December 6, 1997
Today is St. Nicholas Day and tonight St. Nicholas goes from house to house with an angel and a devil. If the child has been good they get a sweet or treat from the angel. If the child has been bad, it’s a lump of coal from the devil.
We encountered a St. Nicholas group walking outside our apartment complex on our early evening walk with the dog. Naturally, I didn’t have the camera with me. St. Nicholas was a teenager in a very elaborate white priest type robe or cassock with fur and gold trim. He had on a large Pope type mitre hat also in white and gold. There were two angels, probably nine or ten years old with wings, halo, the works. The two devils were in leotard body suits complete with tails. They were entirely in black, their faces, hands, the cap covering their hair was black and with horns. Everything was black. These were not simple costumes, they were very detailed.
December 8, 1997
We were hoping the firecrackers we hear a couple of nights ago were something to do with St. Nicholas day and would end. No such luck. Firecrackers are not illegal (yet). Very annoying. Not just the string of small firecrackers, but the M80 loud bang type. There is a small stand in the grocery store that we have been going to that sells them. Boys are lined up buying them. AUGH.
December 9, 1997
We are pretty well settled. This is a very quiet neighborhood. Still have some minor things to find homes for, but at lease we no longer are living out of a suite case. Mike and Hanka had left the sofa (hide-a-bed) in their old apartment for us to use. It sleeps comfortably, but it is a pain each day to get up and fold it away.
We (actually Hanka) purchase the washing machine and it was delivered this morning. Naturally, a half hour simple installation took Jack and me an hour to accomplish. It’s a Whirlpool and there was a section in the booklet that is in English, however, it wasn’t written by an American. More like a foreigner translating to so-so English.
Understanding the buttons took some time. It’s a front loading and it washes and dries in the same machine. We tested it with a load of socks. We figured we would try something that couldn’t be ruined and a smaller load in the event we had water where it shouldn’t be to clean up. They don’t mention permanent press but it does have a synthetic fiber setting. You set the water temperature, drying temperature, length of time to dry, and choose one of twelve wash cycles. Easier said than done. We’ll get used to it.
We took our favorite Tram #22 into the center of town this morning. It made for a pleasant walk as the weather has been around 4°C (39°F) to 5°C (41°F). We went past the Chinese restaurant we had gone to when we were here with Mary and Nick (Jack’s daughter and son-in-law). We are thinking about going there for dinner tomorrow.
December 10, 1997
Today we will buy two English papers that they have here to see what is going on in the world. When we were staying at Mike’s apartment there was cable and several English stations. Now we have only three stations and all of them are in Czech. And yet we watch them! News is hard to figure out from pictures unless it is an obvious disaster. For instance, it looks like this past week a plane crashed in a residential area, we think somewhere in Russia. They have Melrose Place and naturally Baywatch. We can figure out plot lines. Good for a few laughs.
The papers will also tell us what Christmas programs are scheduled for this week. We missed A Christmas Carol that was in English last week. It was held in what is called the Ball Game Hall of Prague Castle. This building was used in the 127th century for an early version of tennis. We have seen the outside, but would have loved to see the inside.
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