So Christmas is over...

So, its all over as you can tell by my face...haha
We had a wonderful christmas and I hope everyone else did as well. Our meal that I mentioned in the last post was fantastic. The meal, Kapr, was simple but great especially with the old czech traditions that our family showed us...more specifically for kendra because she is 100% czech. The first tradition was a game with a bowl of water and shells from walnuts. Because there was 4 of us, we split two shells...into four halves. We then melted some wax, placed candles in each shell and set our shells in the water to set sail. If your shell tips over or doesnt move you will not travel but if it spins you will
travel ....mine did half and half.

The next tradition was a simple one, as soon as the oldest person starts to eat no one can get up from the table for ANYTHING. if someone gets up, someone at the table will die in the next year. watch out.....
Next was cutting an apple cross way and if your core is in the shape of a star you will have good luck.
Next...we threw a shoe behind us over our heads towards a door and if the toe faces the door, you will travel and if it points at you , you will stay home....mine was sideways...again
Ok, next...you take the scales from the carp, dry them and then place a small piece in your wallet
in order to bring you good fortune.




So there are some traditions. To point out the pictures to the left...the second one down is the christmas market in the old town square. Below is Petra and her mother Nada with us before dinner.

The next day, Kendra and I walked around town but didnt do much because many places were closed.
Below are pictures of the traditions....enjoy and I will write or leave an audioblog later!!
sbohem a veselý vánoce--goodbye and merry christmas

















as you can see my apple didnt come out right!!!

To all from Prague, Czech Republic

hello everyone. I have to make this quick. But Merry Christmas to everyone from Prague. I hope everyone is safe and resting well.We made it safe and sound after running to change trains in Dresden Germany...only to find the train was on another track and no one spoke english, well a little but not much. then when we arrived in Prague we were at a different station and had to find our own way to their apartment, because the dirrections we had were from a different station...but we made it. The weather is well, actually the same as brussels, amsterdam, frankfurt...well europe I should say...it is cloudy with a little rain and about 30 to 40 degrees each day. We are with another family here in Prague, Petra is the girl that hosted us, she lives with her mother. Petra is 21 and studying medicine. We will be in Prague for 5 days...the city is very beautiful, one of the only cities not touched be WWII bombs, unlike Frankfurt which was leveled and now everything is rebuilt...Petras mother is a teacher and she teaches Czech language and art to middle school kids. She also knows alot about the local architecture and history here. She also has manz many books, she loves to read and her favorite topic is latin america...fuuny eh. She has books about simon bolivar, che, castro, pinochet and many other important figures in latin america. Also Petra and her mother practice spanish. Again, another interesting eating table moment...eating Brambora´k for breakfast or snídaně in czech....we talked about life here, socialism and capitalism, life before capitalism and life after socialism...from the sounds of it. I feel her mother prefers socialism. she says capitalism started a revolution of materialism here and americanism. now people only care about money and there are less jobs with capitalism. But Petras mother is very open minded and says there are alway pros and cons with any system. I am sure I will learn more about all of this in the next few days. Well I need to get ready for the day...kendra and I are going to stroll around town for a few hours before everything closes for the day. Then tonight we are going to Prague castle for a christmas concert and then we eat carp fried with potato salad, what they call Kapr the national christmas meal.
Well I will blog more from here. On December 28th we will leave for Vienna.

Merry Christmas again
Joe

Hello from Frankfurt

So I'm writing to you all from frankfurt germany...ok side note...if see the word you spelled zou...it is because the german keyboards have the y and z in opposite places....ok back to writing. We arrived here after having a crazy time in amsterdam. Amsterdam is a very cute town with beautiful buildings and curving canals. it was interesting walking along the streets and seeing stores for weed and other soft drugs right next to other typical stores. Also it was funny to see tons of fast food restaurants on every street...not hard to imagine why that is....haha. For the rest of our amsterdam story, I will have to ask people to talk to me directly for alllll the details of the trip in Amsterdam ;) haha
So Frankfurt, well it is a very business like town...it is the banking center of Germany and Europe, there is a huuge university here that is in an old US army base. there is definately money in this town of about 600,000 people. We are staying with Oliver, a guy we hooked up with on that couch surfing website. He is really great...a middle and high school teacher of philosophy, econmics, politics and music. Music seems to be his passion, in the same room I am writing from he has a collection of different style guitars, amps, CDs of all genre, and other components for making music. He has a band with some friends but he also goes to jam sessions at local bars. We were lucky enough to come at the right time. On Tuesday night he brought us to the local jam session's annual dinner...it was in the basement of this small italian restaurant called Franco's. It was small and cozy. thez cooked pounds and pounds of meat (pork sausage, beef sausage, pork chops, chicken legs, steak...) all over a huge fireplace. We also had the chance to try some apple wine or ''apfelwein'' or in the Frankfurt dialect ''Ebbelwoi'', which is very traditional in this part of Germany. the dinner started and kendra and I did feel a little out of place. But everyone was nice and a few even spoke some english. later some others came down and one guy was from Chile, he learned english in Alaska, and is now living in Germany. We hung out with him for awile, talked about a variety of things, drank steins and steins of good beer and listened as people started to pick up their instraments and jam.
Let me lay out the details of the mix of people and cultures in this small room.
We had Kendra and I who were from the US and had studied in Spain. there were a mix of germans who spoke english, a woman from Brazil that spoke german and sang ballads in Portuguese. there was a german who lived in brazil for 7u years and spoke fluent portuguese...there was a guy from chile who spoke english and german. and then finally the family that owned the bar was italian, spoke italian and german. Throughout this whole mix, people sat or walked around, ate, sang, played music, improvised....people sang brazilian ballads, german folk, jazz, christmas music....whatever they felt like.
Kendra and I had a fantastic time. it was almost surreal.
Yesterdaz we spent more time in the christmas market and walked all over the town, Last night we also had some ''hand cheese with music'' or ''HandKäse mit Musik'' which is another traditional food here. it is a special type of cheese and then zou soak it in oil and vinegar with onions...the music is the what zou soak it in. It was very tasty. Todaz we are going to the zoo with Oliver and will hang out in town and then we are making oliver dinner....american chili and apple crisp. tomorrow we leave for Prague Czech Republic for Christmas with a family there. I will try to get pictures online...be patient!! and I will write soon....
I hope all are well!! Merry Christmas
This is the Handkase mit musik, Jever beer, and rye bread with butter.
--note-- Oliver said we need to note that if a german saw this picture they would be dissapointed. you do not eat this with beer but apple wine instead!!!














Myself, Oliver and Kendra

So we're in Amsterdam

Well, Brussels was much fun. It was a very clean and tidy city with many fancy cars, fur coats and waffles. We started our day with a stroll through brussels near the grand place (near the town hall) They had a huge xmas tree with lights and a huge nativity scene with real sheep. Baaa baaaa. OK, so the good stuff, we ate 4 waffles...5 if you count the one this morning on the train to Amsterdam. one with pecans and hot choc, one with cream and strawberry, one plain and one with nutella!!!! It was great. Other than that we just walked around to the main sights, took pics, did a lil more walking, bought some books for all of our train rides( I just started reading Angels and Demons, by Brown...the guy who wrote the da vinci code...really cool and hard to put down. The night ended with us meeting a girl from WI at our hostel who was studying in france. we went to the grand place at night to watch a xmas light show....and eat a waffle. Other than the creepy guy in our dorm room (ask kendra about him some other time)...we had fun and are getting ready for amsterdam, so far we've walked to the hostel and the scene is what you'd think of.....lots of canals, sex shops and "coffeshops"....with the sweet perfume of mary jane lingering around corners. We're off.....until next time hope all are well.

We're in Brussels...

Hello, from Brussels, Belgium. Time is flying by. We left Valladolid at 130am on Friday and before we even got on the first train kendra's tote handle on her suitcase snapped in half, on a night train, note* the older trains are not suited for huge suitcases...and then group rooms on a train were interesting . Arrived in Hendaya, France at 730am...took 1030 train to Bordeaux then took train to Paris. Arrived in Paris at 730pm. Here is the fun stuff. So we had alllll of our luggage. backpacks, suitcase, hand bag.... The Paris metro system has no escalators or elevators...so we lugged up and down the stairs...going from one metro to another. Needless to say, we came to our stop all sweaty, tired, and annoyed and today our hands are raw and callused. We arrived to Annie's neighborhood we got lost, but found her...What a very very nice lady...she is storing our luggage and even provided us with a 3 course meal...stew, french bread, goat, sheep and cow cheese (as she called it), fresh greens, vegi puree soup, fresh fruit with yogurt and tea....Thankfully, we were able to end our day on a good note with a great meal, a hot shower, and good company in front of a fireplace before collapsing on our beds 930pm. We just got to our hostel in Brussels and are now heading out to tour the town...hot waffles await us. Tomorrow at this time we will be n Amsterdam. Until next time...
Joe and Kendra

Wow, its almost over

So, where do I begin. Time is going flying by and I'm getting ready to head out now on a month long tour of Europe. Hopefully I won't look this silly. So I know I mentioned in my last posting that I would write more about the meaning of this all. Well, what can I say but I need more time to digest. I don't know if I will be able to fully break this all done until I get home. The next month will be crazy...we are staying with host families in most of the cities we are going to. I don't know how much I will be blogging while I'm out there, but I will try to audio blog with my cell. So pay attention for that.







Well here are some thoughts to keep my evaluation going: Thing I learned to enjoy while in Europe.
* Scarfs are great, cheap and provide much warmth
* Attractive garbage cans everywhere you walk help keep the city clean
* Can't lie, I'm gonna miss great public transportation. ( although I do miss my car)
* There is always time for cafe
* Socialism is cool but so is Capitalism
* Small, efficient vehicles are a more practicle who really needs a V8 besides heavy duty work trucks
* Automatic light switches are great...when a room is empty turn off the lights.
* Walking fast only gets you tired, especially when you realize there is no rush
* We need more roundabouts in our streets and less stop signs
* ATMs on every street corner is great
* I appreciate good customer service back home..."the customer is #1" doesn't exsist here
* Cities back home would be cooler with more fountains
* Fried food is yummie, but not everyday....I've gained about 15 lbs
* Meeting poepl in concert lines is fun, www.ricksmadmix.com/videos chec out "day in london" look for me
* Not having to tip will be a difficult habit to stop when I get home.
* Wine in a juice box is a kickin idea
* I heart blood sausage or blood pudding
* Free daily newspapers are great
* Why aren't there hostels in the U.S.
* Last but not least.....SIESTA....you're never too old to nap