A Czech Hospital Adventure

I went in for my knee surgery and I must tell you all that this is another Great Czech Adventure. I had to be at the hospital at 7:00 am on the day before the surgery to check in. They spent about a hour checking my papers,…you have to go to a clinic the week before the surgery and have all your blood work, ekg, xrays etc done. This seems very efficient, however, that means that the rest of the first day, there is nothing to do. So I sat and corrected all of the exams from my students and when I was done, I read the first book I brought along. I must admit that the Doctors and nurses all seem excellent. The orthopedic department has its own mini hospital. They are in a separate building which has two operating rooms and 8 patient rooms. The regular clinic where you go for check ups and consultations is on the main floor and the others are up the stairs. Unfortunately the building is VERY old and scheduled to be replaced next year. The operating rooms seem to be fairly modern,..what I saw of them, but the rest of the facilities are right out of a 1930’s “B” movie. My first clue was when I tried to go from the clinic on the first floor where I check in to the ward, on the 3^rd floor, and discovered that the elevator no longer worked. Strange for a place that does orthopedic surgery! The rooms on the ward are large with 4 bed in each. These are the old, iron hospital beds with the cranks to raise and lower them. In the room are the beds, a small table to eat at, three chairs and a sink. The toilet and shower are down the hall. Yes, down the hall is three toilets in one room, two marked for women and one for men. This is for 30+ patients! Oh, I almost forgot to mention, you have to bring your own toilet paper and towels. None are provided. After seeing the toilet,…very old with the water closet hanging from high on the wall, I didn’t even look at the shower. The one nurse who spoke English, advised me to not use it. The food is classic Czech. In the morning for breakfast, two rollicks (or two pieces of rye bread) and jam or cheese spread. Lunch is the hot meal,…today it was fried, breaded spam and boiled potatoes. Dinner is two rollicks (rolls) and yogurt or meat spread. Oh, I forgot, because I am diabetic, I get a snack in the afternoon,…a rollick. All of this is served with weak fruit tea. Saturday, the day after my surgery, Ken saved me, by bringing me a big thermos of coffee.

It isn’t all bad. Twice a day, someone comes in and washes and disinfects the floors, sink and counter tops. The nurses regularly check on everyone and are friendly and helpful, even though none of them speak English. My room mates have enjoyed having this strange American in the room and we manage to communicate with Chenglish (Czech, English and lots of pantomime). My Doctor came and re-examined me the morning of my surgery at 7:00 am. Then he spoke to me again right before the surgery, around 10:00. At 4:00pm, he stopped in to explain about the surgery and then came back again at 7:00pm to see if I had any questions or needed anything. The anesthesiologist was fast, efficient and spoke pretty good English. I was only under for about an hour and woke with no lingering side effects and absolutely no pain. They let you bring your own medication and they even let me check my own sugar levels with my monitor. That is pretty good service!

Visitors can come anytime and mostly they bring food. It seems that during the communist times there was an extreme shortage of fruits and vegetables so it became a custom to bring oranges or bananas when you visited someone in the hospital. They still do that today. I kinda like that tradition!

I am hopeful that I will go home tomorrow or else Ken may need to bring me a Big Mac!! Oh, about my knee. It seems that the meniscus was not torn, but something called a lateral and the main problem was some sort of degeneration of something. So they fixed what they could and I will start therapy and hopefully will improve. In the meantime, it is crutches for 5 weeks!

p.s. They gave me a bill when I left and warned me that I had to pay it within 8 days. Total cost for everything,...181CZK about $9.00,... I guess I can bring my own toilet paper!

Family and Friends

Well, where to start?…November was warm and beautiful here. Temperatures in the high 60’s and low 70’s. Beautiful days and cool evenings. Then the end of the month, our friends, Jackie and Ed came to visit. We had planned a wonderful week and a “Czech” thanksgiving feast. Unfortunately, Ed’s father died and they had to cut their trip short. We had a wonderful time while they were here and were again reminded of how much we miss our friends. Hopefully the little taste of the Czech Republic will make them want to come back for more.

The end of the month, Conner and his girl friend Kate arrived. It has been wonderful having them here. We have been running around, showing them the sights and just taking some time to lay around and watch movies and talk. Kate even helped me make some Christmas crafts and together we all put up the tree. Unfortunately the weather has turned cold and it is difficult to tramp around in 10F. We have had a little snow but it comes and goes. We did go to Prague for a few days and took Kate to the Castle, across Charles Bridge and to see the infant of Prague. It was really fun and we spent a little time at the Prague Christmas Market. I have to say that I like the Olomouc market better. Our market may not be so big, but it is filled with hand made items including some of the most wonderful, homemade sausages! The also have these big whole hams turning on spits on open wood fires and you get a chuck of meat with some great rye bread and a daub of mustard. Wonderful!!! Of course you need to drink the “punc”, a hot wine with fruit in it. This year they have even set up an ice skating rink in the middle of the old square and you can bring your skates and go skating under the shadows of the beautiful renaissance and art nouveau buildings! We managed to get over and spent a wonderful evening with my cousin Frantisek, his wife and one of their sons. We had a great meal and managed to communicate. The big news is that Frantisek and his oldest son, Petr have taken over the business of a Pension and restaurant in the Mountains in Northern CZ where they will run a ski resort in the winter and a hiking lodge in the summer. You can check out the place at their web site. www.penszionjavor.cz So any of you who wish to come and go skiing,..we can arrange that! So now we are busy planning Christmas and so happy that at least Conner and Kate can be here with us. Hopefully some time Quentin and Alana will be able to come.

Ljubljana Slovenia

So the Lewises head for another place that we have never been to and knew little about. Pam got a long weekend because of a national holiday in the C.R, their Independence Day. We decided to head south for decent weather and were not disappointed. The car trip took us through the gorgeous mountains of Austria then into Slovenia which used to be part of the former Yugoslavia. A glorious warm fall day was illuminated by the sun in a cloudless sky. The trees were in high peak color and the mountains were on fire with that color. This was highlighted by the snow-capped Alps in the background. Our destination, Ljubljana, is the capitol of the small country of Slovenia. It is filled with university students, 65,000 of them. Many of them sit at cafes next to the Sava river and sip espresso discussing everything. Our visit included a trip to the national museum of art, a fine place with excellent works, and the city museum which gave a history of the city and environs, dating back well before the Romans. Both places included artifact titles in English. In fact most of the people we talked to there were speakers of English. The other major sight we visited was the castle which overlooks the city high on a rocky crag above. There were magnificent views of the town and environs with a particularly good vista of the eastern Alps. The restaurant food we got was delish and there was plenty of it. On Saturday, we visited a small nearby medieval type town called Kranj. I can't tell you how it's pronounced but it was a very pleasant place to stroll away the warm afternoon and have some coffee and goo. Sunday morning before we left we stopped at the flea market and of course bought some junk. Another gem from central Europe and only six hours away by car.

Fall in the Czech Republic is now at peak color. When the sun shines the landscape glows so brilliantly you feel like you are floating or levitating in yellow ,red and orange. It is very reminiscent of fall in New England, perhaps western Mass. or Vermont. Pam and I took the required road trip into the local mountains for a viewing, something the Czechs don't do much. We have never seen a tour bus of retired folks checking out the countryside scenery,..too bad as it is wonderful. We took pictures. Here they are.

Wroclaw,Poland

A few weeks ago in September our friends from Germany had us meet them in the city of Wroclaw Poland. WWII nearly destroyed the place(estimates say about 70% of the historic center was in rubble) but the city decided to completely restore that part. They used as much of the original material as possible.Now the center is beautifully magnificent. Pam and I took the train. It took about five hours. This was an amazingly short time considering that we stopped at every small pig and chicken whistle stop on the line. We arrived none the worse for wear,however, and boarded a tram to our hotel. It was nice and friendly. Even though Pam's knee is not in great shape she braved some walking so we could explore that great place. The old center was thrilling to see. Of course, a visit to the city history and art museum was enjoyed by everyone. We all enjoyed eating pyrogies and other tasty Polish treats, drank some good wine, gambled a little in one of the local casinos, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and night skyline from the sixth story window of our friends room. On the last day before leaving we visited Wroclaw University. It is an ornate Baroque building outside and in. It contains a display of photographs showing the destruction caused by the war. Sobering but inspiring to think of how the Poles have rebuilt their city. The journey home went faster and smoother.Home by supper time. A mighty fine visit.

It can't be September!!!

Ah,..but it is. Some how spending 2.5 months in the US made the summer disappear. It was an eventful two and a half months. Quentin got married to Alanna in Toronto, Conner sang and danced his heart out on Cape Cod and fell in love with a costumer, and Ken and I got to see a lot of old friends and family. It was good. I have emailed pictures to most of you, so if you still feel the need to see more,..let me know. I think Alanna said there are about 4000 of them.
So we are back in CZ and today the weather is finally warm. It turned really cold at the beginning of September and we were afraid that we may have missed Autumn too,..Today is beautiful and I am washing windows and picking up around here. Ken is downstairs with our neighbor David. Every week the two of them get together to study Czech and English,..and to drink wine. Usually by the end of their one hour session and a bottle or two of wine, Ken is speaking excellent Czech and David is speaking excellent English.
I have decided to give it one more serious attempt. So I have a private tutor, twice a week. Once classes start, I may need to cut back to once a week, but we will see. If it doesn't work this time, I am going to have to resign my self to always being a beginner.
Classes start in another week and also our private students. We have been doing some traveling in the Czech Republic and I think this weekend we will venture up to Poland.
More on that later.
For now, I thought you might like to see what we are having for dinner tonight. Fresh forest mushrooms! The apple gives you an idea of the size.

The Czech Ball

Well, just when I was beginning to think, I knew the Czechs, they surprise us with another new tradition. They have a custom of having balls in the winter months. Feb or March are the most popular and everyone has one. The University, each
department at the university, grade schools for the teachers and parents, factories, and even towns will have these giant balls. People get all dressed up and bands are hired and of course there is eating and drinking. Anyone can go to any ball they want and you could go to a different one every weekend from about the middle of January until the end of March. We decided to go to the University ball for the cultural experience and it certainly was one!!. I dug out my old dinner dress and made a few alterations. Ken went to the local re-sale shop and got a sports jacket. They were having 5 CZK day ( about 30 cents) and Ken got this great, double breasted, wide lapel shark-skin suit,..very retro (or maybe an original!). We met with our friends Eva and Jaromir and Dasa and Jiri and planned a night of it. The party started at 7:00 and when we left at 2:00 am it was still going strong. They had the main ballroom with a big band and famous Praha singers. They also had a second dance floor with a folk band. There must have been 1000-1500 people there. Students, faculty, staff, all dancing, drinking and having a great time. Even Ken danced a couple of dances,..amazing. Of course the food was traditional Czech food,..big legs of smoked pork that they would slice off some pieces and give you that with rye bread and mustard,...There was also bottles of red and white Czech wine on every table and little open faced sandwiches. Naturally there was lots of beer on tap and other drinks. Throughout the evening they had guest professional dancers that did dancing displays and there was a big raffle at midnight. When we left, all of the women were handed a long stemmed rose.
It was so much fun and everyone was just enjoying themselves. The weather was mild that night,..50F so it was a totally beautiful evening. We kept wondering if there
was anything comparable in the US and we don't really think so. Maybe factory Christmas parties or University Homecoming Dances. But somehow they are different. Maybe it is because it is done in the middle of winter and everyone really gets excited about getting out, dressing up and doing something. Maybe it is the almost innocent air about the participants carefree dancing. I don't know,...it sure was fun and another great Czech experience!

Ah,..Paris

The first week in February, Ken and I ran away to Paris. It is a trip that we had been planning to make for three years but somehow never found the time. Now the trip was a little bitter-sweet. Paris without our dear friend Rene was certainly different. It wasn't bad, just different. Seeing Yvette (his wife) and children, Vanessa and Renaud was wonderful. Renaud is all grown up with two adorable children and a lovely wife. Vanessa is such a mature confident young woman who flys for one of the French airlines. We had a wonderful five days, great food and fond memories. Besides it was 50F (10 C), sunny, no snow and beautiful. We visited several museums and a few galleries. Mostly it was good to get away. Of course after it was over, we had to fly back and I had to start teaching the new semester. Somewhere along the way, Ken and I caught awful colds. It must have been a strange European bug, because our immune system sure didn't recognize it. We are finally making it for a few hours without coughing and feeling a little better. The last few days was well above freezing and our snow is rapidly disappearing. It should be gone by the weekend. So far, no bad flooding, but that could come.

Winter in Czech lands

Conner returned to Iowa on the 29^th. We were sad to see him go. It was so nice to have him around. Part of New Years Eve was spent with our downstairs neighbors David and Monica. At about 10 pm we went back to our apt. and for the next three hours we were entertained or irritated with the continuous sights and sounds of exploding fireworks. It was the longest and loudest we had ever experienced. It is a real custom in Europe to set off fireworks for New Years and they are legal everywhere. January came and brought the coldest and snowiest winter on record. We could have stayed in Iowa! We just finished the one week winter intensive English language school that is sponsored by Pam's department at the Science Faculty. Pam did her usual teaching and introduced the Czechs to Bingo,..complete with white elephant prizes. Ken gave a tour in English of the Archbishops museum. On Thursday evening, we had the final party. Ken joined the vice dean’s band with his banjo to play a dose of old American folk tunes sung in Czech and a few Czech workers songs and folk songs. Thanks to all of you who called or wrote over the holidays. It keeps us grounded. We love you all and the journey continues. I am attaching a few pictures of the snow, just so you know that we are suffering snow withdrawal after leaving Iowa! It got down to 0 today,..almost a record for here.

Christmas

Pam and I spent the holidays here in CZ . In mid December Conner came over to spend time with us. Our first family excursion was to the big Christmas market in Nurnburg, Germany. It was Iowa winter cold there but the city was so enjoyable we hardly noticed. The Christmas market here has been an annual event since 1610. It takes up most of the old downtown and is policed for quality. Only local handmade items, German artist made things are allowed. No Chineese socks or Korean made Christmas decorations. The regular stores carry that stuff. All the food must be locally produced and hot food prepared on premises. Good quality and beautifully made. Pam, Conner and I spent several hours inspecting the goods and tasting the food. Its only about a 7 hour drive from Olomouc so a return trip may be in the offing next year. The next day we all went to the German history museum and ended up spending the whole day there. It has one of the finest collections of medieval sculpture and painting around. Additionally there are collections of antique furniture, arms and armor, folk art, and contemporary German painting. About mid afternoon Pam and Conner left Ken to his own devices and the two went to the coffee shop where Pam taught Conner how to knit. By the time we got home the next day he had nearly finished a fine neck scarf. Nurnburg was badly damaged during WWII but they have reconstructed it with great care and pride. It deserves a warm weather inspection. Upon our return Conner was asked to participate in the big Christmas pageant at Svaty Kopecek( it means saints hill) which is a big 300 year old Baroque pilgrimage church on the hill north of town. On Christmas day evening the pageant was performed outdoors in the cloister behind the church and in a misty rain around 1000 people showed up to watch. Conner played an angel with panache, and got to sing a solo… We Three Kings,.. He was a hit. The rest of the songs were Czech carols that we had never heard before. After the Christmas play was over there was a sing along in the small chapel behind the stage. Conner sang "Angels we have heard on High" and taught the choir the chorus. He also sang "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." He was great. We went home while Conner stayed with the directors and a few of the crew for beers. After Christmas we went to visit our friends Radka and Ivo near Ostrava. Ivo is a good skier and agreed to take Conner sking in the Beskid Mountains. They went and Pam and I and Radka went to a fine painting exhibit at the Ostrava art museum. Good food, good wine, good friends. It was a wonderful Christmas and only would have been better if Quentin and Alana were here. But they were in Toronto with her parents. I guess that is what happens when children grow up,…maybe next year we will all get to be together again.

Domazlice

For our late fall trip Pam and I decided to go to western Bohemia to a small beauty of a town called Domazlice near the German border. We got a pension, small hotel, in a restored 16th century house. This kind of stuff thrills me no end. It was run by a young family. Otto, Wendy, and their daughter Jennifer made our stay very pleasant and comfortable. The area the town is in is called the Chodsko area and is famous for its beautiful folk costumes(kroj) and painted pottery. The town museum has a wonderful collection of them. The town itself, though small, has great old buildings, some good restaurants, and post card views. We also toured the countryside where we saw castles and vistas of the mountainous border country (border with Germany) A leisurely trip home with a few more castle and old church stops made for an interesting historic and long weekend.

Fall Road Trip

Fall in the Czech Republic was cool sunny and beautiful. Pam and I took some time and went to Poland. We visited some small towns just across the northern border of CZ in an area of Polish Silesia that we had heard was not so affected by WWII. We crossed the border near the town of Cerna Voda and Kraliky for those following on a map and went north to Klodzko, Poland. We spent the day exploring the town which is reputed to have the oldest stone bridge in Poland. We came ,we saw, we crossed. The old town center has wonderful old buildings and the remains of a castle on an overlook above the town. We visited a beautiful old 13th century gothic church full of fresco paintings. Some of the original sculpture was on a side porch which thrilled me to no end. Had a good meal , hit a few antique shops, and headed for Swidnica, Dzierzoniow, and Walbrzych. I put these three towns into one bag because they were all disappointing. Not much to recomend them. The last of the three was claimed to be a reconstructed factory town with a great old centrum. It was dirty , crudy, full of traffic, and smelly. We lit out and found a fine little pension out in the middle of nowhere, near Nowa Ruda. The owner spoke english among other languages and was funny and entertaining. Good food, good wine, good sleep. Interesting journey.

Well Conner came for Xmas and fixed the problem. Thank God for Children! So we are back in business!
And now the rest of the story. The first day of cousin Frantisek's birthday consisted of a dinner and dance with family in a local restaurant. Excellent food, drink, and conversation with translations by Frantisek's son David and others. To end the evening we all got into a big crowded circle for one last dance, a kind of traditional celebratory folk dance with everyone involved. The next day after a visit to the local art museum to see a brilliant display of 19th century czech landscape painting, we went out to the country winding down dirt roads into the big woods where Frantisek and family have a weekend cottage. The second part of the birthday celebration took place here. There was much beer, wine, slivovice , great food aplenty, and friends, family, and Franta's old team mates from the Hlinsko soccer team with whom he used to play professionally. They of course arrived already pre oiled up. Much fun with singing dancing eating and conversation. A wild and wooly evening. Excellent!
At the end of September our friends Jim and Jan Henderson from Cedar Rapids and Jim's sister Anna came to the Czech Republic on a hunt for relatives. A successful one I might add. After a visit to the big flea market near Prague we headed south to the town of Strakonice which we used as a base of operations. The village of Dobravice nearby was the family home. With help from an english speaking cousin of Jims they met many relatives. After a trip to Olomouc and a visit to Prague they returned happy and full of good memories.
Well that brings you up to the middle of Oct. I will give you Nov and Dec. on the next post! Hopefully this afternoon! Stay warm where-ever you are!