kde je...? mluvite anglicky? also, INTERNET!

*translation: where is...? do you speak english?

fear not, i am still alive and making my way around prague. we have been internet-less for OVER A WEEK but thank god we finally have working internet in our flat (!!!!!!) - clearly, lots of updates are in order. i feel like a more appropriate title for my blog might be "stranger in a strange land" because there are so many unfamiliar things around, not to mention the fact that i stick out like a sore thumb. this is definitely a change from life in seoul or even at wesleyan, but it is pretty rare to see asians around prague, unless they are tourists in old town. hopefully i can surprise czechs in the coming months by being able to communicate in czech and not being hopelessly lost. i think i only got lost a few times this week, which is a BIG step up from last weekend where i was literally lost for an hour after returning from the grocery store. it turns out that i was like five minutes away from home but just walked in circles.

before i start with updates, i have to write about our experience at the potraviny. there are small grocery stores called "potraviny" scattered all over prague and you can pick up basic things like fruit, vegetables, nutella, alcohol, etc. well the first potraviny i went into was run by vietnamese people and i think they must have been very, very, very excited to see a fellow asian because as soon as pranadhi and i stepped into the store, people were staring at me and asked about six times where i was from (or more like "tokyo??" "china??") and kept speaking chinese to me. as we were leaving, one of the viets in the store followed us to the exit and said "cau! cau! cau!!!!" (pronounced "chao") over and over... and then one of the other viets stared out the window as we walked outside, waving for about three minutes. against my better judgment, we returned to the same potraviny the next day, where one of the workers kept pretending to throw oranges at pranadhi, and i had to explain again that i was korean. from seoul, not tokyo. pranadhi and i could not stop laughing when we were in the store and as we were paying for our HUGE jar of tesco nutella, one of the guys slipped bananas into our bag. clever. well, i think we found our grocery store for the next few months and i will keep you updated on our new viet friends down the street...

 

our potraviny!

(1) where i live.
most of you know that my biggest concern about coming to prague wasn't the weather, the language barrier, or classes - but it was finding a place to live. well i am happy to report that after a week, i love our flat and my roomie. i am living with a girl named pranadhi from umich in vinohrady, a residential area on the border of prague 2 and 3. it's a 3 minute walk from our flat to the metro station (jiriho z podebrad), and then three stops on the metro to mustek. it's not far away, but the walking/waiting for the metro/walking takes about 20 minutes. i am really happy with our living situation - nice kitchen, nice neighborhood, and a great view of the beautiful buildings across the street. we also live across the street from a park, which is going to be even more awesome once it's warmer outside!

 

pictures of my new home & neighborhood for the next three months!

(2) what i do.
it's actually been two months since i've been in classes full-time but the second week of orientation reminded me that yes, jsem studentka (i am a student). last week we started intensive czech classes, which has been wonderful for several reasons. i've learned a ton of useful stuff (like how to send postcards, how to ask for directions, etc) and five short days of czech classes have already made me feel less like a tourist and more like i belong here and can survive here for the next three months. starting this week, i have czech class twice a week at 8:20am. cross-reference that time with the last paragraph where i said it takes 20 minutes to get to school.... booooo. i really like learning czech and it just might be my favorite class. also, my teacher (profesorka) brought her baby to class last week because he was sick. adorbs!

(3) what i've seen.
after almost two weeks, i've seen a lot of the "touristy" parts of prague. my favorite part of prague is probably old town - it just looks so old and majestic. we've also been to the charles bridge, prague castle/st. vitus cathedral and the jewish quarter, some other key sites. pranadhi and i went to vysehrad on saturday, which is where the royal family first lived before they moved to prague castle in the 1100s. i've also seen a lot of buildings from the outside, like the national theater narodni divadlo), the municipal house, and the national museum. a bunch of museums are free during the first week of the month so i've already got my free museum-hopping week planned out for march. and just so there isn't any doubt about me actually being IN prague...

 

st. nicholas church in old town and the jewish quarter

charles bridge, prague castle, inside st. vitus cathedral, and st. george's basilica

perhaps one of the more interesting places i've been to is a bar called "the big lebowski" in our neighborhood. we decided to venture out on saturday night and do something low-key, and pranadhi and i naturally assumed a place called "the big lebowski" would be american, complete with american music and american people at the bar. well. we were completely wrong. once we stepped inside, it was basically the bar and then narrow stairs leading upstairs. once we got to the top, i noticed the low ceiling and an abundance of TOYS. that's right, there were like 10 stuffed animals and floor pillows scattered everywhere, and people smoking hookah in the room next to ours. talk about unexpected.. well we got pilsners and played some chess until the bar closed at midnight. not exactly the silver mill or any bar i've ever been to (or even seen in movies), but it was.. interesting. 

 

inside "the big lebowski"

other fun updates:
-the word for "break" in czech is POWZA. not sure if that's the correct spelling, but does that really matter? 10-minute powza (!!!) - that will definitely be coming back with me to wesleyan to incorporate into my lingo.

-the metro stops running at midnight and starts again at 5am. we definitely learned this the hard way last week.

-there are TONS of dogs here. i never pictured prague as a dog-friendly city but people walk their dogs at all hours of the day and also bring them inside the metro, the tram, etc etc.

-i will be going to amsterdam from march 4-7 with julie, and then picking greg up at the airport on the 7th because he will be in prague from march 7-12! then sarah and max will be here from march 12-18, and then i'll be going to krakow on a cerge group trip from march 18-21. for spring break, i'll be heading to rome over easter weekend, spending a day in florence and bologna each, then going to paris for a few days!

-i'm learning how to cook.. buying groceries is way cheaper than eating out so i am experimenting with pasta, vegetables, and when all else fails, eating a LOT of bread, nutella, and jam. there's a really nice bakery next to the metro station where a parisian baguette is 28 korun (about a $1.50).

-the cheese in prague is INCREDIBLE. everything from feta to the cheapo spreadable cheese you can pick up at albert.

-unrelated to study abroad but still important.. so i have absolutely no idea what i am going to be doing this summer since internship searching has not been too successful. but good news is that i have a great job to return to at wes as head resident! i get to work for the best boss ever (!!!) and do administrative stuff AND go to three different staff meetings which is like a dream come true, haha.

coming soon: our first church service in czech at st. nicholas church in old town, what classes are like, scandalous stories about my roommate (haha kidding), my fantasticky czech language partner, food i'm cooking, and other great czech phrases i'm learning :)