Merry Christmas

First of all, Merry Christmas, especially to my family who are gathered tonight under Barney the Buffalo, hopefully he's adorning his wreath. If not, he's probably sporting a few paper airplanes (funny how you remember the odd stuff). The Christmas time has been excellent, thanks to emails and friends here in Prague. I am grateful beyond words to those who've given me presents, making it feel a little more like home--a warm sweat shirt, a chess board to pass my evenings and the language barrier with one of my roommates, and a book of poetry by a Czech author, which Dennis just gave me. Tonight, in the Czech Republic, is the true Christmas; everyone celebrates Christmas Eve, as we would Christmas Day. Well, that's debatable. In my opinion, Christmas Eve is when my family truly celebrates Christmas, but we may be the minority in America. One cultural difference that is absolute is the difference in who brings the presents. Obviously, we believe Santa sweeps down the Chimney and leaves the gifts beneath the tree. The Czechs, however, leave a window open for Baby Jesus to fly in with the Children's rewards for being good. Instead of turkey as the center piece of the Christmas table, Carp--sold in water filled bins and alive, left in the bathtub, swimming, for the children to play with, until the moment comes when father serves the coup de grace and mother fries the fish for dinner--is the Christmas specialty. Even a Czech woman, who's my student, admitted to the oddity of this tradition, when viewed from the outside; but I'm sure we have a number of strange customs to baffle outsiders as well.

Downtown, Christmas trees and lights are everywhere. A Czech told me this Christmas the country spent more money than it ever has before Christmas shopping, signaling a strong economy (did that just come out of my mouth? sounds too Republican). One night, while Lenka and I walked around Old Town Square, I tried hot wine with loads of sugar, a traditional and seasonal drink. It was delicious in the freezing cold. The temperature has began to drop here, although I'm not sure if it's caught up with usual mild temp of my home state. Speaking about my home state, I gave my last class a lesson in weather vocabulary and Oregon geography and geology. I told them about the coastal range, the valley, the Cascades and how they're volcanic (also I explained the San Andreas fault and how the plate sliding under formed the Cascades), about the high desert of eastern Oregon, and Smith Rock. I thought I was describing heaven on earth--a place where you can surf, ski, kite-board, and rock climb--but all they got out of the lesson was an imminent natural disaster. Fault lines! Volcanoes! Deserts! Good, hopefully that keeps them out of Oregon, along with Americans looking to transplant. I spoke with a guy from Chicago who could name thirty friends who've moved to Portland in the last year or so. Back to my walk around Old Town, we also saw a Christmas pageant. The children sang a story about searching for winter, the time of Christmas. They went through all the seasons until finally an endearing mural--painted by them--was produced with bare trees and snow. Winter! Here at last. And then they sang a traditional Czech Christmas song.

Today I hit the streets, looking to get out of the house and see the last of Christmas before everything is taken down and put away for next year, at which time I hope to be home or, at least, in another country. I visited my old hostel and was forced to order a beer by the bartender. His accent was noticeably French, though he spoke perfect English, so I asked him what region he was from, and he said a small, little place called Paris. Oh, I think I've heard of that. Nice town (it came off less smug than I can reenact it and was actually very funny). Then I went to see the square, my roommate (that's Dennis, works at the bookstore), and finally to visit Jonny on the Bridge. Dennis had closed the shop early, so nobody was home. I stopped in at a cafe and ordered an Irish Coffee (it's bitter cold here). And also took some great photos of the square--of the Church and tree, another of the white church (a close up), and a nice (though blurry) one of a horse-drawn carriage. Next I headed toward the Bridge and walked myself in a complete circle, ending up at the alleyway coming into the square, opposite the one I left, after which I took a known and sure route, though longer in distance, shorter because I knew where the hell I was going, and finally found the Bridge. Jonny's been in Switzerland for the past week, where he rented a car for one pound a day (how he swings this stuff, I don't know). He sold a picture while I was there. I'd like to think I had a part in that, having told the three Australian girls who stopped to look how excellent a photo would make for a Christmas present. I took a pic of him by the stand and had him take one of me with the castle in the background--then went on my merry way home. Stopped in at the Catholic Church at Namesti Miru to see if a Mass was going on, but the doors were locked and the lights off. I've been trying to go to at least one mass during the holiday season, but everything is in Czech and the times aren't listed. Hopefully, the effort was noticed.

Everything has been going great; other than I was swindled by a taxi driver out of 1000 CZK, roughly 40 bucks (but his time will come; everything that goes around comes around). And I can't help but laugh at my own unawareness, if that's a word; even the bad things here I cherish, they make for great stories. One story that's a 100% good, however, is that I went to a Czech concert the other night. It rocked. Even though I couldn't understand what they were saying, I had a great time and the music was good. We were supposed to have backstage passes, because one of the girls I was with is "dating" the front man of the first opening band. He couldn't provide the tickets, surprisingly (if I was a rock star, I don't think I would be able to come up with the tickets for my gf either), so we left the concert after and went to a local "Australian" bar. Hence I was stuck with the responsibility of entertaining two Czech girls. I know, life sucks. And then this week, I had to forgo class and instead have a party, sponsored by the school: food and wine on the house. It's draining, really. For one of my night classes, I had to go to a pub. You can see the stress that I have to put up with. Thankfully, I'm on Christmas vacation till January 3rd, the benies of teaching.


That's it. The day after Christmas I'm traveling. To where? East. I'll see when I go to the train station, depends on which train leaves first or which ticket I can afford. Everything else will work itself out.