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