The Google

So from the moment I arrived in Brno all of my Internet pages have gone Czech. The Google now comes up as Google Czech Republic. It's the same thing for YouTube. And Facebook now gives me ads in Czech.

Here's one thing I did not count on...

I figured that if my favorite TV shows (Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, etc.) were not shown over here that I could at least watch them online at abc.com or cbs.com. Nope!!! I now get error codes that theses shows are only available to individuals in the U.S. Bastards!! I guess it makes sense if Cuba, China and North Korea can block Internet content, that the U.S. would do the same to protect copyrights. I've been told that there are things called torrents and some programs you can download to hide your IP address to watch U.S. TV online over here. I'll let you know how it goes.

Stará Radnice

This past Sunday I decided to check out Stará radnice (Old Town Hall) in the City Center. The captions have been updated on Flickr.Stará radnice is basically a house with a tower that was acquired as the town hall some time before 1343. The main building housed town council meetings and court sessions.

In the passage is where you will find the two best-known Brno attractions - the dragon and the wheel. The dragon is said to have devoured cattle and terrorized people. The town council offered a reward for killing it but no attempt was successful. Finally, a knight wrapped up a bag of quicklime in a calf's skin and it swollowed the bait. When it got thirsty, it drank water which triggered the lime until the dragon burst. The seam on its belly is still visible. Historians maintain that the stuffed dragon/crocodile was donated to the town in 1608.

The Brno wheel is said to be the result of a boastful bet made by a carpenter who, in a single day in 1636, made the wheel and rolled it from Lednice to Brno (about 50 km). Another story has it that the wheel was made by a wheelwright's apprentice who was unjustly imprisoned. Since he could not sleep he managed to make a wheel using the wood of his prison bunk. He then handed the wheel over in the morning as proof of his innocence. Not quite sure which version I prefer?

The best thing about Old Town Hall is the tower. For 40 Kč (~$2.20) you can climb up 7 flights of stairs to the top and look out over the entire city. The view was amazing!! Especially of Petrov (the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul) and Špilberk Castle. Each of these will be a future trip.

A Quiet Sunday

I had a good day today. I went down to the city center and toured the old city hall. I'll post the pictures and descriptions on Flickr this week.

I also walked over to the Galerie Vaňkovka to check out the big shopping mall here. It is still weird to see people smoking in a mall food court.

I went to a lékárna (pharmacy) to buy some aspirin. Of course... that is kept behind the counter. Thank goodness the clerk spoke German so it was an easy purchase.

The Internet signal at the temporary flat has been really bad today so I decided to walk a couple of blocks to a patio bar that has Wi-Fi. I ordered a beer and a salad with chicken. I guess I need to learn about the different kinds of salad they have here because the waiter brought me a bowl of cucumbers, green peppers and grilled chicken tossed in oil & vinegar. At least it looked pretty.

Kofola

The most popular soft drink here is Kofola. It is produced in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia and is the chief rival to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. You can buy it in cans or bottles at the store. In restaurants and pubs it comes on draft.

The marketing campaign focuses on a young, hip audience with the slogan Když ji miluješ, není co řešit (When you love her there is nothing to think about).

It is less expensive than Coke, Fanta and Pepsi which may be why it is so popular. It has 30% less sugar than Coke, so it is not as sweet, and it has a slight licorice taste to it. It has just a bit more caffeine and no phosphoric acid. It does take a little getting used to but the taste grows on you. I wonder if it would be good with Vodka? Hmmmm....
EDIT: A lot of people mix Kofola and cheap red wine together. It seems popular but I don't like it. Give me either good red wine or Kofola. Just not together.

Dining Out

Dining out takes time here. A lot of time. This applies to cafés and small restaurants. I haven't hit any of the nicer restaurants yet so they may it do it differently.

First, you find a table and wait for a server to greet you. Be patient because this can take a while. A long while. And good luck finding a non-smoking section because they don't exist.

When you order a drink the server places a 2" x 5" chit on the table and makes hash marks for what you order. The chit will stay on the table and the server will go get your drink.

• All of the glasses are marked with a line for 0,5L so you know how much head you are supposed to get on a beer.


• Soft drinks come in tiny 0,2L glass bottles which get poured in to glasses. No ice with sodas here and there are no free refills.


• Tap water is not served at the table. You can order bottled water - flat or sparkling.

On most menus you'll find the size of the portions, written in grams, indicated to the left of the item. I've learned enough Czech to know if I'm ordering soup, chicken, fish, etc. So far I'm getting by and I'll talk about Czech cuisine in another post.

When you place your order it is written down on the drink ticket and the server goes off to place your order. The server has to remember everything because the ticket stays at the table. I don't know enough Czech to make any special requests but I don't think it is done here. Every one seems to order right off of the menu.

Before your food comes the server will bring you a glass and inside the glass is your napkin and cutlery. When your food arrives you are given a dobrou chut' (bon appetít) and that is the last time you will see your server. The whole checking back to make sure everything is OK hasn't made it over here yet. When your glass is empty they may come back to get you another round, but usually they come back when you're done eating. It is nice not to feel rushed but not to the point where you feel ignored.

An učet prosím (bill, please) will get you your bill. The server will add up every thing on your ticket, mark off the hash marks on the ticket, and tell you the total. When you give the server your money you have to say how much you want to pay...not how much you want back. For example, if the bill is 100 kč and you pay with a 200 kč note, you say 110 or 115 kč. This adds in their tip so they know how much change to give back. Apparently you can't just leave the tip on the table.

Here's the ticket for today's lunch/dinner - a soda, a chicken dish with potato pancakes and an espresso. You can see the crossed off hash marks and the math done at the table. The grand total came to 186 kč (~ $10).

Apartment Hunting

I took a vacation day yesterday so I could meet my real estate agent at 9 am to see some flats. Apparently, he tried Thursday afternoon to call my U.S. cell phone to confirm the appointment. But he never left a message because Czechs do not like voice mail. Since we had not spoken, he cancelled the showings. Ugh!!! Thirty minutes later and he had everything back on and we were off.

We wound up seeing eleven flats and I've got it narrowed down to my top 2 choices. Both would be great, but it will come down to each flat's pluses and minuses and price.

It was pretty easy to cross the others off the list. Way overpriced. The flat was ether not furnished or furnished poorly. The lift (elevator) was a death trap. No view. Horrible kitchen. The previous tenants had worn the place out. Located on top of a gay disco that cranks out the tunes until 6 am. Great for dancing...not so much for peace and quiet.

I will decide this weekend and have the agent set every thing up Monday. I'll post pictures of the winner later.

Apartment Basics

I’m taking tomorrow off to go look at 15 flats so here’s some background on what apartments are like over here.

The European numbering system considers the American 1st floor to be the ground floor. An American 2nd floor is the European 1st floor, etc. Yesterday I went to see an apartment on the 2nd floor which meant that it is the same as a U.S. 3rd floor...walk-up. The old buildings here don’t normally have lifts (elevators). If a building is over four or five floors then you can usually find a lift. Less than that and you can forget it.

All flats are listed in square meters; not square feet. Dang metric system! Then places are listed by the number of rooms, starting with the living room. You don’t go by the number of bedrooms. Your kitchen may be a kitchenette in the corner or it could be a separate room. So the studio I am staying in is classified as a 1 + kk, which means it is one room with a kitchenette in the room. If you go look at a 2 + 1 then that means there are 2 rooms (1 living room and 1 bedroom) plus a separate kitchen. All flats have a private bathroom.

Since I would prefer a place with two bedrooms I am looking for a 3 + kk or a 3 + 1. People here seem to find it really odd that a single person would want a place with 2 bedrooms. I guess the norm would be for me to have a either a studio or a one bedroom place.

I haven’t seen a place with more than one bathroom. Maybe you find those in houses but not in apartments. And speaking of bathrooms, there is always a bathtub with a shower wand but you don’t always have the opportunity to put up a curtain. In newer places, and some remodeled ones, you can also find a shower. I’ll probably end up in a newer place. I think it would be kind of cool to live in one of the old communist paneláky, but it’s doubtful since I really, really want a shower.

If you get a washing machine it is going to be either in the bathroom or in the kitchen. Dryers are rare because they are expensive. Most people hang their clothes up to dry on a terrace or use a drying rack inside. I’ll be sure to take a picture of a drying rack if I end up with one.

Kitchens always have a sink. I don’t think that they have garbage disposals over here. You get a refridgerator, usually with a tiny freezer drawer. You may or may not get an oven. There’s usually a cooker (stovetop) or at least a plug-in hot plate. About 25% of the places I’m looking at tomorrow have dishwashers.

Your flat may or may not be furnished. It may or may not have a parking spot that you pay extra for. Newer places are wired already for cable and Internet but it can take a while to get it in older places.

They really don’t have short-term leases over here. I have one now but it is expensive compared to what I can get with a year's lease. Most landlords want a 12 or 24 month lease. In addition to the rent, the landlord will tell you how much you have to pay for inkaso (utilities). The two amounts are lumped together and that is what you deposit in the landlord’s account each month.

Hopefully, I’ll find a place tomorrow. It will be nice to actually get settled in. Wish me luck!

Voice Mail

So this, to me, is one of the craziest things, ever! My new Avaya desk phone will let you surf the web but it doesn't have voice mail. How on earth can you function at IBM without voice mail?

Well you have an ID that you use to log in and log out of your telephone. If you don't log in then when people call you they get a busy signal. That means that the person should try you on your mobile phone (if they know the number) or they should try again later. Oh, and most of the cell phones don't have voice mail either.

I don't know if it is a hold over from the days of communism, or what, but Czechs don't like to leave voice mails. However, they do love to SMS. SMS = text messaging over here. So if it is truely important then you will get an SMS. I wonder how easy the text messages are to follow when the regular cell phones don't have all of the extra Czech letters on them? Hmmm...something else to figure out.

There's another IBMer from Atlanta in Bratislava, Slovakia. It's about 120 km (~85 miles) from here and he said that the voice mail thing applies to Slovakia as well. Makes sense given that they were one country less than 20 years ago.

Transit Pass

Well, I'm getting to be a pro at riding the šalina (tram). I can even jump between the trams, buses and street cars now. It is a little bit of a challenge still when I need to go some place I haven't been yet but that is part of the adventure. Full transit schedules are only available from the main office, from 9 am - 5 pm, Monday - Friday. I tried looking online but the links don't work. Oh well.

Regardless, last Saturday, I took my passport and a photo down to the transit office and purchased a 3-month pass. The clerk spoke Czech and German so we did everything in German. It cost 1.300 Kč (~$70.25) and it is valid from 11-07-09 until 10-10-09. All of the dates in Europe are written day-month-year. It can be a little confusing at times.

You must have your transit pass on you when you ride. At any time, an undercover transit cop and ask to see it. If you don't have then they can fine you 700 Kč (around $35) on the spot.

I don't have to fiddle around with getting tickets any more. And I can jump on and off as much as I want. A good buy, for sure. Plus it allows me to do a lot more exploring. But the cool thing is that now I have an official Czech picture ID, of sorts, so I can leave my passport at home instead of taking it with me all over town.

Grocery Shopping

I think that most Czechs go to the grocery store every one or two days because you buy what you can carry. You go to the local bakery, butcher shop, drugstore, etc. There are also corner grocery stores that carry more products. And then there are hypermarkets - big stores that are also department stores (like a Wal-mart).

The closest grocery store to me right now is Lidl. It is similar to an Aldi. You can get the basics - bread, milk, eggs, juice, beer... But you can also pick up whatever else they offer that day...work gloves, bedding, slippers, ironing boards, etc. Lidl is convenient because it is close by and stays open until 9 PM. I haven't shopped yet at Albert, Interspar or Tesco, but I'm sure that the basics still apply. So here is how the grocery stores work.

In order to get a shopping cart you have to deposit a 5 Kč or a 10 Kč coin in to the cart. This will release the security device so you can take the cart. When you're done with the cart you put the security lock back in to the cart and you get your coin back. If you are just picking up one or two things then it appears to be OK not to take a cart. If you are picking up more than two things I recommend that you get a cart because if you don't then store security seems to watch you the whole time. It sucks when you don't have a 5 or 10 crown coin.

It can be a challenge shopping in a country where you can't understand the labels. I know the Czech word for milk is mléko. So I picked up a bottle of 1,5% kefírové mléko. The bottle said "milk", the liquid was white and it had a picture of a cow & a coffee cup on it so I figured I was safe. Apparently kefírové means sour. This stuff was like trying to drink pourable sour cream. Yuck!!! It went straight in to the trash.

I found it easier to drink Lidl's generic yogurt than to actually use a spoon. But I did find a great name brand peach & passion fruit yogurt that is really good.

The eggs are all brown; not white. Juice comes in these nifty little 1 liter boxes. Bottled tea and water come in dozens of flavors. Water is also either flat or sparkling.

Anyway, when you're ready to leave you go stand in line to check out. When you get to the counter you unload your cart on the conveyor belt. The stores do not give you grocery bags...you have to use your own bags or pay for bags. Regardless of the bag's origin, you have to bag your own groceries quickly because when they give you the total they want the money then. And please have the correct amount or, at least, something very close to it because the grocery clerks do not like to make change. Paying for your purchase with a large bill will get you lots of attitude. Once they give you the change, they start ringing up the next person's items so you had better be out of the way. It looks like the custom is to reload your basket as the items are scanned and then move your cart out of the way so you can then bag up your groceries after you've paid.

Update: Food here is not packed with preservatives like it is in the USA. I think that this is another reason why Czechs have to go shopping more often since food spoils faster. Another reason is that because a lot of flats have tiny refrigerators so there's not a lot of room for groceries to begin with.