Little things that make me happy in Prague

- When the sun is shining and everybody is outside.

- A walk along the river with Camilla and James.

- The fact that I finally found some spicy food here. My mouth is on fire and I love it.

- When someone from whom I'm making a purchase actually puts my change into my hand and smiles, rather than on a plate or on the counter.

- The faces of gypsies.

Pinche wey

It's so weird to get online in the morning at work and see Jorge on MSN, and then talk to him, and then have him say he's going to sleep and he'll talk to me when he gets into work in the morning.

I'm 8 hours apart from Mexico right now, due to all the funny time changes. Now I know how Singapore felt when I'd come online and talk to all of them when they were halfway through the work day and I was just rolling in from the salsa clubs.

Tables turn...

Egyptian TV

I'm really enjoying this Egyptian channel that I get in my hotel. Sometimes I catch an Arabic movie with English subtitles, sometimes music videos, and tonight there's a documentary about Abd al-Halim, an Egyptian singer who I don't know too much about other than that he sang a lot of Nizar Qabbani's poetry.

And Nizar Qabbani is awesome.

I'm back

Dinner was good, but the "latino night" at Popo Cafe Petl (?) was pretty lame. The "cuban band" was a bunch of Czech guys who were playing "cuban music". One guy was a "tap dancer". We paid 50Kc each to get in and then they played one song, and then they took a "break". We couldn't bear to be in there anymore so we walked around Ujezd a bit and then called it a night.

How many more quotation marks could I fit into this "blog entry"?

I'm going to go work on my crossword puzzle. No mixed meanings there, I really am. :)

Work always snaps me out of it

Work started out rough but I gave a training for most of the afternoon, which kinda got me back into the swing of things and I felt pretty good. I took a little catnap and now I'm heading to dinner with Katy and then we're going to check out this live cuban band down at a bar in Ujezd that I can't pronounce. :)

Feeling a little better

After I was feeling yucky I went out. I walked around Tesco and the mall for a while (my favorite activity - at home I walk around Wal-mart and the mall when I'm bored, same thing I guess). When I left my room someone else down the hall was just leaving his room as well, and we were in the elevator together and started talking. He's from Holland and we had a nice, albeit short, conversation. He's here alone as well so maybe I'll run into him again, that would be nice. He's just on vacation, though. I'm afraid I'll only ever meet tourists here and never have any permanent friends.. I guess that's the downside of a city like Prague. In Pittsburgh you never have to worry about the people you meet being tourists. :)

I didn't buy much on my little trip.. I decided to try the Chinese food at the mall which was really not good at all. It was satisfying enough though, because I hadn't eaten yet today. I came back here and watched an episode of Ugly Betty on that illegal website that has all the TV shows and movies, and enjoyed it more than I ever did at home (since everything here is in German or Czech).

I was all psyched to watch Double Shot at Love at 22:00, so I went down to the elevator area (which is a nice open space with big windows and comfy chairs) to read for a while, just because I was tired of being in my room. There was a clock outside the window at the busstop across the street, so I timed it so I'd get back to my room at 9:45 so I could take a shower, then I'd go to bed after that. But, that clock wasn't changed yet, so when I got back here it was just about over.

No big loss, it's one of the only shows in English so I try to catch it, but really I don't need to be timing my night around a show about bi-sexual identical twins trying to find true love.

Anyway...since the channels have all gone German again... I am going to go take a shower and settle into bed to work on a crossword puzzle and hopefully fall asleep, despite the fact that I slept all day.

I'll snap out of this funk tomorrow, I always feel better during the week because work gives me something to do.

Sorry I'm so depressing today. I shouldn't be allowed to write in my blog on weekends.

Sentimientos de hoy

- I really miss Tara. I would give my right arm to be home now, and to go out to lunch and a movie or the mall with her today.

- Last night I went dancing and it was good, but not that good.

- I really love afghani food, and I really love Kabul (the restaurant). I'll be back a million times since I know the owner now.

- I really hate getting in at 6am and waking up at 2pm. I don't know why I do it. It only feels good at 6am...not at 2pm.

- I woke up this morning to the sound of someone opening my door and then closing it. I forgot to put up the do-not-disturb sign so the cleaning lady didn't know if I was in here or not. She left quickly because she saw all the lights on, and if she would have come in the room a little further she'd see me still fully dressed from last night. Classy, Alia. Real classy. :)

- Creo que el cubano a quien me gusta tiene novia. Que pena.. :(


I really don't know what to do with myself.

Boring night

Today will be much better than yesterday. I went to the room after work and just kinda bummed for a while (watched TV, played on the computer), then found out that Katy had to work, so salsa was off. I went to buy some dinner and left a movie downloading on www.ch131.com in the meantime (thank you Leila:), came back and watched that. I was gonna go out with Valentine but it just sounded complicated and by that time I was kinda tired anyway.

It's better that it happened this way, since I really have to go shopping for presents for people back home today all over town, and every time I go out I stay out until 4 or 5am, and then sleep all day. This way I woke up naturally around 9:00am, I'm rested and ready to go hit the town. :)

Tonight I'm going for Afghani food with Leila and some others, then dancing :) Yaaaay. Then I will waste tomorrow by sleeping all day :)

Pictures from Kristel's last night

Last night a bunch of us went to Luka Lu, a Croatian-Italian restaurant in Ujezd, for dinner to celebrate Kristel's last day and to give her a nice send-off. Afterward, the remaining party-people took it next door to a bar that had live music. Here are the pictures. :)

Luka Lu for Kristel's Last Day

Birthday pictures!!!!

Birthday in Prague!

The big 2-6

I celebrated my 26th birthday today. My first birthday that wasn't spent with my family and (Pittsburgh) friends. I'm happy to say that it was a really wonderful day, I couldn't ask for anything else.

I woke up happy today. I am a huge dork, and when I woke up naturally at 5:30am, I looked at the time, said out loud, "Happy birthday to meeee!" and went back to sleep for an hour. I woke up, had breakfast in the hotel, and took off for work with a spring in my step. I got in and everybody greeted me with kisses (a euro thing I guess?) and nice wishes. It was so sweet.

The day went smoothly today. Work was good and not frustrating today (maybe the team was just going easy on me because it was my birthday:), and I had a nice lunch out with Ze, Kristel, and Leila. A short while after I got back, flowers from my mom were delivered to my desk! The afternoon flew by rather quickly, and then at 4:55pm... I had to raise a critical issue. Right in the middle of my critical issue panic, out came the whole team, carrying two beautiful cakes and singing to me!!

I made a wish that I'd love to tell everyone but I won't, because then it won't come true... but you know, it was really hard to come up with a wish. I don't know what else I could ask for. I'm not trying to be corny, but I really just don't need anything else. Anyway, we all ate cake (almost all of us had a piece of each:) and hung out. Then I found out that Naima and Tiago got me a little present from Erotic City, a porn chain that is all over the place here. It's some kind of rubber condom looking thing that's shaped like the Statue of Liberty. It could only be slightly more appropriate... like if it weren't a sex toy. :)

We went to TGI Friday's afterward and I had two big margaritas, some of us had dinner, and then the remaining people played a truth game using one of those county fortune teller paper things :) We laughed and just had a really good time.

I'm a really lucky girl. Everyone should be so lucky.

So Mom... don't worry about me. :) And thanks for the flowers, they're really beautiful.

Thanks everyone for making today such a happy day. :)

Goodies

It's funny to me that people eat cookies for breakfast here and pancakes for dessert.

Sweet or salty?

Today was rough, but tonight was pleasant. I went to dinner with Kristel and then to see "Marley & Me" (Czech title: Marley a já). I read the book, which was better of course, but the movie was still really enjoyable.

I think I just heard thunder.

I'm going to go to sleep early tonight, because I can't remember the last time I went to bed early here.

Hugs to the steel city.

Whoa, that is definitely thunder.

A stroll around Andel with a stranger from the metro

Tonight was nice. I had a nice conversation with a guy from the metro (I know, leave it to me to meet strangers on the metro) and we ended up exchanging numbers. Tonight we went for a walk around the area and a drink. I had a nice time, he's cool. I also saw Naima in the street, which was a bonus :)


If I were home now I'd be starting to think about what I'd wear to Spice Cafe tonight. Juan Daniel, Elias, and a bunch of others would be calling me right now to see if Tara and I would be there. I'd be looking forward to seeing somebody, because there was always somebody to look forward to.. and hoping that there would be lots of good cumbia partners that night.

Anyway, no sense in thinking about all that. I should get to sleep.. I've got work tomorrow.

Yo...una gitana?

Today I learned a lot. Here is a list for your reading pleasure. (pics at the end)

- For less than the price of a normal meal, I can buy a LOT of stuff at Tesco.

- It takes approximately one month for me to become VIP at Rincon Latino.

- I'm bringing bachata back. Un cubano me confirmó que bailo bachata como "profesional". ;-)

- An old Cuban guy at Rincon that I always wanted to be my friend (he is super cool) finally talked to me tonight, and we danced quite a bit. I learned that he never talked to me before because he thought I was a gypsy.

- Another cubano confirmed that I could, in fact, be mistaken for a gypsy. In Rincon, anyway.

- My Slovak boy IS a gypsy. He is also kinda lame. We probably won't even speak again. A relationship in which one person speaks only Czech and one person speaks everything but Czech does not work.

- It doesn't matter because he is leaving for Slovakia on Monday for a month, and by that time I'll be in Pittsburgh. I figure if it's meant to be, I'll see him when I get back here again.

- The curly-mullet guy is Cuban. I have been wondering for a while, because he looks just like my Mexican friend Raphael in the face.

- That I have "movimiento latina", and that just as I suspected, the boys of Rincon confirmed that Czech girls cannot move like latina girls. Oh yeah, and they all think I'm Puerto Rican. Oops.

I think that's it.
I am going to go rinse the smoke smell off me and go to sleep.

Pictures from the weekend --

Rincon Weekend, March 20-21

Some people you wish could speak more, some you wish wouldn't speak at all

I had a good day at work yesterday, because it was Friday and I knew I had a really fun weekend ahead of me. I have come to really love Rincon Latino on a Friday night - there are lots of people, a good DJ, you always get a free drink with the entrance fee, and this time I had a really good group going along with me: some people from work and my half-Czech friend Katy.

After work I went for some pivo and pizza with Miguel. We had a nice time, laughed a lot, and I'll be meeting his "habibi friend" (as he calls it, meaning his Arab friend) next week sometime. Around 10pm I met up with Katy and her two friends, and Adina at the hotel. We walked over to the club, got in and got our free Coronas. I spotted a really cute guy who was looking back at me, figuring he was latino, and as he walked away he winked at me. A drink in hand, salsa pumping, good friends, people dancing, and a cute boy I'd surely dance with later. These were all the makings of a really good night.

And it was, for quite some time. I left the dancing room out to the hallway at one point to make a quick phonecall, and the guy was out there. He said something to me; my ears were trying to hear Spanish but nothing made sense. It was Czech. I said back to him, "I don't speak Czech." He said something back to me in Czech. After going back and forth like this a while, he finally pointed to me, pointed to himself, and did a little boogie. He wanted to dance. Okay, sure. :)

So we danced. And danced, and danced, and danced. I looked over and Adina was dancing, Katy was dancing, Katy's friends were dancing, everyone was having a great time. People would walk by and shake my hand or give me a quick cheek kiss; I'm becoming quite a regular at this spot, and it's starting to feel like the salsa clubs in Pittsburgh, where everybody knows everybody. I finished dancing with my guy for a little while, and ended up dancing with a gypsy with a cute smile, and then his gypsy friend who also had a nice smile. I really need to learn Czech when I get back so I can talk to these people. I got back to my guy (who is Slovak, by the way, and his dad is Italian.. unfortunately he doesn't speak Italian, because if he did we could probably talk to each other).

And then Adina found me out in the hallway: "My purse was stolen."

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuddddddddddggggggggggeeeeeeee.

I asked a Cuban friend if he knew anything, or could somehow check to see if it had been picked up by an employee, anything at all. No luck, unfortunately. We all looked around but found nothing; it was gone. Now some might not call this lucky, but I do, that it was just her keys, cell phone, and make-up. Sure it's all a bitch to replace, but she did leave her wallet at home, so there wasn't any threat of identity theft, etc.

Except that a short time later, Katy had to leave, and she had my camera and a few other things of mine in her purse. She had her purse but went to leave and...her wallet was gone. This one contained all her IDs (Czech and USA), her money, her credit cards... everything. Now THAT sucks.

But there wasn't anything left to do... Katy and her friends had gone, and a short time later, Adina went as well. I was getting very sleepy. So I stayed about another half hour with my Slovak boy, and upon getting someone to translate from Czech into Spanish (of all things) for me, we agreed to meet tonight in front of the same club at 10pm to go down to I.P. Pavlova together for another club that we're supposed to go to tonight called Radost. I'm not sure if that's still on, due to all the theft, unfortunately.

And after we set up our meeting place and time, I left. I got up to the corner where my hotel is, when a tall older guy with a briefcase started talking to me in Czech as I was walking. I ignored it, because anybody who's talking to you at 3:30 AM is probably not good. Then I heard him say, "You speak English? I really just need to ask you a question."

So I turned around, figuring he maybe needed directions (yeah, I'd be a big help there:) or maybe a question about trams or something.

He continued on, in a really creepy voice.. kind of like how you'd imagine a leprechaun would speak, minus the Irish accent, plus a Czech accent. "Hi, I just want to tell you, that I saw you crossing the street and your physical appearance is very exciting for me..."

I stopped him right there. I rolled my eyes and turned around and kept walking.

He started again, "Please just listen, I am sorry if I offended you, I really just have a question."
"I don't want to hear it, just get away from me."
"I just came from my work, and I was just about to go home, and I saw you crossing the street and I am not very tired, and you excite me, and I wanted to know if maybe we could go have a small drink together, because you are a very beautiful girl, and you are very exciting to me..."

If he said the word "exciting" one more time I was going to vomit in the street. The guy was so creepy. I turned again and walked away. This time he kept yelling after me, and walking faster. I got scared, broke into a run, and luckily within about 10 steps I was inside the hotel lobby safe and sound.

Prague was scary for the first time last night.

More pictures

Here are some in Prague:

Second set of Prague pictures

Berlin!!!

Berlin 3/13-3/15

Enjoy!! I'd write more but it's been uneventful and boring here. This weekend should be fun though :)

Trend-setting in the Czech Republic

Today I was in the checkout line at Tesco (local grocery store). There was an awkward Czech guy in front of me who wasn't being friendly at all, but I'm getting used to that so it's no big deal. That's when I noticed some papaya-flavored gum.

WANT!

So I grabbed a pack and put it on my pile of stuff while I was waiting. He looked at my gum, looked back at the box of gum packs...and took one for himself.

Oh yeah, czech yo self before you wreck yo self.

Das ist ein Moped.

Thursday was Moff's last day. We celebrated with a lot of Slivovice and some Becherovka and a bunch of Mexican food. Then I cried on the phone to my mom for about a half hour about a crazy huge decision I have to make.

So when better to make a huge decision than on a trip, where you can clear your mind and have fun? So I went to Berlin! (Well, I planned the trip before the decision came up:). The plan was for one weekend, and to meet up with my Dutch friend Ronald (a.k.a. Dingo... an old nickname:).

I left work at 3pm and rushed to the hotel to grab my stuff, took the metro (with Jose's help on the directions, thank you Ze!!) to the train station. I had no idea how to take a train, since around where I live it just isn't that common (rather, it's common, but it's not the fastest way to get anywhere so I never bothered). There was a number for which car to get on, and which seat, but I couldn't tell which car was which so I asked some guy and he pointed to the one right in front of me. So on I went, found seat 55-window, and...there was a guy in my seat.

"Hi, I'm not sure if I have the right place..." showing him my ticket.
"You probably do, I think I'm in the wrong place. I'll just sit next to you if you don't mind."
"Not at all."
I couldn't tell where he was from but boy was I glad he spoke English. He gave me the window and moved to the aisle. We ended up talking the whole time he was on the train (he wasn't going to Berlin), which was about an hour and twenty minutes. His name was Alain, and he was Lebanese. :) Arabs are the best people anywhere, of course.

We had a really nice talk. He's been in Prague for 12 years, is marrying an Albanian girl, and has a lot of Lebanese/Pali friends in Prague which is cool. I told him all about my situation and my tough upcoming decision, and he gave me the best advice anyone's given so far... "Whichever decision you make, it's the right one." Do whatever you're going to do without regrets, and then it's always the right decision.

And that's when it hit me what I have to do. So thank you, Alain, wherever you are tonight.

After he got off the train, it got very boring until Berlin. When we finally arrived, I found Dingo right away. I couldn't find where we were supposed to meet, but I looked behind me on the escalator for a second and there he was :) We rode the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn to the place where we were staying, and we were both kind of exhausted and ended up just sitting up there and talking for a couple hours before finally deciding to just go to sleep and just be rested for the day of sight-seeing the next day.

Saturday we woke up late, probably around 10 or 11, got ready and headed out. Got a bite to eat, took some pictures, saw all the touristy stuff (I will post pictures soon). I would tell everything we saw, but honestly I don't remember the names of anything. I really suck at that. :) We did a ton of walking, though, and finally around 5pm decided to head back to our weekend-rented apartment. We ended up falling asleep until 11pm (we suck at staying awake), and my first thought was damnit, I totally missed nighttime Berlin. I was super hungry, too, since I hadn't eaten dinner the night before and just had a little sandwich earlier that day. So we went out for Thai food (of all things to eat in Berlin).

After that we weren't tired, of course, and he'd read about a salsa club so...

OFF TO HAVANNA WE WENT!! (http://www.havanna-berlin.de)

Now, my very white Dutch friend may not be a natural latin dancer, but he did his best out there and I was very proud of him :) He dances a very nice merengue, and by the end of the night he did just fine with bachata as well. There was a surprising number of Dominicans and Cubans there, just like in Prague. Odd, but cool. We had way too many drinks and had a fun walk back to our weekend residence.

I even got on someone's moped for a picture :) Again, to be posted soon. I reminisced about how we used to love to talk about "das Moped" in high school German class. Awesome how much I remembered.. like Blumen means flowers :)

And today the trip back was basically uneventful. I shared a train compartment with two very nice young American girls who were high school friends. One is taking a year off before going to college, the other is a freshman in college. We had a nice friendly chat and then once we got to Prague I helped to get them metro tickets and get them in the right direction. I know how appreciative I've been when someone helped me in this crazy city, so I like to do the same for others.

And people say Americans are fake in how nice we are... pfft. We really just are that nice. :)

And here I am! I went to the office to call Tara (and Ash, yay!) and my mom when I got back, then had a nice dinner with Kristel, my colleague who's in the office for a few weeks from Belgium to help out just like I am.

And the best thing about the weekend is that I made that very tough decision. And I'm happy about it. And everything is going to be just fine. No, better than that. It will be awesome.

Hugs to my all my beloved Pittsburghers, including but not limited to: Mom, Tara, Ash, Maira, Bethany, Liz, Shannon, Marco, Thiago, Nasser, Lisa, Hima, and Moffstra University.

Y un abrazo a Taquito en México también.. no tienes que ser Pittsburgheño para merecer un abrazito :)

Whoa

My world got turned upside down between 3:00pm and 3:30pm today.

Afghanis

I feel like I've become really boring. My first few weeks here were so exciting and now it's like, ho hum, I'm walking around Prague. I'm at that point where I'm not ecstatic about every little street I see, etc. That's not at all to say that I'm not happy here, because I am - I could totally see myself living here. It's almost nice to be in this phase now. I'm even understanding more Czech than before (that's not to say I can speak it, but I at least know what people are asking me usually).

It's been uneventful this week, really. Yesterday I went to dinner with Moffers and Kristel, and afterward Kristel and I went to Humanic where I spent too much money on effing SWEET european shoes. I seriously should have brought an empty suitcase to fill with euro shoes. I LOVE them. Shoe shopping here is my greatest pleasure ever. I got some that are super euro looking, I've never seen anything like them in the US (maybe I'm just shopping in the wrong places?). But they are borderline ugly, but really comfy, and just look... euro. That's all I can say. And I paid around $80 USD for them and I don't care at all. :)

Work today felt good. I ended up trying this Afghani restaurant tonight with Moffers that we saw around before and wanted to go to, and since he's leaving Friday this was kind of our last hurrah together (since tomorrow the whole team will probably do something). We both ordered two things and tried a bit of everything, and afterward I had baklawa that was borderline as good as mine. It was different, it wasn't flaky like normal baklawa but it was kinda soft, more like real pastry and not made from fillo dough. The whole thing was awesome. This old man kept smiling at me the whole time, who turned out to be the owner, and every time Dan or I ran out of drink or needed something, the man would yell, "YA SHAB!!" (HEY BOY!) and the guy would come running to us.. haha.

I suspect that I was probably getting the Arab treatment, even though we didn't speak.

The guy gave Dan a friendly wave at the end and blew me a kiss - I will definitely be going back there. Naima and Leila - we should go together, you'd love it.

That's about it.. I'm still feeling sick (I've had a cold bugging me) so I'm gonna go to Tesco and pick up a couple things, including a whole bunch of cough drops.

I'm going to Berlin in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yayayayyayayyay Prague is so cool.

I miss the week when Danger was here. And I miss Maira and Bethany. And I saw a puppy in the mall today and though of Nasser, and I miss him, too. :(

One more month... I can't believe I won't be in Prague anymore. It almost feels like home now... how weird.

If it's in English, it's good enough for me.

Saturday was a lazy day after the night I had. I stayed in bed and watched TV and took little catnaps for a lot of the day, until Moff called later to see if I wanted to go to dinner. So we ventured down to old town again and found a random little place where the food was good. I finally had real apple streudel in Eastern Europe, where it comes from. I like anything with apples so I'm easy to please, but it was definitely the best I've had.

Later that night I was bored and checked in to see what Katy was doing and we decided to go out to the same place AGAIN which I'm not bored of yet. I met a guy from Peru but the night was pretty boring aside from that. We danced until around 4 when I decided I should go since I was attending a Catholic mass in Spanish the next day at 12:30pm.

So I went back, went to bed, got up a few hours later, and found my way on the metro to Malostranske Namesti where I met up with a Czech guy named Jan who invited me to the service. The church was AMAZING - I've never seen anything so beautiful, seriously. I thought the one at Sé in São Paulo was amazing but it doesn't even compare. I'll go back in a couple weeks and take some pictures.

After Church we went to a little party in another part of the church that had a little kitchen and a big table. Jan introduced me to some of his friends, and I talked to a really sweet Peruvian woman named Miriam for a while. I left around 3pm to find two texts and two missed calls from the Peruvian guy, Luis, so I called back and it turned out he wanted to hang out that night. I said sure, that'd be fun, and then he said, "I live about 100km from where you are, so I'll need to stay over at your house tonight."
I said, "Um, I don't have a house here."
He said, "Oh well whatever, your apartment."
I said, "Nope, no apartment - I am in a hotel."
"Right, so that's okay."
"No, that's not okay - I have one bed."
"And?"

Creeper. I said, "Hmm better if we hang out some other time." I didn't say that the other time would be never. :)

After I got back I hung out and talked to Morad online for a while, not sure what is happening or will happen there but at least it's always interesting. Then went to the mall, walked around, bought some Lebanese food for dinner and a few grocery/toiletry type items at Tesco, and went back to watch some Anchorman.

Around 9:30pm Kristel arrived from Leuven and we went for a drink, while my laundry was in. All in all a very pleasant weekend.

Today was uneventful but good... stressful at usual but in a good way... and I'm still happy. I'm excited to see my friends and family in a month.

Tonight went for dinner with Marco d.H. who's in town now, and Kristel and Moff. Again, uneventful but pleasant. I'm turning in early tonight. I'm watching the only thing on TV that's in English right now, which is some policey murder movie that I wouldn't normally watch.

Sorry this was lame, I'm not feeling all that creative.

Hugs to Pittsburgh.

How to repair broken electronics in the Czech Republic

As you all know, I've been very into watching my Are You Afraid of the Dark DVDs while I've been here, since there is very little English TV to be watched. (Well, that's going to change now that Leila introduced me to www.ch131.com).

Anyway, yesterday I finished a disc of episodes and when I went to change it, it kept trying to open and flashed the word "Blocked". I thought it might fix itself after cooling down a bit, but today it was doing the same. I called the front desk to have someone come fix it.

Two guys came up a short time later, both started looking at it, and then one hit the top of it. Still nothing.

So he hit it harder. And then it opened. Then they smiled at me, said something in Czech, and left.

I guess now I know what to do next time...

Sorry, but my mom warned me not to fall in love with a gypsy.

Work yesterday marked the end of our first official live week, and it felt great.

It's weird.. usually I go somewhere on vacation and the second I get there, I LOVE it. And then after several days, after I've seen what there is to see, I am tired of it and ready to go home. With Prague it's been the opposite. When I first got here and felt so weird and alone those first couple weeks (not solidly, but I had my big spells of homesickness), I'm three weeks in and I can't imagine not being here anymore. I don't miss driving. I don't miss smiles in the street as much. Now that I've gotten at least a few words of Czech, I don't feel so lost.

For example, that first week, I tried to ask for directions to the office. I didn't know a word of Czech, so nobody wanted to answer me. Yesterday I was trying to find the metro stop at Karlovo náměstí, and I asked a woman, "Prosim... metro?" That means, "Excuse me... metro?" But she smiled and pointed me in the direction. ONE word! And that's all it takes to get a nicer reaction. :) I really love Prague. I just wish I could bring my mom and my friends here with me, because that's the only part of me that doesn't feel complete.

Anyway, my days don't really start until 6pm or so, when I leave work. I went with Moff and Naima to a bar/cafe/restaurant out at Karlovo náměstí and had a big leafy chicken salad - it was fantastic. I don't get a lot of vegetables here, so when I see them on the menu (since it's usually an option of pork or ham, or another kind of pork, with dumplings or potatoes), I get really excited.

I left alone and managed to find the metro with a little help, since I had to go meet Katy. We had plans to hit some latin clubs. We met up by the National Theatre and headed down to a place called Manes where I heard they had good dancing. We looked inside for about a minute and decided it wasn't for us - it was fancy and formal. She knew a club nearby called Karlovy Lázně, which advertises itself as having five floors of different music, and being the biggest club in Central Europe. So we went. We paid 120 Kc to get in (each), saw that everyone in there looked like they were 18 years old, did a shot of absinthe, drank a rum&coke, and left without visiting any other floors. :)

After that we tried a Cuban bar she knew called Bodeguita del Medio. The music was great but it was insanely packed in the front room, to the point that you couldn't even stand or order a drink, and in the back it was just boring with empty tables and looked more like a calm restaurant. Katy tried to ask a question to a waitress, and she replied, "Do I look like I want to answer you?" so we decided they weren't worth all the Kc we planned on spending and left.

We went back to my safe-haven, Rincon Latino, which is (again) about a 3-minute walk from my hotel and the best music/dancing I've seen in this city yet. We stopped first at a fast-foodish pizza place next door, since Katy hadn't had dinner, and while we sat there two very Arab-looking guys came in and sat down a few tables away. They were cute, and I swear I heard them speaking Arabic, then again I think people are speaking Portuguese when they're speaking Russian sometimes, since I just base it on one or two words I overhear. Anyway, I was convinced at the time that they were Arabs.

We got some drinks and sat at the only free table, which was way back in the corner. But it was lame sitting back there, and we decided to ditch our jackets there and go stand up by the bar. And that's when it got fun. We had some cuba libres and some mojitos. I started dancing with a guy who I figured was Cuban but was actually from Guinea, so we spoke French. He kept getting annoyingly angry at me because I had trouble with his accent in French and it took me a few tries for everythiing he said to understand. He was like 45 and kept asking me if I had a boyfriend back home, a boyfriend here, a husband anywhere, at what age I want to get married, so I got creeped out of course and just avoided him the rest of the night. He wasn't a bad dancer, though.

Katy and I switched off with a guy who I also figured was Cuban or African, since most of the black guys here are one or the other, but it turned out he was from Holland! He was a good dancer though, and really nice. I told him I was sorry I don't speak Dutch, but that I do not how to say "Ik hou van jou" which means "I love you" :) But we agreed it wouldn't get me far in Holland. He doesn't speak Czech either but has been here for about 8 months. He said he feels as lost here (language-wise) as I do. It's nice to meet other lost people. :)

And finally I kept seeing those guys we saw at the little pizza place! I thought this tall gordito one was cute, and thinking he was Arabic, at one point when he was standing near me, I asked him in Arabic if he's Arab. He looked confused and just smiled. We ended up dancing together, though, and then hanging out the rest of the night until about 4 a.m. when I got too sleepy to survive any longer. Katy talked to him to find out where he was from, and as it turned out, he is an actual GYPSY! He looks totally Arab (or something like that - enough that I thought he was one) but only speaks Czech except for a few phrases of English. So, because of that, we couldn't really communicate but we could look at each other and smile, which in a dance club is enough, really. He gave me his number at the end of all this and said, "Call me," though I'm not sure I will since I only know about five words in Czech, and he only knows how to say, "Call me," and "You're beautiful." :)

Katy DID find out for me, though, that he's not the typical gypsy.. he has a job, and enough money that he bought us drinks a few times, and a cell phone, and lives with his brother in an apartment. So he's a nice guy, we just can't talk to each other.

I figure we can go see a movie with Czech subtitles, though.. at least we'll both understand it. :)

Ciao for now...

Mussels and seabass and clams, oh my!

We had a really nice little party at 4pm at work yesterday to celebrate getting through (well, almost) the first week. It was really nice, the team gets along so well. :)

After work around 6:30pm, we met up and went by metro to a restaurant for a leadership dinner (long story on why I was included on that, not sure it's blog-appropriate though). Alessio, a team lead here in Prague, chose the restaurant and man was it amazing. Now, those who know me know that I don't really touch seafood except for breaded fish and shrimp. Well this place was intense.

That said, I do have a travel attitude of "don't assume you don't like something, and try everything once". So that's what I did. The place was beautiful. Champagne was poured, then wine. Then out came a little plate with one little item on it. I asked what it was. The reply was "tuna tartar". So...tartar means it's raw, right? Oh well, I've had sushi and liked it - down the hatch it went. I actually liked it but on my third bite it kinda hit me what I was eating, but it was down and all in all I liked it (probably wouldn't order it myself though).

We ordered our main courses and, not being accustomed to the whole first-course second-course etc. thing, I figured that was next. But out came three giant platters, spilling over with various treasures from the sea.

Clams in their shells, mussels, some kind of fish in a tomato sauce, and something that looked like white spaghetti.

Hesitant as I was, I just kept repeating to myself, "Try anything once." Mr. Russo scooped some clams onto my plate. "Here, try these Alia!" I was glad he put them on my plate for me because I might not have had the guts myself. I also got some of the tomato-fish and some of the white spaghetti, and also one of the mussels in a tube with breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs make everything less scary, so I tried that first. It was a definite no-no - the texture was like chewing, and trying to eat, a thick rubberband. Next I tried the white pasta. It had the texture of cheese, and tasted salty like mozzerella cheese. I said aloud, "Hmm this is good, is it cheese?" Mr. Russo piped in - "That's calamari."
"And that is...?"
"Squid."
And then I couldn't eat it anymore :( Yes, I'm one of those people.

Then came the one I was avoiding - the clams. I pried the little shell open and inside was a gummy sack of...who knows what. I knew I had to do this, otherwise I'd be a seafood waster. I told myself, if it's bad, I can just swallow and it will be over. But I decided to try chewing - actually not bad. It had a pleasant, non-fishy flavor and had the consistency of a fatty bite of steak. I actually managed to get all three down, but politely declined when I was offered more. :)

Then the main course came, along with what seemed like endless wine. I had ordered tortellini stuffed with mortadella, which I'd never had before but Mr. Russo assured me it was meat, not seafood, so it was a win in my book. It was fantastic but I literally could not eat anymore at the end, so I passed off what was left on the rest of the table. I also tried a bite of seabass, which I really liked.

I couldn't eat another bite, that is, until I saw the dessert menu. I'd never had creme brulee, so I decided to try that, and man was it good. Desserts are good in any culture and never contain seafood (or grapefruit, the only food I claim to truly despise in this world).

All in all, I was glad I tried all those new things, loved the restaurant, and had a really swell time.

We took the metro home and I went for a nightcap with Moff and Danger, even though I didn't feel like drinking (the waiter mistakenly brought me a beer, so I just gave it to Moff). I bid farewell to my new friend Danger that night, as he was off to Bangalore for another office visit.

And that was that. :)

Oh - one more thing I have to add. You know the "that's what she said" jokes, of course, well we had a reeeally good one at the restaurant. Moff and I were sitting next to each other, and he mentioned he was sitting awkwardly since his leg was right where the tables were adjoining, so the table legs were in his way. I said, "I can move over a little more," to which he replied,
"Nah, I need a solid 8 inches."

That is, indeed, what she said.

Names have been changed to protect the troublemakers

It's been a couple days since I've updated - I've been so busy!

Work-wise, it's our first live week and everything is going well. I feel optimistic and happy, despite some big changes and a few little obstacles. That's all I have to report, really. :)

Tuesday night after work I set up a dinner to that awesome Croatian restaurant I went to the week before with Moff, Tiago, and Leila. This time Management is in town. To protect their identities to the rest of the world, we'll call them Danny Russo and Danger O'Toole. It was a nice dinner - the Croatian place has actually a half-Croatian half-Italian menu, and has probably the coolest decor of any restaurant I've ever seen. We got there and back by tram, and had a lovely dinner. It was all very enjoyable. I was sad Moff couldn't come at the last minute, but I told him I'd make it up to him by buying him dinner another time... and then expensing it. :)

After Danny Russo, Jess, and Valeria went back to their hotel, Danger O'Toole suggested we go for a nightcap. We called Moff to see if he wanted to come, and he said in about a half hour he'd come down. So Danger and I headed down to a bar along the main street near the metro and started out with a couple of Staropramens. A waiter came up to get our orders at the beginning and asked me right away, "Hablas español?" I replied that I did - turns out he is from Xalapa, Mexico! I told him I was just in Veracruz last August, so we chit-chatted through the night. He also called me "corazón" and asked for my number at the end of the night. So it just goes to show - even in Prague, 1. I will find Mexican waiters and 2. They still like me here. We ended up staying until about 1:00 AM, having really nice conversation and laughing. Danger is a really cool guy, never knew him before we ended up in Prague at the same time. Go figure.

Work came and went yesterday (Wednesday) and after work, I went with Moff and Danger on a metro, got off in a very touristy area, and walked for a long time. We kept going and finally decided to stop at an Italian restaurant down in Stare Mesto (I think - I was so backwards at this point from all the walking and the little streets). We had a tasty dinner - pizza for Danger and me, and pasta for Mofstra University), went on our way, and got a metro back. I got to bed around midnight.

And now we're caught up...

I miss my mom.

A million mmmbops later....

I finally have pictures. ENJOY!!

First set of Prague pictures! 2/15 - 3/1

Quick update on other stuff... had a very lazy day yesterday. Went to dinner with some important people (Aribians) and then watched some episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark. I am so glad I brought that. :)

Today was the Go-Live. All in all, I am happy, and proud of this team. I'm so glad I'm here, and so ridiculously grateful that not only do I get to do this on a professional level, but that I get to see this incredible city at the same time. This entire thing is just incredible... and Prague is growing on me every day. I think of when I first got here, and how I couldn't even find the office, and nobody would talk to me. And now I can order number 8 at Zlaty Klas and a "cola" (yes, in Czech! - but 8 is the only number I know). And I'm taking metros and trams by myself, and shopping at Tesco, and I know that's not really anything but.. well, dorky as it may be, it's something to me. I've always traveled sort of within my comfort zone (yeah I've been to come crazy places, but at least I spoke the language near-fluently wherever I was). And here I am, and it's still going on. It just feels good. Everything about this trip feels like an accomplishment.

And yes, I still go back to my comfort zone (salsa clubs) every weekend, because let's face it, people get homesick. :)

I went to dinner with Moff at the Mexican place, and it was delicious as usual. Then we did a little joint shopping at Tesco. He is currently borrowing one disc of episodes of one of my three favorite Canadian TV shows, Are You Afraid of the Dark? Which I have watched about 25 episodes of since I got here.

It's either that, or German cartoons.

Hugs to Pittsburgh, I miss you all like crazy :-)

Leila bil-layl

Last night I went out with Leila to a club called Roxy. I took the metro all by myself!! I didn't even get confused. We met up and went to an Italian restaurant, which was good. Gossipped a little (as usual:) and went to the club. It was a strange but cool place. The people were kind of 'alternative' if that makes any sense, and the DJ was really good. There was one guy in the middle of a huge dance floor, doing the beginning hands-in-pockets sway move that Napoleon Dynamite does right before he busts out, but the bust-out never came. He just did that for about an hour until finally a few others joined him.

Also, we got our picture taken for an internet magazine. I hope I am famous soon. :)

We had a couple drinks there - my first Bacardi & Cokes with lime since I've been here - and then headed to, you guessed it, a latin club. I didn't dance, I was exhausted from the night/day before. I had a couple caipirinhas (which only cost a couple dollars here and are delicious) and chilled out.

On my second trip to the bar, I was standing waiting in line to order something, and a guy came over to me. He was a little shorter than me, and older (I'd guess around 40).

He asked in Spanish, "Do you speak Spanish?"
"Yes."
"Oh great.. I don't want to seem rude or anything, but I'm from Peru, and my friend over there is from Bolivia and our other friend there is latino as well, and, well.. we wanted to know where you're from. We were all trying to guess but we have no idea."
I laughed, because that really is pretty hilarious. I replied, "My dad is Palestinian, and my mom is American."
"Ohhh so that explains why you look latina then... so how is it that you speak Spanish?"
"I just learned in school.. studied abroad, travel as much as I can.."
And it went on from there.. we talked about why we're both in Prague a bit and then ended the conversation. He was nice.

Around 1:30am we were both sleepy. We went walking through the streets a bit, a lot of African guys like to randomly walk up to us and ask where we're going and if we want to go have a drink. I answer everybody on the street; the Pittsburgher in me is fine talking to strangers. I think I surprise Leila with it a bit each time :) Sorry girl.

Anyway, that was that - I took a very crowded night-tram back to the hotel. My sleepiness went away so I thought I'd do a couple loads of laundry, since they take so long here. I washed all my jeans, a pair of dress pants for work, and all my socks - since these are the things I'm running out of the most. :) I also washed my soiled white jacket, which is whiter now but still not pristine like it was when I got here. It's okay.

The only downside was that after about an hour, I got really tired. So, it was a very weird schedule, but I put the first load in at 2:45am, it was done around 4am. Then I put some stuff in the dryer, put my jacket in the washer (since I don't put it in the dryer anyway), then set my alarm for like 6:40 AM (so I slept from about 4:15 to 6:40), went down and got my stuff, came back up and went to sleep until about noon. :)

Now I'm waiting on some Aribians (any Aribian, really) to call so we can go eat. I called Moff and we're going to wait for a couple others who arrived/are arriving this weekend want to come. Jess arrives today, so we'll see what time she's getting in.

That's all for now.. kisses to Pittsburgh.