Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

The picturesque view of Brno from my office window at the edge of the business park. I love the look of fresh snow on buildings. This whole weekend is going to be snowing, my office window right now is pure white at this point if i were to head out my jacket would be covered within 20 secs. I feel a little sorry for some of my colleagues from the tropics who are suffering at this point, but I completely love it :)

Now that you enjoyed the view, I'll ruin it a little by letting you know that quaint looking park across the street from my building is actually a cemetery :p It looks so interesting though, I'm always tempted to enter and just wander around it, but it seems a little disrespectful to the dead to enter based on an inkling of curiosity.

Thanksgiving in Paris

Thanksgiving abroad was a little hard, probably harder than Christmas, because at least that's celebrated around the world. The Thanksgiving tradition however is purely American, and its observance is met with mainly mild amusement as Americans like myself ask friends to go out to dinner. On Thanksgiving day my friends and I headed to a steak house http://www.steakhousek1.cz/, which was recommended to me by my coworkers. They didn't have the traditional Turkey and stuffing, but I got to have a Kangaroo and an Ostrich with some bacon, cream and onion mashed potatoes, so that has got to count for something. Also my friend Ray got into the spirit of things and covered the gluttony portion of the holiday. The man devoured a 1kg platter of assorted meats like it was made of yogurt :-O (though for those non-metric users that works out to being about 2.2lbs, which isn't the most impressive thing by American standards, but still a lot of meat)

Holiday should become popular in his home country of Nigeria if he decides to spread the word about it ;-)



I also was fortunate enough to spend the Thanksgiving weekend in Paris. Big thank you to my friends, American Parisians: Romina (double duty: as guide and hostess :-D) and Peggy for spending the weekend with me, and fellow trainee Chen chen for providing me with photos of the trip. I had a wonderful time, but it is one of those cities where you need a better part of a week in optimal non-touristy season to get to see everything.  I'll have to go back again some day to hit up the Louvre, Les Invalides, Versailles, Assemblé Nationale, and the Opéra Garnier.


However I did manage to see everything in the following map below. Lots of walking in the nippy 0 C weather. The warm mulled wine in the Christmas Market on Champs Elysees was the perfect thing to fight off the cold. Not included on the map or album was our night visit to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, which features a terrific view of the skyline of Paris at night. So I'm throwing in some stock images of the place I pulled from the web.





Map

View Larger Map



Pictures of the trip

Paris

Gypsies vs Roma/ Romani

So as stated in the previous post I'm going to try and discuss the gypsy situation in the Czech Rep/ (Slavic states.) I kind of wanted to avoid it since it's a race relations issue, and even as an "objective" outside observer it's hard to form a politically correct view of the issue. I'll try and go over the history I've learned in brief, but I mainly want to focus on what's going on today. There's been pretty horrendous things done to the Romani people, and it plays a part on how they've kind of fallen into their lower class niche of society today, but I'm not sure if it really justifies the way the modern gypsy behaves.


First, let's make a clarification of definitions even it's one that is not found in the standard dictionary. Ethnically a gypsy is a Roma/ Romani, a people descended from the Indian subcontinet. In England, a gypsy is a pejorative term, stemming from the Greek word for an Egyptian. During the middle ages when the Romani first entered European lands, the Europeans believed that they were descended from Egyptian exiles who had protected the baby Jesus (how much of this confusion was due to European ignorance or Romani leaders looking to earn hospitality and favor from the local lords, one can only guess). In the US we think of the term gypsies belonging to a romanticized lifestyle of artistic vagrants, fortune tellers, or the beautiful Esmeralda from the Hunchback of Notre Damne story. However when I use the term gypsy I don't mean for it to be synonymous with all Roma, instead I use it to refer to those Roma, predominantly living in Eastern Europe, who follow a certain lifestyle of getting by living off of charity, welfare, and the occasional illegal activity (theft). My intended usage is similar to how the term "white trash/ trailer trash" is not a pejorative term for Caucasians in general, but for a specific group, that is by definition Caucasian, living a distinct type of lifestyle the other members of society finds unbecoming. 


Americans tend to think of this:








Modern reality is this:

Taken from http://www.1adventure.com/archives/000207.html

History in Brief:

• In Royal Hungary, strong anti-Romani policies emerged since they were increasingly seen as Turkish spies or as a fifth column. They were expelled from many locations and increasingly adopted a nomadic way of life.
• In the Habsburg Monarchy under Maria Theresia (1740–1780), a series of decrees tried to force the Romanies to sedentarize, removed rights to horse and wagon ownership (1754), renamed them as "New Citizens" and forced Romani boys into military service if they had no trade (1761), forced them to register with the local authorities (1767), and prohibited marriage between Romanies (1773). Her successor Josef II prohibited the wearing of traditional Romani clothing and the use of the Romani language, punishable by flogging.
• Porajmos/ Porrajmos "Devouring" the victimization of Roma during the holocaust  
• Post WWII, Communist Eastern Europe, Romanies experienced assimilation schemes and restrictions on cultural freedom. What were originally migrant populations (filling social niches like migrant farmers) were seen as leading improper lifestyle, and forced to settle into government provided housing (often on the outskirts of the community). I don't imagine any residential buildings in the communist era being considered very good, but most likely the housing provided to the Romani was even worse.

My following criticisms on gypsies should not be considered criticisms on the Roma in general, nor a criticism of being poor. I feel that the gypsy persecution Roma face are the similar to the hardships of the impoverished groups living in the U.S. (lack of means and education  leading to a repeating cycle of social repression), but there are disparities that make the comparison not entirely equal. Due to protests of racism the Czech government had built brand new housing for the Gypsy community in the late 90's - early 00's. Within a couple years the tenants had torn the place up, setting fires in the middle of the room (perhaps for traditional cooking purposes, or cheap way to heat the apartment), and tearing out anything of reasonable value and reselling it to pawn shops. Then the gypsy community came back and demanded another residence be built because the original building is now in a state of complete disarray, or else they will protest racism again. Stories like this are quite commonly shared amongst my Czech acquaintances, and I was literally dumbfounded to think such a situation of "bite the hand that feeds you" could possibly be true. 


Outside nations have taken a crack at solving the issue, believing it's the Czech's fault for being too racist to give the gypsy community a fair chance at thriving, and have gotten their share of the headache. After a documentary broadcast where an elderly gypsy woman living in Canada appeared stating Canada as a promised land of spacious housing, plentiful welfare, jobs for the asking and trips to Niagara Falls. Some local Czech governments even jumped on board and paid for their one way tickets. Amidst a refugee boom Canada was forced to put in place a visa requirement for Czech citizens to halt the wave of people. Canada even took the unusual step of sending a delegate from its embassy in Prague to conduct television interviews and speak with Gypsy groups. The envoy was not, as Canadian diplomats often do, spreading the gospel that Canada heads the 1997 U.N. list of national economic and social development. The mission, rather, was to remind potential immigrants that it's hard to find a job if you don't speak English or French, that housing is expensive and hard to acquire and that no one will greet you at the airport with a welfare check. At this point the fact that Canada is making no attempt to give asylum to any more gypsies I think speaks volumes regarding how justified the criticisms levied against the Czech government attempts to aid their gypsy citizens have been.

My main criticism, and what I feel is the crux of the situation is the cultural attitude towards education. Education in the Czech Rep is far more accessible to everyone than in the U.S. Even up to the university years tuition and books are paid by the government, and students just need to provide their own housing payments. 

There is discrimination due to Romani children primarily entering school speaking a pigeon of Czech and the traditional Romani language that usually places them in remedial schools or for schools for the mentally handicapped. However while that kind of exclusion from better schools is certainly wrong I don't think being stuck at "bad" school is legitimate grounds for why gypsies have a ridiculous drop out rate by the 2nd year of high school. I find it completely intolerable to quit school when you have a system that even if you start at a remedial level you are still almost guaranteed some form of higher education if you desire to pursue it, while there are countries where kids who just want to go to primary school have to bear the burden of traveling vast distances or helping the family gain additional income. 

The culture values members who are clever, but in their history it's never been about book smarts, it's always been about how well do they know the traditional customs, and how well one could improvise a solution to get their family/caravan/village out of a bad situation. This might be my personal bias, and with respect to the value of adhering to traditional ways as a form of communal identity, I find this apathetic attitude towards a scholastic education incredibly short sighted. It also did not help my opinion to read a news article that a Czech school had to implement a penalty of reducing the welfare checks on gypsy parents to keep them from pulling their kids out of school I.E. the government is literally paying gypsies to keep their kids in school, while every other community pays to put their kids in school. I mean really what is one supposed to do for a living as a high school dropout in the Czech Rep, besides peddle flowers on the street, ask for hand outs or as personally experienced, subject others to cons and thievery. Why are these parents shooting their kids' future in the foot?

Not to be a total uncle tom about this, but there something to be said about at least in part trying to be a model minority: assimilate into the local culture, get educated so that you can bring something useful to the the table as well as learn how to protest in a meaningful way for social justice not for some sense of entitlement towards receiving government handouts.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/americas/sep/03/gypsies.htm

Early conclusion to the blog, (at least for the pictures portion)

So my blog has been a little barren the past couple weeks, not due in any part to a lack of activities I've been undertaking, but unfortunately due to the fact that my Google Nexus One was STOLEN by gypsies while I was walking through the middle of downtown. Efforts to recover it since (cops, visiting local pawn shops where the thieves likely unloaded it), have all proved to be rather fruitless. That phone was my main communication device (both phone and online), music player, gps when I got lost, and most relevant to this blog my only camera. So in terms of posting to this site unfortunately I simply don't have any visual content to entice you loyal readers to keep coming. Though the situation does give me a reason to cover a topic, I had thought I would steer away from, the gypsy situation in Europe (next post).

Man, I'm going to miss the hell out of this phone :'(

The whole month in general has been something of a loss as it's been marked with:

• My wallet being lost the week before my phone incident (though it was returned to me a couple days later ID and cards intact but missing about $250 in cash). 
• Saying bye to my "European BFF" who has gone off to Argentina to be with her bf (a former trainee like myself), both of whom I'll admit openly to missing a great deal. 
• An overload of incidences regarding minor annoyances at miscommunication/ incompetence
• Some other emotional junk that I won't get into on such a public posting

Events of the last few weeks that deserve mentioning, but have no pictures to share about.

• Czechoslovakia Independence day = free day off work = visit Olomouc, to see fellow trainee, Chris from New Castle to have him show us around his stomping grounds and a couple UNESCO sites like the famous column in the center of the city. Also because of the holiday we got free entrance to a historical art museum, which had some amazing religious relics and really audacious property of the former elite.
• Telc, quaint little village though some Czechs insist that it is a city had a lot of Gothic charm and a lovely park behind a château.
• Vienna part deux
• St Martin's day, and the traditional roasted goose dish

Burcak festival > Columbus day

So this past Monday while making a call into New York, I was shocked to find the offices were closed due to Columbus day. I normally wouldn't think much of the holiday back home, but it was still a small shock to think it had completely slipped under my radar. Missing out on the day just seemed like a little reminder of how disconnected my current life is from the current going-ons of people back home. 

However, while young students, government workers, and some bankers might have gotten the one day off in the U.S. the residents of Brno were treated to a week long harvest style festival in the city square. Free city entertainment is always a win in my book, and one of the reasons I really enjoy living here! 

With the start of Fall the wine growers of the region have a traditional drink, Burcak, that they make from newly harvested wine grapes that have just started fermenting. The concoction derived from said early wine making stage is a drink that tastes like grape juice and soda with the tiniest hint of alcohol.. It's the perfect way to combat the cold snap the region is experiencing, (my return from from Indonesia was marked by leaving +30C degree weather to having a high of 12C and low of 2C), without feeling like an alcoholic. I treated myself to a 1L bottle that should be able to provide me a nice glass with dinner for a week or so.

Acappella quartet, performed some Christmas Carols and pop hits like ABBA

Warm Honey Wine, perfect after dinner treat

$3 USD for BBQ meat and beer :D

There's actually chickens, rabbits, and geese in these cages, but it's too dark to see them in the photo

Another of Brno's new sculptures. This large black phallic object is actually supposed to be a functioning clock/calendar.

"Burcak is very young grape juice that is just starting fermenting. It is high in sugar and low in alcohol, but throughout fermentation the ratio between them is changing in favor of alcohol and wine is being born."
http://www.maniactourist.com/cool-places/prague-wine-harvesting-festival-tasting-the-burcak.html
I found this blog about a man visiting Prague who was enjoying the Burcak drinking festival there. However as he mentions the tradition originated in the Moravian region, where Brno lies, so I think it's inferred that the festival and Burcak I got was better ;)

New header

You may also notice a new banner I put at the header of my blog linking to freerice.com. For those of you who tend to have a few minutes to waste surfing the net playing internet games I recommend this site where that gaming can be put to good use feeding the world's hungry! Win win at no cost to you, just for playing the fairly educational trivia games on the site you're also performing a good deed :)

I'm personally going to use it try and refresh my Spanish vocab, which is in a pretty sad state these days as evidenced by the Spain trip I have still yet to collect photos from my friends to create a post for.

A Not So European Intermission

For what people may actually come to my blog you may have noticed that I have not posted anything in the past few weeks. This was because I was in fact not only out of the country, but out of the continent for a my cousin's wedding in Indonesia. There's a lot of great things to say about the country (enough to create another blog, so I don't want to put a lengthy post here), but reliable and fast internet is not one of them. So for my reading faithful you get the compilation of photos I took after I've already returned. 

I used Picasa because it beats muddling through facebook picture interface, and annoying privacy settings that keep some of my friends from seeing my pics, because they're not friends with my other friends. 

I’m still waiting for pictures to be sent to me that were taken by the professional photographers at the wedding ceremonies. I'll perhaps edit this post or put up another post as they become available.

Bali: hotel, beach, wedding

Bali

Bali wedding dinner photos taken by my cousin

http://picasaweb.google.com/yunkins/DYDinnerBanquet?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvY3LTdxYLG4gE&feat=email#

Bandung: family hometown

Bandung

Jogjakarta: solo tour

Jogjakarta

Kuala Lampur Airport

Kuala Lampur Airport