One month anniversary

It has been exactly a month since we arrived to this winter wonderland! All three of us definitely settled in, and a month passed just like that (snap!).  I already got involved in a small project and spent the last 1.5 weeks working on that. It was an intense 1.5 weeks, but actually working seem to help you feel more at home, somehow. 

gG seems to be a bit bored without being able to go outside, but he has been doing just fine. Since he lost the exercise opportunity of following me around the big house, he started to put on some weight, which is good as he was very skinny.  But he shall need to exercise some more.  Maybe I will take him out in a snow for a walk.

The challenge here is the language.  I heard most of the young people speak English, but I haven't had a luck meeting anyone who can speak English in any of the grocery stores that I go to.  It takes a long time for me to find even a simple thing like flour.  So the strategy I came up with was to make a shopping list and translate them using Google Traslate in advance.  If I can't find something, I would just show the list and have a clerk help me find the item.  It works most of the time, but not all the time.  The other day, I was trying to buy a corn starch (kukuřičný škrob), and the clerk brought me a can of corn :)  Later I found out that Czech people don't use corn starch.  Instead they use potato starch, which is called bramborový škrob.  Another time was when we were looking for a sour cream, and we were shown a liquid cream.  So, yes, there is a challenge.  The best thing would be to learn some Czech!

Finally found Natto (fermented soybeans)!

I have been having a serious craving for Japanese food ever since I got here. I really don't know what it is that we, Japanese, have. You would be surprised to find out that most tourists coming to the US from Japan would prefer going to the Japanese restaurants in the US. They would arrive to the US, and the first thing they want to eat is rice or udon! The famous story is that Kimiko Date, the famous tennis player, used to take her rice cooker wherever she travelled. And to be honese, I would understand that. Although I am not a big rice eater, I miss Japanese food especially when you know you can't easily get it.

So, I wrote in my previous blog that I managed to find Tofu at the Vietnamees' market, but I was still missing stuff like "Umeboshi" or "Natto." I knew there was a Japanese store (probably the only Japanese store in Brno) behind the sushi restaurant called Koishi. My hubby goes there a lot to get some liquid that he loves (yeah, yeah, people who know him would know what kind of liquid that I am talking here), but he told me that he could not find Tofu, Umeboshi, or Natto.

We had a chance to go back to the sushi place again (yay!), so I peaked into the store.  Guess what?  I found Tofu(!), Umeboshi, and Natto! I also found some instant noodles, which are not my favorite but they would serve the purpose of me getting rid of my crazy cravings. So, here you go. I got all of them! Prices are rather high compared to LA, but these should improve my life :)

Got a TV!

We were contemplating whether or not to get a TV, but we did! We went to the big mall called Olympia which has the famous electronic store called Electro World. We definitely wanted to get a LCD display, and being the x-Sony fan, we again got a Sony 40" LCD which also has an ethernet jack, so that you can browse Internet if you want.

In addition to the TV, we also got a DVD player. Until we get satellite programs, I am sure we will be watching lots of DVDs. And, DVDs here are VERY cheap. I am certain those DVDs are dubbed somewhere, but the cheapest that I found was only $1.50! They are sold in newspaper stands, tabacco stores, or book stores. Selections are not that great, but you can't beat the price! And they are something that you can watch in ENGLISH :)