Under A Bohemian Moon

Greetings Folks!! well it's time for the time honored Czech traditions of carp and potato salad for Christmas Eve dinner!! yes you heard me right, carp.. those lovely mud-dwelling fishies known for their bones and strong taste... And the Christmas carp are had very very fresh.. all over town there are stands with tubs of carp swimming around and guys with nets, knives and scales.. you pick your carp, they net it, weigh it, whack it on the head with a mallet and cut it up right there.. give you the body in a bag, and all the guts , tail and head in another bag (this is used to make fish soup, also part of the Christmas feast!) Well it was amazing yesterday I stopped to watch this whole process (this is common the whole week before Christmas, though some Czechs take their carp home and keep it in the bathtub until the morning of the 24th and do the dirty deed themselves!) Man, can you imagine this in the States!!!! ASPCA would have a field day with this.. just think goin...

hezky - just like it looks = nice, cute, pretty can mean many things depending on how it's used honza - again just like it looks = guy holka - again... = girl divka - another straight forward word = girl but like little girl pes - pez = dog kocka - coachka = cat myska - meeshka = mouse kone - cone-ay = horse

just one for today.. one we will all need all winter... slunicko - slew-neech-ko = sunny okay one more zima - zeemah = cold or winter

kacka - kachka = duck nedele - ne-dyelly = sunday, but literally do nothing day pondeli - pon-dyelly = monday utery - oo-tearyee = tuesday streda - shtraaduh = wednesday ctvrtek - chtvrzshteck = thursday (yeah it's one of those consonant traffic jams Czech is famous for) patek - pahteck = friday sobota - soh boh tah = saturday

bily - beelee = white cervene - chair-ve-nyay = red vino - veeno = wine kocka - kotchka (long "o") = cat miska - meeska = mouse stul - stool = table

At the request of one of my friends.. I will post a new word or two here every day.. Mind you, almost every word changes spelling in Czech pending on what case it is (and there are 7 cases) hence the difficulty in learning the lingo!!! some of the first words I learned, food ones of course, 'cause you gotta eat!!! pivo - just like it looks, very short "i" = beer jidlo - yid-low = food sunka - shunka = ham brambory - again just like it looks, short "a" = potatoes syr - seeeear = cheese ahoj - ah-hoy = hi , hello, sometimes goodbye prosim - pro-seem = please nashladanou - na-slah-dah-no = good bye dobre den - dough-bree den = good day.. this is an all purpose greeting used 24 hours a day And my two favorites, one because they are cool to say, and two because of what they each mean: vyborny - vee-born-yee = excellent, great, fantastic milacku mee-lotch-koo = term of endearment, my love, my darling, etc. ...

well here is sit at the british airways gate.. w-a-i-t-i-n-g - it took about a minute to check in a the desk.. totally NOOOO hassle with massage table - about a minute with TSA and about 3 minutes going thru security.. took me longer to get my shoes back on and my laptop back in it's case than the security check did!! wow i feel safe!! so there is a plug at the gate so i could mooch a little electricity.. my computer found the ORDBAGMGR wireless, but it won't let me log on as i don't have the key!! man could i use one of my "geek boys" now!!! there is a nice spanish family sitting by me -- their two teenage sons.. one is all pouty and crying because he doesn't want to go back to madrid.. it's kind of sweet...sulky teenagers are cute as long as they aren't MINE!! thank you to everyone that's been so supportive of my new adventure.. i couldn't have done it without all of your kind words, encouragement.. money!! everything.. promise lots...

Ahoj (yup that's how you say hi here, Ahoy!) NOTE: this was written over the course of about 2 weeks!!! sorry for all the weird tenses.. but the Czechs are rubbing off on me! Well, I have survived my TEFL course!!! Basically, if you show up and survive, you get the certification, which is kind of an insult to real teachers. When I think of some of the kids in my course who don't even speak English properly, teaching Czechs English, it's just so sad.... (note, very nice to be typing on an English keyboard, as I am composing this on my laptop to be sent later from a cafe. The Czech keyboards have some different things going on!) Oh other side note, sitting here watching TV and an ad for Jamisons Whiskey was just on... very odd... Czech commericals are very odd or very funny. There is one for Seznam.cz, which is the Czech Yahoo, sort of... anyway, their ad campaign is always to check their first so you will be informed.. so there is this ad with a very well-dressed couple...

the golden city she breaks my heart.. my andel sends me wonderful men who love me and can't be with me.. this is the most romantic city... lovers everywhere... my heart crumbles into a million pieces.. the pain is so deep i cannot describe it.. i am sure the germans have a word for it..

for the first time i have realized just how my actions impact others... from people entrusting me with the education of their children.. to dropping into peoples' lives.. it's interesting as i have been aware of this in doing massage, but never really thought about it that much in everyday things.. and suddenly i find myself, impacting others.. maybe it's more apparent here as Prague wears her heart on her sleeve (yes, that's one of the reasons i am feeling so home here!) this realization has made me really think and look at my life.. what i want, what i need.. and how that works into the lives of those around me..

well here is an official description... There was a HUGE celebration in Old Town Square, contests for the best Mikulas, Devil and Angel.. lots of prizes for all the kiddies.. Lots of crying tots, scared by devils threatening to take them off to hell!! And the adults that dress up and go door to door, get a shot at every home (usually Slivovitz or Bechorvka, a sweet hebal liquor) so they are shitfaced by the end of the day!!... Most of the costumed folks were teenagers.. it's very very common here for kids in their teens to look after other kids.. the family stucture is very tight.. and the children in general are very well behaved.. spoiled in some ways, but very polite and respectful of adults. The constest was really fun to watch,even if it meant stading in 0 degree weather for 90 minutes.. and listening to Christmas songs in Czech, which was cool. The Czechs LOVE to sing.. and the tree lighting was great!!! they have ONE big tree that's about 50 feet tall.. not a bunch ...