Day 5 – Poděbrady (6th July)

In class today we covered the accusative case, singular and plural. Whilst I’d covered the singular before, the plural was completely new. After our mid-way break, we came back to find out that our usual teacher, Zusanna, had been replaced by another woman, who merely explained that Zusanna had gone somewhere before firing questions at us, machine-gun style.

The question firing was good, as it kept you focused and concentrated, but the way she looked at you when you got something wrong, misunderstood or mispronounced something (my personal bugbear) was horrible. It made you wish the ground would swallow you up. We all agreed afterwards it had felt like the longest lesson we’d had since arriving in the Czech Republic.

At lunch I had smažený championze, literally fried mushrooms. The Czechs fry a lot of their food, including cheese and cauliflower, leading one of Sheffield!Nick’s friends made the statement “I’m Czech. Give me a shoe and I’ll fry it.” 

Later that afternoon we went bowling. I forgot my socks, so had to wear the plastic overshoes you find in hospitals and swimming pools inside my shoes. As S, Sheffield!Nick and I were on one team and Jones and Mike were on the other, we decided to have a Brit!Girls vs Brit!Boys competition, with the team with highest average score winning. Our team started off well, with everyone managing to knock down skittles in the first throw, and because Jones completed missed with his first three goes, we were feeling confident. But then Mike started to get into the game, revealing that he was actually a bowling ninja. Before long he was getting spares, whilst in complete contrast, we were all starting to get zeros. At this point we were starting to regret making the bet, especially as Jones was starting to get points to. In the end, the boys’ average score beat ours by 10 points, 62 to 52. But more than anything, it was great fun.

After bowling, we went to a bar near the Castle where we have our lessons. Once again I tried Czech beer, and once again decided I didn’t like it. It’s not just the taste that puts me off; it’s the smell as well!