Adventures

Friday, August 12, 2011

I left my heart in Czech Republic

Absolutely incredible is what I would have to sum up my life abroad. I can't believe that a year had already gone by and now I am saying goodbye to a place I called home for a year and my closest friends I have made.
After an amazing vacation in Italy, Greece, and Croatia, I am back in Prague to pack up and enjoy the last few days before parting this beautiful place. Packing was not easy as shipping is quite expensive and difficult to do in the Czech Republic. It is very hard to get moving/shipping boxes and with lots of research, I found a storage store to pick up a medium sized box. I also asked around of how to ship my items home and which company to use. Luckily, the post office was right across the street from me, so I went across to estimate how much it would be. Surprisingly, it was inexpensive compared to the well known DHL and UPS shipping services which wanted to charge around $500 for one box! Ouch!
I wasn't sure how "dependable" the Czech post office was so I didnt pack the most valuable things in there. I then cleaned my room thoroughly because Sarka is moving in my room. Man is she lucky, because this room has incredible views and lots of space. I hung out with Mylene and Sarka in the evenings when they got home from work. We opened up Sarka's gift which was a nice sweet bottle of alcohol. We sang karaoke and just enjoyed each others company for as long as we could.
On Tuesday, Mylene and I did out last Taco Tuesday at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Prague, Benditos. They have the best happy hour with buy one get one free margarita and also AMAZING nachos. They were simply amazing and I will miss those when I go home (but I know burritos are my first true love). It is all starting to get surreal that it's all coming to an end. From taking public transportation, not being able to read store signs because they are in Czech, from being amongst Czech people and not understanding what they are saying, and most of all living with the best roommates I will ever have.
It was my last day in Prague and I had lots to do. I closed my bank account, closed my cell phone line, cleaned the apartment, last minute packing/stuffing, closing my gym membership, and most importantly, something I still was not able to do...The Jewish Quarter!
When it was my first day of work back in August, my Mom took a tourist day and walked around the Jewish Quarter. She said it was very interesting and historical. I read all about it know the background and significance of this place.
What makes the Jewish Quarter in Prague so valuable is that it wasn't destroyed. It has the oldest synagogues in Europe and treasures that were not destroyed/stolen. The reason behind this is that Hitler loved the city of Prague. He allowed the Jewish people of Czech Republic to place their valuables there before they were sent off to camps and slaughtered. He wanted this place to be a museum of the extinct religion.
Through the year, I wanted to go see this site but I kept postponing it or it was closed when I did try to go. So my last day in Prague, I had to fit in time to see this place! I arrived in the afternoon when I finished all my errands and took the audio guide self tour. The first synagogue I walked in had thousands of names written that covered every single wall. The tour said these were the names of those murdered in the Holocaust. Around 45,000 Jews from Prague alone were murdered. It's overwhelming and very upsetting reading/seeing all the names. However, it recently was rewritten because when the communist regime took over Prague, they painted over all the names.
I continued my tour through the famous Jewish cemetery which is the oldest tomb stones in Europe. The tombstones are literally stacked so close together and they are all slanted going in every direction and as close as an inch to each other in every direction. There are 12,000 tomb stones but x7 as many bodies in the cemetery. The reason it is so crowded is because of all the fatalities from the Holocaust and respecting their Jewish culture by burying them in the Jewish cemetery. I later saw more old synagogues and original Jewish valuables that were not destroyed.
The Jewish Quarter is a must see in Prague and is educational and historical. You learn how horrible the Holocaust was and to never forget it so it will never happen again.

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