Don't get me wrong - we're still high-octane Americans, with our penchants for banana bread, stick deodorant and the Discovery Channel. But we're also undergoing a bit of Czech metastasis; now coffee tastes better when it's not out of a to-go cup, and we no longer wear sweats in public. Living in Bohemia is definitely tweaking our perception of "normal". We joked recently that we're turning a tad Czech because we were craving horseradish... And then we realized we've been doing quite a bit of "Czech" activity*.
1) We're at theaters more than we ever used to be. We go to plays and, as you can see, BW was in "The Physicists" with Prague's wonderfully provocative Blood, Love & Rhetoric theater company. It was shown at Alfred VeDvore Theater, in a former nuclear bunker in Letna. Why is this Czech? Well, theater is a rich tradition here; one can find stages on practically every-other block in this city. Some of the world's greatest scenographers have come from this territory, and even former President Václav Havel was a playwright.
2) We're exclusively buying Czech goods. Our medicine, boxed/canned food and even our energy bill are all in Czech. No springing for American or British imports. On the other hand, I thought I could do some Christmas shopping at a recent street fair for folks back home, but there are no Bohumils or Jindriskas there :)
3) We treat our dog like a kid. According to radio.cz, about 40% of Czechs own dogs, and the adage is that they take better care of them than themselves. Now, I don't necessarily think that's true, but as you can see below, our vet's office has coffee, tea and water offerings in the waiting room - a more cordial environment than most clinics. And it's not unusual to see dogs out to dinner or drinks with their owners.
4) We drink burčák, a partially-fermented young wine, in the Fall. It pops up at wine bars and street corners all over town. Apparently it's only legally allowed to be sold between August and November, which is probably a good thing because it's fizzy and fruity and way to easy to drink!
5) We read websites in Czech. Ok, "read" is an overstatement, but I've stopped the automatic Czech-to-English translation feature on my computer so I'm forced to struggle through learning more Czech vocabulary. So now I just copy-and-paste copious amounts of text into Google Translate. Below, I was shopping for accessories for the school play I'm directing this November (see #1).
*Please forgive the ridiculously broad stereotypes!
