rosteme s knihou

t. and i went to barokní letohrádek (baroque summer pavilion) portheimka for some children's book illustration exhibition that i read about on a poster when i went to the library earlier this week.  it was actually a display of the ridiculous amounts of books illustrated by one helena zmatlíková, whose work i immediately recognized:  every time i pass a branch of the city library, i see those freaky little children with big eyes and yellow curls looking back at me from many, many 1960s-70s book covers on display.  and then i even thought, "what, is one person responsible for these candy-colored creations?"  and now i know the answer.  it took us about 7 minutes to see the entire exhibition, and then we went to sit by the river, drinking beer and looking at the not-quite-white swans.

l'auberge espagnole

yesterday evening we (six girls) were invited to a dinner party at a flat in dejvice where three czech boys, some of g.'s friends, live.  five minutes within walking through the door (the space where the door should be, that is; the actual door was leaning on the wall a meter away), we were cutting vegetables, washing the dishes, airing out the tablecloth, and emptying ashtrays, while our hosts stood back in quiet defeat.  and we made some balloon animals on the way there.  oh and between the nine of us, we represented six different countries: czech republic, russia, estonia, france, italy, mexico, and japan.

zelený čtvrtek (green thursday)

sometimes wine + strudel happens in the middle of the day.  yesterday there was a party in the fashion studio; people dancing like crazy on the table to 1990s hits.  it was so fun!  and the most interesting part is that this happens in the school.  people hold parties after hours in their studios and nobody minds.  well, the man at the reception desk came upstairs to tell us to keep it down a couple of times, but when his shift was over, he went home and we were free to continue.  imagine that, i wish MICA was so welcoming, but then again the student body at VŠUP is practically nonexistent, and sometimes it seems that the school is empty.

jsem ráda, že jsem ráda

i think that spring is coming soon.  n. and i went to a french crêperie near strossmayerovo naměstí yesterday evening and i had an apple purée and honey crêpe and hot milk with almond syrup and jack johnson was quietly singing from the speakers ("i was sitting, waiting, wishing you believed in superstitions, then maybe you'd see the signs...") and i had a sudden and overwhelming feeling of being very happy and very content with my life at that moment.

kabul

we celebrated friday the thirteenth at an afghan restaurant called kabul, where the waiter turned out to be russian, and spent all evening fluttering around our table and answering every request with some witty remark.  after we had asked for the check, he brought another round of red wine, "from him."  and on our way out we were told that we had "colored his entire evening."  definitely coming back to this place.

čajovna u kostela

n. and i went to another tearoom this evening.  they had better halva than the clock tower tea club, and something very very delicious called masala chai, which is a sweet indian tea brewed with milk and strong spices.  this was a good way to spend the evening because i was like a zombie all day.

dinner party

last night we had a birthday party for r. in the big leisure room on the first floor of the dormitory.  people cooked very, very good food.  that's czech rum + cola in my hand and i am crazy from going to bed late and waking early.  pam-param-pam-pam.  photograph by a.

the tea club

there is a clock tower outside of my window.

if one goes up and up and up the staircase inside at night,

one finds a tea club.

we went up yesterday to the warm carpeted rooms, where we took off our coats and shoes at the door and put on the provided slippers, and sat on the floor around a low table drinking turkish black tea and eating halva.

re-evolution

yesterday evening i went with n. and i. and r. to popo cafe petl in malá strana for live latin music.  we sat at a very small round table with giant mugs of hoegaarden, and stood up sometimes to dance in front of the stage.  i did not plan on dancing, but "seize the day more often" is one of my resolutions for the new year.  also, these glowing penguins were accidently discovered by me when i was wandering around aimlessly on kampa island.  they are part of kampa museum's exhibition called re-evolution.

снег пошёл.

on thursday i did not return until 10:30 pm, so there was no chance of going out, but a few people came to my room with little presents like chocolates, a small kalanchoe plant, and a bird bookmark.  it was so sweet, and we had a bottle of red wine saved up for the occasion (or until we found a corkscrew).  tonight we will try to get more people together for a proper 21st celebration.

very cold day

today was the second part of our architectural tour. it was so cold that i thought my nose would fall off. "grog" (a hot cognac drink) and "medovina" (mead) were my best friends today.