People, Places, Experiences

Feb 1

We still are not online at the apartment. Things move slowly and there is no hurrying them. Cesky Telcom appears to be trying to deal with us, but they are certainly doing so on their own inscrutable terms.

Friday’s party was interesting. Everyone was friendly and interesting. But the most interesting part for us was the apartment where it was held.

We took the tram (electric streetcar) about 4 miles south through the city, along the river. The ride was pretty, although it was dark already since it was 7:00 and the streetcars are unexpectedly noisy. The tram was crowded with people returning home from work and going out for the evening. There were a few dogs on the tram; many people have dogs, and they seem to take them everywhere.

When we arrived at the stop, the apartment buildings in the area were the soviet concrete block style high rises. Karla met us at the locked door and let us into the vestibule. Then she unlocked a wrought iron grate-style gate into the stairway. It was a second floor walk up, which means third floor, of course. The stairwell walls were festooned with electrical conduits, circuit-boxes, and spalling plaster. Incongruously, near some windows were potted tropical plants growing—or at least hanging on—in what seemed to be a near-freezing chill.

When we entered her apartment, light and warmth replaced the concrete and cold. She sublets from a woman who has spent a lot on remodeling the place. It has beautiful wooden built-in cabinets and shelves, wardrobes, and closets throughout… totally cozy, welcoming, and appealing inside.

We had great fun meeting the Fulbrighters...some doctoral students and some faculty people. Nice mix of backgrounds and interests.

Coal seems to be a main source of fuel here. We noticed it in Karla's neighborhood, as we have at our apartment. For Russ, the almost-forgotten smell of burning coal came back as a faint recollection from childhood. The coal smoke has surely left its mark as soot on old surfaces everywhere.

The weekend was warm enough to venture out a bit. We went to the castle and walked back through town. We found an underground grocery store that was much less crowded than the Tesco we found earlier. We wandered around looking for something familiar. We found ingredients for pea soup, lentil soup, and bean soup. Paper towels cost about $1.50 a small roll. Toilet paper, paper napkins, and Kleenex are equally expensive. Copy paper for the computer is about $6 a ream. But beer is 50 cents a half liter for 12% and wine is $2 a bottle. Although you would not confuse the thin cheap wine with Argentinian Malbec, the beer is far from any thin American imitations and great!

I went to my first Department meeting in the Civil sector Studies program on Tuesday morning. It was in Czech. Memories of my first six months at Gallaudet! I will have a desk, bookshelf, and a computer. That is a nice surprise. I had expected none of that. The department moved into city-center from an old soviet-era elementary school in the suburbs. The classrooms and offices are in the penthouse of an old mansion. It is cool. There are six faculty members and the department chair. Three faculty are on maternity leave. I think they get a long time off.

My class meets once a week, on Mondays from 1:20 to 2:50. Classes don’t start until Feb 20. Smile.

I have not yet made contact with my consulting people. Folks do not respond quickly to email here, and do not answer their phones either. I think I’ll enjoy going native on those points.

Tonight, being a bit tired of soup, we went to one of the restaurants within easy walking distance, even in this frigid weather. It was “typical” Czech…meat! I had beer, sausage, and goulash. This is not your mother’s goulash, which I think was a way to stretch ground beef. Goulash here is long-stewed beef in a spicy paprika sauce with dumplings and potato patties. Next, we’ll try Thai, I think, or French or Afghan…but we loved the Czech.

After dinner we washed a small load of clothes in our tiny washing machine. It is billed as a “washer-dryer” and is supposed to also dry the clothes, but I already gave up on that. They dry faster on the radiators.

Having a wonderful time.

January 27

We don’t yet have internet, so I am continuing this long first entry that I’ll post to the blog when I have access again.

Our apartment is great. There must be three restaurants on every block. We have been reading up on which are the best ones. We haven’t felt like eating out since we moved in because we got a bit tired of it when we were in the hotel. But, soon, we’ll venture out again.

It feels strange that we are neither on vacation, nor home—little pressure to attend to domestic tasks or to fill the available hours with local sights. We don’t feel pressed to be tourists, in part because it is brutally cold. I think it has not gone above 20 degrees since we’ve been here and the high was 5 degrees for two days.

Tonight we are going to the party the Fulbrighters are giving for us newcomers. They are making Tex-Mex food. I’m sure it will be fun. Time to get ready…