The Village (& the Good News)

 

Today has been a good day.

It's been a typically busy week with work, add in the usual pile of end-of-the-month administration, an unexpected visit to the doctor, and an unpleasant altercation with someone near and dear, and it could have been one crappy week. The first rescue, however, was my dad's Christmas fudge brought out from the freezer. That came out a few days ago, and has been thoroughly polished off by now.



The second rescue comes with my weekend plans, which I'm really looking forward to. The hubs and I are heading off to participate in one heck of a relic from the past - the zabijačka, a good ol' DIY pig sticking. To get you in the mood for what awaits me at my in-laws this Saturday, check out this video I found. It neutralizes the gory stuff with some seriously peppy music.

Saturday morning we'll be getting up bright and early to catch the beginnings of the pig affair (I don't know why, but I've never really taken to that 'sticking' phrase, so affair it is.) One of the joys of living in the Czech Republic is getting to know the culture of village life. There are so many great stories from hubs' childhood in Němčičky, as well as stories we've created together during weekend visits.

Like the time one of the main streets collapsed in the middle of the night and made a big hole which beckoned a good part of the 600-odd residents to gather round it for most of the daylight hours. Or the early morning wake-up calls, when the loudspeakers on the street corners crackle to life with a nice polka and details the village news, including whether the truck selling chicken will be by today, and if so, how much korun you might need to part with to get some of it's fresh offerings. Or just the myriad of village celebrations which compel most of the girls, and a surprising number of the men-folk, to put on their finest traditional garb and ceremoniously dance the afternoon away.



The village is actually quite well-known. It has one of the few ski hills in the south of the country - traditionally a hilly winemaking region. As well as boasting one of the finest swimming pools and sporting areas around, it recently set up a bobsled run (which basically is used as a roller coaster.) Not bad at all for a place so small some maps don't even recognize it. So I'm not sure how the van-fulls of Germans (and/or Austrians) found it one summer to attend an international qualifying match for a downhill inline skating race. The village ended up hosting it due to it's one really long and steep road, along which the entire village is built.

To give you a small slice of village life, and the last zabijačka I attended, I put up a few more photos in the online web album here (caution, there are a few pictures of the butchering process.)


Last but certainly not least, the final rescue this week came this morning in the form of a bit of a blog-ego boost. I found out a photo from my chili post won the Originality category for last month's DMBLGIT photography event. I was pretty shocked, and am quite honoured, since I've been trying my hand at this for only a couple of months. Check out some of the photos from this event, some of them absolutely ooze eatability!





Dobrou Chut'/ Enjoy!

And 'pig affair' pictures will be up soon!