Who Gets a Cold in August?

Since I'm officially on my fifth package of little Kleenex's in two days, I think I can say I'm sick. I've been sneezing and blowing my nose like crazy since I got up yesterday morning and it's been all sorts of fun. I officially have my first Czech cold. Boo. I got some Ricola's yesterday to help my throat and I was going to get some meds, but the pharmacy was already closed. They don't sell medicine in regular stores here...just at pharmacies. It's not like what you think of in America, you can get stuff over the counter there, it's just the only place that sells the good stuff! So, today I went to the pharmacy and got some cold medicine and it's been helping, but my nose is raw and I can't really breath. Hopefully it'll get better soon though!

Friday night was fun. There is an outdoor cinema in the summer here, so Kami and I went to see a movie there last night. They were playing 'No Country for Old Men' and since I hadn't seen it, I was glad to go. It was quite an interesting movie. If anyone has seen it, I think we need to talk. I'm a bit confused by some things.

I've been promising my aunt and cousin that I would post a picture of goulash here, so it is below. My aunt used to make goulash for us growing up and since goulash is a Czech meal, I had to try some. It's different than I'm used to but I really liked it. It is almost like a gravy with stew meat in it and they serve it with dumplings so you can sop up all the gravy!! Yum!! This particular place served it with bread dumplings, potato dumplings, and potato pancakes...they sure do like their bread and potatoes here!

Hmm...what else? Kami and I just got home from a journey to the town center and now we're just hanging out. I wanted to take some more pictures since we just have one more week here. I can't believe our time in Prague is winding down. Crazy to think about. One thing in particular I wanted to see was a monument dedicated to students that were clubbed by police on November 11, 1989. According to my Prague book, "the national outrage triggered by this event pushed the communist government towards its final collapse a few days later."

Since being here, I've learned that I definitely don't know enough about history and communism and all that. Honestly, history has never really interested me, but since being in Czech...a former communist nation...I've been trying to learn a little about it. The thing is that communism to these people isn't ancient history...it only ended a little less than 20 years ago so if you're an adult here, you probably know what communism was all about. One of my one-to-one business students was telling me some of what it was like during that time and it's insane to think these people really lived it...it's not something that happened hundreds of years ago that noone remembers...it's very fresh on these people's minds.

Last week marked the 40th anniversary of the Soviet invasion into Czechoslovakia, a very grim day for the citizens here. Kami and I went down to the town that night and saw a photo exhibit of pictures from that day and days after. It was quite gripping just to see how life was back then. I mean, one day you're just hanging out and being merry, and the next, Soviet tanks are taking over your town. The picture below is quite crazy to me...it's a picture from 1968 in front of the National Museum and you can see we are in the same square because the museum is in the background...so 40 years ago, in the same place I stood, were tanks and all kinds of craziness going on.

Ok, I think this blog is long enough now. Hope all is well in your life!