The Good Life

Life is good here in Prague. The weather is pleasant, the architecture is divine, and all the food/drink is on a whole 'nother level. I spend my time talking to people about anything and everything; in pubs, in parks, in cafes, in museums, in English and Czech, and generally I am pretty satisfied most of the time. It is the little things about this culture that sometimes catch me off guard. I love that instead of going to wal-mart I have to go to the butcher, the baker,(the candlestick maker..) the vegetable stand, and the supermarket to get the things that I need to eat for a week. What can upset me is that sometimes I find myself being dissatisfied that things aren't as "convenient" here as they are in America. My dissatisfaction comes from realizing how lazy living in the states can make you if you aren't careful. I have no car, and I don't need one since the public transportaion system here is more than satisfactory. I have no internet in my flat, but once again wireless is not hard to come by in the city. I do have a cell phone that I use often, but that is the only real "convenience" that I feel has carried over from my former life to my new one. I am so happy for the opportunity to live and work cross-culturally, I can see and feel the ways that I am growing, and I can't wait to return home with thousands of new experiences and stories to share with my friends.

The Czech language is hard. Even native Czechs can agree to that. I have been taking language lessons three times a week for the last month, and despite the progress made it is still quite easy to feel overwhelmed and useless in a Czech-speaking world. Today I was at a restaurace(czech for...thats right, restaurant)and I ordered what I thought was a salad, but instead I got a bowl of what I think was soggy shredded cucumbers soaked in pure vinegar. Gross. This is what they call a "cross-cultural" moment.

Top 5 things I have seen since the last post:

5. Envelopes from sienna. They are beautiful.

4. The wrong train stop for Nelahozeves (Dvorak's birthplace). I sat in a middle of a field on a concrete block for an hour because of it.

3. The house where Dvorak grew up, the place where he is buried. And his viola/piano.

2. The men's Wimbledon Final.

1. A Czech woman wearing a t-shirt with nuns holding shotguns sharing a speech bubble that said,"We hate T.V.".