alice

On Sunday, I went to the Texas Czech Heritage Center, which is located in La Grange, a small town — even though Wikipedia calls it “a city” — to give my presentation, and here is my little review.

First of all, I would like to apologize for not having more pictures to share with you, but I am seriously missing a professional photographer on my travels. As well as a hairdresser and a make-up artist. I think I will hire these people pretty soon, as my mission here is getting more serious. 🙂

I wasn’t particularly nervous until I saw the room where I was supposed to talk: a huge fancy room with a high ceiling, a beautiful chandelier and quite a few round tables. To put it simply: very festive. Good luck, Alice, I said to myself. Meanwhile, the first people were trickling in. “I recognize you from the picture I saw in the newspaper,” one man told me. We chatted for a little while and I learned he had come from Houston just to listen to me. Houston is actually around a ninety-minute drive from La Grange, so I truly felt very honored that he decided to come.

More people were coming in and I had to get ready before the start of my presentation. They clipped a small microphone onto me, which made me even more nervous. I don’t like using microphones, do you? The hall was now full and I couldn’t see a single free seat. People did come to see me, which is still a bit unbelievable to me. Sometimes I don’t know if this whole thing is just a dream. Apparently not.

After a short introduction by Retta Slavík Chandler, the director of the center, it was my turn to speak. I took one deep breath before I started speaking. I was just hoping the microphone would not record my heartbeat. I was nervous. After a few sentences, I calmed down, though. The very first sentences are always crucial to get to know my audience. As usual, I started with some jokes to see what their reactions were. They laughed. Good. We could go on.

Anyway, I spoke briefly about my story, and then I shared with my listeners some interesting points from my thesis — pretty much the same as I had already done in Temple a few days before. Some of the people were indeed attentive because they were taking notes. How important I felt at that moment! 🙂 All in all, we made it to the end, I heard applause and I felt relieved. Or at least for a few seconds. There are always some questions at the end, which can be the tricky part of my presentations because, of course, I don’t know everything. For example, one lady asked me where the first Czech immigrants got yeast to make kolaches. It was such a good question, but I really didn’t know. Fortunately, another lady said they had taken it from the Germans. My favorite question, though, was the one about my last name. They wanted to know what it means. My father would like that question as well. Luňák is a kite, a bird of prey. So you can call me Alice Hawk. Pretty cool, I know. 🙂

Looking back, I have to say I enjoyed every minute of speaking there. Yes, I was nervous, but when people came up to me afterwards to say, “It was wonderful,” “Thank you,” “Please do come to see us here again soon,” or “I will definitely read your thesis,” I realized that my work was not useless, and that is the best feeling ever.