Finally-- an outdoor market and a citibank

This weekend was ruined by laundry. Trying to find a laundromat was fruitless as I may have already mentioned, and then trying to do it in the dorm's washing machine took up so much time and left me with stiff, soap filled clothes hanging everywhere. Aisling, Sophia and I walked through some gardens that will be awesome in spring, had lunch at Bar Bar which could be cool but the waitress was absent-minded and my food was just okay. But walking around Mala Strana was cute and we got raspberry and chocolate ice cream and then I took a shower, worked on my collage homework assignment, and researched trips to Paris while Ace went to some Super Bowl thing at the pub nearby that everyone always goes to.

View from the gardens. So many bridges.

Restaurant/pub in the gardens.

Looking at tram schedule, trying not to get lost.

On the way to Bar Bar in Mala Strana. Streets bend.

I think we are both (Aisling and I) missing our friends from home/realizing that, in our eyes, they are cooler than most people. She wants to sit around and drink beer, me sit around and drink coffee. People here want to be loud and dance to house music I guess? I don't know.

Anyway I am excited for people to visit in March and to visit Kerry/Lauren in hopefully a few weeks. Meanwhile we have been making food and then watching the OC season 1 while we eat. Last night we went out to some pub after dinner, but we went out too late so we didn't stay long. We need to stop waiting around. The first place we went to was having a private birthday party (that looked funnnn) and then the other place was too crowded on one floor and then the other floor was ALL PEOPLE ON DATES. Many older people. Mala Strana was the city of love last night. [Note: that one floor was crowded because Prague jazz legend "Stan the Man" was playing. LOL.]

More importantly, yesterday my class watched a movie about the love between a 5 yr old Russian boy and a 55 yr old Czech bachelor in 1989. It was cute. Today we got out early because my professor had to go somewhere so Aisling and I went to the Museum of Decorative Arts because it is free to get in between 5-7 on Tuesdays. It had an exhibit on clothes in the 70s in the Czech Republic and a bunch of other awesome stuff (including old posters, wedding dresses, clocks jewelry etc.), but we could only take pictures in the 70s clothes room.

Cute little boy in the movie we watched.

Fake '70s room with silly stuff on TV.

My day started out somewhat bad because I was sad the lady at the post office got grumpy at me for not understanding when she asked where I needed stamps for and then I was having trouble finding a Citibank and what I thought was one, was just an advertisement for one and led me on the side of a highway and made me walk past boys making ambulance noises at the passersby. Oh, and also some weird man stepped in front of me off the metro and mumbled something, trying to show me some medallion in his hand. I tried to brush him off and step around and he blocked me again. Then he realized my situation and said "your ticket." Then I realized his, which was that he was a metro employee checking to make sure I had a transportation pass or ticket. I showed him and that was that.

I stopped in my program's student office to use the computer and our director told me how to get to the bank and gave me some green tea which was nice. She also had a similar experience with the metro guy when she first moved here. On the way to the bank, I found a vegetarian restaurant/store that I'd heard of, an outdoor market, and then the bank. I got dried bananas, almonds, dried cranberries, plums, pears and oranges. Then when I got out early and went home to a newly stocked kitchen and then went to the museum I felt better. I got a poster and some postcards for cheap (considering it was a museum shop!).

They sell wooden marionettes everywhere.

Here are a few things to know about Prague/people from Prague (this list will continue to grow):
1. They are tired of Americans.
2. They LOVE dogs and they rarely make them wear leashes. They are supposed to have muzzles but few do. The dogs are so well trained through that they just wait for their owners outside stores. They are allowed in restaurants though, and are often quietly hiding under their owners' chairs.
3. Czechs love cats too I think, because there are lots of pictures of them around (but I don't go in many Czech homes so I don't know).




Additions to this list coming soon.