Prague!!!

Prague is BEAUTIFUL! It's definitely somewhere I would love to go back with Justin on vacation. Everywhere I looked there was another beautiful old building. It didn't even matter to me what they were most of the time - they were just old and pretty! We arrived in Prague by train Friday night and managed to take the subway to our hotel. The train was a better experience than I expected. I've never been on a train and thought it really looked like the train on Harry Potter! But now I have a grand idea to go biking through Europe and hop trains from city to city. Like our drive into Austria, because of the open borders I didn't get a passport stamp, but at least it makes it easy.

The hotel had 7 rooms and was managed by a guy that lived on the top floor. He had prepared maps and other tourist information, all in English, in each room. It was great! We went out for dinner at an Italian place in Old Town Square. Even though it was below freezing, several restaurants had outdoor seating so we sat in an area enclosed by plastic with lots of patio heaters!

Saturday we met up with my co-worker Craig's friend from high school and college, Clint. Clint studied in Prague for a semester in college where he met his wife, so he moved there 3 years ago when they got married. He was a great tour guide, showing us around and giving us a "local" perspective. Here are lots of pictures!

The St. Charles Bridge tower. We actually got to go inside the tower to the top, where there were some great views of the city. 

This is the cathedral at the Prague Castle. 

Gorgeous view of the city with the Prague Castle in the background. 

The St. Charles Bridge. Construction on the bridge began in the 1300's. They say in the summer when it's tourist season it's completely packed with people. Apparently in the summer all the locals go to their "weekend houses" so it's almost all tourists in the city! Our hotel was just on the other side of this bridge. 

Panoramic view of the city, looking out from the St. Charles Bridge tower. 

The famous astrological clock. 

So, this isn't a tourist attraction at all, but was nostalgic for Craig and Clint. It's an elevator in the college where they both studied. The cars went around and around and you had to hop on to one as it passed you. We joked on the way there that no one knew what happened at the top (does it go upside down?) but the nice man that let us into the building told me (in Czech, using hand signals) that I could ride it all the way around. I decided to do that, then panicked a little at the top when I realized I actually didn't understand anything the man told me. But it was fine!

This is a typical city street. We were told that the buildings used to all be gray until the fall of communism, then they painted most of the buildings pretty colors. 

Craig kept telling us about these fried cheese sandwiches that you could buy from stands on the street, so I had to try one. I ordered two sandwiches (for me and him) and a coke, paid, got the coke and waited for them to fix the sandwich. I waited... and waited... and waited... then realized they weren't fixing them. I asked and the cashier had no recollection that I'd paid and said she wouldn't give me sandwiches. I argued some, then Craig started arguing a little and she wouldn't budge. Clint happened to be on the phone with his wife and witnessed the situation, so he asked her what to say in Czech and he argued a little in the proper language. Eventually we got our food, but it was a bit of an adventure!

This is the "Dancing building" that is built to look like two buildings dancing together. 

It was a great experience to get to see Prague, even if only for a day. I would LOVE to go back and spend more time seeing all the sights and museums.  Now I'm back in Deggendorf, ready to start working again tomorrow!

German Words I've Learned

Here are some of the words I've learned in German. You'll see it's not many! And no guarantee that they are spelled correctly at all!

1. Drucken. The first word I learned. It means "push". As in, push open a door. The opposite is "Zeihel". All the doors here have pull handles on both sides. I just can't get the hang of it. My co-worker Craig apparently has a better engineering degree than I do and said he looks at the hinges, so that is helping, but it's a problem. Again, one of the little things I like about the US - different style handles for "push" and "pull" sides of the door. 
2. Weizen Bier. Wheat beer. There is a dunkel Weizen (dark wheat beer), lieght (or something like that) weizen (light wheat beer) and hefeweisen (somewhere in between). 
3. Prost. Cheers. As taught by some random old man in a bar. But I did confirm the meaning with people at work to make sure it wasn't some sort of bad word!
4. Damen. Women. As in, which bathroom to use. And Herron, as in the other bathroom to avoid!
5. WC. Restroom. Easy enough. But it's pronounced "Veet cee," almost. So if you go into a gas station trying to get the key to the outdoor restroom the best bet is to ask for the toilet. That's universal. 
6. Danke. Thanks. 
7. Salat. Salad. And "mit" is with, so on a menu if I want to make sure to get some sort of vegetable I can go for something that says "mit salat"
8. Radler. Wheat beer mixed with lemonade. Really good, actually! Or that may be a Russo. I honestly don't remember which is wheat beer with lemonade and which is regular beer with lemonade. 
9. Cola Weizen. Wheat beer mixed with coke. Not so good, in my opinion. It probably didn't help that I asked for diet coke. I'm not sure why so many of the words I know have to do with beer!
10. Malhzeit. This is my favorite German word! It essentially means "Happy lunchtime" as far as I can tell. According to Google Translate it just means mealtime, but it's the greeting people use around lunchtime. It can be a question, like "time to go to lunch?" or just a greeting as you pass someone at lunchtime. I think we need a "happy lunchtime" greeting in the US!

I know I've learned more than that, but that's all I can think of right now and it's bedtime! :)

The Little Things...

There were some things that I really worried about before coming to a foreign country for so long. My biggest concern was not having a phone for 3 weeks. It's a sign of how addicted I am to my email, texts and internet that I spent so much time worrying over that, but it actually hasn't been a problem at all. There have been a few times that it would be really nice to Google something, but overall not having a phone hasn't bothered me.

It's the little things that I never even considered that catch me off-guard and remind me I'm not in the United States. Like when the printer gives an annoying printer error, but you have no idea how to fix it because it's in German. Or when you have to manually collate pages of prints because you can't figure out how to tell the copier to do it because, again, everything is in German. Or, the worst, feeling like a small child when you have no idea what a cashier is saying and finally just hold out a handful of money and hope he doesn't take it all (that's only happened a couple times). At work everyone speaks great English and they hardly ever speak German around us so it's not awkward at all. There are things that are different, like them laughing at us for eating chips for lunch, but overall it's not that different than working at home.

I was also really worried about being able to stay healthy while I'm here - both with eating right and working out. I was afraid there wouldn't be anything healthy on the menu, but most places do have healthy choices. The challenge is figuring out what things are to know whether they'll be good for me or not! I know that "salat" means salad and can go from there, so it's not too bad! I've enjoyed going to the grocery and trying to buy food that I've never seen before, relying on the calorie count on the back to know if it's a healthy choice.  Other than the cold weather, running here is awesome. There are trails everywhere. Saturday I did a long run along the Danube in the snow. I made it out 7 miles then was so cold I turned back, but toughed it out and did a couple loops near the hotel for 17 miles total. There is also a creek with a trail on both sides, so I've done a couple runs there. The trail goes under all the roads so there is no concern about traffic. It's really nice! I've definitely gained a little weight, but not too terrible I hope! So, most of my biggest worries turned out to be for nothing!