Happy Pesach!

Last night, Dan, Stephanie, and I all sat together at one of the largest seders I've ever attended, and most certainly the longest. Then again, I've never been to a tri-lingual seder before! It was the standard evening, complete with gefilte fish, matzah (or, in Czech spelling, "macah"...a 'c' is pronounced like 'ts'), afikomen search through Old Town square (kidding, but wouldn't that be cool??), and lots and lots of terrible wine.

I'm used to having seders away from my family by now (not to say I enjoy it, but I'm at least experienced at it), but Dan and Steph were both having their first seders away from home. The evening turned into one long story-swapping session that made us all wish we could be listening to our respective fathers or grandfathers rush through the service as quickly as possible. Instead, we got Rabbi Hoffberg (The Hoff, as I like to call him).

Once again, I was amazed by the number of English-speaking people who saw the play. Dan and I were recognized twice last night (though they all seem to see me first. Guess a guy with 5 feet of body height and 2 feet of hair height is memorable for some reason). We met a few more Americans-turned-English-teachers-trying-to-put-off-entry-into-the-real-world, and some other study abroad kids too. Despite starting at 7pm and ending at 11pm (and we didn't even stay for the post-meal prayers), it was a really nice night.

Today after class I took a walk into Old Town square, where they've set up a huge market as an Easter celebration. Besides the difficulty in dodging Italian tourists, the place is really neat - lots of shops, and TONS of great food, including everyone's new favorite treat, Trdlo (sounds gross right? But it's literally dough wrapped around a rolling-pin sized steel bar, rolled in cinnamon, sugar and nuts, and cooked over a flame. Not gross at all, I promise). I especially loved the pork stand, which had on display the entire body of a cooked pig (legs, head, hooves, ears, everything) with its insides gutted and filled with a salami-like mixture, and the cooks were cutting slices of it (HUGE SLICES of this pig's belly) and cooking them to put in sandwiches. (Also not gross, if you don't think about it while eating it) Mom and Dad - this will all still be going on next week, while you're here!

Then I walked down the river to find a place to read, and by the time I had, I was so tired that I fell asleep reading and listening to the swans softly gurgle water. Guess that meant it was time to go home. So here I am. I'm going to another opera tonight (this one with English supertitles!), and I'm looking forward to another eventful Wednesday. Hopefully the Cubs will even get their first win.