Sunrise

What better way to end our time here than to go to 80s and 90s night at Lucerna? There was a different feeling in the air this time. In a way, it's the first night we've hung out together by choice and not because we're studying here together. After our graduation, all of us are just some people who know each other in Prague.

I was getting cabin fever staying at the house so long, so I decided to head towards our first bar a bit early and just wander around the city at night a bit. I walked back up to Vyšehrad for the last time and looked out over the city, lit up in all different shades of orange and yellow. I really can't get enough of it.

About thirty of us packed into this neighborhood bar near the dorms, claustrophobically clutching drinks and attempting to have conversations with our friends while standing less than six inches from their faces. With the night trams already functioning, we knew we had to get to our final destination soon enough.

We made a fantastic choice. Lucerna was as sketchy as it's ever been, and we did nothing but bask in it. Which do you like better: the fat guy on the stage drenched in sweat lip-syncing to every song while rubbing himself suggestively, or the old guy with white hair trying to dance with all the girls in our program? I like the fat guy myself. Oh, and don't worry, the tears that I said didn't happen earlier in the day? Yeah, they started, in full force. You just can't stop girls from turning on the waterworks.

The place closes down at 3:30, and as the music turned off and the lights came on, someone had a brilliant idea: let's sing the national anthem! Picture this: a hundred Americans singing the Star-Spangled Banner as people from what seemed like nearly every other country on Earth yelled obscenities at them and gave them the finger. It rained beer, we were all drenched in it.

I'm not really sure when the brawl started.

Behind me, one particularly vocal guy started tussling physically with a girl. And just as I heard "and the hoooooome ooooooff theeeeee braaaaaaavvvveee!" I see the blur of Dave Turner's body leap off the stage and deck some guy. By the time he had made contact, the pile had already formed, punches were being thrown, and in general, America was defending her pride. (Don't worry mom, I kept my distance. America doesn't need me to defend her.)

In typical fashion, the US prevailed. Outside, cooling off in the night air, our sole casualty, a huge guy from Madison named Jason who had a bloody lip ("you should've seen the other guy"), broke out the victory cigars. We loitered there for a few minutes, in the middle of Wenceslas Square, when somebody noticed it was getting light out toward the East. There was only one place we all wanted to be.

The walk began. North, through Wenceslas Sqaure, past the street where we found club Meloun, and into Old Town square, where the dawn gave an incredible backdrop to the Tyn church. There, we hung a left and trekked West, down the coronation path where new kings walked centuries ago, until we finally reached the Charles Bridge.

I couldn't help but say it. For seven hundred years, people have been standing on that bridge and watching sunrises. And you can see why (well, no you can't since I didn't have my damn camera).

Woke up this afternoon and joined some folks at Radost F/X for brunch, then followed them back to Wenceslas for some shopping. I didn't need anything, I just needed to be out in this city again. When my exhaustion overtook me, I retired back to the house and finished preparations for my trip.

Tomorrow morning I'm gone for my last five days of RnR. But it's not over yet, so I won't even pretend this is the last post. If I find internet anywhere, I can assure you you'll hear from me next week. If not, I'll be writing in the journal Sally gave me four months ago, and I'll post some thoughts in retrospect. I'll miss you all.

Reverse culture shock

It's a real thing. You get so used to living abroad that coming home ends up being a shock to you, sometimes even more so than going abroad in the first place. And it starts earlier - before you even get home.

There are two ways to view my going home, but I've had this image in my mind that seems pessimistic, which doesn't really reflect how I feel about the whole transition. I have this image in my head that everything I do now could be the last time I do it, like I'm pushing a big line of events off the end of a cliff (I get that way a lot during the last show of a play I'm in, like the lines I say are leaving my brain or something. Weird, I know). So I actually made myself kind of anxious about spending this weekend with the family. My mind is already focused, at least somewhat, on home. I'm getting ready to reenter. I'm thinking more and more about waking up in my bed in Chicago and LA, and I'm starting to feel some of those same feelings I get when I'm at home. This seemed like an unwelcome interruption into all that.

Yeah, so that was a fairly ridiculous state of mind to be in. The weekend thus far (it's Saturday evening) has been nothing short of fantastic.

We spent Friday making the relatively short drive down south, passing through the small town of Tabor (where I stopped on my epic journey to Česky Krumlov long enough to get off a train and get on a bus). We walked around a bit there, admiring the oldest manmade lake in Europe. Then we were off again, speeding along winding forested two-lane highways at about 100 km/h with the occasional slam on the brakes for a passing animal, oncoming car, or interesting/creepy abandoned chateau on the side of the road.

Our arrival in the small town of Slavonice was marked by my getting to meet an old friend of the family's, a man who showed up at the house about a month ago. I had no clue who he was then, nor did I have any idea that we were going to stay with him here (you may remember I keep my information about these trips to a minimum, and only partly by choice). This affable, forty-something year old divorcee with a thick beard, easy smile, and incessant bandanna around his head, is named Ivan.

Ivan's house is awesome. A large hundred-year-old farm house in the middle of the countryside about 500m from Austria, he's filled it with artwork from his two kids, hundreds of books, maps, and colorful paintings. He works as a translator - that's how he and Tomas met a bunch of years ago and became good friends (and also how he speaks really good English). After settling in and having some hot dinner, we were off into town for a night of drinking and debauchery.

It was as epic as you'd imagine. Highlights:

-I've decided that in my remaining time here I should teach Jonas some American slang, so last night I taught him the perennial favorite, "I'm not gonna lie to you," making sure to tell him the exact situations in which it's useful to help you emphasize a point. Well, several hours and drinks later, he turns to me and says, "Evan, I'm not going to tell you lies, but..." I just about died laughing.

-We all started trading stories and games we play while drunk. I learned the incredibly fun game of flipping coasters (whoever can flip and catch the most at one time wins). Then I taught Jonas about drunk dialing, and almost got him to make his first drunk dial to my friend Liz.

- Of course, it wouldn't be a night of drinking if it didn't involve being accosted by a Czech homeless man who hates President Bush. I found out as we were leaving though, the guy wasn't homeless. Jonas knows his nephews. He owns a building downtown here.

-At the end of the evening (beginning of the morning), after I had eaten an entire 98Kc quattro formaggi pizza that might be comparable to the finest night of endless lovemaking (I'll have another tonight...), we were walking back to the car when Ivan suddenly stopped. "Do you smell that?" I'm still getting over my cold, so no. We followed him up a small set of stairs to a wooden door and a doorbell. He rang it, but the door was open, so we just walked in. The smell was suddenly overwhelming. We had just walked into the town bakery, buzzing with the work of baking the following day's bread and pastries. Heaven? No, that would be later, when I had a bite of the still-warm doughnut we had just bought. So much lepši [better] when it's warm.

What a night. Today has been fun too - lots of sightseeing around this place, including a trip to the neighboring town of Telč (a UNESCO site, though not as cool as Slavonice in my opinion) and a tour of the castle there. Then lunch of some fried meat (probably pork, let's face it) and a walk around Slavonice in the (sober) daylight. It's a beautiful town - really reminds me of Disneyland with its pastel colors and strangely new-seeming facades constructed in old styles.

Tonight, who knows. More debauchery? A quiet movie night? Finishing my book? We'll find out soon enough.

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.

One of the best nights yet

So the show went up last night, and was a rousing success. I discovered some pictures of us on the Prague Post website - just in case you didn't believe me, here's the proof that Dan and I are honestly appearing on stage together in the Czech Republic. Dan's comment: "if you'd have told me three years ago that you and I were going to be in a play in the Czech Republic, I probably would have said...'don't you mean Czechoslovakia?'"

The theatre was about half-full (maybe 100 people), and they were all laughing at us (even the little kid in the back row. Our director's comment: "if we can make a kid laugh, you know that shit is honest"). My personal highlight was when, at the end of the show as my shirt comes unbuttoned and my gloriously toned abs, luscious pecs, and hair-free chest are out there for all to see, that little kid yelled "EEEEWWW!"

Afterwards, I went to the lobby with little in the way of hope or expectation at seeing anyone I knew. But I was wrong. About seven people from my program showed up and stayed through the whole thing to give me a hug and tell me they enjoyed it. Definitely made my night, day, week, month, you name it.

So, a successful opening night under our belts, Dan and I set out to a) put some more money on my phone, and b) get Dan some food. Our director, Tyler, had a table reserved at a super-trendy club called M1, so we decided to meet him there for a few drinks.

The best part of being in this play was something I did not expect when I was first cast. There is a very, very closely-knit American expat community here in Prague, and this show has essentially been my pass into that elite club. I've met tons of people, all of whom are business owners or performers here in Prague, and all of whom know each other (there's seriously only about 1 degree of separation between anyone who speaks English and lives here). It's really enriched things.

And its also starting to give me the hook-up. Tyler introduced me to his friend Jonathan, a magician who's headlined in Vegas and has used Prague as a base for the past few years as he's toured Europe doing stage magic (I've never had more of a desire to be with Magic Mike than when I found that out. I definitely would have set up a magic-off, right there, in the middle of the club). He showed us some cool tricks. Oh, and by the way, he owns the club we were at.

Three bottles of complimentary champagne later (Jonathan wanted to make sure we celebrated our successful show), my inner Hollywood boy suddenly turned on and I realized that I had connections to exploit in this situation. My host brother, Vaclav, is a concierge at one of the nicest hotels in Prague, and the owner of this club would surely want to meet him and make sure Vaclav talks up his club to all the rich tourists. I mentioned it to Jonathan and was told that'd be a "huge favor, thanks man." So I called up Vaclav and Jonathan hooked him up with a VIP pass, and in the meantime I assured myself free entry into this club whenever I want it.

On the way back, on the tram, Dan and I were minding our own business when a Czech man reminded us that we weren't supposed to eat on the tram. I knew that. Dan knew that. We weren't planning on eating the food till we got off. But I guess Dan was a little sassy in his response to the guy, so the American behind him got involved and things kinda escalated. Dan wants to get in a fight ("honestly, I'm a six foot five frat star"). To be honest, I'd have had his back. But we just turned around and complained about it instead.

Ahhh, what a successful evening! The only thing that could make this better would be...waking up to svičkova. Oh wow, is there really anything else in life that matters? Honestly.

Tonight, we do it all again (minus the club probably. Well actually who knows). And there are supposed to be some more folks from my program in attendance.

More trips, more lazy days

Yesterday was a great day. Class was fine, but the best idea I've ever had was ditching most of them - I had to miss my last two for rehearsal anyhow, and I needed a nap. Rehearsals have been frustrating, mostly because we're still stopping every two seconds and the whole thing feels so slow and not funny. Thankfully, that finally changed last night, when we had a great run.

I really wanted to go nuts last night, but I unfortunately have this love/hate relationship with my producing class (my other class today was canceled). I love the class, but I hate waking up at 7am to go to it. So I left Dan and his friends to get home early enough to wake up and go to this class. Dan had a great night.

Today I booked my last trip. From May 13-18, I'll be spending five days alone on Croatia's Dalmatian Coast (Split, then Dubrovnik, with maybe an island in between), before flying back to Prague for one last (I'm sure fun-filled) night before my whirlwind trip back to Chicago and then LA (Prague-London-Chicago on 5/19, Chicago-LA in time for class on 5/21). I'm having trouble booking a hostel in both places, but I'm figuring it'll be warm enough for me to sleep on the street anyways....I'm sure the highlight of the trip (besides walking down beaches, laying in the sun, and swimming in what's supposed to be the best water in the Mediterranean) will be my planned visit to the Plitvice Lakes National Park - supposedly one of the most beautiful places on earth. Not to mention, it'll be nice to have a bunch of time to myself before I start what could be the most intense summer to date.

In news from the home front, I feel obliged to mention the USC Free Culture group's successful protest of USC's Free Speech Zone. Not only did their peaceful protest get some heads turning, but they even got fined by the University for their placement of fliers in "non-designated" areas. Read their response to the fine here.

That's all for now. Lost is almost finished downloading.

first weekend

First, a hats off to Casey, Mike, and JC, all of whom have either commented on flickr photos or blog posts. You guys are siick. JC - your advice is great, keep it comin! (see story below)

Nothing particularly interesting yesterday. Orientation in the morning, more touring in the afternoon (after a typical Czech lunch of fried cheese sandwiches. Literally a block of fried cheese on bread, with a piece of lettuce and some tartar sauce. Sooo tasty). Our Czech buddies today (we combined with another group) were fantastic (and gorgeous). After our trip to a big mall in Smichov (kind a suburb, but really close still), we had a big dinner for everyone in the program. It was nice to see everyone all together for the first time - we're a huge group!

My efforts to make sure to socialize were successful yesterday, and last night I headed back into the city at about 9 to meet with some folks and head to some pubs. I asked Tomaš what the best route would be to get to the dorms (where I was meeting people) and back after midnight (when the trams change numbers and routes, remember), and this led to a 30 minute conversation and map-searching extravaganza with me, Tomaš, and Zuzana. I know I've said it before, my I am truly lucky to be staying here, with people who care so much about making sure I'm comfortable with everything I do.

Yes, I had that long rant the other day about cultural poaching etc etc, and last night I was proud to be a part of a small group of us who, while we weren't going to hit the pubs Czech-style necessarily, were definitely not looking to go crazy. We walked...and walked...and walked...and finally settled on a pub on the other side of the river that wasn't the cheapest (40Kc [$2] for .5L of beer? Unheard of!).

The real story is in coming home, which I did successfully, but not without the standard drama. I needed the same tram as my friends in the dorms (thank goodness), and so rode with them half way, and then was on my own. I knew the stop I needed to get off at, but couldn't really hear/understand which stop we were at. So, when I thought it was time, I left the tram, looked around, realized I was in the wrong place, looked at the tram leaving, realized another didn't come for 30 minutes, and promptly panicked for a moment. Then I walked. And walked. And walked. 2.5km. All the way home. (I had gotten off early. Common problem, I hear).

The good part of this story - I got home, huffing and puffing from climbing the other half of Baneofmyexistence Hill, at about 2:15am, went to bed by 3, and woke up at 11:30am. Yay, I'm adjusted to the time zone! This morning, I went with Tomas and Zuzan for a sort of tour of the far suburbs of Prague (they often go with a sort of club of people, complete with a tour guide, to explore their own city). It was a nice walk, but they said it wasn't nearly as interesting as others have been.

Tomorrow, I think I'll start to plan more seriously some of my weekend trips - look up prices and stuff. That's before the Bears game of course, which lots of us are going to find a bar to congregate in to watch.

just a quick hello

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was honestly running around the entire day. Besides, you probably needed a break from me! I've only got a moment before I have to head off to another day of orientation, so this will be brief for now. I'll be back later.

Yesterday was my first day of official "class," though it was just an orientation day (not very much learning involved). We spent the morning in groups, talking to CIEE instructors about various issues we'll come across here, then we toured a bit of the city with our "Czech Buddies" (I prefer to call them Czech Mates. Oh the pun possibilities!). I spent almost the whole day with the whole group of kids living in homestays, and it was really nice to finally meet some other people on this trip (there are over 120 people total).

I find a divide (at least for now) is kind of inherent between the homestay people and the dorms or apartment. On our tour, one guy (from Buffalo Grove, Scott, he knows you) kept talking about "ridiculous" the night was going to be and kept asking out Czech buddy where a good place was to go out. Number one, I hate guys like that. Number two, it was interesting to hear the difference in mind set. While the dorm folks can go room to room and ask for people to go to bars and have a group to go with...my first thought is, "how the hell would I get home??"

This isn't a bad thing. I think of it as similar to the difference between the tour group I went with in Israel and the tour group Dan went with. Our group was very focused on touring, seeing sights, connecting with Judaism, etc. Dan's group went partying every night. Not to cheapen the latter experience...but I'll take the former. And that's what's happening here. It seems like cultural poaching, almost, to just come here and use the pubs as an excuse to get drunk every night. Czechs love gathering and drinking...but definitely not in the American "frat boy" sense. Don't get me wrong, I'll do my fair share of drinking here. But I'll do it once I can do it within the cultural boundaries.

Whew, that turned into a rant!

There are many more fun things to tell you about, but I'll have to write about it later. Here's a teaser trailer:
1. Czechs value modesty very highly. Which is why they never stop feeding you. I ate three dinners yesterday.
2. I got a cell phone!
3. Showering is quite the cultural experience. As is walking up hills. Every day. I am in pain.
4. This place is ridiculously beautiful and easy to fall in love with.
5. I'm just about the only Jew on my trip (that I've met so far).
6. Sheldon and Dan are supposed to go to Poland today, but have not booked transportation or accommodation to do so. So we had some drinks last night to celebrate!

I'm of to Na Florenci to meet the group. I'm on about 4 hours of sleep (damn time change...). Talk to you soon!

PS. Mom tells me people are reading this and getting a kick out of it. Thanks! Remember: you can respond to posts here (if you register with blogger, which you've already done if you have Gmail), or on Facebook (posts are RSSd to my profile as notes). And if you really like something, you can use the link after every post to email that post to someone (it's the icon below that looks like an envelope)