Defenestration

I have BIG BIG BIG news: I FOUND PARMESAN CHEESE!!!! The world is a good place again. And I can also cook all my favorite things that just don’t taste right without it. But more about how I came upon that miraculous discovery in a hott second.

Yesterday I attended my first Czech class for 2 and half hours. Czech is hard. It’s a little tricky to pronounce and just generally harder to remember than other languages I’ve had, like German. I learned how to say hi, ask where someone is from, what they do for a living, and say bye, and when class was over I was totally wiped out. Luckily, lunch was right after class, so we went to this tasty Italian restaurant around the corner from the CERGE palace/building. I got a tomato and mozzarella salad, which was amazing. The mozzarella here is to die for, so it’s always a good choice when eating out.

After lunch, we had a lecture on life under communism in the Czech Republic. I’d already heard most of what the lecturer said in my Europe Today class a few semesters ago at Richmond, but it was still an interesting lecture. Communism, of course, had different faces in every country, and the way communism worked in Czechoslovakia was markedly different from the way it worked in Russia or Poland or East Germany. I don’t want to rehash the entire lecture, but in a nutshell, the communist government of Czechoslovakia in the 70s and 80s took this approach: don’t rebel against the government and stay in the country, and the government will, for the most part, make sure you are comfortable. The government paid for many families to get weekend homes in the mountains and countryside, made sure that there were ample supplies of groceries and clothing (though nothing like the supply that exists in the free Czech market today), and, because it had control over life on every level (education, jobs, market, etc.) it could stay in control by threatening citizens’ livelihoods if they chose to rebel or speak out against the government (in some cases, citizens were sent to working camps or executed, but the government could inflict a fair amount of damage on a person without going through all that work). In fact, the inconvenience of appearing not to comply with the government was great enough that it was through the efforts of only about 300 dedicated high-ranking citizens and a couple thousand fence sitters that brought about the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia. The lecturer also talked a little about his firsthand experiences as a teenager living under the Czech communist government after his lecture about life in general, and that was what grabbed my attention the most. He said that the first time he had a real awakening to what communism COULD mean for everyday life was in 1985 when he was 13. His family went to Russia to visit some relatives, and he saw the impact communism had at every level of their lives. They had the exact same meals every day; nothing could be bought at shops; nothing worked because much of what existed before communism had been neglected. This was a different communism than the one he had experienced in Czechoslovakia, but, nevertheless, opened his eyes to the shortcomings of such a system of government.

All this said, the Communist party- the ORIGINAL communist part, not some new Christian social right postcommunist wannabe- is still alive and kicking in the Czech Republic. Right next door to the CERGE palace, in fact. They are our neighbors. Fun, huh?

After the lecture, we took the metro out to one of the Charles University campuses on the outskirts of Prague and got lecture about… you could probably guess it... CULTURE SHOCK. I swear to God, this beast of a syndrome is like, stalking me. I was told for the eleventy-leven dozenth time (Richmond political theory professor Dr. West reference) that it will inevitably set in, and that when I get depressed, tired, or even just get the munchies, it’s most likely because of culture shock, etc. etc., and not just because I’m worn out or have the munchies. It was actually a really interesting lecture, and I’m not giving it it’s fair due, but the whole time I just wanted to laugh because you have to understand that no matter how hard I try to run from culture shock, it is determined to stalk me.

After the lecture, we got a very short tour of the campus, which consisted solely of walking down the hall to see the cafeteria (where you can buy beer!), and then going back to the metro.

I straight chilled when we got back from the culture shock lecture, and started watching Hott Fuzz. So funny. I’d never seen it before. Then, at around 9, we had some wine and went to the pub around the corner. It’s sort of going to be our usual spot, I think. We didn’t stay out super late, and I came back and finished the movie and called it a night. Not too shabby for a Monday.

Tuesday. Well. Tuesday was not quite as seamless as Monday, owing almost entirely to the fact that I slept through my alarm, an event that happens once in a blue moon, and decided not to go to Czech class completely unprepared and smelling like smoke from the pub. I would have felt a lot more guilty about this if I were actually signed up for the class, but I’m not. I’m taking my Czech class at Charles University, and I think I may just start using the workbook I got and sleep in for the rest of the week. Call me a slacker, but I think that I much prefer this, and the teacher doesn’t seem to care one way or the other.

So, I caught up on some stuff this morning and took it easy, which I think was the right decision, regardless, because I have a small cold (everyone has colds right now because, well, it’s cold outside). We headed in to the CERGE palace at around 1 for a walking tour of the Old Town area of Prague (not to be confused with New Town, which was constructed a mere 650 years ago). It was a great tour, and I asked the tour guide about the Defenestrations of Prague, which he was more than happy to talk about. I’ll get to see the site of the Second Defenestration, the most famous of the three (the Third is debatable) on Thursday when we tour Prague Castle. For anyone reading this who has never heard of the Defenestrations of Prague, or, perhaps the word “defenestration,” you should totally take a German history course, or alternatively, just check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague.

Defenestration is probably one of the most awesome words in the English language, and you should know. Defenestration: the act of throwing someone out of a window. I’d like to see a word that tops defenestration.

The only downside to the tour was that I was freezing. This was about 60% my fault, because I wear my grey Converse shoes everywhere. I don’t wear them because I think I’m cool (I mean, I am cool, but that’s beside the point), but because they’re comfortable and it never seems like it’s too cold to wear them. However, I’m going to have to get used to wearing boots for at least couple weeks, I have decided, because the only time my feet were colder than they were today after two hours of walking and standing outdoors in cold, snowy Prague was at the Inauguration in D.C. last year. I don’t really want to go into it, but suffice to say that one pair of socks, Converse shoes, and 6 hours of standing still in 30 degree weather was a very, very, very, extremely stupid idea.

When the tour was mostly over, I hobbled with Michaela and Kyra to the closest restaurant we could find that looked all right, and got cappuccinos and vegetable risotto. We didn’t get quite far enough from the touristy area by Charles Bridge, though, and got landed with some ridiculous included “gratuity” charge. Ugh. Hate it when I make tourist mistakes. Oh well. I will simply say that at this point in the day, we would have paid big money to go into just about any heated building and thaw.

After the late lunch, we went to the huge Tesco and visited its basement-level grocery store for the first time. I was in heaven. The selection was amazing, and the bakery was impressive. In addition, they had more cheese than I’ve ever seen in a grocery store in my entire life, and I FOUND PARMESAN CHEESE, which I know I have already mentioned, but feel the need to reiterate. I love it when things go my way. 

We took the metro back to Namesti Miru and finally got to relax in the apartment. Michaela bought some chocolate liqueur, and we all had coffee from our new coffee maker with the chocolate liqueur. It was simply amazing after freezing all day. Mmmmmm. The perfect ending to a pretty good day. I don’t know what we’re up to tonight, probably not too much since the cold wore us all out. Michaela has a pretty sweet selection of DVDs along with her, so maybe we’ll pop one of those in. It’s also my turn to buy the blue toilet paper, so I may have to venture outside one more time to run that errand.