Czech this out!
My boyfriend's cousin, Franky, is visiting for 6 weeks from the Czech Republic. We have been taking him everywhere trying to show him America. Everything, it seems is different. The language, obviously, the food, the culture and the laws.
Frenky explained to us, in his broken English, that in Czezh, he drinks a lot. All the time. He told us he could drink 5 bottles of wine and a bottle of Vodka in a day. We did not believe him. The concept of drinking from the age you could lift a glass is foreign to us. He also told us that in Czech, he smokes marijuana everyday, that he even grows it in a field by their house. Apparently, it's not illegal to possess it or grow it, but it is illegal to sell it. So when he says, "we smoke here?" He always seems sad when we have to remind him tat its illegal in America.
Drinking, as I said, is also a problem for Franky since he is eighteen years old. On Saturday night, we had a small party with just 9 of us a 5 gallon keg and two bottles of hard alcohol. The drinking started in the early evening and by eight o'clock, those who had planned on being drunk were. (I'm 21, but have never much cared for the idea of drinking so much I'm sick, so I prefer not to drink so much.) Franky, however, who had drank as much, if not far more, than anyone else at the party claimed he was not drunk at all. He could still speak clearly and his movements were not clumsy. He still had full control of himself. I was amazed at what he began to call "endurance." Since he kept saying, "He have no endurance. Pussy."
On that note, since he is staying with his two male cousins and their two room mates, he is indeed getting probably a somewhat "typical" idea of how men in America, at this age, might act. From Franky's stories, it sounds very much like how young Czech males act as well. The boys are teaching him some very valuable words as, "hoochie mama," "pussy," "dick," and "clevage." Sometimes I worry about Franky, since his dream, and reason for learning English, is so that he can take over the Country Saloon that his family owns and runs in the Czech Republic.
I have never been a foreign exchange student or gotten to know any either. I have always wanted to travel as a student because I believe I will learn more about culture that way instead of traveling later as just a tourist just taking snapshots of famous buildings I won't remember the names of later. Unortuantely, I am just that: a poor college student. But, I love taking care of Franky, showing him a softer side of America. Tonight he turned to me when we were alone and said, "When I come to America, I uh... I think I have no, uh... friends. But there is you." I smiled as he said, "You are good friend."
Frenky explained to us, in his broken English, that in Czezh, he drinks a lot. All the time. He told us he could drink 5 bottles of wine and a bottle of Vodka in a day. We did not believe him. The concept of drinking from the age you could lift a glass is foreign to us. He also told us that in Czech, he smokes marijuana everyday, that he even grows it in a field by their house. Apparently, it's not illegal to possess it or grow it, but it is illegal to sell it. So when he says, "we smoke here?" He always seems sad when we have to remind him tat its illegal in America.
Drinking, as I said, is also a problem for Franky since he is eighteen years old. On Saturday night, we had a small party with just 9 of us a 5 gallon keg and two bottles of hard alcohol. The drinking started in the early evening and by eight o'clock, those who had planned on being drunk were. (I'm 21, but have never much cared for the idea of drinking so much I'm sick, so I prefer not to drink so much.) Franky, however, who had drank as much, if not far more, than anyone else at the party claimed he was not drunk at all. He could still speak clearly and his movements were not clumsy. He still had full control of himself. I was amazed at what he began to call "endurance." Since he kept saying, "He have no endurance. Pussy."
On that note, since he is staying with his two male cousins and their two room mates, he is indeed getting probably a somewhat "typical" idea of how men in America, at this age, might act. From Franky's stories, it sounds very much like how young Czech males act as well. The boys are teaching him some very valuable words as, "hoochie mama," "pussy," "dick," and "clevage." Sometimes I worry about Franky, since his dream, and reason for learning English, is so that he can take over the Country Saloon that his family owns and runs in the Czech Republic.
I have never been a foreign exchange student or gotten to know any either. I have always wanted to travel as a student because I believe I will learn more about culture that way instead of traveling later as just a tourist just taking snapshots of famous buildings I won't remember the names of later. Unortuantely, I am just that: a poor college student. But, I love taking care of Franky, showing him a softer side of America. Tonight he turned to me when we were alone and said, "When I come to America, I uh... I think I have no, uh... friends. But there is you." I smiled as he said, "You are good friend."
posted by Stephanie @ 11:19 PM
1 Comments:
At 11:30 PM,
Tracy said…
I had the same problem when I hosted a 19-year-old German exchange student. "What do you MEAN we can't drink?!" One thing I found was that in countries where people are allowed to drink younger, it is because they are taught a lot more responsibility. Franky sounds fun.
Post a Comment
<< Home