Through The Back Door

"Travel is intensified living--maximum thrills per minute and one of the last great sources of legal adventure. Travel is freedom. It's recess, and we need it." ~Rick Steves, Europe Through The Back Door

Feb 10, 2013
Bebebeep! Bebebeep! My alarm clock blared. I reached up to the shelf over my head and turned it off. Sitting up and staring through the fog in my eyes, I saw a stunned face sitting up and staring at me from the other bed.

“I’m Zach,” I kind of half said, half moaned through a stretch.

“Aaron,” he said a little startled from the wake up.

That had to be the most awkward way we could have done that introduction.

As I sat in the lobby about thirty minutes later waiting for Ivana, a few realities set in.

~I’d hugged my parents for the last time for several months. Where was I supposed to go if I needed a hug or a little support?

~I had no wifi. I couldn’t share pictures, tell stories, this blog I’d created was going to be useless. For all these people I wanted to Skype, I had no way of doing so.

~I had no cell phone or way of contacting anyone. I was trusting Ivana—whom I had met for maybe 4 hours the night before—was going to show up to take me grocery shopping. If she didn’t, what was I supposed to do?

~NO ONE seemed to speak English. What happened to this “everyone knows English” promise I’d been told? How was I supposed to get money, find a bathroom, get water, etc.

What amazed me was that as soon as these fears popped into my head, so did words of comfort. I heard a small voice in my brain saying, “This is only now. It will pass.” This revelation shocked me. What happened to panicked, controlling, anxiety attack Zach? Something about me was changing…I liked it.

Surely enough, Ivana showed up. “I am sorry I am late. I oversleep this morning.”

As we walked outside, it was the first time I got a good view of Prague in the daylight. It was overcast, but the sun was peeking through the clouds. The buildings were fascinating. This part of Prague I am staying in was built by the communist party when Prague was occupied after WWII. They are stereotypical concrete buildings, just like you would imagine from a textbook. They do have some charm in their own way. Over the past years, the locals have tried to dress them up a bit. This has been more or less successful. There are several that are very colorful, which makes the others look even more communistic.

Ivana and I walked to the supermarket which was just a few blocks away (not going to guess the distance in meters.) As we walked Ivana asked me questions about America and I asked her for some clarification on Czech history—mostly dealing with the communist buildings I saw around me.

When we arrived at the supermarket, I went up the cart corral and started to pull out a card. It was chained to the cart ahead of it.

“You have to put coin in this box,” Ivana said, pointing to a coin slot in the main handle. “Is not like this back home”

“No!” I said, although it made sense to me. The coin was returned to you when you returned the cart. It would definitely cut down on cart theft from grocery stores.

The inside wasn’t so different from a US supermarket, yet it was. The entire store was a maze. There was one central aisle, with a few loops that branched off but eventually lead back to the central path. You came in at one door, and exited from another. While they were close to each other, there was no way to get immediately to the exit without either going around the store and through check-out, or just blatantly going in the wrong way.

The departments of the store were all similar. It started with produce, went on to dry goods, then meat, then breads, then dairy, followed by drinks, and ending with soaps/laundry/dishes etc.

I have to say, grocery shopping was the most entertaining process. It turned into very much a guessing game between Ivana and I. I would say something like, “where would I find oatmeal”

“I do not know this word ‘oatmeal’?” she would respond.

“It’s like grains and you mix it with warm water or milk and it becomes kind of soup-like but thicker,” I described.

“Oh yes, we have this," she would say and rush off to show me where it was.

Everything we bought we went through a conversation like this.

“You need meat,” she said. “This one comes from pig. This one comes from cow. This one,” pointing to what looked like a salami-like product, “well, I don’t know where this one comes from.”

Occasionally she would grab a few items and toss them into my cart saying, “I like to eat this. I think you will like it.” I was all for trying anything she recommended. While I did see a few brands I recognized like ‘Cinnamon Toast Crunch’ I was more interested in trying what the locals ate (although ‘Cinnamon Toast’ was one of the very few American brands I recognized.)

When it came time to check out, Ivana reminded me that in Europe you have to pay for each plastic bag you want to use. “It is much more polite to the environment,” she explained. The woman at the cash register spoke broken English but between the three of us we were able to communicate. Ivana ensured that I got the right amount of change back and we headed back to the dorm—after re-chaining our buggy and getting back our coin.

On the walk back, Ivana asked me some questions about American politics. I was surprised at both how much she knew and some of her views on things. “I do not like this Obama,” she said. “I wanted other guy. Obama does not know how to manage money and he is hurting world’s economy.”

“We’ve certainly seen a lot of changes with Obama,” I said, trying to remain unbiased for the sake of conversation. “Prices have gone up, and taxes are starting to go up.”

“Oh is like this here,” she said. “The whole world is having problems and America’s economy is hurting all of us.” It surprised me that she was so informed and opinionated on the subject.

She also shared with me some of her views on communism, socialism, and democracy. She very much opposed the War in Iraq, but liked George Bush’s economic philosophy and tax cuts. I did not know a thing about Czech’s economy for the last 10 days let alone the past 10 years. It shocked me how much she knew about my country.

After we put the groceries away, we went into town to find a cell phone. She had done some research the night before and learned about a vender in the subway system that sold used phones. She got a text from Lad’ka who said she wanted to go with us since Kevin was spending the day with his parents before they went home. We waited for her outside of the dorm. While we did, I sent an email to my Mom from Ivana’s ipad.

When Lad’ka arrived we rode the tram into Wenceslas square. We then descended down into the subway system and looked for the vendor. We had to go up and down a few times to get to the right side of the station, and when we arrived, it was closed for Sunday.

We next went to get the passport photos I needed to give the school so they could make my multiple ID cards. We went into a photography shop. Ivana said something in Czech to the woman behind the counter who escorted me into a back room.

Again, it was a disconcerting feeling to trust people I couldn’t communicate with. But again, I didn’t feel like I had much choice. I walked behind the counter and into a bright room with white walls on all sides. She pointed to a stool and said, “Sit.” She had a nice smile, one of the first I’d seen since I landed. “Smile,” she said, and snapped a few photos.

Within minutes she’d printed out my photos. I paid her for them and thanked her. As we walked out, Lad’ka told me, “’Thank you’ is ‘diky.’” (Pronounced DYE-koo-YEE.) We practiced saying that quite a bit along with “Please” (“Prosim”—PRO-seem) and “excuse me” (“Promite—”PRO-mint-ay.”)

Marquetta called Ivana as we walked through the square. She was with Britney and Laura. They wanted to meet up with us to go to the famous Charles Bridge. (called locally “Carl’s Bridge”…although it Czech it is something completely different.) They were several minutes and as the weather was cooling off, Ivana was getting cold.

“I think we should go inside and get warm drinks,” she said. Lad’ka and I agreed. To my initial horror, Ivana lead us across the square under the golden arches.

I realize that saying that is a little odd since I have literally walked under a golden arch in the past days, but in this case, we went into McDonalds. I was however surprised to see it wasn’t McDonalds. It was called McCafe. It looked just the inside of Starbucks complete with baristas, coffee machines, and a glass display of pre-cut pastries. We each got hot chocolate and waited for the girls.

“Don’t you have tissue?” Ivana asked Lad’ka. Lad’ka didn’t understand at first, so Ivana asked again in Czech. Lad’ka reached in her bag and produced a package of Kleenex.

“I don’t want to be rude, but can I offer you a tip?” I asked.

“Sure you can,” Ivana said.

“In English,” I explained. “We would say ‘do’ in that case, instead of ‘don’t.’ ‘Do you have a tissue?’”

“Ah, thank you,” Ivana said. “’Do you have a tissue?’” she repeated. “I am grateful for this correcting. I want to be able to speak English properly when I go to America this summer.”

“I think your English is fantastic,” I said. “Still better than my Czech.”

She laughed. “This is true. German is harder for me than English. I’ve been trying since I was fourteen and I still cannot say a sentence right.”

When the girls arrived, they shared their story about getting lost. Britney and Laura had tried taking the tram earlier and wound up taking it all the way to the end on the opposite side of town.

“We did have some really good pizza,” Britney said. “It wasn’t like anything from back home?”

Together, we set off down winding cobblestone roads to the Charles Bridge. As we walked, we turned into tourists taking pictures of every building, cathedral, and spire. “Is fun to be with you,” Marquetta said. “I feel like tourist too.”

As we rounded one corner, there was a lot of commotion under a large green canopy. “What is that?” I asked.

“Is like market,” Ivana explained. Realizing I was photographing it, she asked, “You want to see it?”

We went in and looked at all the displays. Most of them were of the wonderfully crafted, hand carved toys. They were mostly puppets and puzzles, but they also had small wooden board games and knick-knacks for kids. I even found a hand carved Thomas the Tank Engine (my favorite childhood toy.)

Once again, it is important to note that very few of the people we came in contact with—in the square, in the subway, at the market—spoke English. It was beginning to seem that when I did hear English (from either Britney or Laura) it sounded weird. I was becoming aware of the ‘accent’ Ivana had spoken of when we met the night before.

We continued on past the market, through winding streets of locals. At one point, we passed a man playing a harp with his case open on the ground. “I like performers,” Ivana said. “I do not like when homeless peoples just sit and beg for money. They should have to earn it.” I found that this was an attitude shared by many of the locals. When we saw beggars just a few minutes later, it was obvious that people went out of their way to either avoid them or abuse them.

Within just a few minutes we arrived at the bridge. Words do not do it justice! The entry onto the bridge was a magnificent marble tower with a huge arch that we walked through. All along the sides of the bridge were giant, meticulous statues of crosses and kings. Parts were covered in gold while other parts made completely from snow-white marble. There were street performers all up and down the bridge. One man was doing a ‘one-man-band’ act with drums on his back, an accordion in his hand, and a kazoo-like instrument strapped to his head and suspended in front of his mouth.

We—along with dozens of other tourists—took photos up and down the bridge. It surprised me that even among the other photographers, very few people spoke English. People were friendly and agreed to take group photos for us. While my level of trust is building, I was not quite comfortable handing over my camera just yet…although I did take pictures for a few other couples who communicated with me in very fragmented English.

Once we had crossed the bridge, Ivana said she wanted to go home to warm up. Marquetta, Lad’ka, Britney, Laura, and I talked about going to the castle, but the sun was starting to set and I suggested that maybe we should save it for a day when we had more time. We crossed back across the bridge. That was when I realized, I hadn’t eaten anything all day.

As we strolled back into town, I caught a whiff of an absolutely wonderful smell. We found a woman roasting bread dough over charcoals and selling the product out of a cart. “Is very good,” Marquetta told us. “You all should try.” Marquetta and Lad’ka helped us order the dish as well as count out our change to make sure we got the right amount back (while the paper bills increase in size with value, the coins are eclectically shaped.)

The bread was very good. It tasted very much like a whole wheat bread or a multi-grain but was sweet and sugary too.

Britney and Laura had not gone shopping with Marquetta so Lad’ka and I joined them for that. We went into a couple of malls, which were actually quite entertaining. From the outside they looked like the antiquated, sculpted buildings I’d seen all day, but as soon as we pushed through the heavy, carved wooden doors, the inside was alive and futuristic. The walls were lined with LED lights that changed color ever few minutes. The entire center was a tower with different escalators shooting steeply up the middle to the different levels. It made the outside world we’d just left seem very anachronistic. It made the world back home seem anachronistic.

Lad’ka and I wandered the food court. I was afraid at the time to spend money but in hindsight I wish I had. There was one restaurant that had an English menu and described a beef dish I wish I had tasted. Lad’ka and I had a little more trouble communicating than Ivana and I, but she was very patient and tried very hard to answer all of the questions I throughout to her.

We wound up visiting a couple of malls to find everything they needed. All along the way, they pointed out landmarks and historical sites we could go back and see. Eventually we took the subway to the other side of the river to get groceries. Marquetta left us alone for a while in the store and were soon lost and being yelled at by various Czech people.

I was initially excited when I found a section of the store selling candy. I scooped some “Carmel chocolates” into a bag to purchase. It wasn’t until I purchased them that I noted the labeling read “made in China.” I was disappointed, but somehow, it made me feel at home.

Marquetta left us after we finished shopping and Lad’ka helped us catch the tram and get back home. She also helped me get my ID at the reception desk now that I had the passport photo for it. After uploading a few things to the blog, I was ready to head to bed.