Prague Journal

Thursday, December 2, 2004.

The sun is out again this morning. I went to the bank and also to the Fulbright office so I could fax my registration form for the conference in Berlin in February. It’s always nice to see Hana and Andrea –they are both very cordial and helpful. Hana gave me some information for taking the train, which is much cheaper and easier than flying to most European cities.
I met John for coffee at Kava Kava Kava Internet café near Andĕl, which was a run-down area with lots of vacant buildings seven years ago. Now it is a bustling shopping area. There’s a huge mall (with three-tiered parking garage), which reminded me of Park Meadows outside Denver. The big anchor store is Carrefour, which is really a hypermarket. We went in the mall, to the Carrefour grocery section, looking for things such as marshmallows, sweet potatoes, graham crackers, and chocolate chips, and cilantro. I did find sweet potatoes, so I bought one to show to Eva. We also saw scallions (leeks are plentiful, but not scallions) and salsa (but only mild, not hot). I’ve been in too many stores this week – nothing looks appetizing or interesting at this point. I hate stores even in the US. And I especially hate stores at this time of year (no Santas ringing bells here, but lots of Christmas displays). Booths (outdoor shops) and decorated trees and lights are starting to crop up on the main street corners.
This evening I met three of Eva’s students for coffee at the Louvre. It’s very interesting to hear the opinions and views of students in their mid twenties. Young women are still torn between career and family, fearing that they won’t be hired for good positions when they’re young because employers still want young men, and also that they cannot start a career when they’re in their 40s. I’m sure there’s a lot of truth to this, and it’s not so different from the US. Juggling career and family is always hard on women, especially when so many employers expect long hours to move up in a company. Here the women I talk to expect to take 3-5 years maternity leave to raise their kids, which makes career planning even more difficult. Few women hire household help and men here are much less inclined to share in house and childcare responsibilities. Attitudes are changing (slowly, of course), catalyzed by the influence of immigrants and expats and the media.

posted by JWinn @ 11:00 PM