Beginning of school

Ahoj!
It's already more than a week ago that I've posted something on my blog. So, here I am again to tell you about my daily life in Sokolov.
Every day, school starts at eight o'clock in the morning and ends at 13.30 p.m. So, at that point, I have more free time than in Belgium. Most of the time, I then try to improve Czech language. Yesterday, my host father told me that I had already learned much for the time I have been here 😄. And I must say that I also notice improvement: my family is talking more and more Czech towards me, sometimes I can explain little things in this language and this morning I was looking at a magazine when I realised I understood the first paragraph!  Okay, that's not that much, but it's something to start with.

One of the habits here is that you may not wear shoes in the house. Instead, you must wear slippers or sandals. When you're in the house of someone else, you just don't wear any shoes  (or you take your sandals with you 😆)
Another commun thing is that they have nicknames for everybody.  First, I was a little bit confused when someone told me his or her name and then later,  I heard they were adressed differently.  Well, there are for almost every person two or three ways to say his or her name. Most people call me 'Haničko', but you can also say 'Hanka' or 'Hanni'.

Pupils of my class sometimes ask me if I don't find it boring here, because this village is 'small'. I told them that compared with my hometown in Belgium, it's actually a big city which made them laugh. But it's true, it even felt weird in the beginning to hear cars driving by or people yelling when you are lying in your bed. But still, I think this place has a charm. The more I am here, the more I start to love this place. It has a very cosy square where also the music academic is situated. The school where I am now following piano lessons. When I'm in there, I have the feeling I am dropped in such an old, but beautiful movie.
So, last week, there was a lot to do in Sokolov. There was a fair, the army presenting themselves, a parachute jump,...
Much people were attending the stunts, the presentations, the contests,...
That same evening, my host parents,-who follow lessons salsa with several other people-, were dancing with the rest to show what they have learned. They did it very well! To byla dobra! 😊
The next day, we went to Cheba. It's also a    pretty village. I think the nice thing about these kind of places is that it doesn't look very modernized yet. An ancient look like I've already mentioned a couple of times.

I am almost going for two weeks to school now and yesterday, I had finally found Isabella, the other AFS-girl from Italy. I walked towards her and told her I was Hannah. She recognised me, but didn't know I was also going to this school. We had a little chat about our classes and the language. It was nice to meet someone who had the same difficulties as me with that.

So now, to end my post I wanna say I'm doing fine. It's weird that I now take food and water in a house I barely know. But it goes like this: I'm getting used to my family, this house, the smell of it, my room, the food,...To everything!
Thanks for staying in touch and see you next time!
Hannah (or Hanicko)