You have no idea how much nicer life in Prague is now that its spring time. Birds are chirping, the grass is green, and once and a while you see somebody smiling (it is still the Czech Republic after all). I am actually able to walk around the city without my face going numb, which has allowed for some serious exploring. Dan and I discovered a cheap ass market which is basically Mexico in Prague (excpet its run by Asians of course, not Mexicans) where I bought a watch for 200kc ($10) and we go for lunch for 40kc ($2). There are sketchy Vietnamese vendors who will wisk you into a secret room in which they are selling "Fendi" bags and designer jeans. And just like Mexico, they won't take no for an answer, whether you try to swindle them or not the price will drop about 50% before you can even understand what they are saying. Their English is generally limited to "Special for you" and "Real from Paris". Right. Either way, we love the Holsovice market, and we will continue to flock their for all of our insanely cheap needs.
Elaine Dowd visited me this last weekend and she wanted to join me for one of my adult classes. On this particular day their were two men in their late 20s/early 30s who are quite chatty and can be very open to conversation. Elaine saw this and quickly took advantage. She taught them slang such as "this sucks" and "thats chill" as well as lingo to "pick up chicks". First, she described, you need a wingman. A wingman will help you pick up chicks. So you see this hot girl across the bar, but shes got this friend with her and the friend is...so-so... and so you get your wingman to go distract the ugly girl while you hit on the hot one. Got it? The older guy laughs, and the younger one says "oh yes yes, like on Sex and the City?" Well done, Tomas. Then we precede to explain to them how friendship works in the United States. Here, they take friendship and the words "I love you" very seriously. They only consider a very small number of people their friends, and they ONLY say "I love you" to a serious girlfriend- no friends, no family, just girlfriends. So we explained to them how friendship works in the states. First you have acquaintences, the people you see off and on and know their name, but you never talk for too long or call each other. Then you have regular friends. These are the people you call for a party and when you hang out when you are really drunk you can tell them,"Oh my god, I love you!" and its OK. Then you have your work friends and your old friends. Then you have your close friends which would include a group of around maybe 20 people who you would call to hang out one on one or on a weeknight. Finally, you have your BFFs. You can have one or two of these, and you generally tell them you love them (especially if you are a girl). Needless to say, the boys were quite shocked. How do you keep up with so many "friends", how can you tell so many people you love them? Well, its hard work, but some country has to be the ignorant friendly ones.
While Elaine has been here she has been fudging it a bit on her tram tickets. Sometimes she buys one, sometimes she doesnt. Sometimes she stamps it twice (though I think that was on accident- perhaps I should have explained). Today, on our way back from the castle, she had a ticket with no stamp on it, so she gave me her ticket and I stamped it. I breathed a sigh of relief when a Tram Man came to check it. That god we stamped it this time! Wait, whats this? He seems mad and is speaking Czech. The tickets not valid. How the fuck did this happen? 700 crown says the Tram Man. Wait, we stamped the ticket though, look. You have too many stamps on this- 700 crown now, he barks. Oh, shit fuck, we stamped the wrong damn ticket. Look, Mr. Tram Man, we are so sorry, will you be understanding? We stamped the wrong ticket, look at this blank ticket. No, invalid ticket, 700 crown...Anyway, if you couldn't see where this was going, it ended with Elaine yelling at him that this would not fly in Germany where they have a much better system. Oh shit, you have awoken the beast. THIS IS NOT GERMANY! 700 CROWN NOW YOU ARE RUDE. Welp, guess its time to go before we get our asses handed to us by a couple of huge Czech Tram Men. Sorry for the less than hospitable public transit system...it happens.
