Back to the Good Old Days

Iveta (My 2nd Host Mom) met me at the bus station when I arrived in Trutnov, and we immediately went out for a late lunch at the restaurant where we ate the first day I arrived at their house on exchange. It really was like I was 16 again, and no time had passed at all. It was good to catch up again, and revive my Czech again. It was a lazy evening around the house, doing laundry and catching up with mom and dad on Skype. On Monday Iveta and I met for coffee after I slept in, then I helped her run errands across town. Ivan came home from work in the afternoon, so we caught up as well before I went to Rotary for dinner. It was fantastic to see all of my guys again, especially when most weren't expecting to see me. My 1st and 3rd host dads and my councillor knew I was coming, but the other Rotarians had a place me and all had expressions of surprise. The program for the evening was Karel (my 1st host dad) showing pictures from his trip to Indonesia, plus everyone wanted to hear what I had been up to and what I was doing next. After making more social plans with my other families, I finally returned home for the night. The next morning I puttered around the house until it was time for lunch with my 3rd family back at Hotel Adam. They introduced me to the new secretary, and I heard what they were doing to expand their packaged food catering business. I had helped with English translations in the past, so I was interested in what was going on. The whole family is doing well, with both kids now in college for economics and design. After running a few errands to stock up on more travel supplies, I went back to school and met a friend for coffee. Shirin had been my first real friend at school, so I really wanted to see her. It was hard to coordinate times to see the rest of the class, so it only worked to meet my friend after school. When she had to go home, I went back to the house to get ready for dinner with my 1st family. Karel pulled his normal host routine with cooking dinner and keeping everyone up late chatting and showing pictures from the summer boat trip. The neighboors came over too, after I had run into the wife in the square earlier in the day. The two other Rotary students who are living in Trutnov this year were also there, so I could listen to their perspective and see how much more strict Rotary had become. Misa even remembered me, and we fell back into our old pattern of listening to music and playing computer games together. Karel finally called a taxi for me and the other American student, and we got back to the other side of town a bit past midnight.