weekends

Most weekends we have games. This last weekend, however (January 23rd and 24th), was free. My plans were to meet with Lenka and Honza, a local high school boy to speak English, however, we couldn't find a place that was open to have tea in the afternoon. Lenka was sick, and Honza and I did still meet, but we ended up going to a McDonalds, the only thing he could think of that was open. It was disappointing to have a nearly American experience that I don't like to have in America in Czech Republic.

Some of the girls from the team asked if I wanted to play hockey Sunday afternoon on a pond here in Kladno. The pond was probably a 15 minute walk from the flat.












Other things to do on the weekend are to go to Prague and see a movie, or the men's Kladno hockey team plays on Sundays.

living in Kladno

Location, location, location...
So, I live in Kladno, Czech Republic (map below). Kladno is around a 30 minute drive from western Prague (follow the blue arrows). I live in a flat with Mechy, a girl on the team (the red dot in the lower right of the map below).












I live in the building below, on the fourth floor. The first floor isn't residential, so it doesn't count, so in the elevator I press 3 to get to my floor. The flats are labeled with people's names as well as the room number, and in some flats they've gotten rid of the numbers altogether, I think in an effort to personalize living.



















Autobus:
To get around Kladno I ride the "autobus." The bus system has many lines with many stops (on the pdf on the previous link the numbers are the bus lines, and circles and half circles are the stops. I live at the Prazka krnz (Praha station) intersection, one of the only four way right intersections on the map). They run earlier than I usually wake up and later than I stay up, so I have no problems getting around. The hockey arena (the orange dot in the yellow circle on the map above) is about a 20 minute ride away, and the Kladno centre (in the red circle on the map above) is about a 15 minute ride away.

The first day I rode the bus by myself I stayed on too long, because I thought that there was no way that I was already at the stop. (I had a similar thoughts in Prague, that the city was very dense.) In Kladno, I walked by this church and around this hospital more than I needed to:




















The church (above) and hospital (Czech, nemocnice, below).















I don't know how state of the art the hospital is, but it is beautiful.

(E.T.) Phone home
I use internet to communicate to Alaska. I have internet access for my laptop during the day using something like a router that plugs into a USB port. I have occasional wireless in the flat, most likely from a neighbor. Its nice when I have it, but intermittent wireless is almost worse than not having wireless at all, since it can't be counted on. I have a skype account, let me know if you want to add me! (Dad and Diana, you should set up your skype account.) I am also accepting donations for skype credit so that I can call American phone numbers.

Food!

I was initially enamored by the cheese and sausage available in the centrum, I have also recently come to appreciate the liquor and tea available also. Thinking of the centrum, as Lenka mentioned to me once, I can't help but remember that Kladno really is a very sporty town, it seems that the majority of the rest of the shops are clothing shops, and at least half of the clothing shops are athletically inclined.

Anyhow, back to the food.

Fresh bread, fruits and vegetables are very reasonably priced. Also reasonably priced are the mineral waters, available in various carbonation concentrations. I do lament how uncommon freshly ground coffee and pepper are. Also, brown sugar and vanilla are no where to be found. I had to look in the biggest store in town to find sesame oil.

They most have done something to the milk, but my first cup of instant coffee was really good, making me think that every cup I make is going to be good, but, some how, it isn't. Also, eggs come in metric amounts, 5, 10 and 20, and are individually stamped with a number. 20 turns out to be a nice number of eggs :)
















From Lenka again, I think Czech food are foods you can get on a farm, like potatos (bromory). I have potatoes about every other day, then again, I did in Alaska also. The grocery stores have much more fresh bread and fruits and vegetables proportionally, than prepared foods. To make non-czech food, especially asian, foods and seasonings, and sauces come in packets, making me think asian foods are pretty new to the culture. Or, shedding my american self centeredness, maybe Americans eat a lot of asian food. Also, grocery shopping is never for more than the next few days, most people's cupboards are pretty small, and fairly empty, which must be a consequence of eating fresh food.

So, to make cookies I've found actual vanilla beans, which are sold at the close "small" grocery store, Albert, and I am trying to make vanilla from scratch. Luckily there is a lot of vodka available (in the jar in the picture below). In the picture below, I think the packets with the picture of the a coffee-sugar cake are baking powder, which is the closest thing I've found to baking soda. Also, even though they have an aisle of chocolate (half of the facing aisle has sugary sweets like gummy bears, the other half carbonated drinks like cola), they don't have semi-sweet chocolate morsels, so I cut up chocolate bars.

















...and drink!

The beer is wonderful. I don't know what they are yet, but every beer I've had I've really liked, even the light beers. Who knew.

Karvina, games 3 and 4

We drove to Prague Saturday, Janurary 16th, in the morning, then we took a train to Karvina to play games 3 and 4 of our series.

The Prague train station
We were in such a hurry on the way there that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the train station. The train station is beautiful, with a fresco inside, statues and ornate architecture visible only outside. Unfortunately the city doesn't have enough money for maintenance of the building, so it stands dirty, unlit, and falling apart. I will post pictures once I get some good ones.

In the train:



















On this train, there is light at the end of the tunnel:












Tournament games
We won our first game against Karvina this weekend 3-2. I feel like I played well through, it was a fast paced game, faster than I thought, even after watching their first two. No points for me, just a pretty good plus minus. We lost our second game against Karvina, 5-2, it was a disappointing loss.

The Karvina arena:





























Offensive vs defensive play
Here, at least in Kladno, forechecking is really stressed. I was taught, at least in Wasilla, to play much more defensivly than I'm being taught here in Kladno. For example, when your defensive partner is on the blue line with the puck, with someone on them, especially if they're in a battle, I was taught to fall back to between the red line and the blue line, in case they loose the puck. I have been told that I should be on the blue line ready for a pass from the defensive partner. This to me feels very offensive, and leaves room for break aways. However, in defensive play, I've also had games that were scoreless, or very low scoring that could have benefited from a little forchecking. I suppose I need to be a smarter offensive defensemen, so that I don't have to be so far back.

Karvina accomidations (I think it was an old school put to new use):





























The morning walk to the pre-game breakfast:



















At the Karvina train station on the way back to Prague Sunday afternoon:

transportation

On Monday morning, the 13th, Mechy and I went to the bus station to buy a bus pass for me.

Unlike Alaskan roads, which were built relatively recently, roads in Kladno are not straight, and it seems common to have intersections at really obtuse or acute angles. Therefore, I really appreciate simple directions. Directions like, follow this road until you get to the light and cross the intersection. It follows that, similar to drawn the directions to my house (take the first 5 rights), not turning off a road means starting off facing south and ending facing north.


On another note, gas is really expensive here, 30.90 crowns per liter, is about equal to 6.40 dollars per gallon, making me very thankful I don't have to pay for gas.

the centrum

January 12, 2010
I met with Lenka and we walked around the centrum, with one main street cars cannt drive down (I think except to resupply shops), with a few side streets. There are a lot of shops in the centrum, with clothing (most are either sporty e.g. snowboarding styles, or fashionable), food, toys, electronics, cosmetics....

Some of the shops in the centrum:

Cheesy has Czech and import cheeses, available by 100 grams, a little expensive, but tasty.




















A sporting goods store. So... "brusle" is pronounced like "Bruce Lee"... imagine hearing someone encouraging you to skate harder and you hear brusle. Haha.. oh man. Many of the other hockey terms are similar to American terms, puck = pook, goal = goal, but goals = golie















At the center of the centrum, the Neo-Romanesque Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin:



















Next to the church is the Neo Renaissance Town Hall. (I went for a walk around the town hall this afternoon):




















Many of the apartment buildings, including the building the flat I'm living in is in, look similar. The remnants of communism (near Nam. Svobody, Nam. short for the Czech word for square, and Svobody for freedom, Nam. Svobody is near the centrum also, and Lenka's host family is accross the street and down the hill from Nam. Svobody, making Svobody a great place to meet):













Kladno is a very beautiful city.

Today I also got internet access, and had my second practice with HC Zeny (the woman's team). Practice went well, except, I didn't know where to play during the power play and penalty kill practice. I also am borrowing Lenka's parent's cell phone for nearly free texting within the Czech Republic.

news

They've added me to the team, with news online:























I am wearing an Ice Pirates jersey, which is neither Island Pub or Doc Waters. Here is what google translator translated the above text to:

As regards transfers - send in their back row won the team Kladno. From Alaska comes to the playoffs reinforcements Lorna Wilson. Šestadvacetiletá obránkyně started playing hockey in their 12th years. Last year, climbed two teams - Island Pub and Doc Waters in the amateur men's league, where she was the only representative of the fair sex. Do Kladno (or to Prague) Lorna flew in Friday, 8.1 can not have a board in the first semi-final matches. The team, however, has undergone two training sessions and say they are getting into being. The CR is only 3 months and set the following objectives - to improve is to play good hockey and most importantly fun.

Kladno

January 8th (continued)
Robert, Lenka and I drove from Prague to Kladno. By this time I hadn't slept for more than a few hours for three days, so when I got to Honza's house, Lenka's host family's home, I slept. We had a practice in the evening, but I was very tired and didn't skate or play very well. My first thoughts on Czech hockey compared to hockey in Juneau is that there is a lot of passing. Also compared to the North Stars or Firebirds hockey I played in Anchorage, the passing was much cleaner.

January 9th, 2010
I slept until our first tournament game, we won 4-2. I couldn't play because I didn't have a picture for my registration card. Here, instead of rosters for each game, teams submit players' cards, so the game score keeper has pictures and detailed information for each of the players to look at, rather than a list of names and numbers. Also the ice is zammed between each period, so we get a little pep talk (in Czech, which I can hardly understand the words of, but still is motivating) and rest. After the game we went to one of the nicest Czech restaurants in Kladno, I had a mushroom chicken dish with pomme frite.

A few of the Czech words are similar to French words, which confuses me because usually the words are only similar, and most of the words are very different. Another similar word is mort, which means something like violent death, e.g. a heart attack. Other words sound similar, but have completely different meanings.


January 10th, 2010
After falling asleep around 21:00 (9pm) I woke up at 3:30 in the morning, and couldn't go back to sleep. It was the weird to me, to be awake for so long in bed in the morning when I know I should be sleeping, not feeling tired, instead feeling like I would at 14:00 or 16:00 in the afternoon.

My roommate Mechy (her hockey nick name), and I went to the grocery store in the morning. I couldn't find vanilla. Also, fruits and vegetables are tagged with the weight and price near the fruits and vegetables in the store, so that when you check out the clerk scans the item, and doesn't need to spend time weighing and labelling at the check out stand. This and many other things make a lot of sense. Luckily, this grocery store, which is really close to our flat, takes Visa. Unfortunately, most places in Kladno only take crowns, Czech money. Then, no surprise, I slept a few hours until our next game.

We won our second game against Karvina 4-3, in a very exciting overtime shoot out. We didn't play very well in the first period, I don't think we broke out successfully more than a handful of times. It was 3-3 at the end of the third period.

Flights!

January 6th, 2010
So, the fastest, cheapest way to get to Prague was to book a ticket from Seattle, which meant that I had to book a separate ticket from Juneau. This meant that I booked a flight that didn't have guaranteed transfer of my baggage from Alaska Airlines to Lot (operated by United) in Seattle, we were supposed to arrive 5 minutes shy of the 70 minute minimum. Luckily the Alaska flight getting in to Seattle arrived early, allowing time for my baggage to transfer.

Then, I flew from Seattle to Chicago on United Airlines, which was actually pretty nice. The back of the seats still have phones (picture inset). United only serves complementary drinks, and not pretzels or little snacks, like Alaskan Airlines.

The international terminal in Chicago was pretty barren. I had to go through security way too many times. Reasons were: 1) there was no food in the terminal, 2) our flight to Warsaw was delayed three hours because of bad weather someplace in Europe that delayed the arrival of our plane, and 3) because I had to rebook my connecting flight to Prague since the couldn't rebook me at the gate. However, in Chicago I met Sophia, a girl from Austria who spent a semester in Hawaii, we shared general introductions and complaints about traveling.

The flight from Chicago to Warsaw was one of the worst flights I've ever been on. The gate and flight attendants hardly spoke English, and were rude and awkward when they had to speak english, even though English is an international language, and I think they're required to speak in both Polish and English, with English immediately following Polish. I didn't expect the food to be good, but.... they had minute rice (I'll forever think of Ashwin, and his excellent Indian dishes served with minute rice) that was still crunchy.

I thought the Warsaw airport was very clean and bright. The next available flight to Prague was in the morning, so they gave me a hotel voucher to stay at the Warsaw airport hotel. I met in the airport boy from Overland Park, Kansas, where my grandparents live, who is now a professional soccer player, and a boy from Sweden who spent a semester at Gustavus, St. Olaf's rival in Minnesota. There were probably 2o of us from the Chicago flight that had to stay in a hotel in Warsaw. In the Warsaw airport, we were shuffled around in hallways with glass walls, so you could see other passengers being shuffled around, but you couldn't talk to them. The airline could have let us find our way to the hotel, but we had to wait an hour outside of the passport checkpoint, at least half an hour at the baggage claim, then at least half an hour in the below freezing temperatures outside for the shuttle. Sophie, these two boys and I stayed up late at the Warsaw airport hotel talking about the differences between Americans and Europeans and between eastern and western europe, especially for young adults. It was nice to be able to take a shower and lay down for a while before my last flight to Prague.


January 7th, 2010
I thought of George and his family when I stood in Poland, outside the airport hotel in the morning, waiting for the shuttle, and how I was very lucky to stand in their homeland. Just knowing that I was in Poland was amazing.


The Eurolot flight from Warsaw to Prague was wonderful. I guess in European flights food is always complementary, baggage is free and the flight attendants are friendly. They had fresh bread as part of their sandwich, they asked if I wanted something to drink, I said what I wanted, they gave it to me, then immediately asked if I wanted something else. I also notices in the Prague airport and flight that the women were wearing really nice boots.

Compared to the the Warsaw airport, the Prague airport was not as sterile. All the signs were in Czech and in English, making it much easier to navigate. Robert, the team manager, and Lenka, the goalie I know from Juneau, met me at the baggage terminal. It was a relief to see them.

internet access

I will update the blog more often when I have constant internet access, which should be tomorrow.

For now, I'll try updating with chronological posts.