Some Observations

So I know my next post was supposed to be the one about Paris, but I haven't gotten those pictures uploaded yet so I thought I would do one about some interesting differences I've noticed between Czech and American society. Also, just a few things that I think are interesting parts of Czech culture. First is the language. Odds are you have never heard anyone speaking Czech because only 10 million people in the world speak Czech and almost all of them are in the Czech Republic. Learning the language has been a slow process, and a pretty difficult one as well. The sounds required for some words simply don't exist in english, so figuring out how to say them is tough. Also, a word can have a 5 consonants before it has a vowel. For example, ice cream is zmrzlina and the number 14 is ctyrnact. No matter how hard you try to pronounce ctyrnact, there is no way you will be able to do it unless you have heard it a thousand times; even then you can only sort of get it right if your not a native czech speaker. One other interesting thing is that names actually change depending on how it is used; my name could be Nick, Nicku, Nicka, and probably a few other things based on how it is being used. Needless to say at this point, czech is completely different from english and is a pretty difficult language to learn.
Another interesting thing I noticed was while I was at Red Bull Crashed Ice. People here love being Czech and are proud of their czech identity, however, the national anthem doesn't seem to hold nearly as much significance as it does in the United States. When the Czech national anthem was being played people just kept going about their business and chatting with one another for the most part. I'm sure this isn't really strange for them, but coming from the US where talking during the national anthem is sort of taboo it seemed odd.
One other interesting little quirk I have noticed is related to public transportation. There are trams that run throughout the city here, which are awesome and take you everywhere, but I've noticed a few interesting things while riding them. First of all, if an older person, especially a woman, boards the tram, it is expected that you will stand and give them your seat. While this might be true in the US as well, not to the same extent. Some old people here will actually yell at you or poke/hit you with their canes if you do not relinquish your seat to them. Another thing is that there are always lots of people on the trams. On a Tuesday afternoon at 11:30am some of the trams will be packed, Prague has a relatively low unemployment rate, but it really seems as if nobody has a job and everyone just rides the trams all day. Finally, when approaching a tram stop that they want to get off, Czech people will push and shove their way to the doors. This is true even if everyone standing there is also waiting to get off. It is as though there is a prize for getting as close to the doors as possible and being the very first person off the tram as soon as it stops.
One final observation that I'm going to make is the clear lingering effect of Communism on the older generation. Old people here are everywhere and none of them are friendly. In fact most of them are extremely rude and often still dress as though they live in a Communist territory. If you go into Tesco (the equivalent to something like Wal-Mart), most of the people working behind the counters are older and instead of being helpful like you would expect in the US, they constantly seem annoyed and just want you to get the away from them as soon as possible. Although the concept of customer service doesn't really exist the same way here as it does in the United States, the older people are particularly unfriendly. In fact, much of the younger generation, especially the university students are much more western. My Czech flat mate speaks perfect english, has seen 3 times as many american movies as me and loves to go out to bars and party with us; plus he is always willing to help us out. I have found that many of the university students here have that same attitude, possibly because many have been to the United States, and are much more friendly and outgoing.
Two other quick notes that I thought I would throw in: 1) There are dogs everywhere and most not on leashes. However, they are never strays and are extremely well behaved and walk with their owners. Note: Mom it is not acceptable here to just go up to someone elses dog that is walking around and start talking to it and petting it so be prepared to restrain yourself. 2) For everyone interested in the drinking situation I thought I'd share the price of beer. Generally at a bar, the price of beer ranges from 23 crowns to 40 crowns. 40 crowns is a lot for a beer here, we rarely pay that much, and that is the equivalent of just under $2 US dollars; we usually pay somwhere between 1.35 and 1.50 US dollars for a beer. When I say a beer I also mean half a litre of real, good, czech beer not a small 12 ounce bottle of cheap, light, american beer. Beer here literally is cheaper than water at most restaurants.
Check back soon because I'll be writing on my trip to Paris within the next few days...