Tabor, Bohemia, Czech Republic
I spent two days in Prague absorbing its beauty. It is an affordable Paris, and with that comes droves of tourists. Food is cheap, buildings are beautiful. I spent a couple of evenings exploring the local gay scene which is thriving, but my ignorance of the Czech language left me struggling to connect with locals. The women here are all absolutely gorgeous and when I went to the local lesbian bar Mahler, I had flashbacks of being at Girl Bar in Los Angeles. Super femme women with lots of "style". Folks were friendly and tried to strike up conversation. I spent much of the rest of my time there writing in Cafes and reading "Ignorance" by Milan Kundera, a fabulous Cyech-French author who wrote "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Sometimes you read a book that is absolutelz spot on about everything in your life at that moment, and that was such a book. Read it if you can.
Dogs are everywhere, cafe's, bars etc. There is a laid back attitude about the Czech people which is totally refreshing. They are not big consumers, not super ambitious, humble and seem to rather enjoy the pleasures of time and simplicity.
I am now in Tabor, one hour south of Prague and am Staying at Cesta (www.cesta.cz), a community arts center opened by two San Franciscans 10 years ago, Chris and Hillary. Both make up the alternative band "SABOT" which has quite a following in the area. CESTA is an old mill, which has a theater and basically is a fairly open communal space where artists from all over the world come to do residencies etc. A one week festival of Japanese culture just finished here in Tabor which Cesta hosted. It included workshops on Tofu making, performance art by visiting Japanese artists, Butoh dance, and Noh like children's theatre by Czech kids from the Northern end of the country. Right now, there are several artists staying at CESTA including a friend of mine from San Francisco, Carolyne "Ryder" Cooley. I didn't know she was going to be here until right before I arrived and noticed her name on the website. Funnily enough she's having the same existential crisis I am having about living in the US at the moment. It feels good to meet someone here who is in the same place.
Hillary and Chris are extraordinary people, true artists with tireless vision. There is no other place like CESTA in the country and for anyone who comes here, it becomes apparent what a truly unique experiment it is and how completely dependent it is on the passion and love of the people who run it. Chris is a professional chef and all the communal meals at CESTA are absolutely amazing. The entire place is about living creatively, learning and experimenting from one another and sharing that with the community of TABOR. It is heaven being around such an environment. There is constant art making, intellectual discussion and for me learning. Nourishment of the soul indeed and I can not help but think how this place is taking away the grey hairs on my head. I think I will be here awhile. Tabor is beautiful, a small town in the center of the beautiful Bohemian countryside and CESTA is located next to one of the most gorgeous rivers I have ever seen, with old abandoned mills draped with vines and flowers. I can see now why this region was the birth place of the great artistic rennaissance of the last century that gave birth to the arts in 20's Paris.
Tonight I will be making folks vegan chocolate cream pie from the tofu made during the tofu workshop, then maybe a screening of some of the videos I have brought along.
That's all for now.
Dogs are everywhere, cafe's, bars etc. There is a laid back attitude about the Czech people which is totally refreshing. They are not big consumers, not super ambitious, humble and seem to rather enjoy the pleasures of time and simplicity.
I am now in Tabor, one hour south of Prague and am Staying at Cesta (www.cesta.cz), a community arts center opened by two San Franciscans 10 years ago, Chris and Hillary. Both make up the alternative band "SABOT" which has quite a following in the area. CESTA is an old mill, which has a theater and basically is a fairly open communal space where artists from all over the world come to do residencies etc. A one week festival of Japanese culture just finished here in Tabor which Cesta hosted. It included workshops on Tofu making, performance art by visiting Japanese artists, Butoh dance, and Noh like children's theatre by Czech kids from the Northern end of the country. Right now, there are several artists staying at CESTA including a friend of mine from San Francisco, Carolyne "Ryder" Cooley. I didn't know she was going to be here until right before I arrived and noticed her name on the website. Funnily enough she's having the same existential crisis I am having about living in the US at the moment. It feels good to meet someone here who is in the same place.
Hillary and Chris are extraordinary people, true artists with tireless vision. There is no other place like CESTA in the country and for anyone who comes here, it becomes apparent what a truly unique experiment it is and how completely dependent it is on the passion and love of the people who run it. Chris is a professional chef and all the communal meals at CESTA are absolutely amazing. The entire place is about living creatively, learning and experimenting from one another and sharing that with the community of TABOR. It is heaven being around such an environment. There is constant art making, intellectual discussion and for me learning. Nourishment of the soul indeed and I can not help but think how this place is taking away the grey hairs on my head. I think I will be here awhile. Tabor is beautiful, a small town in the center of the beautiful Bohemian countryside and CESTA is located next to one of the most gorgeous rivers I have ever seen, with old abandoned mills draped with vines and flowers. I can see now why this region was the birth place of the great artistic rennaissance of the last century that gave birth to the arts in 20's Paris.
Tonight I will be making folks vegan chocolate cream pie from the tofu made during the tofu workshop, then maybe a screening of some of the videos I have brought along.
That's all for now.
posted by Mr. Sophie at 4:24 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Sabrina, I am reading this as well. It reminds me of when I hit my Saturn Return a couple years ago and took off to Europe for a few months... also visiting alternative communities, trying to find gay culture and just plain sightseeing. It really helped me a lot- I came back feeling much more confident and happy and not as insular and alienated as the Mission can make you feel. Anyways, I look forward to reading more of your posts and adventures.
Love, Rana
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