birthdays and buds

Yesterday was my birthday. Fairly soon I'll be returning to the US for my longest visit to date. I wanted to gather all of my friends and just be around them for a bit. Not a birthday party - no cake, no presents - just time to be with my friends. I sent out a facebook invitation to a number of people and contacted a great new outdoor restaurant, Bohe(my)a (more on that later - if you're around you should check it out). In the end I had to increase the reservation to 35... I was a bit concerned as people always cancel and I tried to take that in to consideration when finalizing the number, even so I was worried that 35 people wouldn't show up and I would have overbooked and taken away business. Fortunately I was wrong.

In the end more than 35 arrived but everyone was comfortable. We stayed nearly an hour past closing and everything was lovely. It was exactly what I'd hoped for - lots of tables and couches where people could sit and mingle or talk more intimately, blankets for those who were cold, excellent food and incredible service - it was perfect. There was only one unexpected happening.... the number of flowers that arrived .

The restaurant gave us a large ice bucket which is usually more than enough - last night it was far from adequate. We had to run in to the housewares shop and buy two very large vases to fit all the flowers that needed to be in a vase (there were a few potted plants two).

To put it in context you can see a champagne bottle in there - it's not a small personal size but a full bottle - those two outer vases are huge.

It was overwhelming. In the elevator on the way out a colleague looked at me, struggling with a giant vase, two potted plants and large shopping bag (birthday gifts for the kidlet tomorrow and a rather challenging game from some friends) and I dropped my purse. He laughed "A lot of people really like you."

I had wanted to bring together people I care about. I succeeded. And their presence is a wonderful confirmation that it's truly mutual affection. That was the best birthday gift I could have asked for.

best video i've seen in a while :)

It's to a song by Michael Buble - he's seen it, loved it and hopes to be able to visit and sing with them. I hope he does. This was a continuous shot and they did 8 takes - not easy for anyone, especially not for more senior senior citizens. They must have had a blast creating it - and what a great place to be :)

Monster thunderstorm effects

There was a gigantic thunder and lightening storm on Wednesday. I have never seen anything like it before - and our little kitten was stuck in between the windows in the kitchen and the windows in the living room, hit tiny ears tucked back, crouched down, his head flipping back and forth like he was watching a tennis match but it was which side of the house was going to light up brighter. We had lavender skies. It was beautiful, loud, brilliant - over 60,000 strikes - and destructive.

I watched the news reports on Thursday - cars and houses destroyed all over the country, trees blocking roads and in rivers, creating some flooding, massive limbs down in a number of cities. Today, I found another news report - in Sumava, a Czech national forest (the Czech portion of the park) over 20,000 trees were destroyed, more than half on the outskirts of one town.

Nature is amazing. I think of earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes as being devastating but is the first time I've heard of massive destruction by lightening, not flooding, lightening.

the best news headline in recent months

"According to political pundits, the biggest success of the current government is the fact that it still exists."

A Friday night food experience

Last night had a lot of things happening - an art opening, a beer tasting party that turned in to a Czech/Slovak world hockey watching event and then an opening party for a festival. Surprisingly and unexpectedly I found time for dinner with a good friend - we left the art opening and took a walk towards Stare Mesto from Mala Strana and found ourselves at Lokal just next to the Charles Bridge. It's a new local chain run by a group that's had some success in Brazilian and other types of foods. The Lokal chain is meant to focus on traditional homey Czech food and a more Czech experience.

It was both a hit and a miss... in the best ways possible!!!

The Hit

When we walked in the restaurant was either full or clearly marked reserved. It looked like maybe we could squeeze in someplace in the smoking section but when non-smoking is available that's what I'll pick. A waiter approached us immediately and directed us to the back and down the stairs - we were actually walked back and guided to the basement where we were again immediately greeted and given our choice of tables in a very large labyrinthian type brewery/restaurant area. We were seated at our table with menus awaiting - and English menu sheet was immediately procured for me, no request was made, it was just tended to.

Another waiting appeared asking for our drink order - we weren't ready and he smiled and left us for a few minutes. The first waiter returned asking for our drinks and again was quite pleasant. After we got drinks we needed a bit to pick the food. Again, the staff was attentive and pleasant during that encounter.

The food was fast and delicious. I was impressed by the flavor and tenderness of the chicken and the fully flavor of the side I'd order. It was heavenly - so much more than what I'd expected and at really reasonable rates. What as most curious to me was the drink - homemade orange soda. Sort of like orange juice and flat soda water - yet not carbonated, sweet but tangy and full of pulp.

The Miss

I don't write about food or restaurants often - this is an exception.

Throughout the meal the two waiters each checked on us and confirmed everything was all right - they addressed us both in Czech and English individually. The courteous consistent attention we were given is not a part of the Czech experience.

My Czech friend was overwhelmed by the staff's attention but I found it quite refreshing - it was exceptional for this area. They weren't overly familiar, they were formal, polite, efficient and made you feel as though your experience and enjoyment were a priority without in any way being a burden or imposition. They had a presence but weren't intrusive upon our meal or conversation.

I don't know who trained them but I really hope this restaurant model catches on. It was quite a refreshing change and I'll definitely be returning for more.

A cat, a duck and a cat

Well, here are a few random happenings from the past few weeks...

I was at a cafe with some friends on Kampa, a little island near my school. We were drinking beers when we hear this strange pecking coming from outside the window, from a side of the building just a few feet away from an ivy covered stone wall. It was a duck sitting in the ivy. It was a little lost as the river runs along the cafe, but on the other side. It was still quacking and moving about and it seemed a bit flustered - then we noticed above the duck, level with the top of the window, was a wrought-iron grating - sitting on that grating was a cat.

The cat was stalking the duck and had it caught between a building, the wall and under the grate. It was just playing, waiting to pounce. A man at the table next to us got up, opened the window, reached out on the ledge and picked up the duck. He carried it through the cafe and out to the little footbridge you have to cross to get back to the island and there, where it was safe, he let it go.

The cat hopped off the grate a moment later and could not figure out where the duck had gone.

That's the first cat I have to write about right now. The second is Odin. He's ours. He's the newest addition to our family and is a little under 2 months old right now. He's awfully cute and sweet and has (not surprisingly) very sharp claws. He also looks like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, but isn't striped in silly colors, just shades of gray.

Wednesday - The Red Carpet Ball

OK, I didn't find a gown and  the Kid wasn't able to return on time but the evening was not a miss. In fact, it was awesome - incredible, if you will, and an absolute blast. I grabbed a dress I had, threw on some heels and stuffed some flats in my bag. The weather has turned unseasonably cold (snow was forecast) and so a warm coat and hopped in the taxi - and the driver promptly got lost, in my neighborhood.

Other than going the wrong way down side streets he was hilarious - chattered at me in Czech the entire way, asked if I was going dancing and then did a driving-dance imitation of the polka, obviously with sound effects.

The ball was incredible. Scroll down for a video of the venue - and the chance to listen to some Czech. I was a few hours late as I was dealing with the Turkey debacle but when I arrived there was still formal ballroom dancing taking place, accompanied by a live band. Then there were some dance exhibition, a few student musical performances, more formal dancing, more dance exhibitions, a rock band,more dancing, a dance competition, more general dancing and then a DJ and then more dancing... and then the after-party. Somewhere in the middle of the dancing and more dancing, yes, I did change from ridiculous heels to reasonable flats. I was definitely not the last to leave but I got home at 4:30. By pre-arrangement school was closed until the afternoon. There was only one complaint I heard from the guys and girls alike - sore feet. Overall it was a great night - students, parents, teachers, friends - lots of laughter, great entertainment and a lot of fun. I sincerely hope this was the first annual and not the only ball the Student Council organizes.

Here is the video of the venue, Narodni Dum na Vinohradech- it was so beautiful :)