Prague Journal

Wednesday, December 29, 2004.

Rick and I are both struggling to meet end-of-the-year deadlines for a few of our projects. He’s farther along than I am, but we are both putting in time on the computer. It’s hard to believe how fast this fall has gone. We’ve both been incredibly busy, and are enjoying the stuff we’re working on (mostly). Eva had sent me her notes for corrections to one of our case studies, but I will not have it done in time to send her today.
Eva had invited us to dinner at her house at 6 p.m. and we didn’t want to be late. The Czech custom is to be prompt, not like in the US, so we have learned to plan ahead (mostly). Twins Adam and Suza are now 16 and both have been taking English in school, so we had an easy conversation. Even Hunsa could understand most of what was said without translation, although Eva and Adam were ready with explanations on both sides when necessary. The older son was out for the evening, so there were just six of us at the table. We had delicious fish soup (really vegetable soup in fish broth) to start the meal. Eva was kind enough to serve, as sort of an antipasto, some fried carp and potato salad left over from Christmas eve dinner. Rick and I thought it was delicious. Of course, carp is like many other bland fish, where the preparation is everything. Carp is a bony fish, so we had to eat carefully! The main mean was more traditional Czech cooking, meat with good sauce, rice and cooked vegetables, followed by a modest salad. As usual, there were many desserts. Suza had made a strudel (really, an apple roll with nuts and raisins), probably because Eva knows how much Rick and I love the strudel here. We were also served several kinds of Christmas cookies, most of which were hard to resist. We are so blessed with Czech friends here. My dream is to retire with enough money to fly between continents for dinner with my Czech friends, Denver and Boise friends, and California and Colorado family, at whim.

posted by JWinn @ 10:16 PM