Magnifique international week

When it was announced that International Week was coming at school and we'd have to dress up in national costume, I figured a few people would participate but not many. In my experience, unless you give teens a pajama day, they're not going to dress up; creativity is for junior high, they say. I'm glad I was wrong about these students.

International week ended up being estupendo! Báječný! Tuyệt quá! Magnifique! The kids looked amazing in their "national dress"; in fact, I was the lame one, having only a Minnesota Gophers shirt and star-spangled socks for my "American" outfit.

We had a "shared lunch" where students and staff brought a dish from their home countries. BW made scalloped potatoes for a taste of Midwest Americana. There was nosh from Latvia, Iraq, Belgium, Korea - you name it.

There were also internationally-minded activities throughout the week like board games from around the world and "learn a language at lunch." Here, I'm getting a German lesson from a student. Wie heißt du?

What a gift to be learning on a daily basis. Both BW and I are big fans of getting an international "education" while we have the chance.

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3 Thanksgivings

Although we've missed our families tremendously today, there hasn't been too much time to feel down because of the open and caring environment we're in. At one point, we wondered if we'd have even one Thanksgiving (no day off), and it turns out we're having three! Things have changed a bit since my first time in Prague, when I was the only American at my school and canned pumpkin was unheard of.

Here we are at my work's Can-American Thanksgiving celebration a couple of weeks ago:

The management team cooked the turkey and served the food; the rest of us brought sides and dessert to share.

Tonight, on the legit Thanksgiving, BW played American football with some dudes and we went to a church some friends attend for another spectacular meal. Bonus: The church is in a branch of an old train station!

Double bonus: During dessert, they threw American football on the wall :)

Tomorrow we'll get together with friends for another small Thanksgiving gathering. Not the same as being with our families, but, hey, we relished FaceTiming with everyone today! So, so thankful for this life and the brilliant people in it. Bless!

(And look... the giant tree went up in Old Town Square yesterday... Christmas is just around the corner.)

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Lost in the night

Even through a subpar phone camera lens, Prague nights really grip you. BW, J-dog and I took a walk 'round the center as it was getting dark, which is usually about 4 p.m.(or, er, 16:00) these days, and drank in its dark beauty. The people-watching is better in the shadows, too; it's not so hectic and the bodies darting around seem to be more of an enigma. Are they late to a first date? Did they just finish yoga? Or shoplift? Or polish off a pint? Do they want to make it home before "Velky Bratr" (Big Brother) starts?

I love this prose by Franz Kafka, son of Prague and reported insomniac. It's called "At Night."

Deeply lost in the night.
Just as one sometimes lowers one’s head to reflect, thus to be utterly lost in the night.
All around people are asleep.
Its just play-acting, an innocent self- deception, that they sleep in houses, in safe beds, under a safe roof, stretched out or curled up on mattresses, in sheets, under blankets; in reality they have flocked together as they had once upon a time and again later in a deserted region, a camp in the open, a countless number of men, an army, a people, under a cold sky on cold earth, collapsed where once they had stood, forehead pressed on the arm, face to the ground, breathing quietly.
And you are watching, are one of the watchmen, you find the next one by brandishing a burning stick from the brushwood pile beside you.
Why are you watching?
Someone must watch, it is said.
Someone must be there.

In the dusk, Prague Castle glows

Trams snake through murky streets

Czech glass glitters in a storefront window

Windows wink when a room lights up on Old Town Square

Cartier looks quite Film Noir with a black-and-white filter

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New 'do and a trip, too

A POST BY JAYDA. WOOF.

My hair had gotten so long that I looked like a grumpy little old man. That's a problem because I'm an adorable pint-sized girl. Mom tried snipping it every couple of weeks but finally conceded that I needed to get my hair did by a pro. So she went on expats.cz and found great reviews for a gal named Julia, and boy, was I happy. Julia came over to my house and cut my hair right on my own coffee table and even sang to me! With my new 'do, am I not a vision to behold?!

I continue to sashay all over the city, sometimes in dad's arms when I get tired. Here we are just off Charles Bridge, under the Old Town bridge tower, which, according to Wikipedia, is "often considered to be one of the most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world."

The flea market in my 'hood is good, too; there are usually a few fellow pooches to talk to.

And if I'm lucky, sometimes my friends come over and rub my pudgy belly.

Word has it I get to go to Barcelona in December; think I'll meet a Spanish sweetie? Good thing they made me an appointment with the vet to make sure all my paperwork is filled out right!

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Holiday happenings

My mind's gone from trying to track down some turkey that doesn't cost more than a Tiffany's bauble (it's imported from Britain here, I've heard) to planning for the Czech December holidays. It's not even Thanksgiving yet, and we've leapt into Christmas-y activities.

This weekend, we visited the Namesti Miru Christmas markets near our flat. They were packed with Czechs purchasing intricately-decorated gingerbread, huge swathes of fresh mistletoe, hot mead, etc.

Celebrations actually start Dec. 5 here, when St. Nicholas, an angel and a devil, visit children to ask whether they've been good. More on that in another post.

We also got into the holiday mindset with ice skating - a bunch of us met at a new burger joint (first burgers BW and I had in Prague) and then proceeded to a big rink nestled in a residential area. I was surprised at how skilled BW is on skates!

Afterwards, we stumbled upon a nondescript restaurant called Escobara's for a beverage, and the basement ended up having a huge pool hall and dance floor. So BW got to shoot pool while I got down to treats like "Come on Eileen" and "Stayin' Alive," a win-win for both of us :)

Finally, it looks like we have our Christmas plans finalized: Cousin Liv and her boyfriend will be joining us in Praha, and afterwards, on the 27th, BW, J-dog and I are headed to Barcelona for 10 days. We arranged a home swap with a couple there. Really excited for all of it!

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Smile-inducing

Every place in the world has images and moments that spur leaping hearts and ear-to-ear grins. Here are a few we've encountered in The Golden City...

Kiddos on a school field trip to Old Town Square, reflector vests and all

An antique/bric-a-brac shop... I think I see an American flag to BW's left!

 A yarn-bombed bicycle in a window

The "Svět rock and rollu" (World of Rock and Roll) dance show on Czech Television. It's acro-highkick-rocker-perky goodness, and apparently it's a decently popular sport here An example is as follows...

The grand Art Nouveau Obecni Dum, under blue skies

Seeing this in a Bershka clothing store in the city center :)

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Gaffes left and right

Regardless of how much we're learning about history/art/culture here in Prague, BW and I both admit we feel like numbskulls on a daily basis. Not only is the language super confusing (even for someone like me who's been here before), but also we make cultural gaffes on the regular. Here are a few gems:

We recently discovered that we've been washing our clothes in fabric softener for the past 3.5 months. Yep. We now have honest-to-goodness laundry detergent. (Justification: I used Google translate and saw "laundry" on the bottle, so I thought it was detergent.)

Sale! 

We went to a Jake and Dinos Chapman art exhibit on Friday at the Rudolfinum, a very classy, ornate music auditorium. We walked into the gallery with our winter coats on, ready to get cultured, when a stern little old lady made us visit the cloakroom and drop off our poofy exteriors. Following rules is very important here.

The Rudolfinum

Art: Beastly little children

Mixing up our numbers is another faux pas we haven't completely gotten past. It's always nice when you ask for 2,000 grams of sliced salami rather 200, which is what you really want. 

Deli meat is prolific here

Finally, Jayda's been allowed in nearly every eating/drinking establishment we've visited, but tonight was the first time a waitress insisted I put my coat under J on the bench so she wasn't actually touching it. I hope I haven't been impolite all the times I haven't spread my coat under our furry gal. 

Can I have a beer, too?

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November 17

Today, we feel blessed for having been raised in a free and just society. We're reminded of our privilege today particularly, as here in the CR, it's "The Day of Struggle for Freedom and Democracy," which commemorates two crucial events in Czech history.

Most recently, it marks the start of the Velvet Revolution, which ended the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989. Police attacked a crowd of 15,000 students in Prague who had gathered to honor the 50th anniversary of the death of a university student during anti-Nazi demonstrations in 1939. Six-hundred were injured. The police brutality outraged the public, and within a few days, the protest crowd swelled to over 500,000.

Secondly, it remembers the the 1939 anti-Nazi demonstration mentioned above. A 19-year-old medical student, Jan Opletal, was seriously injured by Nazi police while demonstrating Nazi occupation and died a few days later. His funeral was attended by thousands of students, which angered the Nazis so much that they closed all Czech universities, sent 1,200 Czech students to concentration camps and executed nine more.

Having grown up in America (especially white and middle-class in America), BW and I can't fathom the cruelty and inhumanity that these people have shouldered. Praying for those who have been and continue to be oppressed by unjust institutions and systems.

A video of pictures from Nov. 17, 1989. The guy at the end is President Vaclav Havel, a playwright and politician whose dissident work helped topple Communism.

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Vysehrad revisited

Our wool gloves have come out of storage; it's getting flipping cold here. And dark. It's literally dark by 4:30. But with winter comes mulled wine, Christmas markets, time off work, holiday parties, etc. Not a shabby deal!

Before the snow hits, we figured we'd better make a trip back to Vysehrad, a former citadel with over a thousand years of history and a celebrity-grade cemetery just one metro stop from our flat. We'd last wandered through the area in October and the skies emptied on us; you can read about our first, very rainy visit, HERE.

Our second visit was, thankfully, illuminated by sunbeams and good vibes.

We could see our neighborhood from the outlook (at the top of where the stone wall ends).

The next photos are from the Vysehrad Cemetery, where many Czech artists, writers, composers, politicians, etc., are buried.

These shots are from inside St. Peter and Paul Church, next to the cemetery:

Finally, here's BW in front of the sculpture "Ctirad and Šárka," two characters from Czech legends. According to Wikipedia, the sculpture was originally at Palacky Bridge, where we go to the Farmers' Market, but it was moved to Vysehrad in 1947, as the bridge was heavily damaged during a 1945 US air raid.

This place gets a gold star.

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Orange you glad it's comfy?

Our "new" furniture arrived in all it's groovy, orange glory. "Very 1960s," said our friend Frenchwoman last night upon seeing it, "and comfortable; I feel as if I'm in a retro lounge."

That's good, right?

Our landlord picked it out, but we both like it. It IS nice to sink into.

Another friend, Scottishwoman, said her rental furniture is orange, too. Maybe this is a Czech thing? Must ask Czech friends, none of whom have orange furniture.

I don't know much about Czech interior design, but I do know that Prague was the most important center for Cubist movement outside of Paris in the early 1900s, prior to WWI. I like Cubism, with its sharp angles and abstract-ness. There's a whole cafe - Grand Cafe Orient - in Prague in its original Cubist style and it's stunning, save for rather unremarkable service.

From the cafe's web site

If I had limitless means to furnish our flat, I'd go all-out Czech Cubist. So the furniture would probably look like this:

Pictures from random Czech Cubism web sites

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