My Name is Suzannah!

Zuzana is a Czech name. The name day for Zuzana is August 11th. For information on name days click here: http://www.myczechrepublic.com/czech_culture/czech_name_days/

The point is...I've met more people in 3 months here named Zuzana then I've ever met in my life. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm happy that elsewhere in the world this wonderful name is celebrated.

So here's the problem: Whenever a Czech meets me, even after I've introduced myself at Suzannah, they call me "Susan"...and as anyone who's ever made this mistake will tell you...THAT'S NOT MY NAME!!! Apparently that's the translation of Zuzana into English...so they think that's my name. It is exceedingly difficult to get them to understand that my name is, in fact, SUZANNAH. And while it isn't spelled the Czech way (Zuzana), it's the SAME NAME.

I just had to get that off my chest. Off to bed!

What I should be updating about...

to answer Jeff's question...NO, Kazimir did NOT eat my next blog post. My camera and my computer have stopped communicating. Not sure what the fight is about but they are clearly NOT on speaking terms. So, I'm going to borrow my friend's card reader but he happens to be in the Ukraine right now. As soon as he gets back I will hold him down, steal his card reader, and update the blog, properly with photos.

Here are some things I should update about (NOTE: not in chronological order...and they probably won't get updated in chronological order either!):
where I live and my living situation
the Praha zoo
the Jewish Quarter
visa woes
Kazimir
Czech holidays (and how they differ from American holidays)
amazing live Irish music
heavy metal in old town square
my roommate's going away party

That's just a sampling of what is to come! (I PROMISE!!!)

The New Addition

Anyone who's known me for more than maybe 10 minutes knows that I love animals. When I came to Prague, the hardest thing I had to do was leave behind my two beloved critters, Charlie Parker and Kiyomi. They are both in extremely loving homes. Half the time Charlie chose Ilana over me anyhow, so no big stretch that he stayed with her. And Kiyomi, the wonderful herding dog, gets more exercise and more herding practice now than she ever did before. She has 4 great kids to herd around the yard.

So the animals are doing well. The problem was that I wasn't doing well! And no matter how many times I weighed the positives of not having an animal to look after....I couldn't accept it! I have NEVER in my life lived without animals. And I decided I didn't like it one bit.

The challenge then....what to do? I would have cost a LOT of money to ship Kiyomi to me, been extremely hard on her, and then another LOT of money to ship her wherever I end up going next. And, it would be hard to take her away from those four kids she gets to herd around!

So I began a search for a LITTLE dog so that I could take it with me and never leave an animal behind again. Which brought me to Professor Ellyot Kazimir.... Kazi or Kazimirek is what he's called. He's 6 months old today. Currently weighs about 1 kg 600 grams! He will probably never even get to 2 kg! Super tiny and super adorable. His teeth aren't "perfect" so his tongue is usually sticking out which is just about the cutest thing ever! I got him from a woman who shows chihuahuas and breeds them. But they all run around her house and yard free, not kept in kennels. I met Kazimir's parents and grandmother! Kazi can't be shown or bred because he's too small and has funky teeth which makes him the perfect boy for me!

And he loves me best!

who am I?

I just had a realization. I'm going to a friend's house tonight for a going away party for a friend moving back to London. I was about to ask one of the partygoer's if his female companion would be joining him, to get a rough number for how many cookies would be required. Except that I haven't the stuff to make cookies. I haven't baked in over 6 weeks....probably a couple weeks longer than that. This is weird. I think I'll have to rectify this soon. It is such an odd thing that all my friends here have no real idea that I'm a big baker. I feel like I'm living a double life!

acclimated to Prague

How do you know when you've become acclimated to Prague?

When you can go out to watch American football, drink 2.8 L of beer, and get home, get in bed and pluck your eyebrows like normal. (and then, of course, update the blog!!)

Good grief. Almost 3L of beer.

Bowling in foreign lands

It never really occurred to me before last night...but I think bowling is probably mostly an American past time? Maybe I'm wrong, but last night we decided to go bowling at a bowling alley near my apartment.

We were a little nervous because it was almost 10 p.m. and we were on our way. We had Anja call (she's Czech!) to see if it was possible to reserve a lane, thinking they would be really crowded on a Saturday night. We got there and there was NO ONE there! All eight lanes were dark. They turned one on so that we could bowl. Crazy. Not cheap, but a good time. They could have turned up the rockin' '80's music a bit though!!

Picture of me bowling in an empty bowling alley!

SpyTime!

This has nothing to do with my life in Prague. But it does have something to do with my life BEFORE Prague....

I worked on a super funny, super amazing film short in Spring 2009. It is being entered into various film events because it is super great. The short is called SpyTime and click on the IMDB link below to watch the trailer. So great!

SpyTime is an Official Selection in the:

2009 Inaugural Thrillspy International Film Festival
http://thrillspy.org/schedule.html

It will screen 5:15 at the Goethe Theatre in DC on Friday, Oct. 9

SpyTime On IMDB & Trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454555/

And...because I'm a production assistant....I have my own IMDB page...oh yeah...I'm all that!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3486096/