Happy Halloween!

 I know this one is a little late, but I wrote a lovely Halloween post a week or so ago, and my tablet ate it. But I'll try it again. 

First off, they don't celebrate Halloween here. They have a holiday around the first weekend in November called All-Saints Day, which is a lot like our Memorial Day. They go to the cemeteries and decorate the gravestones with flowers and candles in remembrance of their dead. Apparently the cemeteries are very beautiful if you go during this time, but I didn't get the chance, unfortunately. 

Anyway, they use "Halloween" as an excuse to party, and you do see some Halloween-esque decorations out. Some people even carve pumpkins, but it's not common. And of course, there's no trick or treating. Which is sad. (Even if that is kind of a strange tradition...) 

So, as the holidays have been approaching, we've all been feeling a little farther from home. Everything is just so different here, and its hard to know that your family is doing the things they do every year (minus the hospital trips... We don't do that every year)... without you. So, when a friend from my branch invited Charlie (a friend from Oklahoma) and I to carve pumpkins, we jumped on that! There were a couple awesome things about this. 

First, we got to carve pumpkins! That alone was wonderful. And so much fun. Mine turned out fantastically, by the way. 

Secondly, we went to Vilém's family's house, a little ways outside of Brno. I loved this. Being here in the Czech Republic has been my first experience living away from home, and it has been a very large adjustment. So basically, being in a real home did wonders for my emotional health. It was just so close to what I'm used to: real people live there, work there, play there. It wasn't perfectly clean, there were family pictures on the walls and drawings on the fridge. It was a home. Complete with a little brother who may seem obnoxious to the family member, but who everyone else thinks is adorable. (Seriously, he was so fun. Even if we didn't speak the same language. Also, he and I dominated at table football. Just saying.)

Just being there, soaking up the feeling, was something that I had needed. 

 

 Thirdly, I learned how to make fried cheese. Enough said. 

 The second part of my Halloween was a YSA activity during that weekend. When they have large YSA activities here, it includes all the young single adults in the Czech Republic. And everyone knows everyone else, they're all very good friends. When I went on the temple trip to Switzerland, I met a few of them, and now I have friends from all over the Czech Republic! It was a really fun activity; we had get to know you games, a service activity, food, a fireside, and a dance (they love dancing here). Everyone was very nice, and I'm so thankful for the friendships that I've made. I have come to appreciate every effort that people make to help me feel included. For someone surrounded by a language they don't understand, a culture they didn't grow up in, and a million miles from home, a smile really is universal. And it goes a very long way. 

Mikulov

Going to Mikulov was really the first experience I've had here where I could see why people fall in love with Europe. Up until now it's been city after city, packed with tourists and buildings and trams and smoke. Which has its own charm, true, and cities are amazing things to see. But for a girl who grew up in rural Cache Valley, surrounded by mountains and fields and cows and space, it's not home. Mikulov, and Southern Moravia in general, spoke to me because it's so much more real. Real people work there, live there, raise families there. And it's beautiful. 

Mikulov is about 45 minutes from Brno by bus, and right on the border between the Czech Republic and Austria. From the hills, you can see into Austria, it's that close. The Southern Moravian region is known for its grapes and wine making (vinification), so the whole area is rich with vineyards. 

The castle (which is now a museum because the inside has been destroyed by fire twice) is surrounded by beautiful gardens, including rose gardens that are probably breathtaking in the summer. We made do with the brilliantly colored Autumn leaves. 

I went with two girls, Ivona and Ivana. Mikulov is Ivona's hometown, and she worked as a guide in the castle for several years, so we got all the insider information. Also free entry to a lot of places. Like the wine cellar. 

You can hike up the hill near Mikulov, and it has a gorgeous view of the city and surrounding regions. It helped that it was a beautiful day, and the sun was shining for the first time in a week. 

All in all, the trip was wonderful. It was only a day, but it was perfect, and just what I needed to be reminded that maybe I can love this place after all.