Fresh wine in the fall!

It would be a lie to say that my teacher took my test for me this morning. It would be a fairly accurate description, however, to say that she told me most of the answers. It would be an entirely factual statement to claim that I wouldn't have passed without her assistance.
In the US, my level of preparation would have earned me a C- (plus or minus a letter). Here, it will probably earn me an A- (plus or minus). Don't mistake my intentions however; I was planning on studying last night post ballet. As you know, I decided to update you on my life last night, so this blog took up a little of my study time. Then as I was trying to study (with the TV on in the background), I realized I had never seen the movie and it was quite confusing, so that distracted me a little. Then I just got tired and went to bed. But I did feel bad about my lack of preparation, so I woke up early and studied for a little. I even took an early tram to discuss possible answers with my classmates. I then would have bombed this test horrifically - despite the 45 minutes of in class review that we did - had she not told me the answers.
Some of you may ask, "what exactly does that mean, she 'told' you the answers." A perfect example would be me purposefully putting a word down (we had to organize the vocabulary by subject, such as 'restaurant words' and 'drug store words') in a random category that I didn't know, then waiting for my teacher to check my section over and say "mydlo... soap doesn't belong in a restaurant." Another example would be me leaving an answer blank because I didn't know what the question was, then waiting for her to translate the question for me. Or perhaps when it said "Jak se rekne 'book'" (how do you say book in Czech), and I had no idea, my teacher goes, "Matte [pronounced Mah-tey], you know this... Keh... keh-nee... ___ ... keh-nee-ha." O yea... I had no idea, but she literally told me the answer. I'd feel bad about it, but she gave most of my class even more help than she gave me.
During our post-exam scavenger hunt, I learned that it is wine season in the Czech Republic! Turns out that this weekend is the opening weekend of the harvest, so many wineries from the country bring stuff to Prague. At this marketplace, open square, many booths were set up, similar to the Highland Park farmer's market, and were selling the most fantastic array of goodies.
Just as Charlie felt when he walked through the gates of the chocolate factory, I experienced the same level of ecstasy at the wine and sausage tents. Every little hut sold their personal red and white wine, which had been brewed on Wednesday. For 20 korun [just under a dollar 25], you get a normal cup of wine, filled to the brim. For 120 korun [about 7 bucks], they give you a liter and a half! Similar to the girls I was with, I too would have purchased wagonloads of wine, would I not be on my way to Munich this evening. Instead, I just drank between a half and three quarters of a liter of wine.
After wining myself, I had to dine myself too. For 10 korun, they sell fantastic potato pancakes. Czech potato pancakes are similar in size and taste to Jewish ones, however they are much thicker. Being a hearty meal instead of a latke, they do not take 25 to fill you up. Instead, 2 and a sausage wrapped in a potato tortilla will fill you up just plenty (the wine helps too).
As I stood doublefisting my meal, having already downed a fair share of wine, I began to hear a pounding in the background. Knowing that I wasn't drunk enough to be imagining the delightful drumming, I looked over my shoulder, and low and behold, an oddly dressed, Bohemian marching band was making its way into the square! Let us not forget that I am standing 200 yards in front of a 17th century church, staring at 20 guys playing the drums, juggling flags 50 yards in the air, and wearing absolutely hilarious outfits. I was considering buying a sword at the farmer's market to blend in with the band, but even with the sword, the 10 foot man on stilts and I still looked a little different. I'm pretty sure that I've been eating pork sausage because I have only found non-pork advertised products a few times, and the grocery store practically only sells ham. Still, I need meat and this sausage was to die for. I try avoiding sausage whenever I can, but there are only so many foods served in these lands, and I am doing my best to absorb the culture.
Lastly, I am awaiting the opening keg tap in the morning. As weird as this may sound, in 2 hours, I will be on a train to Munich to sleep on someone's floor. Why might you ask would I take a train to Munich when I could just sleep on the floor here? Because it's Oktoberfest! "At noontime [tomorrow], the lord mayor of Munich will have the honor of tapping the first keg of Oktoberfest beer." (see oktoberfest.de.en for the rest of the info on it) Thus, I have arranged to maintain an IV of extremely alcoholic beer into my system for the next 36 hours. And to say I thought the wine and sausage tents were ecstatic... this will be like Mardi Gras on steroids. Updates to come in a few days when I return.