Now that we have been here for a month, I have gathered quite a few examples of cultural differences between the United States and the Czech Republic. The first difference I noticed was in restaurants. First of all, water here is not free. You cannot just order a glass of tap water with your meal. They do not even serve tap water. If you want water, you have to get a glass bottle of water. More often than not, the water is carbonated, which is not that pleasant for those of us who have lived our whole lives drinking still water. Like I said, the water is not free; most of the time it is actually cheaper to order a beer than water. I am not sure why they do not serve tap water, as the water here is perfectly safe to drink. Most of us carry water bottles around with us that we just fill up at sinks.

Also, the waiters/waitresses here are not nearly as quick or attentive as the ones back in the U.S. The only times we see our servers is when they bring us a menu, take our order, and bring us our food. Once you get your food, they never stop by to see if you need anything else. If you do want something else, you have to flag them down. You also have to ask for your check. They will not simply bring it to you when you are done eating, because they do not want you to feel like they are rushing you out. Everything is much more leisurely paced. They do not expect you to leave immediately after eating; you can just sit around and chat afterwards. This took a bit of adjustment, since in the United States we are used to being served quickly, and then getting our bill and leaving quickly.

                Another difference is just in the general attitude/atmosphere of the country. I never really noticed it much before we came here, but Americans are very loud, optimistic people. The Czech people however, are not. They are self-described pessimists, and are not interested in idle chatter. When we see acquaintances, we often ask them how they are doing, even though we do not really care. This is not the case here. They do not ask you how you are doing unless they actually want to know the answer. When Czechs do answer, the common answer is that everything is awful, even if they are actually having a pretty decent day. Their movies do not have the happy endings that we are used to in America. They are much more realistic. As a result, they think the happy endings to some of our movies are hilarious.

                They also speak much more quietly than I am used to. It makes it difficult to hear/understand them at times. I never realized how loud Americans were, but now when we are out in public, I see people giving us looks because we are being loud, even though by our standards we are speaking at a normal level. The Czech people also have much bigger personal bubbles. When talking to someone they do not know, they stand rather far away from each other. We did not realize this until recently, so we have problem freaked some native Czechs out with our close proximity to them when we talk. Eye contact is also not much of a thing here, as well as smiling. People do not smile at you often.  When I go to the grocery store, the cashiers do not even look at me. I was a checker at a grocery store in the U.S., and we are required to be friendly and talk to every customer. That is definitely not the case here. They are just there to scan your groceries. They also do not have bags for groceries here. You have to bring your own. I often have to stuff my backpack with my groceries and hope nothing gets too squished.

                These are just a few of the cultural differences I have noticed here. There are probably many more that I am so used to at this point that I cannot even call them to mind as differences. It makes me both appreciate how things are in America, and also notice some things we do that are rather unnecessary, and probably make other countries look at us weirdly for. Overall it has been an interesting experience finding the differences between the two cultures.

Above a beautiful Czech town, with a smile that most Czech people will not show often :)

A street in Prague. People do A LOT of walking here. It's definitely helped us keep off the weight from all the food we have been eating!

Some artwork in Olomouc. It's a little darker, which is typical of the mood of the Czech people and culture.