Food!! I was warned before I came that Czech food is not that great. When compared to the food in Italy, this is definitely true. But I still like it. I wasn't sure if I was eligible to really discuss it before I ordered goulash and bread dumplings last night, because this is THE traditional Czech meal. It comes with a few pieces of beef covered in a delicious stew, and there are moist/damp bread slices on the side which is what they call dumplings here. Goulash and dumplings, as well as pork and potatoes, are pretty much all people talk about when they talk about Czech cuisine. Except the pork, it's all pretty great.
I try to get a mix of traditional Czech food and other food like pizza that I'm more used to eating. Last week I finally tried a Thai place really close to my apartment/classes that people had been raving about, and it was incredible. I went again a few days later, and I think most people on my program have been at least 3-4 times so far. My favorite place though is a cafeteria style restaurant in Old Town, where you tell them what kind of meat and what kind of starch you want and they give it to you. You slide over and pick up a beer for about a t dollar, and take your seat. If you're coming to visit me at some point, this is one place we will definitely go.
Opera!! I went to my first opera last night - Aida. It was a really cool experience. It was a little bit of a struggle to stay awake early on, but I defeated my sleepiness and saw all 3 hours. The best part was the building itself, which is (I keep finding myself saying this about places in Europe) one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. At intermission my friend and I treated ourselves to glasses of champagne to you know, be classy. Well I don't think we looked that classy when as we were ordering, the warning bell rang and we were standing there downing our champagne in about 30 seconds before hustling back up to our seats. Oh well. Here are a couple pictures from the evening:
When I was talking to one of the Czech girls who is part of my program, she asked where I was from. I told her, around San Francisco. She just looked at me and said, "heepee!" Then, I was standing in line waiting for gyros today and the guy next to me starting talking to me in a language I didn't understand (I thought it was mumbled Czech), so I said "Anglicky?" (English?). He said, "Where are you from?" And I said "America." The guy behind the counter making my sandwich seemed shocked... but I thought everyone was supposed to be able to tell I was an American. Then the guy asking me says, "I thought you were Scottish!" So I think the language he had been speaking in was English... Scottish English. Then he asked where in the US I was from, and I said, around San Francisco. And he said "I only know one thing about San Francisco." I expected him to talk about the Golden Gate Bridge, or Alcatraz, or gays, or "heepees." But he said, "Levi's." So now I think I'm going to tell every Czech I meet that I'm from San Francisco, rather than just saying American, to try to really figure out The City's international reputation.
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