Czech Immersion

Konopiste Castle
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Dobre den! Life has been quite busy here in Prague over the last couple of weeks. Two weekends ago, Natalie and I went through a Czech Language immersion course, or so we were hoping. We visited our friend, Lubos’ home town. An hour bus ride from Prague, we arrived around noon on Saturday. We started off with some lunch of potato cakes. This yummy Czech food is growing on me quickly. Afterwards, we headed to Konopiste Castle. We took a tour of the inside learning about the hunter that owned the castle. He had killed over 300,000 animals. Most of the heads and antlers hung around the home. It was crazy! Other than that, the whole tour was in Czech, so we didn’t really understand much of it. After the tour, we walked around the grounds before heading back to his house.

Inside Konopiste Castle.
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For dinner, we had smoked chicken with potatoes and vegetables. The chicken was delicious, never had smoked chicken before! For dessert, his mother taught me how to make hot wine. If you are interested in trying it, you add 1 liter of red wine, four cinnamon sticks, and a tablespoon of cloves. Heat on high till it foams, then remove from burner. Strain as you pour into glasses. This is a very popular drink around Prague right now. And it definitely warms you up!

That evening we sat around and watched Czech tv and tried to figure out the whole internet situation with Lubos and his brother. Yes, we still have no internet at our apartment. A process we have been attempting for about two months now. We think we found another company to attempt, but we have given up hope. If it happens, it happens.

Path to castle.
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Sunday morning we slept in before heading to his grandma’s house in a village about 20 minutes away from his parents house. There we meet his babicka, (she looked like the typical traditional Czech grandma), his aunt and uncle, and their two girls. We had lunch with them consisting of garlic soup with meatballs, chicken with dumplings and sauerkraut. The chicken and dumplings were great, but I am not a fan of sauerkraut and tried to get it down with little success. After the main meal, they brought out open faced sandwiches and finger food. Again delicious, but we were so stuffed, it was difficult to force down anymore food. Along with this course, they offered us some of their homemade apple wine and a shot of homemade bechovcka, a specialty liquor very common here. It was amazing to see his mother (maminka) take a shot as well, but she slowly sipped on it. Could not do that! I have a hard enough time taking shots to sip on it. The wine was delicious though, and they were so kind to give us a bottle to take home with us. For dessert we had a sweet roll with cheese and poppy seed inside. They were also very good, but we were so stuffed, we tried only one.

Lubos' extended family
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We really enjoyed being with his family and seeing the home and lifestyle of a Czech family living in a village. We were also the first American’s his family had ever meet, so it was a treat for them as well. We didn’t learn much Czech over the weekend, but did attempt to communicate with what little we knew.

The week continued to be very busy. Working lots, and picking up some extra shifts to make up for the money taken from me about a month back. Along with all of this, I seem to have picked up a rather nasty cold. My body isn’t used to being in the cold like this. Arizona definitely spoiled me!

This past weekend Natalie and I took it fairly easy. Friday night we hung in, making some chicken quesadillas and hot wine. Saturday night was a party for our friend Traci. She is heading back to Chicago at the end of the month for good. I met her through face book, trying to find American’s who could tell me about their experience in Prague. She was extremely helpful and after meeting her once we arrived, she has done nothing but be an amazing friend. We are going to miss her so much!

For her party, Traci cooked amazing food that was so delicious, my stomach just about burst! And on top of that, they had gotten 17 bottles of wine, 10 different bottles of alcohol, and a ton of beer. On top of it, one of her friends brought along their karaoke machine. This thing was neat. A microphone you plug into the television. You pick your song by going through a book then typing the numbers into the keypad on the microphone. There was over 200 songs to chose from. It was really neat.

Sunday is a day of rest. I am still struggling with this cold and want to get rid of it. Drinking lots of vitamin C and trying to sleep lots. Hope everyone is doing well. The countdown for my arrival home and Christmas has already begun. Just 39 more days! Can’t wait!