Day #1

Ahoj from Czech Republic!!!

I am just finishing my 3rd full day here and I love it!  I am currently in a cute log cabin-looking that restaurant that is only playing  Backstreet Boys, Nsync, and other 80s and 90s much.  Either they just have good taste in music or American pop music is a little slow reaching Czech Republic. ;) 

Day 1: I went to the grocery store for the first time with my tutor.  It is called Albert and there are several of them throughout the city.  Everything is in Czech here...it is rare to see English in the city!  In addition, very few people speak English!  I was surprised by that, but it makes things interesting and will force me to learn some Czech. Anyways back to the store... One thing that is very different is that they have many types of breads sitting out market-style.  It smells wonderful and  is super cheap!  One croissant type thing is equivalent to about 10 cents.  One type of "bread" they have sitting out is slices of pizza!  I thought that was really funny.  It kind of looks like really dried out pizza, but who knows, it might be good!  The fruit is also much more organic looking than the U.S.  All the apples aren't perfect and shiny like in Wal-Mart back home, but they are so much better and sweeter!  I also found out that if you want to put your groceries in a bag, then you have to pay for the bag and bag the groceries yourself.  It is not a nice reusable bag, but just a normal plastic one haha!  They are not expensive at all, but it's still funny to me to pay for it!  Also, when I tried to ask the cashier, who doesn't speak English, for a bag she handed me a little colorful package with a toy in it!  That's almost what I wanted.... :) 

After the grocery store, we met up with the other international students in the town center for a scavenger hunt in the city!  It was fun and the first time I really got to see the beautiful city!  Here are a few pictures...I don't have very many yet, because it is hard to get out the camera with gloves on.

 The Brno "dragon" 

After the city game, we split into four groups and went to dinner!  We ate at a restaurant called Pegas (I think) and I had my first Czech meal!  I had beef with dumplings in some sort of gravy and vegetable cream sauce!  It was delicious and I was told it is a very traditional Moravian (the region of Czech Republic I'm in) meal.  

Another fun fact is that you have to pay for water in restaurants here and it is generally more expensive than a beer which I don't think is fair for this water drinker, but oh well! ;) They bring a glass bottle of water and no refills so I am learning to pace my drinking (water people...water!) :)  

After dinner we went to the store again and then headed back to the dormitory (haha noone calls it "dorm" here) and then later went to a welcome party on one of the floors in the dorm!  Very strange that drinking, smoking, and loud parties are allowed in the dorms!  It is not quite my cup of tea, but it was nice meeting lots of people from all over the world! 

Anyways, I was going to try to post about my trip here and the other days all in this one post, but that will take me forever and I know people are anxious to see pictures and hear about my time here!  I'll try to post about the other days later, but for now  I'll give you at least this! :) Miss you all!!! Thank you for all your prayers and encouraging words!!