Fun in Atlanta, GA

We've had an absolutely fabulous time in Atlanta with Steven and Michael.  It's hard to believe that I haven't been back since 2012.  

The boys really rolled out the Southern Hospitality for Kája which he loved.  Hopefully he's not spoiled now for the rest of our holidays.

On Sunday, Kája got to see his first baseball game.  The Atlanta Braves no longer play at Turner Field.  They now use the new Truist Park stadium that was built in 2017.  The Braves played the Miami Marlins and the Braves won 6-3.  

I still miss baseball in Euroland.  Anyway, the game was fun.  At one point I was trying to explain to Kája what was going on.  We were speaking Czech and this kid in front of us turned around and you could see he was having a hard time processing it.  He must have thought we were speaking Klingon or something.

The 4th of July is a big deal in the USA.  Parades, fireworks, lots of flags, BBQs, family and friend get-togethers, and we had it all.  In boys' neighbourhood, kids have a little parade and the local fire station even participates.

After the parade, we spent a good bit of time at the neighbourhood pool.  The home owners association had the Varsity send a food truck to cater.

The Varsity is an Atlanta institution.  It's a family owned business that opened in 1928.  It's huge.  It sits on two city blocks and can seat about 800 people.  When you walk in, the cashiers all shout out "What'll ya have, what'll ya have, what'll ya have?"  It's not the healthiest of foods but you can't go wrong with a chili dog, onion rings, a frosted orange drink and a fried peach pie.  So tasty but only as a special treat.

Later we spent the evening out at Lake Lanier, about 97 km (60 miles) northeast of the city.  Steven's sister Beth and her husband Reggie Davis invited us, along with Steven's mom, for dinner on their houseboat.  Steven's mom is great and I just love her to pieces.  The last time I saw her was when she and Steven came to visit in 2014.

Again, the Southern Hospitality was in full force.  Beth had a full spread of BBQ ribs, corn bread, mac 'n cheese.  Everything was so good but I'm afraid at this rate I'll gain at least 5 kg.

Plus music and fireworks out over the lake.  What a great evening!

Atlanta has lots to see to do.  We spent a few days trying to see as much as we could with out feeling overwhelmed and rushed.

The World of Coca-Cola museum showcases the history of the cola.  

The Georgia Aquarium opened in 2005.  It's huge.  Until 2012, it was the largest aquarium in the world.  Today it only ranks as the world's 6th largest aquarium.

The aquarium is home to thousands of animals, in seven major galleries, living in more than 42.000 m³ (11 million gallons).

Centennial Olympic Park was built for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.  It's a 89.000 m² (22-acre) public park in downtown Atlanta.

The Swan House is a mansion that was built in 1928.  It is part of the Atlanta History Centre and has been featured in many films.  In 1977 it was listed on the National Register for Historic Places.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden opened in 1976.  It sits on 12 hectares (30 acres), adjacent to Piedmont Park.  

The Chattahoochee River is about 690 km (430 miles) long.  

The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum is located at the Atlanta History Centre.  The Cyclorama is a cylindrical panoramic painting of the Battle of Atlanta during the Civil War.  It was painted in 1885. 

The painting is 114 metres (374 feet) and weighs 4536 kg (10,000 lbs) and was once the world's largest oil paining.

Stone Mountain is about 24 km (15 miles) east of the city.  It's the state's most visited tourist site.  It was opened on 14 April 1965, exactly 100 years to the day that President Lincoln was assassinated.

On the north face of the quartz mountain is the largest bas-relief artwork in the world.  In 1972, the carving depicts three Confederate generals.

What a week it's been.  It was so nice spending time with the boys and catching up with people.  Brian and his wife even drove down from Tennessee for a visit.  

The last time I saw Brian was in 2013 when made it to the 5th Czechsgiving.

Now it's on to Prescott to to visit Mom & Dad.

Pride Month and Ukraine

Happy Pride Month!  June is LGBT Pride Month in the USA and it honours the 1969 Stonewall riots which is considered the birth of the Gay Rights Movement.  This is when you see the majority of Gay Pride events worldwide.  Although pride events are held outside of June as well.  For example, it is way too hot in Atlanta in June so Atlanta Pride takes place in October, when it is cooler, on the weekend closest to 11 October which is National Coming Out Day.

Due to the war in Ukraine, Kyiv Pride won't take place this year in Kyiv.  Instead, Ukrainians will participate in Pride events in other cities like Riga and Warsaw.  

Here's the legal status for the LGBT community in Ukraine.  When it comes to LGBTQ equality, Ukraine ranks 39th in Europe.  Czechia comes in at 32.

The Criminal Code in the Soviet Union banned same-sex relations.  The law was changed in 1991 following Ukraine's independence.  So now's it not illegal to be gay but there's plenty of prejudice especially coming from the Orthodox Church and LGBTQ people lack many legal rights.

Article 51 of the Ukrainian Constitution defines marriage as voluntary union between a man and a woman so gays have no option for marriage or even any type of civil union.  President Volodymyr Zelensky is looking at civil partnerships but this would require a change to the constitution which can't be done while the country is under martial law.

Aside from not being able to marry, or adopt, gays and lesbians in Ukraine do not have a right to inheritance, hospital visitations or to make medical decisions for an ill partner.  

Discrimination in the workplace was banned in 2015.  

In 2016 the law was changed now allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood.

Being trans is classified as a psychiatric disorder.  

Same-sex couples are not allowed to adopt because of Clause 211 of the Family Code.  This applies to foreign adoptions as well and only married heterosexual couples are allowed to adopt children from Ukraine.

In 2013, Russia passed its "gay propaganda" law and since then hate crimes against the LGBT community have soared.  Gay Ukrainians don't want similar legislation passed in Ukraine if Russia should win the war.

Under Ukrainian law, all able-bodied male citizens, ages 20-27, must server one year in the army or 18 months in the navy.  After serving on active duty, they become part of the inactive reserve and can be called up for mobilisation until they reach age 55 for enlisted or age 60 for officers.  Homosexuality is not a reason for exemption from military service.  So it is mandatory to defend the country but not for the country to provide equal rights to those defending it.

Since same-sex relationships are not legal this impacts the LGBT community that's fighting for Ukraine right now.  Their partners will not be notified if their loved ones are killed while fighting for the country and will not be eligible for any type of survivor benefits.

Some gay soldiers serving in the Ukrainian army display military chevron with a unicorn which has become a symbol for gays and lesbians serving in the military.

Here's a Voice of America video I found out on YouTube that talks about the brave gay men and women fighting in Ukraine.

©Voice of America

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Update December 2022:  Here's a short France24 video I found about this on YouTube.

©France24

Cheesecake and More

A friend had a cookout today and asked if I would bring real American cheesecake.  Well as "real" as possible given that the ingredients here in Euroland aren't exactly the same.  I originally thought that this would be a simple post about me making cheesecake but it's going to be way more complicated than just that so bare with me.

There are two types of cheesecake, the kind you bake and the no-bake kind.  I prefer the no-bake version.  The key ingredient to cheesecake, at least in the USA, is Philadelphia cream cheese.  Which of course you can't get over here in Czechland.  

What you can get is Philadelphia cream cheese spread.  First, the spread is not the same thing as regular cream cheese.  I do know people who make cheesecake with the spread but it doesn't taste the same.  A 125g (4.4oz) container here costs 43Kč ($2).  This would be kind of pricey to use for cheesecake plus it's not the right ingredient so it would not turn out right.

In Czechland most people use tvaroh which is kind of like American cottage cheese but drier and not as milky.  Tvaroh is used heavily for baking here.  One of my favourite dishes are plum or apricot dumplings with tvaroh.

Tvaroh

The closest thing I've found to cream cheese is lučina.  Lučina entered the Czechoslovak market in 1981.  It's almost like cream cheese but a little drier and a bit tangier than traditional cream cheese    

I use lučina for all of my U.S. recipes that requires cream cheese.  Lučina comes in little 100g (3.5oz) blocks for 23Kč ($1.08).

In Germany, people use quark.  Quark always messes with people because there is no translation for it.  When you type the German word "quark" into Google Translate the English translation you get back is "quark".  Quark is kind of like cream cheese but not really.  It's a soft, fresh cheese that can be used for either cream cheese, ricotta, or even sour cream.

Side note...every child in the USA learns the nursery rhyme about Little miss Muffet.

Little miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey

Along came a spider who sat down beside her

And frightened miss Muffet away

The kick is that kids in the USA don't know what curds and whey are.  When kids ask what are curds and whey we just say it is cottage cheese.  

OK...now back to the cheesecake.  The other key ingredient that doesn't exist over here are graham crackers.  A graham cracker is a sweet cracker made with graham flour that originated in the USA and dates back to the 1880s.  

Graham flour is just whole wheat flour that is ground more coarsely.  It has just slightly less protein than white wheat flour.  

Graham crackers are eaten as a snack.  They are often flavoured with honey or cinnamon but they are most famous for being one of the key ingredients to make s'mores.  No camping trip or bonfire is complete without s'mores.  You roast a marshmallow over an open fire.  You then put the marshmallow and a piece of Hershey's chocolate between two graham crackers and enjoy the ooey gooey treat.  The reason that it's called a s'more is because once you'e had one you always want some more.  

Graham crackers are one of the most popular pie crusts in the USA.  You can even buy pre-made graham cracker pie crusts that come in a disposable aluminium pie pan.

With no graham crackers over here, people use digestive biscuits.  Now comes the British English.  

What we call a 'cookie' in the USA is called a 'biscuit' in the UK.  Sušenka in Czech.  What the USA calls a 'biscuit' is almost a 'scone' in the UK.  No equivalent of either in Czechland. 

A digestive biscuit is a semi-sweet "cookie" that dates back to 1839 in Scotland.  The "digestive" part was that they acted like an antacid because they were first baked with sodium bicarbonate.  The digestive biscuit is one of the most popular biscuits in the UK.  I prefer the ones with chocolate on side.  They are perfect for dunking in to your tea.

In Euroland, people grind up digestive biscuits to use for pie crusts.

The first cheesecake I made for my friend's party was a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake.  I used a recipe that I found on YouTube.  Here's the video but to be fair I did make a couple of changes.

©El Mundo Eats

 I didn't use digestive biscuits for the crust.  I have a bag of graham cracker crumbs from a care package so I did make a proper graham cracker curst for the cheesecake.

When it came to making the chocolate layer, I didn't use regular cream.  Instead, I used pařížská which is chocolate cream.  

The regular cream, šlehačka, that I used in the peanut butter layer was 40% but the chocolate was only 27%.  This helped make it even more chocolatey tasting.

This thing took hours to make but it turned out really well.

I also made a smaller vanilla lemon cheesecake.  Whipped cream in a can here isn't the same as it is back in the USA.  In the USA it is sweet but not here.  Here it tastes more like air.  I took the šlehačka, whipped it up, added a little vanilla and put it in a bag and piped it on top of the cheesecake.

I also used one of the pre-made graham cracker pie crusts that I had from another care package.

Both of the cheesecakes were popular but the chocolate peanut butter one was the winner.

My FWAB Arrived

My Federal Absentee Write-In Ballot, that I had to drop off at the Prague Embassy almost three weeks, arrived in Atlanta.  It took about 2,5 weeks via diplomatic mail to the USA and then normal post to Georgia.  The good news is that I have confirmation that they received my ballot.

I was able to cast a vote for President and for the Senate.      

At least I was able to submit the write-in ballot.  Given the postal delays due to COVID-19 it's anyone's guess when my real absentee ballot will actually show up.

I Voted

Due to the postal delays I still haven't received my absentee ballot.  Fortunately there's the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 which allows for overseas American citizens who have applied on time for a ballot but still haven't received it to use a write-in ballot.

Today I dropped off my Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) off at the American Embassy in Prague.  Today was the last day to drop off ballots at the embassy.  The ballots will now go via diplomatic mail to Washington, DC, and from there by regular mail to the appropriate polling stations in each state.

So my ballot will now get to Atlanta in time for the 3 November election.

It was a whirlwind day.  Normally I would go to the Bratislava embassy because it's closer to Brno but the border is closed with Slovakia.  

So I spent 3 hours on a train to Prague, then caught a tram across town to the embassy, dropped off my ballot, went back to the train station and caught the next train back to Brno.  Quite a bit of travel and I was only at the embassy for five minutes.

It was kind of ironic that while on a train to cast my vote for president that I used the time to study for my Czech citizenship test on 5 December.  

At least I'm still hoping that my exam will be on 5 December.  I have a sinking feeling that it will get postposed again in the next round of COVID-19 restrictions.

Update:  My FWAB arrived in Georgia on 20 October.

Update:  My real absentee ballot didn't arrive until 4 November.