Dinner and a zoo

I'm currently eating the best salad I have ever made as I write this blog. Spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, cranberries and garlic sauteed chicken and mushrooms with a balsamic dressing. Bomb! I find it funny that every time I make something delicious my first thought it "yes! My kids won't starve". I have this fear of being a terrible mother someday.... I think.

So lately I have had a bit of cabin fever. I've been breaking off from the group and just exploring on my own. I've been doing this since I got here but the wandering has been longer and i have found myself getting deeper and deeper into this city. I love finding hidden gems. I was looking for a backpack today.. just walking down the street and BAM!!... I huge Gothic Church! It is still wild to me the amount of history here.


The other night I went in search of this coffee place that I had stumbled on a while back. I got off my tram late so I had/got to walk twice as far and still didn't find the place. I found myself walking alone down creepy, unfamiliar, abandoned alleys and still managed to make it back. My trick is to find a huge structure and head towards it... or follow the tram line.I ended up bumping into 2 of the guys in my building who were on a quest to meet up with some Italian ladies. After a month of living here not only have I ran into people I know but I have also begun to recognize random strangers. I was getting off the metro and caught the eye of a bartender from a club we go to called Mecca. I even recognized a dog at the zoo, i think he's a neighbor of mine. haha.

Oh yeah. We went to the zoo. Apparently it is ranked 7th in the world. I found it strange that people can pay an extra fee to bring their dog... but i'm also glad because dogs are pretty cool. The zoo made me a bit sad... i always feel bad for the animals. Here I am exploring the world and there they are trapped in a cage. The saddest part of the zoo was the polar bears. many of you know it's on of my fave animals... well one of the 3 Polar bears that they had had a mental disorder. He stood in one place and swayed his head back and forth and back again. Apparently the poor thing developed this habit as a cub and has been doing it all day ever since. awl...



on a positive note: I feel like I am finally getting a hold on this city... or maybe it is getting a hold on me ;)

I am starting to plan my fall break trip. I'm trying to utilize my budget the best I can and still see the things that I want to see. I feel like it would be crazy to study abroad and not visit Italy So I am going to go to Venice. I figure it's a good decision because who knows when I will be able to travel next and the darn place may be under water. I'm not sure about the rest of the details yet but flights to Milan are not too expensive. I think i will spend most of the break in Croatia...from the google images it looks beautiful!

Fragments

Random post.
Techno music rocks.
80's.
Trance is cool too.
Thievery Corporation.
Today was a Deja vu day.
3 times in one day.
Is that allowed?
I just had a movie night with a crew of people from my apartment.
Aladdin.
He's hot.
It's surprising how much I remember from something I watched as a kid.
Gorgeous day in Praha today.
I went to the park.
I made a delicious dinner.
Garlic.
I went for a run along the river.
Hungover.
Dehydrated.
Water here has salt in it.
Running...
Stopped for a breather to dance to 3.7 songs
... on a bridge... who knows where.
It was fresh.
There were fish...small fish.
The world is beautiful.

Oktoberfest

let me start another blog by saying 'I love Germany'... but how about I say it in German... "Ich liebe Dutchland"... one day I may be fluent.

So anyway I left Friday morning for Munich with my roommate, Sarah, and 5 of the boys that live upstairs from us. Our train arrived at about 3 in the afternoon. Originally my plan for Oktoberfest was to sleep in the train station( because it is free... and probably illegal), however i stepped it up and decided to camp out on a polo field outside of the main downtown area of Munich. The place was called Wies'n Camp and had a tent set up that served 'Bier' and 'schnitzel'. We drank steins (1 liter) on the first night to condition for Saturdays festivities (some may have pre-partied too hard). After socializing and joining a game of 'bullshit' I discovered that the majority of the camps residents were Ausies. I thought that American's were loud but after this weekend I think Aulstarialins beat us in the noisiest country contest. I earned the nickname 'California' as it was being shouted out at the campsite around 2 am.. when I was definitely trying to sleep.

The campground in general was a cozy place however; the tents we slept in were not. It was freezing cold the first night and on the second night I decided to wear all the clothes I had brought and still froze. 2 people in a 4 person tent just does not produce enough body heat.


ok ok.. so I'm sure you want to hear about Oktoberfest. Amazing! I get so excited to see everyone dressed up in their German/Bavarian attire. I wish i had an outfit but they were just too expensive. We got the opening day of the festival expecting to get a seat in one of the big tents but ended up finding a table in a beirgarten instead.... this was a lucky find considering the mass amounts of people there. Oktoberfest was like a huge carnival with basically buildings set up for each Brewery. We ended up next to the Hippodrom tent. Not being a big drinker, I was embarrassed to find that I drank more than most of the guys in our group. I had a total of 4 steins and blew a 2.14 on a breathalyser test (which I took from a German woman in costume). Now I realize that in the real world blowing this amount would mean I am not alive to write this post... and my friend who had had 6 beers only blew a .85. I have no real explanation of this but I am proud... and still able to remember almost every detail of the day.


After sitting at a table for a while, and drinking delicious beer with wonderful people, we made the mistake of leaving the biergarten. We wanted to try to get into a tent and failed miserably. i walked around taking in the sights and smells and ate half a chicken and the biggest pretzel I have ever seen. The evening ended with us passing out a nearby hostel to take a nap and then touring the main sites of Munich with a nice walk. Marienplatz, a part of downtown Munich, was beautiful. When I looked up at the old Glockenspiel it, I truly felt that I was on a movie set.


Sunday(today) we got up and toured a bit of the city in the daylight. Sarah and I sat and drank what we thought was hot cocoa and watched the Munich Glochenspeil chime. The clock came alive as music played, the chimes went off and giant figurines danced. The whole thing made me feel like I was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. So cool! After the clock we headed to check out Oktoberfest, which was more crowded than the first day, so we left.

I just got home from a 6.5 hour train ride. Half of this ride I spent in luxurious seating. The second half was spent sitting on the floor, cramped near a door or standing. To be honest, I enjoyed the standing. I stuck my head out a window and watched the German and Czech Republic wizz by. The sites were outstanding and it was neat to have a sneak peak into the lives of people in the towns that we passed. There were just so many little stories going on. I joked with a friend that we were watching a 3.5 hour film. I cleverly and uncreatively titled this film 'Landscape:By train".... wow... I think its time I go to sleep....in a warm bed!

Oh..and pardon the lack of pictures but lack of camera and batteries happens to the best of us.

Berlin

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Moravsky aka Morava

I just got back from a weekend trip to Morava.. a region in the southern part of the Czech Republic. To break it down Prague= Beer and Morava=Wine... and might I add some of the worst wine I have ever tasted. The trip itself was splendid. The entire weekend only cost about $60 which included transportation, 2.5 meals, museum entry fee, wine tasting and a place to sleep. We got off to a late start because our tour guide decided to sleep in. (If I knew this was going to happen I would have slept 3 hours instead of 1.5 (it was a wild night before... 5 story club, Welsh hockey players and 3 German men in lederhosen.. YES!!!)). After falling asleep on the curb our guide(who I'll tell you doesn't bathe) finally arrived. 20 of us piled onto the smallest bus/largest van in the country and were off.

Our first stop was a museum that is temporarily being used as an art gallery. Alfons Mucha work was displayed. The painting were gynormous, dark, and very art nouveau. When we first pulled up to the place we thought it was were we were staying. I was nervous. This wouldn't have been the case if the first thing we saw wasn't a drunk man at this hole in the wall restaurant puking over a railing. Nice!

Our next stop was lunch...(great transition I know) which was amazing because we were all starving. Fried cheese and ham. Delicious! The town we stopped in. Mikulov reminded me a lot of Italy.. even though I have never been there (yet) I believe it looked very similar. It was clean and colorful and I couldn't stop taking pictures! There was a Tuscany feel and it was gorgeous.

We reached our final destination just in time to watch the sun setting on the vineyards. The man who ran the place was so cute. He was humble, always smiling and you could tell he loved that we were there. He had food and wine ready for us when we arrived and was so proud to pour us 20+ samples of his wine. Yes... 20+. The flavor was not for me and the system of sampling was strange. We were all given one large shot glass which we drank out of over and over without rinsing between wines... and we had to drink it fast. It was more like a wine 'power hour' than a tasting. I poured most of mine down the sink when no one was looking. seriously.. the worst wine ever!

After the tasting we were giving snacks and of course.. more wine. Before bed we somehow started singing the armageddon song (dont was to close my eyes...la la la). Maybe it was a recap of our 'Survior' break out concert earlier in the tasting dungeon! We slept at the vineyard in tiny bunkbeds. I found myself talking Czech out loud in the middle of the night and woke myself up. Wow... a bit embarrassing...but I tend to talk more in my sleep when I'm in an unfamiliar place. haha.

The drive home was much better than the ride there and the view was amazing (please refer to picture of man with no pants) Yes... apparently this is how they do it here. Also take note the manpris - as in capris for men. All the Czech males sport them and my roommates and I find it quite hilarious. We have started a contest for best pair and will eventually make a slide show available soon at a video store near you. Be excited!

Booze Cruise

Yesterday we went with the USAC group on a boat cruise... aka 'Booze Cruise'... for those who watch the office. It was about two hours long and consisted of me taking about a billion pictures and people accusing me of being a paparazzi. typical. I got some nice shots. It was cool to see the monuments along the river from a different angle than the shore. I was so into looking at everything! I just can't get over how beautiful it is here!

I finally found a decent place to shop.. and there is actually food there!! It's nice that in class we are finally learning items and how to order food. No more feeling like an idiot pointing and feeling like I'm pissing people off. It is hard to go out to eat and have a legitimate Czech experience. I try to pronounce something.. fail miserably and then they start speaking broken English to me. I guess it's like meeting half way. Believe it or not I have developed a habit of being mute. Yes... me quiet! When I go into places or the tram I try not to talk or interact with many people... this way i can blend in and people think I'm a local! I was in the grocery store the other day... went to grab some cereal and the bag exploded all over! I went to check out and there were cheerio type things everywhere... the check out lady started talking to me and I just looked at her smiling and said 'poof'.. with some amazing hand gestures added. That is how I get by... smiling, sounds and gestures.

We are off to a klub tonight. It is open til 5am. I think we may stay awake until the sun comes up. Tomorrow morning, early, a small group of us are off to Moravia, another province in the Czech Republic. It is like the napa of California... vino, vino, vino. Apparently we are supposed to bring empty bottles with us to fill with wine once we get there. Who really knows? I am just going along for the ride... and the adventures of course!

Oh yeah... last night we went to a Rasta underground bar that played reggae. I was wearing a hat and one of the bartender/dj's there took a liking to me. He said 'hey your dat girl!'.. later he came up and placed a bud of weed in front of me.... it was very thoughtful of him. I didnt have the heart to tell him I didn't smoke so i did my best to roll a 'splif'.... umm.. it was very special looking. I gave it to everyone I was sitting with and was able to avoid smoking it. It was quite awkward.

School and Shopping

School is the most difficult thing ever! The class title is "Czech INTENSIVE 1". I now know why they use the word 'intense'. It is taught all in Czech and everything just doesn't make sense to me. My other classes that start next week will be in English. So in class...of course I get picked on first to speak. I was asked my name and responded by saying I am Pavlova... that is my teachers name.(I'm an idiot) I had no idea what she was trying to get me to say, so I just read what was on the board. I am just so great at setting the bar! Whenever I look at a word and try to read it out loud it ends up being pronounced exactly the opposite of what I say. French class has ruined me forever in my Czech speaking abilities. J's are silent, and in French they are pronounced. I speak the French way every time!! Maybe Paris is calling?

So when it comes to eating food life sucks! I've never really been a big fan of eating out but when the grocery stores are tiny, you have to purchase your own bag in order to carry your goods from the supermarket to your house, and you get there on the tram... eating out is the way to do it. It is nice because there are little liquor stores on almost every street that sell fresh fruit and snacks. let's say that the people who work there don't speak Czech either.


So the first shopping experience: Vesco is like the walmart of this place. They have everything!.. well almost. It was a little crazy when we went shopping. I needed to get school supplies, a watch, a towel( the one they give us here is like a hand towel sized piece of sandpaper.. Ouch!) and all the other little necessities... like toilet paper. As I said before it is scented. I saw it and thought " ooo strawberry print". Naturally I smelled it and when it smelled fruity. Who knew? Shopping in a foreign country has made me appreciate advertising and branding so much more. It is surprising how many labels look familiar or brands that we find our self buying here because it is the most similar to something from the USA. I plan to go back to Vesco tomorrow with the new roomies.

I got a vodafone today. It is a prepaid mobile that works all over Europe. I think it is 6kc/minute within the Czech Republic and 11kc/min to and from the US. Texting is less expensive, at like 1.6kc or something. To put that in perspective $1 is about 15-16kc. The new number is 00420776291883. (and im hoping that no creepers come on this site and take that!)

Oh yes.. and it rained today. lovely lovely... i wore shorts and enjoyed every drop! ( only because it was still warm.)I can't imagine how cold it is going to eventually get here!

I promise to get some pictures up soon. I bore myself just reading through the pages and pages of me babbling on!