Another Busy Week Full of All Things Czech!

Well I thought after the festival things would slow down a bit. I was wrong. :) I tried to surprise my mom for Mothers Day and take her to the Blue River Lodge to hear Brad Husak (my accordion teacher) and band play. Well as usual she ruined it. HEHE! She started asking about when he was playing next etc and so I had to tell her what the plan was because otherwise she would have made the same plan. I ended up getting a group of 10 people to head out there. It was fun to hear them play and now I finally know where to go next time he plays there.

Monday night I tried to go to Brentwood to sing with the Choraliers. I say TRIED because I got lost on the way there. I didn't get off work until 7pm which was when they started singing. I quickly got dressed in the bathroom at work on my 15 min break and was ready to head that way as soon as I got off work. When I finally found the place, I walked in as they were singing their last song. Don Daniels introduced me and asked me to talk a bit about myself so I had the opportunity to explain a little bit about myself and what I had planned. Then they were kind enough to sing one more song so I could join in. We sang The Blue Skirt Waltz which was fun for me because that is the song I am singing at the state pageant. I stuck around for a while after singing to introduce myself to some of the residents and then headed home to get prepared for Tuesday.

Today I had my first presentation at an elementary school. This is one of my favorite things to do because I get to interact with children. It's always fun to hear the questions they ask when I open up the floor for Q&A. I spoke about my family and the stories I have about each of the different families coming to the US. I showed them where the Czech Republic is on the US map and showed them where Wilber is on the Nebraska map. The teachers asked me several questions about my kroj and how I became the Lincoln Czech-Slovak Queen. They asked what subjects in school have helped me to be queen. Then the kids started to ask questions. Some of their questions were what my favorite part of being Czech is and how long it takes to make a kroj. Then they asked me to play my accordion and sing. Well I'm not great at the accordion yet so I can't do both at the same time. I played a song on the accordion (and didn't mess up might I add!) Then to help me to not be nervous they sang me a song. They sang Beautiful Nebraska and did a wonderful job! They sounded great! Then I sang a song for them acapella because I didn't think to bring any music. Last but not least they had a birthday in the room so she got to come stand by me and the whole group sang to her. We took a few pictures and they were about done with their day and I had to come back to work. I had a ton of fun and look forward to going back to Morley in the future!

Well, I have 2 more fun and exciting things coming up so I'll update post later on in the week! :)

Na Shledanou
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Lincoln Czech-Slovak Queen