On Cottage

After months of hearing about my students going 'on cottage' every weekend, I was lucky enough to be invited to a 2-cottage, horse-back riding and meat consume-a-thon. Me and Pete gave our houses a good name by downing plate after plate of goulash, steaks, homemade sausage, chlebicek (little open-faced ham and potato-salad sandwiches), cakes, tiramisou, etc. And I think we drank some beer too. A bit, a bit.
The hospitality we experienced was amazing and we felt immediately comfortable, even around tables of strangers who spoke little or no English. I learned more Czech over the weekend than I did the whole time I've been here. I learned to say 'I love your cooking' and 'I have a monkey' (slang for 'I've been drinking.)
We brought a guitar and harmonicas and played them some American songs and heard some Czech songs, played by Honza and his dad and sang with gusto by all Czech's in the room. Honza is a fantastic musician and shamed us by knowing more lyrics to 'Mr. Tambourine Man' than me or Pete.
We ended the weekend with Ales and his girlfriend Denisa at her flat on Sunday over more goulash, steaks and detailed plans for their visit (with Honza) to the U.S.
Maybe the best weekend I've had since I've been here.
Click 'older posts' at the bottom for more pics.