We are going skiing this weekend and its back to the in-laws for a place to sleep. Staying with them is somewhat fascinating for newcomers, but I have grown tired of it. It is not their fault at all. They are great people and try to make me feel welcome in any way possible. The fact is that they are Czech villagers. If you are not sure what that means, in essence, watch Vesnicko ma strediskova. It will give you a great idea of what they are like. OK. They aren't exactly like that...but there are significant similarities! If you don't want to go through that effort, then just believe me. They are different. To an onlooker it is a complete comedy, but to live it is not. But as weird as I think they are, they must think the same about me, because they simply don't know anything else. Showering 2X a week is enough for them. A diet consisting of a vegetable list 2 items long (onions and cabbage) is enough for them.
A cook book with a 50 page list of different ways to cook cheap fatty meats with dumplings, and 100 ways to combine ham, butter and bread: now that is a bestselling cookbook!!
I have to get all this bitching out of the way, because I am going to quit. Or at least try. Accepting differences is part of being "cultured", and that doesn't only mean realizing that the French eat snails and the Scandinavians eat whale. It means being comfortable in any setting, whether it be a black tie affair, or the smoky, almost suffocating, party that happens on a weekly basis at the fishermen's club in the village. And cocktail weenies aside, we simply want to have a decent relationship with these people. They are, after all, family.
However, in order to accommodate our nerves (and theirs, even though the battle inside themselves pits their desire for us to be their little kiddies again vs. their natural habits making them gasp at half of the things we say/suggest), we are going skiing to break up the weekend. My wife, Maja, is, shall we say, a "skier in training". She wants to learn and that is fine because I like skiing, and I like to see her active. So we will spend the bulk of the day skiing, and possibly going for supper, and then meet her parents for a trip to the choke-dome (that fishermen's club) for a few pints, and then wake up the next morning and leave. That is if we don't get sucked back into by the black hole that is her mother's guilt!
But we will eventually get out, and hopefully it will end on a positive note with the only unwelcome addition being another crease on my forehead.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Like a common criminal
Just got back from lunch...went to an Italian place in the mall near my work. Its the sort of Italian place that seems to want to have fresh amazing food, and describes it as such, but can't pull it off. But that's beside the point.
I have been to this place once before, and was so appalled by the drink prices (a coke costs the same as a large bowl of soup!) that I went without, choosing to wait until I got back to work.
This time, I had my "stravenky" with me. Stravenky are sort of like food ration coupons from the Great Depression, coupons that you can use towards the purchase of food from establishments that accept them as payment. However, nowadays, in the Czech Republic, they are used as an employee benefit! This is my first Czech job where stravenky was a part of the remuneration package, and I am quite happy to have them. I was always a bit jealous of Czech friends that waved them around when paying at a restaurant or something when I had to use my hard earned cash!
So when I was deciding what I was going to do for lunch, I double-checked for my wallet so that I might take out some money for the evening's events while I was out. It wasn't in my back pocket. I wasn't worried because the only other place it could be is home. And as far as lunch goes, I have my stravenky, and 100 or so crowns in my pocket. I will be fine!
So I sat down at the Italian joint and decided on a pizza for 120kc. And although I was still appalled by the price of drinks there, I ordered a soft drink. Bitter Lemon, which I tried to say in Czech to the waiter, but he didn't understand until he saw it in the menu and said, " aha...Bitter Lemon!" I won't go into detail on the meal but, needless to say, I was not impressed at all by the pizza with crust obviously bought in the Tesco freezer aisle, and such a heaping (*sarcasm) amount of mozzarella cheese, that I am not even sure if it would fall off a Ritz cracker.
This, and the realization that I probably wouldn't go back there after this meal, is one of the positive aspects of the next 5 minutes. The negative aspect is that when I was getting ready to pay, I looked at the stravenky coupon, and it had written on it "0 Kc" or "no value" on it. Oh shit! I am looking at a 160 Kc bill and have 135 or so Kc, no wallet, and a stravenky coupon that says ZERO!
Now imagine yourself in this situation at home in your native country speaking your native language. Not a very nice situation to be in. You are embarrassed, and you are expecting someone to be at least a bit pissed at you. If I was in the situation, I would probably walk up to them and say "Hey, I am in a real spot here. I am going to give you what I have, run home, be back in 15, and I will give you the rest." That is what I would do in Calgary.
However, the following issues prevented me from doing this:
1. I am not in Calgary.
2. I am not in my native country.
3. I cannot speak my native language with them.
I am in Prague, Czech Republic, where I don't have a good handle on the language, where the "service provider" in a business is very easily enticed into yelling and insulting customers, where this practise is not only tolerated, but, as my wife pointed out to me last night when explaining her own experience the day before, it is actually supported by other Czechs as "the norm" which has to be accepted. I was in a situation nobody wants to be in even with the nicest person...and embarrassing situation where you have to look like a criminal or make someone trust or forgive you in a foreign language.
Well I don't know if you would stick around to see how things played out, but it only took me about 2 seconds to decide if I was going to! I dropped my 130 and some crowns on the table and took off! Although my getaway could have been very direct and easy, my guilt made me "duck behind corners" and such...but I did make it out OK. (I know you were worried!) However, knowing what I DO know about Czechs, I would not have been surprised (in fact I was scared shitless that it would happen) if the waiter had run after me down the mall walkway screaming at me to stop! Nor would I have been surprised if he had run down the escalator after me.
That is the first time I have ever d&d'd. And if that was the same situation in Canada, I never would have. Its just another example (in a long list) of things that I simply wouldn't do, if I was in a comfortable environment. Such is the life of an expat.
I have been to this place once before, and was so appalled by the drink prices (a coke costs the same as a large bowl of soup!) that I went without, choosing to wait until I got back to work.
This time, I had my "stravenky" with me. Stravenky are sort of like food ration coupons from the Great Depression, coupons that you can use towards the purchase of food from establishments that accept them as payment. However, nowadays, in the Czech Republic, they are used as an employee benefit! This is my first Czech job where stravenky was a part of the remuneration package, and I am quite happy to have them. I was always a bit jealous of Czech friends that waved them around when paying at a restaurant or something when I had to use my hard earned cash!
So when I was deciding what I was going to do for lunch, I double-checked for my wallet so that I might take out some money for the evening's events while I was out. It wasn't in my back pocket. I wasn't worried because the only other place it could be is home. And as far as lunch goes, I have my stravenky, and 100 or so crowns in my pocket. I will be fine!
So I sat down at the Italian joint and decided on a pizza for 120kc. And although I was still appalled by the price of drinks there, I ordered a soft drink. Bitter Lemon, which I tried to say in Czech to the waiter, but he didn't understand until he saw it in the menu and said, " aha...Bitter Lemon!" I won't go into detail on the meal but, needless to say, I was not impressed at all by the pizza with crust obviously bought in the Tesco freezer aisle, and such a heaping (*sarcasm) amount of mozzarella cheese, that I am not even sure if it would fall off a Ritz cracker.
This, and the realization that I probably wouldn't go back there after this meal, is one of the positive aspects of the next 5 minutes. The negative aspect is that when I was getting ready to pay, I looked at the stravenky coupon, and it had written on it "0 Kc" or "no value" on it. Oh shit! I am looking at a 160 Kc bill and have 135 or so Kc, no wallet, and a stravenky coupon that says ZERO!
Now imagine yourself in this situation at home in your native country speaking your native language. Not a very nice situation to be in. You are embarrassed, and you are expecting someone to be at least a bit pissed at you. If I was in the situation, I would probably walk up to them and say "Hey, I am in a real spot here. I am going to give you what I have, run home, be back in 15, and I will give you the rest." That is what I would do in Calgary.
However, the following issues prevented me from doing this:
1. I am not in Calgary.
2. I am not in my native country.
3. I cannot speak my native language with them.
I am in Prague, Czech Republic, where I don't have a good handle on the language, where the "service provider" in a business is very easily enticed into yelling and insulting customers, where this practise is not only tolerated, but, as my wife pointed out to me last night when explaining her own experience the day before, it is actually supported by other Czechs as "the norm" which has to be accepted. I was in a situation nobody wants to be in even with the nicest person...and embarrassing situation where you have to look like a criminal or make someone trust or forgive you in a foreign language.
Well I don't know if you would stick around to see how things played out, but it only took me about 2 seconds to decide if I was going to! I dropped my 130 and some crowns on the table and took off! Although my getaway could have been very direct and easy, my guilt made me "duck behind corners" and such...but I did make it out OK. (I know you were worried!) However, knowing what I DO know about Czechs, I would not have been surprised (in fact I was scared shitless that it would happen) if the waiter had run after me down the mall walkway screaming at me to stop! Nor would I have been surprised if he had run down the escalator after me.
That is the first time I have ever d&d'd. And if that was the same situation in Canada, I never would have. Its just another example (in a long list) of things that I simply wouldn't do, if I was in a comfortable environment. Such is the life of an expat.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Why Am I Here?
Welcome to my blog. The first of, I am sure, many attempts to create a time filler during down time at work.
What is this blog going to be about? I don't know.
Who is going to read it? That is a better question...I don't know. If nobody reads it, at least it will have been written.
I am a Canadian that has moved to Prague...possibly for good, simply because my wife, who is Czech, missed home too much, and our life is set to be (I hope) much happier here. I have left many things behind in Canada: family, friends, hobbies, interests, habits, likes, dislikes, goals, dreams, etc. and have had to re-establish these here in Czech Republic.
I named this blog what it is because I have invaded Neruda's town, the place he wrote about, and the place he loved, and I aim to bring about new, different tales, or povidky, in this town and figure out a few things about it. Like:
What draws people to Prague? This is easy to understand, however complex in explanation.
Why do people stick around? This is much more difficult to understand when you consider the distinct desire for Czech people to watch others suffer at their hand.
And, most of all, why do they (we) come back?? Is it to be uplifted by the spirit of the city? Or to be continuously disappointed by its people and services?
That leads me to the title of this post. It is a question that comes to mind over and over, despite the obvious answer: for my wife. I may come to the conclusion at some point after my "transitional period" or, simply, once I get used to Eurodirt again - that's you Tyler ;-)
But still, as I jump the tram to find yet another alky-bum stinking up the joint, or accept the favour of a store owner unlocking his doors so that I may have the distinct pleasure, as many would love, to look at the overpriced goods he has for sale, I keep thinking to myself:
Why am I here?
What is this blog going to be about? I don't know.
Who is going to read it? That is a better question...I don't know. If nobody reads it, at least it will have been written.
I am a Canadian that has moved to Prague...possibly for good, simply because my wife, who is Czech, missed home too much, and our life is set to be (I hope) much happier here. I have left many things behind in Canada: family, friends, hobbies, interests, habits, likes, dislikes, goals, dreams, etc. and have had to re-establish these here in Czech Republic.
I named this blog what it is because I have invaded Neruda's town, the place he wrote about, and the place he loved, and I aim to bring about new, different tales, or povidky, in this town and figure out a few things about it. Like:
What draws people to Prague? This is easy to understand, however complex in explanation.
Why do people stick around? This is much more difficult to understand when you consider the distinct desire for Czech people to watch others suffer at their hand.
And, most of all, why do they (we) come back?? Is it to be uplifted by the spirit of the city? Or to be continuously disappointed by its people and services?
That leads me to the title of this post. It is a question that comes to mind over and over, despite the obvious answer: for my wife. I may come to the conclusion at some point after my "transitional period" or, simply, once I get used to Eurodirt again - that's you Tyler ;-)
But still, as I jump the tram to find yet another alky-bum stinking up the joint, or accept the favour of a store owner unlocking his doors so that I may have the distinct pleasure, as many would love, to look at the overpriced goods he has for sale, I keep thinking to myself:
Why am I here?
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