Thanksgiving

On actual Thanksgiving day I ordered food from Manifesto Market.  The spread was quite nice and the portion was HUGE!!  On the Saturday Tokyo Bakery was having an event so people could buy Japanese pastries.  The organization this time around was MUCH better.  I just picked a time and showed up.  I was able to get some pastries that I wasn't able to last time.  The melon bread was absolutely delicious and I will definitely get it next time. The Totoro pastries were so cute that it was a bit hard to eat them.  In the evening my friends and I had a potluck.  There was a LOT of food.  Everyone brought so many delicious things.  Then we played some games.  It was a great nice.  I'm sure we will have another potluck in a couple of months.

                                                                Thanksgiving Dinner

                                                         last night to eat in public before 10pm

                                                           melon bread     TOKYO BAKERY

                                                                yummy sweets Leos's mom made

                                                                            the spread

                                                                        my delicious plate

                                                                        friends :)

Trebic

It had been a while since I visited Trebic, so I figured it was about time I went.  We just went for the weekend and it was nice to see Leos's parents again. We also managed to visit his sister.  She ordered sushi for us for dinner.  Plus we had some delicious moscato.   Since we didn't think we would be able to visit again before we go to the US for Christmas, his parents gave me my Christmas gifts early.  I think it was the earliest I have been given Christmas gifts.  It was a nice quick trip.

                                       the photo doesn't capture the beauty I saw with my eyes

                                                                so many apples still on trees

                                                                        sushi in Trebic

                                                              not the best for taking pictures

                                               delicious sparkling wine I drank with Leos's sister

                                                    early Christmas presents from Leos's parents

November 17th

In the Czech Republic, November 17th is a public holiday.  It was nice to have the day off of work in the middle of the week.  We were finally able to check out a Vietnamese Restaurant I was curious about.  It was on a small side street and had lots of great reviews.  We got dishes that you normally can't get at a regular Vietnamese restaurant.  After lunch we met with a friend and decided to check out a parade that was having its 10th anniversary this year.  Many children and adults made some floats to bring awareness of different things going on in the world.  We were lucky to see them up close before they started the parade.  We wanted to see them walk across the Charles Bridge, so we made it there before them.  On our way to the bridge we came across a stand that was handing out free glasses of wine.  Of course we took a glass.  It was nice to cheers to our 1.5 years together with free wine. Then we walked in the city center and watched a documentary about the Velvet Revolution.  I was able to learn some facts that I wasn't aware of before.  Then we watched a very SMALL drone show.  It was a bit underwhelming.  After that we went for a delicious dinner.  It was a very packed fun day in the city. 

                                                                delicious Vietnamese food

                                                                            pudding

                                                       checking out the parade before it starts

                                                                        a mirrored face

                                                                            multitasking mothers

                                                                    something about trash waste

                                                                            vegetarians

                                                                                babies

                                                                        pretty creepy

                                                                        very creepy

                                                                            palm oil

                                                                                  orphans

                                    

                                                    seemed like everyone wanted to get attention

                                                 the parade made its way to the Charles Bridge

                                                                    musicians playing as well

                                                                    flyer I was given

                                                                new bust of Havel at Cafe Slavia

                                                                special 89 tram for the day

                                   watched an interesting documentary about the Velvet Revolution

                                                          police making sure things stay calm

                                                                    drone show

                                                                    much smaller than expected

                                                                            #stronger                                                   

                                                            delicious truffle chicken

                                                       Kenyan dessert my friend made, Kashata

                                                                        memorial

                                                                          many candles

Opera Brundibar (Praha, CZ)

This summer when we were in Cyprus I came across a book that was in one of the places we stayed.  The book was called A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer.  The book was written very well and taught me a lot of things I didn't know about the Holocaust.  It mentioned an opera, Brundibar, that was made by the people that were there.  They had to make the music with the instruments they had in Terezin. It was an opera made for children and performed by children.  It was a very interesting book.  I let me mother borrow it and then she let her friends borrow the book as well.  One day while I was searching for operas being performed in Praha, I came across Brundibar.  I knew I had to see it.  All the seats were the same price, so I got us box seats.  Before the performance a lady came out to talk about the history of the opera.  Then she announced that there were 2 survivors from Terezin in the audience.  I didn't expect that and it was a bit emotional.  One of the survivors spoke to us and told us about her experience.  She was only 6 years old when she was in Terezin.  After she was done with her speech, the opera began.  This was the first opera that I went to that was performed by kids and didn't have any English subtitles.  I was able to catch some of the dialogue, but Leos had to fill me in at the end of the performance with everything that went on.  It was a nice opera and I am lucky to have been able to watch it and also hear the survivor's speech. 

                                                                        view from our seats

                                                                            nice chandelier

                                                            the survivor was in purple

                                                                        during the show

                                                                        job well done

                                                                            great job    

                                                              nice late morning in the opera