Celebrate good times, come on!

Today some work friends and I went out for drinks/dinner at TGI Friday's. They were playing Kelly Clarkson, and with my Ultimate Margarita and my sesame Jack chicken strips, I felt like I was back in the US of A. This is also the first day I feel sickeningly full, what does that say for the US :) It was a really fun time, though. I finally got to meet Jose's wife Jolanna and their son Toby, who is an absolute doll even though he's kind of shy :) So cute. Leila, Naima, Tiago, Jose, and Adina were all there for the whole time, and it was a blast as always with that crowd.

Afterward I went to see a movie with Naima. I bought my first Czech "appliance" - a hair straightener! For 899Kc I am the proud owner of a Philips hair straightener. The box and instructions are all in Czech and Russian :( Luckily I know how to use one. Let's just hope it doesn't say something like, "Do this special thing to it first, or else all your hair will burn off." Fingers crossed, people.

Oh, and we saw Bruno. And it was hilarious. Mom, you really should see it, I think you'd laugh a lot :)

Tomorrow will be a big day: I'm going to pay the agency fee on the apartment I saw yesterday. Yes, I bit the bullet and decided to take it :) I have an appointment at 12:30pm with Radek. Tomorrow is also the day I open my Czech bank account! I decided on Raiffeisenbank, a German bank that I've seen all over Prague. They speak English, they have a nice website and online banking, and the charges are the same as every other bank, so essentially there's no difference.

So, here I am. Tomorrow will be Day 5 (though it's really Day 4, because on Day 1 I just arrived and slept a lot:). Let's call it Day 5 though, just to make it even since it's Friday. Okay, too much discussion: let me start this over.

AHEM.

So here I am. Tomorrow will be Day 5. By the end of the day I will have found a residence, assimilated financially into the Czech world, and did it all on my own. Mom, be proud :)

Tomorrow night, the plan (so far) is to go get Afghani food with Leila and maybe (hopefully) Naima. That is one of the gems of Prague that we don't have in Pittsburgh - Afghani food. The owner knows me and is really sweet, so I'm looking forward to seeing him (and if he remembers me after this much time - he knew me before I left!). After that, RINCON LATINO for some SALSAAAA!!!

I can't wait to go to the center and see the castle all lit up again. I missed that view. I do feel sad for a few moments sometimes, thinking of home and my mom and my friends and what I'm missing there, but I really really love it here. And I think I'm only going to love it more once I'm really settled in my place and feel like I have a space that's really my own.

Enough corny stuff. I'm going to do some crossword puzzles and go to sleep :) Got a long day tomorrow!