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?