About Me
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
I know people (Howard) have been waiting with bated breath for this post, so I hope it is up to your approval. I was very excited for this weekend because it was an exhausting week of waking up early for Czech class. On Saturday I walked around the outside and was able to go inside of the Cathedral. It is very pretty. Later on in the afternoon Joanna, Erin, Julia and I went to Palladium. Palladium is a giant shopping mall, it is four or five stories, in the basement is a grocery store and on the top floor is a huge really nice food court. There are several restaurants, cafes and a sushi place where the food travels around the restaurant and you take it off the conveyor. We didn't try this but it looked interesting. I'm a little nervous to eat sushi here though. We ended up going to a cafe and getting coffee. Later that night since it was Valentine's Day the four of us went on a date. We went to a restaurant that we had been wanting to try, BarBar. It is known for its pancakes which are crepes to us. We all split a cheese crepe and then a chocolate and nuts dessert crepe, which were both really good and we will definitely be going back. They also had fun fruity drinks so it was very Sex and the City.
On Sunday I did nothing. It was great, I just slept in, read my book, studied very little Czech and relaxed. Yesterday we had Czech class and went to the Czech museum. This museum was really cool because it had the history of the Czech Republic on the first floor and had information on all different aspects of life. In each exhibit it also had clothes that people wore, things they used and the rooms were decorated as they would have been during that time period. It was like little bits of Plymouth Plantation moved inside (minus the pilgrims). Then last night we decided to go see the opera Cinderella. However, when we got there the opera was a ballet. I think it was probably more fun as a ballet. It was pretty good and I really enjoyed it, but there was one time where it looked like the prince dropped Cinderella but based on Joanna's professional opinion he just didn't lift her up. The stepsisters were really funny.
Today I had Czech class all day and we did not go anywhere fun so it was a very long day of learning this extremely difficult language. One of the words we learned today was chtel bych. ch does not make the same sound as in English so it kind of just sounds like a throat clearing sound combined with sh. This word means I would like. Also the word for ice cream is zmrzlina. The Czech language also uses the accusative which is when for words that end in a or e you change the ending to u or i. Then you also change the ending of the adjective to ou. This is extremely difficult, especially when you do it for 5 hours a day every day. But anyways, after Czech class today I went to Tesco and bought a bunch of stuff. Then Joanna and I made dinner on our lovely hot plate. We made tortellini with sauce that she enhanced with green pepper and then a salad. It was actually really good.
Some interesting things about Prague and the Czech Republic:
There are very few handicapped people here. I haven't seen one person here in a wheel chair. Most people use arm braces or canes.
There are also more blind people than I thought I would live in a big city, and they don't have seeing eye dogs they use canes.
Babies and children here wear full on snowsuits since it is so cold. Most parents have their babies in giant strollers where they are wearing hats, snowsuits and then put in a sleeping bag and blanket. A lot of young children walk around in snow suits and older kids are also still pretty bundled up.
People on the trams are silent. Very few people talk on the tram and the ones who do are usually under the age of 14 or are obnoxious American tourists (fun fact, the Czech word for American is pronounced americhunky). Anyone who was alive during communism does not talk at all on the tram or metro while younger people will speak a little but very quietly. Also, people are extremely polite and respectful. Whenever an older person, pregnant woman or mother and young child get on the tram people jump out of their seats to let them sit. I don't think that this happens in the US but I also do not take public transportation that often so I will give people the benefit of the doubt. One thing I don't think would be possible in the US is that all of the public transportation is run on the honor system. Senior citizens ride for free and then students and children get discounted fares. Everyone is supposed to buy a pass for a certain period of time and always have it on them. You can also buy tickets at every tram stop and those daily tickets you are supposed to stamp once you get on the tram. To enforce the fact that people must actually buy the passes, police will randomly ask people to show their passes and if you don't have it you get fined, usually more than it would cost to buy a 90 day pass like I did. They come up to you show you a badge and then you have to show it. They usually have a whole tram show them their passes and the men look completely normal so you can't identify them and get off the tram. This system seems to work pretty well because the three times I've had to show my pass the tram has been full but I've only seen one person get fined.
On Sunday I did nothing. It was great, I just slept in, read my book, studied very little Czech and relaxed. Yesterday we had Czech class and went to the Czech museum. This museum was really cool because it had the history of the Czech Republic on the first floor and had information on all different aspects of life. In each exhibit it also had clothes that people wore, things they used and the rooms were decorated as they would have been during that time period. It was like little bits of Plymouth Plantation moved inside (minus the pilgrims). Then last night we decided to go see the opera Cinderella. However, when we got there the opera was a ballet. I think it was probably more fun as a ballet. It was pretty good and I really enjoyed it, but there was one time where it looked like the prince dropped Cinderella but based on Joanna's professional opinion he just didn't lift her up. The stepsisters were really funny.
Today I had Czech class all day and we did not go anywhere fun so it was a very long day of learning this extremely difficult language. One of the words we learned today was chtel bych. ch does not make the same sound as in English so it kind of just sounds like a throat clearing sound combined with sh. This word means I would like. Also the word for ice cream is zmrzlina. The Czech language also uses the accusative which is when for words that end in a or e you change the ending to u or i. Then you also change the ending of the adjective to ou. This is extremely difficult, especially when you do it for 5 hours a day every day. But anyways, after Czech class today I went to Tesco and bought a bunch of stuff. Then Joanna and I made dinner on our lovely hot plate. We made tortellini with sauce that she enhanced with green pepper and then a salad. It was actually really good.
Some interesting things about Prague and the Czech Republic:
There are very few handicapped people here. I haven't seen one person here in a wheel chair. Most people use arm braces or canes.
There are also more blind people than I thought I would live in a big city, and they don't have seeing eye dogs they use canes.
Babies and children here wear full on snowsuits since it is so cold. Most parents have their babies in giant strollers where they are wearing hats, snowsuits and then put in a sleeping bag and blanket. A lot of young children walk around in snow suits and older kids are also still pretty bundled up.
People on the trams are silent. Very few people talk on the tram and the ones who do are usually under the age of 14 or are obnoxious American tourists (fun fact, the Czech word for American is pronounced americhunky). Anyone who was alive during communism does not talk at all on the tram or metro while younger people will speak a little but very quietly. Also, people are extremely polite and respectful. Whenever an older person, pregnant woman or mother and young child get on the tram people jump out of their seats to let them sit. I don't think that this happens in the US but I also do not take public transportation that often so I will give people the benefit of the doubt. One thing I don't think would be possible in the US is that all of the public transportation is run on the honor system. Senior citizens ride for free and then students and children get discounted fares. Everyone is supposed to buy a pass for a certain period of time and always have it on them. You can also buy tickets at every tram stop and those daily tickets you are supposed to stamp once you get on the tram. To enforce the fact that people must actually buy the passes, police will randomly ask people to show their passes and if you don't have it you get fined, usually more than it would cost to buy a 90 day pass like I did. They come up to you show you a badge and then you have to show it. They usually have a whole tram show them their passes and the men look completely normal so you can't identify them and get off the tram. This system seems to work pretty well because the three times I've had to show my pass the tram has been full but I've only seen one person get fined.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
So this week has basically been just going to Czech class from 9:30 to 2, either going to lunch or running a few errands and then coming back to the dorm and making lunch here and then going to dinner. On Tuesday we went to the opera and saw La Traviatta. I've never been to the opera before so I don't have much to compare it to but I thought it was really good. The singers were great and the women's dresses were beautiful. The theater was gorgeous and I took some pictures of it but then came out with a reddish tint so they don't really do it justice. I think that some of us are going to go back for Swan Lake. After the opera we went to a cafe for desert. It was really nice but a little expensive. However, I was in ice cream withdrawal so I got a sundae, which was delicious, nearly in up to Dairy Queen (Milford, not Miami) or Whip 'n Dip standards. On Wednesday our Czech class ended at 12 and the teachers took us to the same art museum that the Picasso exhibit is at so Erin and I and some other people looked at one of the other floors. I really like this museum and even in two viisits haven't been able to see everything. Then at night we tried to go to a restaurant that my guidebook described as having "dreamy young Czechs". Once we got there it was packed and there weren't any tables so we decided to find somewhere else to go. Clearly other people were also listening to Rick Steves travel advice. We ended up at an Italian place and got really good pizza and just relaxed there for a while.
Today my Czech class ended at 12 again and this time we went to see the Dancing House. This was designed by Frank Gehry and was named after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers because the building looks like its dancing. After seeing this we went to a church that was the National Memorial of the Heydrich Terror in Prague. Heydrich was Hitler's top aide and was assassinated by two Czechoslovak parachuters. After his assassination Hitler and the Nazis searched all of Prague for the assassins, anyone helping them or for information and about 13000 people were arrested, deported or killed. They also killed all men in the towns of Lidice and Lezaky and sent the women and children to concentration camps and bombed the towns. Eventually the parachuters hid in the crypt of a church. One of them did not hide with the rest and stayed at his mother's house. He then revealedto the Nazis the people who had helped them and began to work with them. Some of these people commited suicide and others were tortured into revealing information as to where they were hiding. Then the Nazis surrounded the church and started shooting, throwing in tear gas and trying to find the men who had assassinated Heydrich. These men fought back but ended up killing themselves so that the Nazis would not be able to. This is a very short summary of what happened but you can look it up on wikipedia. Jan also wrote a book about it. But anyways, we went and saw where the parachuters hid, where the Nazis shot into, the hole in the wall that the men made as a last ditch effort to escape the crypt into the sewage system and where the Nazis stormed into. It was really sad but also really interesting to learn about.
Tonight we are going out to dinner for Julie's 21st birthday. We are going to a Mexican place that is supposed to be the only good Mexican restaurant in Prague. We also got her a cake at Tesco, which was probably equivalent to the Shaw's bakery, at least in looks. Erin and I were looking for a place to get a selection of cookies since there are tons of bakeries and pastry ships around here but apparently they don't sell cookies. The cake looks really good though.
Today my Czech class ended at 12 again and this time we went to see the Dancing House. This was designed by Frank Gehry and was named after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers because the building looks like its dancing. After seeing this we went to a church that was the National Memorial of the Heydrich Terror in Prague. Heydrich was Hitler's top aide and was assassinated by two Czechoslovak parachuters. After his assassination Hitler and the Nazis searched all of Prague for the assassins, anyone helping them or for information and about 13000 people were arrested, deported or killed. They also killed all men in the towns of Lidice and Lezaky and sent the women and children to concentration camps and bombed the towns. Eventually the parachuters hid in the crypt of a church. One of them did not hide with the rest and stayed at his mother's house. He then revealedto the Nazis the people who had helped them and began to work with them. Some of these people commited suicide and others were tortured into revealing information as to where they were hiding. Then the Nazis surrounded the church and started shooting, throwing in tear gas and trying to find the men who had assassinated Heydrich. These men fought back but ended up killing themselves so that the Nazis would not be able to. This is a very short summary of what happened but you can look it up on wikipedia. Jan also wrote a book about it. But anyways, we went and saw where the parachuters hid, where the Nazis shot into, the hole in the wall that the men made as a last ditch effort to escape the crypt into the sewage system and where the Nazis stormed into. It was really sad but also really interesting to learn about.
Tonight we are going out to dinner for Julie's 21st birthday. We are going to a Mexican place that is supposed to be the only good Mexican restaurant in Prague. We also got her a cake at Tesco, which was probably equivalent to the Shaw's bakery, at least in looks. Erin and I were looking for a place to get a selection of cookies since there are tons of bakeries and pastry ships around here but apparently they don't sell cookies. The cake looks really good though.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Joe "F" has requested a description of the food in Prague. You can find any type of food you want here. We have free breakfast at the dorm and they always serve hard boiled eggs, rye bread, jam, butter, cheeses, some kind of fruit, a cereal, yogurt, a pastry, tea and coffee. If you want to go out for breakfast like in the US you have to look for an American breakfast. This is because pancakes here are actually crepes. I also think its not as big a deal as it is at home. You can buy many different types of cereal at the grocery store. There are also a lot of places where you can get different breakfast places and coffee. Not that many places have coffee to go and most people sit down in a cafe and drink it. Regular American filter coffee is also rare and places mostly have cappuccino and lattes. For lunch there are a lot of cafes you can go to and get just a sandwich or a salad or a full meal if you want to. For dinner you can get just about anything but typical Czech food is pork, dumplings and cabbage. I don't think it is a surprise to anyone that I haven't tried this seeing as how I haven't been involved in organ meat monday, sausage sunday or other alliterated meat themed days in a few years. Most places have pretty big menus where you can get all sorts of meats, chicken, salads, soups, vegetarian dishes, pastas and sides such as dumplings and roasted potatoes. There are also plenty of places to get different ethnic foods. It's also difficult to figure out the nutrition facts because there is not standard labeling, its listed as per 100 grams but not everything is packaged as a 100 grams. They also use more whole milk and real sugar so we have been trying to hunt down splenda and other aspartame cancer causing products. I am not yet an expert on Czech food but I will report more as I learn more. One thing that is interesting is that when you go out to eat here it takes a lot longer than it does at home. Here you can sit as long as you want and the waiter does not stand over you trying to rush you away. You also do not have to leave as big of a tip as at home, just around 10% or even less if the service is really bad.
The internet has been fixed! This is a definite cause for celebration. Or at least a new blog post.
Yesterday we started our Czech intensive language course. This class is from 9:30 until 2 Monday-Friday for two weeks. Czech is a really difficult language so this course is kind of intimidating but luckily my teacher is really nice and enthusiastic about it. The class is also really tiring because it takes about 40 minutes to get to the class from the dorm and I have to wake up early to also get free breakfast. Yesterday after class I met up with Joanna and we went back to Bohemia Bagel. We decided that even though its good we're not going back soon because its a little expensive for Prague, we want to try other places and we felt like we were transplanted back to a jappy Miami bagel place because of all the Americans that were there. So today we met up again and tried one of the Bio-Fit cafes that they have a bunch of places here. They had just pre made and take away sandwiches there, soups and salads so it was kind of like Panera but not as good. It was definitely a good place to get something quick though. Tonight we are going to the opera, I've never been before so I'm excited to see if I like it. I'm also excited because we get to dress up.
Last night we had a meeting about all the weekend trips that we can go on. Since they're all planned for us the prices are actually pretty good. I am going to Linz and Salzburg in Austria, Berlin, Vienna and Istanbul. I am going to go visit my friend Nadine in the Netherlands and I am working on finding a way to visit Courtney in Paris without spending a ridiculous amount of money. When my parents come I am also going to go to Budapest with them and when Amy and hopefully Miaster come were going to do some other traveling.
Yesterday we started our Czech intensive language course. This class is from 9:30 until 2 Monday-Friday for two weeks. Czech is a really difficult language so this course is kind of intimidating but luckily my teacher is really nice and enthusiastic about it. The class is also really tiring because it takes about 40 minutes to get to the class from the dorm and I have to wake up early to also get free breakfast. Yesterday after class I met up with Joanna and we went back to Bohemia Bagel. We decided that even though its good we're not going back soon because its a little expensive for Prague, we want to try other places and we felt like we were transplanted back to a jappy Miami bagel place because of all the Americans that were there. So today we met up again and tried one of the Bio-Fit cafes that they have a bunch of places here. They had just pre made and take away sandwiches there, soups and salads so it was kind of like Panera but not as good. It was definitely a good place to get something quick though. Tonight we are going to the opera, I've never been before so I'm excited to see if I like it. I'm also excited because we get to dress up.
Last night we had a meeting about all the weekend trips that we can go on. Since they're all planned for us the prices are actually pretty good. I am going to Linz and Salzburg in Austria, Berlin, Vienna and Istanbul. I am going to go visit my friend Nadine in the Netherlands and I am working on finding a way to visit Courtney in Paris without spending a ridiculous amount of money. When my parents come I am also going to go to Budapest with them and when Amy and hopefully Miaster come were going to do some other traveling.
I wrote this post on Sunday but couldn't post until now because my internet was broken.
Since the national galleries were free this weekend we went to another two museums. The first that we went to was a dance and festivities exhibition. It was cool, there were paintings of dances and parties and then there were old musical instruments and dance clothing. The next museum we went to was a huge art museum and I can’t remember the name. We originally went because there is a temporary Picasso exhibit that leaves March 1. However, once we got there it turned out that the rest of the museum had a lot of great art, that was much more modern and recent than the museum I went to yesterday. The best exhibit was where the Picasso works were because there a ton of other great artists there too. At first I only saw some really small Picasso drawings that were boring and was disappointed because I had take two trams to get to them. But then I walked further and realized there were a ton more of his paintings in the gallery. They were really good and showed paintings from all the different styles that he used. I was also really excited because there were a few Monet paintings and other Impressionist (I think) artists. I do not know very much about art but I think that this is one of my favorite styles of painting.
Since the national galleries were free this weekend we went to another two museums. The first that we went to was a dance and festivities exhibition. It was cool, there were paintings of dances and parties and then there were old musical instruments and dance clothing. The next museum we went to was a huge art museum and I can’t remember the name. We originally went because there is a temporary Picasso exhibit that leaves March 1. However, once we got there it turned out that the rest of the museum had a lot of great art, that was much more modern and recent than the museum I went to yesterday. The best exhibit was where the Picasso works were because there a ton of other great artists there too. At first I only saw some really small Picasso drawings that were boring and was disappointed because I had take two trams to get to them. But then I walked further and realized there were a ton more of his paintings in the gallery. They were really good and showed paintings from all the different styles that he used. I was also really excited because there were a few Monet paintings and other Impressionist (I think) artists. I do not know very much about art but I think that this is one of my favorite styles of painting.
After we went to the museum we were all exhausted and decided to get some lunch. We went to Bohemia Bagel which is basically an American place. It had bagels, sandwiches, burgers, salads and al day American breakfasts. It also had American coffee, which was very exciting. This is the place to go if you are homesick. The one thing that was different was its advertising of Irish coffee, Bailey’s and other alcohol spiked coffees to go with your breakfast. We will definitely be going back there (not for the alcohol, but for the food, which was not only American but cheap and delicious).
Tomorrow we are supposed to start our Czech language intensive course. However, I am in the morning group and tomorrow morning we are meeting first to watch the movie about Jan, which is called Fighter (google it). He is going to talk about it and introduce it so I’m not sure if we are actually going to have our class. He is also going to do a lecture series in our dorm about history and his life. It is not for credit but his life and experiences are fascinating so I think I will definitely be going.
Our other classes do not start until February 23. I got really lucky because it ended up that I am only taking four classes, as I had wanted to do from the beginning but was intimidated and bullied into signing up for five even though they ended up only putting me in four. I did not want to take four classes out of laziness, it was because I wanted to be able to make the most out of this experience by really living in Prague. I planned for this by taking six classes and doing research credit. This amounted to 20 credits but extra hours because of the research. Keep in mind 15 is normal. Another great thing is that I only have class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This is great because then I’ll have Thursdays and Fridays to travel. Unfortunately the classes that I’m in I don’t know if I signed up for but its fine. I wish we could take Czech class in addition to the intensive class, which we don’t even get credit for. Also, the internet here is not working so I haven’t been able to get online. Supposedly it is going to be fixed tomorrow.
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