It is Wednesday, but it feels like Sunday, because we have no school in honor of St. Wenceslas Day. On this day in 929, Duke Wenceslas was killed by his brother, and then he became the patron saint of Bohemia. In 2000, the government decided today should be St. Wenceslas Feast Day, also known as Czech Statehood Day, but the year 2000 was not very long ago, and no one really seems to care about the holiday yet. So we have no school and the post offices are closed, but that's about all.
Had a good, short week. (I say "had" because it is essentially over now.) Classes Monday were good; history, language, alternative culture. Then yesterday I had a great Kafka/Kundera course, and a fantastic second half of my alternative culture course. Pavla decided to split the class into two groups so we can go to exhibits and shows and pubs and cafes more easily, so we went for a short walk, then ended up at Ebel Cafe in Old Town. We sat around and talked, and Pavla told us about her life, highlights of which include her Fullbright at UC Santa Cruz, meeting her American husband in San Francisco, buying John Lennon's "Imagine" on the Czechoslovakian black market in 1971, studying Robinson Jeffers in Czech, and applying postmodern theory to every day life (hence, cultural studies). She is amazing, and she made me want to be a cultural studies scholar. This might be a bad turn for me. After the cafe, we went to an art exhibit called "The Pope Smokes Dope," which was in the basement of this really cool old building. The exhibit consisted of record albums and concert posters from the 1960s -- not "rare" ones or anything, just standard Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Hendrix, Mitchell, Donovan, etc. Basically, stuff any American could find in a parent's or uncle's record collection. But it was put under glass, guarded by little museum-docent Czech ladies, and set up in a museum. Quite interesting. They missed all of that movement here, and now have to view its "artifacts" in a museum.
Went to the doctor on Monday, and it was quite a good experience. They took me right away, checked my vitals, did some blood test to see if I had a virus or an infection, gave me medicine, swiped my credit card, and I was out the door. The doctor was a really nice, young Czech woman, and she gave me 4 different medicines for my sinus infection -- an antibiotic, 2 decongestants and a nose spray. And it all cost $175, up front. Crazy. So, I am feeling better, but still have opted not to go out yet this week.
I've cooked 3 nights in a row now! Made a good lentil soup on Tuesday, and some pasta last night. It is nice to buy fresh veggies and then just make some combination of them to eat each night. Protein is the difficult part, though, because meat isn't exactly easy or cost-efficient to come by. But lentils and black beans are okay.
Sarah from Pitt is coming in to town today, and I am meeting her at the train station at 1:20. It will be fun to show her around for a few days and hear about her adventures over the past few months. I had thought about going to Budapest this weekend, but I don't think it is going to happen. Maybe another weekend.
Not much else is new. I've been feeling kind of blah this week; I think a lot of people are. A lot of people are sick, and this has been an interesting period of adjustment, since school has really started, and we are all realizing that the vacation is over and now we have to live in Prague for the next 3 months. Stress about various things, travel plans for the fall break being a primary one, and just the trying-to-settle-in thing. I feel like I go in such waves, from being so excited and busy and engaged and pumped up about being here, to just feeling like, okay, let's go to school, do what we're supposed to do, and keep things rolling. But time is going so fast. We have been actually in Prague almost a month now.
So, I'm looking forward to a nice weekend, maybe checking out some photo exhibits or theatre productions, perhaps continuing my quest for the cafe, and doing some reading.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Sunday, September 25, 2005
You're so good to me, and I know it ain't easy. . .
Went to a really funny bar last night called Bar and Books. I thought it was going to be like a used bookstore-combination-bar, but instead, it just had a few books on the walls. It specialized in an amazingly swanky atmosphere, 140kc cocktails, and beautiful waitresses that didn't speak Czech (a first for my time here). A large appeal to expats and otherwise rich tourists, but the atmosphere was great. I had no money, and I am sick, so I opted for a pot of delicious fruit tea, and really enjoyed myself.
Came home relatively early and wanted to read, so I put on my headlamp, so as not to wake Kathryn, and finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being in bed.
Slept in, felt like crap today. Wrote a paper for my alternative cultures class. Made myself get up, shower, and walk down the hill to Tesco. Spent a long, leisurely time wandering around there, buying lots of fresh veggies, Čocotrakny bars, BLACK BEANS (I finally found them here), and some good looking turkey/ham at the deli. The guy behind the counter smiled at my Czech. I spent kind of a lot of money, but I will cook for myself more this week and eat at restaurants less.
Came home and started reading "The Metamorphosis." I'm halfway through, and pretty much what I've gotten is: "Uh oh, I'm a bug. Damn. My boss is here. I should go to work. I'm a bug. My sister brings me food. I don't like milk anymore. I will crawl on the ceiling. I'm a bug."
Just made a delicious dinner. I cooked rice and then fried up garlic, onions, mushrooms and green peppers. I put in this Uncle Ben's "Sweet Thai Chili" sauce that I had bought. It was quite good. It feels good to cook for myself again. Even on a hotplate. I've been listening to a playlist I made at some point in the past called "Jut Made a Delicious Dinner."
I am going to watch a movie, I think, and get to bed for my 8:30 tomorrow. I have class pretty much all day, but I'm hoping to get to the doctor in the afternoon and get some antibiotics for this sinus infection that won't quit.
Came home relatively early and wanted to read, so I put on my headlamp, so as not to wake Kathryn, and finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being in bed.
Slept in, felt like crap today. Wrote a paper for my alternative cultures class. Made myself get up, shower, and walk down the hill to Tesco. Spent a long, leisurely time wandering around there, buying lots of fresh veggies, Čocotrakny bars, BLACK BEANS (I finally found them here), and some good looking turkey/ham at the deli. The guy behind the counter smiled at my Czech. I spent kind of a lot of money, but I will cook for myself more this week and eat at restaurants less.
Came home and started reading "The Metamorphosis." I'm halfway through, and pretty much what I've gotten is: "Uh oh, I'm a bug. Damn. My boss is here. I should go to work. I'm a bug. My sister brings me food. I don't like milk anymore. I will crawl on the ceiling. I'm a bug."
Just made a delicious dinner. I cooked rice and then fried up garlic, onions, mushrooms and green peppers. I put in this Uncle Ben's "Sweet Thai Chili" sauce that I had bought. It was quite good. It feels good to cook for myself again. Even on a hotplate. I've been listening to a playlist I made at some point in the past called "Jut Made a Delicious Dinner."
I am going to watch a movie, I think, and get to bed for my 8:30 tomorrow. I have class pretty much all day, but I'm hoping to get to the doctor in the afternoon and get some antibiotics for this sinus infection that won't quit.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Nebe, Štěstí, and Terezín
My first real weekend in Praha has been a good one.
Went to Nebe for indie rock dance night on Thursday, and actually had a great time. Danced with Tina and Laura, listened to good music, only drank one beer. (I am re-learning moderation.) I stayed out until 3:00. . .by far my latest night. So I must have been having a good time.
Slept in until 1:00 yesterday, missing breakfast at the Kolej for the first time since I've been here. Was pretty much lazy all afternoon; went down to Wenceslas Square to see Štěstí, finally, with Laura, Tina, Megan, Zac and Bryan. It was quite a good film. I am 3 for 3 on my Czech film adventures thus far. The film was deep, had a lot going on, at many levels. A lot darker than American films; perhaps due to American cinema's embracing of the aesthetic of kitch. (I have recently been influenced by Kundera. He says, "Kitch is the absolute denial of shit, in both the literal and the figurative senses of the word; kitch excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence." American cinema denies the existence of shit by making all of its films be void of problems, of shitty life situations of its characters, or else it ties up any problems by the end with a bow and sends audience members home feeling good about themselves. Czech cinema, on the other hand, embraces the shit that is inherent in life for many of its citizens, and makes you leave the theatre with something to hash through.) The film also reminded me a bit of Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, because of its dark, downtrodden aesthetic, and also, I think, because of the role that industrialization, the factory, played in the film. So, these all added to a good film experience.
Interesting cultural observation: the lights don't come on and people don't get up after a movie until all the credits are over -- this, as opposed to in the States, where we jump out of our seats before the last scene even fades out.
Ate Thai food with Zac and Megan after the film, then walked across the Charles Bridge and got Tiramisu gelati at Cream and Dream. It was delicious, all of it.
Got up this morning and went on an ECES trip to Terezín, about 1.5 hours north of Prague. I thought the trip was going to entail mostly hiking, but it entailed mostly hanging out in Terezín, which is a small Czech town turned Jewish ghetto/Nazi concentration camp turned Communist Party Headquarters turned back into a small Czech town. It was quite interesting; we went to a few museums, saw a propaganda film about the city. Essentially, it was an American Indian Reservation situation -- the Nazis appointed this town for the Jews to live in, have as their own, self-govern, etc. But in reality, it was a holding pen for them before they were sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. One museum was dedicated to the thriving intellectual/cultural community that developed in the ghetto, with artifacts and stories from composers, musicians, painters, writers, and thespians that lived there. Pretty eerie, though, to be standing in the middle of a place that was once populated by tens of thousands of deported Jews, most of whom were killed in the Holocaust. Laura and I ventured into this antiques store that had authentic Nazi belts, jackets, and a whole hidden shelf of Nazi medals and pins and whatnot. Pretty creepy. After the Nazis left the CZ, the Party turned the old fortress into a Headquarters for them, and after they left, it turned back into a little town. But it is quite rundown, the buildings are in bad condition, and the whole place kind of stunk, literally. The CZ is apparently worried because they have been having trouble repopulating the place since the end of Communism. I wonder why.
There also happened to be some festival going on in the center of town, something like celebrating Czech heritage. There were kolbasa and candy and wine and beer stands, jewelry, trinkets, and men dancing and women twirling batons. Also, someone had put out their private collection of old army tanks and other miscellaneous vehicles, and at noon, people in army regalia toting guns got in these tanks and trucks and drove them round and round the town square. There were also Czech boy scouts milling about and riding in the trucks. I guess it isn't that different than our 4th Of July celebrations. . .it just felt a little more para-military. (There are some pictures here, more on the Flickr blog. I took a lot of pictures today -- something about this town was quite photogenic.)
At the end of the day, we finally went for our "hike," which was a 1/4 mile slog up a hill to a tower where we could climb up and see a nice view of the surrounding valley. I was really craving a good hike, so I found a side trail and hiked on that for a bit, smelled the wilderness, enjoyed the singletrack, but I didn't want to get left behind, so it didn't last long.
I was going to stay in tonight and read, but I think my friends have convinced me to check out a wine bar/book shop with them. That shouldn't be too taxing for me, and will probably be fun and cool and something new. And I can sleep in if I want to tomorrow. .
Went to Nebe for indie rock dance night on Thursday, and actually had a great time. Danced with Tina and Laura, listened to good music, only drank one beer. (I am re-learning moderation.) I stayed out until 3:00. . .by far my latest night. So I must have been having a good time.
Slept in until 1:00 yesterday, missing breakfast at the Kolej for the first time since I've been here. Was pretty much lazy all afternoon; went down to Wenceslas Square to see Štěstí, finally, with Laura, Tina, Megan, Zac and Bryan. It was quite a good film. I am 3 for 3 on my Czech film adventures thus far. The film was deep, had a lot going on, at many levels. A lot darker than American films; perhaps due to American cinema's embracing of the aesthetic of kitch. (I have recently been influenced by Kundera. He says, "Kitch is the absolute denial of shit, in both the literal and the figurative senses of the word; kitch excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence." American cinema denies the existence of shit by making all of its films be void of problems, of shitty life situations of its characters, or else it ties up any problems by the end with a bow and sends audience members home feeling good about themselves. Czech cinema, on the other hand, embraces the shit that is inherent in life for many of its citizens, and makes you leave the theatre with something to hash through.) The film also reminded me a bit of Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, because of its dark, downtrodden aesthetic, and also, I think, because of the role that industrialization, the factory, played in the film. So, these all added to a good film experience.
Interesting cultural observation: the lights don't come on and people don't get up after a movie until all the credits are over -- this, as opposed to in the States, where we jump out of our seats before the last scene even fades out.
Ate Thai food with Zac and Megan after the film, then walked across the Charles Bridge and got Tiramisu gelati at Cream and Dream. It was delicious, all of it.
Got up this morning and went on an ECES trip to Terezín, about 1.5 hours north of Prague. I thought the trip was going to entail mostly hiking, but it entailed mostly hanging out in Terezín, which is a small Czech town turned Jewish ghetto/Nazi concentration camp turned Communist Party Headquarters turned back into a small Czech town. It was quite interesting; we went to a few museums, saw a propaganda film about the city. Essentially, it was an American Indian Reservation situation -- the Nazis appointed this town for the Jews to live in, have as their own, self-govern, etc. But in reality, it was a holding pen for them before they were sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. One museum was dedicated to the thriving intellectual/cultural community that developed in the ghetto, with artifacts and stories from composers, musicians, painters, writers, and thespians that lived there. Pretty eerie, though, to be standing in the middle of a place that was once populated by tens of thousands of deported Jews, most of whom were killed in the Holocaust. Laura and I ventured into this antiques store that had authentic Nazi belts, jackets, and a whole hidden shelf of Nazi medals and pins and whatnot. Pretty creepy. After the Nazis left the CZ, the Party turned the old fortress into a Headquarters for them, and after they left, it turned back into a little town. But it is quite rundown, the buildings are in bad condition, and the whole place kind of stunk, literally. The CZ is apparently worried because they have been having trouble repopulating the place since the end of Communism. I wonder why.
There also happened to be some festival going on in the center of town, something like celebrating Czech heritage. There were kolbasa and candy and wine and beer stands, jewelry, trinkets, and men dancing and women twirling batons. Also, someone had put out their private collection of old army tanks and other miscellaneous vehicles, and at noon, people in army regalia toting guns got in these tanks and trucks and drove them round and round the town square. There were also Czech boy scouts milling about and riding in the trucks. I guess it isn't that different than our 4th Of July celebrations. . .it just felt a little more para-military. (There are some pictures here, more on the Flickr blog. I took a lot of pictures today -- something about this town was quite photogenic.)
At the end of the day, we finally went for our "hike," which was a 1/4 mile slog up a hill to a tower where we could climb up and see a nice view of the surrounding valley. I was really craving a good hike, so I found a side trail and hiked on that for a bit, smelled the wilderness, enjoyed the singletrack, but I didn't want to get left behind, so it didn't last long.
I was going to stay in tonight and read, but I think my friends have convinced me to check out a wine bar/book shop with them. That shouldn't be too taxing for me, and will probably be fun and cool and something new. And I can sleep in if I want to tomorrow. .
Terezín Kluk
A little boy standing outside the door to some apartments in Terezín. The whole town had this kind of run-down, paint's-peeling look to it.
Terezín Tanks
A few tanks from some Czech's private collection in Terezín. These are infinitely more creepy because Terezín was a concentration camp during the early 1940s; kind of an American Indian Reservation, if you will -- the Nazis told the Jews they could have this town, govern it themselves, etc. In reality, it was a holding chamber for tens of thousands of people who were eventually sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Another Terezín Tank
Some Roma kids are playing on this tank. The day we visited, there was some kind of celebration going on where people broke out their old army regalia and drove these tanks around the town square.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
v Praze. . .
In Prague:
- There was a group of men near the Charles Bridge this afternoon, on the Old Town Side. They all had on black t-shirts that had pictures of broken chains on them and the words "Truly Free" printed very large. In smaller print, underneath the picture, the shirts said "Mission: Prague, Czech Republic." These men were missionaries, no dobubt. I would wager that they were American missionaries, for the following reasons: (1) their shirts were in English, and I think Great Britain is pretty much exclusively agnostic at this point, (2) they were overweight and (3) they had gelled, spiked hair. I wanted to ask them if they knew any Czech. Because I'm sure Czechs will be incredibly receptive to the Gospel in English, since they are so receptive to English-speakers in general in this city. I really hope at least they were there for the Roma, and not the 70% of the Czech population that considers itself secular.
- There is a computer lab at my school, where I went for the first time today. I had to create a new account, and there was a nerdy, pimply tech-assistant guy with a goofy smile there to help me. (Some things are global.) We had a communication breakdown, however, when I tried to type a password for my account. He said it had to be 8 characters, and a combination of letters and numbers. But every time I leaned over him awkwardly to type my password on his computer, it didn't work. Finally, he looked up what he was trying to tell me in a CZ-->EN dictionary online. The password also had to contain capital letters, the troublesome phrase in our cross-cultural dialogue.
- It is not culturally acceptable to sit at a cafe and do homework. I found a cafe in Megan's Prague travel book, and set out to locate it this afternoon. I did find it, eventually, and ordered a delicious 35kč cappuccino. But the waiter gave me a dirty look when I pulled out my "Basic Czech I" workbook and started copying verbs and conjugating them.
- There is a park in Mala Strana where kids lay on the grass and smoke weed. I stumbled upon said park this afternoon, after leaving the cafe with the dirty-look-waiter. I hoped to stumble upon the famed John Lennon Wall, too, but no such luck. Another day, I will have to seek it out. I did find a corner store where I bought a 10kč bar of Orion Na Vaření, a dark chocolate candy bar that is the closest I get here to having a bag of chocolate chips on hand for a tiny mid-evening chocolatey pick-me-up. (Chocolate chips don't exist here, I don't think.) I also went to the Victims of Communism Monument in Mala Strana, which is an interesting piece of public art. I also found a bakery where I got a chocolatey/berry pastry and ate it while standing on most Legií and looking down at the Vltava. Then I walked back across to school. It was a very Praha afternoon.
- There is a vegetarian restaurant in Old Town called Country Life. However, I don't know where it is, which I demonstrated when Mike and Bryan weren't at our designated meeting place at 6:30 to meet Tyler and me, and we tried to find said restaurant anyway. We ended up at the State Theatre and got falafel from a stand on the street for 59kč. It was delicious. We proceeded to walk up the hill to Hradčany and the Kolej. It was a beautiful night and a nice walk.
- I take classes, for which I have to do homework. Now, I will write 6 sentences using 6 different verbs and 6 different conjugations, in Czech, for my class at 8:30 tomorrow.
Škola Bydlí!
It is cold in Praha! I just took an irresponsibly long shower, because reading in bed under my one blanket didn't warm me up enough.
I am now almost in the full swing of classes -- my Post-1989 Film class doesn't start until 4 October, so I only have 4 to worry about until then.
Monday was the best day I have had here. I absolutely needed to start classes. I needed the intellectual stimulation, the sense of purpose, the feeling of being here instead of visiting, instead of being here in transit-only. I also needed the time to myself; I had time to kill between classes and no friends in sight, so I found a Starbucks-ey cafe (see the attempt at nonfiction I wrote about it, below) and chilled out by myself; I was done with classes, again, with no friends around, so I had to walk home through the Castle by myself, which was glorious. So, I have felt refreshed, a new lease of my existence here, and a positive feeling for the rest of the term.
My classes are good. I have Modern Czech and Central European History with a professor named Jan (surprise, surprise), who is quirky and nerdy and cool. The class will be boring, one of those where you show up twice a week at 8:30, listen to the lecture, take 2 exams, and you've earned 3 credits. I also have Czech Language for Everyday Use, with a guy named Jíři, which is pretty self-explanatory. I am also taking a course on Alternative Lifestyles/Music/Literature/Art/Film/Culture, which is going to be amazing. The teacher is this hippie-dippy, post-punk, resistance Czech lady who is married to an American. She was in a punk band in the 80s, and when we arrived for class on Monday, she said, "Well, the weather is nice and I feel that we should use it. So we will get on Tram 17, ride 3 stops, get off, climb the stairs to Vyšhrad, go to a pub, get a few drinks and get to know each other." So we did all of those things, and after our beers at this Rastafarian/Czech bar (they had paintings of Bob Marley on the walls) on the outskirts of town, we sat in a garden and she read us Czech fairy tales. She wants to take us on trips to at least one concert, art exhibit, film, pub, and literary cafe.
On Tuesdays, I have a Literature class on the work of Franz Kafka and MIlan Kundera; if some of the people who were there this week drop it, we will be good to go, because there are far too many at this point. It will be challenging, but a welcome challenge, for me. The professor is the head of the Czech and Comparative Literature Department at Karlov; he taught at Brown in the States for 4 years. He has a very interesting halting, inhaling, rigid, heavily-accented manner of speaking English; when he speaks in Czech, like asides to his secretary, his entire voice changes into a beautiful, singsong-ey, fluid one. Very interesting. Our class is in his office, and he told us we can bring food or drinks for class; beer is okay, but probably not vodka. And then I also have my film class on Tuesdays, but there was a sign on the door this week telling us not to come back until the 4th.
So I found a few cool little English-language bookstores in Old Town after Kafka/Kundera class. Anagram had nice clerks and a good, independent bookstore feel (with prices to match). Big Ben had a more sterile atmosphere, but lower prices, and it packs such treasures as The New York Times and Rolling Stone, so that was a nice stop, too. I got The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Kafka's Complete Short Stories, containing "The Metamorphosis," which make up my reading assignment for next week. I'm about 100 pages into the Unbearable Lightness and I absolutely love it. It is quite fantastic.
I ended up drinking a bottle of wine with Tyler and Mike last night, and then finding a cool little restaurant near the castle to have dinner. We went to the Hanging Coffee after that, and I had a really great time just hanging out, got to chat with Teddy and bit and some of his AU friends. Starting classes has given me an entirely new outlook on being here; it has been refreshing beyond belief.
I ventured out to do laundry yesterday at Laundry Kings. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, due to other people's horrifying laundry experiences here, but I did get on the #15 tram going the wrong direction, so I had to get off at the end of the line and wait for one coming the other way. I did it myself, American-style, instead of sending it out, and paid 250kc for 2 washers and 1 dryer. I washed pretty much all the clothes I brought here. So, that isn't too bad.
Went to Delvita, the Whole Foods Market of Prague (overpriced, crowded, obnoxious, yuck -- I'm sticking to Tesco) on Monday and picked up a few things, including a 55kc bottle of bilé vino, which I drank with Mike while we watched Being John Malkovich. A good film, nice to drink some surprisingly good cheap wine and just spend a night in.
I am going to dry my hair, eat a sandwich, bundle up in a scarf, and venture out to find a cafe for the afternoon. I have a Kundera novel to read and Czech verbs to study. I think I will check out Kava Kava Kava, a little place in Simchov. I am still searching for my cafe. Then I am meeting some friends for dinner at Country Life, the vegetarian, healthy, organic buffet restaurant in Old Town. Delicious.
I am now almost in the full swing of classes -- my Post-1989 Film class doesn't start until 4 October, so I only have 4 to worry about until then.
Monday was the best day I have had here. I absolutely needed to start classes. I needed the intellectual stimulation, the sense of purpose, the feeling of being here instead of visiting, instead of being here in transit-only. I also needed the time to myself; I had time to kill between classes and no friends in sight, so I found a Starbucks-ey cafe (see the attempt at nonfiction I wrote about it, below) and chilled out by myself; I was done with classes, again, with no friends around, so I had to walk home through the Castle by myself, which was glorious. So, I have felt refreshed, a new lease of my existence here, and a positive feeling for the rest of the term.
My classes are good. I have Modern Czech and Central European History with a professor named Jan (surprise, surprise), who is quirky and nerdy and cool. The class will be boring, one of those where you show up twice a week at 8:30, listen to the lecture, take 2 exams, and you've earned 3 credits. I also have Czech Language for Everyday Use, with a guy named Jíři, which is pretty self-explanatory. I am also taking a course on Alternative Lifestyles/Music/Literature/Art/Film/Culture, which is going to be amazing. The teacher is this hippie-dippy, post-punk, resistance Czech lady who is married to an American. She was in a punk band in the 80s, and when we arrived for class on Monday, she said, "Well, the weather is nice and I feel that we should use it. So we will get on Tram 17, ride 3 stops, get off, climb the stairs to Vyšhrad, go to a pub, get a few drinks and get to know each other." So we did all of those things, and after our beers at this Rastafarian/Czech bar (they had paintings of Bob Marley on the walls) on the outskirts of town, we sat in a garden and she read us Czech fairy tales. She wants to take us on trips to at least one concert, art exhibit, film, pub, and literary cafe.
On Tuesdays, I have a Literature class on the work of Franz Kafka and MIlan Kundera; if some of the people who were there this week drop it, we will be good to go, because there are far too many at this point. It will be challenging, but a welcome challenge, for me. The professor is the head of the Czech and Comparative Literature Department at Karlov; he taught at Brown in the States for 4 years. He has a very interesting halting, inhaling, rigid, heavily-accented manner of speaking English; when he speaks in Czech, like asides to his secretary, his entire voice changes into a beautiful, singsong-ey, fluid one. Very interesting. Our class is in his office, and he told us we can bring food or drinks for class; beer is okay, but probably not vodka. And then I also have my film class on Tuesdays, but there was a sign on the door this week telling us not to come back until the 4th.
So I found a few cool little English-language bookstores in Old Town after Kafka/Kundera class. Anagram had nice clerks and a good, independent bookstore feel (with prices to match). Big Ben had a more sterile atmosphere, but lower prices, and it packs such treasures as The New York Times and Rolling Stone, so that was a nice stop, too. I got The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Kafka's Complete Short Stories, containing "The Metamorphosis," which make up my reading assignment for next week. I'm about 100 pages into the Unbearable Lightness and I absolutely love it. It is quite fantastic.
I ended up drinking a bottle of wine with Tyler and Mike last night, and then finding a cool little restaurant near the castle to have dinner. We went to the Hanging Coffee after that, and I had a really great time just hanging out, got to chat with Teddy and bit and some of his AU friends. Starting classes has given me an entirely new outlook on being here; it has been refreshing beyond belief.
I ventured out to do laundry yesterday at Laundry Kings. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, due to other people's horrifying laundry experiences here, but I did get on the #15 tram going the wrong direction, so I had to get off at the end of the line and wait for one coming the other way. I did it myself, American-style, instead of sending it out, and paid 250kc for 2 washers and 1 dryer. I washed pretty much all the clothes I brought here. So, that isn't too bad.
Went to Delvita, the Whole Foods Market of Prague (overpriced, crowded, obnoxious, yuck -- I'm sticking to Tesco) on Monday and picked up a few things, including a 55kc bottle of bilé vino, which I drank with Mike while we watched Being John Malkovich. A good film, nice to drink some surprisingly good cheap wine and just spend a night in.
I am going to dry my hair, eat a sandwich, bundle up in a scarf, and venture out to find a cafe for the afternoon. I have a Kundera novel to read and Czech verbs to study. I think I will check out Kava Kava Kava, a little place in Simchov. I am still searching for my cafe. Then I am meeting some friends for dinner at Country Life, the vegetarian, healthy, organic buffet restaurant in Old Town. Delicious.
Sometimes, I write.
This is a nonfiction sketch/essay I wrote while at a cafe in Old Town on Monday afternoon. Just some more coherent, stylized thoughts on my time here thus far.
“Coffee Heaven,” off of Old Town Square in Praha 1.
It is Starbucks-ey, down to the “Frostitos,” a Czech version of the Frappuccino. Everything is in English.
I order my 53kč brewed coffee with milk, “Americano s mlekum,” in Czech, and the barista doesn’t reply to me in English. This is not the norm in Czech establishments, I have learned while offering my botched Český to numerous clerks and cashiers in the past few weeks. She asks if I would like a pečivo or sendvič, and I recognize enough to comprehend and stutter a ne. I do know a fair amount of Czech, but when put on the spot, all of it vanishes besides prosím, díky, ano, ne, and whatever is printed on the menu in front of me. Hloupá Američanka. My receipt is in English.
I add a dollop of honey to my Americano and pick a wooden chair at a small table with four in the mostly-empty back room. Its interior is all chestnut and cherry and plush white pleather chairs. The coffee may have been expensive, but it pleases me – tastes like good old watered-down, American coffee. Tastes like home. But unfortunately, despite their best efforts, nothing else in the place reminds me of anything I miss from home. Music is playing that sounds like Paul Simon, but I don’t think it is. There are cliché English quotes on one wall from Wordsworth, Bernard Shaw, Gandhi, “Ralph Waldo.” I am the only American here right now, and am surrounded by snippets of German and French and Czech conversation.
This isn’t a place I’d like to frequent. (Now, Frank Sinatra echoes throughout the calm, carpeted room.) But it will do for my first day of school, a caffeine pick-me-up, and a place to start reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. I am still waiting for my café, the seedy, hole-in-the-wall place, the type of place I frequented in Pittsburgh, somewhere I can sit reading for hours on one cup of coffee with endless refills and I don’t get the hairy eyeball from the baristas. A place that doesn’t feel distinctly American, overly American.
It is interesting how many places in Praha try to be American, over-using English, over-doing the American style and image, over-playing “American” music. I’ve noticed it most at cafes, like here and Bohemia Bagel. They have English names, American-ized interiors that attempt to make us expats (even temporary ones) feel at home. Even the prices are inflated, by Czech standards, to remind us of the culture we left.
On one hand, many Czechs despise us for coming here, being rich and privileged, able to drop 53kč on a cup of coffee. But on the other hand, our tourism, our still-strong dollar, our 53kč coffees keep their economy ticking. And on another hand still, all the young people here speak English, buy into the American culture, work at places like this, outfit themselves at stores like H&M and The New Yorker.
It often feels as if this country doesn’t really have an identity of its own right now; it doesn’t even have a proper name, really – “The Czech Republic” is quite a mouthful, even in the native language. But this country, this region, hasn’t had its own identity since the 1500s, really, when the Habsburgs came to the throne. Since then, it has been a series of occupations, Habsburgs, Nazis, Communists, with a nationalistic lull here or there; a Velvet democracy and hope for a positive Czechoslovak future in 1989, then the Slovak break-off in 1993, throwing Czech-specific identity back into the air again. They drink a lot of beer, and they have some pretty old buildings.
During the communist occupation, Czechoslovakia was all but sealed off from Western culture; American music wasn’t allowed, nor books, and TV broadcasts were produced by the government. This has led to a pervading sense of “we've got a lot of catching up to do.” It feels like people want to make sure they didn't miss out on anything that happened during 1969-1989, so they are currently reliving and rehashing the 20 years of oft-terrible music and pop culture they missed while Red Russia was driving through Wenceslas Square in tanks. Evidence of this haste-to-catch-up is particularly everywhere the young people are – clubs, bars, cafes, shops, malls.
A multiple edged sword, Western culture is, for this post-communist Eastern European metropolis.
The Davy Crockett theme song now plays in the back room at Coffee Heaven. Somehow, that “king of the wild frontier” line just doesn’t echo here like it does at home.
“Coffee Heaven,” off of Old Town Square in Praha 1.
It is Starbucks-ey, down to the “Frostitos,” a Czech version of the Frappuccino. Everything is in English.
I order my 53kč brewed coffee with milk, “Americano s mlekum,” in Czech, and the barista doesn’t reply to me in English. This is not the norm in Czech establishments, I have learned while offering my botched Český to numerous clerks and cashiers in the past few weeks. She asks if I would like a pečivo or sendvič, and I recognize enough to comprehend and stutter a ne. I do know a fair amount of Czech, but when put on the spot, all of it vanishes besides prosím, díky, ano, ne, and whatever is printed on the menu in front of me. Hloupá Američanka. My receipt is in English.
I add a dollop of honey to my Americano and pick a wooden chair at a small table with four in the mostly-empty back room. Its interior is all chestnut and cherry and plush white pleather chairs. The coffee may have been expensive, but it pleases me – tastes like good old watered-down, American coffee. Tastes like home. But unfortunately, despite their best efforts, nothing else in the place reminds me of anything I miss from home. Music is playing that sounds like Paul Simon, but I don’t think it is. There are cliché English quotes on one wall from Wordsworth, Bernard Shaw, Gandhi, “Ralph Waldo.” I am the only American here right now, and am surrounded by snippets of German and French and Czech conversation.
This isn’t a place I’d like to frequent. (Now, Frank Sinatra echoes throughout the calm, carpeted room.) But it will do for my first day of school, a caffeine pick-me-up, and a place to start reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. I am still waiting for my café, the seedy, hole-in-the-wall place, the type of place I frequented in Pittsburgh, somewhere I can sit reading for hours on one cup of coffee with endless refills and I don’t get the hairy eyeball from the baristas. A place that doesn’t feel distinctly American, overly American.
It is interesting how many places in Praha try to be American, over-using English, over-doing the American style and image, over-playing “American” music. I’ve noticed it most at cafes, like here and Bohemia Bagel. They have English names, American-ized interiors that attempt to make us expats (even temporary ones) feel at home. Even the prices are inflated, by Czech standards, to remind us of the culture we left.
On one hand, many Czechs despise us for coming here, being rich and privileged, able to drop 53kč on a cup of coffee. But on the other hand, our tourism, our still-strong dollar, our 53kč coffees keep their economy ticking. And on another hand still, all the young people here speak English, buy into the American culture, work at places like this, outfit themselves at stores like H&M and The New Yorker.
It often feels as if this country doesn’t really have an identity of its own right now; it doesn’t even have a proper name, really – “The Czech Republic” is quite a mouthful, even in the native language. But this country, this region, hasn’t had its own identity since the 1500s, really, when the Habsburgs came to the throne. Since then, it has been a series of occupations, Habsburgs, Nazis, Communists, with a nationalistic lull here or there; a Velvet democracy and hope for a positive Czechoslovak future in 1989, then the Slovak break-off in 1993, throwing Czech-specific identity back into the air again. They drink a lot of beer, and they have some pretty old buildings.
During the communist occupation, Czechoslovakia was all but sealed off from Western culture; American music wasn’t allowed, nor books, and TV broadcasts were produced by the government. This has led to a pervading sense of “we've got a lot of catching up to do.” It feels like people want to make sure they didn't miss out on anything that happened during 1969-1989, so they are currently reliving and rehashing the 20 years of oft-terrible music and pop culture they missed while Red Russia was driving through Wenceslas Square in tanks. Evidence of this haste-to-catch-up is particularly everywhere the young people are – clubs, bars, cafes, shops, malls.
A multiple edged sword, Western culture is, for this post-communist Eastern European metropolis.
The Davy Crockett theme song now plays in the back room at Coffee Heaven. Somehow, that “king of the wild frontier” line just doesn’t echo here like it does at home.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Laziness and Zmrlzina -- I better be careful.
This is definitely the laziest day I have had thus far in Praha. I got up and ate breakfast downstairs, but then came back and layed in bed and read. Fell asleep now and then, read some more, woke up at 1:00 when Mike and Zac came to see if I wanted to eat lunch. I didn't. I read some more. The only good thing is Kathryn was doing the same thing, so I didn't feel that bad. It was quite funny how we kept talking/reading/sleeping away the morning. But sometimes you have to, and I don't feel like I did it out of depression, so that is good. I've been wanting to just relax and read, and now I have. Almost done with the Julian Barnes novel I've been reading since I left the States.
Had a fun night in Old Town Friday; ended up going out in search of a restaurant with Kathryn, Megan, Bekka, Laura and Zac. We wanted to go to a Thai place that had been recommended, but when we got there, it was a restaurant-combination-fancy-glass-art-gallery, and we decided it would be too pricey. So we ended up at a Mexican restaurant across the street, and had a great time. I had the strangest burrito I've ever eaten, with carrots and broccoli inside, and what tasted like pizza sauce instead of salsa. But it was good, and a ton of food for the price, so I can't complain. We walked around Old Town after that, half-heartedly trying to find a pub, mostly just wandering. Walked through Old Town Square at night, which hadn't done yet, and that was pretty cool. Had one of those, "Holy shit, I'm in Prague," moments, which I also haven't had in a while. Ended up going to KFC and getting 17kc cones of zmrzlina (ice cream!) and catching a tram home. (There is no such thing as normal ice cream here, only gelati -- even at American fast food chains.)
Went to Český Krumlov yesterday and had a really good time. I was worried it would be crazy running around like the trip to Moravia, but it was really calm and relaxing and just a nice day in a little Czech town. We walked around a bit with tour-guide-Zdenik, saw some old buildings and the castle there. Then we had free time for lunch, and Kat, Brian, Zac and I stumbled upon this awesome hole-in-the-wall Bohemian place. I don't even remember the name, but we climbed this little stone spiral staircase to a room with 4 tables, and ate the best meal I've had in the CZ so far. Kat and I got the "Old Bohemian Feast," vegetarian style, and it had all kinds of different authentic mullet casseroles and puffed barley and potato cakes and buckwheat and sauerkraut and fresh cabbage and I can't even remember what else. It was amazing. I also had a local beer, Bohemian Regent, that was pretty good. It was nice to hang out with Kat and Brian because they are so calm and chilled out. I really enjoyed it.
When we got back, I tried to round up people to go see this film at Kino Oko, in Praha 7. Zac, Kat and another kid, Justin, ended up coming, and we took a tram and 2 metro lines to get there. The film was awesome -- I had been craving a good film, a good few hours of escape. It was called Příběhy Obyčejného Šílenství, roughly translated to Wrong Side Up, and was originally a play by the same guy who adapted it into a screenplay; he cites artistic inspirations as Almodovar, Bukowski, Luis Bunuel, P.T. Anderson, and the social phenomenon of urban legends. It was set and filmed in Praha, which is still quite novel to me, and was full of seemingly random incidents, quirky characters, and strange situations, but it was so self-referential that it became not random anymore. I really enjoyed it. And the actress who played the main female character, Jana, was absolutely gorgeous, as many Českas seem to be. So, I was quite happy that I finally got to see a good Czech film, and explore a new part of town.
It has been a fun weekend, and I have managed to avoid any uncomfortable clubbing outings. I think maybe next weekend I might be up for that again, maybe trying to find some new, cooler places, but it has been nice to have a break and doing some things that are more unique and cultural and off-the-beaten-path. (If eating Mexican food can be considered as such. . .but I mean, Mexican food in the Czech Republic? That's gotta count for some kind of adventurousness. . .)
Don Giovanni is tonight. I am excited. Laura is playing Ted Leo in her room, and it sounds like home. We are all getting ready for the opera. School starts tomorrow. I am so psyched.
Had a fun night in Old Town Friday; ended up going out in search of a restaurant with Kathryn, Megan, Bekka, Laura and Zac. We wanted to go to a Thai place that had been recommended, but when we got there, it was a restaurant-combination-fancy-glass-art-gallery, and we decided it would be too pricey. So we ended up at a Mexican restaurant across the street, and had a great time. I had the strangest burrito I've ever eaten, with carrots and broccoli inside, and what tasted like pizza sauce instead of salsa. But it was good, and a ton of food for the price, so I can't complain. We walked around Old Town after that, half-heartedly trying to find a pub, mostly just wandering. Walked through Old Town Square at night, which hadn't done yet, and that was pretty cool. Had one of those, "Holy shit, I'm in Prague," moments, which I also haven't had in a while. Ended up going to KFC and getting 17kc cones of zmrzlina (ice cream!) and catching a tram home. (There is no such thing as normal ice cream here, only gelati -- even at American fast food chains.)
Went to Český Krumlov yesterday and had a really good time. I was worried it would be crazy running around like the trip to Moravia, but it was really calm and relaxing and just a nice day in a little Czech town. We walked around a bit with tour-guide-Zdenik, saw some old buildings and the castle there. Then we had free time for lunch, and Kat, Brian, Zac and I stumbled upon this awesome hole-in-the-wall Bohemian place. I don't even remember the name, but we climbed this little stone spiral staircase to a room with 4 tables, and ate the best meal I've had in the CZ so far. Kat and I got the "Old Bohemian Feast," vegetarian style, and it had all kinds of different authentic mullet casseroles and puffed barley and potato cakes and buckwheat and sauerkraut and fresh cabbage and I can't even remember what else. It was amazing. I also had a local beer, Bohemian Regent, that was pretty good. It was nice to hang out with Kat and Brian because they are so calm and chilled out. I really enjoyed it.
When we got back, I tried to round up people to go see this film at Kino Oko, in Praha 7. Zac, Kat and another kid, Justin, ended up coming, and we took a tram and 2 metro lines to get there. The film was awesome -- I had been craving a good film, a good few hours of escape. It was called Příběhy Obyčejného Šílenství, roughly translated to Wrong Side Up, and was originally a play by the same guy who adapted it into a screenplay; he cites artistic inspirations as Almodovar, Bukowski, Luis Bunuel, P.T. Anderson, and the social phenomenon of urban legends. It was set and filmed in Praha, which is still quite novel to me, and was full of seemingly random incidents, quirky characters, and strange situations, but it was so self-referential that it became not random anymore. I really enjoyed it. And the actress who played the main female character, Jana, was absolutely gorgeous, as many Českas seem to be. So, I was quite happy that I finally got to see a good Czech film, and explore a new part of town.
It has been a fun weekend, and I have managed to avoid any uncomfortable clubbing outings. I think maybe next weekend I might be up for that again, maybe trying to find some new, cooler places, but it has been nice to have a break and doing some things that are more unique and cultural and off-the-beaten-path. (If eating Mexican food can be considered as such. . .but I mean, Mexican food in the Czech Republic? That's gotta count for some kind of adventurousness. . .)
Don Giovanni is tonight. I am excited. Laura is playing Ted Leo in her room, and it sounds like home. We are all getting ready for the opera. School starts tomorrow. I am so psyched.
Český Krumlov - Kat & Meg Feast
Kat and I with our vegetarian version of the "Old Bohemian Feast." This was the best meal I have eaten so far in the CZ, and probably one of the best of my entire life. Leave it to Bohemia. . .
Friday, September 16, 2005
Rainy Afternoon in Praha. . .
I am done with my Intensive Czech course! Had an exam today; I think I did pretty well. I will miss Zdena, though.
Got up today and had a good Praha morning -- the best times I've had so far here are the mornings I have just gone walking by myself, getting lost and finding my way. When I'm in a group of people, I usually take on the role of navigator, unless Zac is there, and then he does. So it is quite nice to just walk by myself and not have the pressure of guiding people, or wondering if people are tired of walking, or if everyone is having a good time. If I get lost, whatever, I'll find my way back again, and I like just walking for hours. So I walked down from the Kolej and went to the H&M at the top of Wenceslas Square. I wanted to find a dressy top to wear to Don Giovanni on Sunday, but didn't like anything. So I walked down the Square to another H&M, tried on some more things. Ended up buying a cool necklace with little wooden birds and green glass beads, a big wide white hipster belt, a bag to take my books in so I don't always have to take my huge daypack, and a white sweater/shirt that is cute.
I wanted to find a cafe to study some Czech for my exam today, so I walked around until I found Bohemia Bagel off of Old Town Square. It was quite interesting; a bottomless cup of kava cost 45kc, which is a bit pricey for Praha, but I guess reasonable when compared to the States. But you pay for the "American atmosphere" -- it was kind of cafeteria-style, they had Thievery-ish techno music playing, fare included hamburgers and egg and cheese bagel sandwiches, bottles on Heinz ketchup sat on each table, most of the patrons were equipped with bulging backpacks, and even though I ordered in Czech, the barista answered me in English. So anyway, I sat and drank the first real cup of coffee I've had since I've been here and studied.
Went to class, took my test. Walked to the tram in the rain. It was steamy and smelly on there, the windows were foggy, just like the PAT busses in the Burgh. Home, sweet home. The weather here has cooled off in the last week; it is nice and autumnal.
The past few days have been good; I've been somewhat lazy, mostly just sleeping in and going to class. Went shopping yesterday with John, Zac and Mike; hit up some thrift stores, bought some bright green and yellow Eurotrash shoes. It was the most fun I have ever had shopping with a group of men. . .actually, probably the only time I have shopped with a group of men. Went to dinner at Maly Buddha last night; paid 115kc for a big bowl of delicious vegetarian/tofu soup and a huge place of fried rice with veggies. Have spent time the past few nights at the Hanging Coffee, too, drinking some Gambrinus and hanging out.
We are going on a day trip to Česky Krumlov tomorrow, a little town in Bohemia. I think a hike is involved, a visit to an old cathedral, probably. There is also another film showing tomorrow night a little further away from downtown that I want to see. I've been trying really hard to do some different stuff here, check out places other than clubs and bars, get into some of the culture. I know this will take some time, and I have some time to be here, but I need to feel a little less American and a bit more cultured.
Not sure what my plans are for the night. I want to see Šteští (Something Like Happiness), but it is dreary, and I am home now, and I still need to eat dinner. So we'll see. A jazz club has also been rumoured as an activity for this evening, which would be quite fun, too.
Got up today and had a good Praha morning -- the best times I've had so far here are the mornings I have just gone walking by myself, getting lost and finding my way. When I'm in a group of people, I usually take on the role of navigator, unless Zac is there, and then he does. So it is quite nice to just walk by myself and not have the pressure of guiding people, or wondering if people are tired of walking, or if everyone is having a good time. If I get lost, whatever, I'll find my way back again, and I like just walking for hours. So I walked down from the Kolej and went to the H&M at the top of Wenceslas Square. I wanted to find a dressy top to wear to Don Giovanni on Sunday, but didn't like anything. So I walked down the Square to another H&M, tried on some more things. Ended up buying a cool necklace with little wooden birds and green glass beads, a big wide white hipster belt, a bag to take my books in so I don't always have to take my huge daypack, and a white sweater/shirt that is cute.
I wanted to find a cafe to study some Czech for my exam today, so I walked around until I found Bohemia Bagel off of Old Town Square. It was quite interesting; a bottomless cup of kava cost 45kc, which is a bit pricey for Praha, but I guess reasonable when compared to the States. But you pay for the "American atmosphere" -- it was kind of cafeteria-style, they had Thievery-ish techno music playing, fare included hamburgers and egg and cheese bagel sandwiches, bottles on Heinz ketchup sat on each table, most of the patrons were equipped with bulging backpacks, and even though I ordered in Czech, the barista answered me in English. So anyway, I sat and drank the first real cup of coffee I've had since I've been here and studied.
Went to class, took my test. Walked to the tram in the rain. It was steamy and smelly on there, the windows were foggy, just like the PAT busses in the Burgh. Home, sweet home. The weather here has cooled off in the last week; it is nice and autumnal.
The past few days have been good; I've been somewhat lazy, mostly just sleeping in and going to class. Went shopping yesterday with John, Zac and Mike; hit up some thrift stores, bought some bright green and yellow Eurotrash shoes. It was the most fun I have ever had shopping with a group of men. . .actually, probably the only time I have shopped with a group of men. Went to dinner at Maly Buddha last night; paid 115kc for a big bowl of delicious vegetarian/tofu soup and a huge place of fried rice with veggies. Have spent time the past few nights at the Hanging Coffee, too, drinking some Gambrinus and hanging out.
We are going on a day trip to Česky Krumlov tomorrow, a little town in Bohemia. I think a hike is involved, a visit to an old cathedral, probably. There is also another film showing tomorrow night a little further away from downtown that I want to see. I've been trying really hard to do some different stuff here, check out places other than clubs and bars, get into some of the culture. I know this will take some time, and I have some time to be here, but I need to feel a little less American and a bit more cultured.
Not sure what my plans are for the night. I want to see Šteští (Something Like Happiness), but it is dreary, and I am home now, and I still need to eat dinner. So we'll see. A jazz club has also been rumoured as an activity for this evening, which would be quite fun, too.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Off to a Good Day in Praha.
I think yesterday might have been the first day since I got here that I didn't write a blog entry. Perhaps this is a step in the right direction. . .although I was a bit depressed yesterday, and didn't leave my room until class time. But class was good, and I had a nice dinner at a restaurant across from the Kolej (U Dragoon) with Megan, Bekka and Laura.
I got up at 8:00 this morning, emailed some registration questions to Marketa and Fiore, got dressed, ate breakfast, and was on a tram by 9:10. However, the tram I got on, #23, which normally takes me to downtown, happened to have a sign in the window that I couldn't read because it was in Czech. Apparently, that sign said something to the effect of "This tram is not running on its normal route," because after about 10 minutes, I didn't recognize any of my surroundings. I took out my headphones and heard the tram-announcer-lady-voice say that at this stop, you could "vystup az k Metro" (exit to the Metro), so I figured I should get off, because I could acclimate myself at a Metro station and get downtown via that. It was a good thing I did get off, because once I got to the Metro platform, I saw that the stop was the furthest one out on the Green Metro line. If I had gone further, I would have been extremely lost and would have just had to wait for a tram going back the other direction or something, which would have been fine, but taking the Metro was easier and I didn't have to get lost. Crisis averted.
So I got on the green line and rode to Mustek, transferred to the yellow line there and rode to Narodni Trida, where Tesco is. I bought a pot and a knife and some Tide on the 3rd floor, then ventured down to the grocery store in the basement. I had memorized how to ask for 200 and 300 grams, so I could get that much meat and cheese. It worked pretty well. I got 200 grams of some kind of "Burlander light," which looks like swiss cheese, and 300 grams of this meat called "kureci rolka," that looked like ham. (To my dismay, when I looked up the word kureci after I got home, I learned that it meant chicken. So I actually bought some kind of weird chicken-roll-mystery-meat, I think. But I've probably eaten worse. . .) I got some of these little chocolate-covered wafer candy bars I've been eating at school called Cokotatranky, a few "Nestle Fit" bars that were the closest I could find to granola (I miss Nature Valley and Clif bars!), and then a bunch of veggies. Fresh fruits and veggies are the way to go in Praha -- they are incredibly cheap and good. I got some olive oil, garlic and green peppers to cook with some pasta for tonight, and I got 4 nice big Braeburn apples for like 50 cents. That blows my mind. The bunch of bananas I got were more expensive than apples.
I took all of my groceries and decided to walk to the AIFS office; I know how to get there by Metro, but I wanted to navigate by foot, so I did. I'm getting used to recognizing landmarks and knowing where I am, knowing which way to go, even though I don't know any street names or actual directions. (I also found a Kino I had been reading about last night that shows at least one film with English subtitles per day, so I definitely want to check that out soon. It is right by the office, and it is showing a new Czech film called "Happiness" that looks good.) Went to the AIFS office and put down a deposit so I can go see Don Giovanni and Swan Lake later this month. Then took the Metro and a tram back up to the Kolej.
I'm going to do my homework, go to class, and then come home and cook a delicious dinner. This has been a great day so far; it was a good move to get up and get going this morning instead of laying around feeling out of place. I'm getting better at this.
I got up at 8:00 this morning, emailed some registration questions to Marketa and Fiore, got dressed, ate breakfast, and was on a tram by 9:10. However, the tram I got on, #23, which normally takes me to downtown, happened to have a sign in the window that I couldn't read because it was in Czech. Apparently, that sign said something to the effect of "This tram is not running on its normal route," because after about 10 minutes, I didn't recognize any of my surroundings. I took out my headphones and heard the tram-announcer-lady-voice say that at this stop, you could "vystup az k Metro" (exit to the Metro), so I figured I should get off, because I could acclimate myself at a Metro station and get downtown via that. It was a good thing I did get off, because once I got to the Metro platform, I saw that the stop was the furthest one out on the Green Metro line. If I had gone further, I would have been extremely lost and would have just had to wait for a tram going back the other direction or something, which would have been fine, but taking the Metro was easier and I didn't have to get lost. Crisis averted.
So I got on the green line and rode to Mustek, transferred to the yellow line there and rode to Narodni Trida, where Tesco is. I bought a pot and a knife and some Tide on the 3rd floor, then ventured down to the grocery store in the basement. I had memorized how to ask for 200 and 300 grams, so I could get that much meat and cheese. It worked pretty well. I got 200 grams of some kind of "Burlander light," which looks like swiss cheese, and 300 grams of this meat called "kureci rolka," that looked like ham. (To my dismay, when I looked up the word kureci after I got home, I learned that it meant chicken. So I actually bought some kind of weird chicken-roll-mystery-meat, I think. But I've probably eaten worse. . .) I got some of these little chocolate-covered wafer candy bars I've been eating at school called Cokotatranky, a few "Nestle Fit" bars that were the closest I could find to granola (I miss Nature Valley and Clif bars!), and then a bunch of veggies. Fresh fruits and veggies are the way to go in Praha -- they are incredibly cheap and good. I got some olive oil, garlic and green peppers to cook with some pasta for tonight, and I got 4 nice big Braeburn apples for like 50 cents. That blows my mind. The bunch of bananas I got were more expensive than apples.
I took all of my groceries and decided to walk to the AIFS office; I know how to get there by Metro, but I wanted to navigate by foot, so I did. I'm getting used to recognizing landmarks and knowing where I am, knowing which way to go, even though I don't know any street names or actual directions. (I also found a Kino I had been reading about last night that shows at least one film with English subtitles per day, so I definitely want to check that out soon. It is right by the office, and it is showing a new Czech film called "Happiness" that looks good.) Went to the AIFS office and put down a deposit so I can go see Don Giovanni and Swan Lake later this month. Then took the Metro and a tram back up to the Kolej.
I'm going to do my homework, go to class, and then come home and cook a delicious dinner. This has been a great day so far; it was a good move to get up and get going this morning instead of laying around feeling out of place. I'm getting better at this.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Home, Sweet Kolej. . .
It is nice to be in my dorm room again. (How often do I say that?)
Had a fun day today, more walking and less bus riding. Went on a walking tour of downtown Brno this morning, led by a local Češky. It used to be the "capital" of Central/Eastern Europe because of all its amazing buildings and on-the-up-and-up culture -- supposedly, it was even more beautiful than Vienna. But a lot of the buildings and cathedrals and castles were bombed and ruined during WWII, making it now quite an interesting mix of amazing, old things and tacky, cheap-looking new buildings. We went to 3 different Catholic cathedrals, all of which were in the middle of mass; it was cool to see the buildings being used for their original purposes and appreciated by people. There was a brass quintet playing from the top of this spire on the Old Town Halll; the music echoed through the main square, and we couldn't tell where it was coming from at first. How Medieval.
Walked around Brno a bit after the tour, trying to find something good to eat. Tried to get this veggie and pork kabob, but it wouldn't be ready fast enough. So I went to McDonald's and had a cheeseburger and fries. I'm serious. You do weird things when you're out of the States, sometimes.
Got back on the bus and drove to some Czech National Forest to the Moravian Karst -- this famous system of underground caves formed millions of years ago by water flows. They have all kinds of stalagmites and stalactites and it gets really cold once you get to the bottom. We had a nice "hike" on a paved road back to where the tours began; it was mostly along a fog-shrouded stream, and it felt extremely good to be walking outside in the woods. It didn't feel all that different from places I've hiked in Western Pennsylvania, and the trailheads were marked with these cool Czech coat of arms symbols. We ventured into the caves and walked around, took a boat ride for part of it, emerged in the middle in this amazing garden-type thing that was open to the sky. Quite cool, and Czechs are quite proud of it, so that's cool too. Then back on the bus, a stop at a gas station for dinner, and back to the Kolej.
I'm feeling better today, I think thanks to the 1L of Moravian bilé vino I drank last night. I didn't plan on drinking, only having a glass or two to help me fall asleep, but one thing led to another, and soon almost the whole bottle was gone and I was hugging the toilet. I haven't been that drunk in years. But anyway, I woke up this morning and felt pretty good, after a short bout of the dry heaves before breakfast. My snot isn't yellow anymore, anyway. So we'll hope that continues to clear up.
Mike just came to see if I wanted to go to the Hanging Coffee, but I think I should get some rest. So that I will do.
Had a fun day today, more walking and less bus riding. Went on a walking tour of downtown Brno this morning, led by a local Češky. It used to be the "capital" of Central/Eastern Europe because of all its amazing buildings and on-the-up-and-up culture -- supposedly, it was even more beautiful than Vienna. But a lot of the buildings and cathedrals and castles were bombed and ruined during WWII, making it now quite an interesting mix of amazing, old things and tacky, cheap-looking new buildings. We went to 3 different Catholic cathedrals, all of which were in the middle of mass; it was cool to see the buildings being used for their original purposes and appreciated by people. There was a brass quintet playing from the top of this spire on the Old Town Halll; the music echoed through the main square, and we couldn't tell where it was coming from at first. How Medieval.
Walked around Brno a bit after the tour, trying to find something good to eat. Tried to get this veggie and pork kabob, but it wouldn't be ready fast enough. So I went to McDonald's and had a cheeseburger and fries. I'm serious. You do weird things when you're out of the States, sometimes.
Got back on the bus and drove to some Czech National Forest to the Moravian Karst -- this famous system of underground caves formed millions of years ago by water flows. They have all kinds of stalagmites and stalactites and it gets really cold once you get to the bottom. We had a nice "hike" on a paved road back to where the tours began; it was mostly along a fog-shrouded stream, and it felt extremely good to be walking outside in the woods. It didn't feel all that different from places I've hiked in Western Pennsylvania, and the trailheads were marked with these cool Czech coat of arms symbols. We ventured into the caves and walked around, took a boat ride for part of it, emerged in the middle in this amazing garden-type thing that was open to the sky. Quite cool, and Czechs are quite proud of it, so that's cool too. Then back on the bus, a stop at a gas station for dinner, and back to the Kolej.
I'm feeling better today, I think thanks to the 1L of Moravian bilé vino I drank last night. I didn't plan on drinking, only having a glass or two to help me fall asleep, but one thing led to another, and soon almost the whole bottle was gone and I was hugging the toilet. I haven't been that drunk in years. But anyway, I woke up this morning and felt pretty good, after a short bout of the dry heaves before breakfast. My snot isn't yellow anymore, anyway. So we'll hope that continues to clear up.
Mike just came to see if I wanted to go to the Hanging Coffee, but I think I should get some rest. So that I will do.
Moravian Karst - National Forest
On the way to the underground caves in Moravia, this is how the Czechs label their National Forest trailheads. That is really the only thing that differentiates it from, say, Quebec Run Wild Area.
Moravian Karst - Emo
Tina and I being emo in this amazing cave garden in the middle of the cave system in Moravia. Also, it was like 30 degrees in there.
Zelena Hora - Graveyard
The Church of the Virgin Mary at Zelena Hora (Green Mountain) in Moravia. This was one of the 5 entrances on the 'gate' surrounding the cemetery and chapel.
Brno - Old & New
A shot of downtown Brno, CZ. Most of the buildings are cool and old, but many were destroyed by bombing during WWII, so that one to the far left is an ugly replacement, not quite fitting in with the rest. There happened to be a brass quintet playing from that spire on the left when I took this.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Keepin in Real in the Southern CZ.
I'm sick. Sinus-ey, post-nasal drip, stuffy head, my-nose-just-dripped-on-my-computer sick. Dammit. I guess those few nights out did me in. I don't remember the last time I was sick.
Another long day of mostly sitting on the bus today. Had breakfast at our hotel, and then went to Austerlitz, a Napoleon-era battlefield with a cool crypt and whatnot. Then we drove back to Brno to go to the garden where Gregor Mendel grew his marigolds and peas, and then went to Lednice to see a castle that was owned by the Lichtenstein family. It was quite cool; huge, with 3 floors, lots of ornate woodwork and paintings and whatnot. It had a huge garden area outside where we walked around and saw about 17 Czech couples getting their wedding pictures taken. They like weddings in this country -- we've seen a ton this weekend.
Ate lunch at a little restaurant before going to the castle; I had a Pilsner Urquell, a bowl of chicken soup, and a salat of cucumbers and onions and tomatoes and peppers. Quite good, and I ordered all in Czech. I'm getting better.
After the castle we headed to a wine cellar in Boretice -- a little house that had a wine cellar attached. It wasn't a restaurant, but they had dinner for us, chicken and cabbage salad and cucumbers, and then we got to try 4 different homemade wines straight from their casks. Three whites and a red -- they were all quite good. It was pretty obnoxious though, because we were all in this little cellar room and everyone was being incredibly loud and disrespectful to the guy who owned the wine cellar and people wouldn't stop talking whenever he was trying to talk to us. I felt extremely embarrassed. So far, this trip has made me really appreciate America and really hate Americans, or at least my peers who are the future of America, if you will. It wasn't just disrespectful behavior in the wine cellar, it was a symbol for the bigger, all-around asshole-ish nature of Americans, especially Americans who go abroad. Ugh.
But anyway, we got to buy some wine before we left -- it came in 1.5L plastic bottles that cost 50kc each. I got one of red and one of white -- when you convert the money and break it down to how big bottles in the States usually are, I basically got 4 bottles of good, homemade wine for $4. Can't beat it.
Tried to listen to Iron and Wine on the way back to the hotel tonight. I'm definitely not ready for that yet. I didn't get through one song before I changed it to avoid a hysterical crying breakdown in front of 43 of my closest new friends.
I might go down to the hotel bar and see what people are up to, and make it an early night, because I feel like crap. It is raining here today, and is nice.
Another long day of mostly sitting on the bus today. Had breakfast at our hotel, and then went to Austerlitz, a Napoleon-era battlefield with a cool crypt and whatnot. Then we drove back to Brno to go to the garden where Gregor Mendel grew his marigolds and peas, and then went to Lednice to see a castle that was owned by the Lichtenstein family. It was quite cool; huge, with 3 floors, lots of ornate woodwork and paintings and whatnot. It had a huge garden area outside where we walked around and saw about 17 Czech couples getting their wedding pictures taken. They like weddings in this country -- we've seen a ton this weekend.
Ate lunch at a little restaurant before going to the castle; I had a Pilsner Urquell, a bowl of chicken soup, and a salat of cucumbers and onions and tomatoes and peppers. Quite good, and I ordered all in Czech. I'm getting better.
After the castle we headed to a wine cellar in Boretice -- a little house that had a wine cellar attached. It wasn't a restaurant, but they had dinner for us, chicken and cabbage salad and cucumbers, and then we got to try 4 different homemade wines straight from their casks. Three whites and a red -- they were all quite good. It was pretty obnoxious though, because we were all in this little cellar room and everyone was being incredibly loud and disrespectful to the guy who owned the wine cellar and people wouldn't stop talking whenever he was trying to talk to us. I felt extremely embarrassed. So far, this trip has made me really appreciate America and really hate Americans, or at least my peers who are the future of America, if you will. It wasn't just disrespectful behavior in the wine cellar, it was a symbol for the bigger, all-around asshole-ish nature of Americans, especially Americans who go abroad. Ugh.
But anyway, we got to buy some wine before we left -- it came in 1.5L plastic bottles that cost 50kc each. I got one of red and one of white -- when you convert the money and break it down to how big bottles in the States usually are, I basically got 4 bottles of good, homemade wine for $4. Can't beat it.
Tried to listen to Iron and Wine on the way back to the hotel tonight. I'm definitely not ready for that yet. I didn't get through one song before I changed it to avoid a hysterical crying breakdown in front of 43 of my closest new friends.
I might go down to the hotel bar and see what people are up to, and make it an early night, because I feel like crap. It is raining here today, and is nice.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Brno, Rhymes with. . .
This is my first tipsy email from Europe. I'm not drunk, but I am feeling good after the best glass of white wine (bilé vino, for the layperson) I have ever had in my life -- oh, do they know how to do wine here in Moravia! -- and my first Budvar since being in the CZ. (Apparently, it's the original Busweiser, but the American company bought out the Cesky one and made them change the name.) I just figured out how to open the windows in our really nice hotel room, so I've got some air flow, the sound of crickets, and a dark sky with stars outside -- some things I haven't had enough of in Praha. This trip to the country is really redeeming Europe for me.
It has been a long day of traveling and sight-seeing and touristing. We left at 9:00 this morning from the Kolej, and I fell asleep soon after. (I wasn't out too late last night at Indie Rock Dance Night -- it wasn't all that I had hoped it would be, but it was fun -- but it was late enough to feel tired this morning.) When we got on the bus, this AIFS guy named Zdenik (an awesome, at-least-tri-lingual, 65-year-old native Cech who served time in the communist army here) told us the history of Moravia, and why he thinks it is important for us to visit here. We drove for a few hours through forest that reminded me of Allegheny, lines of tall Hemlocks like at Heart's Content, passing wilderness and trailheads along the highway. Every 10 or 15 miles, we went through a little village with red-roofed houses and laundry hanging out to dry and people on bikes on the streets. I couldn't help thinking that my ancestors probably lived in a village just like this, not far from here, which is pretty cool. We stopped at a Cesky gas station (the selection of foods and drinks are so weird -- some things are just like in the States, like Twix and Snickers and Gatorade and Cherry Coke, and some other things that are completely different, like sugar wafers filled with Nutella and digestive cookies and some kind of weird Frappuccino-like drink that comes in 0.5L cartons with straws). When we got out, it smelled like pine trees, and it made me want to hike.
Our first main stop of the day was at an old church in Green Mountain, built in the early 1700s by an Italian architect named Santini. It was gothic baroque, and dedicated to St. John Somebody, this priest who is the patron saint of Praha and Bohemia and the CZ. There is some story about how he didn't tell on King Wenceslas' wife when she confessed to him about cheating on the King, and the King found out and had his tongue cut out and threw him off the Charles Bridge into the Vltava. But apparently he became this really renowned guy and got sainted and whatnot, and there are statues of him and shrines to him all over Eastern Europe, and even the States, as one of the AIFS staff guys, an awesome, at-least-tri-lingual, 65-year-old native Cech named Zdenik, told us. So, the church was quite pretty; It was based on the number 5, for the 5 wounds of Christ on the cross, so the whole outer wall-type thing had 5 entrances, the church had 5 altars, there were all kinds of stars and whatnot around. It used to be a place where people would make pilgrimages to and gather, but in the late 1800s they put a graveyard in the space between the outer wall and the church, so no one does that anymore.
We drove a bit more and arrived at Tisnov and visited another church, this one with an ancient cloister that has had nuns off and on since the 13th century, and has them today. This was built in the Romanesque-baroque style, with elaborate statues and altars and stonework, the whole thing in the shape of a cross with a neat courtyard where the nuns have reflection time in the center. There are something like 8 nuns living there now, and they aren't messing around -- they don't talk to anyone but each other, I don't think they are even seen by anyone else, and they are in this remote town in the CZ for life, or until the next Nazi or Communist occupation or World War breaks out and the use the cloister as a factory or a warehouse or something else. We had a Cesky tour guide, whom Zdenik translated for, walk us around the complex. Quite beautiful architecture and statues and paintings. It is just cool to be at these places that have such rich history, that have been around so long, that have been through so much.
We came to our hotel outside of Brno, CZ next -- the Hotel Myslivna. It feels like a hunting lodge, situated up on a hill above the city, pretty secluded from everything else. But our room is nice and big, the bed is comfy, and the bathroom has pink soap that smells like Banana Boat suntan lotion. After we checked in and dropped off our stuff, the busses took us back into Brno so we could get dinner. A bunch of us found this Italian restaurant near the town square and I had a delicious pizza for 70kc. Got some really cheap gelati on the way back, bought a couple of bottles of Budvar at Tesco, and came back to the hotel. Everyone says Praha is cheap -- country-CZ is even cheaper.
Went down to the hotel bar when we got back. I wasn't feeling very up to socializing or drinking, but I had a glass of this amazing wine and ended up having a blast. We talked a bunch with Jana, an AIFS staff person who knows everything and everyone cool in Praha; Mike and I talked about love and falling in it, I drank my Budvar. A bunch of us went outside to see what stars we could see out here in the country, and ended up crashing in on this wedding reception that was going on in the hotel restaurant. Mike and I just hopped this fence and started dancing to "Like A Prayer" (I was hoping to get a feel for Czech music here, but they pretty much only listen to bad American music from the early 90s) amidst all these celebrating Czechs. I pulled my first Classic-Megan since I've been here -- I just turn around, saw the door, left, ran upstairs, and came to my room. There have been multiple times when I have wanted to pull that move, but didn't until tonight.
So now I think it is time to retire, so I can get up at 9:00 and get ready for a busy day of more sightseeing tomorrow.
It has been a long day of traveling and sight-seeing and touristing. We left at 9:00 this morning from the Kolej, and I fell asleep soon after. (I wasn't out too late last night at Indie Rock Dance Night -- it wasn't all that I had hoped it would be, but it was fun -- but it was late enough to feel tired this morning.) When we got on the bus, this AIFS guy named Zdenik (an awesome, at-least-tri-lingual, 65-year-old native Cech who served time in the communist army here) told us the history of Moravia, and why he thinks it is important for us to visit here. We drove for a few hours through forest that reminded me of Allegheny, lines of tall Hemlocks like at Heart's Content, passing wilderness and trailheads along the highway. Every 10 or 15 miles, we went through a little village with red-roofed houses and laundry hanging out to dry and people on bikes on the streets. I couldn't help thinking that my ancestors probably lived in a village just like this, not far from here, which is pretty cool. We stopped at a Cesky gas station (the selection of foods and drinks are so weird -- some things are just like in the States, like Twix and Snickers and Gatorade and Cherry Coke, and some other things that are completely different, like sugar wafers filled with Nutella and digestive cookies and some kind of weird Frappuccino-like drink that comes in 0.5L cartons with straws). When we got out, it smelled like pine trees, and it made me want to hike.
Our first main stop of the day was at an old church in Green Mountain, built in the early 1700s by an Italian architect named Santini. It was gothic baroque, and dedicated to St. John Somebody, this priest who is the patron saint of Praha and Bohemia and the CZ. There is some story about how he didn't tell on King Wenceslas' wife when she confessed to him about cheating on the King, and the King found out and had his tongue cut out and threw him off the Charles Bridge into the Vltava. But apparently he became this really renowned guy and got sainted and whatnot, and there are statues of him and shrines to him all over Eastern Europe, and even the States, as one of the AIFS staff guys, an awesome, at-least-tri-lingual, 65-year-old native Cech named Zdenik, told us. So, the church was quite pretty; It was based on the number 5, for the 5 wounds of Christ on the cross, so the whole outer wall-type thing had 5 entrances, the church had 5 altars, there were all kinds of stars and whatnot around. It used to be a place where people would make pilgrimages to and gather, but in the late 1800s they put a graveyard in the space between the outer wall and the church, so no one does that anymore.
We drove a bit more and arrived at Tisnov and visited another church, this one with an ancient cloister that has had nuns off and on since the 13th century, and has them today. This was built in the Romanesque-baroque style, with elaborate statues and altars and stonework, the whole thing in the shape of a cross with a neat courtyard where the nuns have reflection time in the center. There are something like 8 nuns living there now, and they aren't messing around -- they don't talk to anyone but each other, I don't think they are even seen by anyone else, and they are in this remote town in the CZ for life, or until the next Nazi or Communist occupation or World War breaks out and the use the cloister as a factory or a warehouse or something else. We had a Cesky tour guide, whom Zdenik translated for, walk us around the complex. Quite beautiful architecture and statues and paintings. It is just cool to be at these places that have such rich history, that have been around so long, that have been through so much.
We came to our hotel outside of Brno, CZ next -- the Hotel Myslivna. It feels like a hunting lodge, situated up on a hill above the city, pretty secluded from everything else. But our room is nice and big, the bed is comfy, and the bathroom has pink soap that smells like Banana Boat suntan lotion. After we checked in and dropped off our stuff, the busses took us back into Brno so we could get dinner. A bunch of us found this Italian restaurant near the town square and I had a delicious pizza for 70kc. Got some really cheap gelati on the way back, bought a couple of bottles of Budvar at Tesco, and came back to the hotel. Everyone says Praha is cheap -- country-CZ is even cheaper.
Went down to the hotel bar when we got back. I wasn't feeling very up to socializing or drinking, but I had a glass of this amazing wine and ended up having a blast. We talked a bunch with Jana, an AIFS staff person who knows everything and everyone cool in Praha; Mike and I talked about love and falling in it, I drank my Budvar. A bunch of us went outside to see what stars we could see out here in the country, and ended up crashing in on this wedding reception that was going on in the hotel restaurant. Mike and I just hopped this fence and started dancing to "Like A Prayer" (I was hoping to get a feel for Czech music here, but they pretty much only listen to bad American music from the early 90s) amidst all these celebrating Czechs. I pulled my first Classic-Megan since I've been here -- I just turn around, saw the door, left, ran upstairs, and came to my room. There have been multiple times when I have wanted to pull that move, but didn't until tonight.
So now I think it is time to retire, so I can get up at 9:00 and get ready for a busy day of more sightseeing tomorrow.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Clubbin in Praha. . .
Someone fixed our shower!!! So now there is a hook for the nozzle on a hose to hang on, and it is more like a real shower. They also fixes the drain so you don't have to turn the water off every few minutes and let it go down. A maid came in my room this morning and mopped the floor with a Swifer-mop type thing. That was nice. My sheets haven't been changed yet, but I think we are coming up on 10 days. . .it's been a while since I had someone clean my room for me and change my sheets.
Had a good night last nite dancing at Club Nebe, a club in New Town. Yes, that's right, I went out dancing at a club. I wasn't excited about going, but Megan and Bekka and Laura dragged me out, told me what to wear and what to take with me. So I went, and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't like "clubs" in the US -- it was basically just a bar with a bunch of big couches, cool atmosphere, a DJ spinning 70s funk music, and a little place for us to dance -- no gross and/or creepy gyrating men in sight. We just danced, doin our own things, I got incredibly sweaty, and it was really great. The club was in the basement of an old building; it had this curved, stone ceiling, pretty much your standard cellar tavern that I've always heard about but never experiences. I'm going back tonight for "Indie Rock Dance Night," so that should be a blast. I've been missing getting my indie rock on here in Praha.
Slept in a bit today, since we were out late last nite, and just chilled in the dorm this morning, took my time getting ready. It is nice to be able to do that! I walked to school and went to class. It was okay; dragged a bit, but I guess that is expected with a 4.5 hour per day language class. Zdena taught us an awesome Czech drinking song, though.
Met up with some people after class and we went to this vegetarian restaurant in Old Town called Country Life. It was kind of like the Whole Foods buffet, where you fill up a plate and pay for your food by weight. So I had all kinds of good fresh veggies and this tofu goulash and about 13 different kinds of cabbage. It was incredibly healthy and I felt great after eating. It is difficult to eat enough vegetables here. Rode the tram home, and now we're going back to Nebe in a bit.
Leaving in the morning for a weekend trip to Moravia. AIFS has a lot planned, all kinds of different sites to visit, dinner at a wine cellar, exploring some cave. It should be fun, and it will be good to have a busy first real weekend here. Still hanging on to the busy.
Had a good night last nite dancing at Club Nebe, a club in New Town. Yes, that's right, I went out dancing at a club. I wasn't excited about going, but Megan and Bekka and Laura dragged me out, told me what to wear and what to take with me. So I went, and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't like "clubs" in the US -- it was basically just a bar with a bunch of big couches, cool atmosphere, a DJ spinning 70s funk music, and a little place for us to dance -- no gross and/or creepy gyrating men in sight. We just danced, doin our own things, I got incredibly sweaty, and it was really great. The club was in the basement of an old building; it had this curved, stone ceiling, pretty much your standard cellar tavern that I've always heard about but never experiences. I'm going back tonight for "Indie Rock Dance Night," so that should be a blast. I've been missing getting my indie rock on here in Praha.
Slept in a bit today, since we were out late last nite, and just chilled in the dorm this morning, took my time getting ready. It is nice to be able to do that! I walked to school and went to class. It was okay; dragged a bit, but I guess that is expected with a 4.5 hour per day language class. Zdena taught us an awesome Czech drinking song, though.
Met up with some people after class and we went to this vegetarian restaurant in Old Town called Country Life. It was kind of like the Whole Foods buffet, where you fill up a plate and pay for your food by weight. So I had all kinds of good fresh veggies and this tofu goulash and about 13 different kinds of cabbage. It was incredibly healthy and I felt great after eating. It is difficult to eat enough vegetables here. Rode the tram home, and now we're going back to Nebe in a bit.
Leaving in the morning for a weekend trip to Moravia. AIFS has a lot planned, all kinds of different sites to visit, dinner at a wine cellar, exploring some cave. It should be fun, and it will be good to have a busy first real weekend here. Still hanging on to the busy.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Another Day, Some More Czech.
Had a good day today -- and it might not be over. I made the mistake of telling my friends I felt like going out tonight (after I had a few drinks with dinner) and although I'm not exactly feelin it anymore, they might hold me to it! Considering I haven't been out to a club yet since I've been here. . .it probably won't kill me. For right now, busier is better. I keep saying that.
I woke up semi-early and Laura and I got all dressed up, dried our hair, and went downtown to the Communist Museum. It wasn't as amazingly cool as I expected, but there was some interesting old propaganda there, lots of information and cool pictures. Really neat old statues and busts of Lenin and Marx and Stalin, old posters, uniforms, a replica of a "grocery store." It paints a realistic picture of life here under communism; definitely not all rose-colored, lots of oppression and strife. They also showed this short video depicting Czech history from 1969-1989 (Soviet invasion-Velvet Revolution) and it was pretty nuts to see footage from the Revolution, Wenceslas Square, where I walk every day, full of mobs of protesters, people being beaten by cops and plain-clothes cops, people beating them back. That happened like 15 years ago. The people in that footage are probably still around here, doing new jobs now, living in this quickly-turned-capitalist society. It's just crazy to think about "history" happening such a short time ago. So, I was definitely glad I went there and learned a bit about that. I hope to learn more about it this semester.
We ventured to the Vietnamese Market next, on the directions some girl on the tram gave Laura when Laura asked her where she bought her clothes. We rode the Red Line a bit further from downtown, and took a bus to this crazy market full of kiosks selling cheap Eurotrash clothes and shoes, cheap produce (kind of the Strip District of Praha, I think), little trinkets, etc. We also found a thrift store, where I got a great little boys' terry polo shirt that is so soft, and a paisley/floral-print mini-dress from the 70s that will look awesome with jeans or my purple pants -- all for 90kc. It was strange shopping there though, being so obviously Amercian; people really think Americans have a ton of money here. Even our Czech teacher -- the other day when she was taking us on a walk around some off-the-beaten-path parts of Old Town, we asked her how expensive a restaurant was and she said, "Well, it is expensive for the Czechs, but not expensive for you." That is a very common conception here: Westerner = rich, and I guess it isn't that far off. But there were women in there trying on dress suits and nice clothes, looking at them in the mirrors, trying to figure out which ones to get. And we were just browsing the racks, picking out some cool-looking-vintage finds, and handing over the korunas. I mean, I always feel weird thrifting in America -- feeling kind of guilty for taking the cheap clothes away from other people who might not be able to afford anything more expensive, when I can afford it. Another level to the interplay of capitalism in our globalised society, I suppose. But the market wasn't very touristy, and felt like the first authentic Czech experience I've had.
Then it was time for class, which went really well today. I feel like I'm getting it, picking things up, and learning. We got out early today so we could go on this boar cruise that the University had arranged for us. I was kind of skeptical at first -- it had the connotation of 3 hours of awkward forced socialization -- but it turned out to be really fun. A bunch of us dressed up to make it more fun, and we all walked down together and got on the same boat. We got a shot of some cinnamon schnapps when we got on the boat, a nice buffet dinner of everything from Czech food to chicken fingers, and 2 drinks on the house. We all went up to the roof after we ate and continued drinking; Bekka bought me a glass of wine so I'd keep drinking with her and she wouldn't be the only tipsy one. It was quite nice to ride up and down the Vltava and see more of Prague, hang out with some new friends, drink some Staropramen and some wine.
We caught a tram up to the Kolej now and I'm chillin in the suite. So, we'll see where the spirit leads for this evening. . .
I woke up semi-early and Laura and I got all dressed up, dried our hair, and went downtown to the Communist Museum. It wasn't as amazingly cool as I expected, but there was some interesting old propaganda there, lots of information and cool pictures. Really neat old statues and busts of Lenin and Marx and Stalin, old posters, uniforms, a replica of a "grocery store." It paints a realistic picture of life here under communism; definitely not all rose-colored, lots of oppression and strife. They also showed this short video depicting Czech history from 1969-1989 (Soviet invasion-Velvet Revolution) and it was pretty nuts to see footage from the Revolution, Wenceslas Square, where I walk every day, full of mobs of protesters, people being beaten by cops and plain-clothes cops, people beating them back. That happened like 15 years ago. The people in that footage are probably still around here, doing new jobs now, living in this quickly-turned-capitalist society. It's just crazy to think about "history" happening such a short time ago. So, I was definitely glad I went there and learned a bit about that. I hope to learn more about it this semester.
We ventured to the Vietnamese Market next, on the directions some girl on the tram gave Laura when Laura asked her where she bought her clothes. We rode the Red Line a bit further from downtown, and took a bus to this crazy market full of kiosks selling cheap Eurotrash clothes and shoes, cheap produce (kind of the Strip District of Praha, I think), little trinkets, etc. We also found a thrift store, where I got a great little boys' terry polo shirt that is so soft, and a paisley/floral-print mini-dress from the 70s that will look awesome with jeans or my purple pants -- all for 90kc. It was strange shopping there though, being so obviously Amercian; people really think Americans have a ton of money here. Even our Czech teacher -- the other day when she was taking us on a walk around some off-the-beaten-path parts of Old Town, we asked her how expensive a restaurant was and she said, "Well, it is expensive for the Czechs, but not expensive for you." That is a very common conception here: Westerner = rich, and I guess it isn't that far off. But there were women in there trying on dress suits and nice clothes, looking at them in the mirrors, trying to figure out which ones to get. And we were just browsing the racks, picking out some cool-looking-vintage finds, and handing over the korunas. I mean, I always feel weird thrifting in America -- feeling kind of guilty for taking the cheap clothes away from other people who might not be able to afford anything more expensive, when I can afford it. Another level to the interplay of capitalism in our globalised society, I suppose. But the market wasn't very touristy, and felt like the first authentic Czech experience I've had.
Then it was time for class, which went really well today. I feel like I'm getting it, picking things up, and learning. We got out early today so we could go on this boar cruise that the University had arranged for us. I was kind of skeptical at first -- it had the connotation of 3 hours of awkward forced socialization -- but it turned out to be really fun. A bunch of us dressed up to make it more fun, and we all walked down together and got on the same boat. We got a shot of some cinnamon schnapps when we got on the boat, a nice buffet dinner of everything from Czech food to chicken fingers, and 2 drinks on the house. We all went up to the roof after we ate and continued drinking; Bekka bought me a glass of wine so I'd keep drinking with her and she wouldn't be the only tipsy one. It was quite nice to ride up and down the Vltava and see more of Prague, hang out with some new friends, drink some Staropramen and some wine.
We caught a tram up to the Kolej now and I'm chillin in the suite. So, we'll see where the spirit leads for this evening. . .
Boat Cruise - Tomas
Bekka and I enjoying some wine on the Vltava. In the background is a Čech named Tomas who sits in on our language couse. He tells people he's a student/teacher/professor at the University, but chances are he's homeless and little on the loopy side.
He followed all of us down to the river and got on the boat without being questioned. I say, good for him -- he enjoyed a few free beers, a good meal, and even snuck into a few pictures.
He followed all of us down to the river and got on the boat without being questioned. I say, good for him -- he enjoyed a few free beers, a good meal, and even snuck into a few pictures.
Boat Cruise - Group on Deck
Some of my kamarades on our boat cruise. (Clockwise from me: Dan from Scranton, Mike from Austin, Laura from New York, Megan from Erie, Tina from Austin, and Bekka from Minnesota.)
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Pivo ja dobre.
Two days of classes down, a lot more Czech to learn.
It has been great to have class. It gives me structure and purpose and an excuse for not hanging out every second. My class is from 2:00-6:30 every day for the next two weeks (well, not Friday, Saturday and Sunday), and it is definitely difficult. But I feel like I'm keeping up with the professor, and it isn't as difficult for me as some of the other people in the class are complaining it is for them. I am amazed at how much I've picked up already -- I can read some of the signs around town, recognize words and sounds and whatnot. I guess it helps that this is the only responsibility I have right now, so I can focus on it and really try to retain.
My professor is a 50-ish Cechka named Zdena, petite with crazy blonde hair. She's pretty reserved, but she's got a good sense of humor, which is nice when you have to teach adults a language like they are toddlers. She took us on a walk today, showed us some off-the-beaten-path places around Stare Mesto, and dropped us off in Wenceslas Square, telling us to find our way home on our own.
Had a good day yesterday. Walked down to campus with Megan and Bekka, got lost because we left the Castle too soon, so it ended up taking a bit longer, but we got there on time. It's a nice long walk. We went to an orientation at 10:00 and heard from the Director of the ECES Program at Charles University, as well as the head of the Literature department, who is going to be teaching my Kafka and Kundera class. He talked about the course offerings, how the department works, etc. He seems awesome, and I am excited to perhaps go to the pub with him after class and further discuss Czech literature. They are big into their literature here; it turns out that I'm going to take 3 lit classes this semester, because they added a bunch since I first registered. I got into the Kafka and Kundera one for sure, and then I'm taking a course on Czech film since 1989 (when communism ended) that focuses on issues of "identity and containment," and also a course on Czech Samizdat, or underground Czech literature.
I had a bit of a break before my language class yesterday, so I walked around Wenceslas a bit, got a sandwich near the University, sat on the steps of the building where our classes are and ate lunch. There is a great view of Prasky Hrad there, with trams going by this way and that; it was a good, quintessential Praha time.
Went to my new favorite bar after class -- the Engish translation of the name is "The Hanging Coffee," with the idea being, when you go in, you buy two coffees, and when someone comes in who doesn't have any money, they can have a free coffee. Megan, John, Mike and I walked up from campus, but got lost, of course. We ended up taking a scenic tour of Praha 6, some more posh areas of the Hradcany neighborhood, and walked through an awesome little park that had fallen leaves crunching all over the ground. We frolicked and sang and felt happy in the fall. I forgot how much I love the fall; I always do, until it is here. It will be nice to spend the fall here. My last few falls have been pretty great ones; this one will be different, but good, too, I think.
So I had a few Gambrinuses at the Kafe, hung out with Megan and Zac and John and Mike and Tyler, and got some delicious potato dumplings for dinner; they had smoked meat inside them, and were surrounded by cabbage sauteed with onions, kind of like sauerkraut but stronger. Delicious.
We left the bar after a few hours and decided to go up to the Castle again, because it is so flippin cool in the dark. We just stood outside the gates and talked, and happened to be there for the changing of the guard. That was pretty creepy. I haven't really though much about the political history of this country and this city, but seeing those guards dressed in their real army outfits, with hats and guns with bayonets made me think about the days under Nazi rule, even the oppression under communism. There was nothing novel or chintzy about them, nothing to make it seem merely ceremonial, compared with the stereotypical red suits and funny bearskin hats that the British guards wear for the tourists to stand around and photograph. It was erie to be watching this in front of this ancient Castle, in which who-knows which world leaders have lived and conducted their most important business. (Zdena told us today that the President of the CZ has his office there now.) But the night, the eerie, the quiet, the Praha made it feel like another time, a time I've never gotten an inkling of in America.
I ate breakfast at the dorm again today, and took my time showering and drying my hair for the first time since i've been here. I walked downtown again, this time on real streets, not through the Castle. Went to the AIFS Office in Wenceslas Square to check my email and pay my 200kc deposit for the trip to Moravia this weekend, and the 50kc deposit for the day trip to Chesky Kremlov, in Bohemia, next Saturday. I didn't get lost once the whole way there, and it was a great walk through Old Town Square and down a commercial street I'd never been on. I felt quite good about being able to get around with no trouble; I think I'm finally getting somewhat of a mental map. So then I walked back to school, found a cool courtyard on the way that had lots of interesting sculpture in it, very contemporary stuff, and sat on a bench there for a bit with some Czech students and studied. Then it was class, and a tram back home, because I have walked a ton today.
My suitemate is talking to her parents on the phone in Serbian. She lived there until 1998, when she moved to the States. I have my windows open, and there is a bit of a breeze coming in. The weather here has been hot. It's been sunny and warm every day. I think I'm staying in tonight, maybe will watch a movie with some people, call Mom and Dad, because I haven't talked to them in a while. Eat some more of the really good dark Czech chocolate, and continue drinking 1.5 litre bottles of bubbly water (or perliva voda, not to be confused with neperliva voda, which was the still water I meant to buy). But I'm kind of beginning to like it. . .
It has been great to have class. It gives me structure and purpose and an excuse for not hanging out every second. My class is from 2:00-6:30 every day for the next two weeks (well, not Friday, Saturday and Sunday), and it is definitely difficult. But I feel like I'm keeping up with the professor, and it isn't as difficult for me as some of the other people in the class are complaining it is for them. I am amazed at how much I've picked up already -- I can read some of the signs around town, recognize words and sounds and whatnot. I guess it helps that this is the only responsibility I have right now, so I can focus on it and really try to retain.
My professor is a 50-ish Cechka named Zdena, petite with crazy blonde hair. She's pretty reserved, but she's got a good sense of humor, which is nice when you have to teach adults a language like they are toddlers. She took us on a walk today, showed us some off-the-beaten-path places around Stare Mesto, and dropped us off in Wenceslas Square, telling us to find our way home on our own.
Had a good day yesterday. Walked down to campus with Megan and Bekka, got lost because we left the Castle too soon, so it ended up taking a bit longer, but we got there on time. It's a nice long walk. We went to an orientation at 10:00 and heard from the Director of the ECES Program at Charles University, as well as the head of the Literature department, who is going to be teaching my Kafka and Kundera class. He talked about the course offerings, how the department works, etc. He seems awesome, and I am excited to perhaps go to the pub with him after class and further discuss Czech literature. They are big into their literature here; it turns out that I'm going to take 3 lit classes this semester, because they added a bunch since I first registered. I got into the Kafka and Kundera one for sure, and then I'm taking a course on Czech film since 1989 (when communism ended) that focuses on issues of "identity and containment," and also a course on Czech Samizdat, or underground Czech literature.
I had a bit of a break before my language class yesterday, so I walked around Wenceslas a bit, got a sandwich near the University, sat on the steps of the building where our classes are and ate lunch. There is a great view of Prasky Hrad there, with trams going by this way and that; it was a good, quintessential Praha time.
Went to my new favorite bar after class -- the Engish translation of the name is "The Hanging Coffee," with the idea being, when you go in, you buy two coffees, and when someone comes in who doesn't have any money, they can have a free coffee. Megan, John, Mike and I walked up from campus, but got lost, of course. We ended up taking a scenic tour of Praha 6, some more posh areas of the Hradcany neighborhood, and walked through an awesome little park that had fallen leaves crunching all over the ground. We frolicked and sang and felt happy in the fall. I forgot how much I love the fall; I always do, until it is here. It will be nice to spend the fall here. My last few falls have been pretty great ones; this one will be different, but good, too, I think.
So I had a few Gambrinuses at the Kafe, hung out with Megan and Zac and John and Mike and Tyler, and got some delicious potato dumplings for dinner; they had smoked meat inside them, and were surrounded by cabbage sauteed with onions, kind of like sauerkraut but stronger. Delicious.
We left the bar after a few hours and decided to go up to the Castle again, because it is so flippin cool in the dark. We just stood outside the gates and talked, and happened to be there for the changing of the guard. That was pretty creepy. I haven't really though much about the political history of this country and this city, but seeing those guards dressed in their real army outfits, with hats and guns with bayonets made me think about the days under Nazi rule, even the oppression under communism. There was nothing novel or chintzy about them, nothing to make it seem merely ceremonial, compared with the stereotypical red suits and funny bearskin hats that the British guards wear for the tourists to stand around and photograph. It was erie to be watching this in front of this ancient Castle, in which who-knows which world leaders have lived and conducted their most important business. (Zdena told us today that the President of the CZ has his office there now.) But the night, the eerie, the quiet, the Praha made it feel like another time, a time I've never gotten an inkling of in America.
I ate breakfast at the dorm again today, and took my time showering and drying my hair for the first time since i've been here. I walked downtown again, this time on real streets, not through the Castle. Went to the AIFS Office in Wenceslas Square to check my email and pay my 200kc deposit for the trip to Moravia this weekend, and the 50kc deposit for the day trip to Chesky Kremlov, in Bohemia, next Saturday. I didn't get lost once the whole way there, and it was a great walk through Old Town Square and down a commercial street I'd never been on. I felt quite good about being able to get around with no trouble; I think I'm finally getting somewhat of a mental map. So then I walked back to school, found a cool courtyard on the way that had lots of interesting sculpture in it, very contemporary stuff, and sat on a bench there for a bit with some Czech students and studied. Then it was class, and a tram back home, because I have walked a ton today.
My suitemate is talking to her parents on the phone in Serbian. She lived there until 1998, when she moved to the States. I have my windows open, and there is a bit of a breeze coming in. The weather here has been hot. It's been sunny and warm every day. I think I'm staying in tonight, maybe will watch a movie with some people, call Mom and Dad, because I haven't talked to them in a while. Eat some more of the really good dark Czech chocolate, and continue drinking 1.5 litre bottles of bubbly water (or perliva voda, not to be confused with neperliva voda, which was the still water I meant to buy). But I'm kind of beginning to like it. . .
Our WC
This is the little closet where our toilet is. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic, because taking a dump would not be an enjoyable experience. Toilet paper is weird here, too -- either it's a mini-roll of those natural, unbleached paper towels (like in this picture), or it's little individual sheets of tissue paper.
219B
This is the room I share with Kathryn at the Kolej. Nice natural light! My side is the right one.
View From KU
This is the view from the front steps of the building where I go to school. Yeah. Only in Prague. In the distance is Prasky Hrad (Prague Castle) and the gothic cathedral within it.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
I Have Arrived.
I'm sure when classes start I won't have enough time to write blog entries after every thing I do. Also, there probably won't be as many new, exciting things happening every day to write about. But there are, now, and I like writing about them, so I'm doing it.
Got up this morning and went for a run. It was nice, although I felt a bit out of place, and people were looking at me funny. Silly Americansky, all health-consciousky. I ran away from downtown on a main street near the Kolej; I haven't ventured away from downtown yet, only toward it. So that was cool; there are a lot of little shops and groceries and cafes and pubs -- and old Czech men drinking beer on the pub patios at 9:15 in the morning.
I ate breakfast at the dorm again, and went to the internet cafe across the street to activate my AIFS debit card. Gmail wasn't working, so I couldn't check my email. Then I took a shower, and Kathryn and I decided to venture down to Wenceslas Square and Tesco for groceries and little things for the apartment. We hopped a tram down there, and I thought we would have to get off at a certain stop to catch the Metro, but we got off there and there was Tesco!! So we ventured all over the 5-story consumerist hellhole, buying can openers and cleaning supplies and blankets and towels and groceries. I got a good week's worth of food -- apples, bananas, rice, whole wheat pasta (once I found the health food section), tomato sauce, baked beans (I couldn't find black beans!), bread, turkey, cheese, bottled water -- for 350kc (less than $20). What a deal. And it was only a mildly harrowing experience. (See Appendix A.)
We went down to campus today for an orientation meeting. It basically consisted of Marketa reading us everything that was in the literature they gave us when we were accepted to the program. But we saw the building where our classes will be, and it gave us an excuse to be downtown. After the meeting, my friends wanted to look at cell phones, so we went to the Oskar store and got the scoop. I'm still not convinced I'll need one, so we'll see how this week plays out once everyone else gets theirs. We walked around a bit and tried to find a place to sit down and eat; we ended up at a weird fast-food wrap place. I don't remember the name, but they served a bunch of different types of wraps, like Greek and Thai and Japanese and Italian and Norwegian and Dutch and French. So I had a Thai wrap with chicken and good Thai dressing and lettuce and tomato. Not very Czech, but cheap and good. Then we decided we wanted a bar and some beer (because I hadn't had any yet and it was like 7:00!!!), so we walked to Mala Strana, where none of us had hung out, and found this awesome place called U Stkaklksdf Cafe. They had 27kc (about $1.10) pints of Pilsner Urquell, so we hung out there, and it turned out it had free WiFi, and I also happened to have my computer in my backpack because I was afraid of thieves taking it while we were gone, so I passed it around and we all checked on class schedules, etc.
There were a couple of other American-looking girls in there, so we talked to them and it turned out they were from American University, doing the FAMU program, living in the dorm next door to the cafe -- the dorm that Teddy is living in! So I asked if they knew him; they did, and he was a good friend of one of them. So the one girl said she would tell him she saw me, but he was out or whatever. But about a half hour later, who walked in but TEDDY!!! It was crazy -- I haven't seen him since we were like 11! So we caught up, talked about what we had been doing in the past 10 years, talked about his program and its director, who was a Czech ex-pat in the US for a while, and came back after communism and now lives at the Kolej and runs this program. So it was incredibly good to see him, just cool to see a formerly-friendly face in a crazy place halfway across the globe from where you last saw each other.
So, we got a bit rowdy at the bar after our 3rd round, and were getting kind of obnoxious, so we left a big tip for the American-friendly Czech bartender, walked back up the hill to our dorm and hung out in the lobby a bit. A lot of people were around tonight, probably feeling like they should be social because school is starting or something. We have an orientation for our intensive language course at 10:00 tomorrow morning, and then class after that. I'm excited to get started, have school, learn, have some structure and some more things to occupy my time. It's been nice to hang out, but it will be ever better to get back to classes, learning, intellectual stimulation. And beers between classes, of course. Most of my classes are in the morning and the late afternoon, so I will have lots of time to kill at cafes and pubs and doing work during the day. I can't wait.
So, I had plugged my computer in with my Czech adaptor for the first time when I started writing, and there were weird little blips on my screen. I felt the adaptor and it was really hot, so I unplugged it and now it kind of smells like burning. This is not a good sign. My Pod is also dying, so I was hoping to charge that, too. I should probably figure out what is going on, if I need some kind of transformer or something. I wonder how I do that. . .call 1-800-APPLE? Oh, wait. I'm in Eastern Europe. That won't be possible. Guess I should conserve battery, then, for now.
Therefore, time for bed. Gonna get up and shower and eat breakfast so I hopefully have enough time to walk down the hill and across the bridge to class. That will be nice.
Appendix A:
Things that are similar between Tesco in Praha and Giant Eagle in Squirrel Hill:
1. Elderly Eastern European people speaking Eastern European languages with anger.
2. More people than the aisles can comfortably accommodate.
3. Not enough cashiers.
4. Lines at the deli.
5. Braeburn apples (my favorite).
6. A very rushed and frenetic atmosphere.
Things that are different at Tesco in Praha than at Giant Eagle in Squirrel Hill:
1. Prices listed in Crowns instead of US Dollars (this is a bridgeable gap, because I am a mental math star).
2. Clerks at the deli counter who speak English; in Praha, one must point to the type of cheese one wants and then nod when the clerk has put enough of said cheese on the scale, or one must try to pronounce the type of meat one wants and be corrected by the clerk, but with a smile.)
3. The price of Braeburn apples (my favorite) -- 16kc per kilo, compared with $1.69 per pound.
4. The presence of delicious dark chocolate candy bars for 9kc.
5. A little counter by the produce that you have to take your produce to, where a man weighs it and puts a sticker on it for checkout ease.
Got up this morning and went for a run. It was nice, although I felt a bit out of place, and people were looking at me funny. Silly Americansky, all health-consciousky. I ran away from downtown on a main street near the Kolej; I haven't ventured away from downtown yet, only toward it. So that was cool; there are a lot of little shops and groceries and cafes and pubs -- and old Czech men drinking beer on the pub patios at 9:15 in the morning.
I ate breakfast at the dorm again, and went to the internet cafe across the street to activate my AIFS debit card. Gmail wasn't working, so I couldn't check my email. Then I took a shower, and Kathryn and I decided to venture down to Wenceslas Square and Tesco for groceries and little things for the apartment. We hopped a tram down there, and I thought we would have to get off at a certain stop to catch the Metro, but we got off there and there was Tesco!! So we ventured all over the 5-story consumerist hellhole, buying can openers and cleaning supplies and blankets and towels and groceries. I got a good week's worth of food -- apples, bananas, rice, whole wheat pasta (once I found the health food section), tomato sauce, baked beans (I couldn't find black beans!), bread, turkey, cheese, bottled water -- for 350kc (less than $20). What a deal. And it was only a mildly harrowing experience. (See Appendix A.)
We went down to campus today for an orientation meeting. It basically consisted of Marketa reading us everything that was in the literature they gave us when we were accepted to the program. But we saw the building where our classes will be, and it gave us an excuse to be downtown. After the meeting, my friends wanted to look at cell phones, so we went to the Oskar store and got the scoop. I'm still not convinced I'll need one, so we'll see how this week plays out once everyone else gets theirs. We walked around a bit and tried to find a place to sit down and eat; we ended up at a weird fast-food wrap place. I don't remember the name, but they served a bunch of different types of wraps, like Greek and Thai and Japanese and Italian and Norwegian and Dutch and French. So I had a Thai wrap with chicken and good Thai dressing and lettuce and tomato. Not very Czech, but cheap and good. Then we decided we wanted a bar and some beer (because I hadn't had any yet and it was like 7:00!!!), so we walked to Mala Strana, where none of us had hung out, and found this awesome place called U Stkaklksdf Cafe. They had 27kc (about $1.10) pints of Pilsner Urquell, so we hung out there, and it turned out it had free WiFi, and I also happened to have my computer in my backpack because I was afraid of thieves taking it while we were gone, so I passed it around and we all checked on class schedules, etc.
There were a couple of other American-looking girls in there, so we talked to them and it turned out they were from American University, doing the FAMU program, living in the dorm next door to the cafe -- the dorm that Teddy is living in! So I asked if they knew him; they did, and he was a good friend of one of them. So the one girl said she would tell him she saw me, but he was out or whatever. But about a half hour later, who walked in but TEDDY!!! It was crazy -- I haven't seen him since we were like 11! So we caught up, talked about what we had been doing in the past 10 years, talked about his program and its director, who was a Czech ex-pat in the US for a while, and came back after communism and now lives at the Kolej and runs this program. So it was incredibly good to see him, just cool to see a formerly-friendly face in a crazy place halfway across the globe from where you last saw each other.
So, we got a bit rowdy at the bar after our 3rd round, and were getting kind of obnoxious, so we left a big tip for the American-friendly Czech bartender, walked back up the hill to our dorm and hung out in the lobby a bit. A lot of people were around tonight, probably feeling like they should be social because school is starting or something. We have an orientation for our intensive language course at 10:00 tomorrow morning, and then class after that. I'm excited to get started, have school, learn, have some structure and some more things to occupy my time. It's been nice to hang out, but it will be ever better to get back to classes, learning, intellectual stimulation. And beers between classes, of course. Most of my classes are in the morning and the late afternoon, so I will have lots of time to kill at cafes and pubs and doing work during the day. I can't wait.
So, I had plugged my computer in with my Czech adaptor for the first time when I started writing, and there were weird little blips on my screen. I felt the adaptor and it was really hot, so I unplugged it and now it kind of smells like burning. This is not a good sign. My Pod is also dying, so I was hoping to charge that, too. I should probably figure out what is going on, if I need some kind of transformer or something. I wonder how I do that. . .call 1-800-APPLE? Oh, wait. I'm in Eastern Europe. That won't be possible. Guess I should conserve battery, then, for now.
Therefore, time for bed. Gonna get up and shower and eat breakfast so I hopefully have enough time to walk down the hill and across the bridge to class. That will be nice.
Appendix A:
Things that are similar between Tesco in Praha and Giant Eagle in Squirrel Hill:
1. Elderly Eastern European people speaking Eastern European languages with anger.
2. More people than the aisles can comfortably accommodate.
3. Not enough cashiers.
4. Lines at the deli.
5. Braeburn apples (my favorite).
6. A very rushed and frenetic atmosphere.
Things that are different at Tesco in Praha than at Giant Eagle in Squirrel Hill:
1. Prices listed in Crowns instead of US Dollars (this is a bridgeable gap, because I am a mental math star).
2. Clerks at the deli counter who speak English; in Praha, one must point to the type of cheese one wants and then nod when the clerk has put enough of said cheese on the scale, or one must try to pronounce the type of meat one wants and be corrected by the clerk, but with a smile.)
3. The price of Braeburn apples (my favorite) -- 16kc per kilo, compared with $1.69 per pound.
4. The presence of delicious dark chocolate candy bars for 9kc.
5. A little counter by the produce that you have to take your produce to, where a man weighs it and puts a sticker on it for checkout ease.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Czech, Czech. . .
I am in Prague.
Finally, after a somewhat harrowing day yesterday in transit. My hotel-roommate had to get on a bus to the airport at 4:15, and even though my shuttle didn't leave until 6:15, I didn't go back to sleep after she left. I got on the bus at 6:15, but we didn't get all the luggage loaded until about 7:00, so more sitting. We got to Heathrow quickly, though, and drove past the brewery that makes London's Pride.
I was quite amazed at how easy it is to fly when you are not in America. As we were walking up to security, I untied my boots so I could take them off quickly -- the security lady looked at me like I was crazy and told me to keep them on. They set the alarms off in Pittsburgh a few days ago, so I looked at her skeptically, but I walked through with no problem. I didn't have to take my laptop out of my backpack, and they didn't look at my passport, ever, until right before I boarded the plane. They also don't assign gates to flights there until right before they leave, so everyone sits in this big waiting area with tons of shops and restaurants and kiosks and watches these little TVs to check gate assignments. Much different than flying in the States, for sure.
We sat in the plane for a good hour before we actually took off, but the flight to Munich was fast, I dozed off, and the landing was one of the smoothest I've ever experienced. (I have been impressed as all get-out by British Airways, all around.) The Munich airport is really cool -- lots of neat, clean lines, tons of open space and glass, very German. I think I'd like to go back to Germany at some point in the semester; Berlin is close by train and would be cool to see. There was a big yellow Mercedes bus there to pick us up, so we piled in and hit the Autobon -- the first highway; it still has no speed limit. We sat at the border of Germany and the CZ for about an hour while the officials checked all our papers. That was a pain.
But the first stop we made once we got into the CZ was in Pilsen, at the Pilsner Urquell brewery, of course!! They served us tall mugs of fantastic Pilsner with about 3 inches of head, and we had our choice of authentic Czech dinners -- I had beef sirloin in a vegetable cream sauce with Bohemian dumplings (which are actually like slices of rich, heavy white bread.) It was delicious. We got back into the bus and were finally headed to Praha.
We got to our dorm, the Kolej Komenskeho, around 9:30. Waited in a big line to check in, and got to my room on the second floor of this old dorm building. My roommate is a girl named Kathryn, from Long Island, who is studying elementary/special education at the University of Rhode Island. I was a bit overwhelmed when I got here, after a long day of traveling, and coming into a barren dorm/apartment that definitely made me feel like I was in post-communist Eastern Europe. I called Mom and Dad with one minute left on my phone card after connection fees and pretty much just spent it crying. But Kathryn and I put up pictures on the walls, moved our stuff in, and it felt a bit more homey.
A door to our suite opens from the hallway, there is a toilet to the left in a little cubby (it flushes by pulling a string above your head), and there is a hallway that leads to our room. We have a room with two beds (they look like beds, but they just have these long church-pew-like cushions on them). We have two cabinets stacked on top of each other that we use as dressers, two desks with drawers, two chairs, and three big windows. Outside our door is a little kitchen-type area with lots of cabinets, a mini-fridge, a hot-plate, and a sink. Also in that hallway are four floor-to-ceiling (the ceiling is probably 12 feet high) wardrobes, for us and our 2 suitemates. To the left is their bedroom, and to the right is a tiled room with the shower and sink. The shower is interesting -- it is just a free-swinging hose with a nozzle at the end, so you have to hold it the whole time you're in there so it doesn't fly all over and spray everything, and you have to turn it off every few minutes so the drain can drain. But the water is hot. So, it is an interesting setup, to say the least. I'm calling it home for the next 3 months.
I was feeling pretty disheveled when I got here, kind of didn't know what to do with myself. I used a phone card they gave us to call out, but Mom and Dad and Jut weren't there. So Zac and I decided to go for a walk; he wanted to go to an ATM to get some crowns and by cigarettes, so we found the nearest one, and I walked off some of my nervous energy. We ran into some other people from the program, and a kid named Dylan, from Illinois, joined us to find cigarettes. We finally stumbled upon a little cafe that sold Marlboros -- Zac got a pack of Lights and a lighter for 77kc, less than $3. After that we just kept walking, and stumbled upon Prague Castle, which turns out to be about 10 minutes from our dorm. It is really amazing -- it makes me think of communist Russia; a mass of people gathered on the flat stone floor, their cheers echoing off the tall walls (come on, it's almost poetic -- I'm trying for that irony. . .). Within its walls is an incredible gothic cathedral with endless turrets and creepy gargoyles of screaming ghost-women. It was so cool that everything was still open at 10:30 at night, and it was really great to walk around at that time not only because it was really eerie, but because there weren't many tourists around. We sat there for quite a while, just enjoying the solitude, the amazing cathedral, the night sky, the lights of the city across the river. I needed that, just to feel a bit more calm here, like this will be a bit more manageable; I needed to see pretty-Prague, not crazy or ghetto-Prague. It was a nice welcome.
We walked aimlessly for a while, down cobblestone streets with high walls and houses on them, winding around and up hills, until we got our bearings again and found our way back to the dorm. I finished unpacking and felt better about being here. It's culture shock, for sure. It will be better when I learn some of the language -- people say a lot of English is spoken in Prague, but all the street signs/names, signs at stores, billboards, signs on Trams, etc are in Czech. I haven't seen or heard much English, so far; I will be much more comfortable when I can understand some of the Czech.
And there's a strange kind of loneliness -- a twinge of that loneliness that persists even when you're surrounded by people, because you feel like you don't know/trust/like any of them; but there's something more, something related to being an outsider, probably, something having to do with gaining perspective on the country you come from, knowing how other people think about you because that's where you're from. Probably also something about not understanding the words the letters you see make, sometimes not being able to identify the letters themselves. It will take some getting used to. But it is beautiful here; I'm sure there will be moments like seeing the Castle last night, which will be what keeps me going.
Slept well last night, on my church-pew-bed. Got up and took a shower, as described earlier. Went down to breakfast, which is served every morning for us, in a cute little room in the dorm basement. Little Czech ladies put the food out for us and bustled about. There were doughnuts, bread, rolls, jam, lots of different lunch meats and cheeses, cut up tomatoes, cucumbers and red peppers, yogurt (that tasted more like cream cheese), fruit, watered-down Tang, water, coffee and tea. Not bad.
So, we are meeting in the hotel lobby soon and are going to a brewery for lunch. Then we are getting a tour of downtown Prague, places we need to know about like the post office and AIFS office and the nearest Tesco's, which is supposed to be the "best" place to get groceries in Prague -- oh, British Empire. I'm hoping to change some of my American dollars into crowns, and hopefully go out tonight, get some beer or wine, get more acclimated. It will be nice to see the city in the daylight, since it was difficult last night to get my bearings. Viva, Praha.
Finally, after a somewhat harrowing day yesterday in transit. My hotel-roommate had to get on a bus to the airport at 4:15, and even though my shuttle didn't leave until 6:15, I didn't go back to sleep after she left. I got on the bus at 6:15, but we didn't get all the luggage loaded until about 7:00, so more sitting. We got to Heathrow quickly, though, and drove past the brewery that makes London's Pride.
I was quite amazed at how easy it is to fly when you are not in America. As we were walking up to security, I untied my boots so I could take them off quickly -- the security lady looked at me like I was crazy and told me to keep them on. They set the alarms off in Pittsburgh a few days ago, so I looked at her skeptically, but I walked through with no problem. I didn't have to take my laptop out of my backpack, and they didn't look at my passport, ever, until right before I boarded the plane. They also don't assign gates to flights there until right before they leave, so everyone sits in this big waiting area with tons of shops and restaurants and kiosks and watches these little TVs to check gate assignments. Much different than flying in the States, for sure.
We sat in the plane for a good hour before we actually took off, but the flight to Munich was fast, I dozed off, and the landing was one of the smoothest I've ever experienced. (I have been impressed as all get-out by British Airways, all around.) The Munich airport is really cool -- lots of neat, clean lines, tons of open space and glass, very German. I think I'd like to go back to Germany at some point in the semester; Berlin is close by train and would be cool to see. There was a big yellow Mercedes bus there to pick us up, so we piled in and hit the Autobon -- the first highway; it still has no speed limit. We sat at the border of Germany and the CZ for about an hour while the officials checked all our papers. That was a pain.
But the first stop we made once we got into the CZ was in Pilsen, at the Pilsner Urquell brewery, of course!! They served us tall mugs of fantastic Pilsner with about 3 inches of head, and we had our choice of authentic Czech dinners -- I had beef sirloin in a vegetable cream sauce with Bohemian dumplings (which are actually like slices of rich, heavy white bread.) It was delicious. We got back into the bus and were finally headed to Praha.
We got to our dorm, the Kolej Komenskeho, around 9:30. Waited in a big line to check in, and got to my room on the second floor of this old dorm building. My roommate is a girl named Kathryn, from Long Island, who is studying elementary/special education at the University of Rhode Island. I was a bit overwhelmed when I got here, after a long day of traveling, and coming into a barren dorm/apartment that definitely made me feel like I was in post-communist Eastern Europe. I called Mom and Dad with one minute left on my phone card after connection fees and pretty much just spent it crying. But Kathryn and I put up pictures on the walls, moved our stuff in, and it felt a bit more homey.
A door to our suite opens from the hallway, there is a toilet to the left in a little cubby (it flushes by pulling a string above your head), and there is a hallway that leads to our room. We have a room with two beds (they look like beds, but they just have these long church-pew-like cushions on them). We have two cabinets stacked on top of each other that we use as dressers, two desks with drawers, two chairs, and three big windows. Outside our door is a little kitchen-type area with lots of cabinets, a mini-fridge, a hot-plate, and a sink. Also in that hallway are four floor-to-ceiling (the ceiling is probably 12 feet high) wardrobes, for us and our 2 suitemates. To the left is their bedroom, and to the right is a tiled room with the shower and sink. The shower is interesting -- it is just a free-swinging hose with a nozzle at the end, so you have to hold it the whole time you're in there so it doesn't fly all over and spray everything, and you have to turn it off every few minutes so the drain can drain. But the water is hot. So, it is an interesting setup, to say the least. I'm calling it home for the next 3 months.
I was feeling pretty disheveled when I got here, kind of didn't know what to do with myself. I used a phone card they gave us to call out, but Mom and Dad and Jut weren't there. So Zac and I decided to go for a walk; he wanted to go to an ATM to get some crowns and by cigarettes, so we found the nearest one, and I walked off some of my nervous energy. We ran into some other people from the program, and a kid named Dylan, from Illinois, joined us to find cigarettes. We finally stumbled upon a little cafe that sold Marlboros -- Zac got a pack of Lights and a lighter for 77kc, less than $3. After that we just kept walking, and stumbled upon Prague Castle, which turns out to be about 10 minutes from our dorm. It is really amazing -- it makes me think of communist Russia; a mass of people gathered on the flat stone floor, their cheers echoing off the tall walls (come on, it's almost poetic -- I'm trying for that irony. . .). Within its walls is an incredible gothic cathedral with endless turrets and creepy gargoyles of screaming ghost-women. It was so cool that everything was still open at 10:30 at night, and it was really great to walk around at that time not only because it was really eerie, but because there weren't many tourists around. We sat there for quite a while, just enjoying the solitude, the amazing cathedral, the night sky, the lights of the city across the river. I needed that, just to feel a bit more calm here, like this will be a bit more manageable; I needed to see pretty-Prague, not crazy or ghetto-Prague. It was a nice welcome.
We walked aimlessly for a while, down cobblestone streets with high walls and houses on them, winding around and up hills, until we got our bearings again and found our way back to the dorm. I finished unpacking and felt better about being here. It's culture shock, for sure. It will be better when I learn some of the language -- people say a lot of English is spoken in Prague, but all the street signs/names, signs at stores, billboards, signs on Trams, etc are in Czech. I haven't seen or heard much English, so far; I will be much more comfortable when I can understand some of the Czech.
And there's a strange kind of loneliness -- a twinge of that loneliness that persists even when you're surrounded by people, because you feel like you don't know/trust/like any of them; but there's something more, something related to being an outsider, probably, something having to do with gaining perspective on the country you come from, knowing how other people think about you because that's where you're from. Probably also something about not understanding the words the letters you see make, sometimes not being able to identify the letters themselves. It will take some getting used to. But it is beautiful here; I'm sure there will be moments like seeing the Castle last night, which will be what keeps me going.
Slept well last night, on my church-pew-bed. Got up and took a shower, as described earlier. Went down to breakfast, which is served every morning for us, in a cute little room in the dorm basement. Little Czech ladies put the food out for us and bustled about. There were doughnuts, bread, rolls, jam, lots of different lunch meats and cheeses, cut up tomatoes, cucumbers and red peppers, yogurt (that tasted more like cream cheese), fruit, watered-down Tang, water, coffee and tea. Not bad.
So, we are meeting in the hotel lobby soon and are going to a brewery for lunch. Then we are getting a tour of downtown Prague, places we need to know about like the post office and AIFS office and the nearest Tesco's, which is supposed to be the "best" place to get groceries in Prague -- oh, British Empire. I'm hoping to change some of my American dollars into crowns, and hopefully go out tonight, get some beer or wine, get more acclimated. It will be nice to see the city in the daylight, since it was difficult last night to get my bearings. Viva, Praha.
Prage. . .Czech it Out!
Two entries in one day? I must need more to occupy my time. I guess technically this entry will be tomorrow's, since it is after midnight. But, still.
Today was a good day. I am still feeling culture shocked, pretty hardcore. So, in order to combat that, I tried to keep going today -- even when I wanted to crawl in bed and take a nap, I forced myself on a Tram, walked across the Vlatva, and explored Praha 1.
Our "tour" was nice -- it started with yet another traditional Czech meal at a brewery! We rode the 23 Tram downtown to it; we had their good microbrew pilsner, a delicious vegetable and potato soup, an entree of chicken with mushroom cream sauce, cabbage with dressing, and little round swirly tater-tots that had mashed potatoes inside, and dessert of an apple/rasin/walnut big kolachi thing. Also paid for by AIFS. . .or, I guess, by our program fees. But it feels like a free meal.
We walked to the AIFS office after that, on Wencesclas Square (as in, Good King looked out, on the feast of Stephen" -- he's the Patron Saint of the CZ, apparently), then went to Tesco, where we will do our grocery shopping, then back to the Post Office on the Square. We hopped the Metro to check out "Prague's Only Unique Czech-American Laundromat," Laundry Kings, where it is suggested we wash our clothes. Then back on the tram, back to the Kolej.
I kind of wanted to take a nap at this point in the day; I was feeling quite overwhelmed, wondering whether or not I'd ever be able to get back to the places I'd just been, wondering how I'd ever get everything done I'd need to do for school, life, etc in this crazy city that I don't understand yet. When I got back to my room, however, I learned that my suitemates' room had been broken into, and the one girl's brand new, $2,000 Apple laptop had been stolen. I kind of freaked out, because they had told me earlier at the brewery that they couldn't get our front door, the one that opens into the main hallway, locked, but both our room doors were locked, so they weren't worried. I asked them if they had used their key to lock the door, just like when they unlock it; they hadn't thought of that, so they hadn't tried it. So someone had walked through that open main door, apparently, and ducked around the corner to their room, which you can't see from the hall if you were walking by, and broke down their door. Pretty creepy. We figured someone had to have known she had the computer in there; she had it sitting on top of the wardrobe, in view, I suppose, of someone who looked into the window. But it still doesn't make sense that someone would break into only that room, only take that laptop, not touch anything in the unlocked wardrobes in the hallway. I don't know. I know that we will lock the doors from now on.
After hearing this news, I knew if I stopped doing things I would most likely break down, so I joined a large group that was going back down to Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske namesti, for the lay person, or the Czech-speaking person). I knocked on Zac's door to see if he wanted to come, and by the time he came out, everyone else was gone. So we decided to venture downtown anyway, and just fend for ourselves. We got on a Tram and rode to the bottom of the hill, right before the river, and then walked across on most Legii (Legii Bridge, for the layperson) to Wenceslas Square. We found a cool internet cafe on the second floor of a wine bar, and wrote emails and checked our course registration. I am enrolled in 3 classes and am on the waiting list for 3 more, so we'll see how it works out.
Then we decided to go to Old Town (Stare Mesto) to check out the square and some of the old castle-like buildings. It was pretty awesome to walk through there, especially after only seeing it on TV and in pictures. Pretty incredible. So we walked around a bit, looked at Russian dolls of Bill Clinton and Dubya, and went to find a cafe Zac had seen in his tour book. We found it, and ducked into the dimly lit, quiet, totally chill little bar for 30kc tall glasses of Pilsner Urquell. The environment was pretty much perfect, the waitress/bartender was really cute and laughed at us trying to speak Czech, and it was almost empty. So after that, we walked toward home through New Town (Nove Mesto) and found another bar -- one that is supposedly frequented by American ex-patriates. So we went there; I had a pint of Staropramen, and a big plate of nachos (yes, that's right, nachos in Prague. Lay off -- the last 2 meals I've eaten have been huge tradition Czech fare!). Then we caught a tram and came home. It was just a really good, relaxed evening that made me feel like I have a handle on this city, or am at least starting to get one. I navigated, rode public transport, found good beer, and got home safely. And really, what more do you need?
Talked to Mom and Dad for a bit -- I emailed them my number here and they called my room. It was good to talk to them; I haven't talked to them since I've gotten to Praha.
I just ate some of the cheese I bought in London. Gross, because it rode through a 7-hour bus ride in my suitcase at the bottom of the bus. But it tasted all right.
Lots more people around tonight at the Kolej. I think a few more programs moved in today. I'm beat. I have to keep justifying to myself that it's okay if I don't go out to clubs or bars with people all the time. I mean, I wouldn't have fun doing that at home, so why should I do it here? I mean, I'm in Prague, but that doesn't mean I have to party all the time; if I'd be happier just chilling out and reading or writing, that's okay, right? I have to keep telling myself it is. I mean, I spent like 12 hours today with people, being social! I'm allowed to have some alone time, I think. I don't know. I'm realizing that I don't really remember how to be me, in a normal situation -- I don't remember how I am socially, what I like to do when I am able to choose how to occupy my time, that kind of thing, since I lived on YouthWorks' schedule for the past 3 months. So now, I have to remember how to be me again, what I really do like to do, and also try to balance that with the other-universe that is a study abroad semester, the strange social milieus that exist there, etc. But it's cool. I'll figure it out. And I'm having fun. I'm enjoying myself! So how can that be bad? It can't be. So there. crazy, overanalyzing brain.
Going to sleep.
Today was a good day. I am still feeling culture shocked, pretty hardcore. So, in order to combat that, I tried to keep going today -- even when I wanted to crawl in bed and take a nap, I forced myself on a Tram, walked across the Vlatva, and explored Praha 1.
Our "tour" was nice -- it started with yet another traditional Czech meal at a brewery! We rode the 23 Tram downtown to it; we had their good microbrew pilsner, a delicious vegetable and potato soup, an entree of chicken with mushroom cream sauce, cabbage with dressing, and little round swirly tater-tots that had mashed potatoes inside, and dessert of an apple/rasin/walnut big kolachi thing. Also paid for by AIFS. . .or, I guess, by our program fees. But it feels like a free meal.
We walked to the AIFS office after that, on Wencesclas Square (as in, Good King looked out, on the feast of Stephen" -- he's the Patron Saint of the CZ, apparently), then went to Tesco, where we will do our grocery shopping, then back to the Post Office on the Square. We hopped the Metro to check out "Prague's Only Unique Czech-American Laundromat," Laundry Kings, where it is suggested we wash our clothes. Then back on the tram, back to the Kolej.
I kind of wanted to take a nap at this point in the day; I was feeling quite overwhelmed, wondering whether or not I'd ever be able to get back to the places I'd just been, wondering how I'd ever get everything done I'd need to do for school, life, etc in this crazy city that I don't understand yet. When I got back to my room, however, I learned that my suitemates' room had been broken into, and the one girl's brand new, $2,000 Apple laptop had been stolen. I kind of freaked out, because they had told me earlier at the brewery that they couldn't get our front door, the one that opens into the main hallway, locked, but both our room doors were locked, so they weren't worried. I asked them if they had used their key to lock the door, just like when they unlock it; they hadn't thought of that, so they hadn't tried it. So someone had walked through that open main door, apparently, and ducked around the corner to their room, which you can't see from the hall if you were walking by, and broke down their door. Pretty creepy. We figured someone had to have known she had the computer in there; she had it sitting on top of the wardrobe, in view, I suppose, of someone who looked into the window. But it still doesn't make sense that someone would break into only that room, only take that laptop, not touch anything in the unlocked wardrobes in the hallway. I don't know. I know that we will lock the doors from now on.
After hearing this news, I knew if I stopped doing things I would most likely break down, so I joined a large group that was going back down to Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske namesti, for the lay person, or the Czech-speaking person). I knocked on Zac's door to see if he wanted to come, and by the time he came out, everyone else was gone. So we decided to venture downtown anyway, and just fend for ourselves. We got on a Tram and rode to the bottom of the hill, right before the river, and then walked across on most Legii (Legii Bridge, for the layperson) to Wenceslas Square. We found a cool internet cafe on the second floor of a wine bar, and wrote emails and checked our course registration. I am enrolled in 3 classes and am on the waiting list for 3 more, so we'll see how it works out.
Then we decided to go to Old Town (Stare Mesto) to check out the square and some of the old castle-like buildings. It was pretty awesome to walk through there, especially after only seeing it on TV and in pictures. Pretty incredible. So we walked around a bit, looked at Russian dolls of Bill Clinton and Dubya, and went to find a cafe Zac had seen in his tour book. We found it, and ducked into the dimly lit, quiet, totally chill little bar for 30kc tall glasses of Pilsner Urquell. The environment was pretty much perfect, the waitress/bartender was really cute and laughed at us trying to speak Czech, and it was almost empty. So after that, we walked toward home through New Town (Nove Mesto) and found another bar -- one that is supposedly frequented by American ex-patriates. So we went there; I had a pint of Staropramen, and a big plate of nachos (yes, that's right, nachos in Prague. Lay off -- the last 2 meals I've eaten have been huge tradition Czech fare!). Then we caught a tram and came home. It was just a really good, relaxed evening that made me feel like I have a handle on this city, or am at least starting to get one. I navigated, rode public transport, found good beer, and got home safely. And really, what more do you need?
Talked to Mom and Dad for a bit -- I emailed them my number here and they called my room. It was good to talk to them; I haven't talked to them since I've gotten to Praha.
I just ate some of the cheese I bought in London. Gross, because it rode through a 7-hour bus ride in my suitcase at the bottom of the bus. But it tasted all right.
Lots more people around tonight at the Kolej. I think a few more programs moved in today. I'm beat. I have to keep justifying to myself that it's okay if I don't go out to clubs or bars with people all the time. I mean, I wouldn't have fun doing that at home, so why should I do it here? I mean, I'm in Prague, but that doesn't mean I have to party all the time; if I'd be happier just chilling out and reading or writing, that's okay, right? I have to keep telling myself it is. I mean, I spent like 12 hours today with people, being social! I'm allowed to have some alone time, I think. I don't know. I'm realizing that I don't really remember how to be me, in a normal situation -- I don't remember how I am socially, what I like to do when I am able to choose how to occupy my time, that kind of thing, since I lived on YouthWorks' schedule for the past 3 months. So now, I have to remember how to be me again, what I really do like to do, and also try to balance that with the other-universe that is a study abroad semester, the strange social milieus that exist there, etc. But it's cool. I'll figure it out. And I'm having fun. I'm enjoying myself! So how can that be bad? It can't be. So there. crazy, overanalyzing brain.
Going to sleep.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Meg - Abbey Road
Me at the sign for Abbey Road, right across from where all the magic happened, on my first Beatles pilgrimage this side of the Atlantic.
Zac, Guard, & Meg
At St. James Palace, standing with one of the famous British guards. (Check out my tourist-ey Tevas! I'm stylin. . .)
All of London, 30 Hours, It Can Be Done.
I pretty much saw everything in London today.
I got up and had a nice continental breakfast at the hotel while I read the London paper. Lots of lunchmeat and cheese and pastries and fruit for breakfast, and good bran flakes with yogurt. It has been strange to read the news and watch TV coverage of what's going on in New Orleans, while being here. It feels surreal to hear other people commenting on what's going on in your own country when you aren't there. All the editorials here are lambasting us for being such racists, since the majority of people who got out of New Orleans were white, and the majority who are stuck there are Black and Latino. An accurate and critique worth thinking about, I'd say.
We had a big guided bus tour that started at 8:45, and our cheeky, middle-aged British lady tour guide took us around to all the sites -- Prince Albert Hall, St James Palace (where we got to stand next to a stone-faced guard in a red jacket with a bearskin hat), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Picadilly Circus, Soho, Trafalgar Square. . .you name it, we drove past it in a bus, and if we were lucky, we got out and took pictures. We ended the tour at the Tower of London, where our admittance was prepaid. So we ventured in a for a bit, saw some torture chambers, the Crown Jewels, etc.
Then a group of us decided to venture across the Tower Bridge and we walked along the Thames to see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (the third one, because of that damn fire-attracting thatched roof) and ended up at the Tate Modern. What an incredible museum. I guess I'm used to the Carnegie International being the most art I get, so this blew me away. They have an amazing Mark Rothkoe room, and the galleries are arranged by subject, rather than time period or artistic movement -- I particularly enjoyed the "Landscape/Matter/Environment" and the "Nude/Action/Body" sections. We picked up a few more people in our little sightseeing group, and after I defended the value of modern art against Victorian pictures of little boys and boats and puppies, we walked back across the Thames on a cool pedestrian bridge and found the nearest Tube station.
We bought all-day Tube passes for £4.70, hopped on the Circle Line, and ended up at Covent Garden. It is a cool, hip place to eat and drink and shop and walk on little cobblestone streets, so we wandered there for a while before finding a pub to crawl into. I had an amazing amber ale -- London's Pride -- that was the best beer I've had thus far in Europe, and we hung out for a good while. It was the first time I felt like I was at a pub drinking with friends, rather than random people I met for study abroad, so that was a great feeling. It was me; Zac from Pittsburgh; Tina; a girl named Megan who goes to Gannon in Erie; Becka, from Minnesota; John, from Lubbock, TX; and Mike, from Austin, who has great music and film taste (he brought up Matthew Barney and Cremaster at the pub!!) A nice little clique with a good dynamic.
After the pub, we got back on the Tube and decided to ride to a random stop and explore there, so we ended up a few stops up at Goodge Street, a kind of technological center, it seemed. I convinced the group to hop on the Jubilee line and go to St Johns Wood with me for my Beatles pilgrimage of London -- Abbey Road. They obliged and we walked across the zebra-striped street, posed next to the scrawled-on street sign, and I marveled at the EMI Studios, "where it all happened."
We went back to the station to head down to Chinatown for dinner, but there was a power outage and the Jubilee line wasn't working. So we got on a big red double-decker bus instead, and rode to another station to connect with another (functional) Tube line. We ended up in Chinatown and ate at a dingy restaurant and had big plates of beef and vegetables and rice for about £7. Not bad. We stopped at a convenience store on the way back to the Tube and I got a £1.49 can of Stella Artois for the ride; went to the internet cafe across from the hotel and wrote some emails, and now it is time for bed.
It was a good, busy day. I like London, and would enjoy spending some more time here, getting to know the place, driving around on the country routes, if you will. Perhaps someday. . .
I got up and had a nice continental breakfast at the hotel while I read the London paper. Lots of lunchmeat and cheese and pastries and fruit for breakfast, and good bran flakes with yogurt. It has been strange to read the news and watch TV coverage of what's going on in New Orleans, while being here. It feels surreal to hear other people commenting on what's going on in your own country when you aren't there. All the editorials here are lambasting us for being such racists, since the majority of people who got out of New Orleans were white, and the majority who are stuck there are Black and Latino. An accurate and critique worth thinking about, I'd say.
We had a big guided bus tour that started at 8:45, and our cheeky, middle-aged British lady tour guide took us around to all the sites -- Prince Albert Hall, St James Palace (where we got to stand next to a stone-faced guard in a red jacket with a bearskin hat), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Picadilly Circus, Soho, Trafalgar Square. . .you name it, we drove past it in a bus, and if we were lucky, we got out and took pictures. We ended the tour at the Tower of London, where our admittance was prepaid. So we ventured in a for a bit, saw some torture chambers, the Crown Jewels, etc.
Then a group of us decided to venture across the Tower Bridge and we walked along the Thames to see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (the third one, because of that damn fire-attracting thatched roof) and ended up at the Tate Modern. What an incredible museum. I guess I'm used to the Carnegie International being the most art I get, so this blew me away. They have an amazing Mark Rothkoe room, and the galleries are arranged by subject, rather than time period or artistic movement -- I particularly enjoyed the "Landscape/Matter/Environment" and the "Nude/Action/Body" sections. We picked up a few more people in our little sightseeing group, and after I defended the value of modern art against Victorian pictures of little boys and boats and puppies, we walked back across the Thames on a cool pedestrian bridge and found the nearest Tube station.
We bought all-day Tube passes for £4.70, hopped on the Circle Line, and ended up at Covent Garden. It is a cool, hip place to eat and drink and shop and walk on little cobblestone streets, so we wandered there for a while before finding a pub to crawl into. I had an amazing amber ale -- London's Pride -- that was the best beer I've had thus far in Europe, and we hung out for a good while. It was the first time I felt like I was at a pub drinking with friends, rather than random people I met for study abroad, so that was a great feeling. It was me; Zac from Pittsburgh; Tina; a girl named Megan who goes to Gannon in Erie; Becka, from Minnesota; John, from Lubbock, TX; and Mike, from Austin, who has great music and film taste (he brought up Matthew Barney and Cremaster at the pub!!) A nice little clique with a good dynamic.
After the pub, we got back on the Tube and decided to ride to a random stop and explore there, so we ended up a few stops up at Goodge Street, a kind of technological center, it seemed. I convinced the group to hop on the Jubilee line and go to St Johns Wood with me for my Beatles pilgrimage of London -- Abbey Road. They obliged and we walked across the zebra-striped street, posed next to the scrawled-on street sign, and I marveled at the EMI Studios, "where it all happened."
We went back to the station to head down to Chinatown for dinner, but there was a power outage and the Jubilee line wasn't working. So we got on a big red double-decker bus instead, and rode to another station to connect with another (functional) Tube line. We ended up in Chinatown and ate at a dingy restaurant and had big plates of beef and vegetables and rice for about £7. Not bad. We stopped at a convenience store on the way back to the Tube and I got a £1.49 can of Stella Artois for the ride; went to the internet cafe across from the hotel and wrote some emails, and now it is time for bed.
It was a good, busy day. I like London, and would enjoy spending some more time here, getting to know the place, driving around on the country routes, if you will. Perhaps someday. . .
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