No one really cares to hear about classes though, so on to the good stuff. We missed Easter :( I was actually much more upset about that fact that I realized I would be. We didn't color eggs, but there is an even better tradition here. Apparently there is a pagan tradition of Easter whippings. On Easter Monday the men get to whip women (lightly) on the legs with sticks made from braided willow branches. The sticks used to be made by the men, but now you can buy them just about everywhere. We saw stands all over with these sticks, they were actually very pretty! Outside of the mall we found an old man who was braiding them himself and decorating them with ribbon. Kelly bought two of them to take home for her family. By the time I decided I wanted one I couldn't find a stand. Awesome luck.
Due to the pretty crappy weather Bernice and I chose to stay home on Monday and the report we heard back from the girls who bravely ventured out was that it wasn't nearly as chaotic as we had all hoped. I guess it's more of a family/friends tradition than a go-out-and-whip-every-female-in-sight tradition. I did see a couple men coming in and out of the apartment building across the street from our balcony. To be honest it made me a little nervous. I'm not a big fan of being hit with sticks, even if it's supposed to signify good health for me. I almost forgot the best part! Not only do men hit you with a stick, but you're expected to give them candy (used to be pretty eggs) after they hit you. I can honestly say this is a tradition I wouldn't mind seeing catch on around the States.
If you look closely you can see this is an old man on the tram, he is holding a whipping stick! (This picture was stolen from Jenny who's on the trip with us. Thanks Jenny!)
This wasn't ON Easter, but it is a tree decorated in the Easter market in Prague. The Easter decorations were beautiful there! Everything was bright colors and all about spring! There were also really awesome eggs that stood taller than me. Not real ones!
We went for a walk downtown in the center to see if there was anything happening. I found some shoes on a wire. Gang territory? Drug sales? All possible, it was a pretty sketchy alley that I found them in.
This isn't as clear in such a small picture, but these are the adorable flowers we found in the park. Kelly said they smell wonderful! There are the little blue ones and there are also tiny baby daisies. ADORABLE and very Spring Time!
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