Celakovice vs. The U.S

I know you all have anxiously been awaiting our many adventures while in Celakovice. Sorry to disappoint, but our adventures were very limited! Daniel was in class from 8am to 6:30pm Monday through Saturday which gave myself adequate time to evaluate just exactly what I've gotten myself into. This blog tally's the pro's and cons of a small town east of Prague, Celakovice and the U.S of A. Pull up a chair, take a seat and let the rally begin. 


My week began with a stroll to the local grocer with my ally Kylee. What was suppose to be a quick trip to gather some snacks and clean water turned out to be what I like to call, an adventure. For starters, you must pay (yes pay) to use a shopping cart. There is guard standing watch to offenders who (heaven forbid) take off with the cart they paid for, creepy. Everything was obviously in Czech, so it was quite interesting buying sandwich meat. We don't know if we are buying turkey, chicken, pork??  We think we got chicken... So as it's time for us to check out I follow in suite placing my items on the belt. It's now my turn and I pay with a CC. I'm handed a receipt (with a line on the bottom) and a pen. What would you do? Well, as a citizen of the United States, that means you SIGN it. Mistake numero uno. The cashier was wanting a tip for scanning my items and carelessly tossing them into a bin where I bag my water and mystery meat myself. Insane.

Celakovice: 0
U.S: 1

If I may direct you to the photo on the left you will see the view from our commy (communist) dorm. Although, quite the hole of a town, it was neat to be able to see the old buildings and the small town flourishing beneath us. You can't tell in the pic, but it was snowing and it was very beautiful. Also, in the lobby of where we were staying was a mini coffee/hot chocolate machine. I don't know about you, but I have NEVER seen anything like this in the states. For 10ck (roughly 50cents) a tiny cup appears out of nowhere and fills it with creamy hot chocolate. Delicious. 

Celakovice: 1

U.S: 1

On one of our (Kylee and myself) many trips into town to explore we were excited to stumble upon a video rental store! Only to find out the idea of English speaking dvd's was in fact ridiculous on our part. Perhaps English subtitles? Nope. Just Czech. Czech, Czech, Czech.

Laundry day came up sooner then I had hoped for.  After as many signs as I could muster up to communicate with the front desk lady that I wished to do laundry I was handed a key to what we were assuming was the laundry room. More like laundry closet. I opened the door to a closet with the tiniest washing machine I've ever seen in my life. And here's the real kicker...upon returning the laundry key I'm told I owe 100ck for using the facilities (yeah, what facilities) which is about $5. FIVE BUCKS to do one load of clothes.

Celakovice: 1
U.S. 2

After an entire week of naps, reading, chatting on skype and exploring (as much as we could) we heard there was a river on the backside of town with a walkway alongside. Our last day of commy camp, we took a stroll  to the river to find some friends! There were school kids feeding the ducks bread crumbs, which was way fun, when we found our furry friend the river otter, or beaver? I think it's an otter. He was walking up and down the banks waiting for bread crumbs to be tossed in his direction.  It was probably the most entertainment we had all week (wow that's sad).

Celakovice: 2
U.S: 2

Now you may think that the race came out as a close call and was a tie...well I am sorry to disappoint. I've decided to add in a few more factors. In Celakovice there are no free re-fills, everything closes after dark, no drinkable water unless bought in a bottle, they serve you steamed carrots and hot dogs for breakfast, the cleaning ladies just walk in your room with no heads up, the towns people just leave their children in strollers outside of shops unattended, dogs roam the streets with no leash and the only decent food is pizza (good thing I like pizza).

So as you have most likely gathered there is no tie, and Celakovice indeed did NOT win. Congrats U.S

Final Tally
Celakovice: 2
U.S: 114

We are moving into our apt in Prague this weekend! Hello civilization! Goodbye commy camp. This is Meghann Tracy signing off! Dobrou noc!