Going on now in Prague

Ever since I came to Prague, I have spent most of the time with Czechs. I might not understand them when they talk, unless it is in English, but that is fine. Well, let me rephrase this - I don't understand them! But, it is part of the cultural experience. Little by little I am getting established here. Not only I got a job, I am also getting into some routines every week, and from time to time something new.

One of the best places to watch the sunset over Prague Castle is Riegrovy sady with a blanket and a bottle of wine. This is a park that has one of the most amazing views in Prague and a huge beer garden that happens to be popular among expatz. In some ways, it reminds me of Bohemian Hall Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens, just much bigger. Something I noticed is people in Prague have lots of dogs. From what they tell me, seems to be one in every two persons have a dog. Seriously, there are lots of dogs in this city!

Then there is Žižkovská věž, the tallest building in Prague, and a very interesting landmark. It is a television tower with a restaurant in the middle, and very creepy crawling babies attached to it. It is huge, and can be seen from anywhere in Prague. At night, it is lit in red and blue. The babies have some sort of grill structure in their faces, as if they had it smashed in. There are two other babies near the river, and they are quite big.

I am now living in Vysočany, 25 minutes from downtown by metro. It is mostly a residential area, with a few old buildings that seem to be from the communist time. There is an old factory in front of my building, which I can see from my window on the fifth floor. I do my grocery shopping in the small Vietnamese shops and sometimes at a mall nearby, in Billa, which is every where in Prague. I often go the a small park near the metro station to read, when it is sunny, but unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy in July most of the time. A few times a week I also teach Spanish, and while doing that I have found some good places to hang out around the area. Here is quiet and relaxing, but might have to move somewhere closer to downtown soon.

About the book, I read "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera. It is a novel with a series of stories that are interconnected and go around the theme about the meaning of being. The events take place around the Prague Spring of 1968, and Kundera gives his descriptions of the communist times. It is a good intro to Czech literature and also to get some understanding of contemporary Czech history. I strongly recommend it.

I play soccer (fotbal) on Thursdays and then go with the group for a beer (pivo) at the pub on the corner. It is fun. The guys I play with are Czech, and we sometimes speak in English, but they mostly speak in Czech. I can only look at them and smile, meaning, I am lost! And every evening I have to have hermelin, the best pickled cheese experience!

I have also been to some of the nicest Latin clubs in Prague, and a few nightclubs with electronic music. In those places I have more chances to not feel lost because of the language. It is difficult to talk with loud music anyway.

About Salsa, here most people dance on1, and I am sort of re-learning it, mostly Cuban style. It is fun, and am going more often than usual, which is good for practice. Three of the best places are Palanca (formerly Tropison) Wednesdays, Rincon Latino Mondays, Cubanita Thursdays.

The last couple of nights were also very interesting. On Saturday I went to Palanca, and aside from Salsa there were other dance presentations. There were dancers performing Salsa, modern dance and an Egyptian dance called Tanura. I had seen something similar to Tanura in Turkey, but this was quite an exciting experience. The Egyptian dress is multicolored and the dancer plays with a flat hut that has a series of small huts inside. The dancer I saw turned around for almost 10 minutes, and walked away like nothing! Very interesting!

On Monday I went to a concert with Orchestr Posledního Dne, roughly translated "Orchestra of the Last Day". I did not understand more than two words during the entire 2-hour performance, but felt the energy. It was a mixture of ska and funky music, with some theatrical scenes and apparently funny lines (people were laughing at what seemed to be jokes. Me? well, I could only try to figure things out and ask). 

Suzana, one of Petra's friends told me that the themes in many of the songs were a bit depressing and about some sad facts. Interestingly, the energy of the music and the voices and the performance made it all seem to be not so sad, and all put together with the enthusiasm and expression of energy of the people turned everything into something more positive, a way of looking at life situations with a critical eye and a more optimistic reality. 

One of the songs was about a woman crossing a dark long tunnel. A man approached her, and she thought he would hurt her. Then he only asked for money to buy beer (Pivo). Later she met with her boyfriend, who was drunk, and he asked her for money to buy beer for him and all his friends. Point: she was been taken advantage of. Another one was about a man, drunk laying down on the sidewalk. He was looking at people passing by, and the people were looking at him, and the day went by in this way. There were other themes, but for now this is what I remember the most.

All night long people were dancing on the small dance floor in front of the stage, including toddlers. They had no steps to follow, no need for a dance partner, just their open ears and eagerness for free movement of the buddy. They wanted to hear "Disco", and at last they got it. That evening we all had so much fun.

Všechno nejlepší Petra!

It's been two months since I moved to Prague. As expected, life here is different, and I am taking it one step at a time. Maybe the language barrier can be an issue at times, but hope to learn the basics in the next few decades.. LOL! This is the third country I've lived in, and even though life is completely different here, in a way some experiences are similar to when I first moved to NY.