Christmas in Prague

We made it to Prague just in time for Christmas in the Czech Republic!  Sadly, the snow is not covered with a fresh, white blanket of snow like we were hoping; however, I think the beauty of the combination of the breathtaking gothic and renaissance style buildings definitely makes up for it!

 

The city is very crowded since people flock to Prague from all over Europe for the Christmas season.  We have probably heard at least five different languages being spoken by different tourist groups.  We didn't know what to expect regarding Prague Christmas tradition before coming here.  After spending only a few days with our friend's extremely knowledgeable family, we are learning that the history of Prague is quite complicated due to the sad past of wars and the Communist Regime that occupied Prague until the 1980s!  During the Communist era, the citizens were not allowed to practice their faith.

Alyssa and Robin's observations of the differences between Christmas in Prague and Christmas in America (with a few pictures to prove it!)

1. Here they celebrate Jesus birth mostly on Christmas Eve.  It is on Christmas Eve that they dress up very nicely (see photo of suited up Vaclav below).  They also eat their big dinner and open presents on Christmas Eve night.

Václav and his grandfather (a.k.a the coolest man ever...more on him later.)

2. Apparently EVERYONE eats carp for supper on Christmas Eve following a carp soup appetizer.  Yes, I did eat the entire carp and managed to finish the soup after possibly the most awkward moment of my life.  Since we arrived, I knew what was in store.  For two days I prepared myself mentally to eat carp.  I was determined.  However, my motivation quickly dwindled when I realized that I would first have to get through a large bowl of carp soup before even attempting to eat the carp.  

So there we are at the elegantly decorated dinner table: candles lit, crystal glasses set, and our fine Prague porcelain bowls filled with carp soup.  Christmas Eve dinner is a very formal affair with everyone was dressed in their finest clothes.  I think this affected our dinner conversation since everyone ate their carp soup very quietly.  Being the super polite family that they are, everyone waited for me to finish my carp soup before bringing out the main course.  I knew there was no way out of this one.  Robin's words echoed in my mind, "you can do it!" I knew that I needed to be brave and get over this fear that will surely keep haunting me throughout my adult life.  

While everyone silently waited for me to finish, I tried to block out the fact that I was eating carp soup by singing Christmas hymns in my head while doing so. It worked! Round one complete. Even though Vaclav's mom put the very large piece of carp on my plate by saying, "Alyssa you will eat the head of the fish," this piece of carp was easier for me to finish than the soup. 

3.  Well maybe this next one is just a result of being raised in a history loving family, but watching kids open presents in Prague was hilarious!  Vaclav's little brother, Frantisek, was so very excited to have received a book about the war of 1805.  He hugged this book very tightly and didn't let it go for a long time.  Also, later her received a flash-drive.  The flash-drive was loaded with music, so he immediately ran upstairs to check out the tunes.  We could hear him literally squealing with delight.  I asked his mother what songs were on it and she replied classical.  Frantisec loves his Mozart!

4. Well maybe not every Czech family has a parrot, but we were lucky enough to sing Christmas carols with Sofie the Parrot.

5. We went to mass at the cathedral located in the St. Norbert Abbey (St. Norbert is buried in this cathedral).  It is a big tourist hot spot, so the priests have to take measures to keep the tourists out during mass.  It's kind of difficult to have a church service with tourists lingering in the back. Also, the mass was in Czech and we did our best to also sing the Christmas carols in Czech! 

6. We ate different sweets.  They were delicious, but we definitely missed good old fashioned American Christmas cookies! The picture below is of homemade Christmas bread.  It is a sweet bread that contains raisins and is sprinkled with sugar and almonds.
 

 7. It seems that everyone is out and about on Christmas Day.  In America, we prefer to stay in our cozy homes and spend time with our families and friends.  Although much of the crowd consists of tourists, Itka told us that it's common for people to take walks outside with their guests for Christmas. Maybe if we had the same Christmas markets in Wisconsin as in Prague that smell of all things delicious (i.e. sausage and sweet rolls), we might venture out on a Christmas stroll as well!

Prague: The Fairytale City

A photo of us with the best tour guide available in all of Prague (our dear friend, Václav)

 

The Cathedral that is part of the Prague Castle.  On Christmas Day, we were invited inside the cathedral to watch Frantisek's Christmas choir concert. It is very rare that people are let inside the cathedral without paying, so it was very popular.  Here's a video!

(Pictured Left: A Guard guarding the Prague Castle from American tourists ...just kidding!  Pictured right: us in front of the Prague Castle).

 

                      Manger scenes rock!

 

Old torture masks and gun/swords used to protect the Prague Castle back in the day. Yikes!

 
To the left is a picture of us at the St. Norbert statue on the Charles bridge. The bridge is just beautiful, but it's difficult to capture the entire bridge on camera.  To the right is a picture of us at a very very old library at the Abbey.  Most of the books in there are original and so very old!

 

The famous astronomical clock that still functions.  At the hour, little figurines pop out and sometimes a trumpet is sounded.  Prague is the fairytale city after all.


We hope Christmas found you all very well.  We sure did miss our families, but we look forward to spending Christmas with you all next year. We'll bring the Czech cuisine! We safely arrived in Madrid today.  We made a little pit stop to a Madrid mall where we heard KFC and Taco Bell could be had.  A bucket of fried chicken never tasted so good.  We are headed to Toledo after this blog is posted.  In one hour, Robin will finally meet my host family!

Blessings,
Robin and Alyssa

P.S. GO PACK GO! We stayed up until 2:00 a.m. to watch the Packers beat the Bears to make it to the playoffs.  Second, Václav's grandfather is the sweetest man alive because he made Robin and I traditional Czech goulash with dumplings yesterday and he woke up early to fix us a nice breakfast before our flight this morning.  Also, he's in his 80s yet speaks both English and Czech.  Also, we served his country in the military and also spent time in Baghdad of all places.  Also, he bought a house from in the Sudetenland (formerly Germany) that we all stayed in for a few days. Robin will post some pictures of our time in the cottage in the mountains tomorrow :)

Luna de Miel Americana en Vilagarcía (An American Honeymoon in Vilagarcía)

     We’ve done it again! We’ve managed to be in the newspaper twice in a matter of two weeks.  Our teachers call us famous, but we assured them that we really do not do too many other interesting things, so we probably won’t be in the newspaper too frequently. Haha

 

The forecast this week looks like honeymoon weather to me!

 

     This time they decided to dedicate an entire page to sharing with the locals just what the two American couples think of Spain and its culture.  I think that Spanish people are just fascinated that Americans get married at such a young age.  Spaniards tend to get married in their later thirties.  The fact that there are not one but two young, married American couples in the small city of Vilagarcía is probably worth writing an entire page about here. 

     The beginning of the article begins like so (translated literally).  Keep in mind that translating from Spanish to English doesn’t have an exact translation equivalent, so it may sound a little strange.

     I am going to tell you all a story of love.  Or, better said, a story formed by many stories of love.  You can say that this is a typical American love story.  The two couples seem to have escaped from the TV. show How I Met Your Mother.  (Not sure how the reporter came to this conclusion!).  The article centers around our encounters with the Spanish culture.  Also, it discusses American stereotypes of the Spanish culture as well as common stereotypes that the Spaniards have of American culture. 

     Regarding Americans, children especially think everyone knows famous people and everyone is wealthy.  Many think we eat hamburgers almost daily and that American moms whip up hearty bacon and egg breakfasts every morning.  Furthermore, many Americans who have not had the opportunity to learn about Spanish culture may think of Spain as very similar to Central or South America.  In other words, Spain is Mexico.  Heck, I even pictured myself eating tacos and enchiladas before I arrived in Spain.  Sadly, however, the entire country of Spain probably has about 10% of the total amount of taco joints in Kenosha, Wisconsin.   

Funny quotes from the article (translated):

“I like octopus (the food).” – Robin

“We eat well.  We sleep well.  I feel my stress disappearing.” – Alyssa

In the grocery store, “you see the entire animal that you are going to eat.  In America, we often just see the nugget.” 

“I want to be a geography teacher, yet I have never left the United States.”

In response to the reporter’s question about the level of English of the average Spaniard…[their faces said it all].

What are you thankful for this year?

We're in the Newspaper!

Hola familia y amigos,

It’s almost Thanksgiving in the land of no Thanksgiving.  Fortunately, we will not have to go through a Thanksgiving turkey-less, without mashed potatoes topped with savory gravy, without scrumptious pumpkin pie, and finally without lots and lots of dinner rolls (we are in charge of bringing dinner rolls). 

This is my second Thanksgiving in Europe.  While studying abroad, I spent Thanksgiving in Ireland with friends where we attended a Thanksgiving gathering put on by members of the church community there.  The Irish made us feel at home except for the portion sizes, which were very un-American.  Let’s be honest, we each had about a Tablespoon of mashed potatoes.  I guess Irish people don’t love their spuds as much as I had imagined.  Nevertheless, they were so kind and generous to cook us a Thanksgiving meal and to attempt to make Pumpkin Pie when there isn’t a single pre-made piecrust or can of sweetened condensed milk in all of Europe as far as I’m concerned.  Well, maybe not all of Europe, but I am surely having difficulty finding half of the ingredients needed to bake a pumpkin pie for my students to sample.  However I am determined to make this pie, and I will make my own sweetened condensed milk if I have to.  I will update you all if it turns out well :)

Back to the good news… We will have a traditional Thanksgiving meal here in Vilagarcía, Spain on Thanksgiving Day.  We have to celebrate a little later at night since we all have to work still.  Come on, Spain! If you can celebrate Halloween, you can surely have yet another day off to spend time with family and be thankful together.  I mean food and family is what Spain is all about.  I digress.  Our Thanksgiving meal will be hosted by our missionary friends from Ohio.  They are opening up their home to all Americans in our program.  There are seven of us total.  We have so much to be thankful for!

One thing we are very grateful for is the new relationships we have formed at church.  Everyone has been so hospitable to us.  This past weekend the pastor of the church, Eduardo, invited Robin, myself, and the other married couple Cory and Stephanie to the house that his father built in the countryside in the little town of Silleda.  People live differently in the rural parts of Galicia.  Life is not as convenient, yet perhaps this is why one of Eduardo’s neighbors is still alive at the age of 103.  Apparently, he even still helps a bit on the farm.   The entire house is heated by a wood-burning stove.  The simplicity of the land is so beautiful, even though I know the work that goes into maintaining the land is not simple.  It’s just so fun to be in touch with nature.  Eduardo encouraged us all to try the grapes from his vine that are all natural (not treated with any chemicals).  They were so sweet and delicious.  They do have seeds, though.  Robin is so great at separating the seeds from the grape and spitting them out.  I am not.

Outdoor Barbeque...it smelled so very good! I think the sticks give it a different flavor.  To the right is his indoor stove that uses sticks to make a fire to heat up the house as well as cook.

The view from Eduardo's window...the picture of the cats was taken at his aunt's house nearby

Look! There's cows outside the window!

 

Don't these grapes look delicious?

   

Travel Tales

Plans have been made.  Tickets have been reserved.  Calendars have been filled. It’s official.  We’re spending Christmas in Prague!  Prague is the capital of Czech Republic located to the south of Germany and the north of Austria.  We will be visiting our dear friend, Sir Václav and his family there.  He doesn’t really use the title, Sir, but if you met him, you would probably want to call him Sir Václav.  He is so clever and extremely knowledgeable about European as well as American History…a natural diplomat.  He is actually studying to become a doctor.  This is his first year of studies, and he has a lot of studying to do over the winter break.  Robin and I agreed to help him study haha.  We will be in Prague from December 22^nd to December 30^th.  His family invited us to go with them to their cabin the day after Christmas to ski.  The good news is we will have a future doctor nearby in case we injure ourselves.  Just kidding! We plan to take it easy…baby hills for me!

The good news continues! My host family that I lived with for over three months in Toledo, Spain invited us to spend the New Year with them.  So we will travel from Prague to Madrid where we will take a thirty minute bus to the BEATUFIUL, BREATH-TAKING, STUNNING city of Toledo!  We will spend one week there so Robin will have enough time to see why I truly loved my time there!

 All these travel plans are very exciting since they are truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.  We are deeply grateful that we will at least get to spend Christmastime with friends.  However, we will still miss our families because nothing beats a Christmas at home with the ones you love.  We will miss you all and will pray for a magical Christmas season for all of you filled with the hope, joy, peace, and love of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ! We will miss you all!

Random Ramblings

1. Apparently, I have extra large feet in Spain.  Literally, the bottom of my boots that I just purchased say XL.  When I went to the store to try the boots on the two workers were struggling to find my size and said that my feet are big.  Now that I’m self-conscious of my foot size, I have been observing the size of women’s feet around me and noticed that they are rather small. 

2. I was reading a recent article that revealed Spain to the be the country with the highest life expectancy in Europe after Italy of course.  Both these countries follow the Mediterranean diet consisting of a lot of fish, olive oil, bread and legumes if I remember correctly.  To me, it’s almost a paradox since Spaniards smoke quite a bit, drink a lot of alcohol and start consuming at an earlier age, and eat very strong meats and cheeses.  Remember our meal last weekend with Eduardo? Three types of red meat and a slice of bread!  My theory is that it also has something to do with the siesta…Spaniards nap more.

3. Students here eat like adults! If I were to ask a handful of third graders in America what their favorite food was, I would probably receive a small assortment of responses including cheeseburger, macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets.  When I asked the same question to fourth graders in Spain, about 90% said some form of seafood.  Drum roll please for the number one favorite food of all fourth graders at my school…..TRIPE!

4. Robin and I walked to his school on our day off since I wanted to see the scenery.  This is his view outside of his window at school. I think the donkey should be the school mascot since it’s literally right next to the school.

    

5. We had to pick up our temporary residence card in the province capital of Pontevedra. It has a beautiful old quarter.

La plaza de Leña (The Firewood square) named as such since Firewood used to be sold here

The open air market....can't buy that in Wisconsin.  How appetizing!

6. We were in the Galician Newspaper, La Voz de Galicia.  They wrote an article about us and our friend's participation in fencing and slack-lining.  Our friend from Seattle is very good at slack-lining and lets us practice on his slackline.  Usually, people do not slackline while fencing.  I hope Spaniards do not get the wrong impression haha.  Robin was wearing his Wisconsin t-shirt.

  

Cooking Chronicles

There is not too much new in the kitchen lately other than these blood potatoes.  Just kidding…but really, why in the world did red water come out of my brown potato when I squeezed the excess water out to make hashbrowns?  They tasted good, but restaurants still do it way better! I have yet to discover their secret for the perfect golden hashbrowns.

This week, Robin and I have the goal of eating five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.  Sounds easy? It’s been difficult since we’ve pretty much been sticking to buying fruits and vegetables that we are familiar with in the United States.  However, the fruit and vegetable stores have a wide variety of fruits and veggies that we’ve never seen before. This week, we will explore some never before tasted fruits and veggies! For today, we will stick to baked butternut squash for lunch (my absolute FAVORITE).

We hope this post finds you all well! We hope that reading this post was not the equivalent to un día sin pan (a day without bread).  To say Spaniards love their bread would be an understatement.  There is a saying they use here when they want to communicate that something is unbearable or very unpleasant, one can compare it to a day without bread.  Watching that never-ending Packer versus Vikings game last Sunday was like un día sin pan. 

Blessings,

Alyssa and Robin

All You Need is a Little Fencing and Some Chestnuts!

Hahaha we went to a fencing class under the instruction of a Spanish champion fencer.  She recognized we were beginners, so she gave us some much needed one-on-one time, and we did improve.  

To duel, you run a cord through your armor that gets hooked up to a machine and the sword (don't worry, it's not a real sword).  The machine tracks how many times you strike your opponent.  This is a picture of our friend since we were not allowed to duel during our first practice. Maybe next time!

Chestnut roast at school to celebrate the holiday, Magosto.  We've never tried chestnuts, but Bing Crosby always gave off the impression that they were sweet in the song.  They are not! They taste bitter.  A teacher at the school said that chestnuts were used much like potatoes before potatoes became commonly used in cooking.

Patiently waiting for their chestnuts

Magosto games: This is more difficult than it looks!

RANDOM CORNER:

The sun finally came out this week, so we ventured off into the countryside.  We found some goats!

Don't worry...that is not Robin without a shirt and sporting long Spanish hair.  However, Robin and I did slack line with the American couple we met from Seattle.  We decided not to have our first time be over a canyon.  Rather, the line was set up about three or so inches above the ground.  If you're reading this, Nick Dunn, ask for a slack line for Christmas. You will love it!

As delicious as potato and egg breakfast burritos and fajitas are, we were starting to become bored with our usual cooking routine here.  To fix this problem, we made a sweet American classic: Barbeque ribs. Ahh home sweet barbeque home!