belgium

swyna in belgium with friends from vox

woo, the first school day today! ;) actually, i really liked it 'cause i really like one of my classes (the rest of them i don't go to anyway).. this one is called 'environmental protection and sustainable development' and most importantly - it's in english. today we talked about 'silent spring' - a book by rachel carson from 1962. do any of you know that book?

ok, i promised to write some stuff about the trip to belgium. well, there is more stuff to talk about.. :)

belgium> part one> the choir contest..
the main reason of going to belgium this past week was to compete in a choir contest with vox iuvenalis (the brno choir i sing in). the contest itself took place in maasmechelen, belgium. the schedule of the contest was quite busy - it started on friday and ended on monday morning. anyhow, we decided to go on a trip a day earlier so we left brno on wednesday nite and spent the whole thursday in germany. we visited bonn and colonia (koln) where i'd never been to before so that was fun. and the whole trip itself was fine 'cause we had a very good bus and great bus drivers ;) but back to my point - the contest was very good because there were the best european amateur choirs competing.. in the final results we were 7th from 10 competing mixed choirs which is not the best result but considering the quality of all the contestants it is a very good result indeed. even being chosen to participate in this contest by a jury is a big honor to our choir..


the most shocking sight ever - janka singing in a choir!! ;)
well, she actually did pretty well in sopranos when she knew the melody.. it was just fun to have her with us there.. (the picture taken during a little choir workshop that followed the contest)


belgium> part two> the braeken-martens family
the very cool part of the trip was staying with families there.. this type of accommodation is often provided at this sort of contests or various choir events.. unfortunately, there were not that many choir members that could accommodate so many of us in beringen (a village where we stayed close to maasmechelen) so they asked some friends of theirs for a help. this way the conductor, his wife, janka and me ended up staying in a family that had almost no connection to the host choir of ours.. actually, almost everyone from their family has to do something with chemistry or engineering (or both) what i found very funny while i am going to be a chemical engineer myself in less than a year..
anyhow, i just wanted to say that this family took amazing care of all four of us, shared their home with us for three nights and days and fed us the most delicious food in the world (well, at least in this part of the world :))
mr and mrs braeken-martens and wim: thank you very very much for everything!!

coming up soon..
belgium> part three> police trouble.. again..


stano almost arrested in belgium..
..sounds like tons of fun, doesn't it? :)

..well, you gotta wait for the unabridged version ;))

off..

..for belgium! talk to you on monday guys!

hilarious miss scheflen

ok guys, gotta read this entry (and related vocab) by chenna if you haven't read it yet! seriously, chenna, you are a person with da maddest hilarious writing skillz!!! :) well, here is a taste of chenna's humor>

"..i have a super co-worker named shane. he and i share a love for belle and sebastian, but he thinks i'm a "prude" because i don't use the f-word a lot. this despite the fact that he self-beeps himself when he says it. as in, "toss that little "beeep"er into the can." actually, he said he was just kidding that i'm a prude. he's sure that we're going to get along because i'm a "little too happy" most of the time. and not from drugs, for once.."

restless week

i am all tired and sore. today we had a choir rehearsal for almost 8 hours straight.. i'm just done with preparing a test for one of my monday classes and i'm more than ready for bed. tomorrow morning i am travelling to slovakia for my grandma's birthday party and on monday morning i'm going back to brno to teach. on wednesday we are off for belgium with da choir for a competition and we are going to spent almost 5 days there! janka's comming with us..
so, it seems like there is no hope for much sleep nor physical rest this couple of upcoming weeks.. but i guess that is the prize of actually having a life to live outside of school and work.. does it make sense? well, it makes tons of sense to me :)

a new week..

mošny - folk vocal group, brno
just saw their concert a few hours ago.. pretty good! :) and just that you know - the pretty smiley girl on the very right is my and janka's boss..

the weekend's over and i'm all back into my schedule with teaching and singing and all the fun though tiring stuff.. BUT i am looking forward to mrrr and megs coming to brno this wednesday or thursday for few days.. :)

a mystery..

frederico f. fazenda - sleep walk 2002

last nite a very strange thing happened..
i went to bed at about 2am and just before i lay down i opened a window to get some fresh air in even though it was a little chilly outside.. i fell asleep immediately. no wonder - i was supposed to get up at 6:45 to get ready to go to a wedding. so i curled up in my blanket and was ready to enjoy my 4hrs45min-long sleep..
ok, here comes the mysterious part - i get up at about 6am because i am freezing. i first think that my blanket fell off the edge of the bed cause it is not in my bed. i reach for it with my eyes still closed.. it is not on the floor. i open my eyes.. i can barely see 'cause it's still a little dark outside. the window's still open. i look around and i don't see it.. i stand up an take my glasses.. guess what - my blanket is on the couch, about 2 meters from my bed! 8-O
how the heck did the blanket get there??!!!
between the blanket and my bed there was a part of a wall and a pretty decent pile of clean laundry on a couch. i wouldn't be able to throw it there because of the wall. i wouldn't even be able to bring it there cause i would have to go around the laundry pile.. the only way i could bring it there would be to go all the way around the couch and the table and another bed to put it there.. means at leats 10 steps there and 10 steps back..
of course, i don't remember a single thing from that nite..
ok, any ideas? sleep walking?? aliens???
well, i'm a little scared. at least of my-freakin-lil-self.. :)

quote of the day

"i refuse to proof-read anyone's writing. once I put so much red ink on my roommate's essay that she cried."

heather noren,
leaving america

kula family

ok guys, here are some pictures from the most wonderful wedding that janka and me went to this past weekend.. our flatmates - andrea and breta aka kula family- are such a great people.. and the whole wedding was just so beautiful. it was held outdoor what was a very good choice and it was very well organized.. well, just enjoy the pics! ;)


first marital kiss :)


i love the rice part! ;)




newly wed's with their parents.. cute, cute!


3 bride maids in lovely pink dresses ;)




congrats! :)

tape!

lord, i am so glad i can do what i really like for living! at least at the moment.. today i started teaching english for kappa packaging brno, a company dealing with products from paper such as corrugated cardboard and stuff like that. i was i bit nervous before we started but then i realised how much i love teaching!! :) i had a beginner class and then a class of lower intermediates (90 minutes each) and they both went so well! there were 2 students in each class and with the beginners we went thru whole english alphabet and spelling and they did very well. we also played some games with the other class to sort of start up the semester in a fun way. they liked it and i had a good time too. can't wait for my other 2 classes i'm teaching there on wednesday to begin! ;)

otherwise, life's been mainly english for me right now> i do teach english almost every day, i read english books, i read blogs written in english, i do think in english, i do write in english.. janka's pretty desperate about it, too.. today i asked for tape (in slovak, of course) and she replied without thinking> tape! (in english).. :))) we better take a break :)

and not to forget, saturday's wedding was seriously superCOOL (!!!) but i will post more about that later..

for those of you far far away> i miss you!!
sleep well.. i will too! :)

back into my busy schedule..

hey guys!
hope everyone is doing fine 'cause i am! ;)
there's not much new stuff once again.. i am just going from wedding to wedding and in between that i'm teaching.. next week will be super busy (or at least tireing) 'cause i am starting to teach 3 new classes and 1 i had last semester, i had it for just a while tho.. seems like i am starting my busy season once again ;)) i like it that way tho.. still get enough relax.. :)

this week was really funny cause we were acting so weird here in brno! we (janka and me) actually cleaned some stuff at the appartment and reorganized some furniture and yesterday we even washed widows!! nobody washed those in years!! ;) seriously, we never washed them and we've been living there for 3 years now!! ;)) wow.. yes, they were gross! :)) but now, they're clean and we can actually see outside! ;)

we are leaving for northern moravia with janka this evening and will be there all weekend long for the wedding of our dearest flatmates evah!!! ;)) you can find more about aja and breta at www.kulafamily.com.. and we will post pics from the wedding as soon as possible, too! ;)

so, you guys have a good weekend!!!! ;) 'cause we will..

and now just some cute pics with peeps who left recently..

seggi is going fine in ireland..


last drink with heidi..

introducing: jenny cotton and the cow! ;)

jenny, that pic is SO cute and funny at the same time time! i miss you!