Today so far has been a very interesting day. Tereza had to go into Prague, so just a few days into my trip I am on my own… David vs Usti round one!
I got a bright and early start and ate breakfast at about 8:30 (yogurt and this really good granola mix with sugar and raisins that we made the night before) then walked with Tereza to get some stuff printed and then to her school then to the bus then I’m on my own. I wasn’t that worried about it because I saw a good section of the main area yesterday. So not knowing the area’s of Usti that are full of “gypsies” and I’m “not supposed to go there” I was as adventurous as I could/should be on my first solo david day. My strategy was to pretty much follow the same path we took yesterday but also check out what is one block either way of the path we took and I walked a bit past where we turned around yesterday. SO MUCH FUN. I really like Usti. It seems like there are several schools around here so there are a lot of people around my age. The “shopping area” as I will call it, was pretty much the same as yesterday other than the “square” area is setting up for something that looks like a “help something” display area.. (I don’t really know what that “something” is but I can only assume that it is for people that need help. The displays had lots of faces of people…that’s really my only clue. It could be for teeth whitening for all I know=/) ((side side note: Americans/I apparently have really white teeth and its been pointed out to me a couple times)) I was able to go find the key copier person and explain to him that the key he cut for me yesterday didn’t work and I needed it fixed by using a very confused face and pointing at the keys giving them thumbs ups and thumbs down (remind me to thank the romans for that apparently universal sign) then passed the McDonald’s again… WHY IS IT SO TEMPTING!? We have been brain washed! So seeing the McD’s once again made me realize how hungry I am so I walked my way back to the apartment to go to the grocery store because I really just no how to get to places from the apartment but I’m sure there was a quicker way to get there. OH MAN! The grocery store by myself was so much different that grocery store with someone that speaks Czech! I thought to myself that its groceries… I can tell what it is without speaking Czech…. Fail. Everything is packaged and labeled differently and they have stuff that I have no clue what it is and when I would find a familiar American brand it was 3x the price of the Czech (I assume equivalent) versions. And I cant describe how tempting the familiar overpriced American food was to my growling tummy that just wanted to buy some food and go home and eat. But I told my stomach “Stomach, if I got American food I might as well have gone to McDs and ruined my Czech experience.” Stomach understood and sent a neurological message to my brain either to be smarter or just be a bit more fearless in my selections so it can be satisfied because the decision between the stuff that looked like turkey and the stuff that looked like ham and the 15000 kinds of bread that are just sitting out in the open and the mustard that comes in a plastic cup that resembles yogurt and the cheeses that are all pretty much the same except for the packaging became simply “this looks good” and grabbed it. (I know I know its just the materials for a sandwich but I can barely cook in the US… not quite ready to try my hand at cooking Czech food… especially with tereza’s roommates there to watch me make a fool of myself… if I had my own place I probably would have been more up for trying cooking) And just in case it turned out to be aweful I got something like an icecream sandwich but with a wafer on each side rather than chocolate cookie brownie thing… and yes I admit Lays potato chips… but they were the only chips that had a flavor that I could find and I really wanted chips.
The walk home was pretty awesome because one of the schools I passed was apparently a music school and there were some horn instruments and some percussion and maybe a woodwind or two providing me with theme music while I walked (I just assumed that they were playing for me because this is my blog)
Ok so I’m eating my Czech sandwich and chips while I type… the verdict on my purchases?! The ham/turkey stuff was neither ham nor turkey but still good and if I wasn’t set on trying different things I would purchase it again next trip, the cheese was swiss and good, I went with packaged bread but it was Czech bread…. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the bread rolls that I like so much because they are literally just funneld down from giant bins to this shelf where everyone is just digging through finding the rolls they want.. I was about to go there anyway and dig in myself but right in front of me was a man that looks like he does landscaping or something going by the suit on his hands and arms searching for his rolls and I just couldn’t do it… you cant really rinse bread off, next time I’m going for it! Ice cream sandwich was wicked good and I remembered I had something just like it or maybe the same exact thing several years ago when I was here. But the biggest surprise to me was the bag of chips… THEY WERE OVER HALF FULL (and I’m not just being optimistic..badum ching!)! It wasn’t the 15% chips 85% air we have become so used to! Lays! You have some splainin to do!
Later tonight I am going to an opening of some of the students of tereza’s school art exhibits. I will have to update you on that later. But all in all I think being on your own in a place where you have no idea where anything is and don’t understand anything anyone is saying is an experience that I am so happy I got to experience and wouldn’t give up a second of it! Try it sometime! Even if its just Louisiana, China town, or a world of warcraft convention… just something where you cant understand anything.
gogo pictures
No comments:
Post a Comment