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November 02, 2006
Weekend excursions
So not last weekend, but the weekend before that, Jennifer and I had our first big weekend in Havirov. It was so cool because so many of the people we had met within the first week wanted us to either come to their house or wanted to take us out and spend time with us. They knew we were eager to learn not only about the people, but the culture too.
So our first excursion of the weekend was on Friday night when Andrea, one of Jennifer's teachers, and some others took us out to the nearby town of Ostrava. In Ostrava there is a huge street with over 80 pubs on it, and they wanted to take us to experience it I guess. So for those of you who live in Ames, it is like Welch ave times 50. I guess another big difference is that the pubs are in way cooler and more historic buildings, which makes the experience better I think. Anyway, we had a few drinks there and I tried the local beer in the town, Ostravice. I decided that I really have to be careful when I drink Czech beer because it has way more alcohol in it then any beer in the states. I came to find out that Ostravice has 16% alcohol... these Czech's sure do love their beer! And why shouldn't they, I think their beer tastes pretty good too, ha ha.
On Saturday we were invited to go to one of my teacher's houses for some traditional Czech cuisine. Irene (pronounced I-ray-na) my teacher, cooked us the state dish of the Czech, called cabbage, dumplings, and pork in English, called vepro knedlo zelo (slang term for it) in Czech. It was so delicious! You mix the pork and the cabbage type sauce together and put it on top of the dumplings. It was great, although it did give me a little gas (hey, you know me). We also met her daughter Jane (ya-na) who was 8 and was very eager to show off all her toys and recorder playing skills. I must say it was precious. It was there that Irene also talked to us about Czech singers and we learned about the latest craze in the Czech Republic, Czech super star. Yeah, you guessed it, it's pretty much American Idol, Czech style. She let us borrow and listen to the first seasons winner, Aneta, who they argue has been the best of any of the winners. Maybe Aneta and Kelly Clarkson should be friends.
The finish our big weekend, Lucie, our flat mate invited Jen and I to go hiking with her and some of her coleagues. So we took the train with everyone and when we got there realized we were climbing a mountain, yeah, a 1,328 meter mountain name Lysa Hora. I think translated it means the little horror, no, just joking I made that up. Eh, I was up for a challenge, and i really had no choice by that point. It wasn't too bad of climb, and there was a pub at the top of the mountain where i had some traditional Czech pancakes and traditional Czech soup. We also met a Czech woman on the mountain who made it her goal to memorize alphabetically the states of the United States. When she found out that we were Americans she was very eager to recite them for us. I also talked for like an hour with one of Lucie's colleagues all about a famous Czech cola, Kofala. He boasted that it was better than Coke-a-Cola because it was made with 'herbs'. He let me try some, and really folks, I have no what kind of 'herbs' this stuff is made with, but it tastes to me like there are illigeal drugs in it. In fact I am having a Kofala craving right now...
Posted by Amber Ruppert at November 2, 2006 07:07 AM
Comments
So, sorry that the picture got screwed up, i will try and fix it next time.
Posted by: Amber at November 2, 2006 07:11 AM
If anyone would like to see the entire picture, they can go to http://www.notourhome.com/ruppert/archives/PA220025.JPG
If path is paved and there's a pub at the top (brilliant idea), it might not count as climbing a 'mountain,' but that's still pretty sweet.
Posted by: Pat at November 2, 2006 11:30 AM
Cool stuff Ruppert.
Posted by: Dustin at November 2, 2006 04:39 PM
Well, did you show off your recorder playing skills?
Posted by: Sarah D. at November 3, 2006 04:57 PM
It sounds like you're having a fabulous time! How is teaching going?
Posted by: Michelle at November 4, 2006 10:14 PM