My First Obstacle: Bread Crumbs

So far, what do I miss most about America?  Is it the ability to read street signs?  No.  Is it watching ESPN and the Olympics in English?  Close, but no.  So far, the thing I miss most about home without a doubt is Wegman's (for all those not lucky enough to live near Wegman's, it is a grocery store).

To recap the early part of the weekend, my friends from Florence had a great time, or so it seemed.  Fri-Sat we did the highlights tour during the day, and found some interesting places to go at night.  Saturday was especially interesting at Karlozy Lazne, a pretty famous 5-story club next to the Charles Bridge.  Each floor had a different type of music (of course there was the 80s floor, but also rap/American music that was the most popular dancing floor), and it was a great time.  We stayed out really late of course.

Sunday, my friends and I went to Bohemia Bagel in the morning (for the second time that weekend, because it was the most American meal they've had in Europe).  The weather was gorgeous, really clear blue skies for the first time.  Then, the day got frustrating

It was Valentine's Day yesterday, so I wanted to cook dinner for my flat (or attempt to).  I wanted something good, but fairly easy, and settled on chicken and eggplant parmesan with pasta.  Sophie volunteered to make a salad and get wine, and Doug and Ahbra picked up a dort (cake).  Seth, he mostly played moral support.

**Important note:  Dort is a fantastic word, and my flat's favorite Czech word.  Our motto has quickly become "Dort Nap Pivo," which translates to "Cake Nap Beer."  Good way of life.

Seth and I hopped on the tram to Tesco to go grocery shopping.  Chicken, no problem.  Tomato sauce, got it.  Cheese, they had mozzarella and parmesan.  But, where to find some bread crumbs for the crust?  This was difficult.  We literally walked across the entire store multiple times, tried to ask people if they had bread crumbs and were not understood at all, talked to people in Czech and English, and still no bread crumbs.

After a half hour of searching, I finally looked for some crackers to use instead, to try and make my own bread crumbs.  And I made sure to ask how to say bread crumbs in Czech class this morning, an extremely underrated word.  They didn't work perfectly, in fact they burned quite a bit when I tried to brown the chicken.  But I guess with enough olive oil and spices and good sauce and cheese, anything can taste good, because my parmesan came out excellent actually!

It was a great Valentine's Day dinner, completely with rose on the table and candlelight (seriously, that's because we live with two girls).  Right now, I'm killing time waiting for my Central and Eastern European Growth and Development class to start.  I finally joined a gym this morning 5 minutes from school, so we are all definitely settling into a routine here in Praha.

Berlin is coming up quickly this weekend...if I don't post before then, I'm sure there will be a HUGE post on Sunday or Monday after we get back.  We are all hoping to watch the Czech hockey team in bars while we are here as well (maybe in a language we can understand, unlike our cable tv at home).

Cao!