food and drink
the most recent meals i've had: sushi (in the states), a british beef and potatoes meal on virgin atlantic, then, since arriving in prague, italian-style pizza, chinese (run by actual chinese women, fluent in mandarin and czech), and some tex-mex (twice, at 2 different places). after all that, i decided it was about time to try some czech food. so i ordered steak tartar, listed as a czech specialty.
now, when i ordered a steak, i imagined, well, a steak. what came was slightly different. i received a platter with spices and sauces around the edge, and a patty of raw ground beef, topped with an egg yolk, in the center. yep. raw meat. czech it out (har har) - click on the images for a full view:
actually, it was pretty good. and, my stomach had no problem with it. i figure if i can handle raw beef and egg, and make it without praying to the porcelain god, and without finding myself randomly biting my mates' legs, i think i can handle just about any food that comes my way.
speaking of food, the czechs love their meat. and when i say love it, i mean, it's hard to find a meal without it. sure, in the age of westernization and uber-health conscious nuts, vegetarian dishes are available at most places i've been. but i imagine many a restaurant owner raised his upper lip in disgust when forcefully adding that section to his menu, much as i raised my upper lip upon receiving the platter of raw meat.
drink is especially amusing. beer costs about one-third to one-half of water in many restaurants. yes, that's right, 33 - 50%. so while it first caught us off-guard that czechs decided to drink beer at 10am, now it makes much sense. why spend so much money on water? also, we found that happy hour runs for a pretty wide range of hours here. at one establishment, it was from 11am until 6pm. yep, a 7-hour happy hour. makes lunch pretty cheap, and enjoyable.
but oh yea, i'm here to learn how to teach. today was our first day of class, and it was a long one. in at 8:30am, out at about 9pm. we had breaks in there, but none that long. there are 8 people in the class, all of whom seem really likeable. all are yanks, save one finn, who happens to be one of my roommates, piia, and one canad, but she's practically american. so in the first hour of our first day, one of the organizers of the training institute spoke to us in czech. and only czech. not one word of english. it was quite an amusing, and sometimes frustrating, hour. but given that kyle and i entered a local grocer tonight, and successfully dealt with shopkeepers who exclusively spoke czech, i think we did alright.
i taught my first lesson tonight. i began by teaching "she sells seashells by the sea shore." the czechs didn't have that much trouble with that one, as their language contains many ch, sh, and s sounds. they then had me try a czech tongue twister, which referred to a queen named karina playing the clarinet. but all things considered, it was a smooth and successful first lesson.
and as promised, here are some images of where i've been (you can click on them to get bigger versions):
aim to have a mobile phone later this week or this weekend, along with internet access from the apartment.
now, when i ordered a steak, i imagined, well, a steak. what came was slightly different. i received a platter with spices and sauces around the edge, and a patty of raw ground beef, topped with an egg yolk, in the center. yep. raw meat. czech it out (har har) - click on the images for a full view:
actually, it was pretty good. and, my stomach had no problem with it. i figure if i can handle raw beef and egg, and make it without praying to the porcelain god, and without finding myself randomly biting my mates' legs, i think i can handle just about any food that comes my way.
speaking of food, the czechs love their meat. and when i say love it, i mean, it's hard to find a meal without it. sure, in the age of westernization and uber-health conscious nuts, vegetarian dishes are available at most places i've been. but i imagine many a restaurant owner raised his upper lip in disgust when forcefully adding that section to his menu, much as i raised my upper lip upon receiving the platter of raw meat.
drink is especially amusing. beer costs about one-third to one-half of water in many restaurants. yes, that's right, 33 - 50%. so while it first caught us off-guard that czechs decided to drink beer at 10am, now it makes much sense. why spend so much money on water? also, we found that happy hour runs for a pretty wide range of hours here. at one establishment, it was from 11am until 6pm. yep, a 7-hour happy hour. makes lunch pretty cheap, and enjoyable.
but oh yea, i'm here to learn how to teach. today was our first day of class, and it was a long one. in at 8:30am, out at about 9pm. we had breaks in there, but none that long. there are 8 people in the class, all of whom seem really likeable. all are yanks, save one finn, who happens to be one of my roommates, piia, and one canad, but she's practically american. so in the first hour of our first day, one of the organizers of the training institute spoke to us in czech. and only czech. not one word of english. it was quite an amusing, and sometimes frustrating, hour. but given that kyle and i entered a local grocer tonight, and successfully dealt with shopkeepers who exclusively spoke czech, i think we did alright.
i taught my first lesson tonight. i began by teaching "she sells seashells by the sea shore." the czechs didn't have that much trouble with that one, as their language contains many ch, sh, and s sounds. they then had me try a czech tongue twister, which referred to a queen named karina playing the clarinet. but all things considered, it was a smooth and successful first lesson.
and as promised, here are some images of where i've been (you can click on them to get bigger versions):
aim to have a mobile phone later this week or this weekend, along with internet access from the apartment.
posted by David at 5:07 AM
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