14512 well today was rather unexciting, we had to get up for our Czech language class. we learned a few more terms, as well as numbers beyond 10. its a fairly simple system ten-seven, or one-hundred-and-eight. after that we sat in a class with a lady who studied czech culture, specifically music. she was talking about the prevalence of surrealism. she explained that the surrealism was so popular in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet satellites, because they needed in escape, and the absurdity reflected the absurdity of their real life. the art/music helps to portray how ridiculous communism is, the contrast between the ideals and the reality of its implementation. the class also discussed the chata movement. chatas are the czech version of those small cabins out in the country that lots of people have across Europe. the chatas were an escape from the hardness of communist life. the auspices of the communist aparatii werent as prevalent out in the countryside so people could get away, and be free, and relax their facade. this was at the same time as the hippie movement of the 60s and 70s. the best way i can describe it as a sort of bohemian movement, but that term is bad, because this is literally Bohemia... anyways they would go out to their cabin and sing folk songs, and play cowboys and indians. really, they were obsessed with cowboys and indians, as the american west was a symbol of freedom for them (much like it was us). after that many of us, myself included went home to nap. after the nap we tottered off to find food, my roomate sam, a few other guys and myself made our way up the hill to a small place, i had a "hearty bohemian soup, with thickening, in bread loaf" as the menu described. it was quite tasty, i believe i am having one of my infamous sessions of illness, so i only had a small Pilsner (cause it was cheaper than water), no need to put undue stress on my immune system with more alcohol. over dinner we had some interesting conversations. as noted in the title, we ended up on some odd subjects, throughout, the really weird stuff started out while talking about european royalty, specifically the congenital defects caused by incest. the hemophilia, essentially brought in by Queen Victoria, and how it contributed to the end of Imperial Russia and the rise of Communism, and all of its effects, you know, the Cold War n stuff. we got into the Austro-Hungarian inbreeding which ultimately killed them off in the 1700s. then one of us of the anthropology persuasion mentioned that incest and scatophilia are really the only two universally taboo sexual practices. so yeah, now ima read some more of our primary source book for class tomorrow, and hopefully get to sleep early.
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