I spent the last several days with the other Czech and Slovak Fulbrighters at an orientation (sort of like a retreat) in Velke Bilovice, a small town in southern Moravia. We shared our plans for the time we’ll be here, and those on full-year appointments discussed what they’ve learned and accomplished thus far. The variety of scholarly activities was fascinating, and we heard presentations about everything from biomechanics to poetry, and from linguistics to chemistry. Some of the most interesting presentations, though, were from the people who are teaching high school classes in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. These teachers told of preparation for standardized tests (yes, even over here), pen pal activities between students here and the United States, and the dance given for the graduating class that is in many ways like a senior prom.

We also visited the Knights Templar Winery, where vino has been produced since 1280, although the Knights disappeared from the landscape long ago.  The wines are aged in a cavern-like cellar and we passed row after row of barrels, some with red trim (indicating red wine) and some with green (white wine).

Here’s a picture of a wine barrel that was made to commemorate the 700^th anniversary of the winery and the second photo shows me in front of this barrel, to give a sense of how large it is. The guide told us that it would hold over 22,000 liters of wine!

The next day we visited the nearby Lednice castle, which served as a hunting lodge/chateau for some of the Lichtenstein monarchy. A bit of snow (okay, a bunch of snow...) gave this huge place a beautiful, fairy-tale appearance.

My favorite photo from the interior of the lodge is of this “unsupported” spiral staircase, built from the wood of a single oak tree, according to our guide.

Now that I’m back in Prague, it’s back to work getting ready to teach my course, do some seminar presentations for the faculty at Charles University, and plan my research projects about online learning here in the Czech Republic.  Stay tuned!