The Unwritten Rules of Prague

We did not write this list ourselves. It's part of a larger article you can find here: http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/community/the-unwritten-rules-of-Prague/
Their list is longer; we just pulled out the ones we have witnessed.

So here are some unwritten rules of Prague, and a great look at the culture we live in!

*Reservations are essential. Not just for meals, but an afternoon coffee as well. If it's a place worth going to, it's booked by those in the know. If there is tons of space, it's likely overpriced and awaiting tourists. 

*BYOTP. Women, it's a good idea to carry a packet of tissues to the toilet, particularly if you're at an outdoor festival or a bar after 9:00 pm. Replenishing TP seems to be just below smiling on the customer service priority list, and paper towels are most definitely a luxury item.

*Pets will show up in the unlikeliest of places. Czechs have more dogs per capita than any European country, but you can relax about attacks because they're usually very well trained. However, if you're allergic you may want to avoid public transport, restaurants and possibly your office.

Very common sighting: dog on the tram

*If you want to speak English, you'd better be spending money. Want to work at Starbucks, McDonald's or in any of Prague's shopping centers? Fluency in at least three languages, including English, is a must. Want to work for the foreign police? Just Czech is fine, with conversational German or Russian a plus, but not required.

*The day before a holiday is a holiday. Don't count on a response to emails or phone calls after 12:00pm on Friday (especially on a long weekend). If the public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, 60% of your office will probably take a 4-5 day trip out of the city with their family.

*Weekends are for getting out of Prague. Any day with decent weather for skiing, cycling, hiking or rafting should be spent outside the city limits. And if the weather isn't ideal for outdoor activities, you can expect to hear complaints about it throughout the office on Monday morning.   

*Nude is the norm. One additional warm-weather warning – in public parks, bathing suits are optional for anyone under 10 or over 50. If you've fallen asleep while sunbathing, you may want to open your eyes slowly… (The entire city doubles as a men's toilet as well.)

*Drinking at lunch is acceptable (but not required). Though you are still expected to perform your duties upon returning to the office! But don't feel compelled to have a pint just to keep someone from drinking alone. Enjoying a beer is more about taste than taboo, so you won't lose any cool points for ordering a coffee, tea or water.
 *Exact change is a religion. Whatever note you're paying with had better be within 20% of the price. Exact change is preferred, additional coins to make the change a round number are expected, and glares are guaranteed for anyone using a 2,000 CZK note, ever.

Czech Currency

*The post will be maddeningly unpredictable. Any package sent from outside the EU will arrive on time, but require three extra weeks to track down which post office it was sent to, plus five pages of forms. If you send both a package and a postcard to the same non-EU city on the same day, they will arrive ten days apart with no consistency on which one takes longer.

*80s music is a guilt-free pleasure. If either "Greased Lighting" or "(I've Had) the Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing comes on at Lucerna Music Bar at least half the room, regardless of age, is required to sing along and demonstrate the choreography.

*Develop your own Prague laundry system. All clothing, particularly coats and jackets, should be divided into two categories: acceptable-to-wear-for-a-night-on-the-town or reserved-for-non-smoking-establishments-only.

Praises:

- Jadon figured out how to fix our Internet, and now it is working perfectly!

- We got to attend a talk by American astronaut Charles Duke on Wednesday, and it was a wonderful experience!

- We have had multiple sunny days in a row - it seems that spring is on its way!

- We completely lost power in our apartment on Thursday evening, but our landlord had it all sorted by Friday morning!

Prayer Requests:

- Drama Club (only 3.5 weeks until the performances!) 

- Sleep - we have been sleeping poorly the last couple of weeks

- The group from CRU will be in our classrooms this coming week, so prayers that they can use their time well and make some connections with students

New Skype ID

Last week Jadon was able to solve our Internet problem (yay!), and we now have a new router and stronger Internet signal.

However, for whatever reason, Brittany's computer now disconnects from our new network very frequently. Because of this, our Skype sessions are constantly interrupted. So we set up a new Skype account on Jadon's computer.

Our new Skype ID is huddlestonsabroad2

So if you ever Skype with us, or would like to start Skyping with us, please add us at this new account.

Also, if anyone knows how to fix the problem with Brittany's computer (she has a MacBook Pro), any advice would be great!

Spring Break in Finland!

Written by Brittany

This past week has been our spring break from school, and we finally got to go on a trip we have had booked since September! We traveled from Prague up above the Arctic Circle to Finnish Lapland, and it was amazing!

We landed at Ivalo Airport, and then directly south of it is our resort: Kakslauttanen

 We had four main bucket list things we wanted to achieve on this trip: 1. Go above the Arctic Circle, 2. Go dogsledding, 3. Go snowmobiling, 4. See the Northern Lights. And we did three of the four! A bittersweet aspect of our trip: it was unseasonably warm during the time we were there – it stayed right around freezing instead of being 20 degrees below like it normally is, and because of the warm weather, it was also very cloudy. (Many of the natives we talked to complained that it was too warm, and they wished it were colder. They are more comfortable in 20 below than I could ever be!) Because of the clouds, we were not able to see the Northern Lights, but I’m convinced that if it were as cold as it usually is, I, at least, would not have enjoyed the activities nearly as much, because I was freezing most of the time anyway. So all this means is we will have to go on another Northern trip in the future to achieve our fourth bucket list item :) 

We arrived in Ivalo, Finland around 6:30pm on Monday and were picked up from the airport by a bus from our hotel. Once we got there, and took our bags to our glass igloo (!!!) by sled, it was time for dinner. To get to dinner we had to walk about 5 minutes through the dark & cold, but it was very exciting. Dinner, and all our meals while we were there, was delicious and much higher quality food than we were expecting.

Our igloo with Jadon peeking out

 On Tuesday we went to breakfast and then had to check out of our igloo. The igloo was SO cool, but also very small. We were glad we stayed there one night, but also glad that we were changing to a cabin for the rest of our stay. After checking out, we were picked up for our first excursion: dogsledding! This was what we were most looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. Jadon was the driver, and I, the passenger. Once we got our tutorial, we were waiting with our 6-dog team to get started. The dogs were pretty intense. They were barking and pulling and fighting a little, waiting to get started. As soon as we started running, though, they were silent. It was such a neat experience, and so much more peaceful than we were anticipating. Since the dogs were silent, it was just us going smoothly through a beautiful winter forest. We were able to talk and just enjoy the time together. This is something we definitely want to do again some day! After our approximately 2 hours in the forest, we had lunch in a teepee with our fellow dogsledders.

Riding behind our team

With our 6-dog team

During our break in the afternoon we went back to our cabin & made use of the personal sauna in our bathroom! It was a great way to warm up.

That evening after dinner we went on a reindeer pulled sleigh ride “safari.” The main point of this excursion normally is to be outside to see the Northern Lights, but since we weren’t lucky in that department, it was just a nice relaxing ride through the forest. The sleighs were all connected to each other, so we did not have to drive at all, which was a nice difference from our other two activities. Halfway through the journey, we stopped at a fire pit for a hot drink and to learn about the indigenous Finnish people, the Sami. We learned that the Sami people were nomadic people who traveled the way we had been traveling that evening, with reindeer pulled sleighs all tied together to carry their belongings and children. That made the journey even neater since we were doing something native to the area. We also learned that in Finnish the word for money and the name for birch tree bark are the same word. Birch bark is very valuable because it is an easy way to start fires outside, especially in damp, snowy conditions. One of our guides says she keeps her paper money in one pocket & her birch “money” in her other.

Wednesday we went snowmobiling in the afternoon. We were kind of nervous for this activity since neither of us had ever done anything like it before. We got our warm clothing, helmets, and instructions, and then got ready to head out for 3.5 hours in the frozen Finnish countryside. Jadon, again, was our driver, and ended up being very good at it, and I was a very good (though very cold) passenger. We traveled over many miles, and saw a lot of different types of landscapes. We climbed a fell, went through sparse areas with few trees, and traveled through a pine forest (our favorite part). We really enjoyed it, but it was not nearly as peaceful as dogsledding. Aside from the obvious noise from the snowmobile, it was also very bumpy and harder to control. It was a very neat experience, but we would pick dogsledding over snowmobiling every time.

Ready for our adventure!

With our snowmobile in the pine forest

 Snowmobiling was our last planned activity, so we just relaxed that night, had dinner, and packed. The next morning we caught the 6:00am bus back to the airport, and headed back to Prague. Though it was a short trip, we had a wonderful time, and cannot wait to return to the far north again some day! 

To see more pictures from our trip:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.966746490817.1073741850.69601108&type=1&l=8303c76010
 

Praises:

-       Safety during our travels & activities

-       We got to experience our favorite parts of traveling: new culture, foods, etc.

-       Only 3.5 weeks until Easter Break ;) (but seriously)

Prayer Requests:

-       Drama Club (5.5 weeks until the performance!)

-       Some American high schoolers with CRU will be coming to Prauge at the end of March to meet with our students, so prayers for their travels and their time once they’re here.

      -    We’ve been having issues with our Internet, which we’re hoping to get worked out this          weekend. While it’s not impossible to live & work without the Internet, it definitely makes it easier, especially as we create a curriculum from scratch and keep in touch with family. So prayers that it’s an easy fix and all goes well as we try to communicate our problems with the Czech workers.