(Full) Day 1

This morning I went to work. I got there from the apartment without any issues, I asked one guy on the street if I was going the right way. Actually, how it really went down (since during my first week on the last visit, speaking English to anyone in the street was a disaster and made me cry), was I pointed down the road I THOUGHT would take me to work and said, "Andel?" The guy pointed the same way, smiled, and said, "Andel."

See, nothin' to it. The fewer words, the better.

Work was great - seeing everyone was super fun, and I barely noticed that I didn't have a computer for the first hour or so :) The new IT guy, Ondrej, is super nice, and Jiri set up my email for me. My sweethearts, Jose, Leila, and Tiago, gave me flowers for my first day :) They are the sweetest. I met a few new people, including Michael, an AMERICAN (we are now the only two:), and Elena the team lead. It was a relatively uneventful but enjoyable day. And thanks to my 16 hours of sleep, I wasn't even tired :)

After work I decided to call Hernaldo. It was really nice to hear his voice but I ended up teary-eyed. I called my mom, then (actually I called her first but she didn't answer, then I called Nalo, then I called her again and got her). During that time, Jakub my reality friend called (pssst that's Czech for "realty") and told me I could go see the apartment today! He sent me an SMS (pssst that's Czech for text message) to meet him at the place at 19:00 (pssst, that's Czech for 7pm).

So by some miracle, I actually found the place. I even had a conversation in Czech to get there! Czech it out:

Me: Prosím.... (pointing to the street)... Holeckova?
Guy: (also pointing to the street with a wavy motion) Holeckova.
Me: (showing him the text message saying "58 Holeckova", which is the address). Fifty-eight? (I shrug my shoulders in a where-could-it-be motion)
Guy: (points down the road and motions to the right side of the road)
Me: Dekuji!
Guy: (nods and keeps walking)

I am so good at Prague.

Anyway, I got to the place and met my super emo 15 year old looking reality guy Jakub for the first time in person. He took me up some steps, and some more steps, and some more steps, until we reached the apartment. The place itself, for one person, wasn't bad. I do wish the bedroom were a little bigger, but the bathroom is decent, the living room is very big, and there is a small balcony, which is super cool. Downsides? There's no closet in the bedroom, so I'd have to get a wardrobe or something. Also there's no washing machine, but he told me the owner was planning to put one in.

I told him that I found some other places (a lie) that were more in my price range that I was also going to see, and he said he'd talk to the landlord to see if he could lower the price a bit. I told him that would be great. :) If it were cheaper I'd probably take it, but as it stands, it's 11,000Kc/month plus 3000Kc for utilities, which is too much.

After that whole dealie, I took one illegal tram ride down a stop (I was tired of walking) to Tesco to get some food to cook. As it turns out, there are no cans of soup (I really just wanted some soup). There are pouches of soup, which actually looked pretty good, but the directions were all in Czech and I felt scared. I ended up buying pasta and sauce in a jar, which normally I'd make myself but I didn't feel like buying a bunch of spices when all of mine are on their way in the ground shipment). I also got oranges, a KitKat bar that I'm saving for when I really need it (a homesick day), some milk, some Museli cereal, two packs of what look like Ramen noodles in case of a true emergency, and extra pasta and sauce. Oh, and a box of tea bags. Oh, and some bread and some butter.

The best kinds of groceries are HEAVY.

So tonight for dinner I had a bowl of pasta and sauce, which really wasn't TOO bad (still, it's from a jar), and a small orange. I feel pleased but regret not buying some more interesting drinks, I just have water and milk here.

Things I learned today:
1. It is okay to wear short denim shorts and a denim vest with ankle socks and dirty white sneakers in Tesco, especially if you are a man.
2. The tram stop Betramka is as far a walk as just walking to Tesco. I will be just walking from now on.
3. reality is a tough business.
4. That smell is always someone else.

That's all for tonight. :)