Ohio 008 na Blog.cz

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On a rainy Wednesday evening, the whole bunch of us went to a nice dinner in a fancy restaurant named Amish Door in Wooster. There were Kelly's parents - Tom and Sheila, Dorothy, Ryan, Kelly, Trent and Cole, and the six of us. It is really unique how our employer's family treats us!

After the dinner we left to Burton. It was a cold, wet and cloudy night, a little bit depressing, though I was looking forward to five days we were going to spend at one of the most beautiful fairgrounds. Geauga County Fair likes to be called Great Geauga County Fair, because more than 200 food trailers, lots of rides and a great number of various animal barns make it really humungous. My favorite place at this fair is Natural Resources Area. You need to walk quite far, almost out of the fairgrounds to get there, that's why some people don't know about that place at all.

There was a party in a "Polish camper" (as I call the camper where Polish girls who work for Mr. K stay), which I didn't participate. Actually, there were at least two of them; one on the very first evening and the other one on Friday night. On Thursday hot afternoon I ran 5 miles on a horse track, but it didn't feel very good since I ate a big lunch just a while before that. When Ryan asked me if I was going to participate Saturday's morning race I was hesitating. Its start was scheduled for quite early morning plus somebody told me the "admission" was some 25 dollars, which was quite a lot for me. On Friday afternoon I told Ryan I wasn't going to participate due to the reasons mentioned above. But then Tereza encouraged me not to miss such an opportunity, such a challenge, and I realized that for the peace of my soul, for satisfying my desire for competition, I just have to participate, no matter what it would cost me. I felt kind of nervous when I was still awake at 3 am and finally got asleep about 3.30. My alarm clock went off at 6.08 and I got up soon after that. It was chilling outside. I ran around the fairgrounds to warm myself up. I had a breakfast in a dining room where I met a nice lady who remembered her former Hungarian student and pictures from all over Europe she got from him. Then I ran again, changed into my running outfit, and did some exercises. At 7.50 Ryan got out of his camper and led me to the place of start, which was Geauga YMCA building less than 10 minutes of walking far away. I was quite surprised when I saw all those sporty looking people - kids, teenagers and youngsters as well as their parents and also an older generation - in perfect expensive outfits, shiny brand new running shoes etc. Ryan told me not to be scared. He experienced this "Am I at the right place here?" feeling last year. Many of other competitors had T-shirts suggesting what races they had participated before. As I said - scary. We registered, received traditional yellow "The race at the fair" T-shirts and personal numbers. I ran several little laps around, stretched, and talked a bit to a girl who was stretching at the same bench. All runners who wanted to do the 5 mi race gathered at 8.30 on a big parking lot. After singing the American anthem we clapped our hands and moved to the start line. Last deep breath in, encouraging words from my boss, some advice about the tactics, countdown, and RUN! I didn't start crazily fast, but though I was surprised how relatively slow everybody (except several top runners in the very front) ran. Before the race I heard many people saying excitedly how hilly and demanding the route would be. Well, there were hills, but none of them comparable to the way from Jicin to Prachov :-) I tried to keep the speed, just gradually accelerate a bit. Take it easy, Kate. The weather was perfect. Warm sunny morning and peaceful countryside all around. After a while we passed a "1" sign (which I considered a "1 K" sign, due to previous talks with Ryan who somehow messed kilometers and miles last year) where some runners took a drink. Funny. I just ran and ran, enjoyed the motion, enjoyed the countryside, enjoyed running over other girls and some boys and men as well. Every other minute, I checked how far in front of me I could see Ryan's grey T-shirt, because I knew I should have been able to keep up with him on 5 mi distance. Besides him, I tried to keep up with some other guys too, and finally possibly run over them. When we were between "3" and "4" sign, we got to the place which I knew from my Monday morning run - Farview Farm. I was kind of confused by the time, because we must have been either pretty slow for running just 4 K, or pretty quick for running over 3 mi. So far I had saved my energy for four more kilometers, but I started hesitating whether we were really just in half of the race. I knew how far (actually close) from the fairgrounds we were. If there was no "detour" in the race's route, it was high time to accelerate and perform as great finish as possible. I eventually started running really fast and ran over one guy after the other. They looked a bit surprised as they panted up the hill. After a while I reached Ryan. I wanted to ask him whether we were really just one mile from the finish, but as soon as I started the question he goes "Yes, Kate. Go ahead! If you can, just go ahead and run!" And so I accelerated again, excited and enjoying running every meter. When I entered the final lap on a horse track I saw a girl running in front of me. Obviously, it was a great challenge for me. I needed to run over her. I just had to beat her. And so I did. I ran through the finish line 38 minutes and 27 seconds after I started 5 mi ago. It was just wonderfu!! :-)

Despite its name Richland County is a poor area focused almost solely on agriculture. When you are coming to Mansfield you can see famous Shawshank prison just a couple miles far from the highway. Right by the fairgrounds you drive along a unique road whose lanes are divided in the middle by a row of electric pools. The fairgrounds are quite large with an asphalt surface among trailers but campgrounds are very dusty and so are paths among various barns. When you go to restrooms in the early morning you can already see kids showering their cows, horses and other animals like donkeys, sheep or goats. Most people wear jeans and high leather shoes with spurs or wellingtons so that they can walk in mud and step in dung. I went running around the fairgrounds several times but the adjacent roads don't lead to any special places so then I went running on a horse track because there I can count how far I ran quite exactly. On Tuesday I made 6 miles in an hour, which encouraged me to more training and gave kind of promise that I might be able to run that 5-mile-long contest in a harder terrain.

Richland County Fair isn't very busy. Pavel worked in Shave Ice, Dorothy in Gyros and the rest of us mostly in Lemonades, rotating around. I usually worked in Gyros No. 1 and then moved to help Dorothy when Uncle Jim and his wife Betty came at 5 pm. Do you remember these people from last year? Jim Kiplinger is an uncle of Kelly's father Tom Linn. Both Betty and Jim are about 81 years old but still in quite a good shape. They still want to work at least several hours at their favorite fairs, but sometimes their slowness drive people who work with them crazy. They waste time talking friendly to every other customer while there is a long line forming in front of the trailer, which is nice but inappropriate in busy hours. Besides that they are partly deaf and so fragile that you can't move around as quickly as you would like to because you don't want to hurt them accidentally. They are family members so it's not easy to reject their excitement for working, but on the other hand it's the highest time they realized that this rush should be handled by someone else - for their own good.

Ryan couldn't stand this fair's slowness so he kept escaping home almost every day. Kelly brought boys a couple times and, of course, I had to take Trent to see animals and rides. This year I took little Cole as well, which was quite sweet. He has grown so much in last ten months. He keeps watching every little detail of the world - every person he meets, every new thing he sees, every new word he hears… In his special thoughtful silence he looks like if he was judging every single perception, thinking how stupid some people behave etc. He tries to learn everything that Trent can do, which means a lot since Trent is a very smart and talented kid. If you heard Trent talking to unknown adult people you would never say he is only 3 years old.

Mansfield was also the place where we met Mr. K's crew. Last year we met several Polish guys that worked for him. This year just Karola came back but she brought three other Polish girls with her. Same like last year we invited these guys to party with us on Tuesday evening. Also other evenings passed in kind of party mood - watching movies etc. Compared to last year the weather was much more balanced - no hurricanes, no 110 degrees, no muddy floods.

Omlouvam se vsem, kteri sem jeste obcas zabloudi s umyslem docist se neco noveho o tom, jak jde zivot v Ohiu. Stale se nic nemeni na tom, ze se mame skvele a krom funkcniho pripojeni k internetu (a mne k mobilu) nam nic nechybi. Uz jsem si ale sezeni u pocitace natolik odvykla, ze ani kdyz na tomto fairu (Holmes County Fair) je moznost zachytit wifi signal, nevyuzivam toho (az ted na chvili), protoze mi prijde skoda sedet nekde zalezla s notebookem, kdyz muzu byt bud venku na slunicku, cist si nebo behat (coz jsem tady v Americe zase zacala pravidelne provozovat) nebo pak vecer po praci jsem rada, ze se s ostatnimi sejdeme v camperu, popovidame, obcas mrkneme na nejaky filmecek a tak.. Zkratka letos je to tak skvele, ze mi prijde, ze bych se ochudila o spoustu zazitku, kdybych misto toho travila hodiny jejich popisovanim.. Radsi toho chci vic prozit a pak o tom treba vypravet az zpetne, az budu doma.. (beztak se mnou v rijnu nebude moc rec, protoze budu krom nevyhnutelnych skolnich povinnosti akorat sedet u pocitace, tridit fotky a psat si s lidmi, kteri made my summer).
Takze jeste jednou sorry, ale k pocitaci me do pulky rijna jen tak neco nepritahne. Uzivam si to odlouceni od komunikacnich vymozenosti s necekanych klidem. Neverili byste, kolik volna tim clovek ziska. V sedivych podzimnich dnech pak nejspis zacnu sve slunne vzpominky sazet do pismenek.. Do te doby se mejte hezky :-)

Zatím částečně neúspěšně nahrané a neupravené a neokomentované atd..

V sobotu 19. července jsme to před půlnocí zabalili na Franklin County Fairu a rozjeli se do všech možných stran. Peťo, Mike a Tomáš odjeli s limonádou do Woosteru a ráno kolem šesté pak z Akronu odletěli na krátkou dovolenou na Miami.

Franklin County Fair was the first one of about ten fairs where we are going to be this summer. Two days ago Peter, Mike and Tomas flew to Miami and left me, Tereza and Pavel at Knox County Fair, which takes place in a nice town of Mt. Vernon. However, let's go back to last week...

Now let me say a few words about our crew that consists of six people: three Czechs and three Slovaks.

Still in New York...

Endlich!! Po dlouhatánské době bez internetu jsem se dnes dostala na wi-fi v jedné kavárně, tak jsem konečně můžu aspoň takhle narychlo šoupnout všechno, co jsem stihla napsat za uplynulé dva týdny. Fotky budou muset bohužel ještě počkat, ačkoli jsou jistě to hlavní, co vás bude zajímat. Sorry. Ale i když se na nějakém webovém albu objeví možná až za dlouho, věřte, že budou stát za to :-) Jo a omlouvám se, pokud někomu bude vadit angličtina. Nějak se stalo, že jsem to holt takhle napsala..

Předem se omlouvám, že jsme se neozvaly přímo z New Yorku, ale nebylo to možné. Ani teď není moc času na psaní, natož na zpracování fotek, kterých je několik set. Většina z nich si zaslouží někde zveřejnit, a tak po vzoru Pavla pro tyto účely použiji Picassa web. Zítra ovšem odjíždíme na Franklin County Fair a z něj pak za týden rovnou do Mt. Vernon, takže není vyloučeno, že se na internet dlouho nedostanu a na fotky budete muset ještě chvíli počkat. Doufám, že je pak o to víc oceníte! Navíc je tu už zase půl třetí ráno, měla bych jít spát, takže jsem zatím stihla popsat jen první den v NY. Zbytek příště, vydržte :-) Každopádně si buďte jisti, že to byl naprosto dokonalý výlet! :-)

Tak to bylo ve středu nakonec trochu jinak. Celé odpoledne silně pršelo, a tak Ryan rozhodl, že nemá cenu v Orrville otvírat. První pracovní den se tedy posunul až na včera. Ve středu jsme jen tak zevlovali, kokoukali na filmy, hráli poker a tak podobně. A taky jsme ještě zajeli koupit pár drobností, což byla skvělá příležitost k tomu zase si trochu procvičit řízení. Teď nás to všechny baví tolik, že se asi brzy o místo za volantem budeme hádat :-)
Včera v 8.30 jsme se složení Ryan, Pavel, Terka a já vyrazili do Loudonville, později dorazila ještě Sheila (Kellyina maminka) s Mikem (Ryanovým tatínkem). Různě jsme se střídali mezi gyrosem, limonádou a shaved icem; já jsem většinu času strávila v gyrosu, který je mi tak nějak nejbližší (přece jen jsem v něm loni strávila tak 10 týdnů ze 13). Terka byla naopak většinu času v limonádě s Mikem, který ji jednak vybavil tisícem rad co a jak udělat, ale také se myslím i době bavili, protože vždy, když jsem tam přišla, byla Terka dost vysmátá :-) Na podiu uprostřed "náměstí" odpoledne vystupovaly "děti" z nějakého hudebního kroužku - dvě výborné zpěvačky a kluk, co hrál na saxofon. Mohlo jim být tak 15 a byli opravdu velmi talentovaní, zvlášť ta druhá holka měla úžasný hlas. Kvůli večernímu ohňostroji (který byl opravdu velkolepý a trval dobrých 30 minut) jsme tam byli až do 22.30, ale dalo se to, protože jsme přes den měli pauzy a i mimo ně jsme často jen tak seděli, povídali a čekali, až lidi dostanou hlad :-)
Dneska ráno odjeli všichni opět do Loudonville. Já jsem ještě doma, za chvíli vyrazíme s Kelly do Orrville. Vstávala jsem ale skoro stejně brzo jako ostatní, protože jsem ještě potřebovala zajet pro benzín. Poprvé jsem tu někam jela autem úplně sama. Byly to sice jen asi dvě míle rovně po silnici, ale i tak to byl fajn pocit - taková independence (když už jsme ji včera oslavili :-). Dneska bude pracovní den dlouhý a zítra ráno odlétáme s Terkou z Akronu na 4denní výlet do New Yorku. Tak na nás myslete, ať se tam úspěšně dopravíme, ať ten kus papíru vytisknutého z mailu opravdu funguje jako letenka, ať se rezervace hostelu ukáže jako platná, ať se nám tam nic nestane a ať se ve středu zase úspěšně dopravíme zpátky.
Mějte se pěkně, pokusíme se z toho NY ozvat.

Stěží se tomu dá věřit, ale je to tak. Přiletěly jsme včera dopoledne. Jsme tu jen necelých 24 hodin, zdá se to ovšem jako mnohem delší, těžko odhadnutelná doba.

Slovní popis následuje obrazová dokumentace. Předesílám ovšem, že jsem fotky nikterak neupravovala, takže jejich umělecká hodnota je zcela mizivá, mají pouze informovat.

Mám v hlavě asi tisíc zážitků z naší úžasné cesty a ani pořádně nevím, čím začít.

Úspěšně jsme prošli byrokratickým martýriem a ať už teď ve škole dopadneme jakkoli, se začátkem července začíná naše dlouho očekávané léto za oceánem. Kluci (Pavel, Aleš a jeho kamarád Peter) letí 30. června, já s Terkou o den později následovně:

a za nějakou dobu pak zase zpátky:

Kdybyste mi náhodou během léta chtěli poslat pohled nebo dopis, tak rozhodně můžete! Loni mi tam z Čech asi dva přišly :-) Případnou papírovou korespondenci směřujte na známou adresu

ať už ses sem dostal cíleně či zcela náhodou. Na tomto blogu je k přečtení většina z toho, co jsem během léta napsala domů své rodině a kamarádům. Jde o osobní postřehy z Ohia týkající se mé práce a nejrůznějších zážitků. Hodně jsem taky psala o lidech, kteří se mi (nejen) na ty tři měsíce stali velmi blízcí. Chceš-li vidět fotky, stačí vždy kliknout na "Celý článek" a pod textem jich obvykle najdeš deset až dvacet, ilustrujících dané časové období. Budeš-li mít chuť, neboj se zanechat nějaký komentář, ať už k fotkám či k obsahu mých zdlouhavých grafomanských výlevů :-) Všechny komentáře jsou pro mě zajímavé, nezáleží na tom, k jak starému příspěvku budou.
Během roku budu psát zas jen na svůj "normální blog" a sem se snad, pokud všechno vyjde tak, jak bych si přála, vrátím na začátku července 2008 :-) Přeji hezký den.