Margaret, Manolo, The Martian, & More

After spending the 2010-11 academic year in Prague with an 8- and (mostly) 6-year old, Karl and I were eager to reap the benefits of our children's seven years of maturation during this sabbatical. Of course this means we also have to tolerate the angst-iness and ennui-ity of their teenagerhood. But if that starts to bring us down, we just focus on all those koruny we're saving in babysitting fees.

During our first stint, we rarely went out together on weekday evenings, with or without the boys. It just felt like a hassle. Which meant there were many missed opportunities that year. We were okay with that. This time, however, we intended to be much more engaged in Prague's cultural calendar, both high and low brow. Here's some of what we did in the fall.

Margaret Atwood with her Franz Kafka award

Prague's Franz Kafka Society named Margaret Atwood the recipient of their annual Franz Kafka award last May. The author came to town in October for a reception and a book reading. The reading took place at the Václav Havel Library, which is not a large venue. Tickets were free but had to be reserved, so I jumped on that and got three tickets. Ben joined Karl and me.

We Seeleys are not known for our punctuality, but I pushed us to play against type and get to the line almost an hour before the reading. Good thing, too — there had been more reservations made than could be accommodated. We were lucky to have seats.

Atwood with Michael Žantovsky, president of the Václav Havel Library

Atwood spoke for a little bit, read pieces from Hag Seed and The Handmaid's Tale, and answered some audience questions. She was both warm and sardonic, exuded confidence without arrogance, and truly seemed to care about the audience. She kept motioning people who were standing in the back to come forward and take empty seats that she found in the front. She was hilarious, which was not something I was necessarily expecting.

It had not been hard to convince Ben to join us, and I was so glad he was there. He was as rapt as the rest of us.

The event took place on a Wednesday, a day that Garrett has football training with a team outside of Prague. He opted to go to training instead of the reading, which was a fine choice (and did not surprise me in the least).

Though I'm neither a fashionista nor a Sex and the City fan, I couldn't help being enticed by the sign on Museum Kampa touting its fall exhibit. I joined a group of Riverside parents who were going together.

Prague was the third stop of five for this exhibit which started in Milan and came our way via St. Petersburg. Manolo Blahník's father was Czech. Perhaps the time at Kampa was a nod toward his patrilineal heritage? The show is currently in Madrid and scheduled to head to Toronto for a long stretch starting in March.

I loved the shoes when I viewed them as the art pieces that they are. Thinking of trying to walk in them, however ... ouch. Regardless, they were whimsical, vibrant, and delightful. I took a bunch of pictures, and I'd post more except the display cases made it hard to get quality shots. There was either too much reflection in the glass/acrylic cases or other exhibit attendees muddied up the lines. (Let me know if you want to see more, though — with the understanding that the quality is iffy!)

Prague Planetarium

The Prague Planetarium is located about 1km from our flat on the eastern edge of Stromovka Park. In October it ran a series of space-themed films on Tuesday evenings. Ben and I saw The Martian. It was our third time (we really like that movie!). And I went back and caught Gravity (first viewing) another week. I'm not sure why there was so much fuss about that one.

While space films are enjoyable enough, we were even more excited about the film festival at Bio Oko ...

Made it to a few Bill Murray movies that week, though fewer than I'd hoped as it was the boys' mid-term break and we dashed out of town to the mountains overnight. The first one we saw was What About Bob? from 1991. On the way to our seats everyone was offered a complimentary marshmallow to enjoy before the show.

Marshmallows for all provided at each screening.

Which seemed a little random, but who doesn't enjoy some quirky fun? (Or quirky snacks!) It all made sense several nights later, however, as we purchased our tickets for Ghostbusters.

Who you gonna call?

But, of course.

And now, some shots of us heading off to the mountains. Because ... why not?

Garrett has been on us to get to some Sparta football matches. The whole family (plus a friend!) saw a match against Ostrava. And Garrett and I caught another one against Jihlava.

Sparta won both, which was exceedingly satisfying.

Ben's friend Ieuan joined us for the evening match against Ostrava.

Friendly neighborhood Sparta-man

On the evening of 17 November — International Students' Day (more recently also known as Freedom & Democracy Day) — we went to Wenceslas Square to join the commemoration. Throughout the day there were speeches, music, marches, and activities going on all over the city.

Our friend Ewan with Karl on Wenceslas Square

Candles on Narodní třída commemorate the student protests of both 1939 and 1989.

And, finally, ...

Opening night for the latest Star Wars offering! We even took Grandma Seeley with us. Garrett was so excited to finally be the first to see it among his friends from home. This six-hour time difference has to be good for something, right?

That's more than a sampling of our fall cultural and entertainment activities. We're striving to find the right balance between taking advantage of our temporary home and the opportunities it affords and remembering to honor our inner hermits, who sometimes just want to stay home and watch Netflix.