My Internet has been sporadic at best. It was working perfectly Friday afternoon, but the second the business day ended, so did my Internet, so my assumption is that they shut the routers off then? Not really sure, but planning to ask about that Monday morning! Apparently the issue was that the jack to my floor wasn’t turned on, thus, I didn’t get service. Go figure.
Anyways, I spent the day in Litomoricka [say: lee-toh-more-itz-kuh] (forgive me for butchering the spelling of that). It’s a pretty decent sized town about an hour or so away from where I’m staying. It’s in the northwest corner of the country to give you a better idea. We made a stop in the town of Slány on the way there, which his also apparently relatively well known. My boss wanted to go to some old car show with one of his friends, so his oldest daughter who spoke a little English and her boyfriend tagged along and the three of us went shopping while they looked at cars across town. The town was really cute. Only took a few photos, but you’ll get the idea. His daughter was on a hunt for a cute pair
of summer sandals, and I had no problem helping her. I guess shoe-shopping love is universal =) . They had a lot of stores that were kinda like Ocean State/Big Lots, but slightly more upscale…and mannyy sports stores, although their contents ended at bike gear and snowboards.
After shopping and lunch we all drove to the town of Melník (I swear we got lost at one point, but of course nobody was going to admit that in English if they had to lol). When there we went to see this chateau. Behind the chateau they had these huge gardens and fields. There was biking/walking trails all around the property with a little area for lunch/drinks. It was kinda funny because when we were at the chateau they had the metal platform things for the remodeling and resting on them was two HUGE peacocks. They were all over the property, however as my boss walked under and was attempting to tell my Prague has a big zoo (he kept saying “Praha.leh Zohh-eh le Zohhh-eh of Praha”..oiy) one of them flew right over his head and nearly knocked him out into the pond haha. Luckily everything was ok, but we all got a few laughs out of it. I can’t tell if they’re making fun of my American accent or Boston accent (though I think it’s the latter) however I think the bird thing was payback. Apparently one of them was thrilled to hear I was from MA (“Le BeeGees! Musika! Le BeeGees! Massachusetts!”). I didn’t look that up, but I’ll take their word for it as they broke out into BeeGees songs after that.. oiy..
We drove by Terezin on the way to Litomoricka, and just by the looks of the outside I can tell you tomorrow will be super-depressing. It’s probably the creepiest building I’ve seen (Although I don’t think concentration camps were designed to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling). We’ll see how everything goes!
They have these HUGE fields here of yellow flowers over here. If you look at the landscape from an aerial view you’d think it was grass because there is so much of it. Up close, they are tiny yellow flowers that are probably a meter or so above ground. Thought I’d mention that just because the photos would make you think their grass is yellow here haha. Its actually really pretty though. Makes landscape more colorful.
As for how the food-appreciation is coming, we’re slowly working on it. Someone ordered for me the other day so I just went along with it. It looked like escarole soup minus the escarole (Italian wedding soup) and tasted like chicken (no really..it did lol) so I figured I was safe…until the next day when I read the menu and realized that I was eating liverballs (ie: meatballs made of livers of misc animals!!). I would be lying if I said they were totally gross, but now that I know I was eating random livers, I think ill pass. I did have this pretty good garlic soup last night and thought of Mom & Mema. It was kinda like our onion soup, but instead of onion, it was replaced with garlic—you should try it. Just be sure to pop an entire package of breath mints after eating a bowl because you’ll have deadly halitosis when finished!! Soups are generally safe though. It’s the wide variety of unknown meat products/dishes that would scare someone. One of my major issues food/beverage wise also is that I HATEEEEE the water in Europe. Its safe and all, but whatever they put in it is NASTY. The tap water is better than bottled if you can believe that. Plus they drink soda constantly..and even in the US I don’t like it.. Thus, I have resorted to lemon/citrus flavored sparkling water. Bland enough for common usage, but still gives the water effect =) ..and tea. Lots of tea.
Apparently they think that because MA is so close to Canada, we’re equally as obsessed with Hockey as they are. I never realized the sport was so big in Czech? Their team just lost in the world playoffs or something to the Swedish a few days back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen people as upset as my housemates were lol. (sidenote they informed me of: USA was apparently eliminated weeks ago)
Alright, I’m off to work on stuff..maybe.. Or attempt to get the internet working again. Or make my way down the dinner, as it’s a 2 hour process here (gotta love the difference in waitress etiquette). We’ll see.
Hope all is well back home. Miss you all!!
<3 Sarah
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