It's been about two months now since I moved here, and I'm starting to feel at home. I think my waves of culture shock are getting shorter each time I travel, because I feel like I already passed the honeymoon phase, then the rejection phase, and am already on to the acceptance phase. In other words, I loved Prague, then hated Prague, and now I feel a sense of balance and normalcy, where I'm happy to be here despite some frustrations. So, this seems like a good time to blog about impressions and aspects of life here (as opposed to writing about some trip or other, or focusing on school, etc.).
Before coming to the Czech Republic, I read books and talked to people about what to expect. There were a few negative stereotypes, a few positive ones, and a few which I'm not sure how to categorize:
Negative:
1) "The people can be cold and unfriendly, and there is kind of this post-Communist grey, dreary feeling hanging over things."
2) "The food is terrible for a vegetarian. You won't be able to find vegetables."
Positive:
1) "Prague is so beautiful, you will love it! It's like a fairy-tale."
2) "Prague is magical, and once you come you'll never want to leave."
Neither:
1) "Czechs don't like to talk about politics."
2) "Czech is one of the most difficult languages in the world."
So before arriving, I had a wide array of ideas in my head, but knew not to trust any of them much based on past experiences (both Ghana and Korea defied the expectations people told me to have).
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| Roommates :) |
My first impression was of my (now) friend calling my name with a big smile on her face, helping me with my bags, lending me her iPhone to call my family to tell them I'd arrived, and taking me to her house where I stayed for a few days before moving to my flat. She was everything people told me not to expect from Czechs and more: smiling, friendly, outgoing, generous, welcoming. From that moment on, I have had very minimal experiences with the "cold, unfriendly, 'grey' Czechs" which I was told to expect. Instead, from my friend at the airport, to my roommates, to my teachers and classmates, to the people at the market and beyond, I have encountered a huge number of kind, friendly, welcoming, funny, and helpful Czechs. I don't know why people have different impressions, perhaps I got lucky by connecting with my friend and roommates online before coming, or perhaps as a Midwesterner I'm so disarmingly friendly that it affects my interactions with people here. I don't know and I don't care, because whatever it is, I've felt welcomed here and am grateful for that.
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| Smazeny syr (fried cheese) |
As for the food, I have also been pleasantly surprised. I had heard Farmer's Markets were hard to find, and instead found one twice a week at the end of my street along the river. Now the faces there have become a familiar part of my week, and I am a regular customer at several stalls. There are plenty of vegetables, in addition to fresh breads, cheeses, and fruit, and today I even bough freshly cooked fish. I bought the fish, though, because it is hard to be a vegetarian here, even with all of the great fresh veggies and so on. I have not found tofu nearby, though I've heard it exists on the other side of town, and generally depend on eggs and dairy for protein here. Hence the fish this morning, which was actually very tasty - so maybe I'll become a pescetarian...? In Czech restaurants I can't eat much on the menu, but people told me there wouldn't be salads, when, in fact, I have found salad with Balkan cheese on nearly every menu, and haven't been disappointed yet. Not to mention the fried cheese - but that's not something you can stomach everyday, even if it is delicious :)
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| Narodni Divadlo on the far left |
As for the fairy tale beauty? I see it. Every day. I avoid taking the metro and choose to go by tram just to look out the window and take in the architecture, the river, the castles, the cathedrals, the cobblestones (which I've learned are beautiful but not practical), and the everyday life of Prague.
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| Fairy Tale Prague? |
Yesterday I went to the National Theatre (Narodni divadlo) to see Dvorak's "Rusalka," and as I sat looking around the theatre I imagined what it must have been like at the premiere in 1901. Of course some remodeling has happened since, but it's amazing to imagine it then: people all dressed up in their opera best, looking down at the orchestra and singers and taking in the same songs, the same thrilling high notes and the same deep bass notes, and appreciating the humanity and the tragedy of the story and the music.
Sometimes I walk around the streets and am completely overwhelmed by the amount of foot traffic that must have traveled the same roads before me, in a different time, under different rulers, with different purposes.
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| Vaclavske Namesti (on a normal day) |
On Thursday I went to Vaclavske Namesti (Wenceslas Square) to see Slavoj Zizek speak on the anniversary of the student demonstrations and march there in 1989, which led to the fall of the Communist government a month later. In no time I was surrounded by 2000 people, all standing in the same place where some of them stood 22 years ago - and some near me had clearly also been there back in 1968 when the Russian tanks came in to crush the Prague Spring. In 1969, Jan Palach self-immolated there in protest against the Russians, and a month later Jan Zajic did the same. The weight of history is palpable when you stand there on a normal day, so to stand there on the 17th of November was even more impactful.
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| Memorial to Jan Palach and Jan Zajic |
I can hardly articulate how I felt. There was a mix of reverence, and solidarity, as well as a feeling of wistfulness that I wasn't able to be in Wisconsin last winter when I could have stood with my own family and friends at my capitol building. But my friend reminded me that it's not about "your" protest versus "their" protest, it's about solidarity with people wherever you are, We may come from different places, but we share a common humanity and quest for human dignity, which may manifest in unique ways and to various degrees in different places, but which creates connections between us nevertheless.
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| Fairy Tale Prague? |
So that brings me to two other expectations: politics and language. I have not found Czechs to be any more opposed or interested in discussing politics than anyone else I've met. I have had many interesting conversations about politics, identity, Czech history, etc. and I have also met people who don't care about it and we talk about other things. If Thursday was any indication, though, there are at least 2,000 people in Prague who are interested in talking about and taking action in politics.
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| Fairy Tale Prague? |
Unfortunately, I couldn't understand as much of the demonstration as I would have liked because one expectation has proven somewhat true: Czech is a very difficult language to learn. I have made a little bit of progress, but it's different enough from other languages I've studied to pose more challenges. Still, I'm hoping to keep learning, even if it is a slow process, because every time I successfully use the Czech I've learned (usually at the market) I tend to get a smile, and I love to make people smile :) Plus, the more I learn, the more I can pick up on new ideas and the better I'll be able to understand this city (and country) and the people who call it home.
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| Magical Prague Puppets |
So for now, many of the negative warnings have proved invalid, as far as I'm concerned. On the other hand, I have written posts about the frustrations I've had here as well, so I'm not completely smitten, either. It certainly can feel like a magical place, but at the same time daily life is pretty mundane most of the time. For now, I feel comfortable starting to think of this as home, with the ups and downs that entails, and I hope I'm able to call it home for many months to come...Fingers crossed.
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