"Klaus není náš prezident!"

(Translation: "Klaus is not our president!")

Yesterday was International Students' Day, an international day in observance of student activism. In most parts of the world this day passes like any other, but not in the Czech Republic. I had never even heard of this day until I came here, but here it has special meaning. International Students' Day was instituted after the Nazis violently put down student demonstrations in 1939, and this day became even more important to the Czechs in that it was student protests on this day in 1989 that sparked the events that led to the Velvet Revolution. We got the day off from school yesterday, and most businesses were closed. As this year marked the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 protests, there were many events, including a recreation of the march. That was the quick summary, because I don't want to bore you, but if you want to read more about the history of what actually happened twenty years ago, the New York Times has a good article here, and they also have a good article detailing the events that were planned that you can find here.

We gathered at the designated place for the march, along with more than 5,000 other people. For about half an hour people spoke and bands played. Luckily for us, there was a family in front of us who spoke Czech, but the father looked American, and a person who we assume was his father was there as well, and he didn't speak Czech. Therefore, the mother and father kept giving brief summaries to the older man of what was being said. It was eavesdropping for educational purposes. Some of their friends showed up as well, and I listened to one man, who looked about forty, explain to the older man in English about how he had been there twenty years ago. Even though I felt really sick and didn't stay for the whole march, it was a good experience. It was fun trying to figure out what all of the protest signs read, because there were lots of them. Many were against the Communist Party in the Czech Republic, but there were also a great deal against the president, Vaclav Klaus, who is widely unpopular here.

I'm off to take a midterm on my one day of school this week! I promise to put up my Berlin pictures and tell you about the dads' trip soon, if they haven't already!