Global Update

Ok, my internet connection has not been working for several days. On the bright side, nothing of any real import has happened to me. I had a lovely Christmas, thanks for asking. One of the senior teachers at my school invited me over for lasagna, which was delicious (thanks Anne). We spent most of the night playing an interesting Czech dice game and drinking wine. I was sick most of the last week, so I have done little more than teach, sleep, and whine, but am feeling much better now. I went out to the pub last night with Jiri and Gabriella, which was fun as always. Thursdays are fast becoming my favorite night of the week. I have no plans yet for New Years, but Curtis and I are trying to throw something together. The problem is that we are both broke, so we have to party on a budget. So, Merry Christmas to all, and have a Happy New Year, you are all in my heart this holiday. Na zdravi!!!!

Snow Etc.

I love the snow. I love to throw my blinds open first thing in the morning and watch it flutter to the ground. I love to sit eating my Musli and look out across the everygreen covered hills of Troja to the red tile rooves of Prague and see the white white snow creating a sort of city wide christmasy feel. I love the fact that there is a sled hill right in front of my apartment. I love the way it crunches under my feet when I walk, and I love to romp in it. There are few things in this world that you can romp in, and snow is one of them. That being said, here are a few things I hate doing in the snow...1) Going to the grocery store 2) Waiting for the bus 3) Walking uphill or downhill when it's all icy 4) Smoking. I'm sure there's more, I'll discover them through the course of the winter and keep everyone updated.

A moderate weekend

I decided to do eveything in my power to have a relatively quiet weekend after last weekend. I have a new class on Friday mornings so I knew I needed to head home at a decent hour on Thursday night, plus I wanted to get some stuff done around the flat. So I went to the pub as usual on Thursday, and had a great time. There was some mistletoe, and that caused a minor episode when I stoood under it and the only one who would come give me a kiss was Jiri, whose picture I am attaching sitting with me and Megan. Fortunately no one was quick enough with their cameras to get that on film. I managed to call it a night about 1am when the bartender came to the table and sat down to reckon up and send me on my way. I walked Megan home and then managed to get myslef home at a somewhat decent hour.

Next day I was late for class due to getting lost, but managed it ok. I was a litle tired, but I got through it. That night I invited Megan out to my part of town for dinner and drinks. The restaurant I had chosen was actually completely full when we arrived so we ended up at a very nice little italian/pizza place not too far away. After that we went to an "Irish" bar near my flat. There's really nothing Irish about this particualr bar except that they serve Murphy's. In any case we stayed there chatting until roughly 1am.

Saturday night Curtis was throwing a Christmas party with some friends. I went along and brought a case of beer, that almost got me mugged on the metro, not to mention that I had to put a 1ookc deposit on the crate in which I had to carry it. Most of the party were strangers to me, but it was still alot of fun and I got to meet a few new people. After the party broke up we went off to a dance club called Nebe, where I had a few more drinks and got to do a little dancing. As with any night there's a breakpoint in the evening where it's actually easier to just stay out until 5am and take the metro than to try and catch the night bus/tram. Once we realized we were past that time we just hung out at Nebe until after 5 and then went to get some Gyros. We parted ways with Scott sometime after 5:30 or so and headed to the flat. This was the one late night of the weekend.

Today I have done some laundry, cleaned house, changed a few light bulbs, and updated my blog.

Bender

I went on quite the bender this weekend. Thursday I went to the pub as usual and met a new friend named Jim who currently lives in Dubai, but was in town vising for the weekend. I introduced him to the rest of the pub, and we spent some time together during the weekend. Toward the end of the evening at Konvikt my drinking for the night was paid for by my former tutor Mali in recompense for some work I did at the school. i then teamed up with some of the guys from the new block of students, my belarussian friend Oleg, and Scott who seems like he will feature prominantly in many of my late night adventures. We first tried O'Che's the Cuban I rish bar near the Konvikt. I got a chance to throw some darts with Oleg, but the bar was already ready to close when we got there. So off we went to the Budvar (a budweiser pivovar) around the corner. We sat there and drank and talked until the group began to dwindle, and when they closed at three we wandered off to the Hard Rock for some late night dancing and drinking. We danced until they shut down the DJ. Toward the end of the night when the party had dwindled to Me, Oleg, and Scott, we were joined by a native black czech. He was an interesting character who wanted to discuss politics in the US. Generally I found him interesting if a little confused. Also his reasons for having left he US were a little sketchy. I rolled into my flat at around 6am.

Friday I was invited by Scott to join him, Courtney and Lucy for a party. We went to the party which was entirely people I don't know, and it was a little overwhelming for all of us. Plus I accidentally pulled the coatrack off the wall. Anyway we went to get some food with plans to meet up with the party a little later. We had a nice meal and laughed a little about how overwhelming was the group of people at the party. We gave it a solid effort though, and joined them for the next stage at a little local bar. We simply didn't blend with this crowd and so decided to shoot some pool, where Scott and I got beat 3-2 by the girls. Deciding that 1kc per minute was a little pricey to play much more, we headed off to a metal bar that Courtney recommended. We did a few tequila shots and talked over the metal music for most of the rest of the night. I rolled in at 7am.

Saturday I was invited to Courtney and Aidan's for dinner and drinks. I was supposed to hang out with Jim, so I asked if he could some along. The answer was that as long as we brought more food, so we did. I met up with Jim and Scott on the way to the flat, where we could drop off our stuff before heading to the wine bar around the corner where the evening was to start. On the way there I got a text form my friend Megan who I had been chatting up on Thursday inviting me out for drinks. I invited her along with us, since I was already on my way. Finally we all got together at the wine bar the party now being Courtney, Lucy, Aidan, Scott, Jim, Megan and me. We drank a few pitchers of wine, and chatted about nothing in particular. After we went back to Aid and Courtney's for currey. Fortunately there was plenty of food. After we had eaten and drunk yet more wine we headed off to a local pub for a few drinks. I got into another game of pool, this time with Lucy, Megan, and Aidan. This time I took Lucy as a partner, and we managed to actually win. During this Scott, Courtney, and Jim went off to El Mohito with plans to meet us up at the Harley Bar later. After the game Aidan called it a night, but Lucy, Megan and I headed off to the Harley bar. When we arrived I sort of lost track, as I sat and talked to Megan at the bar while everyone else went off to a table. We closed the Harly bar which came to about 5am I think, but by then everyone else had already gone home. Rolled in at roughly 6am. Sunday I accomplished very little of anything, though I was supposed to go have dinner with Jim, but I didn't hear from him until he was in Amsterdam a few days later.