so, what do czechs carry?
and by carry, i mean arbitrarily and in the most general sense of the word, what do czechs carry?
well, some would have you believe that they carry ferrets and big, school-pagaent-type angel wings (at once, mind you)... others might have you believe that they carry one used tire and a picture of the first moon-landing (at once, mind you)...
i see these people carrying random items around in random assortments and it makes me wonder, where do they come from? what is the purpose of a poster of the moon-landing and a used tire? what's the story behind it?
anyway, just thought i'd post a random comment.
so, i'm simply in a shit mood today. i won't soften that for you softies out there, either.
i don't like anybody. i don't want to see anybody. thankfully, my ipod battery has lasted an amazingly long time today. it's been flatlining for about an hour.
monday sucked. i taught the worse english lesson of my life, primarily because i couldn't speak english, for some reason. i was mangling the language left and right. so i gave up and just played a game.
tuesday sucked. i had to wake up at 6 a.m. to help my friend move (because i'm living with said friend at the moment). i don't and didn't mind helping him move because he's been really generous towards me. but 6 a.m. and then i spent a majority of the day dealing with the move. i did get to see Pink Floyd's "The Wall" for the first time. that was great. but still...
today's in the process of sucking. the weather went from nice to shit. i've had a lot to do and half of the time i was unable to do it. the school seems reluctant to give me new classes and i'm under hours. i don't know if i'll be able to afford my rent next month, especially if i don't find a roommate (and/or roommates) sometime in the next week. so that's been weighing on my mind increasingly. i keep modifying my offer in the hopes that somebody will bite... but so far, so little.
eck.
and things just don't feel right. i am not living in my permanent flat and haven't been in a real "home" since August. so i'm feeling displaced and anxious and worried... maybe i'm just feeling ugly. i know i'll get over it. i am, after all, an optimist and catching me in a bad mood is really a difficult thing to do.
and why i've decided to post this, i don't know. i guess i was just angry at the fact that nothing appears on the first page of my blog because i hadn't posted in so long.
blech.
so, this is my 100th blog post... and i thought i'd give you some more amusing czech language stories.
first, i'm currently homeless. well, not really. but i don't have a permanent flat/apartment. as i posted last time, i'm living with my friend dave reed.
because of this, i've been taking a good hard look at reality recently.
anyway, looking for a new apartment means talking to real estate agencies. in czech, you see, "realty" is "r-e-a-l-i-t-y". that's right, "reality". kinda funny, doncha think?
on a different amusing czech language note, i've been listening to some radiohead b-sides for the past week. i haven't listened to these songs in ages and i came across one that i really like called "A Reminder".
"A Reminder" starts with a recording with some foreign language being spoken over a sound system. it's obviously ambient noise because you hear people laughing and talking. and then the music fades in, overpowering the ambient noise...
you've probably guessed by now, the language is czech. the ambient noise was recorded at the metro station Namesti Miru (Peace Square) - not a formal train station as it says in the link above.
anyway, after not hearing the song for years and then hearing it again only recently, you can imagine the expression on my face as the epiphany hit. it took a second, but when i caught on i felt like some small secret had been revealed to me.
so, i spent all day online yesterday, looking for a flat here in prague.
i got home at about 21:30. when i got back to my temporary residence...
oh, i should explain: being that i don't have a permanent flat at the moment, i'm staying with a friend on a futon in a room of my own. the friend has a big, shaggy, shedding dog named Whoopi - "like Whoopi Goldberg", he said.
so, last night i got home at about 21:30 - that's 9:30 p.m., for you non-military time folks. i took Whoopi for a ten to fifteen minute walk. Whoopi did his thing. i did mine: trying not to be spooked out by the dark forest we were skirting.
we got back to the house. i sat down and read the Economist for about an hour. Dave, my host/friend, came home and about 15 minutes later we both decided it was time to go to sleep.
on the way up to our rooms, he told me that Whoopi had puked in my room so the windows were open and that i might want to close them due to the noise on the street outside.
nah, i said. i slept with them open the night before.
i walked into my room and it stunk. straight up stunk. smelled like shit, literally. that was some nasty puke, it seemed.
and it seemed that way until i looked at the bedspread and saw a mound of feces on it.
"um, Dave?!" i said plaintively, calling out of my room. "i don't think Whoopi only puked in my room. he defecated on the bed as well."
"really?" replied Dave. "he did that when my cousin came and visited as well. i don't think he liked the new smell in his house."
well, that was paraphrased, but it was the jist.
and so it goes...
got back to praha last night after spending the weekend in Tapolca, Hungary. it's frisbee season again and i played my first tournament in two and a half months.
we won it all, beating our international rivals, The Big EZ (from Vienna, Austria).
and now my body is super sore, tight and aching - the 6 hour car ride home didn't help... especially since i was confined to a seat behind one of the tallest players on our team.
and my head hurts because i got too much sun, drank too much wine and not enough water during the course of the weekend. i had a single sip of champagne yesterday (our celebratory champagne), but i think i was already dehydrated from the weekend...
-------------------
i was cut off mid-sentence there. my thoughts are incomplete because i just talked to a friend for about 30 minutes. and i point him to truthout.org, an invaluable website in my opinion.
and that's where i'll stop for today.
so, at 10 a.m. tomorrow, my flatmate and i are being picked up and escorted back to prague. i'm through with mlada boleslav.
so i just did an hour and a half walk that included taking many photos. eventually, sometime in the long distant future, i might put some up online. i have so many to share...
overall the experience has been wholly unremarkable. i met some cool people. almost interfered in a marriage... don't ask. nothing happened except bowling. and i'm extraordinarily grateful of that.
i spent a lot of time reading. there was a lot of down time overall. i ate a lot... no, scratch that... a plethora of Heinz baked beans (go Kerry, heh heh)! i ate quite a few almonds, about half were chocolate covered. slept on a comfortable bed that, when i found the secret (sheet plus two blankets) became, quite possibly, the most comfortable bed i've ever slept in... so snuggly... mmm...
anyway, i also watched the entire series of The Critic and the first season of Quantum Leap (twice). i introduced my flatmate to Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness!
i got to see both the Skoda museum and the assembly line and body shop for their model Fabia.
it was a boring but peaceful experience.
--------------------
now, back to praha.
i received my fall schedule today. i only have one class that goes past 16:10 (and that's on Tuesdays and lasts until 6). unfortunately, i also have one class on Fridays that lasts for 6 hours. yes, that's right. 6 frickin' hours. thankfully, that same class is only once a month. but JEZIS MARIA! 6 HOURS?!
i don't have a flat in praha yet. i will be staying with a friend of a friend until i find a place. i will be searching like crazy in the hopes that i can find a place sooner rather than later.
and i'm going to start playing ultimate again! i'm going to a tournament in Hungary this weekend! it will be a little hectic tomorrow: finding my temporary flat, going to a friend's flat to get my ultimate stuff, swing by the school and get to my other friend's flat by 14:00 to catch a ride to Hungary. i will have a period of about 3 hours to do those things, which is not a lot of time in prague.
but i'm looking forward to living in praha again.