Prague Blague!

--I added some pictures of Krakow to the posts below, in case anyone is interested in checking them out--

I am not getting much better at doing the shorter, more frequent posting thing, but this will have to do. 

I have been in Prague for a little over a week. In stark contrast to the small and very randomly decorated apartment I stayed in with a friend from my program and our TA (both of whom I adore, so no complaints there) during my stay in Krakow, the ten days I have in Prague are spent in a home stay. I am here with 5 other students (the family sort of moved out, more to come on them) and we got very very lucky with the location of the apartment; we are only about a 7 minute walk away from the Old Town Square. 

We are staying with the Czech home-stay coordinator Betty, so on our first night here Iveta, my program director, came with us to work some things out with Betty and do some translating for us. Besides having a famous father who had just received a marble desk in his honor (I don't know, you'll have to ask the Czech's why a marble desk is a cool memorial), her mother lives in an attached apartment and is a play write. Betty has two daughters in their early twenties, one who is the "good daughter" and one who, according to Iveta, has a new interest every year--this year it's outdoor sports--as well as a new topic of study--acting now. Betty also has a man friend whose description was long an complicated. Iveta first described him to us as her partner Hansy but Betty protested so he was re-described as her assistant, but that got resistance too. Betty responded, Iveta translated, "not partner, lover. Or assistant. It depends." This was promptly followed up by one of Betty' daughters who said, "no no! He's her bed assistant." Moving on from his definition in relation to Betty, Iveta explained that he is an anarchist which was, of course, immediately countered by one of the daughters because "Isn't anarchy supposed to be about groups? Well, Hansy doesn't have friends." Anyways, anarchist or not, Iveta said we shouldn't be surprised if we see a man around. Betty looks like she is probably in her mid fifties and based on her daughters' ages that seems like it is likely an accurate estimate. So we wake up the next morning and see the infamous partner, lover, assistant, bed assistant Hansy--oh, who, by the way, has apparently been living mostly out of his backpack for the seven years they have been together--and Hansy has long blond hair, a beard to match, and can't be much older than 35...go Betty! So Hansy is the one who has been feeding us breakfast and reading a couple of my classmates astrological signs. 

The apartment itself is beautiful. It is full of pictures and paintings and there are collages of Klimt paintings and beautiful paper on every door and covering a lot of the storage boxes. They also have a cat. When the cat is around you can't let it sit near the open window. Why? Because it has jumped out of the window down 3 floors twice, duh! This cat also just walks around the apartment all day and all night yelling. Literally yelling. Or at least talking very loudly. Meows are fine, but I very deliberately chose talking because it sounds exactly like a human. 

The Old Town Square

As for Prague itself, the city is unbelievably beautiful and there are, probably for this reason, five million tourists everywhere all the time. But once you look over the tourists heads, the buildings are so old and detailed it's easy to forget you're surrounded by non-Czech people (until you run into them because you're looking up instead of where you're walking). Prague is the most rushed of all the places we visit and I am definitely feeling it. Tomorrow is our last day here and I feel like I have so much more to do in the city. But any time I feel a little sad about what I am missing because of all the lectures, seminars and reading, I think about how cool it is that when I stop to get a cup of coffee on my way to class I am doing it in Prague!

I kick started my stay in Prague with a Pilsner and some Judith Butler.

This is a famous old clock in the Old Town Square. Every hour starting at about a quarter til the top of the hour, 200-500 people gather around the clock and watch as some little doors open and some small man-dolls poke out and twirl around. 

These are the little apostles who come out and twirl

And it all ends with a man in yellow and red playing a trumpet. 

Finally, of course, Prague in all it's beauty.