Ode to my Twenties

As I sit at my computer on the eve of my 30th birthday, I am contemplative. I don't remember slipping into 20 from my teens. Perhaps life was new and fresh and there wasn't much to contemplate. Or perhaps it was my deep desire to leave my teenage angst behind me, and begin "again". But 30 is different. It is an age to look back and reflect on my 20s.

Yes, I was happy to wave good-bye to my teens. It was a time where I had found a few glimmers of a brave world in which I wanted to dwell, but most of the time I lived in suspension waiting for those glimpses. My twenties led me into that world I longed for.

Twenty, 21, 22 and a part of 23 were spent at Ohio University. I can't even type that name without a smile creeping across my lips. I love my alma mater. She taught me to respect, to be open, to tolerate, to question, to reach out. Although there are many professors, friends, classes, jobs and so on that were influential, there are two influences that spring to mind above all else: girls and boys.

These "girls" are the three women that I lived throughout my years at OU. We met on the first day. I still remember sitting in the grass behind Biddle Hall, nervous and expectant. During our four years together we lived a lifetime. Through them I learned to serve and to be served. I learned the art of diplomacy. I learned to compromise, to give and to take. I simply adore these girls. And the "boys" were not romanitic interests, not boyfriends. They were Danish students that became dear friends who created a warm European cocoon in the midst of a Midwest campus and allowed me to feel apart of this European world long before I stepped foot in it. When I was offered the job in Prague it was their resounding "GO!" that gave me that little bit of extra courage to really strike out on my own European adventure.

So, off I went to Central Europe at the age of 23 to teach English. At 24 I backpacked around Europe for nearly 2 months. I saw Italy, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark and England. I found myself in the course of those many many miles, I found a self I'd always hoped had existed. But my poor mother. When I think of those messages I left her once a week from some new city, new land. She must have spent a lot time praying during my travels.

I decided that one year in Prague just wasn't enough. I needed more goulash and more language and more trains and more. So, at 25 I stayed. And one January evening I met a Czech. My Slovak roommate introduced us. This Czech knew where to find a painting that I had been wanting to see. The painting is of an old woman standing on a bridge. I remember standing on the metro platform waiting to meet this Czech. It wasn't about the painting any longer, it was about him.

And so I stayed. I planted my roots in this country in the heart of Europe. I spent my 26th, 27th, 28th, and finally my 29th year in the Czech Republic. I did so much loving and growing and learning and reading and traveling and cooking and meeting and feeling in those years that it would take me longer than a reader would have time for to write it all out. Let's just say that my twenties "lived happily ever after" and I'm looking forward to what this next decade will bring....

Thank you to all who have been with me throughout my twenties, and teens. I appreciate your friendship. The books we've read together. The giggles and smiles, and maybe we've even had some tears. I won't list all your names here. But if you are reading this, then know I was thinking of you as I wrote it. I was thinking of that next cup of tea we'd share and a warm embrace. Thank you.

History Hunting in Žižkov

Twenty years ago this November the world changed. I'm sure in the past month you've been bombarded with images of the Berlin Wall falling, of crowds tinkling keys in Wenceslas Square and Romanians fighting in the streets back in 1989.

Prague did much to commemorate this event. There were outdoor exhibitions, radio and tv programs, newspaper articles. I felt close to this Czechoslovakia I've heard so much about but never actually seen. The country I live in is not that nation that I see in the photos and hear stories about.

And that connection to history is what excited me so much about the newly opened National Memorial on Vítkov Hill. The Memorial was built during the First Republic, in the 1930s, to commemorate the soldiers who fought in World War I. But under the Communist government it was converted to a mausoleum for Communist Leaders. The fate of the Memorial was uncertain in the 90s, but recently extensive renovations have been done and it now exhibits a complete and interactive history of the Czech Republic.

It's a must see for those interested in time travel, because it will open up a portal to the Czech past as you've never seen before.

www.nm.cz/expozice-detail.php?f_id=95

J word

Usually this is my platform to air my travels and experiences. But today I'm turning it over to H. We were both were saddened when we heard about the recent shootings at Ft Hood and our hearts went out to the families. And we also discussed the implication of this on the men and women of Muslim background serving in the army. Our discussion of the backlash came to fruition in various heated and inflammatory remarks found throughout the Facebook community.

Here is H's reaction, as someone looking in from beyond the borders:

Jan Autrata November 10 at 8:26pm

"Reading all your posts makes me feel better. I'm from a country you've never heard before from the middle of the Europe. Our democracy is quite young in comparison to yours, and our constitution was based on western democratic constitutions as yours. It's nice to hear that just not in my country people are ignoring basic human rights, that they are thinking that human beings are not equal and that some religions are better than others. I thought for awhile that we have a long way to go, but I see now that we are already there or even in front of you. Thanks to xenophobic people like you we see that just having democracy for ages is not enough. You need some intelligence to use it as well. You are just like people we fought some sixty years ago. They thought that Jews were not good enough. They thought that Slavic people were not good enough. They were wrong. And that's why I can write this.

But on the another hand, It's so foolish to judge whole community by acts of a sole person. Otherwise we should have put all the Germans in jail, do not let them to live in the free world. We should have to eliminate all white people in the US because some of them were slave owners. But that would be a big mistake. Because most of them are people who are open minded. Who fought for rights and freedom of other countries. Who are not negligent. Who are trying to help other nations, communities to come over their dark present. If you think that by separating them from your lives you make world better you are wrong. You are just going to make gap bigger.....

Just want to let you know that you should read and think what you are going to post before you do that.If anyone wants to talk to me about this I would more than happy, because I don't like other people to think that they are better than anyone else and I would rather talk to people I disagree with than shoot them. I know how is to be treated like person of second class.I'm always treated like this when I go to the US .....

PS: Just want to say that I'm a white male from a country with a Christian past which is even longer than your country's history...."

Jan