because of her baby was little bit naughty and it was scattering around its toys, she also was picking them up. Grandpa said, that he was expecting the other woman is going to pick up the toys...and seriously the view on the busy woman was truly funny. According to this he said, that he needs to go out more often just to meet and observe people.

What has come to my mind after his statement was "Yeah, good idea, nobody wont notice that she/he is being observed anyway because everybody is attached to a smartphone."

I know that there have been many satiric ilustration about people in public transport staring to the screens but honestly, have a look tomorrow morning around yourself and you will see its true.

Its like whenever people have some free moment, they immediately grab their phone to "use the time wisely" Why we are not able anymore to just look around and think, or just look and observe the world.

Grandpa agreed with me and added that if you just staring around and you look absent minded thats actually allows to ideas to get in your mind...because by checking facebook/instagram or whatever your brain is busy and denies to new ideas to come to your head.

I really like his note and I think he is right, because it was generally said, that the best ideas come to you when you are in toilet....Why is so...? Because your head has time to think about miscellaneous things there. I am not sure if its still valid as we take our phone even to a toilet nowadays.

So next time while I will be waiting for the train I will enjoy being voayer and maybe some genial idea will come to my mind... :D

Jogging, my sport #1

Recently I was thinking how long do I jog intensively and its incredibly more than 4 years...It makes sense actually because I have had my third pair of jogging sneakers already. I always used to be clumsy and anti sport talent and in my teen age I never understood people running for sport...I that time I practised aerobic. But thanks to my erasmus stay in Spain I started to run properly as I had plenty of free time and I wanted to use it wisely. There were perfect conditions for jogging...Along the river side of Guadalquivir or in Park Maria Luisa, the sun was shinning almost every day and even in winter you could go out with top and shorts. Always with some boosting music in my ears I beat 10k without problem. Then I set my big goal...I wanted to take part in Prague half marathon...I trained properly and in may 2013 I ran my first half marathon. Since then I have run another 2 big races and dont know how many smaller. I am not never among the first, but not even among the last. Of course I want to have a good pace and good total time, but it is not so much important.

What I like the most of jogging  is that nice feeling after it - because of endorphines, but thats generally after every kind of sport. More what I like is that liberating feeling and  the fact, that you can do it anytime you want...just grab your sneakers and go out.

So everywhere I live I always have my jogging route. In Uhonice there were a few different routes in forest and fields, In Prague along the river or in Letna or Stromovka Park and here in Sydney it was the most beautiful one - coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee.

With the technological progress I map my trainning with app Runkeeper which motivates me more - to see my results and times. But unfortunatelly I can see that I am becoming little bit lazier and slowlier last time...is it because of getting older? Maybe yes, maybe its only spring/autumn fever.

Nevertheless - there is still one big mission to be accomplished - to run marathon. So I hope I put myself together and start training again and maybe I can run some marathon in Australia.

So what I want to convey here is, that even if you think that you are not good at jogging, it is always about your strong will and determination, because thats the half of the success.

My return to down under

How long was your longest time out of home...?
4 years back when I was on erasmus my longest time out of home was 9 months,
but meanwhile my parents and one of my two sisters have visited me in Seville, so it can´t be count so severe like here in Australia.Since I have come here on 31st december 2014 with Eva I always keep in touch with my family through skype. And after long 14 months here I decided to visit my beloved family. One big reason for going there was fact, that I have already had an airticket and I didn´t want to cancel it. I have had the airticket since march 2014 as my original planned return to the Czech republic was in July 2015 however then I extended my visa and move that airticket to February 2016, which was really far future in that time for me. Around Christmas I started to think about my visit of Czech intensively, so I bought airticket from Prague back to Sydney. It was not easy, because it was quite tempting just go to Prague and dont return to Sydney...If I were alone I would do it like that...I spent 2 superb weeks in Prague, I enjoyed all my family, friends, pets and even snow :)
When I came back to Sydney Tom picked me up at train station to help me with my bags. It was really nice to hug him after two weeks. But home there was surprise waiting for me, as it was my birthday tommorrow. Two gorgeous pandora pendants :) And even Tom has cooked for me! If you known how Tom hates cooking, you would understand why I am so proud of him. So yes, my return down under was really nice and sweet.

Vipassana meditation (english)

A few days ago I returned from 11days course of vipassana meditation in Blue mountains so I want to share my experience with you. Just brief summary about vipassana. It´s a meditation technic which comes from Buddhism, however its religious neutral. The conditions were for today´s person quite strict, so I wanted to test myself, If I was able to pass the course from 4a.m. morning waking up, completely in silence (except of consultation with the teacher about the technic), hand in your cellphone, mp3 player, even books and all day long just meditate...I assume that I cant even mention rule about cigarets, alcohol and sex. I was also informed about modest vegetarian diet - just 2 meals per day and in the evening just some fruit.

I didn´t write a journal, but I did take some notes during whole course which came to my mind. 

# 1 During the meditation with eyes closed I start to drifting off soon, I dont want to ask teacher about this, perhaps I am not mature enough for a meditation.

 

# 2 Meal is great! Quite good wide offer for breakie and for lunch something that I normally cook for myself - lentils with carrot, pasta, brocolli, salad.

#3  The observation of a breath, so mental excercise is much more difficult for me than physical one (jogging, swimming). I am not able to focus on, there are a lot of association in  my mind and suddenly I find myself that after one minute I am not observing my breath, nevertheless I am recalling and thinking about something different. Thats the reason I justify myself for quite big portions of meal despite I dont have so much physical excercise. The meal is still top! This centre must obtain generous donations (You dont pay anything in advance for a course, however once you finish, you can donate as much as you want.)

# 4  When you anticipate the worst, you can never be disappointed - exactly opposite though! I thought that I am going to concentration camp, meanwhile after lunch there is a dessert served. Gradually I am enjoying this place, even in meditation I have done some progress - I discover mystery sensation inside of my nose, moreover I am able not to drift off for a longer time, hurray! 

 

# 5 People don´t realize how they are used to constant distraction around themselves - always sticked to their smartphones. And suddenly if they took all these gadgets from you, then you are looking forward to every melodyless singing of guru Goenka, which starts and ends every meditation session. When I heard this singing for the first time I needed to bottle up my giggling. In a few parts it sounds like when you are running out of batteries in your walkman player.

# 6  I don´t usually take notes about my dreams, but this one was so funny that I was laughing even in that dream. Firstly I happen to be in a blue gorgeous house by the Vltava river where took place the czech comedy "How to drown dr Mracek". I was there with my grandma Vlasta, so we were exploring that house, taking some pictures and then in one room there was a man sitting behind a pc, working with excel sheet and updating some data and tells us: "Thats interesting - the shares of Czech television have risen up to 70% due to viewers ratings. So I asked him whats on programme right now. "Etiquette"....and me: "Hmm, thats interesting...and any specific episode?" "Yes, how to choose desserts"

WTF? :D

 

# 7 Did I say that I was starting to enjoying this place? Now even more! The surroundings of meditation centre is breathtaking. Lovely Blue mountains around, somewhere you can see bizzare sanstones reminding houses or hummocks. The red blue parrots I consider like pigeons now but yesterday I spotted for the first time big Yellow-tailed black cockatoo!!

Today we are about to start with Vipassana technique (until now we were practising Anapana - the breath´s observing), so I am curious about it. I heard that some people give up the course by the 3rd day - they cant bear it mentally. However we got only one victim. Yesterday evening I have found her meditation place  empty and this morning I have spotted her bed empty as well. I have no idea who was she. Because when you are not allowed talk to people, you dont know thier names. People are familiar to me now of course, but only according to their faces. How many students are here actually? I would say 50 girls and 50 boys roughly. Men have completely different areas, to not to get distracted, however in meditation hall they have their half.

 

I am sorry that I still speak highly about the food, but it is absolutely phenomenal. Today´s tofu with coconut milk, great beetroot salad with sesame seeds and for dessert brownie with caramel topping. Dhaba Beas (vegetarian restaurant in Prague) has a lot of to learn! Vegetarian cuisine is very diverse and if it wasnt so ortodox and you could add eggs and fish we cant talk about boring food at all. 

 

#8 The song for today - Tracksuit up, bollocks to the right (Czech favourite song) Yes, it got cold. I am glad that I got hat and gloves. I didnt realize before how high in mountains we are. Now we are completely in clouds, only little hill 70 m far is visible. 

And fun is over as we have started with meditation. I just thought how I started to like meditation, I have discovered a posture which is comfy and I am able to stay like that without changing it. So yesterday I got terrible tingling from that posture! And by practising vipassana you musnt change the posture for one hour. I wont be expelled if I moved of course, but anyway challenge accepted. We are in the middle of the course now and I am sure am able to stay to the end. The first three days were difficult and everytime I heard passing train I wanted to run away. Now I have realized how people are spoilt and if they had not their everyday stuff with themselves they crack down. After all something similar must be life in a monastery or a prison except of a fact that you can speak to others there. And they can live there somehow. Of course that I wouldnt want to live like that forever, but in some aspects is really better. I dont miss my phone or notebook, but music and reading. And would like to talk to someone about my feelings and ask her about hers. Hopefully I wont have a need to catch up what I have missed - 200 000 words, oh my god :D

#9  Heureka! For the second today´s meditation I haven´t change my posture. And for bonus I have seen two big kangaroos. They´ve hopped in to the compound. Juuu. We were observing them for a while with one girl (maybe Brazil or Spanish). And when they jumped away we turn to each other with facial expression "Oh my god they were so cute, I want to take them with myself home!" By this we broke the rule about communication, but we couldn´t help ourselves - It was so strong emotional moment for me as we wanted to express and share the joy from the kangaroos but we couldn´t.

# 10 Today´s highlight - I have maintained my eyebrows. And everybody is obsessed by dental hygiene. Thats because you don´t have anything else to do in your free time (there isn´t so much free time) except of walking in the compound.

#11 The only reading on the toilet are notices that tampon musn´t be flushed down to the toilet...and thanks god for that! What do the men read I have no idea.

#12 I am going nuts. I got up at 3 a.m. turned on the light, check my watch and found out that I have one more hour of sleep. What a bliss! And I am not alone who is crazy. Some in speaking from the sleep: "Meditation, how do you call the the the the treatment!" And my dreams tell me that I need to have a sex already. A skeleton of a soldier come to me (actually it was only half of the skeleton - to the waist so I dont know how did it come.) And we were kissing and he touched my breasts...then snip and different dream. One song from Muse was on here, so I started to sing it, but I found it wierd, because I hand in my phone at the beggining of the course, so what did it play? Then I looked under the pillow and my phone was there! creepy!

# 13 The meditation technique is still changing and developing, luckily. Because yesterday I got the feeling that I am overmeditated. Meditation is fain, however 10 hours per day is too much. Besides you need to change your activities, but there is nothing else to change it with. So yesterday I use my unused skill, yet my incredible memory for movies and instead of evening meditation I played movies in my head. Luckily no one can see into my head...But as I said before, the technique is changing, so hopefully I won´t need more movies to play. 

 

#14 We are be allowed to speak tomorrow! For the last day of the course. They claim that noble silence helps us to maintain the technique and not to be distracted. However I think that there is a practical reason as well. Who would be willing to listen constant girls´ talk?

 

#15 The end! I have strange mixed feelings. On one hand I was looking forward to the end of the course all the time, but now I am little bit worried about return to reality. After all it is not a return from children summer camp. I think I can judge the course more objectively later, however even now I can say that it was very beneficial. I can recommend it to everyone who wants to learn something new. Mostly how to concentrate and conrol your mind. And also to try different attitude to life and test yourself by unusual way.  

 

 

 

Vipassana meditation

Včera jsem se vrátila z 11ti denního meditačního kurzu v Blue Mountains, tak se s Váma ráda podělím o svoje zážitky. Stručně vás uvedu do obrazu. Vipassana je meditační technika, která pochází z budhismu, ale je nábožensky neutrální. Podmínky kurzu byly pro dnešního člověka hodně přísný, takže jsem se sama chtěla otestovat, jestli to vůbec zvládnu - od vstávání ve 4 ráno, nesmět s nikým mluvit(krom konzultací s učitelem ohledně techniky), odevzdat mobil, mp3 i knížky a v podstatě celý den jen meditovat, o cigaretách, alkoholu a sexu se asi vůbec zmiňovat nemusím. Byla jsem taky upozorněna na skrovný vegetariánský jídelníček - 2 jídla denně a na večer nějaké ovoce.

Nevedla jsem si deník, ale zapisovala si různé poznatky, jak mě v průběhu kurzu napadaly.

# 1 Při meditaci se zavřenýma očima začínám klimbat (jako v MHD). Bojim se zeptat učitele, třeba ještě nejsem dostatečně vyzrálá na meditaci?

Vipassana meditation´s preparation

Once my host father told me about this technic I have decided to try it too. I have never been interested in any kind of meditation before, I´ve only known just some basics of yoga - thanks Eva :)
As my first day of the course is comming I read some information on the internet, mostly some experience
of people who have already passed through.
I really reccommend this one, I was laughing reading  that.

According to information which I´ve obtained from organizators of the course I assume that course gonna be really hard, however the personal experince only confirm my expectations....
Nevertheless challenge is accepted. Spend 10 days in complete silence, no technological gadgets no
books, no music...just 10 or even more hours per day only practising of meditation.
What is going to be quite difficult for me like a gurman and foodie is really small portion of food only twice per day. Considering this fact I have decided to skip eating today to prepare my stomach for that.
I am so proud of myself because I did manage it and surprisingly it wasnt insurmountable trouble.
I wish I could write a journal like Hobit, however no writing stuff is permited neither, but maybe I will figure something out later.

The world is quite small

Yes, small and there is a lot of coincidences...
Since I have been living down under, on the opposite side of a world a few funny
coincidences have happened to me or to my friends, whom I consider like my family now.

1. Mutual friend..?
That was during my first month in Sydney in language school.
With my classmate Monika from Denmark we were talking about
our family trees as once it was topic of that lesson. I was telling
her some facts about my family, like that we used to live in Prague
and later we moved behind...She replied - I have one friend in Prague!
Me: "Really, who is it?" (Considering fact that Prague has 1 milion inhabitants
I was more polite to keep the converstation than I was really intersted in).
"Markéta" she replied. As I knew that Monika was in Spain for erasmus
I just guessed - Markéta Chalupová, which was in Spain for erasmus too.
And Monika just confirmed my guess...Seriously, are you telling me that
both of us we could meet in Spain... (Monika and Marketa were in Cordoba
and I was in Seville, however I visited Cordoba twice and everytime
I did so I always saw Markete)...You from Denmark, me from Czech
we have a mutual friend from Spain and we meet in Australia...thats crazy :)

2.I won´t go to school untill some hansome guy pass by
 One afternoon we were loitering in front of some building in cbd, drinking coffee with
Eva and Ales. Eva was about to going back to school, but obviously she didnt want
so much. So she said: I wont go to school till some nice guy pass by, as we were
watching people passing and honestly, no lookers. Then I saw quite hot guy and told
Eva, hey, look at that bloke. And Eva "Are you kidding me...? Thats Sean!"
Me and Ales looked at each others with expression, "Who the hell is Sean?"
Sean was an australian guy who Eva had met in Prague in some bar like only
one month before our flight to Sydney, so they exchange contacts...They have never met
before, untill that day :)

3. School mate from grammar school
How often does it happen that in train you sit behind your exclass mate
on the second side of the world...? That happend to Eva as well....she has
know that he has been here for more than two years...and whats more funny.
Marek works at construction site in the same street where Eva lives..

4. Girl from summer camp
For our 6months anniversary we went to Tommys bar to grab delicious
czech food. And the waitress which served us was familiar to Tomas...
Also she remided me someone as well...But after Tom realized that he has known
her from summer camp where he used to be an instructor for the children
so that girl was one from many he took care about....

So, where else you can hide if you can meet people from Rudna and Tabor here...? Nowhere
maybe on Mars...

How we met with Tomas

As it´s generally said, that everything what you haven´t written down you forget,  I have decided to write down our first meeting with Tomas. Because it was really funny and absurd moment and I always like to recall it.


I worked that night at Show girls. It was sunday however the next day would Queen´s birthday so it was day off on monday. Thats why it wasnt so dead in the club that night. Then came 2 boys and sat close to the stage. I came to serve them and talk to them a little bit as usually . First I turned to tanned boy on my left side and asked him where is he from. "Mexico" he replied. So I replied back something in spanish, probably "Dónde en Mexico vives?" and than a few more sentences. Then I turned to the right and asked the blond boy where was he from. He replied cunningly: "Europe" So I asked: "Hmm and where excatly from Europe?" "Czech republic" and me: "Děláš si prdel..? (Are you fuc*ing kidding me?)" So we can speak czech together! The other boy looked quite surprised and I didn´t wonder....Such a big coincidence...and was really funny. So we just talk about normal topic such as how long we are living here and so on...


That evening I came to boys several times a spoke to them, ok mostly with Tomas. However I have to confess that this evening He didn´t attract me so much, or maybe I just didn´t think about anything...I just enjoyed the conversation with him. When he asked me about my number I thought: "All right, what I need the most is to have contact with another czech people, but never mind, we can just go out for the beer and that´s it".


When they were leaving Tomas tried to give me friendly kiss (fortified by some booz) but I held myself back and pushed him back....


Yeah, and one week after we went out just for that beer and from that day we are together....I can´t believe that is over 5 months...Thanks for all coincidences which occured that evening! :)

It´s about the little things

It is quite difficult to capture or describe that nice feeling of happiness...At least for me as I´m not a writer and even more difficult in foreign language...Anyway....what really did make my day today then I´ve felt good and/or happy?

At first I could prepare breakfast for Tom. I normally don´t prepare breakfast for him during labour week. And that satisfied expression at his face made me really happy.

Another nice moment was in 7/11 shop where I went to buy my one dolar coffee and one guy made me a compliment....Here in Australia I consider it quite unusual, not like in Spain where was normal that boys on the street were shouting and whistling to you "Hey guapa" (Ok,  more to my blond friend)...so by the time it has become more annoying than appreciating....But honestly here in Australia it has happened for the first time after 9 months to obtain compliment on the street.

And the third was really special...I was walking down the street and I noticed 2 girls in the second floor´s shopping window...They were waving and smiling...I thought that someone is walking behind me so I ignored them. But in a second I had turned my head and saw nobody there. So I waved and smile back...Then one of them made a gesture "thumbs up" and pointed her smile....They were literally handing out smiles to people.

I hate clichés but I have no choice than to close my feed with one - the best things are for free :)

Advantages of drinking at home

Well, I have heard several times here in Sydney that people who used to drink a lot in home country (they could represent their country in drinking olympic games) they became calm and slowed down with alcohol here. The reasons are pretty clear. At first the price of alcohol is in comparison higher and at second aussies crazy laws and restriction about alcohol (RSA) dont able you to enjoy friday or saturday in the way you want to. So the best solution is simple - drinking at home which has its advanteges. As I have mentioned before is cheaper and you dont need to undertake journey from club to home which can turn to big adventure in tipsy conditions. I´m pretty sure that everybody knows what I´m writing about :) My last drinking session ended with sprained ankle...So I have to take a break in jogging for a while...

Czech beer...

Shortage of glasses? No problem...

Need for another feed

Hello there,

I am just writing another feed to my blog from down under. So how does my situation now look like and what is the plan for future?

First of all - I am a nanny :)) And in such a really great family, I wouldn´t wish better one :) Parents are originally from Walles, they have been lived here for more than 20 years and their 2 children are aussies then. The older, Flynn, he is 13 and he has a ginger hair after his daddy Shane. However I take care much more of Florence (shorter version of her name is Floss)she is 7 years old. She is really enthusiastic little girl with positive vibes and I consider her like my little sister. And mum - Amanda, she is fine too - honestly I feel myself to be a part of family so every evening when I come home late I always text to Amanda to not to be worried about me.

Picking Floss up from school

I have been living with the family for one month now and I can say I got used to routine and system of family what is great because my college is going to start next week. After one month living in english speaking family I can feel more confident about my english. I have learnt a lot of new words, the majority of them from Floss as we doing homeworks together and she has to read and I always listen to her. (I should correct her but it is not necessary, she is really good at reading and I like her way of reading).

So I have commited myself to stay with family at least 6 months - that means till december. And as Im going to have 2 months of holiday during Xmass lets see what happen. We want to travel a lot with Tom, but only If we earned some money for that :D It is not so easy - I need to save money for another payment for college. So we think after travelling a little bit across of Australia we can try our next life together in New Zealand. Tom has already had working holiday visa so I need  to apply for them and hope I gain them as quotas always have been gone after 1 hour from opening new ones. And if I dont get the visa, we can try Canada as well...But one thing is for sure....we are not hurry back to the Czech republic.

Ice Skating with Tom in HydePark

Oh, I almost forgot - one really upleasant thing happened - Eva was in hospital for a few days. We thought it was appendix, fortunatelly not but for me it was for the first time of spending too much hours in hospital with person you love and you worry about. These long hours of waiting for doctor and some results were terrible. Especially in emergency I had a feeling that was some parody of hospital as every time came different doctor and asked Eva what was the problem. So it looked like everybody just asked but nobody did anything to help her....Eventually she obtained really good quality care later and surprisingly she did not want to leave the hospital as she has made a new friendship there and as she said, she had calmed down there and had realized what is really important.

Upside down and sweet seventeen again

Maybe someone gets surprised why I have started to write in english. The other day I was chatting with Janča, my schoolmate and we were chatting together in english despite we are both czech. And she recommend writing this blog in english for practising. So that´s my apology for readers, please be indulgent with my mistakes.

(This is message for Ada - if you are reading this, just know that you have inspired me as well by writing your own blog in english - so in other words - yes, I copy you :D)

It is really funny how fast things change here, I am so confused and crazy from that, but first things first. I said that I want to move out from girls and I think its going to happen. If everything goes well, I will become an aupair again :) Thats actually killing two birds with one stone - solution of a problem of accomodation and work. Tommorrow I am going to see two aussies families - both live close to Bondi beach so I will stay in this beautiful and strategic area.

Today I have been in one cafe at Bronte beach for trial as a waitress - I was not so bad so Sunday morning work :) I think that could be fine - during week be an aupair and during weekend be a waitress. As I have almost 2 months of holiday I can do it that way, but with school? We will see...

And the most crazy thing? In my previous feed I have mentioned that I want to meet some english speaking guy to improve my english....So you can guess who I am falling in love with :D (Yes, It is mentioned in ironic way) It is really funny to experience the same love when you were 17 - the student love. There is no place where to go to have some privacy, my flatmates are home, his flatmates as well, so  we spend time together outside just wandering through city or park - I really enjoy this time. - Oh my god, I am going to vomit a rainbow from these sweet talks :D