Culture Shock

Na Stravi (Cheers)!

Well my first week in Prague just came to a close and I sure have a lot to talk about. You are probably wondering why this post is entitled "Culture Shock," but never fear...I will get to that. First I must tell you about the rest of my week and my trip to Moravia.

It snowed earlier in the week and I cannot tell you how happy I was to see that! The entire country was blanketed in white and the cold didn't even bother this California girl...all those winters in Colorado sure helped! A lot came down and we all relished the chance to have massive snowball fights. We soon figured out that it is impossible to make a snowball with frozen hands...

On Thursday our Czech language teacher took us up to Prague Castle where the Prime Minister lives. It was absolutely beautiful and had an excellent view of the snow covered city. It does not look like a typical castle...but more of a massive compound atop a hill. We got some beautiful pictures and then headed down the icy road to our dorm by foot. We got a little lost, but ended up right where we needed to be. To be honest, I have never felt lost since I have been here because the tram system connects to everything and all you have to know is how to read it...pronunciation is a little tougher. But we have come up with fun ways to remember our normal stops. Hradcanska has become H-Rad and we get off there to do our laundry or transfer to the underground metro, which is also extremely easy to use. I am really going to miss the tram system when I get home--paying for gas, what?!

Friday morning we departed by bus to Moravia, a south-eastern section of the Czech Republic, famous for its wine. We stayed just outside the capital of Moravia, Brno. It was a beautiful mountain town covered in snow. Our hotel even had towel warmers! Friday evening I went out with my group of friends to celebrate our friend Tim's birthday. We found an underground, sort of sketchy looking, restaurant. Someone was brave enough to go in and it turned out to have live music, great food and even better wine! It takes about three hours for any meal (Europeans are way more relaxed!) so we had great conversation and a three course meal. I had turkey schnitzel and mixed vegatables (yay Mom!), you should try it.

Saturday morning we went on a walking tour of Brno, which is a city with a lot of interesting history. A lot of the architecture in the city carries with it a lot of sarcasm. For example, one church in town has a little angel above a window with its naked bottom facing the street. Our tour guide told us it was the architects way of showing the other church across the street what they really thought about it! So much for sweet little angels... We all enjoyed a laugh and toured the rest of the city. Another example of architectural sarcasm was in an elaborate decoration adorning a clock tower. One of the pillars in the design is crooked. Apparently, the architect thought the Brno council stiffed him by not paying what they agreed, so he designed to focal point to be crooked!

We also learned that Brno has a very elaborate underground tunnel system that was made a couple hundred years ago. Once a year the tunnels are opened up for the townspeople to explore. There is also a legend in Brno history that the town used to be guarded by the ferocious Brno Dragon--a crocodile that shows its face all over the town on souvenirs, post cards and t-shirts, as a mascot, if you will.

Later that afternoon we took a bus to Austerlitz--a Napoleon battlefield and monument. We couldn't stay for long, however, because we had to make it to dinner at a local winery. We arrived at the winery at about 6:00 p.m. (or 18:00 as it is in the CZ) and found out we had to walk almost half a mile to the actual underground cellar (or at least it felt like it). The road was icy, but luckily no one sustained any injuries. We had chicken for dinner (a very small portion in comparison to the American ones!) and then we began the wine tasting. We had four wines, two white (bily) and two red (cervena) wines. They were all delicious and we learned (by translator) how to properly sample wines. After the tasting we had our choice of buying two of the wines for a flat price of 150 korunas (Czech crowns) which is quite a steal at $3 a bottle...the exchange rate is great here!

Side note...we also discovered that warm wine is quite delicious. You should try it!

On Sunday, we went to Gregor Mendel's (the father of genetics) garden which I thought was absolutely amazing. The garden was covered in snow, but it was still very surreal to be standing in the place where genetics was discovered. We all did not recall learning that this was discovered in Brno...woops!

We then made the trek to an underground Punkva cave system which was gorgeous. Good thing I am not claustrophobic! We had a tour of the caves and rode a small boat through the underground artificial river made in the 1920's.

So anyway...culture shock. I have not experienced bad culture shock as of yet. No sleepless nights, no homesickness, just a few slaps in the face. In general, Europeans are ok with Americans--indifferent if you will. But I have noticed there are a few differences as far as manners go. For example, in Tesco (the Target/Wal Mart of Prague) people will ram you with their cart, or hit you with their canes just so they can get through. Men don't hold open the door for women, and if you accidentally bump into someone and say excuse me or sorry (in Czech, mind you), they look at you like you are just a complete idiot. They laugh at us when we try to speak Czech, or won't even let us try. It's sad that everyone here speaks english. My favorite thing is when I ask if someone can speak english (Mluvite anglitzsky?) they always say "a little bit." Next thing I know, I am special ordering food or carrying on a conversation with them. When I say I can speak a little German or Spanish...I really mean a little. There is no way I could carry on an intense conversation with anyone.

Another one of the bigger shockers we found out was that the Czech people rarely, if ever, say "I love you" to one another. Our czech language teacher (who may have been exaggerating) said that she had never said "I love you" to her husband of 34 years. Wow. In America, so much emphasis is put on those three words. It is the dividing moment in relationships and to me, completely necessary to say to family. I say it all the time and I really do mean it. They apparently just think it's not necessary. I, being the dork that I am, felt the urge to do research on the topic of love in different cultures. Maybe in my second life, I will be a professor and will assign that topic. :) Who knows...

Anyway, culture shock has not been nearly as bad as anyone said it would be. Practically everyone here speaks english (it has NEVER been a challenge even if they really do only speak a little). I am very excited to learn more about this city and its culture. It's hard to believe that only 14 years ago, this was a communist country. How far it has come!

Anyway, LOVE YOU ALL!!! I hope everything is going well back in the states or wherever you are reading this from. Na schladanou (Goodbye)!!

Love,
Steph