Keeping with tradition, we didn't really leave the house on Sunday. Kevin, Jessica and I went to church in the morning. The church we were in was built in the 11th century, which was pretty apparent when I got into my pew, went to take off my jacket and realized there was no heating. In -5 Celsius weather, give me a break! We stayed huddled together for warmth for the next hour and half and when it was time to kneel, we knelt on weathered wood that surely had been replaced since the church had been built, but even though it had been worn smooth, it was also starting to splinter from the wear and tear. For receiving the Eucharist, rather than just walk up and turn back around, we entered the apse for Communion. It was actually really breathtaking, even for people who wouldn't normally go to church. Just to feel the history!
I spent the rest of the just hanging out at the house and Kevin finally cooked for us! It was the perfect meal – tomato soup and tomato, onion and grilled cheese sandwiches. Perfect after a weekend of demasiado! We had class early the next morning (11:15) so we called it a night pretty early as we had to catch up on the lack of sleep from the past couple of days. I woke up early and went for a run – Rachel, Laura and I decided to train for a half marathon in Prague in March – along the Charles Bridge. Its like when I would run along the Battery in Charleston, you just have to take a second to realize that you actually live there. It's THAT incredible! In our Czech class we learned some food vocabulary and decided to take our chances by going to a restaurant called Český kuchyně, which is actually just a cheap cafeteria-style restaurant in then city center. I told myself I would only talk in Czech to the people that worked there, thinking at the very least I could point to whatever I wanted to eat. Unfortunately, the food looked so similar from station to station that I couldn't tell which didn't have meat… so I had to pull out a phrase from week one… Jsem vegetariánska. Nejím maso… to which I was pointed to the očková polévka – Aubrey's favorite lentil soup. Laura, the other vegetarian in our group, decided to just try in English. The lady behind the counter pointed to the dishes and said potato and something unintelligible, but when Laura heard potato she figured it was a safe vegetarian bet. We sat down to eat and at the first bite her eyes snapped up in surprise. MEAT??!?!?! Ridiculous, right?
That night we went back to the Czech Inn for some Trivia where I dazzled my teammates by knowing the name of the Winnie the Poo creator's son – Christopher Robbin, the names of all seven of Snow White's dwarf friends, and who Martin Scorsese and Janis Joplin are. Beyond that, I wasn't much help…
The next day we were starving after classes but were sick of always buying chocolate bars from across the street. We wanted something else so we settled on some salsa and bagel chips (the Tobacco across the street didn't have tortilla chips). We got upstairs and opened the bagel chips, but when it came time to open the salsa we couldn't no matter how hard all three of us tried! At least it was a good excuse to talk to our neighbors, right? Michelle and I knocked on our neighbors' door – we knew there were two American girls and two English guys living there and were hoping that one of the guys could help us out. Unfortunately, no guys there, but Kacey was and she knew a trick to opening the bottle – but I can't tell you guys… it's a secret! We also met Angela and I'm so glad we did! They told us about a place that offers free sangria for ladies on Tuesday nights and just basically we lucked out with neighbors. Kacey even stopped by on Saturday. Tuesday was also the inaugural TAMily girls' night in Prague, including two of the Euromaster girls. We brought over some frozen pizzas, Antoniya brought an amazing salad, and Jess had two huge plates of caprese salad, some wine, coffee, and hot chocolate for me! Since Gossip Girls took a one week hiatus, we didn't have our traditional TV episodes to watch, but we persevered and watched Penelope instead. That's the movie where Christina Ricci's character is cursed and born with a pig nose – it also has James McAvoy in it, so of course it was an amazing movie!
Wednesday was another quiet day – or at least it was supposed to be. Jess and I finished up our corrections of the Czech translations at Amnesty International on Wednesday, so Leona gave us the rest of the week off and we go back next Wednesday. We were bored in our apartment, so we decided to meet Toby for some drinks. We all went to the same sketchy bar we went to when we met up with Ty McGee, the very strange ghost tour guide from Florida. And guess who was there when we opened the door into that cold cellar bar! Actually, don't guess… it was Ty. Sitting at a table by himself, smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer. He seemed in a surly mood, but as soon as he recognized us –it took a second – he was jumping up and talking a mile a minute. If I could imagine a door-to-door salesman, Ty would put them to shame! After freezing our asses off, we ducked out of that bar and went to Fat Boys, the same bar we went to the first time we met our Euromasters friends. We got a SMS from the Czech Inn group of boys saying they were coming down our way, so rather than retiring to the apartment, we went across the street to Chapeau Rouge for some awesome music!
I had up until that point resisted drinking, but I couldn't any longer! They had Staropramen dark on tap, what was I supposed to do??? By the time the guys got there, Michelle, Rachel, Toby and I were already tearing up the dance floor… we figured other people would decide to dance when they saw what a great time we were having. And by dancing, I mean I was doing some great moves, and when I saw great moves, I mean I was jumping up and down and flashing my spirit fingers. That's right, I brought it on – and then some! Eventually I had to go to the bathroom and you know how girls always make friends in the bathroom… well, I met this girl from Slovakia named Sonya. She pulled me to her table where her brother and boyfriend were sitting. They had moved to the Czech Republic when their father died, their mother was still in Slovakia and her brother, Dany, had moved to Manchester and was back on holiday. They were so nice! I basically ditched my Euromaster friends and talked to them to whole night. But unfortunately, day time has a nasty habit of sneaking up on you and eventually we HAD to leave.
Just to set the stage on the walk home, Rachel had given up eating food late-night last Saturday, so we should have just walked straight home. But Rachel was like, "wow, Sarah… you look hungry. I think you should eat…" I answered, "Rachel, you know I'm always up for eating. I know you gave it up last week, but I REALLY need you to come with me to get some food now… You might as well help me eat it… It'd be a great favor!" So we started walking towards a falafel restaurant when these two guys overheard us talking about gyros and said they could show us a great restaurant. Their names are Alexey and Alexandre – Alex and Alex from Russia. Alex # 1 had moved to the Czech Republic and had taught himself English. Alex # 2 didn't speak a word. We probably walked around for about 45 minutes, just chatting it up and never getting any closer to any sort of open restaurant, but after exchanging numbers – I was actually hungry by this point – we went to the falafel restaurant and then home – where Michelle was making French fries. So we ate again and went to bed around 5:30. Hey, we needed our beauty rest before our interview the next day with another internship!
Thursday morning we headed to the Jiriho Z Podebrad metro stop to meet Bill from Civic Concepts International. If you want to, skip this paragraph, I'm just going to gush about how perfect a fit this internship is for me! Basically, everyone in this program has huge dreams – be a diplomat, become a CEO for some governmental organization, work as an analyst at the Pentagon, vault through the levels at the World Bank to become one of the "important people" and here I am, masquerading as a masters student, but really only looking for a free pass to Europe and a way to meet a ton of new people. And how great that Civic Concepts was founded by a guy fresh from college who just wanted to start an NGO so that people could meet up, hang out and realize that we really can all get along! The main purpose is through two conferences a year where 300 students come to Prague and meet each other. A conservative cadet from the Citadel can meet a young girl from Mogadishu who cannot really speak English and they can make a connection. This connection could inspire them to get involved. This organization facilitates the cross-cultural exchange of ideas and it fosters international relationships… even though it's on a small scale, in my opinion, it is the way to better the world one meeting at a time. And Michelle and I are going to be organizing the IYLN so that all of the alumnus can stay connected. Just finally we have a purpose here!
That night, we headed out to Prague 2 for some cheap vegetarian cuisine. And then to a bar for some drinks with the girls. And then out. Yann's friends from Canada were in town for the weekend so it was basically obligatory to do out. We headed to Radost again for Hip Hop night and I tore up the dance floor again, but this time I was legitimately dancing. (At least I'm gonna pretend I was…) I can normally dance until around 3:30/4:00 before my knee screams at me to stop… which it did on Thursday night too, but I ignored it… I was having way too much fun! (The next day I was basically confined to my chair for most of the day, but so worth it) Around 5:30, Rachel and I decided to go. We thought we were gonna have to walk all the way home, but fortunately we found out the metro opens at 5:00, so we were saved!
Yesterday was another day of relaxation until about 22:00. We went to Red Hot and Blues for dinner, Lorrie – the owner – is also partners with Bill at Civic Concepts, where we got to listen to some amazing blues before we headed home to start the pregame session. All the Euromasters came over and even our neighbor Kacey and her friend – all I remember about him is that he's from Virginia – and two bottles of vodka, one bottle of whiskey, several Budweiser Budvors, two bottles of Božkov (which some girl on the metro had given to Jack) later, we headed to Roxy for some electronica. I stayed until about 2:30 and then made my way home … where I slept … peacefully … until 5:00 when Michelle came running in.
"Jack was arrested!!!!!!" she began before struggling to get her breath back. "Remember when we stole that pole, Sarah?" – Yes – "Well, Jack and I tried to steal another one. And we brought it on the metro with us" – You should be arrested for that – "And then the police officers grabbed him and threw him into a van… But they wouldn't take me… I don't speak čeština so I tried French but they would only speak in Czech. And I couldn't get into the van" – Thank God! – "So I ran home. I need to find a police station. I need to find out where he is!"
Internet research wasn't fruitful so she threw on her coat to run to the police station across the street from our apartment. Rachel and I tried to calm her down… what can they really do about an attempted crime, he'd probably only spend the night in jail if he really was arrested, right? And she was starting to get annoyed with us… "It's not funny" – yeah, we know… but actually, it kinda is… - "I have to find him!" – what are you really gonna do… you're wasted!
By some miracle, he called in the next couple of minutes to say he'd been released. So Michelle laughed and ran out of the apartment to meet him. And I went to bed.
Let's see if tonight can match the past couple of nights!
No comments:
Post a Comment