Lessons from the Czech Republic

1. We are a little challenged in the directions department
   
2. Czech children are adorable
   
3. Not speaking Czech is highly inconvenient
   
4. If you're ever in Nove Mesto, try the apple turnovers
   
5. Hold onto your clips!
   
6. The other teams are out to get you...just kidding...but not really...
   

So lessons learned from todays adentures...first off. As a group Tara, Carly, Ray, Sean, and I don't have the best sense of direction. In our defence Nove Mesto is not the simplest of places to get around, in fact, it's damn near impossible if you don't speak Czech (see point c). We were on a mission to find a bakery we had seen on all our trips to the range. We must have gone in 6 different (wrong) directions before someone noticed a familiar landmark and we headed in the right direction. The bright side to this adventure is, we got to see a lot of cool stuff we probably would not have otherwise seen. We did eventually find the bakery (it was closed) and we will definitely be going back there.

Did I mention that Czech children are adorable? Today while we were jogging (and by jogging I clearly mean walking) we kept passing people, and kept being passed by people in cars. Everyone just stared at us continuously. It was as if we were from another planet. Admittedly when you are dressed head to toe in USA team gear, you don't blend in, but this was as if we had a neon sign about our heads that said "foreigner!" We were honked at by numerous cars as they passed us, and we would watch people stare as they passed. The children were my favourites. They would make no effort to look like they weren't staring, their jaws would just drop. At one point a boy, probably about 12, passed us and turned and yelled "I love you!" as he passed. I'm fairly sure that was almost all the English he knew. We all immediately started giggling, and I turn around to wave to him. I wish we had something American to give him, even a little flag. I know when I was little that I would have been super pumped if someone had given me something.

As I mentioned earlier, not speaking Czech is highly inconvenient. Carly has a nut allergy and she carries around a slip of paper that says "I'm allergic to nuts" in Czech. She gave it to the cashier in the market in an attempt to find out if the treat she was buying had nuts in it. This was a complete fail. The woman just looked at us with a confused look on her face. After numerous people tried to figure out what she was asking, a young man helped her out. Carly got her treat and everything was ok. This combined with our inability to ask for directions has been a bit of a pain in the butt.

Ok, despite striking out at the bakery, we walked into the grocery store to find a great bakery section. My teammate and I split an apple turnover and it was fantastic. Just saying, it was totally worth the calories that I will have to carry up the hill with me tomorrow.

Don't drop your clip. This is a just a little lesson that Kelly learned on the range today. She dropped her full clip down the range today during the race. She had to get an official to grab the clip for her. So that's a lesson for us: No Dropping Clips!

Finally, not even kidding, the Czech team is trying to kill us. We were walking back from town, and we heard a honk right behind us. We turned to look just as the Czech team blew by us in their van. They passed us so closely that Carly had to move out of the way. They waved as they passed, but we're still convinced they are out to get us.

Tomorrow is the second race of the Czech Cup and my first race since I got here. Hopefully I don't wake up unable to breathe again. I'll let you know how it goes!