Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving went very well. I had several guests, and although the Turkey came out a litle dry thanks to the previously mentioned problem of not knowing how long to cook it, it still tasted delicious. In addition my stuffing which was basically a modification based on local ingredients to Joan's recipe (thanks Joan) was absolutely brilliant. Some of the guests brought food, and we basically just ate, drank and were merry. Pictures

Phil Collins

So I went to see Phil Collins last night. I arrived late, as my friend never showed up, and I ended up going alone. I was sat in the expensive seats which mostly meant I was surrounded by rich older people, who seemed determined not to have any fun. I on the other hand enjoyed the concert immensely. The pictures I took are mostly pretty bad as the lighting just wouldn't work for my camera, and I am not a sufficiently god photographer to fix that problem. I am posting most of them anyway, cause I went through all the trouble to take them. Pictures.

Buying a turkey in Prague

I thought it would be a real challenge to find a turkey for thanksgiving. Turns out there was a whole bin of them at my local Albert gracery store. Once I sifted through the geese, and the French turkeys (which were just too damn slender for my taste), I found what looked like the perfect thanksgiving turkey. Problem was there was no label on it. Now my kitchen is limited in it's readiness, and I knew I didn't have a meat thermometer (almost impossible to buy by the way). Without a label, I couldn't get the weight. So I went to the meat counter and as politely as I could ask in a foreign language, asked her to please weigh it for me. She resused, and started waving her hands at me and such. I didn't leave so she went and got a manager who came out with some sort of scanner, and scanned another turkey and showed me the price. The gist of the problem was that they assumed I needed the weight so I could get a price, when in fact I needed the weight for cooking time. We argued about this for a few minutes, and I was getting really frustrated with her when it hit me that in this situation I'm the jackass. I'm living in their country and shopping at their store speaking my language. So I took my turkey and left.

The rest of the weekend

I love the snow, but does it have to be so damned cold?

Saturday night I met Curts and Erica in front of the national theater. Erica had tickets back to Wisconson on Monday, so we were out to see a few things before she left. We went to have coffee at the Slavia Cafe which is famous for the fact that it was popular among free thinkers during Communism. After that we walked across the Charles Bridge which was beautiful as always. Right in the center a couple were playing violins, and we stopped for a few minutes to listen. The music was lovely, and with the cold air and quiet night it was a little haunting. Then at just the perfect moment in the song, a bird flew up from behind the pair. It was remarkable, but almost so perfec that it made us want to laugh, so we moved on. We walked around a bit and agreed to meet on Sunday morning for coffe, and to go to Kutna Hora to see the bone church.

Sunday monring bright and early we met at Kava Kava Kava. We went to the bus station to get tickets, but the next bus wasn't until almost 4pm. Unfortunately that wouldn't get us there until almost 5pm well after dark. So instead we took a train out of Hlavni Nadrazi that left almost two hours earlier. The train ride was serene, and gave me a chance to see some of the countryside surrounding Prague. When we finally arrived in Kutna Hora, we walked over to the bone church in the freezing wind and snowy rain. The church was really interesting, but only took us about 20 minutes to see and photgraph. Afterwards we wanted to find a very czech bar/restaurant and have some authentic czech food. We wandered around slightly lost for a while, and almost went into a men's club until I translated the sign. Finally we stopped and asked some czechs where the nearest retaurant was, and got some directions. Unfortunately when we showed up they didn't have any food yet (this was about 5pm). So we just drank for a while. This by the way was easily the best beer I have had since coming to Prague. It's a local in Kutna Hora, so if you get the chance, I would try it. There was a painting on the wall that bore a striking resemblance to Curtis, so we all took pictures. We drank, laughed and talked and had a good time. Anyway, Curtis got a little drunk and passed out at the table, before they finally brought menus. We of course couldn't read the menus, so in my very best bad czech I told the waitress to please just bring us whatever they recommended. The food finally came out, and it was really fantastic. If I can ever find the place again I'm taking all my visitors there. It was time to head back to our train, which was the last one to Prague for the night, but we were running late. We had to really book it back to the station. The train was crowded and we had to push open the bathroom door to get in, as the train started rolling as we were climbing up the steps.
We finally got home, and after hugs and goodbyes we went off home to bed. Erica left the next day, so good luck to her, and I hope she's well.

Photos!!

Snow

IT SNOWED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Day Out with Curtis

On Thursday Curtis and I met for lunch, which was a challenge, because as I mentioned I stayed out with Kurt until 6am. Anyhow, when I finally arrived we had a nice chat and talked about our Thanksgiving dinner next week. Somehow, probably because I'm so determined to have it, I got drafted as the official planner and host. So we talked about that, and then decided we didn't feel like calling it a day. We ran off to Visehrad to do some sightseeing, but it was already almost four, so we had little daylight left. We decied to come back on Friday and bring our cameras. Basicall Visehrad is the original castle before they moved it up to the hill. Its been rebuilt and renovated many times over the last 800 years or so, but a few of the original ruins can still be seen.

After that we went over to old town to see the Astronomical clock which has been under reconstruction since we arrived, and I needed to get a photo. We had a late lunch at Bohemian bagle and then headed off to do our own thing. I came home an dwatched some downloaded movies, and Curtis went to a movie with another friend. Not that exciting, but check out the photos...

Midweek

So I had my first date with Katerina last night. We met after her English class at a little cafe called Tulip. Its a neat little bar/restaurant owned by an American. The lighting is gentle and the jazz is smooth. We had food and luckily very good conversation. I was very impressed with her English one on one, as we've always met in a group in the past. After dinner and about 3 hours of chit chat, we went downstairs to the live music area where they were playing some funkier jazz, much louder and more lively. We listened to that for a while, and I had a few more drinks. Kate was fighting a cold and so she only drank tea. Because today is a Holiday, the czechs decided to meet up last night instead of the usual Thursday night. At about 10:45 Kate and I wandered over to the Konvikt to see what was up. I was trying desperately to convince her to take a later train home (she lives well outside the city), when she turned to me, smiled, pointed at my nose and in perfect English said, "I see right through you." I laughed my ass off. Anyway we picked up the Czechs and I took them to a party where I was meeting some friends from the current TEFL course who were celebrating their graduation. That's right folks the course after mine is just graduating. I've been here for two months!! Anyway we headed to the party, and I managed to get Kate to stay out for the next train, but only the one. Oh well, the night was wonderful.

I stayed at the party after Kate left. I drank until I was good and smiley, then a group of us went to Usudu to have a few more drinks. We stayed there a couple of hours and then wandered off to get Gyros. We had a debate about where the best Gyros place is in town, so we went to both. After that, I took Kurt home, as he was good and hammered. On the bright side, it was about 5:30 so we were able to take the metro instead of the night bus.

So all in all a very successful night!!

Quiet time and Cold

So I pretty much wasted the entire weekend. After the Thursday pub night, which is easily my favorite night of the week, I sat in my apartment and accomplished nothing. In a way it was nice to not be busy, but also, it was a reminder of an old self. I sat in front of this computer and wiled away my time in another world altogether. I didn't even sleep that much. Yikes!!

On the bright side, I had a really fun night at Pub night as usual. I am quickly becoming popular among the Czechs for whatever reason. Either they really enjoy my company, or I am like some sort of trained monkey they enjoy watching. I'm thinking the former, but who knows for sure; it might be the latter. On the even brighter side I have a date. She's not engaged, she's not married, she doesn't have a boyfriend, she's not crazy, she's not an alcoholic, she's never been married, and she has no kids. I'm not really sure what to do.

It's gotten quite cold here. Like January weather in Houston. I'm simply not used to it. There's a big difference between being prepared for it and being prepared for it if you know what I mean.

Erica

So my friend Erica decided to move to Poland. Turns out that in small towns in Poland they don't speak any English at all. So Erica discovers just a little late that she is a very social person, and finds herself talking to herself for three days. She goes a little bit crazy, quits her new job, and returns to Prague. Not that I knew this, she didn't write, didn't call, nothing. Not that I'm bitter, I just wanted everyone to know, how happy I am that there are lots of English speakers in Prague. So if you ever here me complaining about how hard it is to learn Czech because everyone speaks English please remind me. Thanks.

The Weekend and my new job

Ok, so another fun filled weekend has just gone by, though I did perhaps party a little too hard. Obviously you should read the previous post to get an idea. So that was Thursday. Friday I spent all day in my apartment accomplishing nothing which was actually very refreshing, if a little boring.
Saturday night I went with a big group to...get this...a country bar. I swear to god. The place is called Amerikan Country Saloon. There was a live Czech band playing what sounded vaguely country, though it was also interspersed with weak easy listening covers (think Celine Dion). In any case, I got to do a little two steppin, which was very exciting for me. Afterwards we met a different group and did some more drinking and fun having until Kurt gave out. I decided to help him get home, based on my experience from Thursday. We stopped and got some food on the way (just for fun we had fast food Mexican). Then homeward bound.
Sunday I met Kami, who I spent some time with last week, and did some dancing with on Saturday. We were supposed to have lunch and then go to a movie. The movie started later than expected so, we stopped in at Rocky O'reillys for a quick drink before the movie. While we were there we met this really great older man named Martin. Basically a self made millionaire he has a little girlfriend and real estate business here in Prague. We talked to him for about 4 hours, and missed the movie. On the bright side he gave Kami and I tickets to go see Phil Collins later this month.
Today I basically slept in, but had to go into town to top up my cell phone. Also I had to get my schedule for the week, as I start teaching full time tomorrow at 7:30 am!!! I also needed to buy a new hard line telephone as mine died. Thus no calls the last few days, sorry folks.

So I'm a little drunk

The public transport system in Prague is really remarkable, as long as you know where the fuck to get on. If you don't, it really matters very little that it goes right by your house, or that its only 20 minutes, because you don't know where the fuck to board.
As usual on Thursday night I was out with the crew, and found myself at 2:30 or so, trying to get home. So where does one find the 505 night bus?? Beats me!! How about the 53 night tram, oh that's it, just follow the whores and that stinky guy. Does it go to Kobilyisy? You bet, that's my ride!! Ignore the man throwing up in the alley, he just missed his bus. Oh shit, that looks like a communist distribution center!! Home sweet home!

The pickpocketing incident

My mom asked me to relate more details on the Pickpocketing incident that I eluded to in an earlier post. So here it is. It was a normal Thursday night, which is to say I was at the Konvikt having a few drinks. One of the girls in our class had a date at another bar and invited several of us along as moral support. She didn't know the guy that well and was less than confident in his ability to speak English. I took along a new Czech friend named Martina. We went off to this small little wine bar, that is very nifty I must say. It's basically a series of underground rooms very much like several connected wine cellars. We drank and ate, and enjoyed the conversation. Before long Dara's date was going well, so we left her alone, then Martina went home, so I found myself with Erica and Katherine who were looking for cute boys. I decided to leave about then, but Kurt showed up, so I stuck it out a little longer. We met some other Americans at the very end of the night, but nothing came of it, as we were all pretty tired and most a little tipsy.
I wasn't really sure how to get home, having never been to that bar before, so Kurt escorted me most of the way, as his Tram stop was not far from my home. After he left me, I was walking down the street where my flat was located when a middle aged woman blocked my path. She indicated she would like a light, so I lit her cigarette. Next thing I know, her hand is cupping my crotch. Now, even if I hadn't read in the guidebooks that this is almost always a prelude to theft, I found it most uncomfortable. I removed her hand, and started walking off. She kept groping me and grabbing my jacket trying to stop me, all the while I was repeated no in every language I know it in. Finally, I felt her hand slip into my back pocket, where I keep my wallet. I stopped suddenly and grabbed her wrist with a certain amount of force, leaned in close to her and made some very intense eye contact. If you've ever been around me when I want to be intimidating, I really can be. Anyway, she removed her hand from my wallet, and went on her way. I managed up the four flights of stairs to my apartment, and went to bed.