The comfort of sandals, but your feet don't get cold

What a strange, strange weekend.

I ended up getting out of work at 3pm due to some auction issues, and needless to say, once I got out I was exhausted. I worked an entire solid 8.5 hour day. On Saturday. Insane.

I went to Tesco to buy a couple things on my wish list: some stick-on-the-wall hooks, some hand towels/cleaning rags, and sponges. And as a bonus, a measuring cup that measures liters. :) After that I went to KFC because I figured I deserved some American indulgence after the day I had. I got a chicken sandwich and it was awesome. Funny thing is, I can't remember the last time I went to KFC in the US. For some reason these things are better here.

I went home, ate my sandwich, and settled down to watch an episode of Heroes on my computer, when a wave of sleepiness took over me and I passed out on my little broken loveseat. And then I woke up....at 10:30pm. I seriously thought it was 5am or so, and was angry when I looked at the clock. What could I possibly do? So I texted my friend Alex and asked where he was going. He said, no plans, what do you want to do? I said, go to Rincon. So we met up there around 12:30am.

I get nervous going to clubs or bars alone but at that place it doesn't really matter, because latinos are always friendly. Even the Czechs that go there seem to have picked up a clue from the latinos and are friendly, too. I stood around some Cuban girls and chatted with them, danced with a guy named Pablito a lot, and chatted with Mario, the old cubano from Son Caliente (local salsa group). He asked how everything was going so far, and I told him it was okay except that I didn't have furniture. He said he knew a guy who was selling things, and that he'd take me tomorrow (well, today). So we exchanged numbers and that was that.

I hung out with this Pablito character a lot, who is 37 and divorced, and who has decided that we are meant to be. I finally got sick of telling him NO, sat alone for a while, then got bored and left. He insisted on walking me out, which I let him do, and said a goodbye. No funny business here.

I crossed the street to start walking home when a group of African guys passed by. One was trailing behind, and sorry for the detail for whoever doesn't want to hear it, but damn he was CUTE!! He stopped me and asked where I was coming from, where I was going, and we ended up standing there in the street having a conversation for probably about a half hour. He comes from Johannesburg and has been studying in Prague for about a year. Finally I was getting really cold, and said I was going to go home. He said, "I do not want to scare you because I swear I just want to get to know you more, so come just have a drink at my place. We can just talk." Somehow I believed him, and being that I'd slept for five zillion hours, I went. He didn't live too far.

Once we got there, though, after he gave me my glass of juice of some fruit I don't think I've ever tasted before, I noticed that there were random people sleeping all over the place. And snoring. I said, "Maybe I should just go." He insisted that it was fine. He explained that he had some cousins and his brother staying with him until Tuesday. He chased one cousin out of a room and said we could go in there. So we did sit awhile and talk, and I drank my awesome juice that I will forever have to wonder about, and then around 5:30am I said I was getting tired and was going to go home. He said, "Really you can sleep here, it's still dark out and I don't want you to go alone. I promise I'll leave you alone." :) And he did keep that promise, and we slept about two hours when I woke up feeling weird, kind of realizing the whole situation - that I was asleep in an apartment full of African cousins that I didn't know, and there was a guy sleeping across the room who I met on the street. Stupid, stupid girl. Not that anything bad happened - I pride myself on being a good judge of character, and he really was respectful and nice. But, it was enough to make me want to leave.

I snuck out making as little noise as possible, and upon reaching the sidewalk, I realized...I have no idea where I am. There were no tram tracks, no bus stop, nothing - just a street name I'd never heard of, and a guy who looked drunk walking my way. The sun was almost completely out, and I had no idea of even which way to start walking. I had no choice but to try to ask drunk guy. Guess what? He wasn't drunk, he was just Czech.

"Prosim... (pointing to street), tramvaj? Bus?"
He answered me in English. "Where are you trying to go?"
"Smichov."
"Ah I see, I am going to Smichov now to buy croissant. I called a taxi, you can come with me."
What choice did I have?

He turned out to be the kindest stranger on my journey thus far. He asked what I was doing in Prague, what I did for work, if I liked the city. He said, "Welcome in Prague, I very much hope you are happy here." And he sounded sincere. He asked which street I needed to go to once the taxi arrived, and they took me right there. It wasn't far, but would have been a rough walk. I gave him 100Kc but he wouldn't accept it - he said, "Please consider this a gift - your welcome present to Prague!" and smiled. I left the car with a big smile on my face and walked up my street with the same glowing feeling I always had in Pittsburgh when I met a kind stranger. The only difference is, it's been over a month for me to meet one here - in Pittsburgh I met one nearly every day. Nevertheless, it was really nice.

When I got home to my little apartment, I took a moment to look in the mirror. I read my own eyes - what the hell happened last night? Going to Rincon alone? Hanging out with a stranger from the street and falling asleep at his apartment? Getting in a taxi with a stranger? It was all so strange. I am probably freaking out my mom with this entire entry. Don't worry Mom, you know I always pick out good people. :)

Today Mario texted me around 11:30am to let me know he could come get me to look at this guy's furniture. I had the cleaning lady coming at 2pm, so I told him 2:30pm would be okay. The cleaning lady arrived around 2:15pm and I let her do her thing, and walked down the street to meet Mario. He pulled up in a gray van blaring salsa music. We drove off and ended up parked next to some shady building. We sat in the car chatting awhile, when two cubans arrived about 10 minutes later. One was tall with longish hair, and the other was a big guy wearing a hawaiian style shirt and gold chains. We went into this strange building where there were a bunch of rooms all in a row, kind of like dorm rooms, and each one had some random pieces of furniture in it. The wardrobes were nice, but not big enough for all the clothes I'll need to fit. I asked how many he could offer, and he said two at most. I said it wouldn't be enough, que soy mujer y tengo muuuucha ropa. :)

The only bed he had to offer was really two twin beds that looked like couches from a hotel lobby without arms or a back - wild colors and not at all cushy. I said no to those. I was about to leave when I thought of one of these wardrobes for my living room - for jackets/coats, etc. Plus these three cubanos had gone to a lot of trouble to show me this stuff, and I felt bad not buying something. I paid 700Kc for the wardrobe (about $35, plus about $10 to Mario for driving me and helping me carry it up the 3 flights of steps). All in all I was really pleased, and it felt good to have a friend who would go to all that trouble to help me out.

And here I am at the office, waiting for the cleaning lady to finish so I can go home and not worry about spiderwebs falling on me or having to wear shoes when walking through the apartment so my feet don't get dirty.

This is gonna be soooo worth the money. :)

Adios, muchachos.