November 2015

ANOTHER PLANET
Hi! We are Elena and Marion, from Spain and from France. We would like to share
with you our experiences in Czech Republic during our EVS .
MONEY
The first thing we had to do when we
arrived to Czech Republic was to take the
bus from the airport to Prague, so we had
to get used to Czech money. Dont worry,
it was easier than we thought. After going
to supermarkets and other shops you will
see how it works. And, of course, we used
the convertor Euro-Crown for a few days
to see how much we were spending in a
way that we could understand. For what we saw, the prices are in general the same
as most countries of European Union. However, food and beer are cheaper
compared with other countries.
FOOD AND SUPERMARKET
A funny thing of being in Czech Republic was when we went to the supermarket the
first time, starting saying that everything was written in Czech. Although we could
guess which was the food by seeing it, we took risks in buying things such as sugar,
detergent or butter. We were so proud of ourselves each time we were right when
we had to choose something without knowing the
language.
A thing that for us is unusual is that in the
supermarkets you cant buy a big pack of yogurts
like in other countries. They are sold individually.
About typical food from here, in supermarket we
found little boxes with jelly, ham and a spicy sauce.
We did not like it because we are not used to this
kind of food, but Czech people usually like it, so it is
depend on the person.
However the Gulash is a typical dish which we
enjoyed, consisted in meet, onion, peppers and
potatoes.

WEATHER
We were really surprised when in the beginning of
October the weather here was really wonderful. It was
sunny and we were not cold (15-17 degrees outside).
But by the middle of October we started wearing coats
and jumpers.
The temperature lowed and usually we were in 3
degrees. It was raining and foggy and it was dark very
soon. In Czech Republic, from October until March
more or less, it is dark about 5 pm. This depresses us a bit as we are not used to not
to have light at that time. The good thing is that the good weather will start again in
March or April.
CUSTOMS
The most known custom is changing
your shoes a lot. You need to wear a
special shoes/slippers when you go a
Czech house or when you go to work.
Moreover, we noticed that people finish
and start the day very early. Some
reasons can be bad weather or that it is
dark around 5pm in winter. This also
means that people here have lunch and
dinner earlier than in other countries.
ACOMMODATION
We were very worried about where we
are going to live during almost a year. It is
one of the most important things during
the EVS. You will spend lot of time here
and you need a confortable place for a
living. But our worries disappear soon as
we saw the place was really warm and
equipped. For now we have hot water, the
heating is working correctly and we have
a nice kitchen. We hope that this keeps
like this.
TRANSPORT
We came from small cities and we are not used to
take metros, trams or trains. In our cities we always
use the buses and rest of things are new for us.
So we cant tell you yet how is the transport here
because we are learning.
The first mistake we did was to use the same ticket
for the tram for going to the Centre of Olomouc in
the morning and to return to the train station in the
night.

We just thought that we could use the same ticket for the whole day and we were
wrong. Moreover, if everything is in Czech it is difficult to guess how its work.
After, we realized that here the system depends on the time you spend in trams,
metros and buses.
PLACES

We were really impressed in Czech Republic

because everything is colorful. Every house,
monument, even shops have color. You find
beauty in every corner.
For now, we just had been in Olomouc. It is
quite city but it is amazing. And there is
shopping Centre where you can go to do big
a big shopping.
Of course, Prostejov, our little city, it is also
very nice

PEOPLE
We are very grateful to Czech people. In
Olomouc every time we were lost and we asked
people they always tried to help us, even if they
dont speak English. Sometimes they said that
they dont speak good English and they speak
perfectly.
They are very nice and good people.
CONVERSATIONS

We started with French, English and Spanish

conversations. People who were interested came
to meet us and we spoke about interesting topics
having a piece of cake . It is a pleasure for us to
meet Czech people and have the chance to tell
them about our countries. If you are interested in
these conversations, you can check the website of
ICM (www.icmprostejov.cz).

So until here we can tell for now. This is being a total challenge and we like it. We
are learning lot of things and every day is different. It will continue ;)

December 2015
Hi everybody! This is our second month here and this experience continues being
great for us. Here we will tell you some things we did during this time.
Praga
Our trip to Prague was the most exciting weekend that we have had until now.
We went on Saturday morning and we returned on Sunday.
Once in the city centre, the first
monument we found was a medieval
castle in the zone of Josefov. It was
really small and beautiful.
We kept walking and in every corner
we found more and more amazing
monuments and buildings (staronov
Synagoga, Staromstsk Nmst, etc ).
Later, we saw the famous Charles
Bridge in the distance. We were so
impressed, and with our open mouth
because of the beauty of everything.
The bridge, the colours, the landscapeseverything was so beautiful.
Moreover, the day we chose to visit Prague was great as it was sunny after days of
very cold. We could not complain about anything at that moment.
As we approached to the bridge, we started seeing more and more tourists. But we
understood the reason; everybody wants to go to that
fantastic place.
We continued our walk and after crossing the bridge we
found lot of stairs to go to the big castle. When we were
going up, we saw an amazing view of Praga, we took lot of
pictures and sat down for a bit to enjoy the landscape.
After, we arrived to the castle. We were so happy!!
Later, we saw Prague in the night. That was awesome.
Illuminated monuments, the colourful Charles Bridge,
people in the street and open shops.
We will never forget that weekend. It was a great
adventure.

Seminar JeLibo
One day I went with my organization to a school to speak about ICM. It was a new
experience for me, as I had to prepare a presentation in english and I had to speak
about my experience in EVS in front of many young students.
At first, Katka spoke about the activities that ICM organizes, but I did not
understand anything because everything was in czech. I only could guess more or
less something because of the pictures of her presentation.
After, another woman spoke about her programme with handicap people.
Fow what I observed I could say that the students were very interested in listening
these kind of information.
At the end it was my turn. I have to say
that I was a bit nervous. Not only
because there were too many people for
me, (15 students more or less), but I
was really worried about they
understood me speaking in english. I
had this fear because sometimes I speak
english very quicky or I cant avoid my
spanish accent.
So I started my presentation without
thinking and I spoke about my EVS.
When at the end I asked if they understood me more or less and they said yes, I felt
so happy! It was satisfactory for me to speak about this, because it was an
opportunity to spread out information about this great experience.
Elena
On-Arrival
I went to my On Arrival for 5 days. It
was in a place called Ledec Nad
Sazavou , a very beautiful city.
This is a meeting that you have with
others volunteers from different
countries and opportunity to know
more about EVS.
We did lot of activities such as
workshops,
games,
hiking
or
discovering the city.
I met lot of interesting people and we
exchanged our different experiences.
I enjoyed my On Arrival because people were very nice and the trainers gave me
lot of information about EVS (Youthpass, Miniprojects, travelling)
My On Arrival also gave new ideas for my work in ICM, and I learnt more Czech
language and Czech culture, which is very useful and interesting for me.
Marion

Ballgames
One activity that we are doing with some
students is ballgames one per week. We go to
the gym and we play basketball, volleyball or
another ball game. We have students from
different ages and we can speak with them
more or less in English.
Anyway, for this kind of games, even they
dont understand us in English, we can
communicate with them by gestures and
signs. We spend a good time together playing
and it is very funny.
Would you like to meet with us? Take the opportunity!

So this is everything for now, hope you enjoyed with our stories and we will tell
you more in the next episode ;)