It has been just over two months since Rotary exchange student Vincent Jakl arrived in Drumheller from the Czech Republic, and there’s a few things he’s noticed about Canada: Canadians are definitely nice but not as nice as the internet would have you believe, football is awesome, and Canadians love to put gravy on just about anything.
Jakl, 17, has attended Drumheller Valley Secondary School since September. On the flight he wore his winter jacket because everyone knows Canada is cold, but when he got here during the August heat wave he was surprised.
He comes from Prague, his country’s biggest city, but he has enjoyed the switch to small town life.
“My host mom Tracy (Kakuk) knows everyone around which is great – if I want to do something she knows who does what,” he says. “One thing that was a big impression was everything is bigger here. Everything is bulk in the shops, most people have trucks, which makes sense here because you have so much space.”
He’s been finding his place at school, enjoying the classes, which he says are pretty easy because he had already learned most of the content in school back home, and the Titans organization has welcomed him into their fold where he’s made friendships and connections.
“Just to play a team sport is a big difference for me and I enjoy it with the Titans and the guys there are where I experienced Canadian niceness. Everyone was so welcoming, I’ve never played before and they were really patient with me.”
It’s good he started playing football because he says Canadian food has caused him to pack on a few pounds since he got off a Czech diet. As he eats a donut at Tim Hortons he says he notices we eat out a lot more and often choose fast food when we do, whereas back home it’s unusual to eat take out and Czechs prefer to cook meals at home.
“It’s different but it’s great here. There’s a lot of candies here – and pudding, it’s so good. When I posted a photo on Instagram, people were like, ‘what’s that - it looks really weird.’ And Canadians like to put a lot of stuff with gravy. This isn’t even a big thing in the U.S. but they just put gravy with everything here.”
At the end of the school year he hopes to take the diploma examinations, but when he returns home he’ll have to go through two more years of school, one to make up for missing this year and another because Czech students go to grade school for 13 years. He’s planning on attending university there but is already thinking about returning to Canada sometime in his life. He’s really enjoying living here and thanks the Rotary club for giving him the experience.
“It’s great that Rotary does this. I’m happy they took me here to stay with this Rotary club and I mean it was just a good opportunity to take. And, of course, to the host families, it’s great that they take me here. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be here. It was a long year of paperwork but it was worth it.”
