"McDonald's: I'm lovin'it" - Well, not quite!

The girls and I went shopping this morning and before I knew it it was lunch time. I knew it needed to be fast since I had to get Ali home for nap so we stopped at McDonald's. It is fast and has outdoor seating so I didn't have to take the kids jackets off which always saves time. Anyway, I went in to order our food. I order 3 hamburgers without onion. The cashier asked if I spoke English. I said yes. He said, "no special orders only what is on the menu." I had to laugh. Can you imagine being told in the U.S. at a McDonald's or Burker King that you couldn't get something the way you like it??!! It may be the golden arches but apparently I can only be "lovin' it" (the McD slogan) my way in the US, otherwise I have to love it their way. The humor was compounded when after getting my order together and accepting my money he offered to carry my food to a table for me. So the kitchen staff can't take the extra minute to put a hamburger in the microwave but the cashier can walk my stuff to a table out in front of the restaurant! Oh well, such is life. At least he carried my food for me.

New friends

On Tuesday we had a playdate with someone that we met at the musical playgroup we go to on Mondays. Shanna invited me and the girls over to play. We laughed with each other becuase finding friends and having the first get together is really like a first date. Sometimes it goes well and you want to see more of each other and sometimes it doesn't go well and you can't wait to get out of there. Well, our "first date" went great. Shanna has 2 children, a girl and a boy. Shanna and I hit it off really well and so did our kids. They currently live across town from us but I don't mind heading over there. The girls and I trek all over the city so it doesn't matter to me if I have to take the metro somewhere. Since Shanna's kids go to school on my side of town though they will be moving over to my area soon. It will be nice to have more friends really close by since then I can just text them when we go to the park so we will get to see more of each other.

ahhh cut grass..

I love the smell of cut grass. Especially when it isn't grass that I have to cut!! I ran by someone mowing the lawn today and it was such a nice smell. I was made even happier by the thought of not having to mow any lawn this summer. The weather is beautiful here and spring is really in full swing. The forsythia has flowered. The dogwoods are starting to open their flowers and other flowering trees have started to open up. Some look like kousa dogwoods but they might be something else. I checked the information board in Letna Park but it was all in Czech so I don't know what they are. I will have to bring my dictionary when I bring the girls to the park so I can look it up.

Easter Preparations

Prague has decorated itself in preparation for Easter. Easter is an important holiday in Prague, where decorations are heavy on painted eggs, chocolate, candy and small gifts, much as in the U.S. Wenceslas Square and Old Town Square have the wooden shopping booths that were present around Christmas back up, selling gifts and food. Nearby trees at the end of Wenceslas Square are decorated with ribbon and balloons.

The part about Easter in Prague I am most curious about is the Easter Monday tradition of boys whipping girls legs with willows branches. Apparently this is a good natured tradition and the (gentle) whipping passes on luck and strength to the girls and in return the boys are supposed to get a painted egg. Men taking part are supposed to be offered liquour which I'm sure makes this event all the more interesting.

I thought I would add a little to Jason's post. As you can see there is a sign for Trdlo. Trdlo is like the czech equivalent to fried dough. It isn't fried but is cooked over a fire. They roll out the dough and wrap it around a metal tube (like a metal rolling pin). They then place the tube over a fire and the tube rotates to cook all sides of the dough. When it is cooked they slide the dough off the tube and into a plate of cinnamon and sugar to coat it. It is very yummy and for some reason much more filling then fried dough (or dough boys if you are from RI!).

Advice for Watson: také kluk

The other night during my usual evening walk with Watson he found a lab puppy (maybe a year old) to play with. After extensive playing Watson decided to show his dominance in the way dogs like to do best and climbed on behind this other dog. The owner of the lab simply shook her head, laughed and said to Watson "také kluk", also a boy.

Travel decisions

Jason and I made a lot of travel decisions yesterday and booked our flights. It is very exciting to be able to travel a lot and see different places. We were having a hard time figuring out where to go with so many options but I think we have settled on a schedule that we are both happy with. We will be flying to Malaga, Spain this summer for a week on the beach. Originally we had thought we would do Munich either before or after this trip since we couldn't find good airfare out of Prague but last night we found a flight from Prague so we will see Munich another time. In the fall we are going to spend a week in the Loire Valley, France and a week in Tuscany, Italy. We have already found an apartment rental in Amboise, France but have not yet decided where to stay in Tuscany. I think we will stay in Montepulciano since we both love it there and that is where we were suppose to go in 2005 until Ali came into the picture. Now we just have to figure out when to go to Munich and Innsbruck. When we were planning on going to Munich in the summer we were going to go to Innsbruck this spring but now we might go to Munich this spring and figure out another time to go to Innsbruck. It is nice because we are a 3.5 hour drive from Munich and a 5 hour drive from Innsbruck so we can easily go to either for a weekend.

The Pegasus Tower

No, it isn't a tourist attraction in Prague. It is my new clothes rack!! Today I finally went and paid the big bucks for a bigger (yet more compact since it is tall not wide) clothes rack. I am tired of always being dependent on the weather if I want to wash two loads of laundry so I needed to do something. Today when I had three loads of laundry to do, one of which was a load of towels from giving Watson a bath, I just couldn't take it anymore. I bundled up the girls, put Watson's collars on and headed to the kitchen store to by a new clothes rack. I had one in mind since my friend had showed me hers but I had put off buying it because it was a little pricey. Luckily when I got to the store there was one left and I got it. I'm sure people laughed at me as I carried the clothes rack (which is probably about 6 feet tall when it is all closed up), held Watson's leash, pushed the stroller and had Sofia holding onto the stroller for the half mile walk back to the apartment. I didn't care though. I wanted that clothes rack!! My clothes are nicely drying on the rack as I type. No worries about rain! Now I can make sure everything is washed and dried before Friday so that our babysitter can iron everything for us!!

Chilly day here

It is another chilly day here in Prague. I went out briefly to get some eggs and things for lunch and while we were out it started to sleet. It didn't last long but I'm ready for spring with all the warm weather we have had lately. When we got back I made some zucchini bread. It is nice to have the smell of it baking in the apartment. I had bought the zucchini to make for dinner the other night but never made it so instead of letting it go to waste I made the bread. Fresh vegetable and fruit don't last long here (I think because they are actually ripe when you get them in the store) so if you don't use them quickly they will go bad. This is good and bad...you usually get nice ripe fruit which is great but you can't buy for the week because the fruit/veggies you buy at the beginning of the week will be rotten by the end. IN any event, in making the zucchini bread today I used a different kind of flour. When I was at the store the other day I knew I needed more flour so I guessed at which kind to buy since there are varying levels of smoothness with the flour here. When I got home from the store I was happy to see that the name was the same but when I opened the new one today I realized it seemed even smoother than the very smooth one I had bought previously. Since it was all I had I used it to make the zucchini bread. It came out fine.

Quiet week..

This week is pretty low key for us. We went out with friends for lunch on Saturday to an italian restaurant in Prague 2. It was fun to get out with friends and the restaurant had a kids corner so the kids got to hang out with each other while we ate and talked. We went to a playground in Reigrovy Sady which was nice but everytime I am in Prague 2 I am just grateful that we ended up in Prague 6. There are more parks in p6 and they are bigger and, I think, nicer. In addition to the big parks we have a lot of little parks with playgrounds. The streets in p6 are often cobblestoned which just gives it a nicer feel too. The girls both have little colds so we have kept them home since Saturday. We do go out everyday since we have to take Watson out in the middle of the day but we haven't been going to the playgrounds. We missed the musical playgroup this week which is a shame because both kids really love going but I didn't want to pass the germs to everyone. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be our last day homebound. The weather has turned chilly again this week so I'm also hoping that it will warm up by Thursday.

Tourist Season

The return of tourists to Prague has reminded me that what I've seen over the past couple months is not the norm. We arrived in December and at that time Christmas visitors were out in force so the city was bustling with activity. After New Years the decorations came down but apparently in Russia many have extended time off so the city remained busy with Russian and Ukrainian tourists. However, the Monday following that New Years week made it obvious that at that time of year the visitors were elsewhere. And so it remained through January and February. I got used to it enough that when, a couple of weeks ago, the early sunny pre-spring days brought out the tours I realized I had been seeing the small window of time where Prague is quiet. While it's nothing compared to busy summer tourism it certainly appears that we have turned that spring-time corner where tourists begin returning. Now if only that spring-like weather would come back.

Cremeria Milano...

Jason and I found a great place to go after dinner on Friday nights. It is a little restaurant in Prague 1 called Cremeria Milano. They have great desserts. I got the hot chocolate that was like pudding it was so thick and rich. The waitress asked me if I wanted whipped cream and of course I said yes!. I thought the whipped cream would just come on top of the hot chocolate but when she brought it over there was my cup of hot chocolate and a martini glass filled with whipped cream. It was very yummy but one thing I have noticed about whipped cream here is that it is not sweet. I guess they don't add the sugar that we do in the U.S. so I just added a little sugar myself. They do a lot of gelato business so next time maybe I will try a gelato. The waitress was really nice and humored us by giving us time to figure out what she was saying in Czech and then listening for our Czech answers.

Haircut

I decided today that I really needed a haircut. Jason has already had two haircuts since we have been here and I haven't had any! My last haircut was in November so I desperately needed one. My problem was that I wasn't sure where to go and I really didn't want to have to go in to town and pay 1000Kc ($50) for a haircut. That just seemed ridiculous to me to pay that amount when Czechs must get their haircut somewhere and I am willing to bet they don't pay 1000Kc since the average czech only makes 20,000KC a month. I have been eyeing these two salons near our apartment for a while and just kept thinking that they would be fine. I was a little gun shy though since I knew odds are they wouldn't speak English. I finally couldn't take it anymore today and I just stopped into one of the salons to see if I could make an appointment. There was one woman who spoke a little english and I was able to schedule an appointment for 7pm. I went to the appointment and Sarka was my stylist. She didn't speak a word of English but we worked it out. I wanted just a little cut off. After she cut my hair she asked my with genstures if I wanted her to blow my hair straight. I said yes in Czech and she blew dry my hair. I paid her and left. For 600kc (including tip) I got a great haircut! Now I know where I'll be going whenever I need a trim.

Travel, travel, travel...where to go??

Jason and I have been trying to figure out what our travel plans are going to be for this year. We know that we will be going to Spain and Germany in July and that we are going to France in October but we have been having trouble deciding where in France to go. At first we thought we would go to the Luberon, Loire and Paris. The luberon just seemed to hard to get to with the kids so we decided to not do that on this trip. Then we thought a week in Loire and a week in Burgundy with a few days in Paris. This just felt too rushed so we decided we wouldn't see Paris on this trip. I feel like I should see Paris since we are living in Europe but I'm just not drawn to it so I'm not heartbroken over skipping it. Then we were down to a week in the Loire and a week in Burgundy. We are both slow travelers at heart though and we decided to stay two weeks in the Loire. We figure this will give us a week to see the Chateaux that we want to see and a week of just relaxing and puttering around the countryside. Now I just need to find an apartment and book it. I'm hoping to call a place today to see if it is available. If it is then we will have a 3 bedroom apartment to stay in for two weeks. If someone wants to come and stay in the third bedroom for free you are welcome to it as long as you agree to babysit for half the nights so that Jason and I can enjoy some nice French dinners!

Another beautiful day

It is another beautiful day here in Prague. It is close to 60 degrees (15 celsius). The sun is shining and the sky is a clear blue. We went to our musical playgroup this morning. Both of the girls really enjoy that playgroup. Sofia sings the songs all week. On the way back from the playgroup we had to shed our jackets it was so warm. Ali is napping now but if the weather holds we will go out to the playground for the afternoon.

Pediatrician - Check up/immunization

Since we finally have our VZP insurance I found a pediatrician and scheduled an appointment for Ali since she still needs her immunizations. The girls and I went to the appointment last Thursday. The doctor's office is 5 tram stops away which only takes 10 minutes and her office is just a couple minutes walk from the tram stop so it is easy to get to. The doctor had been recommended to me from another mom so I felt pretty comfortable going to this doctor. I knew that she would speak English which takes away a lot of the stress. We arrived and waited for our appointment time. I brought both girls in with me to the doctors office and gave the doctor Ali's immunization card. She asked for Sofia's and I told her I didn't bring it since in the U.S. they would only want the one file for the child that was being seen for that appointment. She laughed and told me, "well, when you move back you can tell them at least one thing was easier in the Czech Republic". It was funny. She told me that they will always see the two of them together because it is just easier for me and makes more sense. I couldn't agree more. She weighed both of the girls and measured their heads and height just like in the U.S. There was definitely comfort in routine for me. We talked about what vaccines were needed. She explained that VZP only covers the required vaccines and not optional ones which may be different than what is required in the U.S. She pointed out a couple (I don't remember now which ones) but said we would talk about them more later since they are vaccines for when the kids are a little older. Both kids were given the tick vaccine which is actually a three part vaccine. They had the first shot on Thursday and will get shot 2 in 4 weeks and then the 3rd shot in a year. Apparently tick born encephilitus is a big problem in Europe and was a really big problem in Prague last summer so we decided to give the girls the vaccine so we wouldn't have to worry about that. We still have to check for ticks though since they could still get lyme disease. We had to pay for the tick vaccine though since that is not a required vaccine.

I'm going to have Jason come back with me for the next appointment so that I can get a better understanding of how the practice works. While the doctor does speak English, it isn't the best English (although certainly much better than my Czech!) so it is hard to really understand everything while trying to watch both kids. I think that there are two options with the doctor's office. We can just be a regular patient and go during normal office hours for illness or prevention. By this I mean that there are no appointments. There are regularly scheduled office hours for prevention visits and illness visits. If you need to bring a child in for illness you arrive during the office hours and wait your turn. The other option is to become a VIP patient. This means we would pay 5000kc ($300) a year and we can have scheduled appointment times so there is no waiting and we will have the doctor's private cell phone number to call at anytime, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It is interesting how that is different than the U.S. In the U.S. the doctor's office has a calling service with a doctor on call if there is a problem. Here you have to pay for that service. I'm not really concerned about the calling after hours part since we never bothered to do that in the U.S. but the not having to wait for my turn during office hours might be worth it. We will find out for sure at the next visit if that is how it works so I will keep you posted.

Lunch

My lunches are in Prague are very different than when I was in the U.S. Like I imagine the majority of workers in the greater Boston area I had been in the habit of eating at my desk for many years. Yes, there were always days when I would eat out somewhere but most days was either take out sandwiches at the desk or food from home because buying a sandwich was exensive in Boston and even Maynard.

In Prague, as in much of Europe I suppose, there is a greater emphasis on the importance of stepping away from work and having a little personal time. Most of the people in our office eat out for lunch on a daily basis. Those that bring food often eat in one of the kitchens instead of sitting in front of their computers. I do sometimes just get food and eat in front of the computer because sometimes I feel too busy to take a break. However, I make an effort to take a cue from this culture and get some much needed away time by taking lunch out of the office. Often it is at a sit-down restaurant, of which there are many in the center of Prague. There are also some cafeteria, or canteen style, restaurants that are quite nice. I went to a new one the other day that served good soup and a wide range of meals and had plenty of tables for eating with others or stand up bar tables for those by themselves eating a quick lunch. For quicker lunches these places are great and makes a good alternative to McDonalds or other fast-food style places when neededing a quick meal by yourself.

Another thing that encourages this behavior are the food vouchers. With their paychecks every month employees receive 20 80Kr food vouchers, of which the company pays 55%. These passes are a general Czech Republic thing and not purely a company benefit but it certainly does make it easier to eat out knowing that for every 80Kr I spend on lunch (typical lunch may be around 100Kr or so) 44Kr of that is not out of my pocket. While many days it's still hard to force myself away from work and email for an hour for lunch I certainly feel like it's much healthier mentally so I continue to happily embrace this adjustment.

Seamstress

I bought pants finally but of course had to have them hemmed. I brought them to a seamstress near our house who had been recommended to me. I went in assuming she would not speak English but one of the ladies there spoke a little English. I put one of the pants on and she pinned them and off I went. Yesterday I went to pick them up. They did a great job. In the U.S. they just chop the bottom off and hem the pants and charge me $11 per pant. Here I was very pleasantly surprised. The bottom of the jeans that I had bought had that roughed style edge look which I assumed would just be gone once I had them hemmed. I was wrong. They cut out the length above the bottom and them reconnected the pants to the original endge. (That is the best way that I can describe it so hopefully that makes sense.) I'm not quite sure how they did it but it looks great and you can't tell theat they were hemmed at all. I had both pants hemmed for $8 each.

Red, Hot & Blues dinner

We went to Red, Hot & Blues for dinner last night. The food was average at best and it was way overpriced. Should have known when our waitress was from California but Jason had been there for drinks before and said it was a cool place. The music was fun but the food not so fun. It was weird to have a waitress who spoke English. Somehow it just different feel right to be speaking English in a restaurant. After dinner we headed over to a cafe that Jason had found that was open to midnight. This cafe takes the award for having the worst hot chocolate! I couldn't even drink it it was so bad. We left there and just walked across the city since it was a mild night. I'm looking forward to the warmer nights when we can sit and people watch. It seems though that when we do walk around we see a lot of British guys. You can usually spot them because they have no jackets and short sleeves. Who where no jacket and short sleeves outside i the middle of winter?? They are generally loud and drunk too. (This is also a big clue too sice you can here them speaking English) I think this is because a lot of British guys come to Prague for their bachelor parties since Prague is so cheap and a flight is about $40. I often think, "if people think Americans are loud and obnoxious travelers then they should come to Prague and see all the drunk british men!". I often wonder if the Brits get mistaken for being American furthering the stereotype of the obnoxious American. (I'm not saying that all Brits are obnoxious.)

Forest in a city??

That's right...there is a forest with the city of Prague. The park is called Sarka (sounds like Sharka) and is not far from our apartment. I know I say that about everything but it is true, most things are not far from where we live. Today I decided to take a run up to Sarka. It was a tough run since getting to Sarka is all up hill but it was worth it. I didn't make it to the main part of the park but I entered into the woods and had fun running there. I ran up to around where I knew I could get into the park but I wasn't sure exactly where so I asked a woman near the bus stop, "Prominte, kde je Sarka". She responded in Czech with hand signals so that I would know where to go and off I went. Prague is just filled with peaks and valleys and Sarka is at a peak so as I got into the woods I had the option to head down hill or just stay on top. I decided to stay on top since after running all the way up hill to get there I didn't want to make a steep decline. I ran along the path and came across two playgrounds which are always good to note so that I can take the kids to different playgrounds. There are a few look out points where you can see over the valley on the other side of Sarka. It was really pretty to look out but weird to think I was up so high. The only funny thing about the view is that there was this one glass skyscraper. I had to wonder what company it was and why they would build a building so out of character with its surroundings. Anyway I continued on through the woods hoping I would find a way out but everytime I thought I had found one it would turn out to be someone's back yard. I eventually had to turn around and backtrack to an area where I knew I could get out. It was fine to back track since it just allowed me more time to stay in the woods. After coming out of the woods I ran in the direction I thought I needed to run. Having no clue where I was I just kept running down hill since I knew I had to go down hill to get back to our apartment. I eventually came out to a familiar area and continued home. It was a good run and one I will do again just to be able to run in the woods.

Don't bother the ducks!!!

Today the girls and I brought Watson down to Stromovka Park. It was a beautiful day here today..around 60 degrees. Most of Stromovka allows dogs off leash but there is part of it that has leash required. Since dogs are never on leash I chose to disregard the rule. Today I got stopped by the Czech Police because Watson wasn't on leash. I knew exactly what they were getting at but I played dumb since technically I couldn't understand what they were saying since they were speaking to me in Czech. They ended up speaking a little English. Enough to tell me to put the dog on leash and that he can't go in/near the pond becuase it bothers the ducks. I had to laugh because there were three police people at the pond telling everyone with dogs near the water that they needed to have a leash on their dogs. Are ducks really that important?? Oh well, now I know that when I am near the duck ponds I really need to keep Watson on leash.

Watson settling in...

Watson has settled in more to our home lately. For a while he would not go out on the patio if we weren't there. Now he enjoys laying on the patio by himself. When we come back from our runs in the morning he likes to have his water on the patio so that he has some cool down time. Periodically during the day I will see him at the patio doors and I will let him out. I'm always surprised when he goes out and doesn't immediately bark to come back in. Sometimes he lays out there so long I forget he is even out there until he finally barks to be let in. It is nice to see him really settling in.

Prague Zoo

Today we went to Prague Zoo. I didn't realize just how big it is. We were there for at least 3 hours and we did not see all of the zoo. We could walk to the zoo from our apartment but it would be a bit of a long walk for Sofia so we opted to take public transporation. Taking public transit it is about 30 minutes to get to the zoo from our apartment. The zoo is also right next to Troja Palace which we didn't go into today but will definitely go back to in the summer becuase they are supose to have beautiful formal gardens. Anyway, the Zoo was fantastic. We saw giraffe, leopards, tigers, zebra etc. They had a really awesome Indonesian jungle exhibit. It was so hot and humid in the exhibit that when I tried to take a picture my camera immediatey fogged up. Sofia liked the exhibit but was a little scared of it. I think it was just so different from anything she had ever seen that it made her a little nervous even though she loved seeing everything. We went into another exhibit hall that kind of made me nervouse. I shouldn't say "kind of". I should say it did freak me out. We went into an exhibit that was dark with about 5 glass exhibits. As we are walking in the dark I see something go flying past my head. I thought "what the hell was that?! Maybe it was some bird that got inside." I kept walking and saw more things flying around. I thought, "oh no, those are BATS!!! Please don't land on me!!" I tried to stay as calm as possible since I didn't want to scare the girls but I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Of course, Sofia loves bats so we had to stand at the last exhibit that only had a half-glass wall so that the bats could fly in and out so that Sofia could watch the bats. Even thinking about it now gives me the shivers. I never really thought I was afraid of bats but now I know I don't want to be in a room with a lot of them.

After the Zoo we went over to our friends house so that they could give Sofia her birthday present and we could have a glass (or 2) of wine. We ended up staying there longer than intended and got home a little late but we had a great time today. Hopefulyl we tired the girls out so much that they sleep late in the morning.

Day out with friends

Today I went out for brunch with my friend Kirsty. We went for brunch at Cafe Savoy. ( http://www.ambi.cz/ambi_cafesavoy_menu_eng.php ) We met up at 10am at the end of our road and hopped on the tram. We got to Cafe Savoy and it was quite busy. They were filming some movie there this morning so their weren't as many tables available as there normally would be. We only had to wait a minute for a table though so it was fine. The restaurant is in a beautiful building. If you check out the link above you can see how the ceiling is all painted. We both had an omelette with truffles with mimosas. I had a hot chocolate, of course. I also had a croissant which was really good. It was probably the best croissant I have ever had. (Granted that isn't saying much since I have never gotten a croissant at a nice restaurant or bakery.) After a leisurely meal we headed out and walked over to the mall at Novy Smichov. We walked around a bit there and I did see a really cute purse but decided not to buy it today. Maybe I'll head back and get it though because it was really nice. We then met up with Kirsty's husband and another friend, Michelle. We all went and saw Blood Diamonds at the cinema at the mall. It was an excellent film but hard to watch. The movie makes you never want to see a diamond again. After the movie we headed home. It was really a great day. I needed a "day off" from mothering and this was perfect. I played with the kids in the morning, got them dressed and fed and put ali down for her nap and then I didn't have to do anything until 5:30pm.

Dinner out at Cicala Restaurant

Tonight Jason and I went out for our Friday night dinner. We try a new place every week and this week we decided to try an italian restaurant. The food was very good and we will definitely go there again. The owner is Italian and he and the waitstaff speak Italian. Jason and I got a laugh because we weren't sure if we should speak Czech or Italian. (I use the term "speak" very loosely.) In the end we ended up using some English, some Czech and some Italian. The table next to us was two Italians who were in Prague for business. It was nice to hear them speaking Italian. It is such a beautiful language. The table on the other side of us was two Americans. We are pretty sure one of them spoke Italian though. I finished my meal with profiteroles that were great. Jason was laughing at me as I was scraping the plate. I told him I would have licked the plate if it wasn't considered rude. They were that good!