During my first week of studies in Prague I discovered a bulleting board with posts for students to exchange their language in turn for another. After creating a post, I received numerous responses from Czechs interested in practicing their English skills. During the first week I met a total of six different Czech men who possessed various levels of English skills. One girl did respond to the post but, my reply email to her went unanswered and later when she became my friend’s tandem we learned of her concern that I was a man. Apparently Brooke is considered a masculine name to most Czechs; which explains why all my other responses were men who seemed quite shocked to meet a petite young girl.
I was actually shocked myself that our first meetings lasted a minimum of four hours! We never seemed to run out of conversation topics while speaking in English, some that was very shaky and broken. One man, who is an Anthropology Major and has been meeting with me once a week, is always very nervous while attempting to compare our cultures in English but is full of information. During our first meeting we discussed our backgrounds with drinking before discussing his latest research project entitled “Pub Tales”. He is collecting various stories that are simply overheard at the local pubs scattered throughout the Czech Republic and analyzing the culture of these people. Since than we have discussed everything from holiday traditions to the drugs created during Communism which are still more popular than their counterparts that were banned at that time.
These meetings in local apartment cafes and even expensive formal restaurants have led me to better understand who the Czech people really are. Since, I have met with extremely different people who provide an array of perspectives to draw conclusions from. One tandem is nearly the complete opposite of the one mentioned previously, who Majored in Law and Sociology and is now working on his Ph.D. in both while working for a legal company, had traveled enough to discuss the rest of the world in every subject we explored. Unfortunately, we only met once because he had to study in Germany most of April. I was simply left with new realizations of just how different America is than the rest of the world’s cultures, those that are somehow much more similar in everyday customs. For instance, both Europe and Asia are not worried about spending time just sitting with a stranger over drinks for hours and accidentally missing another appointment that was supposed to occur during that same time. Time is approached with less stress and worries over deadlines and efficiency, which I have to agree, is not as important as America makes it out to be.
Another tandem, who is a psychology major hoping to study in Seattle this coming September, brought me to a teahouse that he frequently spends hours experimenting with various brews. We shared a hookah and tasted a few varieties of tea from Japan, China and Taiwan while comparing Prague and Seattle. He explained the main inspiration for picking that city was his interest in the grunge music scene. I have since than come across many Czechs who are also very into that era of music; it is often their only reference to Seattle!
So even though my Czech has not improved too much from these meetings, I have taken more than was expected from our discussions of football (soccer) hooligans and the lucky chance Michel’s father had to swim in the Baltic Sea during Communism, just before the Soviet’s entered Prague in 1968. Hopefully, I will continue to expand my language skills during random encounters at pubs and shows around the city.
