Another Birthday

On Thursday, with a lot of help from Megan, David and Andy I planned a surprise 50^th birthday for Jiri (George). David and Andy bought a cake in the shape of breasts, which was probably the highlight of the party, but Megan and I decorated our usual pub with balloons and tablecloths (these were obviously for little kids with little giraffes and such on them). We even had noise makers, though I was the only one who seemed inclined to use them. George always comes early, so unfortunately there were not a lot of people to greet him, but we had a card that I made everyone sign as they came in. George was overwhelmed, I think, with the spontaneous display of friendship, and seems to have had an especially good time. I was in top form, because I felt really good about being the catalyst for the whole thing. I drank a little too much however and paid for it the next day. The problem was I never ate dinner, and on top of my usual Thursday drinking, Matt brought out a bottle of amaretto which he and I shared, and George kept buying shots of Becherovka to say thanks for caring. But except for the wrestling match I had with Matt out in the street, I seem to have avoided making a complete fool of myself, and the evening was a complete success. David has all the pictures, so hopefully he will send them to me, and I can post them.

Dancing, birthdays, and pizza

So thursday night was pretty standard, except that Megan's mom was there for a couple of hours, so everyone especially me was on their best behaviour. Later of course we headed off to Nebe for dancing (I had challenged Mali to a dance off). There was a little misunderstanding with a young woman and Scott. Unfortunately it's not really my story to post. The thing is though that generally with Czech girls you usually know where you stand. They rarely play games.
Friday night I was in vited to Ian's birthday party in Andel. He had a private room in a cavernous little bar so at first I had trouble finding them. Eventually I sat down and was reminded of what a small world Prague is, especially among TEFL teachers and expats, as I knew a couple of people there from teaching. The party was fun and everybody got pretty trashed. Megan came along after she sent her mom and sister to bed early becasue they had an early flight home. She was a little sad and withdrawn for the night, but that's understandable. After the party most of us headed over to another local bar/club, which was a little dead, but made for a good place for a large group. We found a private little room and sat down to chat and drink further. Scott had a friend in town so he pretty much stayed out front to catch up. Eventually Ian pushed himself a little to far, and the night began to wind down. I said my goodnights and headed home.
Saturday I had to go to meet a client so I was up relatively early, and knowing there was no food in the house I stopped at the potraviny on the way back to pick up some lunch. Megan and I sat around my place most of the afternoon, really just being lazy. That night however, we wandered downstairs to a new restaurant in my building. It's mostly a little Italian Pizzeria, but I think they were a little shocked to meet English speakers in the place. My neighborhood has very few English speakers. In any case the food was pretty darn good, and the beer was reasonably priced, so Megan and I sat and talked for several hours about teaching and such, finally closing our discussion on the topic of religion of all things, and headded back upstairs.
Sunday was a blowoff day. We watched some downloaded TV shows, and movies, and then after Megan went home I just did laundry. The attached picture is me (of course), Megan, and Katka.

Another quiet weekend

Thursday was the normal routine of Pub night and dancing. I went home earlier than usual at about 3am. I slept in a little on Friday as my morning class had cancelled, and managed to take a little nap in the afternoon. That night I met Megan, Matt, and his room mate out for dinner and a couple of drinks to celebrate St. Patty's day, but I was pretty tired so called it a night shortly after dinner. Megan's mother and sister were coming in to town on Saturday, so she and I had lunch at this quaint little Czech place a few blocks from Jan Hus' church. I had what is so far the best goulash. We spent some time hanging about and then I left her to go fetch her family. It had been a while since I had a Saturday night to myself, so I squandered it shamelessly, and accomplished nothing. I turned down invites to a club from Scott, and drinks with Megan after she put her mom to bed.
Sunday I met Scott for a late lunch, so we could chat about some of the events from Thursday night, and life in general (which mostly means women). We met at the Bohemian bagel in Old Town. I had a few cups of their bottomless coffee and some rare American style breakfast food, while we chatted. After Scott invited me to go to the museum of military history in Zizkov, as he was meeting Ian and Jason. I decided to tag along. The museum is up on a hill that is topped by the statue of Jan Zizka, where there is a really spectacular view of Prague. I have taken some pictures of the view, the statue and the museum, but I only had my camera phone with me, so I apologize for the mediocre quality.
Scott is even more fascinated with history than I am and his slow trek through the museum finally drove Ian and Jason to hit the road. I waited in part because I wanted to chat some more with Scott, but also because I wasn't exactly sure how to get home, as I had been talking to Ian all the way here instead of paying attention to our route. In the end Scott and I walked back into town and went to a favorite cafe of his where we had soup (exceptional in a city of exceptional soups) and then drank until about 1am. We managed to run the gamut of topics this evening from women (always at the top of the list) to racial inequity in the US. Needless to say it was a fun evening. I grabbed the night bus home (first time on a Sunday), and stumbled into my apartment around 1:30am.

I hate being sick

Ok so I was sick most of the weekend and spent almost the whole time in bed or at least near it. I did go to Pub night on Thursday and since my Friday morning class had cancelled, I went to Nebe for a little dancing afterward with Scott, Matt, MJ, Mali, Caroline, Chris, etc. I danced myself a little silly. Chris, Matt, Scott and I went for some food a little later, and I managed to get home about 5ish. I was a little hungover for my Friday mid day class, but they are a very cool advanced class, and I often think they are hungover themselves. Friday I made dinner for Megan (Klobasa and mashed potatoes), and we watched some movies etc, as I was starting not to feel well. The rest of the weekend was just me whining about being sick, so I won't bore you with the details. However, I would like to point out that we got about 4 inches of snow.

Poker is clearly not my game

So Rob had another poker night on Friday. He has a new place in the center so it was easier to get to this time around instead of having to go to the middle of nowhere. Of course I live in the middle of Nowhere so I can't really bitch. Anyway, I played a couple of hads really badly and wound up blowing through 200kc. Oh well, I had a good time, and that's not too much to pay for a good time. Scott arrived at the game after it was all wrapping up, and sat for a few minutes chatting. After that, we took Adrian and went to meet Mali in Zizkov. As we were walking over there, I actually got my first close up view of Zizkov tower. It was apparently originally designed to block out "western" tv and radio signals, but was not completed until '92 I think. So obviously that didn't work out. However, it is a very interesting tower, and has strange creepy baby sculpures climbing all over it. I will try ot get a close up picture and post it.
Anyway we met Mali and headed over to some dive herna bar to drink and chat to the wee hours of morning. I can't exactly remember what time I got home but it was after 6 I think.