The TIMES

Wednesday, May 31 was the day when we were invited to visit the Los Angeles Times. It was a great opportunity to tour The Times, meet and have a discussion with the editors of this newspaper. It was my first time visit of this kind so I learnt a lot from it. The tour itself was very informative, fast and not tiring. At the end of it the editors of the papers joined us and answered all te questions there were. We learnt about their budget, their reporters, readers, how they deal with the other mass media such as the Internet, TV, also how the papers are financed, what they plan for future, etc. Many of their reporters and photographers have won the Pulitzer Price, many of them are still covering the war in Iraq and Afganistan and literally risk their lives to bring the news.

The Times building is in Downtown Los Angeles, very pretty both from the outside and the inside.

The entrance hall with the globe symbolizing the entire world covered in their news........

........and the Eagle, their symbol created by the same person who created Mount Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum.

And this is the place where the editors work. It is a looooooot of work I can tell you. A lot of reading and writing and obviously corrections.

The equipment used back in the days....

This picture became one of the symbols of the war in Iraq. It was obviously taken by one of the LA Times photographers. The mariner himself is now back at home in US. He suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and we were told he used to smoke 6 packets of cigarettes a day. The saddest thing is that the reports from a war are the most valued work for any reporter.

One of the most incredible things and my favourite was this place. It is a test kitchen where they cook different foods and taste wine from all the countries around the world and then write articles about it.

And these are the Pulitzer prizes for LA Times reporters and photographers.

Memorial Day

The very last holiday of this semester. I really enjoyed another "no school" day, especially when you have a longer weekend. Niiiiiiice. I had a little run in the morning (4 days in a row and my legs are killing me now) and after a quick shower we hit the road. There are still a loooooooooot of places to see here in LA and the number of days left gets smaller and smaller every day. Our favourite area along the Sunset Blvd still needs some more exploration I guess. So this time we went to look for houses of celebs who live in this beautiful neighborhood.

The day itself got more adventurous than we had thought. (see the end :-))

Paris Hilton.......

Nicholas Cage........

Eddie Murphy..........

Aaron Spelling.........

and also these "beauties" where we don't know the lucky owners.....
Then on our way back home we passed Los Angeles National Cemetery and thousands of US flags caught our eyes. It looked very pretty so we entered the place and because cars are allowed here, we drove through it and took a closer look. There are war veterans, from the Spanish-American War, World War I and II , Korean War, etc.

And now what the end of this nice day looked like........ I was driving up Sepulveda Blvd when suddenly.......I am stepping on a gas pedal and......N O T H I N G!!!!!!! The car just died in the middle of an intersection. Bummer!!!! I thought: GAS, and it WAS gas. NO gas again, but the fuel gauge still shows half tank. Hmmmmm. OK, next time I have to watch the miles because aparently I can not trust it. Thanks to being a member of AAA, I was able to leave the place after about 30 minutes. The tank was refilled and it cost only 7 dollars, but because it was my third call, it was also the last one FREE. Hopefully the very last one for me.

So this is how the day started......

And this is how it ended......

The Very Last Fulbright Meeting

The meeting started with an informal dinner at Martha Hart's, San Diego Program coordinator. Those dinners are a great thing. There are always people with so many interesting stories from their exchanges, that I would have listened to them for weeks. I am honored to be a part of it, being a member of the Fulbright Family. The dinner itself was delicious and so was the place. Martha's house is on Coronado Island, which is in my opinion the most beautiful place in San Diego area. Beautiful houses again.

The biggest attraction is obviously famous Hotel Del Coronado. It was built at the end of 19th century and it is the largest wooden structure in US, designated a National Historis Landmark in 1977 . It is beautiful and luxurious indeed, especially the inside part in Victorian Style. Reminded me of Titanic a little bit. It has accomodated several presidents, celebrities ( Marilyn Monroe among many others) and is hosting the ghost of famous Kate Morgan. The only disadvantage is that you have to cross Coronado Bay Bridge to get there. For us, who suffer from vertigo, it is a huge sacrifice but it is worth doing it.
On Saturday morning I left Denisa and Adela at the hotel and drove to the meeting site. There were about 20 people. Alumni, international teachers and Americans going on exchange next year. For me it was a wrap up meeting as I am done in 5 weeks of school. Personally I can not believe it. The first meeting we had in September when everything was new seems just a few months ago. There I wished to know what the year would be like and I pictured what it would be like to be an alumni one day. And now here it is. I was able to give advice about my exchange to the people going for their first time. I realized that I had experienced so much during the year and it is really one of the best years of my life. The fact that my exchange with Ms. Moton is exceptional makes me happy. And as I said at the meeting, this is just the beginning, right Ky? The exchange has definitely changed both my personal and professional life and it put me somehow I believe forward and my goal is to move from that point furthermore.

This is Martha Hart and Michael Kuban from the US State Department.

Wild Animal Park in San Diego

As my exchange stay is approaching its end, I am about to attend the last Fulbright meeting down in San Diego. It takes place on Saturday May,20 in SDEA center. I took the liberty of taking a day off on Friday before the meeting to visit the Wild Animal Park here in San Diego - Escondido. We were told that this park is the best of its kind in the world and that it was a must for us to visit it. The weather was really awesome and made the visit even more enjoyable. Everything here is very well planned and organized so all the visitors have a chance to see all the animals and attractions the park offers. The best thing here is the Wgasa Bush Line Railway, where you board a train that takes you all around the entire park. The journey takes 45 minutes and includes an expert description of the park, its animals and history.

The park has a rhino as its symbol because they have bred incredible 90 rhinos over 34 years here.

The park features: an Elephant show..........
......Petting Kraal
......Balloon Safari
......and much more.......

Oh and this is fun. One can stay there overnight, having the feeling of sleeping in Africa. They call it "Roar and Snore"

You have a chance to sleep right next to this "King of Animals"

Do shoes have something like "shoe heaven"???

My new pair of tennis shoes!!!!! Andy Roddick Reebok......isn't that beautiful?

My old NIKE going into retirement. We have gone through many great matches together needless to say.

One aquarium is never enough!

This time we went to the Long Beach Aquarium. It is a little bit different to Camarillo but also very entertaining. Water tanks full of so many different fishes, crabs, jelly fish, etc. You name it we saw it.

Also the area around the Aquarium is very beautiful. Another pretty place in Los Angeles area.

Oh, yeah I was pooped on by parrots. Two I think. In the Czech Republic we consider it lucky when a bird poops on you. I don't know who could have come up with such idea, maybe to calm down the victim, because I did not feel lucky at all. But maybe it was a sign that we will win the lottery at last Ky:-).

San Pedro and Palos Verde

Last Sunday we went on another trip with UCLA scholars and exchange teachers. This time it was to San Pedro to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, which is a non-profit public aquarium/museum dedicated to promoting knowledge and awareness of the marine life of Southern California. The guided tour there was excellent and I wished we could have learnt more. A lot of interesting facts and information about the marine life of Southern California.

A touch tank was great. An opportunity to touch sea stars. Yuk!

Activities for children EVERYWHERE of course. It is a must.

Then all the participants enjoyed a small snack right on the beach.

After that we continued to Palos Verde (green trees), where we hiked and also had a guided tour about the flora and fauna of this beautiful area. The beach there was just gorgeous.
Well, some people hiked, some..............DID NOT!!!

On the way to the beach we had to pass Donald Trump's Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verde where there was a Michael Douglas & Friends tournament. Among the players were actress Heather Locklear, actor Martin Sheen and actor Samuel L. Jackson. Unfortunatelly we did not see anybody famous.

After our 2 hour hike we got back on our bus and went to our host's house where they prepared a delicious dinner. We had a chance to talk to our English friends Jef and Ann Fox again. It was a very nice day and I bet all the people enjoyed it as much as we did. California is indeed a very beautiful place.