I am a day or two behind on this so here goes.
Thursday at work was fine, uneventful really. That night Moff and I were both feeling like just taking it easy, so we went to a restaurant we went to with Naima and Tiago before that we knew had an English menu. We were seated at the same table as a Czech couple, right next to them, since apparently they do that here. We were both a little uncomfortable so we just got a drink and went to an Italian place across the street. It was pretty good. Went back to the hotel, ran through my UAT presentation a couple times, and went to bed.
Friday was busy but good - work was good but I was nervous for my presentation. I was ready, though - unfortunately the whole Ariba Prague internet went down (if you disconnected your computer, which I did to go into a conference room) and couldn't get online - we had to cancel for that, but it turned out that a lot of people who had to be there didn't attend anyway, so it might have happened anyway. I was devastated, though, and angry and nervous. I left work pretty quickly so as not to freak out on anyone, came back to my room and calmed down with some Are You Afraid of the Dark action. :)
I met Dan around 7:30pm and we took a tram down a few stops and waited at that stop for Leila and Tiago. We were standing in front of a restaurant/bar, when all of a sudden, out walks Marzio. "I don't believe my eyes!" he exclaimed as he saw us - definitely a coincidence. He said he was just there with his friend, and that we should come join them for a drink. Then Farid came back from the bathroom. Why Marzio didn't just say he was with Farid (rather than "a friend") is still a funny mystery to us :) We had a few drinks and eventually Leila and Tiago joined. After a bit we migrated down to a Croatian restaurant, minus Farid and Marzio.
The food was incredible, the music was lovely, the company was even better than both. I have so much fun with them, and I feel so comfortable with Leila. She feels like my friends back home, we have the same sense of humor and spend most of our time together laughing. I feel the same way about Tiago.. it's so nice to have that in a place where I would othewise be pretty much alone.
After dinner we walked all around the old part of town, across the Charles Bridge and through a bunch of little streets. I've never heard so many different languages in one city - it's heaven. We ended at a little bar/club called Aloha, where we danced and drank and I - get this - drank absinthe for the first time. :)
Absinthe tastes a little like gasoline and hell. It smells trickingly nice, you think, "This won't be so bad," but after you drink it it's like pouring fire down your throat. Either way I'd totally do it again because it was kind fun how it made me warm from my head to my stomach all at once. :)
After that we went back to the Andel's area to Rincon Latino, the little salsa club that Leila and I went last weekend. Moff and Tiago actually danced a little salsa! I saw Carlos, my new Peruvian friend, and at the end of the night we exchanged numbers so that we can maybe go dancing next weekend with some of his friends. He's incredibly nice and friendly and really knows his way around here. He's older but totally not being creepy or hitting on me at all, I'm a champ at knowing these things since in Pittsburgh, I get all kinds of creepy oldheads talking to me. :) Very cool guy, and I'm looking forward to meeting all his latino friends.
Moff left us around 4, and then Tiago, Leila and I left around 6-something when it was closing. I was in bed by 6:30 with the sun coming up, and I let myself sleep until whenever I felt like it (which was 1:30pm). It felt so good.
Today Moff and I went to lunch around 2 (we woke up around the same time, I called him pretty much right when I opened my eyes because I was scared I missed half the day). We went to eat at a nice place and I had a great gourmet kinda burger on special bread, and onion rings (yes, Jose, be very very jealous!! haha). We met up with Farid a little while after and spent today walking allllll around Prague, and met up with Leila as well shortly after. We went to a bar right on the river, walked across the bridge again (this time while it was still light out:), walked up to the castle - totally uphill and then up about a million stairs. We were dying. :)
After my head stopped beating after all those stairs, I could appreciate how beautiful it was - it's like nothing I've ever seen. It's really hitting me, finally, after two weeks, that I am in Prague. It didn't feel real until I looked out over the city from the castle. I am really loving this city.
We went to a little place afterward to have a drink, called "Steak Bar - el Pablo". I read the sign wrong and said, "Steak barrel Pablo". Moff made fun of me a little, but it's okay because he doesn't know how to spell "beak". :)
I've got to go get ready, I'm hitting a club with Leila tonight. A demain!
Bisous!!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
I got a call on the AS-FREEDOM-BIDDING line, but I don't know any Freedom speakers.
Yesterday was really fun. Well work was hard, by the end of the day I couldn't even think straight. My UAT presentation (the document) is sent away for final approval, and the actual presentation itself is tomorrow from 5-7pm CET. I will be glad to be in an office, after hours, getting through this when everyone else (for the most part) is gone. Phew. I will be a really happy girl at 7pm on Friday. And I intend to celebrate with many Staropramens and Becherovkas.
After work I went with the whole group to TGI Friday's. Well, first we went to a million Czech places, but none had tables for 9, so we kept moving along and eventually ended at Friday's. We had some food, lots of drinks (ladies' night, every other cocktail was free, so I had 4 margaritas and paid for two:), also a Becherovka, and we all sat around having a lot of fun and talking and laughing. It started to dwindle a after a couple hours, we moved the party (Tiago, Dan, Naima, Leila and me) to another part of town to another bar.
We walked across the bridge, which I hadn't done yet. It was really nice, a very beautiful view, and it was a good group of people. We walked through some of those tiny streets I love so much and got to a little bar.
Inside the bar there were two guys playing chess, one guy smoking what we are pretty sure was not a cigarette, a funny little dog that barked from time to time to remind us that he was there, some tables of friends, and us.
We told stories about playfully torturing siblings when we were little, ghost stories, work stories, dreams (actual dreams, not like, "I want to be an astronaut someday"). We learned things about each other, like that Naima tricked her little sister into swallowing a marble when she was young, that Moff has a recurring dream about playing basketball in an oven, , that Leila scared her husband once by making herself look creepy wih toothpaste dripping out of her mouth, and that Tiago used to have squares on his theets. (I'm just teasing you, queridinho:). And just so I'm not the only one who isn't called out here, I shared the fact that as a kid I used to have a very frequent dream that I'd turn into a piece of paper with a head and arms and float down staircases. :)
We did a shot of tequila together and drank some more drinks and just enjoyed each other's company.
The above scene is pretty much how I'd sum up Prague, from my experience so far anyway. Life seems to slow down. Where I'd normally say, after work in Pittsburgh, that I need to get home and do this many things and get to sleep at a decent hour, here nobody cares. Every night of the week you can find something going on, try a new bar, a new club, a new street. This city really does have quite a charm about it. I think I could spend a long time and still not see everything and everywhere here.
People have said that you can see all there is to see in just a few days, that the city is a lot smaller than it looks.. but each little place feels so new to me. One bar to another feels different... different people, different vibe, different rhythm.
Anyway just some random thoughts.
I had this half-saved from before, I need to publish and get back to the grind.
Hugs to you, Pittsburgh - you'll always be my number one.
After work I went with the whole group to TGI Friday's. Well, first we went to a million Czech places, but none had tables for 9, so we kept moving along and eventually ended at Friday's. We had some food, lots of drinks (ladies' night, every other cocktail was free, so I had 4 margaritas and paid for two:), also a Becherovka, and we all sat around having a lot of fun and talking and laughing. It started to dwindle a after a couple hours, we moved the party (Tiago, Dan, Naima, Leila and me) to another part of town to another bar.
We walked across the bridge, which I hadn't done yet. It was really nice, a very beautiful view, and it was a good group of people. We walked through some of those tiny streets I love so much and got to a little bar.
Inside the bar there were two guys playing chess, one guy smoking what we are pretty sure was not a cigarette, a funny little dog that barked from time to time to remind us that he was there, some tables of friends, and us.
We told stories about playfully torturing siblings when we were little, ghost stories, work stories, dreams (actual dreams, not like, "I want to be an astronaut someday"). We learned things about each other, like that Naima tricked her little sister into swallowing a marble when she was young, that Moff has a recurring dream about playing basketball in an oven, , that Leila scared her husband once by making herself look creepy wih toothpaste dripping out of her mouth, and that Tiago used to have squares on his theets. (I'm just teasing you, queridinho:). And just so I'm not the only one who isn't called out here, I shared the fact that as a kid I used to have a very frequent dream that I'd turn into a piece of paper with a head and arms and float down staircases. :)
We did a shot of tequila together and drank some more drinks and just enjoyed each other's company.
The above scene is pretty much how I'd sum up Prague, from my experience so far anyway. Life seems to slow down. Where I'd normally say, after work in Pittsburgh, that I need to get home and do this many things and get to sleep at a decent hour, here nobody cares. Every night of the week you can find something going on, try a new bar, a new club, a new street. This city really does have quite a charm about it. I think I could spend a long time and still not see everything and everywhere here.
People have said that you can see all there is to see in just a few days, that the city is a lot smaller than it looks.. but each little place feels so new to me. One bar to another feels different... different people, different vibe, different rhythm.
Anyway just some random thoughts.
I had this half-saved from before, I need to publish and get back to the grind.
Hugs to you, Pittsburgh - you'll always be my number one.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
De compras
Work was another rough one, but my UAT presentation is just about done. I feel really good about how things are going so far though on this trip, work-wise, so at least that's a plus.
After work I went with Naima and Tiago to a little bar down the street where I had a glass of wine and petted a Czech greyhound. I wasn't very good company, I was just tired and mentally worn out from the day. After that I went with Naima to Tesco, the grocery store here, and walked around. I found a few things I've been wanting/needing. I spent a lot of time just walking around, looking at a bunch of stuff in Czech - labels on cans, greeting cards, office supplies.
I went to the express line and got behind a tall African guy. As I was walking through the mall I passed him, and I heard him say, "How are you?" in Czech as I passed by. I looked over and said, "Sorry, no Czech." He said, "English?" and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes."
We chatted a bit. He asked if I'm living here, I said just for two months, out of a hotel. I told him I could tell he wasn't from there because he was so casual about talking to a stranger in a mall :) I feel kind of bad that that's all I say, it's just the hardest thing I've ever had to get used to. I wish I could pull everyone to Pittsburgh just for a day so they could see why it's such an adjustment for me.
Anyway I said goodbye to him and a sincere, "Nice to meet you," and headed up to the food court to see if I'd be able to order my food without speaking the langugae. It ended up being okay because I chose Lebanese again. There were several Arabs there, but I didn't talk to anyone.. I was kind of in one of those moods again and just kinda moped my way back to the hotel.
Now I'm watching reruns of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" and talking to Thiago online. I'd bug more work people but I know they're busy today.
I feel down...
After work I went with Naima and Tiago to a little bar down the street where I had a glass of wine and petted a Czech greyhound. I wasn't very good company, I was just tired and mentally worn out from the day. After that I went with Naima to Tesco, the grocery store here, and walked around. I found a few things I've been wanting/needing. I spent a lot of time just walking around, looking at a bunch of stuff in Czech - labels on cans, greeting cards, office supplies.
I went to the express line and got behind a tall African guy. As I was walking through the mall I passed him, and I heard him say, "How are you?" in Czech as I passed by. I looked over and said, "Sorry, no Czech." He said, "English?" and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes."
We chatted a bit. He asked if I'm living here, I said just for two months, out of a hotel. I told him I could tell he wasn't from there because he was so casual about talking to a stranger in a mall :) I feel kind of bad that that's all I say, it's just the hardest thing I've ever had to get used to. I wish I could pull everyone to Pittsburgh just for a day so they could see why it's such an adjustment for me.
Anyway I said goodbye to him and a sincere, "Nice to meet you," and headed up to the food court to see if I'd be able to order my food without speaking the langugae. It ended up being okay because I chose Lebanese again. There were several Arabs there, but I didn't talk to anyone.. I was kind of in one of those moods again and just kinda moped my way back to the hotel.
Now I'm watching reruns of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" and talking to Thiago online. I'd bug more work people but I know they're busy today.
I feel down...
Ángeles y Cuernos
Work was a rough one today, so I was happy and excited to leave the office and go find dinner with Moff. We dropped our stuff off in our respective rooms and headed out on the town. We were sad cases, man. Tonight was the first night I didn't have someone from the team with me to help me pick dinner and translate the menu for me. We were just two non-Czech speakers, wandering around like lost souls.
In my mind I like to think it was a little more dramatic than it really was. In the movie version of tonight in my head, the song, "All By Myself" is playing as the soundtrack, and Moff and I are walking around a dark and damp city, down little side streets, just looking for any place with a menu in English. We looked in the windows at happy people drinking their Staropramens and reading their Czech menus without a care in the world, our mouths dry and our stomachs empty. We passed restaurant after restaurant, signs on every door front: Staropramen. Pilsner Urquell. Kozel. We'd run eagerly to the menus displayed in the windows and see a bunch of words with no vowels. Tears running down our faces, we came upon a building that was almost glowing like a beacon of hope in the darkness.
There it was - a menu in the window not only in Czech, but in English and Spanish. We ran down the stairs, where each table had a name, and chose the most fitting one - "Ángeles y Cuernos" (Dan being the ángel, me being the cuernos). We opened the menus, flipped eagerly to the back page, and as if the word had been highlighted using God's own highlighter, we stopped, open-mouthed in awe. Staropramen.
Okay, back to reality. In the end we ended up with one of most fantastic meals ever - the restaurant is awesome. I wanted dessert because they had all these awesome latin fruit desserts (grilled abacaxi, platanos fritos con helado), but I was way too full after my Argentenian burger with cucumbers on it. We sat there for probably a couple hours total just enjoying the place; it was a really good night.
And just to reiterate once more how awesome this city is, here goes:
6 large draft beers
1 appetizer of empanadas de carne
2 big and awesome dinners that would easily be between $10 and $15 USD each in the States
Grand total: 631 CZK, which works out to be around $27 USD.
Increíble, weyes.
And now I'll leave you with this.
Buenas noches, amores. I am finally leaving UAT behind and going to sleep :) I only have about four more slides to finish. Yayayayayay. :)
In my mind I like to think it was a little more dramatic than it really was. In the movie version of tonight in my head, the song, "All By Myself" is playing as the soundtrack, and Moff and I are walking around a dark and damp city, down little side streets, just looking for any place with a menu in English. We looked in the windows at happy people drinking their Staropramens and reading their Czech menus without a care in the world, our mouths dry and our stomachs empty. We passed restaurant after restaurant, signs on every door front: Staropramen. Pilsner Urquell. Kozel. We'd run eagerly to the menus displayed in the windows and see a bunch of words with no vowels. Tears running down our faces, we came upon a building that was almost glowing like a beacon of hope in the darkness.
There it was - a menu in the window not only in Czech, but in English and Spanish. We ran down the stairs, where each table had a name, and chose the most fitting one - "Ángeles y Cuernos" (Dan being the ángel, me being the cuernos). We opened the menus, flipped eagerly to the back page, and as if the word had been highlighted using God's own highlighter, we stopped, open-mouthed in awe. Staropramen.
Okay, back to reality. In the end we ended up with one of most fantastic meals ever - the restaurant is awesome. I wanted dessert because they had all these awesome latin fruit desserts (grilled abacaxi, platanos fritos con helado), but I was way too full after my Argentenian burger with cucumbers on it. We sat there for probably a couple hours total just enjoying the place; it was a really good night.
And just to reiterate once more how awesome this city is, here goes:
6 large draft beers
1 appetizer of empanadas de carne
2 big and awesome dinners that would easily be between $10 and $15 USD each in the States
Grand total: 631 CZK, which works out to be around $27 USD.
Increíble, weyes.
And now I'll leave you with this.
Buenas noches, amores. I am finally leaving UAT behind and going to sleep :) I only have about four more slides to finish. Yayayayayay. :)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Moffers and Me
At the end of the last post, Moff had called my room and said he'd be down in a minute :) Prior to that, I was doing laundry all day. The machine they're letting me use is WACK - there are like 500 settings both the washer and dryer. Also the washer takes 71 minutes (there is a timer that shows you) to do one wash load, and the dryer takes 140 minutes!! Back home it's like 25 mins to wash and an hour maximum to dry, and that's when I have like hoodies and jeans and stuff. Oh well, I am grateful to have a place to do laundry - I'd be effed without it.
Anyway back to Moff. We are on the same floor of the hotel. I am so happy to see him. We caught up for a few mins in my room and then went out to a Mexican restaurant, chilled out with some Staropramens. After that we rode the escalators that go down to the metro. People looked at us a bit funny for riding down and then going right back up again, but he thought it was as insane as I did and it was a fun time.
After dinner Moff went back to the hotel and I went shoe shopping at a place called Diechmann's (I think), because the shoes I brought are not serving their purposes here (which are 1. not giving me blisters and 2. keeping my feet dry in all these Prague puddles).
So I bought two pairs which were about $25-30 USD each. Not bad. :)
So to sum up, I've got a movie starring Usher (Urrsher) going on HBO in the background, a tummy full of quesadilla, two cool new pairs of shoes, and a lot of clean clothes.
Anyway back to Moff. We are on the same floor of the hotel. I am so happy to see him. We caught up for a few mins in my room and then went out to a Mexican restaurant, chilled out with some Staropramens. After that we rode the escalators that go down to the metro. People looked at us a bit funny for riding down and then going right back up again, but he thought it was as insane as I did and it was a fun time.
After dinner Moff went back to the hotel and I went shoe shopping at a place called Diechmann's (I think), because the shoes I brought are not serving their purposes here (which are 1. not giving me blisters and 2. keeping my feet dry in all these Prague puddles).
So I bought two pairs which were about $25-30 USD each. Not bad. :)
So to sum up, I've got a movie starring Usher (Urrsher) going on HBO in the background, a tummy full of quesadilla, two cool new pairs of shoes, and a lot of clean clothes.
Cubanos en Praga!!
Last night I went out with Leila and Naima to a latin club here called Tropison. It was a pretty good spot - we just paid 50 CZK to get in (it was supposed to be 100 but the girls negotiated for us:). We got a few drinks, more people started to show, and the dance floor was filling up.
There was a table of a few older guys next to ours, and this guy who was probably like 45 years old with crazy bushy hair and a Kangol kept staring over. After a while he came over and asked me to dance. So I danced with him - turned out he is a Czech guy who speaks fluent Spanish (but not English). He was really nice, and even interesting, but sooooo not my type, and too old for me. So it came as a bit of a shock when he gave me his business card (Jewelry and Watches). He made me promise I'd call (I'm not going to) and that was that.. haha. His buddy seemed to like Leila, or at least dancing with her. Anyway we had fun regardless.
After that, Leila's friend invited us to another latin club very close to my hotel. Turns out there is a decent Cuban population here, and that's where they all are on a Saturday night. I danced with a couple of old-heads and had a lot of fun, drank several mojitos, and met some cool people. Not to make anyone worry or feel bad, but I started feeling kind of sad for a while - I just felt really... lost. I don't know why. There, in a pit of people dancing salsa and my favorite music pumping and nice people all around me, I just felt so far away from home.
I ended up pouring my heart out to this Peruvian guy who kind of danced at me as I went to buy a drink. He asked where I was from, and I told him. He was really nice - he was an older guy who's been in Prague for 15 years. He asked how I'm liking it and I said quite honestly that it's beautiful but it is so completely different; I just can't get used to the people here. Back home at a place like that, everyone would be talking to everyone. There was some of that going on, mostly from the latin crowd, but it's just so hard being the new person. I miss Spice Cafe where I walk in and I know everyone and everyone knows me, and the DJ knows my favorite songs, and we all greet each other with warm hugs and cheek kisses.
Even the cheek kisses here are cold.
The Peruvian guy, Carlos, reassured me that it does get easier, that you do get used to the attitude of the people and you come to understand why it is the way it is. He told me that I'm welcome to come any Friday or Saturday if I just need to talk or want to chat to someone in Spanish. What a nice person.
Anyway, don't think I didn't have fun - I really did. That whole weird spell only lasted about 20 minutes.
I left after I finished my last drink. Leila and her friends had gone (I insisted they shouldn't wait for me, I was happy to have a little alone time), and I left about 20 minutes after. I got out to the street and a guy came out of a little restaurant next door to the club with a shot in his hand.
He mumbled some stuff in Czech to me, then smiled and said, "Sorry," apologizing for the fact that he doesn't speak English.
Then some other guy stopped me and asked in Czech, "Are you Czech?" (I understood that much).
I said, "No." And quickly corrected it to, "Ne." Since in Czech, "no" means "yes" :)
Then he asked in English, "Are you a good girl?"
And then I walked away. Creeper.
And then I ... OMOGMOGMOGM MOFF IS HERE HE JUST CALLED
LIFE JUST GOT BETTER
There was a table of a few older guys next to ours, and this guy who was probably like 45 years old with crazy bushy hair and a Kangol kept staring over. After a while he came over and asked me to dance. So I danced with him - turned out he is a Czech guy who speaks fluent Spanish (but not English). He was really nice, and even interesting, but sooooo not my type, and too old for me. So it came as a bit of a shock when he gave me his business card (Jewelry and Watches). He made me promise I'd call (I'm not going to) and that was that.. haha. His buddy seemed to like Leila, or at least dancing with her. Anyway we had fun regardless.
After that, Leila's friend invited us to another latin club very close to my hotel. Turns out there is a decent Cuban population here, and that's where they all are on a Saturday night. I danced with a couple of old-heads and had a lot of fun, drank several mojitos, and met some cool people. Not to make anyone worry or feel bad, but I started feeling kind of sad for a while - I just felt really... lost. I don't know why. There, in a pit of people dancing salsa and my favorite music pumping and nice people all around me, I just felt so far away from home.
I ended up pouring my heart out to this Peruvian guy who kind of danced at me as I went to buy a drink. He asked where I was from, and I told him. He was really nice - he was an older guy who's been in Prague for 15 years. He asked how I'm liking it and I said quite honestly that it's beautiful but it is so completely different; I just can't get used to the people here. Back home at a place like that, everyone would be talking to everyone. There was some of that going on, mostly from the latin crowd, but it's just so hard being the new person. I miss Spice Cafe where I walk in and I know everyone and everyone knows me, and the DJ knows my favorite songs, and we all greet each other with warm hugs and cheek kisses.
Even the cheek kisses here are cold.
The Peruvian guy, Carlos, reassured me that it does get easier, that you do get used to the attitude of the people and you come to understand why it is the way it is. He told me that I'm welcome to come any Friday or Saturday if I just need to talk or want to chat to someone in Spanish. What a nice person.
Anyway, don't think I didn't have fun - I really did. That whole weird spell only lasted about 20 minutes.
I left after I finished my last drink. Leila and her friends had gone (I insisted they shouldn't wait for me, I was happy to have a little alone time), and I left about 20 minutes after. I got out to the street and a guy came out of a little restaurant next door to the club with a shot in his hand.
He mumbled some stuff in Czech to me, then smiled and said, "Sorry," apologizing for the fact that he doesn't speak English.
Then some other guy stopped me and asked in Czech, "Are you Czech?" (I understood that much).
I said, "No." And quickly corrected it to, "Ne." Since in Czech, "no" means "yes" :)
Then he asked in English, "Are you a good girl?"
And then I walked away. Creeper.
And then I ... OMOGMOGMOGM MOFF IS HERE HE JUST CALLED
LIFE JUST GOT BETTER
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Becherovka! (Bless you!)
I have been in the office since 10 AM today (it's 7:40 PM now) but I didn't want to leave without updating this from last night.
Yesterday was a rough day, especially for a Friday, so at the end of the day I was ready to let loose a bit and have some fun. I started talking to a really nice girl on a Czech website for expats, when I was trying to find out some info, and we agreed we should meet up since we've both got some party-girl in us.
So we decided to meet up last night. We took the #9 tram over to the old part of town again where we went to this place that was built in 1499. It's a restaurant/brewery called U Fleku. Without even ordering they came around and put two big mugs of beer on our table. We did our little Czech version of "cheers" (I'm very good at that) and merrily started drinking the night away. We ordered our dinners - her, pork neck with red cabbage and dumplings, and me, roast pork with dumplings and saurkraut - could it be any more Czech? We also ordered an appetizer of beer cheese, neither one of us knowing what it was.
That's when the guy came around with the little tray of shots. We didn't know what was inside, but we though hey, why not. So down the hatch they want. The firemen had to come at that point and extinguish my throat, which was engulfed in flames. Luckily, the fire department was automatically in my new "mobile" when I bought it. :) Kidding. Anyway, we checked the menu and found out we were drinking something called Becherovka - a Czech liquor that is 38% alcohol (making it 76 proof). How we ended up doing two more shots each of the stuff is not part of my memory today, but I do think that it was the first shot's fault.
We ate and drank very happily, but paused to frown at the beer cheese, which smelled like feet and tasted like it smelled. But it was okay, because a tuba player and accordion player came around to cheer us up again.
After we paid our huge bill (about 1500 CZK, which for all we got - dinner, six beers, six shots, bread, and an appetizer, worked out to be around $33 each - no biggie - I've spent waaaay more on a night out in Pittsburgh and gotten a lot less!), we decided to go outside and walk somewhere else.
We ended up in this little bar where we found one table of mystery Europeans playing poker and at the bar, four Africans, one of whom was the bartender.
We sat down and ordered a final drink for the night. The bartender came over and set our drinks down, and out of my mouth came, "Merci," not sure why but I think because in my stupor I overheard them speaking French. He came back to chat with us and asked (in French) if I spoke French. I replied my usual, "Oui un peu.." and then we chatted for about an hour, all in French. :)
Naima and Farid should be soooo proud. :) I really thought I'd forgotten it all but out it came.
After that we had to go find transportation back to our respective parts of town. After a lot of walking and trying to read signs and schedules, we both found trams/buses that would get us close to where we had to be. This was my first tram ride alone - and it was PACKED. I mean you couldn't have fit one more body on that tram, man. But I did it - and I even knew where to get off. :)
And that's pretty much it.
Oh, one more thing. Today, some of the work friends asked me what I did last night. I couldn't remember the name so I described that last bar to them and finally Naima said, "Was it called Tulip?" I said, "YEAH, that was it!"
Turns out it's a big drug-trafficking spot, where people go to buy. :) Ooops.
I will stay away from there in the future. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be allowed to pick the night-spots anymore.
Hugs to everyone in Pittsburgh.
I'm going salsa dancing tonight :) I hope it's good here.
Yesterday was a rough day, especially for a Friday, so at the end of the day I was ready to let loose a bit and have some fun. I started talking to a really nice girl on a Czech website for expats, when I was trying to find out some info, and we agreed we should meet up since we've both got some party-girl in us.
So we decided to meet up last night. We took the #9 tram over to the old part of town again where we went to this place that was built in 1499. It's a restaurant/brewery called U Fleku. Without even ordering they came around and put two big mugs of beer on our table. We did our little Czech version of "cheers" (I'm very good at that) and merrily started drinking the night away. We ordered our dinners - her, pork neck with red cabbage and dumplings, and me, roast pork with dumplings and saurkraut - could it be any more Czech? We also ordered an appetizer of beer cheese, neither one of us knowing what it was.
That's when the guy came around with the little tray of shots. We didn't know what was inside, but we though hey, why not. So down the hatch they want. The firemen had to come at that point and extinguish my throat, which was engulfed in flames. Luckily, the fire department was automatically in my new "mobile" when I bought it. :) Kidding. Anyway, we checked the menu and found out we were drinking something called Becherovka - a Czech liquor that is 38% alcohol (making it 76 proof). How we ended up doing two more shots each of the stuff is not part of my memory today, but I do think that it was the first shot's fault.
We ate and drank very happily, but paused to frown at the beer cheese, which smelled like feet and tasted like it smelled. But it was okay, because a tuba player and accordion player came around to cheer us up again.
After we paid our huge bill (about 1500 CZK, which for all we got - dinner, six beers, six shots, bread, and an appetizer, worked out to be around $33 each - no biggie - I've spent waaaay more on a night out in Pittsburgh and gotten a lot less!), we decided to go outside and walk somewhere else.
We ended up in this little bar where we found one table of mystery Europeans playing poker and at the bar, four Africans, one of whom was the bartender.
We sat down and ordered a final drink for the night. The bartender came over and set our drinks down, and out of my mouth came, "Merci," not sure why but I think because in my stupor I overheard them speaking French. He came back to chat with us and asked (in French) if I spoke French. I replied my usual, "Oui un peu.." and then we chatted for about an hour, all in French. :)
Naima and Farid should be soooo proud. :) I really thought I'd forgotten it all but out it came.
After that we had to go find transportation back to our respective parts of town. After a lot of walking and trying to read signs and schedules, we both found trams/buses that would get us close to where we had to be. This was my first tram ride alone - and it was PACKED. I mean you couldn't have fit one more body on that tram, man. But I did it - and I even knew where to get off. :)
And that's pretty much it.
Oh, one more thing. Today, some of the work friends asked me what I did last night. I couldn't remember the name so I described that last bar to them and finally Naima said, "Was it called Tulip?" I said, "YEAH, that was it!"
Turns out it's a big drug-trafficking spot, where people go to buy. :) Ooops.
I will stay away from there in the future. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be allowed to pick the night-spots anymore.
Hugs to everyone in Pittsburgh.
I'm going salsa dancing tonight :) I hope it's good here.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Queen of the #9 Tram
Work was crazy again yesterday... some days I can feel myself ready to lose it, man. I won't, though... if I can just make it through these first two weeks, then I can put my full concentration into what I'm really here to do and it'll all be smooth sailing. I have a big project with a deadline of next Friday, along with a big presentation. If I really put in my time this weekend then I can really not stress next week. Rather, it will still be a lot, but it will be more centered, rather than how scattered my attention is now on a bunch of different things. It will all be okay.
Enough about work. :) Yesterday I went to lunch with Alessio, Rob, and Leila to another little Czech place where the menu was all in Czech, etc. I told them to get me whatever they were all getting, which ended up being a piece of deep fried breaded cheese and mashed potatoes, with a creamy sauce on the side. Food here is insane. I also tried the Czech version of Coca-Cola, called "Kofola". Kind of weird, but tasty. The entire meal, which was big, cost around $5 or so, maybe a little more including the Kofola. :) It's mad cheap to eat here.
The whole meal went very quickly and we had time afterward to go to a little coffee shop, where Leila and I both had a wonderful hot chocolate and Rob had a coffee. The rest of the day was uneventful.
After work I dropped my stuff off at the room and went with Leila to the mall (which is a 2 minute walk from work) to work out getting a cell phone here. I'm going nuts without one, especially with the weekend coming up. I want everyone to be able to reach me and to be able to reach them, since I know there are some plans for Saturday already and maybe Sunday, too. I already had a SIM card that Jasper gave me from Alan (thanks Alan!) so I just had to buy the phone itself. I got a nice simple one that even has Sudoku puzzles in it for 777 CZK, which is roughly $35. I figure, the company is paying for my flight, hotel, and meals - I can buy the cell phone myself. :)
So I officially have a Czech number!! I will probably donate the phone to Tiago after the trip is done.
After that I went with Naima, Leila, Tiago, and Marzio to a little coffee shop/bar in Staré Město. We had a couple of beers - I had two tall glasses of Bernard Mixed - light and dark. Very tasty, I really like Czech beer. I never really drank beer before coming here. Rather, I didn't enjoy it much except for a few kinds. Naima's friend came down as well and we had a nice time sitting around and talking.
Leila had ordered some nachos, which came with little bowls of salsa and sour cream. There were some kids playing with a balloon for a while, and then one of the kids came up and said in Czech, "We need this," and took the sour cream. He proceeded to stick his tongue in it and lick it out of the bowl. Well, until his mom came over and took it from him anyway. I ended up seeing him later with the same bowl and a spoon, though. :)
After some time, Naima's friend left and Marzio decided to go as well. The four remaining decided to go to a Georgian restaurant across the street. It was the best meal I've had here so far - we each picked something, plus one appetizer, and shared everything so we could all try it all. I even tried baršč (borscht), which Leila ordered. I went for the kebab with "Mama's potatoes", which ended up being kufta, which was probably the best I've had in any restaurant. We shared a bottle of Czech white wine, which wasn't the best wine I've ever had but suited the food well and tasted really nice.
The whole meal cost around $11/person. Keep in mind that's four entrees, an appetizer, and a bottle of wine.
I slept really well last night, and thankfully I have a cell phone now with an alarm in it so this morning I could snooze finally :) It really beat the obnoxious one-time wake-up call.
This morning at breakfast, a man in a suit came up to me and said, "Miss Douglas, are you enjoying your stay here?"
Surprised, I said, "Yes, I am, very much."
"You are leaving not until April, is it correct?"
"That is correct."
"Are you enjoying Prague?"
"Yes, very much. It's a beautiful city."
"And you are from the States? Where exactly?"
"I'm from Pennsylvania."
"Oh, from Pittsburgh?"
"Yes... how did you know that?"
"Oh nevermind. Well I will tell you, we have never had a guest stay as long as you, so please if there is anything we can provide to you to make you feel more at home, please let us know. Also if you grow tired of the breakfast here, please let us know and we can provide some other things that will be more to your liking."
"No.. that's not necessary, the breakfast is fine!"
"Well please do not hesitate. Please enjoy your breakfast and have a wonderful day."
Boy do I feel important. :-)
Enough about work. :) Yesterday I went to lunch with Alessio, Rob, and Leila to another little Czech place where the menu was all in Czech, etc. I told them to get me whatever they were all getting, which ended up being a piece of deep fried breaded cheese and mashed potatoes, with a creamy sauce on the side. Food here is insane. I also tried the Czech version of Coca-Cola, called "Kofola". Kind of weird, but tasty. The entire meal, which was big, cost around $5 or so, maybe a little more including the Kofola. :) It's mad cheap to eat here.
The whole meal went very quickly and we had time afterward to go to a little coffee shop, where Leila and I both had a wonderful hot chocolate and Rob had a coffee. The rest of the day was uneventful.
After work I dropped my stuff off at the room and went with Leila to the mall (which is a 2 minute walk from work) to work out getting a cell phone here. I'm going nuts without one, especially with the weekend coming up. I want everyone to be able to reach me and to be able to reach them, since I know there are some plans for Saturday already and maybe Sunday, too. I already had a SIM card that Jasper gave me from Alan (thanks Alan!) so I just had to buy the phone itself. I got a nice simple one that even has Sudoku puzzles in it for 777 CZK, which is roughly $35. I figure, the company is paying for my flight, hotel, and meals - I can buy the cell phone myself. :)
So I officially have a Czech number!! I will probably donate the phone to Tiago after the trip is done.
After that I went with Naima, Leila, Tiago, and Marzio to a little coffee shop/bar in Staré Město. We had a couple of beers - I had two tall glasses of Bernard Mixed - light and dark. Very tasty, I really like Czech beer. I never really drank beer before coming here. Rather, I didn't enjoy it much except for a few kinds. Naima's friend came down as well and we had a nice time sitting around and talking.
Leila had ordered some nachos, which came with little bowls of salsa and sour cream. There were some kids playing with a balloon for a while, and then one of the kids came up and said in Czech, "We need this," and took the sour cream. He proceeded to stick his tongue in it and lick it out of the bowl. Well, until his mom came over and took it from him anyway. I ended up seeing him later with the same bowl and a spoon, though. :)
After some time, Naima's friend left and Marzio decided to go as well. The four remaining decided to go to a Georgian restaurant across the street. It was the best meal I've had here so far - we each picked something, plus one appetizer, and shared everything so we could all try it all. I even tried baršč (borscht), which Leila ordered. I went for the kebab with "Mama's potatoes", which ended up being kufta, which was probably the best I've had in any restaurant. We shared a bottle of Czech white wine, which wasn't the best wine I've ever had but suited the food well and tasted really nice.
The whole meal cost around $11/person. Keep in mind that's four entrees, an appetizer, and a bottle of wine.
I slept really well last night, and thankfully I have a cell phone now with an alarm in it so this morning I could snooze finally :) It really beat the obnoxious one-time wake-up call.
This morning at breakfast, a man in a suit came up to me and said, "Miss Douglas, are you enjoying your stay here?"
Surprised, I said, "Yes, I am, very much."
"You are leaving not until April, is it correct?"
"That is correct."
"Are you enjoying Prague?"
"Yes, very much. It's a beautiful city."
"And you are from the States? Where exactly?"
"I'm from Pennsylvania."
"Oh, from Pittsburgh?"
"Yes... how did you know that?"
"Oh nevermind. Well I will tell you, we have never had a guest stay as long as you, so please if there is anything we can provide to you to make you feel more at home, please let us know. Also if you grow tired of the breakfast here, please let us know and we can provide some other things that will be more to your liking."
"No.. that's not necessary, the breakfast is fine!"
"Well please do not hesitate. Please enjoy your breakfast and have a wonderful day."
Boy do I feel important. :-)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wham, bam, thank you....huh?
I'm watching a the "reality" dating show "Next" - half in German half in English on MTV. For the parts in English, there are German subtitles.
In one guy's intro said, "Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am!"
The German translation of that? "Ich bin dein Fan, Sam."
Translated back into English, from what I can remember from three years of high school German... "I am your fan, Sam."
Fail.
In one guy's intro said, "Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am!"
The German translation of that? "Ich bin dein Fan, Sam."
Translated back into English, from what I can remember from three years of high school German... "I am your fan, Sam."
Fail.
The Mall
Zé and I just went to the mall after a very hectic day of work. It reminded me of the malls I went to in Brazil, I'm not sure exactly why they feel different than the malls in the U.S. Maybe because there was a grocery store inside...
We walked around for a while looking for some stuff for him, and I was happy just to be out a little. After that I decided that tonight will be my first night to just RELAX. Zé was going home for dinner so I decided to go get some take-out from a Lebanese restaurant there. I got up to the front of the line to pay, and the guy there looked crazy arab so I decided to ask.
Me: Are you Lebanese?
Him: No...
Me: (figuring he's just a Czech disguised like an Arab)
Him: Where are you from?
Me: (and this just came out in Arabic for some reason, even though he just said he wasn't lebanese), Falasteen.
Him: Ahhh ana kameyn!!! hel enti min Ramallah?
Me: La, min 3aseera shamaleya
Him: Wayn bi 3aseera?
Me: m3a b3arif, baba min falasteen, ana amrikeya
Him: Ahh and you're here to study?
Me: No, I'm here for work.
Him: Are you living here?
Me: Well, for two months, yes.
And then we had an awkward moment and I took my change and left. I'm going back though, I'm going to force him to be my friend because 1) he was cute and 2) he was close to my age and 3) he knows how to smile and 4) he is Arab.
There was an older, creepier looking guy, too, who was obviously Arab, but I would be his friend anyway because that's how desperate I am here.
I'm gonna go eat my kubsa and humus and watch one of the movies that Thiagão gave me. Thanks Thi.. ;-)
Beijos, amores.
We walked around for a while looking for some stuff for him, and I was happy just to be out a little. After that I decided that tonight will be my first night to just RELAX. Zé was going home for dinner so I decided to go get some take-out from a Lebanese restaurant there. I got up to the front of the line to pay, and the guy there looked crazy arab so I decided to ask.
Me: Are you Lebanese?
Him: No...
Me: (figuring he's just a Czech disguised like an Arab)
Him: Where are you from?
Me: (and this just came out in Arabic for some reason, even though he just said he wasn't lebanese), Falasteen.
Him: Ahhh ana kameyn!!! hel enti min Ramallah?
Me: La, min 3aseera shamaleya
Him: Wayn bi 3aseera?
Me: m3a b3arif, baba min falasteen, ana amrikeya
Him: Ahh and you're here to study?
Me: No, I'm here for work.
Him: Are you living here?
Me: Well, for two months, yes.
And then we had an awkward moment and I took my change and left. I'm going back though, I'm going to force him to be my friend because 1) he was cute and 2) he was close to my age and 3) he knows how to smile and 4) he is Arab.
There was an older, creepier looking guy, too, who was obviously Arab, but I would be his friend anyway because that's how desperate I am here.
I'm gonna go eat my kubsa and humus and watch one of the movies that Thiagão gave me. Thanks Thi.. ;-)
Beijos, amores.
It's only day 3?
It feels like I've been here for weeks, for how much I've done. I am starting to see what everyone means about how small Prague is. It seemed like it was a huge city at first, but what looks like it's miles (sorry, kilometers:) away on a map is really only about a 20 minute walk, and a 5-minute tram ride.
By the way, under the advice of certain friends, I have skipped out on paying the fare on three tram rides and a metro ride, so far. I only actually paid for one ride in my time here so far. :) I am laughing about it now, but I won't be when I get a fine of 700 CZK from the undercover tram police.
Yesterday was a long but good day. Work came and went quickly. I did my first call-monitoring ever, and I think it went well. I went to TGI Friday's, of all places, with Zé, Tiago, and Raul for lunch. It was good, pretty much the same as in the US. I did some training for the team back at the office, and actually got to call my mom at the end of the day! It was so nice to hear her voice, even if it's only been a couple days and I didn't have much to say, since I write everything in here.
After work last night I went to drop off my stuff quickly at the hotel, then went right back out with Naima, Alessio, and Martino for dinner. For about $7 USD, I got a huge plate of pasta and chicken and a very tall glass of Czech beer. I don't usually drink beer, but there is a beer I really liked called Staropramen. Last night I tried one called Pilsner Urquell. It was good, too, but not as good as the other one. Alessio had one I liked also called Kozel dark - I thought it would be heavy and bitter but it tasted light and kind of sweet; I'll probably get that next time.
Anyway we had a nice meal, then Martino had tickets to a blacklight theater, which ended up being really cool. We took a tram up to another part of town, met up with Naima's boyfriend and Martino's girlfriend, and Alessio left us for the night, and the five of us went to the show. I've never seen anything like it; they were dancers (mostly ballet style, I'd say) dancing in glowing outfits and using other props, dancing under a blacklight. There was one part I particularly liked, in which two dancers had completely spandex outfits and one half of their body (right down the middle of them, like a line going down their face, chest, stomach, and one leg) was black, and therefore invisible, and the other half was a glowing white. So it was almost like two halves of one body dancing together. Very artsy and cool.
Eff, I just noticed it's snowing sideways outside.
Anyway Martino and his lady friend, who was also very nice, went to get a drink afterward but the rest of us were tired so we came back to the Andel's area and parted ways. I relaxed a bit in my room before bed doing a crossword puzzle and watching Anchorman (Marco, thank you so much for giving me a DVD of that movie! It is saving me here from all the Czech, German, and French TV. And CNN, which is pretty much the only English channel I get.
And for a final treat, here is my favorite song on Euro MTV:
I especially love the Euro-looking Michael Phelps-ish guy behind the bar who sings once in a while. He's my favorite part of the video.
By the way, under the advice of certain friends, I have skipped out on paying the fare on three tram rides and a metro ride, so far. I only actually paid for one ride in my time here so far. :) I am laughing about it now, but I won't be when I get a fine of 700 CZK from the undercover tram police.
Yesterday was a long but good day. Work came and went quickly. I did my first call-monitoring ever, and I think it went well. I went to TGI Friday's, of all places, with Zé, Tiago, and Raul for lunch. It was good, pretty much the same as in the US. I did some training for the team back at the office, and actually got to call my mom at the end of the day! It was so nice to hear her voice, even if it's only been a couple days and I didn't have much to say, since I write everything in here.
After work last night I went to drop off my stuff quickly at the hotel, then went right back out with Naima, Alessio, and Martino for dinner. For about $7 USD, I got a huge plate of pasta and chicken and a very tall glass of Czech beer. I don't usually drink beer, but there is a beer I really liked called Staropramen. Last night I tried one called Pilsner Urquell. It was good, too, but not as good as the other one. Alessio had one I liked also called Kozel dark - I thought it would be heavy and bitter but it tasted light and kind of sweet; I'll probably get that next time.
Anyway we had a nice meal, then Martino had tickets to a blacklight theater, which ended up being really cool. We took a tram up to another part of town, met up with Naima's boyfriend and Martino's girlfriend, and Alessio left us for the night, and the five of us went to the show. I've never seen anything like it; they were dancers (mostly ballet style, I'd say) dancing in glowing outfits and using other props, dancing under a blacklight. There was one part I particularly liked, in which two dancers had completely spandex outfits and one half of their body (right down the middle of them, like a line going down their face, chest, stomach, and one leg) was black, and therefore invisible, and the other half was a glowing white. So it was almost like two halves of one body dancing together. Very artsy and cool.
Eff, I just noticed it's snowing sideways outside.
Anyway Martino and his lady friend, who was also very nice, went to get a drink afterward but the rest of us were tired so we came back to the Andel's area and parted ways. I relaxed a bit in my room before bed doing a crossword puzzle and watching Anchorman (Marco, thank you so much for giving me a DVD of that movie! It is saving me here from all the Czech, German, and French TV. And CNN, which is pretty much the only English channel I get.
And for a final treat, here is my favorite song on Euro MTV:
I especially love the Euro-looking Michael Phelps-ish guy behind the bar who sings once in a while. He's my favorite part of the video.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Pensamientos
Admittedly, I am kind of enjoying all the German rap on European MTV. I do not enjoy, however, that Family Guy is on only in German :( I'm dying for some real TV shows.
I need to buy an alarm clock. I think it's a good investment for two months; I have a wake-up call set up but I can't hit snooze on that.
I am having breakfast with Jasper this morning. That will be nice.
I'm really excited for Moff to arrive - it will be nice to have a *really* familiar face around.
I met a few people from Prague GSO yesterday, thanks to Michael. They are really nice, but I don't recognize any of their names.
I forgot to give Farid his stuff yesterday, but today I will take it to him and let you know (Maira, Tara, and Mom) how he likes it :) He got really excited when we were walking after work yesterday a bit, when I mentioned it - he said it's like Christimas.
I didn't eat my jellybeans that I brought yet - I am saving them for a real "homesick emergency".
My hair looks nicer here than it does in the US. I'm not sure why, maybe it's the water, or my new Czech shampoo (it's not really Czech, just the bottle is - it's Dove brand). Either way I am pleased by that.
My feet are killing me - they are pretty cut up from the shoes I wore yesterday, combined with all the walking. Today I'm wearing the comfiest shoes I have, and I don't care how they look with my outfit. Nobody really seems to care about that stuff here anyway. I didn't see one girl wearing fancy shoes yet.
I think that's it. Gotta go get ready to meet Jasper and get to work. Still doing okay :)
Much love!
I need to buy an alarm clock. I think it's a good investment for two months; I have a wake-up call set up but I can't hit snooze on that.
I am having breakfast with Jasper this morning. That will be nice.
I'm really excited for Moff to arrive - it will be nice to have a *really* familiar face around.
I met a few people from Prague GSO yesterday, thanks to Michael. They are really nice, but I don't recognize any of their names.
I forgot to give Farid his stuff yesterday, but today I will take it to him and let you know (Maira, Tara, and Mom) how he likes it :) He got really excited when we were walking after work yesterday a bit, when I mentioned it - he said it's like Christimas.
I didn't eat my jellybeans that I brought yet - I am saving them for a real "homesick emergency".
My hair looks nicer here than it does in the US. I'm not sure why, maybe it's the water, or my new Czech shampoo (it's not really Czech, just the bottle is - it's Dove brand). Either way I am pleased by that.
My feet are killing me - they are pretty cut up from the shoes I wore yesterday, combined with all the walking. Today I'm wearing the comfiest shoes I have, and I don't care how they look with my outfit. Nobody really seems to care about that stuff here anyway. I didn't see one girl wearing fancy shoes yet.
I think that's it. Gotta go get ready to meet Jasper and get to work. Still doing okay :)
Much love!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Day 1
Well, full day, anyway.
I got my wake-up call at 6am and took my time getting ready. I had breakfast in the hotel (very good breakfast - they have eggs and a zillion kinds of bread and croissants and fruit and all kinds of other stuff I didn't even recognize. Also it's free.:) After that I went to my room and grabbed my stuff to head to work.
I got this kinda sucky map from Ariba - it's nobody's fault, the map was just hard to read. So I went to the front desk and asked how I arrive to work using that map, and they pointed me in a direction. I didn't quite understand though so I figured I'd just start walking since I knew the street I was looking for. Unfortunately I went the complete opposite way from where I needed to, so I asked - well, tried to ask - a few people for directions. Here's how a few of them went.
Me: Do you speak English?
20-something guy: A little!
Me: I need to get here (pointing to map). Where is this street? (pointing to street name)
Guy: Ohhhh I do not know! (walks away)
Me: Do you speak English?
Girl: (blank stare, walks away)
Me: Excuse me...
Other girl: No.
So you can see how I was getting nowhere. Finally I went back to the hotel and they gave me a way better map. I managed to get to the office and upon walking in, I saw Tiago's smiling face :) He was on a call, so I hugged Martino, ran over to Rob and hugged the hell out of him, then met Leila and Naima, then went back to Martino's area to meet Raul, and then Tiago got off the phone and we had the biggest hug ever, which made me so happy after such a cold welcome into the city. I can't even describe how happy I was to see some familiar faces.
The first day of work was nice - my team is full of questions, which is totally normal for how new everyone is. I really like the team, they are all incredibly warm and kind. For lunch we went to a very Czech place where the menu was all in Czech. I told the team to just pick for me, and I ended up with some kind of meat over some french fries with some kind of sauce and some vegetables. Very tasty, but very different from the usual sandwich or burrito we eat for lunch in the USA. I'm not sure how anyone goes back to work after a meal like that, I got sooo sleepy.
The afternoon was spent with Jasper (one of the senior managers), who trained me on coaching. I never enjoyed a training so much. He described more of what I'll be doing while I'm here, and also gave me some info about getting around the city.
After all that, I had dinner with Michael La Sala. I thought we'd just go somewhere local to the hotel, but he took me on a tram down to the really old part of the city where I saw the castle from a distance, St. Charles Bridge, and a lot of other historic buildings. It was insanely beautiful - I've never seen anything like this. The city square is incredible, everything is incredible.
We went to dinner at a little Czech place where I had some kind of chicken over potatoes with a white sauce. I'm seeing a very strict pattern of meat and potatoes here. I am craving salad, or anything else with nutritional value. I'll make up for that at breakfast with some fruit, I guess.
We walked a bit more (feeling good after two tall Czech beers each:), then rode the metro (!!!) back to my hotel. At that point we said our despedida, and we'll likely hang out again next week.
My feet are killing me, and I am insanely tired, but today was a good day. A very good day. :)
I got my wake-up call at 6am and took my time getting ready. I had breakfast in the hotel (very good breakfast - they have eggs and a zillion kinds of bread and croissants and fruit and all kinds of other stuff I didn't even recognize. Also it's free.:) After that I went to my room and grabbed my stuff to head to work.
I got this kinda sucky map from Ariba - it's nobody's fault, the map was just hard to read. So I went to the front desk and asked how I arrive to work using that map, and they pointed me in a direction. I didn't quite understand though so I figured I'd just start walking since I knew the street I was looking for. Unfortunately I went the complete opposite way from where I needed to, so I asked - well, tried to ask - a few people for directions. Here's how a few of them went.
Me: Do you speak English?
20-something guy: A little!
Me: I need to get here (pointing to map). Where is this street? (pointing to street name)
Guy: Ohhhh I do not know! (walks away)
Me: Do you speak English?
Girl: (blank stare, walks away)
Me: Excuse me...
Other girl: No.
So you can see how I was getting nowhere. Finally I went back to the hotel and they gave me a way better map. I managed to get to the office and upon walking in, I saw Tiago's smiling face :) He was on a call, so I hugged Martino, ran over to Rob and hugged the hell out of him, then met Leila and Naima, then went back to Martino's area to meet Raul, and then Tiago got off the phone and we had the biggest hug ever, which made me so happy after such a cold welcome into the city. I can't even describe how happy I was to see some familiar faces.
The first day of work was nice - my team is full of questions, which is totally normal for how new everyone is. I really like the team, they are all incredibly warm and kind. For lunch we went to a very Czech place where the menu was all in Czech. I told the team to just pick for me, and I ended up with some kind of meat over some french fries with some kind of sauce and some vegetables. Very tasty, but very different from the usual sandwich or burrito we eat for lunch in the USA. I'm not sure how anyone goes back to work after a meal like that, I got sooo sleepy.
The afternoon was spent with Jasper (one of the senior managers), who trained me on coaching. I never enjoyed a training so much. He described more of what I'll be doing while I'm here, and also gave me some info about getting around the city.
After all that, I had dinner with Michael La Sala. I thought we'd just go somewhere local to the hotel, but he took me on a tram down to the really old part of the city where I saw the castle from a distance, St. Charles Bridge, and a lot of other historic buildings. It was insanely beautiful - I've never seen anything like this. The city square is incredible, everything is incredible.
We went to dinner at a little Czech place where I had some kind of chicken over potatoes with a white sauce. I'm seeing a very strict pattern of meat and potatoes here. I am craving salad, or anything else with nutritional value. I'll make up for that at breakfast with some fruit, I guess.
We walked a bit more (feeling good after two tall Czech beers each:), then rode the metro (!!!) back to my hotel. At that point we said our despedida, and we'll likely hang out again next week.
My feet are killing me, and I am insanely tired, but today was a good day. A very good day. :)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Prague rhymes with blog
Well everyone, I am officially here. It has been a very very long two days. I know people (read: my mom) are curious about the full story, so here it is. Don't say I didn't warn you about the length.
I got to the airport around 2:15 PM, only to find out that my flight to DC was delayed until 5:15 PM. My flight from DC was supposed to leave at 7:15. So, while I would be cutting it a lot closer, I'd still make it. And it took some running, but I did make it. I realized about 20 minutes into a conversation with the really nice Polish lady next to me that we weren't moving, and it was past our departure time. Turns out there was a problem with the circuits on the plane, something like that, and they were trying to find the part to fix it. After a long wait, they decided to move us to another identical plane where we'd keep the same seats. Except we had to walk a freaking half mile through the airport to get to the new gate, only to find out that they were making us wait a half hour to board.
45 minutes later, we started boarding. Except we all only had the stubs of our boarding passes, so they boarded us by groups of rows (e.g. rows 30 to 39 boarded first). In order to verify who we were, they checked each name against a roster they had going by seat number. And that's how we proceeded - with each person on this huge aircraft going through line, and a guy reading every single name out loud and checking it against the roster. *sigh*
But this plane worked. Mariola the Polish lady and I watched Nights in Rodanthe together on our individual little TVs, and she said how much she loved Richard Gere and Julia Roberts together. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was Diane Lane. Her English was not very good and after I gave her a piece of gum, she reciprocated with a piece of marzipan, which I really hate. "This marzipan from my country, you take! Is... *kisses fingers*.... marzipan delicious... you do know marzipan?" I nodded and smiled. She said, "Tell me name your boyfriend, you so beautiful. You marry my son!" You can see why I didn't want to break the woman's heart, she was adorable.
The flight itself was uneventful - I slept most of the way and eventually got my favorite airplane treat, cran-apple juice. We landed late in Frankfurt, which caused pretty much everyone on the plane to miss their connecting flight. After sorting through that chaos and getting yelled at by a 200 year old German man on a power trip, they found me a flight at 4:35 PM (it was about 12pm when we got off the plane). I went to the transfer desk (which took forever to find, and felt like it was miles away), and the woman gave me a new boarding pass. Then she asked, "Did you check any luggage?" I said, yes, two suitcases. She said, "What are the ID numbers for your bags?" I said, "I was never given any, just my boarding passes. They said it was going straight through to Prague." She said, "You will need those numbers, otherwise your luggage will likely not arrive."
Then I asked the inevitable question: Where can I get the ID numbers?
The answer? Here's what she should have said: Walk effing 20 miles, leave security. Once you get lost twice and have to backtrack, ask a random German where you're going and have him point in the direction you just came from. Arrive at the ticketing desks, wait in line, only to have each girl you talk to tell you that you have to speak to her "colleague, who is just around the corner." Arrive at one glorious angel of a woman who can finally give the ID numbers, and then come back to the original transfer desk to have them track it. Then walk another mile through the airport down to gate A17, which may or may not be your gate, and wait there until someone shows up. When they do, go to your real gate, A13, where someone can finally confirm that your luggage is actually in Europe and will arrive in Prague.
That said, with all that hassle, I am just reeeally grateful to have my luggage. I'd get by on what I had in my carry-on, but I feel so much better having all my stuff. I'm completely moved in (as much as one can be in a hotel room) to my new home for the next two months.
Shortly upon my arrival and entrance to the hotel, I headed out to the streets. I needed shampoo, conditioner, and dinner. Dinner should have been easy; I passed about a hundred restaurants here in the hotel's vicinity. However I kept walking and walking until I spotted the drugstore, where I learned the Czech words for "push" and "pull" (on the door), and "shampoo" and "conditioner". By the way, it's true what all my friends told me - Czech people do not smile at you on the street like everyone does in Pittsburgh. I caught on after a feeling dejected after my first few excited smiles at strangers, and I put on my grumpiest face even though I was screaming on the inside over how beautiful this city is.
I ended up eating dinner (and more importantly, having some wine) at the hotel restaurant. A little expensive, but I'm still under the alotted limit for the day and I just needed something easy today. My feet are so tired, man.
The hotel is really nice - it's simple but pretty, and very modern. The lobby kind of looks like an Apple Store. Jaromir, my new buddy at the front desk who is really nice to me and I can tell is being kind despite the fact that he does not smile, hooked me up with some wall converters so I can plug in my laptop and other stuff, an iron and ironing board that I can keep in my room, and even a key to the hotel's laundry facilities so that I can go wash my clothes whenever I want for free.
I'd love to write more now, but it's almost midnight here and I still have a few things to do around here (I want tomorrow morning to be easy, that means everything unpacked and organized tonight).
I'll try to update this every day. Shout-out to Maira, the only one who stuck with this from the very blog-beginning, even though it was boring and I was just playing around. :) Miss you, 'sposa. I will give everyone hugs for you tomorrow at work.
I got to the airport around 2:15 PM, only to find out that my flight to DC was delayed until 5:15 PM. My flight from DC was supposed to leave at 7:15. So, while I would be cutting it a lot closer, I'd still make it. And it took some running, but I did make it. I realized about 20 minutes into a conversation with the really nice Polish lady next to me that we weren't moving, and it was past our departure time. Turns out there was a problem with the circuits on the plane, something like that, and they were trying to find the part to fix it. After a long wait, they decided to move us to another identical plane where we'd keep the same seats. Except we had to walk a freaking half mile through the airport to get to the new gate, only to find out that they were making us wait a half hour to board.
45 minutes later, we started boarding. Except we all only had the stubs of our boarding passes, so they boarded us by groups of rows (e.g. rows 30 to 39 boarded first). In order to verify who we were, they checked each name against a roster they had going by seat number. And that's how we proceeded - with each person on this huge aircraft going through line, and a guy reading every single name out loud and checking it against the roster. *sigh*
But this plane worked. Mariola the Polish lady and I watched Nights in Rodanthe together on our individual little TVs, and she said how much she loved Richard Gere and Julia Roberts together. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was Diane Lane. Her English was not very good and after I gave her a piece of gum, she reciprocated with a piece of marzipan, which I really hate. "This marzipan from my country, you take! Is... *kisses fingers*.... marzipan delicious... you do know marzipan?" I nodded and smiled. She said, "Tell me name your boyfriend, you so beautiful. You marry my son!" You can see why I didn't want to break the woman's heart, she was adorable.
The flight itself was uneventful - I slept most of the way and eventually got my favorite airplane treat, cran-apple juice. We landed late in Frankfurt, which caused pretty much everyone on the plane to miss their connecting flight. After sorting through that chaos and getting yelled at by a 200 year old German man on a power trip, they found me a flight at 4:35 PM (it was about 12pm when we got off the plane). I went to the transfer desk (which took forever to find, and felt like it was miles away), and the woman gave me a new boarding pass. Then she asked, "Did you check any luggage?" I said, yes, two suitcases. She said, "What are the ID numbers for your bags?" I said, "I was never given any, just my boarding passes. They said it was going straight through to Prague." She said, "You will need those numbers, otherwise your luggage will likely not arrive."
Then I asked the inevitable question: Where can I get the ID numbers?
The answer? Here's what she should have said: Walk effing 20 miles, leave security. Once you get lost twice and have to backtrack, ask a random German where you're going and have him point in the direction you just came from. Arrive at the ticketing desks, wait in line, only to have each girl you talk to tell you that you have to speak to her "colleague, who is just around the corner." Arrive at one glorious angel of a woman who can finally give the ID numbers, and then come back to the original transfer desk to have them track it. Then walk another mile through the airport down to gate A17, which may or may not be your gate, and wait there until someone shows up. When they do, go to your real gate, A13, where someone can finally confirm that your luggage is actually in Europe and will arrive in Prague.
That said, with all that hassle, I am just reeeally grateful to have my luggage. I'd get by on what I had in my carry-on, but I feel so much better having all my stuff. I'm completely moved in (as much as one can be in a hotel room) to my new home for the next two months.
Shortly upon my arrival and entrance to the hotel, I headed out to the streets. I needed shampoo, conditioner, and dinner. Dinner should have been easy; I passed about a hundred restaurants here in the hotel's vicinity. However I kept walking and walking until I spotted the drugstore, where I learned the Czech words for "push" and "pull" (on the door), and "shampoo" and "conditioner". By the way, it's true what all my friends told me - Czech people do not smile at you on the street like everyone does in Pittsburgh. I caught on after a feeling dejected after my first few excited smiles at strangers, and I put on my grumpiest face even though I was screaming on the inside over how beautiful this city is.
I ended up eating dinner (and more importantly, having some wine) at the hotel restaurant. A little expensive, but I'm still under the alotted limit for the day and I just needed something easy today. My feet are so tired, man.
The hotel is really nice - it's simple but pretty, and very modern. The lobby kind of looks like an Apple Store. Jaromir, my new buddy at the front desk who is really nice to me and I can tell is being kind despite the fact that he does not smile, hooked me up with some wall converters so I can plug in my laptop and other stuff, an iron and ironing board that I can keep in my room, and even a key to the hotel's laundry facilities so that I can go wash my clothes whenever I want for free.
I'd love to write more now, but it's almost midnight here and I still have a few things to do around here (I want tomorrow morning to be easy, that means everything unpacked and organized tonight).
I'll try to update this every day. Shout-out to Maira, the only one who stuck with this from the very blog-beginning, even though it was boring and I was just playing around. :) Miss you, 'sposa. I will give everyone hugs for you tomorrow at work.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Procrastination makes it (not) happen
It's almost 10:00 PM the night before I leave and I still haven't even begun to pack.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Voyager
Je me déclare citoyenne universelle
Je m’offre le passeport de la Terrienne,
Décide que toute terre sera mienne.
Je m’offre le passeport de la Terrienne,
Décide que toute terre sera mienne.
Monday, February 2, 2009
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