Sunday, April 29

Hope you didn't blink, I'm already back from Berlin


Well, the trips just keep getting better. Berlin, as many post-communist cities and countries are, is a city of lots of contradictions. The difference, though, is the way Berlin has absorbed a lot of those contradictions, making them an integral part of the city (and I guess that comes with the territory in a city that was literally a living contradiction for the majority of the past 100 years). It's such a cool, cosmopolitan city (Jonas said that for the past 20 years it's been called 'the construction site of Europe.' You can see why). And I realized after I got there, I felt this interesting sort of connection with the city, an excitement to explore it and get more familiar with it, knowing that my grandfather had spent a bunch of time here at war's end.

Our hostel was located in East Berlin, in an area that's become notable as of late because of an influx of artists moving there to take advantage of the low-cost housing in dilapidated Socialist housing projects. So we were in the area with a lot of nightlife and community, which was really neat.

We arrived around midnight on Friday evening after leaving a traffic-clogged (clagued?) Prague at about 5pm, and I just had to take a least a short walk and grab a drink somewhere or I'd have felt like I wasted the night. So me and a few others headed to an area recommended by the receptionist, where we found some sweet bars with outdoor seating (Europe in warm weather is a completely different place, by the way! Everything's outside, it's wonderful). I was amazed, as we were walking - in Prague, the night streets are crowded with people speaking Italian. But here, everyone was speaking German!

Saturday, we took a morning city tour with a guide from Michigan doing his grad work in Berlin, studying post-communist cities. And what a city it is! We headed first to Checkpoint Charlie, one of three places in divided Germany to cross from East to West, and got to see one of the many remaining fragments of the wall (of course I was humming Pink Floyd, did you have to ask?). It's unbelievable. I've heard so much about the terrors of the communist regime, but to see the physical remains of something so irrational (but so rational), and in the middle of a city that has emerged as a rival to New York, Paris, and London...it just re-contextualizes this whole utopian experiment. The best streets in the city are bisected by cobblestones marking where the wall stood.

Lest we forget, however, that Berlin was also the capital during WWII (damn, this place had a rough century, huh?). We walked through the Berlin Holocaust memorial, and I think it's one of the most effective I've seen (pictures coming soon). The afternoon was spent in a museum, after which I headed down to the Technical Museum for an exhibit on the history of technology and games (not as cool as it sounds, but I got to figure out the metro all by myself!).

And then, of course, the evening. We began at the Reichstag, the seat of German parliament, where we watched the sun set from the huge glass dome on top (does anyone else find it incredible/slightly concerning that it's so easy to gain access to important governmental buildings in Europe? Maybe it's just my American fear talking...).

Then, I went with a bunch of other people on a Berlin pub crawl (oh, I really am in college). On the way (and it was a LONG way. This city is bigger than Paris!), me and my friend Caitlin found ourselves a doner kebab that just might have been the culinary highlight of my trip (I ate terribly this weekend, but for cheap). The crawl brought us to pubs of all shapes and sizes, including one that made us all feel like we were on The OC, complete with sand, and one playing really loud drum 'n' bass music complemented by a badly played trumpet.

And may I take a moment to say, yes JC, it's official - I only really like Czech beer.

Stephanie put me in charge of making sure she got home, which I was reluctant to do, but we managed it. We spent over an hour taking public transportation (for 2.10Euro) and walking back to our hostel, after consulting multiple drunken Berliners who all gave us different directions in different languages (honestly, I'm getting really good at deciphering bad directions). All this, only to return to the hostel and discover all of our friends already sleeping in their beds after having taken a cab for a whopping 4Euro. She was a little mad at me. But I got her home!

Sunday (which is today. Wow that seems strange) I slowly regained consciousness for our 9:30am check out time, tried to ignore the overflowing backed up drain in our shower and toilet, and we headed out to the Pergamon Museum, home to some of the most incredible relics from antiquity I've ever seen (I took a million pictures). Then it was back on the bus to head towards home, with a two hour stop in Dresden during which we all took pictures of buildings that may or may not have had some sort of significance. Dresden is a really interesting city if only by nature of it looking so old, but being SO new (remember? It was leveled in WWII). We all felt like we were in Disneyland a little bit.

Arriving in Prague, as always was like a breath of fresh air. And that, my friends, is the whirlwind tour through my nearly instantaneous visit to Berlin. However short that time was, though, Berlin joins the very short list of European cities (with Prague and Amsterdam) where I could honestly see myself living at some point. I love cities with a kind of 'edge,' if you can't tell (my dad pointed that out to me) and Berlin has so much edge, in fact, that I think it might have hurt me - I think I'm getting sick, AGAIN. I guess that's what comes with little to no sleep every night...

Note: Tuesday, I'll post pictures if it's the last thing I do.

Friday, April 27

I dislike FedEx

What if Run Lola Run and Cast Away had an illegitimate love child?

It would be my day yesterday.

Back up. So my license expires on May 10th, nine days before I get home. I'll only be in Chicago for one day, a Sunday, so I can't renew my license. I can't get a license in LA until I'm a legal resident of CA, which happens after 30 days of residence. I need to drive. So mom discovered that the IL Sec of State will issue temporary licenses for situations like this, they just have to mail me some papers to fill out and send back, and then they'll send me the license, but they have to send it here, to the Czech Republic, because the whole point is I'm not in Illinois to renew it.

So these papers are in Prague, at the FedEx office, and for the past two days a delivery guy has come here and left without leaving the package, claiming there was no one home, when Tomas has been here both times (and I've been here one of them). It became clear that this package was just not going to get delivered. So last night, I decided it would be a good idea to go to the FedEx office, halfway to the airport, and get the damn thing myself. I had one hour before they closed to get to the outskirts of Prague, figure out how to get to FedEx, and get the package.

When I got to the metro stop, I had about 20 minutes to find the place. Plenty of time right? Needless to say (let's remember one of the ongoing themes of the past few months) I got slightly turned around and was afforded the opportunity to use my Czech skills with just about anyone on the street who looked nice. I wound my way around an intricate Soviet housing project, asked random people walking for directions, stopped in a bar for some more, and every time I was told something completely different. After I walked in a complete circle, I called up the place, and they told me to go back to the metro station (a 5 minute walk) and then take a bus to get to them, and they assured me that someone would be waiting for me despite their closing in two minutes.

So I got back to the metro station and went to the bus stop she had said. Unfortunately, there were about five buses that came to this stop, and I had no clue which one to get on. I tried to call the office again. Their automated phone system automatically routes calls to a recording after closing hours. I had a feeling for one bus -- but the last one had left literally one minute earlier.

Time to give up. Or is it? The greatest thing about the times I've been lost previously is how they all seem to turn out well for me, somehow. I was all the way out here, I might as well just try something to make this work too. So I asked these two guys if they knew where to go. They had an idea. But were unsure. And one of them was kinda swaying back and forth while he tried to talk to me.

I started to laugh while he was talking to me. Yep, I got directions from a drunk guy.

As the bus they told me to take turned back onto the street I had just walked while retracing my steps back from the housing project to the metro station, I knew I had tried hard enough. I came back home for some dinner.

Epilogue: I decided to skip my Czech class this morning to wait for the package to be delivered. I woke up at 9 to sit outside and wait for the truck, but figured it would probably be a good idea to check out the tracking info online first. Oh, not to worry, it wasn't coming! After I had tried to pick it up at their offices they left it there and didn't put it on the truck this morning! So I guess it's going to be delivered tonight, when I'm on a bus to Berlin.

Czech this morning was as glorious as always (really, this class is worth getting up for even though I went to bed at 5am last night). More bingo, more memorable quotes, more laughs. And in an hour, I leave for a fantastic weekend in Berlin (from Na Florenci street - don't worry, I'm leaving in about five minutes to get there this time). As the days wind down here, I'm reminded of just how much of an adventure it is to just be.

Thursday, April 26

Feeling even more at home

I find it amazing how quickly I can switch "modes" back into the way I am and always have been back in LA. I mentioned how in the next two weeks, I have a moderately large amount of work to get done, and the pile just keeps getting bigger. With that comes me feeling myself beginning to time-manage my days again, planning out exactly what I need to get done and how I'm going to do it.

To that extent, I knew I had a lot of class today (I always do, but my last class was a double today, so we weren't going to finish until 10pm), so after waking up at 9am for my Art and Architecture tour, I decided that twelve hours of class just didn't seem right and I went back to sleep until Czech class.

I think I should take a moment to write a bit of an ode to my Czech class, probably my most enjoyable class here. There's just such a fantastically colorful combination of people in the class that every day is nothing but a fantastic time. If someone's not saying something hilarious ("statistics don't exist") or doing something ridiculous (like falling out of a chair...and taking the table with), then at least I always have Stephanie right next to me to make delightfully malicious fun of other people ("ohhhhh, MO!" but seriously she's going to get a shoe thrown at her one day).

Take today, for example. We're all putting together these presentations to help the class review for our final next week, so each of us is in pairs and we're leading the class in a game to review our grammar and vocab. Today, my friend Steve, a quiet but goofy guy from Colorado with a soft side I discovered one day as we sat by a lake and talked about fishing, and Katherine, an incredibly friendly and cultured art major who's a chain smoker and always looks well dressed even in pajamas, led the class in Czech Fear Factor. Get a question wrong, and eat some funky Czech spreadable meat. We laughed so much, I really don't even remember what part of the language we were supposed to be reviewing.

Rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Watched a Hungarian film in my last class called The Red and the White, and I actually stayed awake...because I had taken a half hour nap while he was talking about something else.

I'm hoping that when I go home I can retain at least some of the carefree spirit I've had here. My life needs more trips to the park with a book (and MacArthur park is right up the road from us, too). That said, tomorrow I have class, followed by FedEx drama, then project finishing, perhaps paper beginning, and then certainly Brave New World finishing, and packing. I'm going to Berlin this weekend!

Tuesday, April 24

Don't have a heart attack now...

...but today I realized that I actually have some work to do by the end of the semester. It was a sad realization, one of those times when I woke up thinking "Dammit. I know I'm going to have to write a seven page paper, even though I thought I had gotten out of it by telling my professor I would do a presentation." Yes, I do often have thoughts like that right when I wake up in the morning.

The concert last night was fun, but definitely not quite my style. Dan and I walked in together, and I started singing "one of these things is not like the other..." and began to bask in the glory of all of my white suburban boyishness and its massive contrast with the vast majority of safety-pin wearing, cigarette smoking, studded belt sporting, moshing people (there was a guy there selling those small round pins, and to mark the occasion, I searched through all of the ones with punk bands on them and managed to find one with a Star Wars logo. Hells yeah). Dan and I hung out in the back of the place, a safe distance from the mosh pit where I would have undoubtedly been seriously injured by an errant elbow or seventeen.

If there's one thing you all probably know about me, it's that when I feel some pressure, I get productive. Today has even been reminiscent of some days at home (there are still differences. I managed to find an hour to have lunch at a cafe and read). Class, lunch, then a trip to Tesco to try to find some materials for the project I have to turn in this Friday (a poster with an interview and an essay on it). I didn't find the poster board, but I did find a temporary, though inferior replacement for my weaning supply of chap stick (I started shaking today from withdrawal).

Came home, started writing, and I don't think I've stopped. First, I wrote questions for that interview, then interviewed Tomaš about Czech TV...which was hilarious. As we began, I told him to talk to me like I was five years old. And then I learned that I speak about as much Czech as a fetus. Between that, and his answers (Q: Who's the head of Czech TV? Have you met him? --- A: Mr. Janeček, and thankfully I haven't), I had a great time, and so will my Czech teacher when she reads it.

Spent the rest of the afternoon working on a 200 word essay about Czech TV. About three hours of work for 200 words. And then, Jonaš took a look at it and showed me the meaning of 'all that work for nothing.' For all I know, a lot of what I wrote might have been Esperanto.

...you know, my mother insists she didn't pay anything extra for me to live here, but between the fantastic food, weekend trips, and guaranteed good grades in Czech classes, I'm starting to wonder if they shouldn't charge more.

So let's see. Today I almost finished my book, wrote an essay and conducted an interview in Czech, went to class, and went to Tesco. Honestly, that's the most I've accomplished in a single day this entire semester, and I'm quite impressed with myself.

Monday, April 23

Weekend, revisited

Today's been a standard Monday, so I thought I'd take a moment to elaborate on the weekend a bit before I head off to the concert.

So an old friend of Dan's, who I know too, was coming to visit this weekend, and one of her good friends, who we know too (Nicole, her blog is a link on the right), decided to surprise her with a visit (confused yet?). So Friday we all went to dinner and hung out at a bar, and I managed to see some old friends from the play too, which was fun.

Saturday I told you about, with its castles and monasteries, and the evening was a series of good decisions for me. Had dinner with Dan and our friend Nicole and Dan's friend Eric (who I just met, it's a long story), then watched the Bulls game at Dan's and then a bar. Afterwards, we were debating where to go - with Katie (from USC) in town, I wanted to find her at a club across town, but they wanted to go around the corner to Lucerna. I was set on finding Katie, until I realized something. This was the last weekend I'd have in Prague with Dan! In fact, it was the last weekend we'd spend together for an indefinite period. With that nostalgia weighing heavily on me, I went to Lucerna and had an unexpectedly fantastic time chatting with some Austrian girls who I'm going to see again this weekend in Berlin.

The tram ride home that night was quite eventful too. First, I had to sprint about half a Km to catch it (that's the second time this week. I'm hoping not to make it a habit...). Then, once I got on with my smaženy syr (fried cheese sandwich), a drunken Czech man started to speak to me in Czech, and I actually understood enough of what he was saying to realize that he was absolutely hilarious (especially when he started to hit on a girl from my program).

That settled down once he lost interest, and as I finally found room to sit down, a couple stumbled onto the train, and the girl literally fell over. My incredibly charming self couldn't help but ask her if she was ok, and she laughed and said she was fine. Then the guy next to her who she hadn't come on with, a man in his late forties wearing slacks, a sweater, a collared shirt, and...earplugs..., asked (in perfect English) if I was American. I am, are you? No, I'm Czech, but I'd like to practice my English, if that's alright (ok, so he had a Czech accent). Of course it's alright. So what do you think (he took out his earplugs now) of the US radar base in the Czech Republic? Yep, I discussed politics with an entire Czech tram all the way home. (The base is crap, by the way)

So I slept well on Saturday night. Sunday you pretty much know about, and it was so nice to spend some time with Katie, who very kindly told me that seeing me made her trip for her. What an awesome lady, with great friends too.

This weekend was the first time in over a month that I've had the chance to really just be in Prague, without any kind of rehearsals to attend or trips to think about. And it made me realize something (I might start an entire new blog called "Evan's realizations" because I think I already have enough content for it. But that was not the realization). I am in love with this city. It's not like a "I loved studying here" or "I had a great semester here" or "This place is so pretty" or "I want to visit again" (all of those are true, but after a while you kinda become desensitized to how awesome the place is in those senses). It's more of a "this city owns a part of me" kind of thing. I want to live here again, not just in a college-student-studying-abroad-wishes-he-could-just-party-constantly way. And I could live here, really live and work. I don't feel like that about anywhere but Chicago.

Which is why I'm not going to Munich this weekend. I don't need Munich, and I can always go back. In my last few weeks here, I just want to be here as much as I can. So I will!

Weekend in brief

It's time for bed. But normally, a lot of people read this blog on Sundays, so I figure I should at least give you something. This weekend has been filled with some great visits from some outstanding people and some outstanding new stories.

Saturday was a great day. Tomas, Zuzana, Jonas, and I went to visit two incredible sites near Prague: a small castle, still in use as a residence by its owner, and a monastery connected to a church that was only half there (cathedrals have three aisles and an altar normally. Two of the aisles on this one were demolished, leaving only this eerie third aisle, and then the remaining altar was turned into a new church in itself, still connected to the remaining aisle. Hard to explain, but I took some pictures). Later, had a great night watching the Bulls win and partying at Lucerna (once my definite least favorite place in Prague, now slowly growing on me) with some new friends from Austria.

Today has been unexpectedly busy. Woke up late, had breakfast/lunch with the family (Tomas insisted I have beer with the meal. Turns out beer for breakfast is actually great), then took a nap (I know, I live a rough life) before heading into the city to work on a project with Stephanie (which actually entailed much more time just sipping on cappuccinos and eating more food than it did project preparing). Tonight, Jonas was having a bit of a party at a small bar in Zizkov to celebrate his (and a friend's) birthday, so I stopped over there before heading all the way back across town to meet my friend from USC, Katie, who's visiting this weekend from Florence (she's blogging too, but I can't find the damn address). We had a great dinner with her two friends, then walked around a bit.

Phew! So that's the weekend in events. New thoughts: I don't think I'm going to Munich next weekend after all (still going to Berlin though, don't worry). And in less than one month, I'll be back in LA. I don't think I've ever had such mixed feelings about an event.

Tomorrow, it's class followed by a concert, back at Lucerna, by the American punk band Rise Against. Never been to a punk show, so that should be fun. I promise I'll elaborate on all this soon!

Friday, April 20

Snow in Barrandov?

I forgot to mention - one of the coolest things about this house is we're located right across the river from the famed Barrandov Studios (sometimes called "Czech Hollywood" though it's increasingly just Hollywood itself, considering how many US films are shot there. There have been no fewer than 3 at a time the entire time I've been here).

We've been witness, for the past few weeks, to them shooting the second installment of The Chronicles of Narnia, and yesterday, as the sun went down, I couldn't help but notice the HUGE cranes they had set up over there. Once it was dark, the bright key lights illuminated a massive cloud of snow falling over the studio. Cool!

Sophomoric stories

It looks like Dan and I will not be going to Karlovy Vary this weekend. Completely out of the blue, he and I have a few visitors this weekend, so we're staying in town to hang out with them. Alas, Dan and I will have to travel together again at some other point in the future...

Thursday was a great day that ended up being kinda 'busy' (I say 'busy' because I was really busy finding new ways to relax all day). Class early, then a trip to an art exhibit with another class, then a few of us stuck around the train station (where the art exhibit was. It was neat) to browse the second hand store there. I bought a belt. Then I decided it was time for me to find a new park to read in. I had heard that the Royal Gardens, at Prague Castle are really nice, and a great place to camp out for a few hours.

So I made my way up the castle hill and into the gardens (and I did it without any sort of directions! It's nice to know a city well enough to be able to do that). The rumors were true - it's a beautiful garden, with lots of colors and paths to get lost in. The only problem was I found myself in grave need of a urinal.

You might not want to hear about this, but I think it's a good story. It's not so much that I had to pee so badly, but it was enough to be annoying. And the place was so beautiful, and so far from any real bathroom, that a thought occurred to me...what if I peed in the royal gardens? What if I did it? What a story! What was at first a small inkling of necessity quickly blossomed into an all-out passionate desire, the desire to take this challenge and run with it. So, without going into the details, I search for a suitable place, and accomplished my mission. I peed on a royal bush (HA!).

Read for an hour before wandering around the area some more, eventually stumbling upon the old moat, which has been converted in an incredible park (the president lives near there, so there was a Czech military man wandering around who, I was convinced, was going to yell at me for something). Then met up with Dan for an afternoon of...eating...before going home, studying for my Czech exam, watching Lost, taking a nap, and going back to Dan's apartment for the evening (we had a great time, despite some interesting moments. A bunch of people from my program showed up, which was an interesting collision of worlds for me). Like I said, a 'busy' day!

Today, however, not so busy. Class and lunch has been about it. Tonight Dan and I are going to dinner with our friends in town, and then who knows. The weekend should be fun, capped off by Jonas's birthday party on Sunday night. But what I'm looking forward to the most is getting hours and hours of wonderful sleep.

Wednesday, April 18

My thoughts are with VA Tech

After I finished my last post, I went to Dan's and walked into an apartment of guys crouched over a computer screen, using the SlingBox to watch coverage of the VA Tech massacre. It didn't really hit me at first how far reaching this is. Along with all those people gone, something else came to a screeching halt on Monday - going to college in the US will most likely never be as free, just like how going to high school changed after Columbine. I won't say much more here, since I'm sure you're tired of reading about it and I don't want to talk politics on this blog (if you're not tired of it, check out my sister's thoughts from Australia and I've found Xeni Jardin's ongoing analysis on boingboing.net really interesting. And the wikipedia article on this thing is really astounding). I think it'd be accurate to say it's the end of the age of innocence for the American college experience.

On to sunnier topics...

Yesterday, as predicted, was spent roaming around town with Mom and Dad, making some last purchases, and then finally taking a nap. I got a phone call at around 5pm from someone involved with the Prague Playhouse (the group that produced my play). They want me to play a role in a staged reading they're putting on in a few weeks. The part seems really fun, full of improv; I hope I'll be in town to do it! Had a great dinner last night with Mom, Dad, and Dan, then said goodbye till May, and went out on the town with Dan and some other folks.

Which made today, my classically busiest day of the week, quite the experience to get through. It certainly had its highlights, though - my Cinematographer's Influence class, while being a large waste of time for all students involved, has established a kind of irresistible charm to it. There's something so cute about how drunk our professor always seems, the way he'll ask a question, and then in the process of explaining the question will suddenly ask another question (completely unrelated), and then expect the class to know which one we're supposed to answer. And when we do answer, as I did a few times today, if we get it wrong, we get one of a few classic responses (today, I said something was the index of reflection and he responded by looking me straight in the eye and saying "I go to kill myself now." I'm still not sure if I was wrong or right). And then my last class was canceled.

At home for the evening, I read some more news articles and took a nap before dinner. With Zuzana gone, I'm being introduced to a whole new side of Czech cooking, what Tomas says are all the dishes college students all make for themselves. So we began the week with that Slovak dish, and tonight we had another new delicacy: fried bread. Bread, soaked in garlic oil and fried like French toast, served with beer of course. The great thing about Czech food is it's all comfort food!

Tomorrow I'll relax some more, and probably Friday too. This weekend, Dan and I are thinking of spending a day at the spa town of Karlovy Vary. Assuming we go, it will be our last weekend trip together...I know I'm upset, and I'm sure the thought of no more stories of Dan seriously injuring himself is upsetting to you too.

Monday, April 16

Settling back in

After a whirlwind few weeks, today I finally started to settle back into things back in Prague, knowing I'm not traveling this weekend. Phew!

So I relaxed a bunch all day. Went to a lecture in the afternoon by a renowned Czech folk singer named Jaroslav Hutka who, surprise surprise, was another figure in the Underground (yep, that's him over there. I love that picture because he was so mild mannered in person). He released two records before 1977, and the guy's lyrics were so influential that they deported him (real folky stuff like "Powerful is the weapon, more powerful is the truth. What's the most powerful? The truthful word"). He spent 10 years in Holland, traveling the world with his music, before moving back to Prague after 1989. Now, he's still got no record label, but he publishes essays all the time, and sells his music at his concerts on home-made CDs (if you search for his image on Google, you find one of him making the CDs...of course I bought one).

I love talking to incredibly intelligent people like that. And it was a perfect compliment to the book I started this weekend, Brave New World (Man, I'm gettin into this utopian community stuff...). I read for a few hours today, all outside thanks to the absolutely unbelievable weather, then headed home for dinner.

Zuzana's at a conference kind of thing all week, so Tomas treated me and himself to a typical slovak dish - small chunks of boiled dough in a sauce of sheep's cheese and pieces of salty pork. As I started to open a bottle of water to have with it, I heard "ne! ne! ne!" ("ok fine, I'll have beer with it," I thought). "With this, you must have milk!"

Needless to say, it caught this little Jew off guard. But judging by his pouring milk into a glass for me, I knew he was serious (realize that milk here is not actual milk. The Czech value of fresh foods means no preservatives in their milk, so the real stuff goes bad in a day or two. Everyone uses a kind of artificial, 'plastic' milk. I think it's soy...but it might not be). And you know what? Just like every other meal I've had here, it was delicious.

Tonight I'm heading to Dan's place, since I haven't seen him in a week. Tomorrow Mom and Dad are back in town for one last day, and I'm sure it'll be as busy as they all were last week.

Sunday, April 15

Catalyst


I have been terrible to you, and I am sorry. No posts for a week?? I know, but there's a good reason I think...this blog has always been a kind of safety net for me, a way to bring my head back to home and have something comfortable. With my parents here, I guess I don't need it as much.

Spending time with my parents for the past week has been really great. They don't want me to go into detail about anything having to do with them (guess everyone's scared of the media these days), so I'll keep it pretty vague...but I told you last time about how great it's been to use their visit as a tool to reflect on my time here, and that has proven itself very true.

So what did I come up with? A bunch of things. Tuesday night, they came here and I had my second incredible experience of someone from home meeting the Jančařik family. Mom and Dad did their best to talk slow enough for everyone to understand, and once we got a few drinks in us (and then a few more. And a few more. And oh what the hell how bout a few more) things loosened up quite nicely. Mom said something that's stuck with me: she told Tomas and Zuzana that I had really learned patience since I've been here. I wouldn't say I've learned it so much as it kind of found me. There hasn't been a time this entire semester where I've felt impatient about anything, but then, there hasn't been anything to feel impatient about - no rushing, no appointments, nothing to make me wish things were going faster. Plus, when you have to speak slower to make sure you're understood (and when you talk as much as I do), you don't have much of a choice. All the same, I hope that's something I can take back with me.

Wednesday night Mom and Dad took everyone out to dinner, and it was another really nice night. But I'd like to talk a bit about Thursday, a great night with my dad. I think I spoke a bit about a famous Czech band called the Plastic People of the Universe, leaders of the Czech Underground culture during the Communist era. One of my classes had a field trip to see them play on Thursday night, and I invited my parents to come with me, not expecting them to come along. Mom wasn't too interested...but Dad was all about it!

So we went! I introduced him to all the usual suspects, including my teacher ("I can't believe you'd be interested in seeing the Plastic People!!" she screamed. What can I say, Dad's kinda cool). We walked into the venue, drinks in hand, and headed towards the seats in the back of the place, away from the rest of my friends. The band was really outstanding, especially once they got going (Dad wore earplugs. What can I say, he's really cool). The whole night was a tribute to their Underground colleague and frequent source of inspiration, Egon Bondy, who died last Monday.

Friday was the big drive to Budapest, followed by an excellent weekend of fantastic walks around a really nice city (not quite as nice as Prague or Amsterdam, but worth a visit all the same) in summer weather. Dad and I won some cash at the casino next to our hotel, we saw every Jewish-related site there was in the city, and we ate one of the greatest meals I've ever had (contemporary Hungarian food - I had fois gras (I know they're mean to the geese when they make it, but I had to try it. And DAMN that shit's good), Goose breast in a gingerbread sauce, 2 glasses of Hungarian wine, and a shot of Hungarian Peach liquor). Pictures soon (from Amsterdam too).

You know, maybe it's the seemingly constant words of encouragement that I get form my parents, but the whole visit was just really reassuring. They actually like my hair (WHAA??), and they really like spending time with me and seeing what I've been learning and living for these past three months. It gave me a sense of peace and confidence I don't think I've ever felt before, like it justified everything somehow. Of course I don't need that kind of justification for things, but you gotta admit it's damn nice when you can get it.

Especially when you've only got one more month left in a place you've grown to love so much. I feel like I've started something here, a kind of new life, and it's going to get cut off right when it's about to find its stride. Then it's back to the land of impatience, to-do lists, less reading for pleasure, and more bike riding to class. They say the culture shock going back home is worse than the culture shock getting abroad. I can see why, and I'm not looking forward to it. (Though I am excited to see everyone at home again).

Time to wrap this up...this week is not nearly as eventful, so you'll probably hear from me more often. I've been posting really vaguely for a while, which makes this really uninteresting, so I'll do better this week! (though this blog had a record number of hits last week, 115 on Wednesday alone! If you're reading on Facebook, you really should just take a peek at what these posts look like on evaninprague.blogspot.com) It's scary, but I can actually visualize the end now: next weekend I'll be here in Prague again (I need the rest...badly) followed by a weekend in Berlin and Munich (Vaclav is trying to get 2 free nights at his hotel's branch in Munich so we can go together...two free nights in a 5-star hotel? Eh, ok). Then it's back in Prague, finals, Croatia, and LA for the summer already.

Where does the time go?

Monday, April 9

Best trip yet?

What do you title a post about the weekend you spent in your new favorite location? Amsterdam is an absolutely incredible place, the first I've visited outside of Prague that has the same kind of unique soul to it. That rubs onto everything about it; the narrow streets, the canals, the intense value of freedom, the intelligence of the whole place...it's just really great. The first place I've been to outside of Prague where I said "you know what...I could live here."

As per the hostel situation, I must say I kinda lied to you. It's true we were going without a hostel booked, but one of the girls we were traveling with had been too nervous to go without anything booked and had gotten an (expensive) hotel. So when we found out on Thursday morning that the hostel we were banking on wasn't going to have any rooms, we weren't being left out to dry, and we didn't panic. We just dished out some extra cash.

It was a fantastic weekend, full of what seems like millions of stories. I loved hanging out with Josh and Marty, two great guys who always make sure it's a great time. Highlights:

-In the airport, trying to figure out how to get a train ticket to the city center, we encountered one American who was having trouble and asked us a question. When Dan started talking to him, the guy just started saying "yeah, BEEN THERE. BEEN THERE. BEEN THERE." over and over again. It was hilarious, trust me.

-The Van Gogh museum was incredible. I spent what seemed like hours looking at the paintings I recognized, and got a whole new appreciation of them, seeing them in their original forms with their original textures.

-No one hired a prostitute, or even saw a sex show. But we almost had Dan convinced. I mean, who could resist a massive black woman in a bikini? Who???

-On Sunday morning, my phone rang at 9:30am (while we were still asleep). It was Mike Breen (another friend from high school) - apparently a friend of his had lost his backpack in Amsterdam and needed some cash to get him bailed out. Two phone calls later, we were meeting this friend (who, according to Breen, was wearing purple and "answers to the name Paul.") at another hotel, and Dan, Josh, and Marty were not happy about it. Turns out thought, it was all a lie - Paul was Mike!! He had taken an overnight bus just to meet all of us!

-Mike and I found a hostel to stay in for Sunday night, after the other three had left us, and we checked in and headed up to our beds for a quick nap. As we looked out our window at the town, we had wordless conversations about the scary Japanese guy sleeping in the bed next to mine, who had clearly not left the hostel the entire day, and had clearly not showered in several. The only thing that could make that better: Breen noticed something moving in his bed...in between the sheet and the mattress. To make that better...it was a mouse. I screamed like a schoolgirl. And to make it all worthwhile...I got it all on video. (on YT soon)

Ohhhh, there's so much more, but I'm sure it will all come out in stories I tell later.

Rushed home form the airport this morning and managed to eat lunch before meeting my parents in the city. As expected, seeing them has already been a really awesome relief for me. It's serving as a kind of barrier for my time here - how much have I done? How much have I experienced and learned? Am I doing this right? And the answers thus far are all positive. I love showing them around like this is my city.

Now, it's an early bedtime for me I think. I'm starting to finally come down with the spring cold everyone else had before me, and I'd love if it was gone before I went to Budapest this weekend with mom and dad.

Wednesday, April 4

Pet sounds, and an intense few weeks coming up

The opera was really great, and I only fell asleep once. It was Tajemstvi (The Secret), by Czech composer Smetana. Apparently some people in this country consider him an even better composer than Dvořák. But only some.

This morning, I commuted for over an hour to get to the really beautiful Troja Castle for my weekly Art & Architecture tour. There was a brief, slightly terrifying moment when I thought I might be the only person who would make the intense journey, thereby giving me a lot of alone time with Marie Homerova (a woman so beloved by her classes, past and present, that I had to create a Facebook group to extol her virtues...For some, it's her accent; for others, her catchphrases like "is it so?"; but for me, it's her smell that does it). Fortunately, others arrived.

Rushed to Czech class, where we had a fantastic conversation about Czech interpretations of animal noises (this, after our teacher, a beautiful woman with a hard-nosed tone in her voice who still manages to crack us up on a daily basis, entertained us with the sounds deer make while mating. Can't make this stuff up). Apparently cows go "boo," cats say "neow," dogs say "vuff," and rooters crow "rikidikidat" or something crazy like that.

I realized last night at 1:00am that I had a midterm in my first of three FAMU classes today. So I breezed through that real quick, then found out my second class was canceled (...again). I hung out for a while before my final class of the day. Zuzana was telling me over dinner tonight, about how her university classes were spread apart at inconvenient intervals (too short to go home, too long to focus on something else), so everyone just spent their free time heading to pubs for a bit. Some things never change.

A lot of my time lately has been dedicated to preparations for my parents' visit next week, something I've been looking forward to since about my first week here. It should be an intense next two weeks, beginning with my cab ride at 4:15am Friday morning to the airport (with Steph) to catch my 6:30am flight to Amsterdam. I should mention, because I think you should know and because it's too late for my mother to care about it, that we're going to Amsterdam with nowhere to sleep. No hostel. No bed. We're just kinda hoping for the best. And bringing enough cash to spend the night at a prostitute's place.

Tuesday, April 3

Happy Pesach!

Last night, Dan, Stephanie, and I all sat together at one of the largest seders I've ever attended, and most certainly the longest. Then again, I've never been to a tri-lingual seder before! It was the standard evening, complete with gefilte fish, matzah (or, in Czech spelling, "macah"...a 'c' is pronounced like 'ts'), afikomen search through Old Town square (kidding, but wouldn't that be cool??), and lots and lots of terrible wine.

I'm used to having seders away from my family by now (not to say I enjoy it, but I'm at least experienced at it), but Dan and Steph were both having their first seders away from home. The evening turned into one long story-swapping session that made us all wish we could be listening to our respective fathers or grandfathers rush through the service as quickly as possible. Instead, we got Rabbi Hoffberg (The Hoff, as I like to call him).

Once again, I was amazed by the number of English-speaking people who saw the play. Dan and I were recognized twice last night (though they all seem to see me first. Guess a guy with 5 feet of body height and 2 feet of hair height is memorable for some reason). We met a few more Americans-turned-English-teachers-trying-to-put-off-entry-into-the-real-world, and some other study abroad kids too. Despite starting at 7pm and ending at 11pm (and we didn't even stay for the post-meal prayers), it was a really nice night.

Today after class I took a walk into Old Town square, where they've set up a huge market as an Easter celebration. Besides the difficulty in dodging Italian tourists, the place is really neat - lots of shops, and TONS of great food, including everyone's new favorite treat, Trdlo (sounds gross right? But it's literally dough wrapped around a rolling-pin sized steel bar, rolled in cinnamon, sugar and nuts, and cooked over a flame. Not gross at all, I promise). I especially loved the pork stand, which had on display the entire body of a cooked pig (legs, head, hooves, ears, everything) with its insides gutted and filled with a salami-like mixture, and the cooks were cutting slices of it (HUGE SLICES of this pig's belly) and cooking them to put in sandwiches. (Also not gross, if you don't think about it while eating it) Mom and Dad - this will all still be going on next week, while you're here!

Then I walked down the river to find a place to read, and by the time I had, I was so tired that I fell asleep reading and listening to the swans softly gurgle water. Guess that meant it was time to go home. So here I am. I'm going to another opera tonight (this one with English supertitles!), and I'm looking forward to another eventful Wednesday. Hopefully the Cubs will even get their first win.

Sunday, April 1

The moral of the story

NOTE: This is part 2 of my adventures this weekend. It won't make sense unless you read this first.

I can travel alone. In fact, in some ways I prefer it. Those several hours by myself were really great, and I had no problem finding things to do and places to explore. Albeit, it was really nice to see a familiar face when I spotted my friend Kara, and I was happy once everyone got there. But unlike them, I really had something to hang my hat on about the day. This is a good thing to realize, considering I'm more than likely going to be spending five days wandering Croatia alone.

It reminds me of something Kristen (the girl me and Dan stayed with in Switzerland) told us about traveling alone (which she's currently doing for two months). I asked her what it was like and she responded with, "it's actually hard to be alone sometimes." Which I took to mean she got lonely. But she really meant it was hard to find herself physically alone. Wherever she went, she started talking to people and made new friends (like me and Dan) and as a result, she hadn't really had any time to herself the entire time she'd been traveling "alone."

It was really great to spend time with some people from my program, something I feel like I haven't done enough in these past two months of rehearsals and performances. It's just so easy to call up Dan. But it's good to know I have other options - it reminds me that it's not as if I've failed in making friends while I've been here. When I was in a bind, I got help. If that's not friendship, I don't know what is.

Enough with the sentimentals. This week should be fun - Josh and Marty (Dan's friends from Michigan and mine from high school and other places...it's complicated) arrive on Wednesday, and on Friday morning (eeaaaarrrly) we all leave for Amsterdam. And tomorrow is a HUGE day for sports - sure, the NCAA basketball championship, but the opening day of baseball! Cmon, what's more important?

PS - Happy (belated) birthday, Jason!

I'm an idiot (or: why I hate Na Florenci street)



So I missed the friggin bus to česky Krumlov.

It wasn't completely my fault (yes it was). I am completely at the mercy of public trans here, so when the tram decides to stop running to my house's tram stop for the week, as it did on Friday night at 8pm, I have to figure out new ways to get places. Now, I was aware of this. I knew I would have to take the metro to get to where the bus was (Na Florenci street...you may remember my previous experience with lateness at this very same place). I just haven't taken the metro from the house in so long that I forgot how long it takes to get there.

So when I went to bed on Friday night, I set my alarm for 7am, giving myself plenty of time to get to the bus by 8:15am. I didn't go out on Friday (rather than spending another minute at Lucerna, I watched a movie on my new favorite website, peekvid.com). But when I went to bed, I looked at my alarm clock once more and thought "you know...I deserve 20 more minutes."

It was one of those annoying situations where you run up to the bus stop, just as the bus is pulling away. And running is damn tough when you have a big backpack on.

Now, some people in this situation, they give up. Having another weekend in Prague wouldn't be that bad, after all, and I didn't really need to see the place. But not me.

I was instantly on the phone, sending text messages to everyone I knew to ask if they were going on this trip. My first positive response was from my friend Huntley (from USC) - perfect! I have a contact! The main bus station in Prague is right next to where I had just watched our bus pull away, so I went down there and asked the lady at the desk for a ticket to Cesky Krumlov. "Busses aren't running there today."

Well shit.

A metro stop away (after I accidentally got on going the wrong direction once and turned around), I found myself at Hlavni Nadraži, the main strain station. The guy at the info desk spoke English very well and informed me that not only was there a train to Cesky Krumlov, but it was leaving in 12 minutes and would arrive in four hours. Yes! My goal was only three trains and a bus ride away! With a sigh, a smile to myself, and a moment of self-reassurance ("I'm gonna do this"), I bought a ticket.

Once I got on the train, I called Huntley and explained my situation. As it turned out, I would be arriving in Krumlov 4 hours before the rest of the group (they made a stop in another town on the way). He gave me the address of the hostel we would be checking into later, I asked him to tell our trip supervisor that I'd meet them there, and I settled into my chair for the long ride.

So, despite the drama, it actually turned out quite well. I got the chance to travel alone for the first time (I don't know why people would think it's difficult. You just have to read signs), and I arrived in Krumlov with four hours to kill on the kind of sunny day when you pray for four hours to kill so you can just walk around. And on the way I made some great new friends - on the first train, there was the Czech guy who was studying to work for Skoda (the Czech car company), and who was nice enough to explain to me why I had to take a bus for only 20 minutes (they were doing construction on the rail line). On the second train, I shared a cabin with a couple who were speaking to each other in Spanish, but the woman addressed me in Czech at first. I asked where they were from - she's Czech, he's English. Interesting.

Cesky Krumlov is a really beautiful place, filled with colorful architecture and lots of fun nooks and crannies to explore. It was a 20 minute walk to town from the train station, and after dropping my stuff at the hostel (and explaining to the woman on duty what my situation was), I immediately treated myself to a huge lunch (see picture above). Then, I set about exploring, walking about every street in town and taking tons of photos. I even stumbled upon a friend from my program, who was in town with her family. When everyone else arrived, I made sure to be sitting in the hostel, having a coffee. The town they had visited on the way hadn't been all too interesting, it turns out. And how the hell did I get there? they all wanted to know.

The hostel itself was outstanding. I shared a room with Huntley (my savior. I bought him a drink) and one other guy, and it was a huge room with a really nice shower. We had some dinner (I knew where all the good places were, having passed them more than a few times in my four hour expedition) and then spent the evening at a local bar playing rock-a-billy music (which we only found because, armed only with the instructions "it's above a water wheel," I knew exactly where to go...because I had passed it before. See? It was all worth it!)

Today was also a lovely day. We were shown around the castle, and given admittance into the incredible Baroque theatre (a building only normally opened three times a year for performances, and one of only three in the world that's been preserved, not reconstructed, since it was finished in the 18th century. LOTS of pictures to come on Flickr). Then we had some free time to roam about the city (like I needed any more), and I visited the Egon Schiele museum and bought a framed poster of one of his incredible paintings.

Then, it was a bus ride back to Prague. I didn't miss this one. But maybe I should have.

So what did I learn from all this? I'll start a new post and talk about it.

Update: Pictures are up on Flickr and Facebook (like before, the Facebook album should work for everyone).