Stir Fry Helps, Make Weekend Plans

I think I've already mentioned that Czech babies are among the cutest - if not the absolute cutest - in the world. Part of it is that it's autumn so all of their parents dress them up in bundles of mini-clothes which makes them look even cuter. I'm pretty sure that I've also mentioned that Czech babies are a dying breed; they are being replaced by dogs. Although you may expect the dogs to be some of the cutest too, they are far from it. In fact yesterday I was almost attacked by a German Shepherd. Also, in order to replace childhood obesity, the Czechs have invested in canine obesity, which is somewhat funny and grotesque simultaneously: of course without beauty. However, similar to with their children, the Czechs dress up their dogs. Now, I know we have all laughed upon seeing a dog in clothes, but how many people have seen dogs in socks? How about dogs in T-shirts when its warm out? What about dogs in sweaters when its chilly? I still think the best thing I've seen thus far has been a man walking his dog in the rain. He of course had an umbrella, and his dog of course had a rain coat. That's right; not a poncho, not a rain slicker, but an actual rain jacket. It was hilarious.
So today I was going to go to lunch at an underground cafeteria [similar to where the free breakfasts are held]. These are just random buildings with small signs on them, usually one word with a 'u' in front of them that most non-Czechs can't find. This is also known as real Czech fast food, and is pretty cheap and very good. Being 12:30, there was a line up the stairs and out the door, so I went home and made a sandwich, an acceptable yet unfortunate runner up.
My first out class of the day, Art and Architecture, consisted of walking around Vysehrad. Vysehrad is the name of the castle that the CIEE study center is located in, as well as a few other Charles University buildings. It is an old castle, and according to myth, the origins from pre-historic times of the Czech state. I also live a mere 15 minute walk from it. Despite all that, CIEE thought it essential to tour us around all of Prague except Vysehrad. It's a pretty cool castle and we walked through the pitch black hidden passages between the external wall of the fortress and the external wall of the compound [a 4 foot wide passage between the 2]. Afterwards, my other outclass [as much as class 4 days a week sucks, having most of my Wednesdays be walk around Prague is pretty nice, and I only have 1 class plus Czech on TTH] went to the Prague Museum of Art. Although not as awesome as the Prague Museum of Decorative Art [pretty much interior design], it was still interesting and had some real sweet things that would look great in our living room. Favorite item: the first lazyboy. Being smarter than the current company, this lazyboy had no need to recline; instead it was already in a reclined position. Imagine a supersoft lazyboy that never needs to become a couch... sweet. It also has massive armrests that could balance a tray if you wanted to eat while watching a game. What a life.
Similar to my mom at 3am every night, in class everyday while not doing anything I search for travel fares. It is farely cheap to get around most of Europe, and I was thus planning on going through Bratislava for a day before hitting either Vienna or Budapest. I have since learned that my mom wants to go to Budapest, and that I don't really want to spend a ton of time in Vienna yet, so I have saught other plans. I also still know people going there in case I want to meet up half way through our long upcoming weekend [Monday Tuesday off]. In place, I think I am going to be going on a beer tour of the Czech Republic!
CR has the highest consumption of beer per capita in the world. At 160 litres per person per year, most people here have at least a beer a day (the number of people used includes children, so adults, including 90 year old women, drink more than this). To meet the people's demands, the Czech Republic has literally hundreds if not thousands of breweries. Although they only have like 10 major breweries, they also have like 100 minor ones, which includes micro-breweries, independent breweries, brewery hotels, and more. Then there are individual brewers, restaurants, and in-home breweries, which basically means I'd have a real busy weekend trying to get everywhere. One special part of the weekend: the trip to the beer spa! Supposedly a great hangover cure (we will be going after attending the Pilsner factory), the Chodovar brewery and beer spa gives you beer while bathing you in it. I'm excited. These places are both in western Bohemia, so hopefully we'll get to experience northern or eastern as well, and probably not southern Bohemia or any of Moravia. Who knows how much time we'll have, but I'll give it my best shot. If the tour isn't working out as planned, I may head over to Vienna for Monday Tuesday, or maybe Budapest for Sunday-Tuesday. I should still be able to go buy a hotel for a nickel in Bratislava, especially since its a 2 day 1 night trip on a 20 USD 3hour train.
So after searching for breweries in my Econ class, I tried taking notes and reading the WSJ, the combination of which put me to sleep [in the first row of course]; luckily I have perfected my class sleeping to eliminate the head bob, keep the eyes seemingly-squinted, and even wake up soon after. I used to be able to take notes while being asleep, but it's been a while since freshman year.
I came home and made the best stir fry to date. Today's tricks: cooking everything together, using Uncle Ben's instant Jasmine rice, adding frozen vegetables, a little more chicken than usual, and a lot more soy sauce than usual. Quite tasty. In addition, I have been maintaining my quite unhealthy average of 1 small onion and 2 cloves of garlic daily. I have also read quite a bit more, and am actually going to do some studying for my 2 midterms tomorrow. Not too much of course, but probably about a half hour in total should suffice. As I type, Jarda is having 'game night' with a few of his buddies. Tonight they are playing some weird Czech version of monopoly that consists of being farmers not real estate moguls, but I guess every culture has its quirks. And now, its on to Gossip Girl!