Lots of updates for once!

It's been a fun week so far, and it's just Tuesday!!

Yesterday was a pretty normal day at work, and afterward we went out for Elena's birthday to Potrefena Husa. There were quite a lot of people, and we stayed until about 9pm (more stayed later, but that was the time when I left). I had a really nice Bohemian potato soup in a bread bowl that was just great. After that I went to the cinema with Beliza and Naima. We saw Public Enemy with Johnny Depp. I liked it very much, Beliza wasn't too impressed, and Naima was in the middle I think. Oh well :)

I went back to my temporary place after that and got ready for bed, I was exhausted. The movie was long, and I didn't get home until nearly midnight I think.

Work today was very rushy, but the most important part is that during the day for my break, I went to my new apartment to get the keys and sign the lease!! I met the landlord for the first time, who is a man of probably around 65 years old or more. He doesn't speak any English but was just the sweetest guy you could imagine. Radek the Reality Friend was a bit late, so the guy and I were left there alone trying to communicate. We managed to say a few sentences between my very limited Czech, my limited German, his limited German, and his very limited English. So we just smiled a lot. :)

I love my apartment even more seeing it the second time - it's more spacious and brighter than I remember. I just adore it and couldn't be happier. It's perfect for me. The stairs are getting easier, too, because I'm forcing myself to take the stairs everywhere I go now - even in my temporary place where I'm on the 5th floor.

After that I went to the equivalent of Subway to get a to-go sandwich so I could alleviate Jose of his auction admin duties. I only had 500 CZK left in my wallet, and gave it to the girl to pay. Actually, I gave 520 CZK, because she didn't want to make that much change for me. My sandwich was 120 CZK, so when she only gave me 100 CZK back, I said, "Oh, I gave you a 500 bill." She said, "No, you give me two [hundred]" in very broken English. I said, "I'm sure I gave you 500..." she said, "No, you give me two" and held up a 200 CZK bill. I didn't know how to argue so I just left, kind of confused.

When I got back to the office, I told Jose what happened, and he said this is a very common trick that some places do with foreigners, because 1. we're too polite to argue and 2. we can't speak Czech. I really just felt so cheated and taken advantage of. It's only about 300 Kc but I'm earning a Czech salary, too... and not to discuss my personal finances in my blog, but 300 Kc is nothing to spit on for me right now... paying for the apartment is killing my bank account. I still just feel sick inside over this, even though in my heart of hearts I know that 300 Kc is a small price to pay for an important lesson learned. Why do people have to be so dishonest?

Well, they lost a customer - I'm sure they won't notice or care, but I'll be sure to warn anyone I meet who might go there as well.

So, anyway, after work I went for a drink/snack with Leila. I really wasn't very hungry but knew I should have dinner, so I had a bowl of mushroom soup that was really fantastic, along with some very nice homemade bread. She had a salad on a plate that was the size of two people's heads. :) The salad itself was, although large, not abnormally large, but the plate was hilariously huge :) We had a nice talk and caught up on our lives, then went for a walk from Andel down to the center, along the river, and then we went our separate ways.

And that brings me here. I'm going to go watch some crappy US TV shows online now and enjoy the hell out of them :)

Prague is fun again.