10.06.2010

Good Cheese

I just slept a total of 18 hours.

This is not a drill. I am sick, therefore this week has been rather dull. The only cool update I have for you is the interaction I have with the cleaning lady who knows minimal english.

See, at first, I thought she was mocking me. I know as much Czech as she knows English. I was walking into the institute one time with a cup of tea in one hand and my books in the other. She held the door open for me, while speaking to the gallery owner beside our institute. I heard the word "caj," which means tea, and the word "anglicky," which means english. So I was a little bitter- like my tea. hehe.

However, you can always add a little "cukr" (that means sugar) to a cup of tea! The next time I saw her she said something that I could not understand, so I asked her to repeat it like 4 times until finally I realized she was saying "Good Afternoon!" How sweet! I responded with "dobry vecer" (which is good evening, but evening is the closest I've got to afternoon). As I was sitting here, reflecting on our friendship, she comes around the corner and offers me a slice of her cheese. I didn't know exactly what she was asking so I just said yes (which in hindsight it's probably not the smartest reflex to have) and then she sliced me this huge chunk of cheese. The only thing I could understand about this cheese is that it was "perfecto." I took a bite and said "dobry syr," which means good cheese. She giggled and said "good cheese" very slowly. Then she said "sh-sh-shop-shopping billa." I translated this as I could buy it at the Billa Grocery Store.

I would like to add to this that she noticed I was coughing, so she just made me Ginger Lemon and Honey tea...from scratch! I watched her cut everything up! She was speaking quick Czech, but from her hand motions, I'm assuming that the ginger will help clear my chest (I was coughing a lot).

So, while all the architecture students are upstairs bonding with Maria, our go-to person for everything, I am downstairs eating cheese and drinking tea with Anna, our cleaning lady. SUCKERS.