Eat...aly

One of my favorite places to eat is in Italy. While I travel I am a vegetarian (at home I am mostly vegan), so that I can taste my way though new cultures. In Italy it is very hard for me to resist good gnocchi, spaghetti, pizza, calzones, spinach pies, focaccia, gelato, cannoli, etc. This weekend was no exception when I traveled with my friend from Pitzer, Erika, to Milan and Venice (Erika is teaching English in Madrid).

Erika and I met in Milan, the fashion capitol of Italy! Before boarding the plane to Milan many people were taking photos of a tall woman, who presumably was a model returning to her home. And as soon as I touched down, I saw designer labels everywhere! While in Milan, Erika and I walked around the city and visited the Duomo (cathedral) and its square. We also visited a castle, and explored both a flea and a Christmas Market. The Christmas Market here definitely had an Italian flare, as most of its shops sold cheese, spices, meat, and sweets. There are many interpretations of the Italian flags green, white, and red colors, but an Italian friend of mine explained that the political and religious explanations are incorrect. In fact, green is for basil, white is for cheese and pasta, and red is for tomatoes or tomato sauce. All of these are staples in an Italian diet and were sold at the Christmas Market. While I did enjoy all the veg-friendly, delicious goodies Italy has to offer, I also enjoyed eating some Nepali/Tibetan momos (dumplings). There was a large international festival in Milan's convention center. I went and practiced my Nepali with people from Nepal, and Erika spoke Spanish with people from Ecuador (where she studied abroad) and some Italians.

After Milan we took a train to Venice to see its canals and various sights. I officially never have to go to the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas because I have been to the real place! Although I experienced Milan and Venice at their coldest, and I hear the hotel is always warm and sunny! When I flew into Milan, the Alps looked clear and when I left they were snow capped! It also snowed a little in Venice, dusting the narrow streets and gondolas. Venice is made up of many different islands, and we stayed on a more residential island called Lido. To get from our hotel to the Grand Canal, St. Mark's Basilica, Rialto Fish Market, etc., we had to take a boat ride. We took many boat rides and walked over many small bridges to visit all the places on our list. It may have been the weather or time of year, but Venice was a little more run down than I had imagined. Regardless, the Christmas decorations, architecture, sea, and food made the trip so worth it!

Happy latke eating, dreidle playing, present opening, song singing, candle lighting, and Hanukkah to those who celebrate!

Milan's Duomo and square:

Venice's Tesoro della Basilica di San Marco, gondolas, Grand Canal, Rialto Bridge, and a smaller canal:

'Tis the Season for Christmas Markets

It is officially Christmas Market time in Europe. This means that cities with large town squares have decorations and stalls filled with Christmas shops. Each shop varies in theme, selling delicious goodies, Christmas ornaments, and woolen clothing. Of course, the stalls with candied nuts, marzipan sweets, and chocolate covered fruit are my favorites! I can now say that I have been to three of the top ten Christmas Markets in Europe because I traveled to both Nuremberg and Prague (and two years ago in Vienna). Last weekend I spent a day in both cities to enjoy the merry festivities and get my fill of holiday cheer. While I do not personally celebrate Christmas, the bright lights and happy crowds are fun to experience.

I went to Prague on Saturday, which was an amazingly clear and beautiful day, and met my friends Megan and Asha. After exploring the market for about five minutes, Megan and I decided that we couldn't wait any longer to literally eat chestnuts roasting on an open fire! I first had fire-roasted chestnuts while living in Turkey, and they are very delicious! After our first snack, we checked out stalls selling handmade crafts and ornaments, and then grabbed our second snack of candied almonds and hazelnuts. Still wanting protein, we walked to a Thai restaurant to relax and take refuge from the cold. We finished the night with some unsuccessful ball gown shopping - we have all been invited to numerous balls by the graduating classes at our schools. The first weekend in January, I am going to two balls! Thus, I must learn to waltz and foxtrot!

Megan at an ornament shop:

Sunday morning, I took a train to Nuremberg to meet a friend from college. Unfortunately, his train was delayed so I spent most of the day exploring on my own. But it was still an enjoyable day! My preconceived image of Nuremberg and much of Europe was that it was a dark and dreary place. I most likely imagined this because of their cloudy history. However, while descending to Nuremberg’s downtown, I was greeted with songs that sounded as though they came from Fiddle on the Roof played by men selling CDs with Magen Davids on the cover. Maybe it was the combination of the music and the endless snow wiping clean my beliefs of this town with a muddy history, but as I walked I began to feel more and more jolly. This jolliness could also be attributed to the fact that most of the visitors to this market were happily drinking Glühwein (warm and alcoholic Christmas punch). At this market, I enjoyed eating warm corn on the cob, a pizza-like baguette, and a fluffy and chocolate marzipan dessert. I also explored the Nuremberg Castle, used the bathroom next to the infamous courthouse, and watched the squares clock animate at 12PM. Maybe the weather was causing the delays, but my train home took two extra hour (but it allowed me to finish reading The Godfather Collection).

View from the castle:

View of the market:

Marzipan vegetables and chocolate covered fruit:

I should mention that Plzen was decorated for Christmas before Prague, and has its very own Christmas Market. It is smaller, but definitely very enjoyable. Plzen is also famous for its Christmas tree that won an award last year. Seeing that it has snowed on and off for the past two weeks, I have no doubt that Plzen will have a very white Christmas!

The Dentist in the Bar

I do not usually make it a point to publicize the fact that I wear a retainer when I sleep, but it is worth noting because of the way in which it was replaced.

The story begins about three weeks ago when my retainer felt uncomfortable to wear. I noticed that a slight rip in the side that has existed for years had increased in size. Concerned, I talked to one of the teachers at my school who I feel closest with and asked her about seeing a dentist. She had no idea what a retainer was or what it would look like. My explanations turned into a lesson for all the English teachers and a show and tell of google images. After she understood properly what I needed she called her mother - the pediatrician - who put my friend in touch with an orthodontist.

My friend met me two weeks ago at 7:15AM, so that she could translate for me at the orthodontist’s office. This was an interesting office because unlike in the US where you check in at a reception desk, the office staff assumed that you were there for your appointment. Every-so-often a nurse entered the waiting room to collect insurance cards or usher a patient to the dentist. The appointment resulted in the agreement that I could live with my retainer, but it was best to invest in a new one.

While I waited for the estimates for a new retainer, my friend talked with the dentist in our sports group (every Tuesday I play multiple sports with an outdoor adventure club and we meet at the local university's gym). On a weekend trip to an indoor water park, I also talked with the dentist, who is fluent in English. He told me that on the following Tuesday he would take a look at my retainer and bring all the necessary equipment to take impressions of my teeth for a new one. On Tuesday, November 20th, I met my dentist in the gym's locker room and he agreed to make me a new retainer. Only, he would make it in a bar. So we played two hours of basketball, soccer, and a floor ball and then went to the local bar where the outdoor club meets. After the club members were on their second beer and the doctor finished his second soda (he was sober), he started mixing the cement-like substance for the impression. He enlisted my friend and fellow teacher as his assistant and they both put on protective gloves. I leaned back against the wall, so that the dentist could take an impression of my teeth. A lot of the club members found this hilarious and when the waitress came in, she was a bit startled. My friend told me I was brave, but the truth is I found the entire event entertaining. Unfortunately, the first mold did not work, but the second time was the charm. The doctor took the mold back to his office to make me a new retainer, along with a small piece of my old retainer to make sure that the new one was made out of the same material. Then we cleaned up the table, paid our bills, and went home! The retainer is finished and I should receive it next Tuesday!

Photos of me:

My view from the "dentists chair":

"TNC" → Tuesday Night Club

My apartment building is not very swanky and does not come with a gym membership, so when it was still warm I walked in forested trails behind my apartment, as a form of exercise. At the beginning of the year, a young English teacher at my school introduced me an outdoor club that meets every Tuesday. Originally, the group met at a large park to play soccer, but now that it is colder we meet in a gym at the West Bohemia University. Most members of the club are PE teachers, studying to be PE teachers, or friends of the PE teachers. It is a good mix of older and younger sports enthusiasts, and lucky for me, a few of them speak English. One woman actually worked in near my US home in Woodinville, WA as an au pair and played on a Kirkland women’s soccer team! It is a small world!

Every week we intensely play soccer, basketball, and floor ball, and do strength training. Floor ball is an indoor version of hockey that uses a wiffle ball instead of a hockey puck. While the games are fierce, they are also lighthearted and fun. Usually, no one cares if you make a mistake or the other team scores a point. The fact that I am a terrible soccer player and a person with limited Czech language skills, doesn’t seem to upset anyone. Although I am getting better and last week I scored the first soccer goal of the night, sometimes I miss the opportunity to kick, hit, or catch the ball. In fact, when the soccer ball or wiffle ball goes between someones legs everyone calls it a "violin." Surprisingly, this happens a lot during the night.

After we play sports we usually go to a restaurant or bar to relax. The club members enjoy joking around and having fun. If anyone orders food they are automatically consenting to sharing their food with the entire group – it is almost a game to see who can steal someone’s food the fastest. Spending time with this club is my biggest motivation to learn Czech. They have been very welcoming and patient with me, and I feel so lucky to be included in their activities.

Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather

On the evening of Saturday November 17th, I traveled to Mlada Bolaslav. This is a small town that is most famous for its Skoda (Czech car) factory. My friend Megan is living in this town, which happens to be the location of my direct great great great great great great great great great great grandfather's grave (ten generations back). On Sunday morning Megan and I toured Mlada Bolaslav as we made our way to the Jewish cemetery. Upon arrival, we rang the doorbell of the cemetery and the keeper let us in. Megan is fluent in Czech and did most of the talking and translating. Most of the information I gathered on this trip came from her excellent interpreting skills and from the keeper.

The cemetery itself is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Moravia (that is the region Mlada Boleslav is in, while Prague and Plzen are in Bohemia). Currently, no Jews live in this town, so there is a lot of unused land in the cemetery. It is too bad because this is prime burial real estate and has a great view of the town! While the last person to be buried was in 2001, the cemetery's chapel is occasionally used for ceremonies and concerts, and currently has an exhibit about the history of the Jews of the town. This exhibit included an exhibit case filled with three pages in Czech about my 10-great grandfather, as well as photos of his home and coat of arms. Other cases had information about the Jews from Mlada Bolaslav who were transferred to concentration camps during WWII. The keeper lead Megan and I to the cemetery's mortuary, which had an exhibit with pictures of notable graves, a morgue, and a large stone slab used for cleaning deceased bodies -- needlessness, this cold room was a bit uncomfortable for us.

Megan told the keeper that I had a relative buried in the cemetery and that I wanted to see Jacob Bassevi's grave. He thought that I wanted to see Jacob Bassevi's grave because it is the grave of a very famous man. When the keeper realized that Bassevi was my relative, he was surprised! This is because a man from Israel visited recently and also claimed to be a Bassevi relative, and because Bassevi was a notable man.

Jacob Bassevi is most famous for financing the Thirty Years War. Bassevi made his money by actually making money (silver coins) for the entire Empire. Due to his close relationship with three Holly Roman Emperors and his financing or the war, he was knighted by Emperor Ferdinand II and given a coat of arms. Bassevi also served as a Bohemian Court Jews, built many synagogues throughout the Czech Republic, and supplied synagogues with books and Judaica. He was considered a great adventurer! For these reasons it makes sense that I found the grave of my 10-great grandfather with many rocks on it and signage pointing to it.

The cemetery's keeper explained that Bassevi was returning from a business trip in Poland when he fell ill and died suddenly. Thus he was buried in this town and not on the town in which he was living, Jicin. However, he must have lived in Mlada Boleslav at some point because he built two synagogues there, and had his own courtyard (I am guessing the courtyard was connected to a house, but I couldn't tell from what the keeper was saying). The courtyard was later converted into a city theater or art gallery. The keeper also said that at some point someone stole Bassevi's money, but that he still had enough money to travel, go home, and build synagogues. I will be continuing to do research on Jacob Bassevi and his wife Hendel, as I still have many unanswered questions. Additionally, I will have to confirm that the stories the keeper told me are more than urban legend.

This is my 10-great grandfather's grave, with the coat of arms at the top.

Many fallen tombstones were used as a retaining wall.

This is a photo of the main square in Mlada Boleslav and its plague column. Many towns, including Plzen, have these columns with the Virgin Mary on top as a "thank you" for ending the bubonic plague and sparing the people of the town from the disease.

Name Day

There are 365 days in a year. In the Czech Republic each day has one or two corresponding names. It use to be that parents had to name their children after a particular day. The children did not have to be named after the day they were born. Instead, their name had to be one of the names from the calendar. If you wanted to name your child a different name, you had to get permission from the government. Today, you can name your child whatever you want, but there is incentive to using a name from the calendar. When your name falls on a particular date that date is your Name Day. On this day you usually get gifts and goodies, and people say "Happy Name Day." You still celebrate your birthday - this is just another reason the celebrate. This all means two things: 1. Most calenders have names written on each date. 2. There are a few names that are very popular. In one of my classes there are three Petrs (Peter), three Martins, and five Honza or Jans. Another class has three Kubas (Jakob) and two Michals (Michael). Each name also has many nicknames or variations. Jan, pronounced Yan, is the Czech equivalent of John. And Jan can also be Honza, or the female version, Jana. A name like Lucy can be shortened (actually made longer) to Lucka, which sounds like Loots-kuh. Or Zuzana to Zuzka or Zuzie. So while there are fewer popular names, knowing which student wants to be called Jan and which student wants to be called Honza can be confusing.

To return to the idea of having a day for each name; most names are in someway biblical or historical. So it makes sense that the Czech equivalent to Adam and Eve (Adame and Eva) are celebrated on the same day, December 24th. I am lucky to have the name Miriam because it happens to be in a lot languages and religions. While Miriam is not very popular among Czech women (some men are named Mira), it does have a Name Day! On Monday, November 5th, I celebrated my Name Day. The two women in my office were absent from school and no one said anything to me about my Name Day, so by lunchtime I was getting a little disappointed. I thought, "maybe everyone thought I wouldn't notice it was my Name Day!" But after lunch one of my students shook my hand and said "Happy Name Day!" Then I went to talk with a teacher whose class I was planning a lesson for and before I left her office, she and three other teachers said "Happy Name Day," gave me a homemade plum pastry and a wrapped present. They told me to celebrate the day by drinking tea and eating biscuits and they all shook my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek. When I got home I was so excited that I opened my gift right away. It was a box of chocolate cookies! And it was perfect!

Karlovy Vary

On Saturday, November 3rd, I took a day trip with one of the English teachers from my school to Karlovy Vary (English name = Carlsbad). This town is famous for its hot springs, mineral water factory, blown glass, international film festival, five star hotel, and Russian population. It also happens to be where the Last Holiday with Queen Latifah and Casino Royale with Daniel Craig were filmed. The town itself is named after King Charles the IV, who once was hunting a deer in the woods around Karlovy Vary. That deer is believed to have jumped off a cliff and when King Charles went down to find the deer he found hot springs instead! I hiked to both the spot where the deer jumped off and to a lookout tower, which were high above the town. Don't worry! I did not try to imitate the deer!

People come from all over the Czech Republic and Europe to Karlovy Vary to enjoy the heeling powers of the spas and hot springs. Many locals go to the spas in Karlovy Vary and neighboring towns after they have operations for rehabilitation. However, you don't need to be sick to enjoy the them. In fact, the first activity I enjoyed was walking by each of the 12 hot springs in the town and tasting their water. My fellow teacher and her husband bought me a special cup to taste each of the springs. The springs are supposed to heel stomach ailments, but I was warned by the teacher that they actually can cause stomach issues if you drink too much of the water. I just had a drop from each spring, but some people I saw filled entire water bottles full with the water and gulped them down! Most of the springs were 50-75 C (122-167 F), although, they did not feel that hot. I did not find the water particularly refreshing. It mostly tasted like it smelled - like metal and sulfur. Regardless, I will hopefully live much longer now!