Kiora
Well I am back in NZ for the summer - it sure is hot today! 30 degrees. Think I am melting!
Today was a big milestone for me - it was my first scan following my surgeries (1 year after the 2nd operation). I was pretty apprehensive, as I guess this could have changed all of my plans for the next few years/life... But the scan showed that everything is good - the arteries look nice and smooth and no sign of aneurysm which was the main thing they were checking for. Yay!! Massive relief!
So I have just walked down to Fava cafe and celebrated with a cup of coffee. I didn't really want one as it is just too hot, but I felt I needed to do something to celebrate!
I have also done my first real race - the NZ mtb marathon champs in Taupo. Well I did around 25-30km anyway! The winds were so strong that large pine trees were crashing down everywhere. So many people had near misses. It was just too dangerous so the organisers stopped us all - can't say I was too disappointed as after not racing for 2 years, it came as a bit of a shock to the system! Good to see where I am at though, and what sort of work I need to do. I am just so happy to be able to race again, and can't wait to do the work and build up on where I am currently at. I do give myself a hard time, but Christine reminded me that a year ago I couldn't even walk normal speed, or even walk up a flight of stairs - so that really put things into perspective for me. The only way is up!
There were also some Czech people in the race! I wanted to speak to them afterwards but since the race was canned mid-way there was no way of finding my new fellow countrymen!
Michael - thanks for your message. I have tried to respond but can't seem to figure out how to respond to you only (if you have read my blog you will have seen that I am technically challenged when it comes to these things!). Maybe if you leave me your email address I can email you - I would love to come riding with your group in Divoka Sarka when I return to Prague in March (hopefully just as the weather is warming up!).
Bye for now
Jeanette
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Technical issues...
Sorry for the massive paragraph in the last post - it won't let me put spaces in! Maybe it decided it was long enough!
J
Snot rockets, Indian yoga, and fog!!
Ahoj everyone
You won't recognise us when we come home - we will be the pair in town who most resemble ghosts! That's right - no sun tan over here! We have actually had the sun shine through only twice since Pod Smrken! I asked the guy in the bikeshop whether this crazy fog is normal, and he said it is not fog, but the 'inversion layer' and that it would be gone in 15 days (that was on Nov 1st so we still have a bit more of it to come). It seems that people here (the few I can communicate with so may actually be a gross generalisation!) are very definite about the weather patterns. There is no "you never know with the weather" - and strangely enough, they appear to be dead on with their predictions (although not sure that is the right word since they talk with such certainty)! Man it makes a difference to how you feel when the sun comes through though - the other day I was walking back from the gym and I just stopped and closed my eyes and put my head back so my face was in the sun - it felt so good! I probably looked crazy but most likely the only person that would have seen me was the homeless man who tries to talk to me every day, but everyday I tell him I can't speak Czech (Shesky - as they call it). It doesn't seem to stop him trying to speak to me!
That brings me to my next point.... the men in the park are not friendly to me at all. When I say 'Dobry den', they almost look annoyed to see me and none of them say anything - unless of course they are young - ie up to 45 I would say... Well last Thursday I was having a great ride in the park - at least until there was 5mins left to go. Then it all turned to custard in a big way... The first issue was that my rear derailleur for no apparent reason crapped out (sorry Mum but there is no other way to term it!). I could no longer bike at all, so after trying to fix it and realising that something was pretty wrong and it needed to go into the shop, I simply sat on the seat and drifted slowly down the hill. As I was doing this a man, probably in his 50's, was walking the opposite way past me. I let out a cheery 'dobry den' (it is almost a challenge to see who will speak to me!), and he scowled at me and quickly pulled out a tissue and forcefully blew his nose on it and then took a large step towards me and threw it at me!!! I was in shock.... This is the most disgusting behaviour that I have ever seen, and I don't imagine many 5 year olds would do something so filthy. I was silent for a bit while I continued to process what had just happened, then all of a sudden the angry little person inside of me was unleashed! I was even surprised at the volume and range of expletives that were coming from my mouth (lucky you weren't there Mum!).
The disastrous end to my ride didn't finish there - I was so wild, that when I got to the stairs (that I had to carry my bike up since I couldn't ride up the hill), I was still so perturbed with what had just happened that I picked up my bike with way too much effort and the bloody thing somehow whacked me straight in the upper lip! Once I had checked I still had all my teeth, I was less concerned, but on returning home my lip had swollen to the size of half a golf ball! A bit of ice and slowly down it went, but man what a bad end to what had been an awesome day on the bike!
That night when Jase and I were talking about why this strange altercation had occurred, Jase proposed that it was probably something to do with the chauvinism (spelling?) that still seems to be rife over here (in the 50+ age bracket). This seems plausable to me given that no men in this age group will say dobry den or smile or even move out of my way when I am biking, but the old ladies are so stoked when I say dobry den to them and they most often respond with a smile! Who knows!
On Saturday we were invited to one of Jase's workmates place for lunch. They were really nice people and very hospitable. The food was delicious, and there was a constant stream of it from 1-6pm!! More food than Xmas! In the end I had to pull out the red card on more food - I was about to burst!! People here have a huge lunch. It is very common to go out for lunch during the working week for traditional Czech cuisine of dumplings, pork, and vegetables - all smothered in huge amounts of gravy - not exactly gluten free! Monica and Raf had researched 'gluten free' and had a feast prepared that was mammoth! When Monica met us she said she was shocked at our size, as she thought all NZers were very fat! Turns out she got that idea from a singer who came here who she thought was a kiwi - she told us to google the song he sings - "somewhere over the rainbow"... so we did - do the same and you will have a laugh! He is in fact Hawaian, not a kiwi! Maybe she thought she would be feeding people like him!!!
On Sunday Jase went for a mtb in the park, while I went to the gym (as my bike was at the shop) - I was gutted to be indoors as the sun was out! Then in the afternoon we took the tram into Prague and had a cruise around the city. That night we went to "Fabian's" for tea. Last time I was there I ordered steak - medium to well done.... next time I will ask for well done to burnt!! It was mooing as I was swallowing it!! This time I opted for mushroom risotto - delicious! Jase left the dinner feeling a bit tipsy - something was lost in the translation when we handed our plates and glasses to the waitor when he came to collect them... Jase said "that was really nice thankyou" - next minute the waitor darted off and returned with another 0.5L of beer for Jase!!!
For the last 2 Tuesdays I have headed into Prague for my "Traditional Indian Yoga" class. It is quite hilarious in parts, but after the first session I did feel very relaxed and slept really well for a good 3 or 4 nights afterwards. The instructor is a tiny Indian man - way smaller than me! He comes around the class (4 of us the first time, and 3 the 2nd time as it is in English) and pushes us further into the positions - he has only just grasped that I am a bit stiffer than the others in the hamstrings so my shrieking as he moves me has finally gotten through! The start of the class resembles what can only be described as an 80's aerobics class done at high speed! Apparently this is to wake our bodies up. Then 1hr of yoga poses, followed by 30mins of breathing exercises and humming Ohhhhhmmm - I am decidedly out of tune when we do this and run out of air about 5 seconds before he does - so find myself letting out a staggered m....mmmm......mmmm at the end! I hope the others can't hear me, but then again who cares - at least I am trying!! You never know - I might be a better singer after this!! yeah I know - the guy can't perform miracles!
Jase is in France at the moment. He left on Monday, and is back on Weds afternoon. I was like a stuck record before he left..."are you sure you've got your passport?"!!! I really don't like driving on the motorways over here. The quieter roads are fine.
Well not too much more to report. I will be home next Friday so will catch up with some of you sometime after that... Please order some sun!! Jase will be back on Dec 7th.
Narskaladano (goodbye)
George
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Biking to Poland!
Ahoj!
Last week was a busy one. I got my bike repaired, went to the local gym (Sports Centrum Evropska), and also ventured into the city for some yoga! I decided I needed a bit more stimulation than just riding my bike and hanging out mostly on my own, so did some research and headed into Prague on the tram enroute to an English speaking yoga class! It was soooooo awesome to be able to speak to people - even if there were just 3 of us in the class! The instructor was from the States, and there was an Australian woman who has married a Czech man and now lives here full time, and also another younger guy who wasn't a 'native' English speaker but could speak English well. The class was very different to 'Hot Flow' back home, but I felt good afterwards and actually slept really well that night. We actually did alot of breathing exercises (the ones I am always skeptical of!) but I went in with an open mind and it was actually good. I will have to have a very open mind on Tuesday when I head in again for another class (also in English) - it is traditional Indian yoga, and aparently there are 30mins of breathing exercises before the poses begin! The guy at the desk told me I would find it very very different - I will give it a crack and see what happens!
The local gym is pretty basic and is handy at only about an 800m walk from here. The clientelle are very different from the Hostivice gym. The are not all body builders with macho grunts every time they lift weights. They are generally dressed in shorts and tee shirts and doing weights for purposes other than bulking to the size of Arnie! There was one interesting outfit though - a guy in tight 3/4 pants made of sweatshirt material, and an extremely tight lycra top with half sleeves, and wait for it... a collar!!! I did have a bit of a chuckle to myself every time he walked past with his tiny little dumbells in hand!
On Thursday night, we ventured across the road from our apartment to the local restaurant 'Fabiano's' or 'Fabian's' as Jase likes to call it. Jase had been eyeing it up for a while - especially since it is named similarly to his hero! I did some research on the internet and found out that it did have an English menu available, and it also had some gluten free food! Man it was good! I had a wine (0.25L - a bit over my limit as you can imagine!), mushroom risotto and a greek salad. Jase had a beer (0.5L) and steak, veges and fries. The whole meal was around $40 NZ! Yay - now we have a local!
On Friday morning (Czech Foundation Day), Jase headed out on a run while I packed up our gear for the weekend - then we headed north to a place called Liberec (pronounced Liberetz). Apart from World War 3 on the way up (Jase was driving and I was navigating - and neither are easy when you have to drive through Prague!), we had a great weekend! We arrived in Liberec around 3pm, and went straight to our apartment. The girl who rented it out lived above us, and spoke English which helped - although today as we were leaving, she told us that our English was "not normal" and that she struggled to understand us!
On Saturday we headed further North-East - to a place called Pod Smrkem. The man in the bike shop here had recommended it when I asked him where we could go. There is a new mtb park there - called Singletrek Pod Smerken. It is a new concept in the Czech Republic - a man made park and it even has it's own designer. Funny! Alot of our tracks back home are like this! The facility was awesome - really fun fast flowing single track - heaps of it, and more being built. There is also a building that acts as a shop, mechanical help, coffee, food, and of course beer. Jase and I had a fantastic time racing around the tracks. We ran into another couple on one track who were from Poland. I said "How far is Poland from here?", and the guy laughed and told us we were in Poland! He then took us back to show us the border markings... funny! So on Saturday we biked to Poland!
When Jase and I arrived back at the shop we were totally covered in mud. Everyone else was completely clean - we couldn't understand it. We ordered a coffee each, then I asked the guy in the shop if there was anywhere we could clean our bikes. He raced inside and came out armed with a hose and a whole variety of brushes. When they heard we were from NZ they were stoked - and we became the star attraction and got the royal treatment! A group of men came over as we were cleaning our bikes - they were saying stuff in Czech and laughing at us - we had no idea what was going on, but I think it was something to do with the fact that I was holding Jase's bike as he was cleaning it, because when we swapped over (ie he held mine while I cleaned it), the laughter stopped. One of the guys spoke English, and came over and introduced himself to us. When Jase said his name was Jason, the guy looked somewhat perplexed and almost amused at the name Jason. When I told him my name he looked delighted and said "that is a very nice name". He told me that his wife was called Jane, and then said "but you are lucky - you have the T's - they are nice"! Classic!
After the ride, we headed back to Liberec - a great city, with a mountain called 'Jested' that has a huge TV tower on top. It got voted building of the year - I am not sure if that was just here in the Czech Republic, but it is a pretty awesome sight regardless. In saying that, we only saw it today as we drove out of Liberec. There was too much cloud cover on the other days.
Well I have probably waffled on for long enough now - will try to upload some photos again - aparently the last ones didn't work quite as well as I had hoped - only 3 of them enlarged sorry!!
Last week was a busy one. I got my bike repaired, went to the local gym (Sports Centrum Evropska), and also ventured into the city for some yoga! I decided I needed a bit more stimulation than just riding my bike and hanging out mostly on my own, so did some research and headed into Prague on the tram enroute to an English speaking yoga class! It was soooooo awesome to be able to speak to people - even if there were just 3 of us in the class! The instructor was from the States, and there was an Australian woman who has married a Czech man and now lives here full time, and also another younger guy who wasn't a 'native' English speaker but could speak English well. The class was very different to 'Hot Flow' back home, but I felt good afterwards and actually slept really well that night. We actually did alot of breathing exercises (the ones I am always skeptical of!) but I went in with an open mind and it was actually good. I will have to have a very open mind on Tuesday when I head in again for another class (also in English) - it is traditional Indian yoga, and aparently there are 30mins of breathing exercises before the poses begin! The guy at the desk told me I would find it very very different - I will give it a crack and see what happens!
The local gym is pretty basic and is handy at only about an 800m walk from here. The clientelle are very different from the Hostivice gym. The are not all body builders with macho grunts every time they lift weights. They are generally dressed in shorts and tee shirts and doing weights for purposes other than bulking to the size of Arnie! There was one interesting outfit though - a guy in tight 3/4 pants made of sweatshirt material, and an extremely tight lycra top with half sleeves, and wait for it... a collar!!! I did have a bit of a chuckle to myself every time he walked past with his tiny little dumbells in hand!
On Thursday night, we ventured across the road from our apartment to the local restaurant 'Fabiano's' or 'Fabian's' as Jase likes to call it. Jase had been eyeing it up for a while - especially since it is named similarly to his hero! I did some research on the internet and found out that it did have an English menu available, and it also had some gluten free food! Man it was good! I had a wine (0.25L - a bit over my limit as you can imagine!), mushroom risotto and a greek salad. Jase had a beer (0.5L) and steak, veges and fries. The whole meal was around $40 NZ! Yay - now we have a local!
On Friday morning (Czech Foundation Day), Jase headed out on a run while I packed up our gear for the weekend - then we headed north to a place called Liberec (pronounced Liberetz). Apart from World War 3 on the way up (Jase was driving and I was navigating - and neither are easy when you have to drive through Prague!), we had a great weekend! We arrived in Liberec around 3pm, and went straight to our apartment. The girl who rented it out lived above us, and spoke English which helped - although today as we were leaving, she told us that our English was "not normal" and that she struggled to understand us!
On Saturday we headed further North-East - to a place called Pod Smrkem. The man in the bike shop here had recommended it when I asked him where we could go. There is a new mtb park there - called Singletrek Pod Smerken. It is a new concept in the Czech Republic - a man made park and it even has it's own designer. Funny! Alot of our tracks back home are like this! The facility was awesome - really fun fast flowing single track - heaps of it, and more being built. There is also a building that acts as a shop, mechanical help, coffee, food, and of course beer. Jase and I had a fantastic time racing around the tracks. We ran into another couple on one track who were from Poland. I said "How far is Poland from here?", and the guy laughed and told us we were in Poland! He then took us back to show us the border markings... funny! So on Saturday we biked to Poland!
When Jase and I arrived back at the shop we were totally covered in mud. Everyone else was completely clean - we couldn't understand it. We ordered a coffee each, then I asked the guy in the shop if there was anywhere we could clean our bikes. He raced inside and came out armed with a hose and a whole variety of brushes. When they heard we were from NZ they were stoked - and we became the star attraction and got the royal treatment! A group of men came over as we were cleaning our bikes - they were saying stuff in Czech and laughing at us - we had no idea what was going on, but I think it was something to do with the fact that I was holding Jase's bike as he was cleaning it, because when we swapped over (ie he held mine while I cleaned it), the laughter stopped. One of the guys spoke English, and came over and introduced himself to us. When Jase said his name was Jason, the guy looked somewhat perplexed and almost amused at the name Jason. When I told him my name he looked delighted and said "that is a very nice name". He told me that his wife was called Jane, and then said "but you are lucky - you have the T's - they are nice"! Classic!
After the ride, we headed back to Liberec - a great city, with a mountain called 'Jested' that has a huge TV tower on top. It got voted building of the year - I am not sure if that was just here in the Czech Republic, but it is a pretty awesome sight regardless. In saying that, we only saw it today as we drove out of Liberec. There was too much cloud cover on the other days.
Well I have probably waffled on for long enough now - will try to upload some photos again - aparently the last ones didn't work quite as well as I had hoped - only 3 of them enlarged sorry!!
Oh yes - the same thing has happened - now only the first 2 photos enlarge...hmmmm I will get to the bottom of this soon. Technology is not my strong point.
Hope all is well back home
J
Hope all is well back home
J
Monday, October 24, 2011
Update
Dobry den
I have been a bit slack sorry... Now just trying to think what we have done in the last wee while...
Oh I had my first drive in Prague - it all started fairly smoothly. I had to take Jase to the airport early last week as he had to fly to Paris for a meeting somewhere outside of Paris. I was a little nervous as the car is quite confusing for a start. It doesn't have a key - instead you insert the 'thing' (don't know what else to call it) into a slot 3 clicks, then foot on the brake and the car starts. The handbrake is a press button (still can't work out if you pull or press it), and the car turns off completely when you stop at the lights etc (quite off-putting). When you lift your foot off the brake it goes again. The drive to the airport went well, despite the darkness and rain, and of course the crazy drivers on the motorways here. Then on the way back I received a panicked call from Jase - he had left his passport at home..... AAAAAHHHHHHHHH - My leisurely 'get used to the car' drive turned into a major speeding panic! I raced home (thank god I didn't get lost this time) and then sprinted inside and got the passport, and then hooned back to the airport as fast as I could. Luckily for me, 50km/hr zones didn't seem to mean anything to anyone else on the road either. I made it - just! Jase came racing over to the car and turfed his toilet bag in and grabbed his passport and ran! Luckily he only had a small bag so could take it carry-on. I would have perhaps been annoyed, had I not been so focused on the task at hand! He did send me a text afterwards telling me I was a legend. I simply responded...I know!
That afternoon, since I had the car I went to the Zlicin mall and had a Starbucks. I am still unimpressed with the luke warm beverages they serve here - but I used to love Starbucks so I was willing to give it another try. It failed me - again!
Since it was pouring with rain I went back to the Hostivice gym. Wow what a display of crazyness in there that day! The owner looks like he has had far too many steroids, and marches round the place in the normal wide legged, arms out, body builder strut. This day, it was a lunchtime, and a whole group of similarly built 'gym men' came in. I have never heard so much macho grunting in my life! One guy was doing DB bench press - and also had a spotter - but proceeded to drop the heavy weights from supine bench height to the floor at the end of each set (after letting out a huge grunt). It was bizarre - why he didn't hand them to his spotter I will never know! Luckily the floors over here are super thick and strong! I didn't see many women come in to the gym, but the ones I did seemed to be caked in makeup, and really looking the part. I guess that's why I was getting some odd stares as I had sweat running off my arms onto the floor when I was on the exercycle for an hour dressed in my old running gear. Maybe I am supposed to 'glow' rather then sweat!
Last Friday I went on a mega adventure ride in the country forests. It was awesome, but man was it cold! The weather here is now like mid-winter in Christchurch - as cold as we would ever get (maybe colder). Unfortunately coming down a steep rocky descent, a big rock flicked up and broke a spoke on my front wheel....grrrr! The wheels lasted for the rest of my ride luckily, or it could have been a long walk home. Finally I have succombed to the fact that I need new training wheels. I have been told by the bike shop for at least 2 years, that they are stuffed. The back hub is so buckled that I can feel it wobbling when I ride. Luckily we now know a guy at the bike shop in Hostivice who speaks good English. Tomorrow I will bike in, and run home. I hope they can sort it all pretty quickly as we are planning to go away this weekend on a mtb adventure.
On Saturday we went into Prague again. We went to the castle and just generally had a look around. It was soooooooo cold that we both had to wear gloves, jackets etc - and we were still far too cold. I don't think I would cope here in winter - glad I am returning home for summer! On Sunday (after watching the All Blacks on the internet - wow - too stressful!! Great result though) we went for a run in the park, and then went to Zlicin to try and find a camera attachment - YES!!! We have one - I will see if I can do it without Jase....
Hope all is well back home.
J
Oh PS: The language over here just got crazier... we live in Liboc (Leebock we thought). Turns out it is prounced Leebotz. How does that work? Hostivice (Hostivitza). Oh and the guy at the bikeshop is Jiri (get this....yearjee). I give up...
PPS: Dear god the photos worked!!! All by myself too. Very proud. I won't tell you how long it took me though!!
An explanation of photos moving from top left to right....
1) Men's stair section of cyclocross race in Plzen - was very steep
2) Our apartment complex - we are on the 1st floor in the block you can see on the right
3) Jase in central Prague (or Praha if you are a local)
4) Church in Prague (we are not yet cultured enough to find out what everything is called)
5) Central Prague taken on the walk down from the Castle (amazing to think I couldn't have walked up there last year!)
6) The church in Hostivice taken from our bedroom window in the Penzion we initially stayed in
7) Me in Central Prague - Charles Bridge in the background
8) This is an example of the jumble of letters that are Czech words - a road sign - have no idea what it means - this justifies getting lost as the place names look similar so you just don't remember what the signs say!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Drawers at last!!
Dobry den (dobree den) - means hello in more formal speak than Ahoj....
Well as of Friday we are unpacked and living out of drawers for the first time since Feb 22nd!! Yay!!! Yes we moved into our apartment on Friday afternoon, and we love it here. We are only about 800m from the Divoka Sarka park and just short of that from the tram stop.
Moving in wasn't without its dramas however. Jase had managed to negotiate 5000 CZK (about $350 NZ) worth of kitchenware as the kitchen was not equipt. The deal was we were to buy all the stuff we needed (plates, cutlery, pots etc) for 5000 CZK and they would deduct this value from the first lot of rent. So.... off we went to a huge home department store called IKEA (kind of like Bunnings on steroids). After my experience there I won't ever go back! The place was packed for a start, and the store is set up like some form of crazy treasure hunt where you have to follow the arrows, floor markings etc throughout every section of the entire store (which is ridiculously huge) to reach the long queues at the checkout.
We found a trolley and loaded it with all the stuff we needed and headed to the counter (a good hour or so later....). The heating in the shop was crazy, and I was getting pretty damn hot by the time I got to the counter. When the checkout girl reached our final item - a pillow (there was only 1 in the apartment), she starting talking to us and pointing at the labels and shaking her head.... "Mluvite Anglicky?" we asked. "Ne" as the usual response... then she rang someone who came and explained that we could not buy it as it was a display item and that we must buy another one...
Then - typical of Jase going for the most easy and not to mention least embarrassing option (he said I was good at the latter!), suggested he take the rest of the stuff to the car and I go back in that god forsaken place to find another pillow.... Lets just cut a heck of a long story short by saying that 45mins later I resurfaced from that store with a bloody pillow - Jase had come into the shop (just inside the exit mind you - he wasn't game to venture any further), and laughed at me as I walked towards him (he said he was initially getting angry because I was taking so long, but then started to find the ridiculousness of it all quite funny). I simply said to him "don't talk to me, I am very close to tears right now". And sad to say it - I was! That shop had broken me! I had managed to get lost on the first trip back to find the pillow and had somehow done 2 laps. Then upon finding a pillow, I had waited for friggin ages in the checkout - only to reach the counter and have the same thing happen - unfortunately for me, this new checkout lady, turned to ask the previous one we had been to if she spoke english - the girl just looked up and kind of rolled her eyes. Meanwhile some lady in the back of the queue stepped forward to explain to me that I must buy one folded and packaged. By this stage I was so hot (made worse by the embarrassment), that I actually had sweat running down the side of my face. Anyway - 3rd time... I got it right. I need to talk about something else now - this story is winding me up...!
On Saturday Jase and I drove to a town called Tocna and went for a good mtb ride. There are heaps of cool tracks, but we were not really dressed for the 1 degree temperature the ride began in! (the apartment is so well heated that you kind of forget it is cold outside!). As we were finishing our ride we caught up to 3 young boys who were biking on free-ride bikes. I had seen a clip on 'you tube' filmed in a free-ride park in Tocna, so asked them if they spoke English - and the oldest boy did, so offered to take us there. With that, we were off!! The little geezer took off at high speed, leaving Jase groaning that "the little whipper-snapper is kicking our arse"!! We were tired at the end of our ride, so it was hard work keeping up! When we got there I was gutted to see that there was absolutely no chance I would be able to ride the jumps etc in the park. They sure look alot smaller on video!
Sat afternoon, we caught the tram into central Prague. What a beautiful city. I loved it. Everything is so old - just awesome. We had a good walk around and it helped that it was a beautiful day. Then dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (true Czech cuisine!!).
Today we went to a place called Plzen (Pilsen - made famous due to Pilsner beer). Here we watched a World Cup Cyclo Cross race - truly awesome. I had never seen a cyclo cross race before - short and very very intense. The womens race (40mins) was won by American Katherine Compton, and the men (race of just over an hour) had a 3 way tussle for first - eventually won by Belgian Sven Nys.
Tonight we asked our neighbour to come over and help us sort out the internet (she speaks English so very handy!). She thought we were Americans. When we told her we were from NZ, she was so much more delighted, and promptly went to her home and got us some cake! Obviously she wasn't such a fan of Americans!!!
That is pretty much enough waffle for now. Jase assures me he will help with photos soon.
J
Well as of Friday we are unpacked and living out of drawers for the first time since Feb 22nd!! Yay!!! Yes we moved into our apartment on Friday afternoon, and we love it here. We are only about 800m from the Divoka Sarka park and just short of that from the tram stop.
Moving in wasn't without its dramas however. Jase had managed to negotiate 5000 CZK (about $350 NZ) worth of kitchenware as the kitchen was not equipt. The deal was we were to buy all the stuff we needed (plates, cutlery, pots etc) for 5000 CZK and they would deduct this value from the first lot of rent. So.... off we went to a huge home department store called IKEA (kind of like Bunnings on steroids). After my experience there I won't ever go back! The place was packed for a start, and the store is set up like some form of crazy treasure hunt where you have to follow the arrows, floor markings etc throughout every section of the entire store (which is ridiculously huge) to reach the long queues at the checkout.
We found a trolley and loaded it with all the stuff we needed and headed to the counter (a good hour or so later....). The heating in the shop was crazy, and I was getting pretty damn hot by the time I got to the counter. When the checkout girl reached our final item - a pillow (there was only 1 in the apartment), she starting talking to us and pointing at the labels and shaking her head.... "Mluvite Anglicky?" we asked. "Ne" as the usual response... then she rang someone who came and explained that we could not buy it as it was a display item and that we must buy another one...
Then - typical of Jase going for the most easy and not to mention least embarrassing option (he said I was good at the latter!), suggested he take the rest of the stuff to the car and I go back in that god forsaken place to find another pillow.... Lets just cut a heck of a long story short by saying that 45mins later I resurfaced from that store with a bloody pillow - Jase had come into the shop (just inside the exit mind you - he wasn't game to venture any further), and laughed at me as I walked towards him (he said he was initially getting angry because I was taking so long, but then started to find the ridiculousness of it all quite funny). I simply said to him "don't talk to me, I am very close to tears right now". And sad to say it - I was! That shop had broken me! I had managed to get lost on the first trip back to find the pillow and had somehow done 2 laps. Then upon finding a pillow, I had waited for friggin ages in the checkout - only to reach the counter and have the same thing happen - unfortunately for me, this new checkout lady, turned to ask the previous one we had been to if she spoke english - the girl just looked up and kind of rolled her eyes. Meanwhile some lady in the back of the queue stepped forward to explain to me that I must buy one folded and packaged. By this stage I was so hot (made worse by the embarrassment), that I actually had sweat running down the side of my face. Anyway - 3rd time... I got it right. I need to talk about something else now - this story is winding me up...!
On Saturday Jase and I drove to a town called Tocna and went for a good mtb ride. There are heaps of cool tracks, but we were not really dressed for the 1 degree temperature the ride began in! (the apartment is so well heated that you kind of forget it is cold outside!). As we were finishing our ride we caught up to 3 young boys who were biking on free-ride bikes. I had seen a clip on 'you tube' filmed in a free-ride park in Tocna, so asked them if they spoke English - and the oldest boy did, so offered to take us there. With that, we were off!! The little geezer took off at high speed, leaving Jase groaning that "the little whipper-snapper is kicking our arse"!! We were tired at the end of our ride, so it was hard work keeping up! When we got there I was gutted to see that there was absolutely no chance I would be able to ride the jumps etc in the park. They sure look alot smaller on video!
Sat afternoon, we caught the tram into central Prague. What a beautiful city. I loved it. Everything is so old - just awesome. We had a good walk around and it helped that it was a beautiful day. Then dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (true Czech cuisine!!).
Today we went to a place called Plzen (Pilsen - made famous due to Pilsner beer). Here we watched a World Cup Cyclo Cross race - truly awesome. I had never seen a cyclo cross race before - short and very very intense. The womens race (40mins) was won by American Katherine Compton, and the men (race of just over an hour) had a 3 way tussle for first - eventually won by Belgian Sven Nys.
Tonight we asked our neighbour to come over and help us sort out the internet (she speaks English so very handy!). She thought we were Americans. When we told her we were from NZ, she was so much more delighted, and promptly went to her home and got us some cake! Obviously she wasn't such a fan of Americans!!!
That is pretty much enough waffle for now. Jase assures me he will help with photos soon.
J
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Humiliation in the supermarket, told off in the movies... what next!!
Ahoj sailors!
The weather has turned! Yesterday a mighty 7 degrees, and today not too much warmer! Can't believe that only 4 days ago I was biking in short sleeves and shorts!
On Friday I went in to Slany with Jase (the town where he works). Ivana from Jase's work took us in to the local bank for us to set up a Czech account. What a fiasco - 2hrs later, and about 10 trees used in the process.... Then we went to the local vodafone shop for me to get a Czech sim card. Now I have a Czech number for while I am here so texting and calling Jase (me only mate!) won't cost me so much.
Whilst in Slany we also went out for lunch with Ivana. It was good having her there to read us the menu, and of course order me my standard European option of salad and fries! Very nice though. Then Jase and Ivana went back to work and I had some time to fill in before Jase finished work so I could get a ride home (Slany is 20mins drive on a motorway from the outskirts of Prague - I was going to bike back on the country roads but thought the 36km journey according to google may actually turn out to be at least 100km with my navigation so thought better of it!).
I decided to go and check out the big Kaufland supermarket, and get some stuff for dinner. I always find the supermarkets over here so interesting as they have so much different stuff in them. Anyway when I finally got to the counter (the place was packed as it was Friday afternoon), I made a complete idiot of myself by managing to smash an entire glass bottle of balsamic vinegar everywhere!! The woman at the counter was talking to me 100 miles an hour in Czech, and everyone in the store was staring at me - probably didn't help that by this stage I was redder than the local beetroot! I composed myself enough to pull out " mluvite anglicky" (pronounced mlooveeta unglitzky - "do you speak English") - unfortunately for me the checkout woman said "ne" (as in 'near' - meaning no!). She then shouted "Anglicky" to all the other checkout operators, and to the customers in all the queues - there was a chorus response of "ne" all around the store! Humiliation at it's finest!!!
Finally I figured out that I was meant to go and get another bottle, so ran to the other end of the supermarket (making me hotter and redder!) to get another one - then raced back to find that the woman was waiting for me and even though I had paid, she had not served anyone else in the ever growing queue! I made a gesture offering to clean the mess and pay for the new bottle, but she said "ne" and shoo'd me off in the direction of the exit! I walked back to Jase's work chuckling to myself the whole way - what a disgrace! I don't know how these things happen to me!
On Saturday Jase and I headed South to czech out (humour) some of the forest trails. It was wet and freezing (7 degrees!) so went for a run instead of a bike. There is forest everywhere here - lots of tracks too (4 wheel drive mainly but some single track). Today (Sunday) we went for a mtb in the forest near here. It was raining and cold again but good fun. Then we took our laundry into a shop in the shopping mall (the website told us they did washing as well as drycleaning). Unfortunately when there the woman at the desk spoke no English as is the norm here - luckily she knew someone who spoke some English so rang her on her cell phone - it was classic. I spoke to the lady on the phone who then spoke to the woman at the counter - the phone was passed back and forth several times and finally our laundry is there being done for us and we pick it up tomorrow - thank goodness as we were really starting to run out of clothes! We couldn't find a 'laundromat' as such.
Then we headed to Starbucks! Yes we found one - in fact there are several. I need to have words with them over here though (not that they will understand my words) - they don't serve their drinks hot enough.
After Starbucks we sussed out a movie theatre. It was raining outside and cold so I broke my rule of never attending the movies during the day. Some movies over here are run in English with Czech subtitles, and some are dubbed over in Czech. We saw an English one (obviously!) - 'Friends with Benefits' - a bit grim at the start but got better - and to be honest anything in English is exciting for us right now! There were only 6 of us in the theatre watching the movie, and just before it started the ussher came walking in up the stairs headed for Jase and I. When he got to me, he blurted out a whole lot of Czech and gestured for me to move my legs from the seat in front (as if it mattered - only my calves where resting on the back of the seat in front) - Jase just shook his head. Told off in the movies - what next!
We are pretty sure the apartment is ours - but the process seems to be at the same rate of knots as setting up a bank acct. We have a contract but the woman is away until Weds so hopefully we can move in later this week. Meanwhile this week I will attempt to not get lost, not embarrass myself, and not get told off! Here's hoping...
Well that's pretty much all from here
Hope all of you in Chch are ok after another doozie aftershock! Think we have had enough of them now.
Take care
J
The weather has turned! Yesterday a mighty 7 degrees, and today not too much warmer! Can't believe that only 4 days ago I was biking in short sleeves and shorts!
On Friday I went in to Slany with Jase (the town where he works). Ivana from Jase's work took us in to the local bank for us to set up a Czech account. What a fiasco - 2hrs later, and about 10 trees used in the process.... Then we went to the local vodafone shop for me to get a Czech sim card. Now I have a Czech number for while I am here so texting and calling Jase (me only mate!) won't cost me so much.
Whilst in Slany we also went out for lunch with Ivana. It was good having her there to read us the menu, and of course order me my standard European option of salad and fries! Very nice though. Then Jase and Ivana went back to work and I had some time to fill in before Jase finished work so I could get a ride home (Slany is 20mins drive on a motorway from the outskirts of Prague - I was going to bike back on the country roads but thought the 36km journey according to google may actually turn out to be at least 100km with my navigation so thought better of it!).
I decided to go and check out the big Kaufland supermarket, and get some stuff for dinner. I always find the supermarkets over here so interesting as they have so much different stuff in them. Anyway when I finally got to the counter (the place was packed as it was Friday afternoon), I made a complete idiot of myself by managing to smash an entire glass bottle of balsamic vinegar everywhere!! The woman at the counter was talking to me 100 miles an hour in Czech, and everyone in the store was staring at me - probably didn't help that by this stage I was redder than the local beetroot! I composed myself enough to pull out " mluvite anglicky" (pronounced mlooveeta unglitzky - "do you speak English") - unfortunately for me the checkout woman said "ne" (as in 'near' - meaning no!). She then shouted "Anglicky" to all the other checkout operators, and to the customers in all the queues - there was a chorus response of "ne" all around the store! Humiliation at it's finest!!!
Finally I figured out that I was meant to go and get another bottle, so ran to the other end of the supermarket (making me hotter and redder!) to get another one - then raced back to find that the woman was waiting for me and even though I had paid, she had not served anyone else in the ever growing queue! I made a gesture offering to clean the mess and pay for the new bottle, but she said "ne" and shoo'd me off in the direction of the exit! I walked back to Jase's work chuckling to myself the whole way - what a disgrace! I don't know how these things happen to me!
On Saturday Jase and I headed South to czech out (humour) some of the forest trails. It was wet and freezing (7 degrees!) so went for a run instead of a bike. There is forest everywhere here - lots of tracks too (4 wheel drive mainly but some single track). Today (Sunday) we went for a mtb in the forest near here. It was raining and cold again but good fun. Then we took our laundry into a shop in the shopping mall (the website told us they did washing as well as drycleaning). Unfortunately when there the woman at the desk spoke no English as is the norm here - luckily she knew someone who spoke some English so rang her on her cell phone - it was classic. I spoke to the lady on the phone who then spoke to the woman at the counter - the phone was passed back and forth several times and finally our laundry is there being done for us and we pick it up tomorrow - thank goodness as we were really starting to run out of clothes! We couldn't find a 'laundromat' as such.
Then we headed to Starbucks! Yes we found one - in fact there are several. I need to have words with them over here though (not that they will understand my words) - they don't serve their drinks hot enough.
After Starbucks we sussed out a movie theatre. It was raining outside and cold so I broke my rule of never attending the movies during the day. Some movies over here are run in English with Czech subtitles, and some are dubbed over in Czech. We saw an English one (obviously!) - 'Friends with Benefits' - a bit grim at the start but got better - and to be honest anything in English is exciting for us right now! There were only 6 of us in the theatre watching the movie, and just before it started the ussher came walking in up the stairs headed for Jase and I. When he got to me, he blurted out a whole lot of Czech and gestured for me to move my legs from the seat in front (as if it mattered - only my calves where resting on the back of the seat in front) - Jase just shook his head. Told off in the movies - what next!
We are pretty sure the apartment is ours - but the process seems to be at the same rate of knots as setting up a bank acct. We have a contract but the woman is away until Weds so hopefully we can move in later this week. Meanwhile this week I will attempt to not get lost, not embarrass myself, and not get told off! Here's hoping...
Well that's pretty much all from here
Hope all of you in Chch are ok after another doozie aftershock! Think we have had enough of them now.
Take care
J
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Lost...
Hi all - sorry no photos yet. We lost the camera attachments in the move after the EQ so once we have new ones we can put some photos up.
Yesterday was filled with viewing apartments. We think we have found one - and very near a cool park (Divoka Sarka) where we went for a fun ride the day before. Jase is negotiating the price at the moment (standard practise over here), but looks like it will be confirmed tomorrow. Yay! I love the location and the apartment is nice.
Today was Jase's first day at work. It has turned out to be an epic - so he is pretty tired. I got up to let Jase out of the building in the morning (3 separate doors to unlock, and we only have one set of keys). I then set about doing some hand washing. There are no washing facilities here which is not ideal when exercising each day!
Today was my first attempt at navigating my way on my own around Prague. We can't seem to find a detailed road map of Prague anywhere, so I used 'google directions' to guide me to a park that has some mtb single track - called Prokopske Udoli. I decided to tell google I was on foot rather than driving so to avoid any major highways. I wrote down all the instructions very carefully, as I knew getting lost here could be a disaster!
I set off on my ride at around 9am... all good for a start.... but then not so good! Let's just say a 13.7km ride to the park ended up taking me 3hrs (i.e., not 13.7km!). In my defence it is so hard here as the streets are really poorly sign posted - coupled with the fact that nobody I asked (about 50 people all up!) could speak English, and when I showed them the names of the streets on the paper they had no idea where they were anyway! I even stopped at a bus stop and asked a girl (who did speak a little English) what the busy street (2 lanes each way) where she was catching the bus was called - she had no idea! I was so frustrated that I then proceeded up the line of people waiting for the bus and asked them one by one and none of them knew! Unfortunately the bus driver wasn't there at that stage. I was getting severely frustrated by now, and by the time I asked the 5th person in the line and got a shrug of the shoulders, I said "Oh Jesus" out loud! I had had a guts full and wondered if I would ever find the park, and worse still, get home again!!
When I got to the park I just wanted to get off my bike and go home I was so annoyed! But I had made considerable effort to get there so biked for a good 2 hrs there - it was ok, but not as good as the Sarka park we had biked 2 days earlier. My thoughts of it were probably somewhat tainted however by the ordeal to get there. I won't go back by bike as the roads were scary! Cars were zooming past me at about 130 km/hr! - and that was the 'quiet' route!
By the time I got home it was 3.30pm! Tomorrow I will go somewhere quieter (i.e., the country).
Not much more to report for now. Hope to get my bearings soon. I can't be riding for this long every day!
J
Yesterday was filled with viewing apartments. We think we have found one - and very near a cool park (Divoka Sarka) where we went for a fun ride the day before. Jase is negotiating the price at the moment (standard practise over here), but looks like it will be confirmed tomorrow. Yay! I love the location and the apartment is nice.
Today was Jase's first day at work. It has turned out to be an epic - so he is pretty tired. I got up to let Jase out of the building in the morning (3 separate doors to unlock, and we only have one set of keys). I then set about doing some hand washing. There are no washing facilities here which is not ideal when exercising each day!
Today was my first attempt at navigating my way on my own around Prague. We can't seem to find a detailed road map of Prague anywhere, so I used 'google directions' to guide me to a park that has some mtb single track - called Prokopske Udoli. I decided to tell google I was on foot rather than driving so to avoid any major highways. I wrote down all the instructions very carefully, as I knew getting lost here could be a disaster!
I set off on my ride at around 9am... all good for a start.... but then not so good! Let's just say a 13.7km ride to the park ended up taking me 3hrs (i.e., not 13.7km!). In my defence it is so hard here as the streets are really poorly sign posted - coupled with the fact that nobody I asked (about 50 people all up!) could speak English, and when I showed them the names of the streets on the paper they had no idea where they were anyway! I even stopped at a bus stop and asked a girl (who did speak a little English) what the busy street (2 lanes each way) where she was catching the bus was called - she had no idea! I was so frustrated that I then proceeded up the line of people waiting for the bus and asked them one by one and none of them knew! Unfortunately the bus driver wasn't there at that stage. I was getting severely frustrated by now, and by the time I asked the 5th person in the line and got a shrug of the shoulders, I said "Oh Jesus" out loud! I had had a guts full and wondered if I would ever find the park, and worse still, get home again!!
When I got to the park I just wanted to get off my bike and go home I was so annoyed! But I had made considerable effort to get there so biked for a good 2 hrs there - it was ok, but not as good as the Sarka park we had biked 2 days earlier. My thoughts of it were probably somewhat tainted however by the ordeal to get there. I won't go back by bike as the roads were scary! Cars were zooming past me at about 130 km/hr! - and that was the 'quiet' route!
By the time I got home it was 3.30pm! Tomorrow I will go somewhere quieter (i.e., the country).
Not much more to report for now. Hope to get my bearings soon. I can't be riding for this long every day!
J
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Ahoj from Prague!
Ahoj (pronounced A-hoy as in sailor-speak)
We are finally here. What a mega trip it was to get here! We had smooth flights, and not too many dramas with our excess luggage. The only issue really was trying to negotiate the transfer of all of our stuff via train to Terminal 5 at Heathrow (we ended up having to collect our luggage in London and recheck it in - it was the most cost effective option with excess luggage).
Pavel (one of Jase's workmates) met us at the airport last night, and sorted a taxi van for us. The taxi driver then followed Pavel to the penzion (apartment) where we are staying. We were so exhausted that we had very quick showers and just crashed afterwards. Poor Jase woke at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep - it didn't help that the Saturday market began setting up at this time right outside our bedroom window! Luckily for me, I was oblivious to all of this and managed to sleep through until 8am. We went to the supermarket just up the road to attempt to find some breakfast food - not so easy when you are gluten free and there are about 6 or 7 languages detailing the ingredients on most foods - but not many seem to include English! So I had rice crackers and banana. We did have a small faux pas (who knows if that is how you spell 'fo par' but I am far too tired to care at this stage!) - when we thought we were buying a bottle of water each, but somehow ended up with some horrible sweet fizzy stuff - yuck - not ideal at breakfast time...
Pavel met us at the supermarket, and then we drove to get his car because the car Pavel was driving is Jase's work car - so now we have wheels! Not that it did us any good mind you... we have just been on a drive to look at the area we hope to rent an apartment in - we could not find it at all - when we came back and googled some of the bundles of letters (that are Czech words) off sign posts, we realised we were nowhere near the place where we wanted to be... I am hoping it is just the tiredness! It better be, or I will be in a hell of alot of trouble with my poor sense of direction when I hit the roads on my bike!
So far, we have not found anyone at all who speaks English! We have been to 2 supermarkets, a hippy shop (ie - gluten free goods), a coffee shop, and a bike shop - all the staff were young but alas no English at all. Not even the taxi driver. Oh well it will be a challenge!
Not much else to report... the weather is great - 25 degrees today - and not a cloud in the sky. Our penzion is very nice - in a really quiet area, which is a good place to start. I am trying to psych up for a run, but tiredness seems to be winning... Too scared to open my bike at the moment - the case was standing upright when we were waiting for the train at Heathrow, and it got blown over and landed with a huge crash flat on it's side... I guess it has been through worse in it's time...
Ahoj (handy as 'hello' and 'goodbye' come in one... only to friends though - so probably easier not to talk to strangers at this point!)
J
We are finally here. What a mega trip it was to get here! We had smooth flights, and not too many dramas with our excess luggage. The only issue really was trying to negotiate the transfer of all of our stuff via train to Terminal 5 at Heathrow (we ended up having to collect our luggage in London and recheck it in - it was the most cost effective option with excess luggage).
Pavel (one of Jase's workmates) met us at the airport last night, and sorted a taxi van for us. The taxi driver then followed Pavel to the penzion (apartment) where we are staying. We were so exhausted that we had very quick showers and just crashed afterwards. Poor Jase woke at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep - it didn't help that the Saturday market began setting up at this time right outside our bedroom window! Luckily for me, I was oblivious to all of this and managed to sleep through until 8am. We went to the supermarket just up the road to attempt to find some breakfast food - not so easy when you are gluten free and there are about 6 or 7 languages detailing the ingredients on most foods - but not many seem to include English! So I had rice crackers and banana. We did have a small faux pas (who knows if that is how you spell 'fo par' but I am far too tired to care at this stage!) - when we thought we were buying a bottle of water each, but somehow ended up with some horrible sweet fizzy stuff - yuck - not ideal at breakfast time...
Pavel met us at the supermarket, and then we drove to get his car because the car Pavel was driving is Jase's work car - so now we have wheels! Not that it did us any good mind you... we have just been on a drive to look at the area we hope to rent an apartment in - we could not find it at all - when we came back and googled some of the bundles of letters (that are Czech words) off sign posts, we realised we were nowhere near the place where we wanted to be... I am hoping it is just the tiredness! It better be, or I will be in a hell of alot of trouble with my poor sense of direction when I hit the roads on my bike!
So far, we have not found anyone at all who speaks English! We have been to 2 supermarkets, a hippy shop (ie - gluten free goods), a coffee shop, and a bike shop - all the staff were young but alas no English at all. Not even the taxi driver. Oh well it will be a challenge!
Not much else to report... the weather is great - 25 degrees today - and not a cloud in the sky. Our penzion is very nice - in a really quiet area, which is a good place to start. I am trying to psych up for a run, but tiredness seems to be winning... Too scared to open my bike at the moment - the case was standing upright when we were waiting for the train at Heathrow, and it got blown over and landed with a huge crash flat on it's side... I guess it has been through worse in it's time...
Ahoj (handy as 'hello' and 'goodbye' come in one... only to friends though - so probably easier not to talk to strangers at this point!)
J
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Czech mate Christchurch! - for now anyway....
Just thought I would start this blog again as we are about to embark on a new exciting adventure! It is much easier than sending everyone individual emails, and this way you can check what we are up to, but only if you want to!
It has been a crazy year due to mother nature disrupting our beautiful city...
Luckily for us, we have a great sister and sister-in-law who has put up with us for a loooooooonnnng time! I think she now refers to her spare room as 'Jeanette and Jason's room' - as do we!
Anyway - Christine is about to get her spare room back (for a while at least!)... Jase has a new job as General Manager of Wyma Europe - based in the Czech Republic! So we are off next Thursday (29th Sept). We will stay in an apartment/hotel for the first wee while - until we find an apartment of our own. At this stage we are looking to live in Prague - or at least on the outskirts of Prague. It will be a challenge no doubt at times, but an awesome experience/opportunity none the less.
Today is my last day of work at SportsMed. I have loved being back at work, after the issues of last year. Julian referred to me yesterday though as a "boomerang physio" - one who seems to leave often but always comes back! Maybe....!
My next blog will be from the other side of the world... hope the weather isn't getting too cold!
Jeanette
It has been a crazy year due to mother nature disrupting our beautiful city...
Luckily for us, we have a great sister and sister-in-law who has put up with us for a loooooooonnnng time! I think she now refers to her spare room as 'Jeanette and Jason's room' - as do we!
Anyway - Christine is about to get her spare room back (for a while at least!)... Jase has a new job as General Manager of Wyma Europe - based in the Czech Republic! So we are off next Thursday (29th Sept). We will stay in an apartment/hotel for the first wee while - until we find an apartment of our own. At this stage we are looking to live in Prague - or at least on the outskirts of Prague. It will be a challenge no doubt at times, but an awesome experience/opportunity none the less.
Today is my last day of work at SportsMed. I have loved being back at work, after the issues of last year. Julian referred to me yesterday though as a "boomerang physio" - one who seems to leave often but always comes back! Maybe....!
My next blog will be from the other side of the world... hope the weather isn't getting too cold!
Jeanette
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