Blustery June

june came in all blustery-like. i can’t remember the last time the rain started in the day and rained all night into the morning without stopping. reminds me of my favorite, “winnie the pooh and the blustery day”.

south bohemia really isn’t well equipped to handle this quantity of rainfall. in cesky krumlov the river is starting to flood into the city and transportation problems abound all over the country and in austria. i don’t really bat an eye when thinking about all the rain but then i realize i’m in a place with very different geography, and the water can’t just flow to the sound. i don’t expect it will be too terrible, as the weather in the coming week is looking sunny and warm. we are all ready!

on issues lately with the local gypsies (sinti and roma people)– a very touchy and controversial subject with the czechs, who dislike them because they feel many gypsies do nothing but hang around in parks, beg, steal and don’t try to integrate into society or work. which is of course not always true, but there are always reasons that stereotypes are created. and there really isn’t much for multicultural appreciation or toleration. from what i gather, you are either czech and you belong here and contribute to society…. or you’re a gypsy.

passions came to a high when a couple days ago, it is widely suspected that gypsies stole the beautiful vintage doorknob off of the front of our building. which sad to say, is likely true. coming from america, where we live with people of every different sort of origin, it’s difficult to live in a society where there seems to be a group of people that are “the enemies”. i’ve seen this in berlin, kreuzberg with the turks who feel they are the repressed group and are loathe to integrate in german society…. but this is different. the roma people are sort of refugees– wanted no where with no where to go.