counting the carps 'til Christmas... part 1

As our students have assured us, it is not Christmas dinner in the Czech Republic without "a nice Christmas carp and potato salad." In the next few weeks the markets and squares will be abundant with huge barrels of carps a plenty. Part of the tradition is getting the freshest and best carp the season can offer so it's important to buy early. The fanciest way to go about it is to go around a week early and pick out the most glistening carp imaginable and take him home live. What do you do with the floundering little fellow? Why keep him in your bathtub of course!

The joke on the street is two men meet each other in town and say:

"Ahoj brother it has been a while! Is everything ok with you? You smell a bit worse than usual."

"Oh yes, everything's fine! It's just the Christmas carp! I haven't bathed all week."

I told my students I will not be indulging in this tradition. The sheer outrage I was met with shocked even the black cat that likes to wander into the classroom occasionally and learn an English word or two. I told them, I think carp is the least appetizing of fish not to mention that ugly mug of his. One of my students took a marker and traced the simple and universal symbol of fish and said, "it looks just like that...beautiful."

It seems I have been converted (at least in my respect towards others to observe in whatever manner they choose). To ease myself into the upcoming festivities, we did a trial run with carp-shaped chocolates from the market.