week 3

Monday, June 21

Jan was home sick from school, and Eliška came home early as well. Nothing too exciting happened today that I can remember. Martina bought peanut butter for the first time. Maybe that’s exciting. I told the family all the best ways, in my opinion, to eat peanut butter. At dinner we discussed American food, so I asked what they’d like me to make. They asked about Thanksgiving, what it’s for, and what my family eats for a Thanksgiving dinner. I thought it would be really neat to make them a Thanksgiving-style meal! After discussing the foods needed for this endeavor and hearing that half the foods didn’t exist here, I decided against it. So my next thought for “American food” was to grill and barbecue chicken and make green bean casserole. But again, after a possibly 30 minute conversation AND looking up pictures on Google about the kind of soup and French’s onions needed to make this classic casserole, those ingredients don’t exist here either. So I settled for my non-American specialty, pasta with carbonara sauce! I’ll make it for dinner tomorrow night. Maybe some other night I’ll make apple crisp for a dessert!

Tuesday, June 22

Eliška and Jan were both home sick from school today. We had breakfast, I played some dudy, and read out on the terrace because the weather was semi-nice out for the first time in a few days, and played some more dudy. Eliška and I watched the movie Dear John with Czech subtitles. When Martina got home we discussed folk songs from the Chodsko region, and she showed me a book of complied songs. Some songs have variations according to the different villages. Later, I made noodles with carbonara sauce for dinner, along with a tomato/onion/cucumber salad. The ingredients for the sauce were definitely different than the ones I use back home, but it tasted just fine and the family really liked it! At night some family friends (an actress and a musician) came over and we had some wine and discussion.

Wednesday, June 23

Jan was home sick today again. I played dudy for a long time this morning, ate lunch, and played dudy again. Jan actually told me I should limit my practice to 2 hours a day! Ha! So then I packed for my week in Prague, read and wrote out on terrace for a long time, ate dinner with Jan, and then walked to Martina’s parents’ house (they REALLY make me miss my grandparents) down the street for the Jan/Jana name day celebration. Its like another birthday, with a party (sometimes) and gifts, every year, but for anyone with the particular name designated for that day. We grilled out and I met more of the family. When we got home, Pavel said “Carrie, we go!” so I hopped in the car without knowing where I was going or what would be happening, but I’ve learned that if it’s with Pavel there are a few guarantees: he will drive fast, I will have to speak Czech, and we will have some sort of adventure that will turn out to be fun and memorable. This time we took some narrow paths up the mountain through the forest as Pavel explained (somehow) that the family belongs to a ski club that owns a holiday house on the mountain. We drove to the house and got out to look over the wonderful view of the Chodsko area. Pavel then proceeded to drive down the ski area, but the grass was very tall so he couldn’t see any of the holes or bumps or rocks that were on the path. I held on to the car the entire ride. Pavel is kind of crazy, but always fun!

**Mystery Meat UPDATE from last week: I believe it is cooked ground pork with onions and spices in it, formed into a loaf. It can be sliced and fried OR sliced and eaten raw (well, the meat is already cooked) like lunch meat. Phew!**