Jane Hancock

It's official. :)

Signs

A lot of little things (well, little in the grand scheme of things, big(ish) things for me) keep happening to just reassure me further that I made the right decision in moving away (i.e. getting the hell out of here).

It's nearly 1am. I can't sleep, and I have to wake up in ~3.5 hours for work.


While I was in Prague, I kept making comparisons, both to others and just in my head. Listing out how something was there, and comparing it to here. A lot of times it was in favor of Pittsburgh. Like how cold the people acted, and how in Pittsburgh everyone is so friendly. Or how in restaurants in Pgh you could get water for free, and free refills on anything else, but that in Prague you can't, and water costs money.

Well here's a big one in favor of Prague:

In Prague, not once did I have trouble sleeping.

I'm going to go try again.

Stimulating the economy, one store at a time

OMGZ I missed shopping. I didn't do too much of it in Prague, mainly because I was busy with other things. Today around noon I went out to lunch with my mom, then shopping.. bought some new summery clothes (mostly for work but some just for bumming around, too), new sunglasses, the American Idol game for Wii (thank you Bethany for making me desperately need this game), and a giant carton of strawberries for no other reason than I really just wanted some strawberries.

We also bought the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which I keep hearing great things about but haven't seen yet. I think I'll go have my lunch leftovers for dinner and watch that movie, and then try to squeeze in a nap before MEXI-PARTY CUMBIA NIGHT. I am going to dance with so many boys tonight, just yinz wait :)

OH, speaking of movies, I watched one last night called "Al Otro Lado". It was sad, but I really enjoyed it. I loved another movie called "La Misma Luna" and one of the main reasons was for the little boy who starred in it. I don't usually particularly like any child actor, but this little boy is just SO CUTE. He was in this movie as well and was still absolutely adorable. I'll bite and make the vow now to see every movie the kid ever makes, even when he's grown-up and has a moustache (he is Mexican so this is inevitable).

I cannot wait to go dancing :) Especially because it's with Tara and I haven't freaking seen her all week.

Ch-ch-changes

When did everybody I know start acting so old? It's Friday night and not one person I know wants to go *out*.

I'm not trying to judge, Pittsburgh...but this would never happen in Praha. :)

No real updates

I finally balanced my checkbook. I got so tired of the changing exchange rates on my online bank statment and having to fix the errors that I decided to just wait until I was back in the US for a while to do it. It took a couple of hours but it's done :)

I've been doing some preliminary apartment hunting in Prague but so far nothing really strikes me. I don't really know where I want to live, but I posted for some help on expats.cz and everybody was really helpful. I like that site very much. You get the occasional sarcastic comment from some jackass who has nothing better to do with his time, but for the most part the people really want to help you.

I'm at work now and procrastinating a little project that I'm not sure how to start. I know it's one of those things that once I get started I'll churn out pretty quickly, but starting with a blank page in MS Word is always the toughest thing. Oh well, it's due Friday so I really can't put it off any further. Maybe I'll even finish today and not have to worry about it the rest of the week.

There are latin parties galore coming up, I'm glad DJ Juan Diego is back in business, along with Sonido Azteca. They're two of my favorite DJs and when they play together it's always a really good time. There's a party this Saturday, I hope I can weasel out of my "current duties" to go with Tara.

Wellllll that's that. Man I am boring in Pittsburgh. I need to go back to Praha asap so I can make this blog interesting again.

Pivo

OMG I forgot to add that at Fatheads I totally drank a PILSNER URQUELL DRAFT.

1. That is my third favorite Czech beer.
2. They did not give me nearly as much foam on top as they do in CZ :)
3. I caught myself touching the glass to the table when I clinked glasses with Ashley.

I thought the Praguies would like to know this. :)

Pittsburgh Day

Since it seems to be common knowledge at work now, I guess I can say it in here. I'd been trying to keep it hush but when I got back from Prague, everybody knew it. :)

I am moving to Prague. As in... completely relocating. I'm nervous and excited... about 30% nervous and 70% excited.

Today was one of those days I wanted to spend doing things I'll miss once I'm there. I set out with Ash relatively early in the day, and then Maira texted and we decided to go to Fathead's for lunch. (Jose probably just made some kind of excited noise as he read this:).

After that we wanted to do something super Pittsburghy, so we parked at Station Square and decided to go down to the Gateway Clipper for a river cruise. Unfortunately they're not running regularly until May, so we couldn't get one. We had already paid the parking, so we walked down through Station Square, and then down on the walk along the river. Maira and I both had our cameras so we decided to have Photo Shoot Day and took a ridiculous amount of pictures of each other. :) It was such a beautiful day with the sun shining and everything.

After that we went back to the car and went down to Cheesecake Factory and each got a piece to go, then went to this nice area with a fountain and benches to sit and enjoy it. I took Maira home after that, then Ash left, and I felt really content.

I get such mixed feelings. I think to myself how much I'll miss days like this. And then I think how I'll have more days like this, in a new and exciting place. Then I think how the days won't be with my friends here. Then I think how I'll make new friends. Then I think how no new friends will replace these that I've had practically my whole life. I go back and forth all the time, but I will say this.. not once since I made this decision to relocate have I regretted it, or thought for a second that I might not want to go.

I talked to Morad for a long time on MSN, and now I'm punishing my day of glee by making myself work on my UAT slides :) I've been at it for an hour and a half but really all I did was watch the SNL special "Best of Amy Poehler" and file one defect.

Oh well, I will get back to it and will be in bed by 2am.

Tomorrow I am going to visit family, then hang out with Morad. It will be another good day, especially if I don't have to worry about UAT. That's why I am determined to finish tonight :)

Buenas noches, mi gente.

Almost one week in

I feel really out of sorts, and really really tired. I don't know if it's because I don't like where I am now (not that I didn't miss all my friends, I'm just still really bored of life here), or if I'm just feeling out of wack from the travel.

Everyone told me I'd have jet-lag going over to Europe, but I didn't. They said I wouldn't feel it coming back, but I'm still waking up at odd times wide awake, waiting for my alarm to go off at 4:45am (when I have to get up early for my crazy work schedule), shooting out of bed with all this energy, and then crashing around 5pm (I guess when my body feels like it's 11pm or so).


It's 8:41pm and I've stayed awake as long as I could. I'm going to bed and I don't care how lame that is.

Back to work

Yesterday was my first day back in the office. It was so nice to see everybody. I didn't get to see Maira, though, she's on PTO for the next couple of days :( C'est la vie, I will hug her extra once she's back.

Things are back to normal... no time for a lunch break, staying late... I left at 4:30pm yesterday and didn't get home until nearly 7pm because of the traffic around the stadiums (Pirates home opener).

It's sad how little I have to write about when I'm in Pittsburgh, and how routine everything feels already.

Mexi-fun

Yesterday I went to the mall with Tara and Ash, and then to Friday's (like I couldn't do that in Prague:). I had a beer with my meal and then when I got the bill, realized that beer is not cheaper than water here. It was $5 (100Kc) which got me down. I'm having a little bit of reverse culture shock, only when it comes to prices/money, but I guess that's normal.

Last night I went to a latin party with two of my favorite DJs, Juan Di and Sonido Azteca. It started out slow; when Tara and I arrived there were chairs all around the perimeter of the room and nobody was dancing. Ubaldo (Sonido Azteca) was playing a series of my favorite cumbias, so Tara and I figured, eff it, and got up and danced with each other. Nobody else was dancing so we just put on a show for them all (ha) and had a blast. After that we had no trouble finding dance partners all night.

I ran into one (m)ex-boyfriend, and it was an awkward meeting. We didn't dance but we did chat for a while, which was nice and re-affirmed that old decision. :) I met some new people, too. One of my favorite past times is messing with Mexicans that I meet for the first time.

"Heeey, de dónde eres?"
"Soy de aquí, de Pittsburgh."
"Wow, por qué hablas español entonces?"
"Por casualidad."

I get that question so much that I had to come up with some better responses than, "I studied Spanish in college." So I change it up between, "Just by chance," "I learned in the streets," and "I'm from Oaxaca, Mexico originally. Like the cheese." I entertain myself if no one else. :)

Anyway, I danced all night and my legs are sore today in a great way. I missed the feeling of dancing to exhaustion.

It was so good seeing all the people I missed... Pablo was there (my favorite cumbia partner), Beto (a goofy guy I've known for years now), Enrique (the dark-eyed, brooding mexican who speaks in puzzles), Rafael (who I only knew through myspace for a while, but then randomly showed up to my 24th birthday party at my house, and we were friends after that:)... it hit me how much I am really going to miss all of these people.

I'm oddly excited to go to work tomorrow. I want to see everyone and give them the presents I bought them, hug Maira 500x, have lunch with my old crew (Chris, Nasser, Bethany, Maira - make it happen!), and I remembered today that Danger will be in the office this week.

Wellll that's it for now. Happy Easter, everyone :)

Back in the 'burgh

I arrived back in Pittsburgh around 6pm last night.

The trip itself was okay. I got jipped on the "taxi" ride to the airport, but no biggie.

-The flight from Prague to Frankfurt was spent trying to get the zipper of my Pitt hoodie unstuck.
-The layover in Frankfurt was spent eating a 2-euro "bretzel" and talking to two older Egyptian guys who picked me out and said, "You're Arab, right?" (in Arabic). I replied that I was, and they said, "Palestinian?" I really like when that happens. :) They gave me their business cards and told me they would love to mail me books on Islam. Their hearts were in the right places.
-The flight from Frankfurt to DC, I was seated next to an Israeli who managed to unstick my zipper for me. It almost changed my opinion of Israeli people, but then he started talking about how "life in Israel is sooo hard" and how he is dating a hot blonde european girl who's my age (dude was like 50), and how living in DC is expensive but he doesn't care, and that once his son graduates from high school he'll go live in the south of Spain and paint. Then I think of how the Palestinians suffer and even with my working zipper, I can't help but feel resentment.
-The layover in DC was spend racing through customs, pushing ahead of everyone, and racing to my gate. I barely made it.
-The flight from DC to Pittsburgh was spent chatting to the guy next to me who lives in Peters Township. He kindly caught me up on all the Pittsburgh news. He asked me all about Prague and told me about his life between Pittsburgh and DC. The rest of the plane was chatting, too - I heard strangers in front of me and in back just talking about nothing. The guy also shared his newspaper with me. Hear that, Prague? That's how it should be. :)

When I got back to Pittsburgh I raced to get to my mom, hugged her about a million times, got my luggage and went to the car. While in the car, I checked my voicemail to find out that Tracy's (one of my best childhood friends that I haven't spoken to in years) mom passed away from cancer on Wednesday, and that the last viewing at the funeral home was going on at that moment (from 6-8 - by this time it was about 6:45pm). I went straight there, was the only person in jeans, but at least I went. My heart really goes out to their family. Tracy and I practically lived at each others' houses when we were kids, up through about mid-high school when we became very different from each other. Looking at her face brought back a lot of memories, and even though we're still really different, my heart just hurt for her. I couldn't imagine losing my mother at this age, even though I know a lot of people do. My prayers are with Tracy and her family.

After that we picked up pizza (AMERICAN pizza:) at my favorite place in Ambridge (Frank's), chatted to the Aloe family, and went home. Gave mom her presents, ate my pizza with lots of hot sauce, watched American TV, and drank a glass of iced tea with ice in it. MAN did that feel good.

After a while Tara came down to visit, and it was like I never left. We watched America's Funniest Home Videos and rewound all the funny ones 20x and laughed our heads off. After about an hour I was falling asleep (it was about 10:30pm but my body felt like it was 4:30am due to the time change). Tara left, and I went to sleep, and woke up at 6am today wide awake. So I got up and read for a while, lazed, had American breakfast, did laundry, and now I'm going to go get a haircut.

And now you are caught up on Pittsburgh life.

I have to enjoy it a lot in the next couple of months...

Home is where you drink your pivo

Last night I met up with Miguel and his habibi friend Moataz for pizza and pivo. We had a lovely time and I was glad I got to see Miguel before I leave.

Today, work was hectic, but I got a lot done and I could leave without feeling like I had a million things hanging over my head.

After work, I went with Leila, Naima, and Naima's friend to a beer garden. This is something like the parking lot at a DMB concert, but with tables and cooler people. We ate "klobasa" with bread and drank some Gambrinus, hung out and talked, and then Naima and her friend left to go to a play. Tiago arrived shortly after, then Farid. We drank and laughed and told stories, then we played foosball!! It was my first time. For the first game I was pretty awesome, and Tiago and I were a great team... then the second game I started to suck :) Oh well, I very much enjoyed it.

Shortly after Farid left, and I spotted a cute boy nearby and we looked at each other a few times. After a little while he waved, then came over to talk. Turned out he was from Angola! So we spoke Portuguese, and he said he hopes he sees me again soon and that "Prague is small so we'll run into each other". Unfortunately I'm leaving tomorrow, so I made it Tiago's job to find him for me while I'm gone :) Ha.

Naima came back with her entourage, and we all sat for a while and talked but got tired and eventually left. I had my final goodbyes with Leila and Tiago (sad) and took a couple trams, and here I am, still half-packed and very sleepy.

I cannot wait to hug everybody.

And to go to Primanti's.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

Yesterday after work I went with Naima, Tiago, and Farid down to the river with some big 13Kc beers. For the Pittsburghers, it was like buying a forty for about 60 cents (but GOOD beer). It was such a nice time. We climbed up onto a big steel dock. The sun was shining and slowly starting to set. Boats were going by, and the view was lovely. A nice breeze was blowing, we were laughing, talking about everything and nothing, when.. bloop! Down came a sprinkle of water on my arm.

Wishfully thinking, I figured it was just a strangely high splash from the river. But then Tiago felt one.

"Is it raining?"
"Nooo, it can't be, it's sunny!"

But then it started, and eventually came down pretty steadily. We left shortly after but I probably could have sat there all night.


I hope today is nice, too. I'm waiting on Miguel and his habibi friend to come down to work so we can go hang out and have some pivo.

Radost and Obama (I wish I could combine the two!)

Radost was awesome. The music is great, the crowd is friendly, and the place itself has a nice set-up. I'll definitely go back. Tiago came along and we had a great time hanging out as usual. I kept losing him but then we'd find each other again :) One time I lost him for a long time, maybe an hour or so, and I was up on the balcony dance area, and I looked down to see him dancing on stage with three girls. So at least he wasn't alone or bored :) Life really wouldn't be as good as it is if Tiago weren't in it.

I made a friend named Ziggy and he is pretty darn cool. We're probably hanging out tomorrow. I also spotted a guy in a STEELERS JERSEY, wearing a PITTSBURGH HAT. I had to go over and say something. I asked if he was from Pittsburgh and he said, "Yeah I am, are you??" I said, HELL YEAH!! and we hugged :) He was wearing Santonio's number. Turned out he's from Wilkinsburg and in Prague for just a few days. We didn't talk much after that but we were happy to meet each other :)

So we stayed at Radost until around 6am, then headed back to Andel so I could change clothes real quick and get my purse. We left Ziggy and David (our new friends) at that point, and headed down to Old Town Square. We got some breakfast (which was way too expensive - 430Kc for two omlettes, some cold bread, a juice, and a tea. That's a little over $20 - ridiculous. Especially when a few hours later we were at the area where Obama was speaking and we got really nice sandwiches for 40Kc, which is about $2. Whatever, man. All I can say is, when you've got a tummy full of long island iced teas, you will pay whatever it takes for some breakfast food. :)

Anyway after breakfast we headed by tram over to where Obama was going to speak. Good thing I didn't make my sad little sign. Why I was naive enough to think that the crowd wouldn't be that big or that I might be close enough for him to see me is beyond me :) The crowd was HUGE. We had to go through security to get in there, which took forever. We got there right around 10, when the speech was supposed to start, and got some spots in the grass (and omg, it felt soooooo good to sit, because we'd been walking or standing for hours) in front of a huge screen. So, while we couldn't actually see HIM, there was a really cool feeling all around. Everybody was excited, lots of Americans showed up along with people from every other country you could imagine. Everyone clapped, cheered, hooted and hollered, though I was the only one singing along to "God Bless America" when they played it at the end. I did not care and proceeded to whistle it the rest of the day.

The speech itself was great, but I really thought the whole thing would last longer. I feel really good though. There were a lot of times that I was tired and sore and just wanted to give up on the plan, and now I'm so glad I didn't. I was there to support my President in Prague, of all places, and got to witness his first speech to the public in Europe. And just seeing him live, right there, was so freaking COOL.

The trip home was rough. We got a little lost in the tiny winding streets, but we knew since we were near the castle we had to go downhill. So we did, and ended up in this funny little valley with a HUGE wall (pictures to come later). There was the option of walking up another very steep hill or taking some very rocky steps. We chose the steps, and the view once we got up there was amazing. I took a tiny little nature walk (I was actually walking along the top of the huge wall) and could see a lot of houses and rooftops, and the castle off in the distance. Gorgeous.

The trams were absolutely packed, and the number 22 we got on, not to be gross, but really smelled like somebody did number 2 in his/her pants. Everybody noticed it, people had their hands over their faces, etc. It was tough but it was either that or wait who knew how long for another packed tram. We got into town, transferred to a number 12, and finally made it back to Andel. I said byebye to Katy, went back to my hotel room, and in the proverbial "before my head hit the pillow" I was asleep.

And I don't think I moved an inch for about 5 hours - I never slept so well. I forced myself to get up so I can actually sleep tonight, watched a little TV, had dinner, e-mailed my mom, and now I'm very excited to go to sleep again :)

And that's all! Great weekend :)

Reason to learn Czech? To see movies in Kazakh, of course!

Friday after work I went to a movie with Leila, her husband Dan, and Tiago. It was a movie from Kazakhstan in the film festival that was going on in Prague all week called Febiofest, and even though I was tired I was looking forward to it because I love foreign films. I had a disturbing thought, though, about a minute before the movie was going to start.

Our seats were a bit spread out, so Leila and Dan were together on the other side of the theater, and Tiago was sitting right in front of me. I leaned forward. "Oi Ti... do you think this movie will be in Kazakh with Czech subtitles, or will it have English subtitles?"
His face creased in worry for a moment, like mine, and then said, "It must have English subtitles."
"Okay, I hope so."

The movie started right on time and the credits started. Czech subtitles appeared at the bottom. I thought maybe once the dialogue of the movie started, the English would come up as well, but no such luck. Tiago, Leila, Dan and I started to exchange very amused glances.

Tiago and I agreed we should try, because in some movies you can get by without knowing what they're saying. Unfortunately this was not the case with this one. :) It's a shame, it looked like it would be really good. Maybe someday I can catch it again, with English subtitles. :) Thanks anyway, Leila. Sorry your tickets were wasted on us :)

Last night I went to dinner and then to Rincon Latino for dancing with Katy. I was still feeling wiped out from my allergies, and I think the medicine I'm taking is making me drowsy. I was feeling really claustrophobic no matter where I was last night, I didn't feel like dancing (so you know something must be wrong:), and I just wanted to sleep. I wanted to hold out as long as I could, and I made it until around 2:30 before I was wiped out. Katy was nice about it, I felt bad I was being lame, but she understood.

Today I slept until I woke up naturally, which was around 11:30am. It felt AWESOME, I've been kind of sleep-deprived all week. I got up, got ready, and went shopping around Můstek for a few hours. I have been wanting to buy a garnet ring, and near the beginning of my trip I was out walking one night with Danger and Moff and while Danger was at an ATM, I was looking in the window of a jewelry store where I fell in love with a certain ring design. So last week when I was around the Charles Bridge area, I went into about 10 different shops looking for it but I couldn't find it.

This week I went straight to this place and found that the guy was Croatian, not Czech, which made me like him more and happier to do business with him (not because I dislike Czech people, but because I very much like Croatian people:). He wasn't pushy at all and gave me nice opinions, and was chatty and friendly. My ring was a little expensive I guess, but I was looking for it for so long (a whole week:) that I didn't mind buying myself one nice thing while I'm here. Plus it wasn't THAT bad, I looked online and saw most garnet was more expensive, and plus.. it's just reeeeally pretty. :)

He resized it for me and I went for a walk during that time and found a present for my beloved baby brother (who is 16 and will always be my baby brother:), which was also probably too much money but it was the only thing I could find that I thought he'd REALLY like and not just politely thank me for and then never look at again. I couldn't find anything that was good enough for Mariah (my little sister), because she's also very important to me, so I ended up buying her something really beautiful back at the same jewelry shop. The Croatian guy gave me discounts on everything so it was reasonable, especially for what I got. I think she'll realy like it.

And that was that. I bought myself some lunch (at 4:30pm, more like dinner I guess) and then slept the rest of the day until a little while ago. Reason being, I am going to a club called Radost tonight, then going very early in the morning to stake out a good spot to see Obama!! So, I will not be sleeping until tomorrow afternoon. I had to save up the hours :) I can't wait to see my president!!

I didn't get to make my Steelers sign though :( I don't know where to buy that kind of stuff here. I will wear my Pitt hoodie and hope for the best. :)

Illin'

If someone met me for the first time today, they would think that my favorite hobby were sneezing. I was keeping count for a while because I really never sneeze much, but at around 15 or so I got bored of the game, and that was in the morning. I took a little power-nap after work and when I woke up, I had four sneezes.

And even though all day I was swearing I wouldn't, after that, I caved: I bought allergy medicine.

And let me tell you, it is not an easy feat. Buying nearly anything in Prague is scary for me, because there's always the fear that they won't speak English. Something like the grocery store is easy. Everything has a bar code, I just look at the price on the register and I hand over the money. I can say "Hello" and "Thank you" so I'm good to go.

But a pharmacy? Asking for allergy medication? Asking which one is the best one to get, and trying to say that I'm allergic to springtime in Czech? No way, Jose.

But after how cloggy my head feels and how tickly my nose feels (constantly, hence all the sneezing), I had to brave it. I went to the pharmacy and waited in line patiently, after a brief look around the shop in hopes that I could just find the box myself. The signs at the top saying which line you should be in were all in Czech, so I just picked the shortest one.

"Dobrý den!"
"Dobrý den... do you speak English?"
"Next line!"
"Next line for English?"
"Ano!"
"Wait...máte...allergy medication?" (I learned "Do you have" from Jose one day.. unfortunately I didn't know 'allergy medication' in Czech).
"Ano! Next line!"

So I went over to the longer line. I was debating just leaving, but imagining the disgrace I'd feel having to walk out of the store empty-handed, sneezing, and puffy-eyed kept me locked in place. I had to try.

"Dobrý den!" Uh oh. That was how it started last time.
"Dobrý den...do you speak English?"
"Yes, I do." (omgomgomgomz!!!1!111!!)
"Oh, great - I need some allergy medication."
"What is your allergy?"
"Umm...maybe pollen? The air?"
"Spring?"
"YES, spring!"
"7 days or 20 days?"
"I guess...7 days?"
"Moment!"

She disappeared and came back with a box of Zyrtec. The name was familiar enough, but the box was all in Czech.

"One pill a day?"
"Yes! 105 Kc."

And that was that. After that I went to Tesco to treat myself to a Coke, a box of Kleenex with lotion (since my nose is raw from the wax-paper I've been using until now - damn the extra 20 Kc!), and once I was at the checkout line, a dark chocolate bar with pecans (I'm weak).

I left after that and ran into Francisco from work. We had a nice albeit short chat, I picked up some quick dinner sebou and watched an episode of Ugly Betty.

Despite the tickle in my nose, I am feeling pret-ty good right now. :) And come tomorrow, I will be going home in ONE WEEK!!

But don't worry, Palestina en Praga isn't ending there...

Allergies

I am sick!! Not really really sick, but enough so that getting through today was hard. Luckily my huge training sessions that I was giving ended yesterday, and today I just had a one-hour with a couple people that was a lot more casual, so I didn't have to be quite so "on". I got a new project assigned to me today and I'm geekily excited about it. It seems like it's kind of a big deal and definitely more involved than anything else I've had yet. I definitely made a good decision with my career path; the things they're giving me now are right up my alley. I'm feeling good :)

As for the sickness, I felt so wiped out this morning that I didn't go to breakfast, just ate an orange in my room, and got to work right on time (I'm usually early). My mom told me that I always used to be sick right around my birthday, since it's right between winter and springtime. I shared this with Alessio because he commented that I looked really tired/out of it, and mentioned that it's just allergies. He said I'm probably allergic to my birthday. :) I really like working with him.

I did laundry after work and since it takes so long, I took a really nice nap. Katy called once she was out of work, and around 8pm we went to dinner at an Italian place here in Andel. It was good and I'm soooo ready for bed, but I have to wait another 50 minutes or so for my clothes to be dry. I can be in bed by midnight, so that'll have to do.

I can't believe how soon I'm going home - it's only 9 more days! This weekend is going to be great (if I'm feeling better). Friday night I'll be at Rincon Latino, Saturday during the day I have some last-minute shopping to do (for other people, and I am still looking for a garnet ring for myself), Saturday night I'm going with Katy and whoever else wants to go to Radost, then from there - and I know this will be insane - we're going straight to try to get really close to see Obama!!! I can't believe he's coming to Prague, I'm so excited. I am toying the idea of making a sign that says something about Pittsburgh, and if I'm close enough maybe he'd notice it! But probably not, I doubt you can get that close to the President of the United States. That's kind of a big deal.

:)

It will be cool enough just to hear him speak.. in PRAGUE.