One of these mornings I'll stop wanting to listen to "Si no te hubieras ido" by Marco Antonio Solís on repeat...
Te extraño más que nunca y ni sé que hacer
despierto y de recuerdo mal amanecer
espera otro día por vivir sin ti
el espejo no miente,
me veo tan diferente
me haces falta tú...
So far that morning hasn't happened yet.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
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!
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!
The Hunt
I'm on a crazy apartment hunt. Yesterday I wrote about how I saw a place that was up a bunch of stairs and didn't feel very homey, and I forgot to include that it was up a big hill. In a country that has a lot of winter, it wouldn't be fun to trek that every day when it's icy, plus a bunch of outdoor stairs (then a bunch of indoor stairs).
Well today I saw another place. Last night before bed I went on a few websites and wrote to about 6 or 7 different places. Today a guy named Radek called me and asked when I could see one place. I said I was free at 5pm. So we met up at 5:15 in front of Novy Smichov and walked to the apartment (yes, walked! It took about 10 minutes to walk there). Downside, it was kind of uphill the whole way, but not steep hills. He walked really fast naturally, but on a nice day, taking that walk would be nothing.
We got to the apartment, and the front hallway is wide and big. The outside of the building is a pretty gray color, almost like a bluish gray. The street has parking on both sides (think of a one-way parking aisle at Giant Eagle or something, with the diagonal spaces). What I liked was that just one block away was a busy street with buses (that go from work to about a block away from this place), business, bars, shops, etc., but that the street with the building was quiet with pretty trees and was just residential. In my current place, when I have the windows open and my computer volume on max, I can't hear it because it's so loud. This street was perfectly quiet and peaceful with the windows open.
When you first walk in, you're in a little hallway. To the right up a tiny step is the kitchen, which is cute and modern, and blue and brown colors (kind of a funky decoration, I liked it very much). It didn't have an oven, but the guy kind of laughed when I mentioned this and said, "Hahaha, why, you are going to bake something?" I said, "...yes..?" and he got serious and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, it is just not very common here." :) If you go through the kitchen, there is a very tiny bedroom. And by tiny I mean you can fit a double bed, which I have to buy, but there's already a wardrobe. I could also fit another chest of drawers or something right next to that, but it would be cramped. You know, though, I was thinking that it doesn't really matter. In this temporary apartment, I've only gone in the bedroom a few times at all - I'm always out in the living area, playing on the computer or watching TV or cooking. I only go in there to sleep. And it's cozy - it's not like it isn't big enough to fit what's necessary. There are double windows which will be good for winter - like you have to open one window to get to the other one, so it's like double protection. Admittedly those windows seem kind of old, but they definitely close tightly so I'm sure it's fine.
Now if you come through the door and make a left, there's a door to the bathroom right there. The bathroom contains a bathtub, a sink, and a washing machine. Yes, a washing machine - this is very very common, that's just where the washer goes in any apartment. I like that it's included, and it's a decent size (very small compared to the US, but bigger than some I've seen in other apartment ads). You might be asking yourself where is the toilet? Well it's down the hall in what looks like a little closet :) It's truly a "WC" (water closet) as Shannon pointed out, ha. There's also a real closet in the hallway as well, which is pretty big and could store quite a bit.
And then there's the living room - this is spacious. There is a big door that goes out to the BALCONY (yes! and it's a nice one, it's not tiny, there's room for 3-4 people to stand out there, or probably for 2 chairs or so), and the view is gorgeous - it looks out over the street, a tree, and then if you look kind of "through" the trees there's a gorgeous view of all of Prague. This street LOOKS like *Prague*. It's not super modern, it has that old Prague kind of feel to it. It's just lovely.
Back to the living room - there is some furniture in there. A nice TV stand with a TV (I'd probably buy a bigger one once I could afford it), a dining table with a few chairs, a loveseat that is hideous and that I would replace immediately, a coffee table which is just fine, and a few little shelves that would come in handy for my books/DVDs that are on their way to Prague now on a ship :) There's plenty of room to move around in there, it's a great size. Most importantly, it's bright and sunny - there are new windows in there - the realtor told me that the front of the apartment was renovated but the back wasn't yet (window-wise). So the balcony door is new, the windows, etc. It's all in very good condition.
There are a few cracks in the walls here and there, which would bug some people but to be honest for me it just gives it charm. And it's really not bad, I only really noticed because I was examining closely. So, that's that. I am very interested in it, and unless anyone calls me tomorrow or Friday for more viewings, I will probably take it - I need an address soon to give the moving company so all my stuff can arrive. I sure hope they deliver/carry it up for me, because it is on the 3rd floor with no lift (pssst, that's Czech for elevator).
So, a summary:
Pros:
Spacious living room
-Lots of light
-Good windows
-Cute modern kitchen with fridge/freezer and stovetop
-Balcony
-Some furniture included, so I don't have to buy everything right away - also the realtor said that if I decide to buy new stuff, they can remove what's there
-Nice neighborhood and very pretty street with trees
-5-10 minute walk to work - I found this out when we left, and I passed Andel park where our office is - very nice!!
-Landlord gave me a discount after I asked if it was possible - the total per month including utilities will be 12,500Kc - the other one was 14,000Kc!
Cons:
-Very small bedroom
-No oven
-3 flights of stairs to walk up - what if I forget something small once I go downstairs :)
-Not too connected to transportation - it's a bus ride to get down to the Andel trams/metro, or a walk (which might suck in winter - but I think this will be an issue no matter where I live, if it's in my price range)
-Very small bathroom with toilet in weird separate room (again, I will be living alone, so do I really care?)
Honestly I think that's it for the cons. After listing it out like that, I think the cons just don't matter, and all the pros are really good.
I'll talk to some people at work tomorrow and see what they think. I will say this, when I was there, I could just see myself living there. The first place I saw, I just couldn't "picture" it - it didn't feel like "me". This one just felt.. homey. The realtor was reeeeally nice, too. Radek was the friendliest Czech person I've met so far - he made conversation and was easy to talk to and joked about his English and taught me a couple Czech words. The landlord only speaks Czech and was worried that I only speak English (he didn't care that I'm foreign, just "felt bad" - Radek's words - that he wouldn't be able to talk to me directly as his tenant) - so I would be talking to Radek for any apartment issues.
Anyway I think I've written enough about this place. Friends, please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think!!
Here is a link to the place if this helps:
http://czech-properties.cz/byty/pronajem/2+kk-praha-5-smichov-1977906680
Good night :)
Well today I saw another place. Last night before bed I went on a few websites and wrote to about 6 or 7 different places. Today a guy named Radek called me and asked when I could see one place. I said I was free at 5pm. So we met up at 5:15 in front of Novy Smichov and walked to the apartment (yes, walked! It took about 10 minutes to walk there). Downside, it was kind of uphill the whole way, but not steep hills. He walked really fast naturally, but on a nice day, taking that walk would be nothing.
We got to the apartment, and the front hallway is wide and big. The outside of the building is a pretty gray color, almost like a bluish gray. The street has parking on both sides (think of a one-way parking aisle at Giant Eagle or something, with the diagonal spaces). What I liked was that just one block away was a busy street with buses (that go from work to about a block away from this place), business, bars, shops, etc., but that the street with the building was quiet with pretty trees and was just residential. In my current place, when I have the windows open and my computer volume on max, I can't hear it because it's so loud. This street was perfectly quiet and peaceful with the windows open.
When you first walk in, you're in a little hallway. To the right up a tiny step is the kitchen, which is cute and modern, and blue and brown colors (kind of a funky decoration, I liked it very much). It didn't have an oven, but the guy kind of laughed when I mentioned this and said, "Hahaha, why, you are going to bake something?" I said, "...yes..?" and he got serious and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, it is just not very common here." :) If you go through the kitchen, there is a very tiny bedroom. And by tiny I mean you can fit a double bed, which I have to buy, but there's already a wardrobe. I could also fit another chest of drawers or something right next to that, but it would be cramped. You know, though, I was thinking that it doesn't really matter. In this temporary apartment, I've only gone in the bedroom a few times at all - I'm always out in the living area, playing on the computer or watching TV or cooking. I only go in there to sleep. And it's cozy - it's not like it isn't big enough to fit what's necessary. There are double windows which will be good for winter - like you have to open one window to get to the other one, so it's like double protection. Admittedly those windows seem kind of old, but they definitely close tightly so I'm sure it's fine.
Now if you come through the door and make a left, there's a door to the bathroom right there. The bathroom contains a bathtub, a sink, and a washing machine. Yes, a washing machine - this is very very common, that's just where the washer goes in any apartment. I like that it's included, and it's a decent size (very small compared to the US, but bigger than some I've seen in other apartment ads). You might be asking yourself where is the toilet? Well it's down the hall in what looks like a little closet :) It's truly a "WC" (water closet) as Shannon pointed out, ha. There's also a real closet in the hallway as well, which is pretty big and could store quite a bit.
And then there's the living room - this is spacious. There is a big door that goes out to the BALCONY (yes! and it's a nice one, it's not tiny, there's room for 3-4 people to stand out there, or probably for 2 chairs or so), and the view is gorgeous - it looks out over the street, a tree, and then if you look kind of "through" the trees there's a gorgeous view of all of Prague. This street LOOKS like *Prague*. It's not super modern, it has that old Prague kind of feel to it. It's just lovely.
Back to the living room - there is some furniture in there. A nice TV stand with a TV (I'd probably buy a bigger one once I could afford it), a dining table with a few chairs, a loveseat that is hideous and that I would replace immediately, a coffee table which is just fine, and a few little shelves that would come in handy for my books/DVDs that are on their way to Prague now on a ship :) There's plenty of room to move around in there, it's a great size. Most importantly, it's bright and sunny - there are new windows in there - the realtor told me that the front of the apartment was renovated but the back wasn't yet (window-wise). So the balcony door is new, the windows, etc. It's all in very good condition.
There are a few cracks in the walls here and there, which would bug some people but to be honest for me it just gives it charm. And it's really not bad, I only really noticed because I was examining closely. So, that's that. I am very interested in it, and unless anyone calls me tomorrow or Friday for more viewings, I will probably take it - I need an address soon to give the moving company so all my stuff can arrive. I sure hope they deliver/carry it up for me, because it is on the 3rd floor with no lift (pssst, that's Czech for elevator).
So, a summary:
Pros:
Spacious living room
-Lots of light
-Good windows
-Cute modern kitchen with fridge/freezer and stovetop
-Balcony
-Some furniture included, so I don't have to buy everything right away - also the realtor said that if I decide to buy new stuff, they can remove what's there
-Nice neighborhood and very pretty street with trees
-5-10 minute walk to work - I found this out when we left, and I passed Andel park where our office is - very nice!!
-Landlord gave me a discount after I asked if it was possible - the total per month including utilities will be 12,500Kc - the other one was 14,000Kc!
Cons:
-Very small bedroom
-No oven
-3 flights of stairs to walk up - what if I forget something small once I go downstairs :)
-Not too connected to transportation - it's a bus ride to get down to the Andel trams/metro, or a walk (which might suck in winter - but I think this will be an issue no matter where I live, if it's in my price range)
-Very small bathroom with toilet in weird separate room (again, I will be living alone, so do I really care?)
Honestly I think that's it for the cons. After listing it out like that, I think the cons just don't matter, and all the pros are really good.
I'll talk to some people at work tomorrow and see what they think. I will say this, when I was there, I could just see myself living there. The first place I saw, I just couldn't "picture" it - it didn't feel like "me". This one just felt.. homey. The realtor was reeeeally nice, too. Radek was the friendliest Czech person I've met so far - he made conversation and was easy to talk to and joked about his English and taught me a couple Czech words. The landlord only speaks Czech and was worried that I only speak English (he didn't care that I'm foreign, just "felt bad" - Radek's words - that he wouldn't be able to talk to me directly as his tenant) - so I would be talking to Radek for any apartment issues.
Anyway I think I've written enough about this place. Friends, please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think!!
Here is a link to the place if this helps:
http://czech-properties.cz/byty/pronajem/2+kk-praha-5-smichov-1977906680
Good night :)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
(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. :)
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. :)
The big journey (this will be a long one, look out)
Well I've gotten several requests now to update the blog, so here goes.
I'd like to start with my last night in Pittsburgh. My mom and I had a few friends (Tara, Maira, Shannon, and Oscar) over the house for a nice dinner and just to say some final goodbyes. I still hadn't even begun to pack and was feeling very overwhelmed. My favorite neighbor ever, Jaye, came over to have cake with us at the end and everyone hung around working on my mom's jigsaw puzzle. I was about to excuse myself from the party to go start packing, when Oscar and Jaye left and I was left with Maira and Shannon, who SO graciously offered to help me pack. Let me tell you, they were two little miracle worker bees. They had me completely packed in 2 hours. They rolled clothes, organized my stuff, advised on a few extra things I should take, yelled at me when I tried to take stupid things (my stapler is the prime example:). It was a dream having them there, so thanks again ladies.
Around 12:30am they headed out along with me, to go say my goodbyes to Hernaldo. I got him at work and took him home. We stopped to hang out for a few hours and around 4am I knew it was time for goodbye. It was a tearful one, but as I told him, it was an "Hasta luego" and not an "Adios"... I'll really miss him. Maira, you can say "I told you so."
I got home, showered, slept for a few hours, woke up, ate leftover chicken (my schedule was all out of wack at this point), and then headed to the airport. I kept my cool until I was told one of the suitcases was 7 lbs overweight, and I had to move things around, right there in the middle of the ticketing area. I did so, luckily there wasn't a huge line and the lady was nice and patient, and that was that. I unfortunately had to put all that extra weight into my carry-on, which made it ridiculously heavy. I had two big carry-ons to deal with. Usually I just have one small one and my purse, but I just had too much stuff (hey, I am MOVING to a foreign country!). It was a pain but I don't regret bringing it all.
So, the flight to Charlotte was a breeze. Other than the embarrassment of trying to fit my huge suitcase in the overhead, which DID work, it was fine - I sat next to a Jerome Bettis look-alike who was wearing a Pirates hat and a terrible towel out his left back pocket (crip-style:). He helped me with my suitcases and was very sweet.
In the Charlotte airport, I sat around, wrote my mom an e-mail, and cried. I tried not to, but I felt so alone and cut-off from the world. Little things kept happening that I wanted to text to my friends, but I couldn't, because my cell phone was gone. I missed my mom. I missed my friends. I got over it quickly, though, when I stumbled across a place called "Casa Rum" - a restaurant dedicated to Bacardi. The cute latino bartender, Eddie, called me babydoll and sweetie, which got him extra tips for sure :) I had two gin&tonics (I know, I know, I just wasn't in a rum mood) and chatted with a British lady, an old black women from NYC, and a 19 year old deep-water construction worker (the guys that build underwater and have to dive like 200 feet) from Detroit. Eventually they all left me and I ate a cuban sandwich.
The plane to Munich wasn't bad. I sat next to a cute and friendly French guy who tried, in vain, to get my personal movie screen to work. Finally we told the flight attendant and I had to have my "computer" restarted, but then it worked - what a miserable flight it would have been without any movies. I watched "I Love You, Man" with Paul Rudd, which Tara would have found HILARIOUS - I kept thinking of her through the whole thing. I liked it, too, but I kept wanting to laugh out loud. After that I ate my sad little airplane pasta dinner to an episode of Monk I'd already seen, but I knew I was getting to sleepy to stay awake through another movie. My French buddy watched Star Trek, then 17 Again starring Zac Efron :) He was nice.
The Munich airport is AWESOME. I flew through Frankfurt last time and seriously wanted to shoot myself the whole time I was in that airport. This one isn't *small* but it's well set-up, it has better shops/restaurants, and is brighter and friendlier (the Frankfurt airport looks like a warehouse, and the people are mean). I missed breakfast on the plane because I slept through it so I bought a little sandwich and a bottle of water for 8 EUR (ripoff). I felt cool I even had euros, though, leftover from my Berlin trip last time around. I had trouble not falling asleep at the gate waiting for the plane. When I got on the plane, I fell asleep before we took off, and woke up when people were starting to get off the plane.
In the Prague airport, I got my things without a problem (no lost luggage, yay!), went to exchange all my dollars, got money out of the ATM (since I didn't have that many dollars, just about enough for the taxi), and bought more minutes for my Czech cell phone. I felt very in-the-know this time around - I know the currency well and how much I need for this and that, I knew how to do my cell phone, it just felt nice to arrive and not be so lost.
I stopped by the office in the taxi to get the keys to my temporary apartment and saw Jose and Naima for a brief moment. I was SO happy to see them, but probably looked like a zombie - I was such a wreck. I got to the apartment also without a problem, and it's very nice. I unpacked everything first thing, because I hate living out of suitcases. Took a shower, which was the GREATEST THING EVER - I felt sooo icky from 18 hours of flying/layovers and just felt worlds better with hot water pouring over my head.
After that I turned on the TV to try to find something to watch, without luck. Every channel is in German - I even found King of Queens but it's dubbed in German. I did find one channel with Arabic/Persian music videos, which has been on since I arrived. At least I enjoy that, even if I can't understand it all. There are a ton of porn channels, but they're not actually porn, they are just advertisements of stillframes of naked girls with phone numbers to call. Seriously there are like 30 of those channels. And they're all in German, too. :)
And that brings me to now. I arrived to the apartment around 2pm. After I fell asleep after the shower, I slept until about 6pm on the couch, then went to the bed and slept until about 11pm. I woke up and am still tired, but I wanted to pack my bag for the office tomorrow and just get myself organized. I also wanted to update this, because the longer I wait, the more there is to write.
If anyone actually made it through reading this whole thing, kudos to you.
Summary... trip went as well as it could have, I miss everyone in Pittsburgh, but am really happy to be back here at the same time :) I'm super excited to go to work tomorrow and see everybody.
Fin!!
I'd like to start with my last night in Pittsburgh. My mom and I had a few friends (Tara, Maira, Shannon, and Oscar) over the house for a nice dinner and just to say some final goodbyes. I still hadn't even begun to pack and was feeling very overwhelmed. My favorite neighbor ever, Jaye, came over to have cake with us at the end and everyone hung around working on my mom's jigsaw puzzle. I was about to excuse myself from the party to go start packing, when Oscar and Jaye left and I was left with Maira and Shannon, who SO graciously offered to help me pack. Let me tell you, they were two little miracle worker bees. They had me completely packed in 2 hours. They rolled clothes, organized my stuff, advised on a few extra things I should take, yelled at me when I tried to take stupid things (my stapler is the prime example:). It was a dream having them there, so thanks again ladies.
Around 12:30am they headed out along with me, to go say my goodbyes to Hernaldo. I got him at work and took him home. We stopped to hang out for a few hours and around 4am I knew it was time for goodbye. It was a tearful one, but as I told him, it was an "Hasta luego" and not an "Adios"... I'll really miss him. Maira, you can say "I told you so."
I got home, showered, slept for a few hours, woke up, ate leftover chicken (my schedule was all out of wack at this point), and then headed to the airport. I kept my cool until I was told one of the suitcases was 7 lbs overweight, and I had to move things around, right there in the middle of the ticketing area. I did so, luckily there wasn't a huge line and the lady was nice and patient, and that was that. I unfortunately had to put all that extra weight into my carry-on, which made it ridiculously heavy. I had two big carry-ons to deal with. Usually I just have one small one and my purse, but I just had too much stuff (hey, I am MOVING to a foreign country!). It was a pain but I don't regret bringing it all.
So, the flight to Charlotte was a breeze. Other than the embarrassment of trying to fit my huge suitcase in the overhead, which DID work, it was fine - I sat next to a Jerome Bettis look-alike who was wearing a Pirates hat and a terrible towel out his left back pocket (crip-style:). He helped me with my suitcases and was very sweet.
In the Charlotte airport, I sat around, wrote my mom an e-mail, and cried. I tried not to, but I felt so alone and cut-off from the world. Little things kept happening that I wanted to text to my friends, but I couldn't, because my cell phone was gone. I missed my mom. I missed my friends. I got over it quickly, though, when I stumbled across a place called "Casa Rum" - a restaurant dedicated to Bacardi. The cute latino bartender, Eddie, called me babydoll and sweetie, which got him extra tips for sure :) I had two gin&tonics (I know, I know, I just wasn't in a rum mood) and chatted with a British lady, an old black women from NYC, and a 19 year old deep-water construction worker (the guys that build underwater and have to dive like 200 feet) from Detroit. Eventually they all left me and I ate a cuban sandwich.
The plane to Munich wasn't bad. I sat next to a cute and friendly French guy who tried, in vain, to get my personal movie screen to work. Finally we told the flight attendant and I had to have my "computer" restarted, but then it worked - what a miserable flight it would have been without any movies. I watched "I Love You, Man" with Paul Rudd, which Tara would have found HILARIOUS - I kept thinking of her through the whole thing. I liked it, too, but I kept wanting to laugh out loud. After that I ate my sad little airplane pasta dinner to an episode of Monk I'd already seen, but I knew I was getting to sleepy to stay awake through another movie. My French buddy watched Star Trek, then 17 Again starring Zac Efron :) He was nice.
The Munich airport is AWESOME. I flew through Frankfurt last time and seriously wanted to shoot myself the whole time I was in that airport. This one isn't *small* but it's well set-up, it has better shops/restaurants, and is brighter and friendlier (the Frankfurt airport looks like a warehouse, and the people are mean). I missed breakfast on the plane because I slept through it so I bought a little sandwich and a bottle of water for 8 EUR (ripoff). I felt cool I even had euros, though, leftover from my Berlin trip last time around. I had trouble not falling asleep at the gate waiting for the plane. When I got on the plane, I fell asleep before we took off, and woke up when people were starting to get off the plane.
In the Prague airport, I got my things without a problem (no lost luggage, yay!), went to exchange all my dollars, got money out of the ATM (since I didn't have that many dollars, just about enough for the taxi), and bought more minutes for my Czech cell phone. I felt very in-the-know this time around - I know the currency well and how much I need for this and that, I knew how to do my cell phone, it just felt nice to arrive and not be so lost.
I stopped by the office in the taxi to get the keys to my temporary apartment and saw Jose and Naima for a brief moment. I was SO happy to see them, but probably looked like a zombie - I was such a wreck. I got to the apartment also without a problem, and it's very nice. I unpacked everything first thing, because I hate living out of suitcases. Took a shower, which was the GREATEST THING EVER - I felt sooo icky from 18 hours of flying/layovers and just felt worlds better with hot water pouring over my head.
After that I turned on the TV to try to find something to watch, without luck. Every channel is in German - I even found King of Queens but it's dubbed in German. I did find one channel with Arabic/Persian music videos, which has been on since I arrived. At least I enjoy that, even if I can't understand it all. There are a ton of porn channels, but they're not actually porn, they are just advertisements of stillframes of naked girls with phone numbers to call. Seriously there are like 30 of those channels. And they're all in German, too. :)
And that brings me to now. I arrived to the apartment around 2pm. After I fell asleep after the shower, I slept until about 6pm on the couch, then went to the bed and slept until about 11pm. I woke up and am still tired, but I wanted to pack my bag for the office tomorrow and just get myself organized. I also wanted to update this, because the longer I wait, the more there is to write.
If anyone actually made it through reading this whole thing, kudos to you.
Summary... trip went as well as it could have, I miss everyone in Pittsburgh, but am really happy to be back here at the same time :) I'm super excited to go to work tomorrow and see everybody.
Fin!!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Byebye Belongings
Today the movers came. I worked on "packing" (I put this in quotation marks because all I had to do was put things into piles for the movers to pack for me) all day yesterday. Hours and hours. I was up until about 3am getting things together, looking through things, deciding, "Will I want this in Prague? And, if I don't, will I ever want it, or should I just throw it away?" What a long day.
Today the movers came and they didn't have enough boxes or supplies. They were, apparently, under the impression that I already had everything packed myself. I had offered, but the woman on the phone said that because it was international, they have to pack according to customs regulations anyway, so to just make piles of stuff. So, they had to leave and come back, thank goodness the company is located not too far from where I live.
It was uneventful. I felt very strange sitting by while they did all the work. I'm a helping kinda girl, but after I asked several times if there was something I could do, I could tell they wanted me to just leave them alone so I did. I sat by and did a crossword puzzle while they packed and packed. They had arrived around 8:30am (after coming back with supplies), and left around 11am. Not bad!
And that's that.. all of a sudden this is more real than it has been yet (though still not 100%). I am left with a completely empty closet, enough clothes just for a few weeks, no shoes in my closet except the few pairs I'm taking along for the short term. Am I so materialistic that I feel this empty without my things?
I think it's just the realization setting in that this is really happening. For real. In a few days I will be living in Europe. In a country I never thought I'd even visit, so much as live in.
OH well. I will have my proper last hurrahs and say goodbye, as we all must do at some point in life.
Today the movers came and they didn't have enough boxes or supplies. They were, apparently, under the impression that I already had everything packed myself. I had offered, but the woman on the phone said that because it was international, they have to pack according to customs regulations anyway, so to just make piles of stuff. So, they had to leave and come back, thank goodness the company is located not too far from where I live.
It was uneventful. I felt very strange sitting by while they did all the work. I'm a helping kinda girl, but after I asked several times if there was something I could do, I could tell they wanted me to just leave them alone so I did. I sat by and did a crossword puzzle while they packed and packed. They had arrived around 8:30am (after coming back with supplies), and left around 11am. Not bad!
And that's that.. all of a sudden this is more real than it has been yet (though still not 100%). I am left with a completely empty closet, enough clothes just for a few weeks, no shoes in my closet except the few pairs I'm taking along for the short term. Am I so materialistic that I feel this empty without my things?
I think it's just the realization setting in that this is really happening. For real. In a few days I will be living in Europe. In a country I never thought I'd even visit, so much as live in.
OH well. I will have my proper last hurrahs and say goodbye, as we all must do at some point in life.
Is this real or...
It's really sinking in now.
Yesterday this is how my schedule went:
4am: wake up
5:45am: take off to NYC
7am: arrive in NYC
7:15am: have breakfast with girl I met in line for breakfast at the airport
8:30am: get a taxi to Czech consulate
9am: arrive (first and only one in line, woohoo!)
9:30am: consulate opens, I am called in
9:33am: I am done
9:45am: I get a cab back to the airport in hopes of an earlier flight back to PGH (no such luck, so I did crossword puzzles and waited for the plane)
12:30pm: plane takes off for PGH
1:45pm: arrive in PGH
Sounds like kind of a pointless trip, but I have my visa for 90 days (to start) so I'm all set. I have to go get my long-term visa sometime in October, then.
So, today was spent getting things ready to go. My room looks so empty (read: clean, for once). Everything is just about in order, the last thing to go through are my clothes. I have everything ready for the movers to pack. They're coming tomorrow morning between 8 and 9am. I wonder how that works? I hope they aren't mad that there's stuff in three different sections of the house (there's a big pile in the basement room, a big pile in the kitchen, and a big pile upstairs).
I went shopping yesterday after I got back from NYC and, in addition to some cute new clothes, I got a little present for Jose because he's been so helpful with all my questions, helping me with apartments, etc. I also have a little something for Leila, and I absolutely cannot wait to give it to her. I am deliberately taking it in my suitcase and not packing it in the air shipment because I wouldn't be able to wait :)
Well, I really should get back to work. I've got a long evening ahead of me, as I haven't begun the clothes yet.. and that's by far the biggest job. I am a shopping junkie, after all, and cannot part with any of this stuff.
Yesterday this is how my schedule went:
4am: wake up
5:45am: take off to NYC
7am: arrive in NYC
7:15am: have breakfast with girl I met in line for breakfast at the airport
8:30am: get a taxi to Czech consulate
9am: arrive (first and only one in line, woohoo!)
9:30am: consulate opens, I am called in
9:33am: I am done
9:45am: I get a cab back to the airport in hopes of an earlier flight back to PGH (no such luck, so I did crossword puzzles and waited for the plane)
12:30pm: plane takes off for PGH
1:45pm: arrive in PGH
Sounds like kind of a pointless trip, but I have my visa for 90 days (to start) so I'm all set. I have to go get my long-term visa sometime in October, then.
So, today was spent getting things ready to go. My room looks so empty (read: clean, for once). Everything is just about in order, the last thing to go through are my clothes. I have everything ready for the movers to pack. They're coming tomorrow morning between 8 and 9am. I wonder how that works? I hope they aren't mad that there's stuff in three different sections of the house (there's a big pile in the basement room, a big pile in the kitchen, and a big pile upstairs).
I went shopping yesterday after I got back from NYC and, in addition to some cute new clothes, I got a little present for Jose because he's been so helpful with all my questions, helping me with apartments, etc. I also have a little something for Leila, and I absolutely cannot wait to give it to her. I am deliberately taking it in my suitcase and not packing it in the air shipment because I wouldn't be able to wait :)
Well, I really should get back to work. I've got a long evening ahead of me, as I haven't begun the clothes yet.. and that's by far the biggest job. I am a shopping junkie, after all, and cannot part with any of this stuff.
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