Pinic on Petrin

Last night we had a picnic on Petrin Hill instead of our regular Bible Study--with the summer comes the supper club, and it seems like Subway + Petrin is a winner. This was the first time I'd been to Petrin, and I really enjoyed it! Tomorrow, I am finished at 9am, cause my evening class canceled. I think I'll slap on some sunblock and take a book & my iPod to Petrin and hang out for a bit!

Phil, Dot, Laura & Shanna

Cutie-Patootie dog & intern Luke in the background

Action shot of Phil Ultimate Frisbee-ing

St. Patrick's Day (redux)

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything about my trip to Glasgow for the 2007 World Championships of Irish Dance (Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne) over Easter weekend in April. Last night, while showing my roomie how to transfer the pictures and videos she has taken with her digital camera to a computer, I was inspired to share the video I took while at the Worlds. As taking video/photos during competition was strictly verboten, I was surprised I actually got away with sneakily taking this video.

This is a ceili dance. (I don't know how accurate that wikipedia link is, so take it with a grain of salt.) It is called St. Patrick's Day, the very same dance my team took 3rd place in at the 2005 Midwestern Oireachtas. This team didn't qualify for a recall, but I did capture the entire dance. Enjoy!

Click To Play

Development Arrested

As a reward to myself for finishing all of my end of year assessments, I watched the last 3 episodes of season 3 of Arrested Development. They also happen to be the last 3 episodes in the series. This makes me very sad. :(
Plus, I had to borrow the dvds! Maybe I should invest in my own copies while at home this summer . . .

Prayer Warriors!

So, Tuesday at our Women's Bible Study ( graciously hosted by Shanna ) I made a couple specific prayer requests for myself. One that I would get all of the paperwork for my end of year student assessments done that because they are due tomorrow, and one that I would temper my feelings & reactions to a certain member of my household (I believe I used the phrase "seething ball of hate"). The ladies of this Bible study rock--they are true prayer warriors! Not only am I finished with my paperwork, a good 24+ hours before the deadline, but I am no longer a seething ball of hate!

Thanks, ladies. You know who you are!

12 of 12 - June

This is my first foray into Chad's 12 of 12 project, so I hope it turns out well!


7:55 am: Muzeum tram stop
I missed my tram this morning on my way to teach my first class of the day. This isn't a problem, because the distance is quite walkable . I was cutting it a bit close, so this picture was kind of taken on the fly. Looking out over the horizon between the Muzeum metro (down to the left, sadly not visible in this picture) and Hlavni Nadrazi (the main train station) down to the right (also not visible) with a lovely Vodafone billboard in the upper left corner.

7:58 (approx) am: outside the building the company I teach at is located (that was worded very awkwardly)
I wanted to catch a glimpse of my favorite shoes. I bought these in Glasgow around Easter for 10 pounds ($20) and I am wearing them out. I've already broken the soles!


9:35 am: Muzeum metro
On my way to my friends' flat via the A metro (or the green line). I was a little rushed for time while taking this shot, so it's not lined up very straight.


9:45 am: Hradcanska metro escalator
On my way out of the metro, just before missing the bus. That seemed to be the running theme to my day--just a minute too late.


12:00 pm: Women's Bible Study group
This was the last official meeting for our Women's Bible Study before we go on break for the summer. Incidentally, this was the first time I had ever used the timer on my camera. Not too bad, if I say so myself!


12:15 pm: bus stop in Bubanec
My entertainment while I waited for the bus to take me back to the metro station so I could get home for some lunch. I'm trying to re-read all 6 Harry Potter books in anticipation for the 7th and final book to come out next month. Also, I wanted to refresh my memory on the happenings in the Order of The Phoenix before I see the movie adaptation when I'm back home in Ohio for the summer.


12:45 pm: Bohemia Bagel stand near my flat
I got my standard at BoBagel for lunch: Turkey and Swiss on a Tomato Basil bagel. This place has come to mean comfort food for me. It's the closest thing to home (not counting the numerous KFCs and McDonalds). Plus, their tomato soup is awesome!


4:10 pm: tram from namesti Miru to I P Pavlova
Hopped the tram to catch the metro so that I would have enough time to travel to my 2nd (and last!) class of the day


4:20ish pm: Red line (line C) metro somewhere between Vysehrad and Pankrac stops
I really like this action shot from my metro ride to my lesson. I felt very weird and stalker-ish taking photos all day long, and as I can't speak Czech, I couldn't really explain myself. Ah, well. I know that this photo and the previous one are very similar, but I swear they're different places! This is from the underground, and the previous photo was taken aboveground!


6:30ish pm: Lhotka (Prague 4)
I hadn't been out to teach at this company for a few weeks, so it was kind of a shock to see the block of Soviet-era flats again. Especially the crazy half-painted building.


8:00 pm: My flat
My roomie's boyfriend came over so that we could cook dinner for him as a thank you for the delicious pizzas he made us last weekend. We started the meal off with a bottle of Modry Portugal that I had bought for our pizza night but we never got around to opening it. I must say that I enjoy the Modry Portugal best of all the red wines I've tried here (not that I've tried too many, I can't read the labels after all!)


8:30 pm: my kitchen
This is the lovely tomato & mozerella quiche I made for dinner. I know it looks pizza-like, but it really is quiche. Much thanks to my French friend for providing the recipe!

So that's it. My first 12 of 12 is over. I can't wait for next month--I'll be back in the states, so it will be interesting for my Prague friends to see a bit of my hometown!

Showers Galore . . .

Not those kind of showers, I'm talkin 'bout party showers (although it was kinda rainy earlier last week)! In the past 3 weeks, I have had the opportunity to attend a couple of different showers for my friends here in Prague. Both of these showers celebrated new beginnings. At the end of May, our women's Bible study threw a baby shower for our friend from South Africa, Alta. As this is her first baby, it is a new beginning for Mom Dad and baby. It was fortunate that we got the shower in before baby Isabella put in an appearance, because just 16 hours after our shower started, she arrived! How exciting :)



The second shower I was fortunate enough to attend was this past Saturday, an engagement shower for Tim and Laura.


Both showers were hosted at Villa Davis, which proved to be a wonderful venue both times!

Like a Visual Echo

This weekend (last weekend in May--sorry for the late post!) has been an interesting one, but mostly a beer-filled one. It seems that the more time I spend in the Czech Republic my beer consumption increases exponentially. When I first moved to Prague in September, I was not a beer drinker at all. I would maybe drink Corona or Blue Moon back home, but beer was not my first choice for an alcoholic beverage (always enjoyed in moderation!). Given the fact that when at a restaurant/pub/bar here in Prague, beer is the beverage that will give you the most value for your hard earned crowns (and the influence of beer-drinking friends), I can say that I am now a beer drinker. Mind you, I'm not a big beer drinker--one or two will do for me (add in the fact that they are served here in 1/2 liters), but a beer drinker nonetheless.

Case in point:

Friday night I met up with some colleagues from work at the Riegrovy Sady Beer Garden to indulge in a refreshing beverage after a long hot work week. I was there a couple of weeks ago with my roomies and Sunny, who blogged about it then.

That Saturday, I visited Pilzn to visit the Pilsner Urquell Brewery with some work colleagues. We had a nice time touring the brewery, learning more about Pilsner beer, and even got to taste some unfiltered/unpasteurized beer in the cellars underneath the brewery! It was a lot of fun.

Immediately following our train ride back to Prague, I met up with one of my roomies and her friends from Ireland for the Prague Fringe Festival at one of the local pubs in Vinohrady. They were here to perform in the Fringe Festival as "The Voice and The Verse."


The Voice & The Verse:
Bringing together four of Ireland's most exciting musicians and poets, ”The Voice and The Verse” is a montage of poignant lyrics and infectious melodies that promises not to disappoint
”Too damn good to miss” - The Village Voice, New York
”Major forces in the canon of contemporary Irish poetry” - The Galway Advertiser

Sightings . . .

There have been celebrity sightings galore here in Prague lately. (Just visit the Davis's blog for updates on Team Brangelina.) Last month, Dot and I were having lunch at Bohemia Bagel and she thought that she saw Ted Turner lunching there as well. I have finally joined in on the fun and had my own (quasi) celebrity sighting. I was walking in the center earlier this week, and a man was walking toward me. He had white hair and was wearing black framed glasses. I think it was Martin Scorcese. The actual chances of this being a real sighting are slim to none, but if it wasn't him, the man was his doppelgänger.

Marathon

Everyone else has already posted about working a water station at the Prague Marathon a couple of weeks ago, but I decided to jump on the bandwagon anyway.

Bright and early on a Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago (really really early for Sunday--7:30 am!) I met up with Dot, Phil, and Chris about 5k from the beginning of the Prague Marathon. We didn't actually hand water to the runners, it was a gatorade-type beverage called Isostar. I hate that word now, because I said it literally at least 1000 times. I'm prone to exaggeration, but this number has not been exaggerated at all. From time to time, I would try to change my routine a bit. I described the Isostar in various ways, including "Poor man's Gatorade".


The rest of the Davis and Syvertsen families stopped by with some friends, so the runners had a makeshift cheering section toward the end of the race.

Nothing like a Never Nude

Although it is still technically Spring, summer weather has hit Prague with a vengeance. (I say this now, and in the middle of the week it will be cool again) It seems like with the coming of the warmer weather, the unofficial dress code here changes drastically. The heat hits, and the clothes come off. I have never before in my life seen so many low cut tops and short shorts & skirts (outside of a nightclub) before. And these sightings have been during working hours--and even in some businesses! Friday when I was waiting for my tram at I.P. Pavlova, I saw a woman wearing a crocheted top. Normally, this would be a non-event, but this top was more like a cover-up you would wear to the beach, not the office! Additionally, it seems like Czech women no longer feel the need to wear supportive undergarments while wearing gauzy white tops that leave nothing to the imagination.

It's not only the Czech women whose wardrobes have changed, Czech men have hopped on the bandwagon as well. In my previous post, I detailed the continuing story of our washer woes here in Prague 2. Thursday afternoon, a repairman came to "fix" our washer. More on that later. What surprised me so much that I had to have photographic evidence, was his outfit. Apparently, cutoff shorts are fair game here. I had in my kitchen living proof that nevernudes are not only present in fictional tv shows such as Arrested Development. They exist here in Prague too, only this nevernude forgot the rest of his outfit on Thursday! Compare these photos and judge for yourself:


Here is Tobias Funke of Arrested Development wearing his cutoffs. The narration for this situation/development in the series goes like this: "Tobias was a nevernude, which is exactly what it sounds like."



This is the washing machine repairman, and my landlady. Notice the socks with sandals, and the nevernude cutoffs. I think we have a worldwide phenomenon here.