Spring break begins

Midterms are over, the temperatures are still balmy (for now), and I am officially on spring break. Not a moment too soon - it's high time I did some traveling around Europe, don't you agree? My trip to Switzerland is going to be awesome.

There's nothing truly like waking up in the morning (afternoon) in a foreign country, where you've been living for only two months (as of Friday), and opening up the newspaper to see your own face staring back at you. No, I wasn't arrested (yet), but there's an ad for the play in this week's Prague Post, and my picture is in it. This whole experience just keeps getting more surreal.

Yesterday, I went with Tomas and Zuzana to a family gathering of sorts, celebrating a cousin's birthday (and, we found out, to announce her pregnancy). I always find it really fun to be in a room full of people speaking Czech. I've become a master of people watching and pantomiming as a result. The food at this little lunch affair was absolutely incredible (pork, cous cous, ridiculous cakes, including JC's favorite babovka, beer, espresso), and it's always interesting to see how people react to me, the first student this family has ever hosted. Highlight of the afternoon, though, was when the five-year-old son of Tomas's cousin (the one who directs the wonderful Baroque music group) tested out his English skills by calling me "small." I said "you're small!" He pointed at me and said "Taky [also] small!"

I rushed from there to the theater, and had to take a nap in the dressing room. The show went very well again last night, and the audience was our biggest yet. Afterwards, Dan and I met some people from his program (they had come to the show...everyone from my program is on vacation already, remember) and along the way, we were recognized by a few people who had seen the show. Now, admittedly, we're a pretty physically memorable pair of guys. But I'm still kinda floored.

Last night was a great night. I love hanging out with Dan's friends (I can and do call them my own friends at this point, but it's easier to refer to them as "Dan's friends" so you don't get confused), probably more than I've enjoyed people from CIEE. We hopped from bar to bar to club last night, dancing and talking the whole way.

My hair is really long. Not like really long like it was when I left LA, really long like when it's wet it easily blocks my vision. When it's dry, it's the same length, only sticking straight up, and there's nothing I can do to make it do anything else. On the sides, it sticks out like a pair of wings, but no matter how fast I run I haven't been able to take off yet. Rob made a great comment about it on my Facebook wall: "i was perusing your photos, and noticed that your izro (israeli fro) paired with your new glasses makes you look more jewish than jesus."

Today will be a day of recovery, filled with basketball and doing as little as possible. If USC beats Texas, I might be able to recall my hitmen from their "murder Vince Young" mission. But only maybe.

eh, might as well

A nice day so far. Woke up late, returned the skis, and browsed the museum of cubism with some nice people from my program. Cubism here is really cool, mostly because Prague was the center of bringing the movement from canvas into three dimensions. So there's a lot of sculpture, and a bunch of architecture too.

Had lunch and coffee at the museum, the browsed some souvenir shops with two of the ladies I had been with. I was killing time, waiting for Dan, who arrived this morning and was taking a ridiculous boat tour of the Vltava (only for tourists). Once found, Dan and I came back to the house and hung out for a while. It was great to talk to him again. He's not looking forward to adjusting to a roommate he doesn't know (he's never lived with someone he hasn't known previously), nor to having to introduce himself to a million people again (sound familiar?). We're going to dinner in a bit, then SUPER BOWL time!

I picked up a copy of the Prague Post today, just for a kick (that's a link to their website back there. I'll add it to the side bar too). There were some interesting articles, but most interesting was an ad I found while I flipped through. Turns out they've been having a contest for new plays (in English), which they'll be putting on in March. They've picked the plays, and they're holding auditions tomorrow. So I think I'm gonna go, and convince Dan to come with me. Now THAT would be an adventure.