Train drama, Conference, and Zilina

-Friday, January National Conference (JNC)-

I met up with Mauro (Italy) and Hugo (Portugal) at the train station tickets in hand to go to the Aiesec conference in Sec. We go to the platform and the following scene ensues (well, not verbatim, but something like this):

Time: 17:07—when the train was due to arrive.
[a really shitty looking train pulls up to our platform, says it’s final destination is Krujiskovicicece or something like that]
Mauro: I think this is our train.
Me: I don’t think this is it guys, we paid an extra 60kc to be on the nice train.
Mauro: I’ll go check the schedule. [goes to check] This is definitely our train, it says it goes via Pardubice (where we needed to go).
Me: Mauro, I really don’t think this is our train. Let’s ask someone. (We asked a few people and got 1 yes and 2 no’s)

Convinced that he is right, Mauro puts his bags ON the train, tells Hugo to watch them and then drags me over to the board.
Mauro: [pointing] See! The train goes through Pardubice.
Me: (trying to find exactly what he is pointing at) Uhhh….

Whistle blows, train doors close and train begins to move. Mauro runs after the train, grabs the handles next to the door, jumps on and tries vainly to force the doors open.

Hugo: Mauro, Mauro! (waves Mauro’s bags frantically)

Mauro falls off the train.

Mauro: Oh my god, I’m so glad you have my bags.
Me: I’m glad that you have so much faith in Hugo that you think he would be stupid enough to leave your bags on the train as it pulled away.
Hugo: Actually, I just grabbed them in the last 10 seconds. It was close!
Me: Oh ok. Sorry guys, you’re really going to hate me if that was our train. (Mauro was a little heated at this point and may have expressed some strong opinions).

Time: 2 minutes later
Our train pulls up.
Me: Ha! I was right.
Hugo: But that was really funny.

It was funny. We did countless “Mauro holding onto the side of the train” imitations after that. We also hypothesized on whether or not he would have been able to hang on to the train until the next station. (Conclusion: Only if there were no tunnels). We also started talking to a random guy in our compartment and were telling him this story and he said, “Oh, that was you? I saw you fall!” Awesome.

Eventually we did get to Sec and got the party started. However, nothing too crazy- just the requisite dancing and beer drinking that comes along with any conference like this.

Pictures in the JNC album.

-Zilina-

On Saturday, Hong and I got up bright and early (11 am) to catch the train to Zilina, Slovakia where we were meeting up with Tommaso, Lukasz, Mirka, and Sarah. Beautiful day that was spent mostly waiting for the train (yay for delays) and being on the train. The best part was when about 45 minutes away from our destination they decided to turn the heat in our compartment off. It was FREEZING! Gotta love Slovakia.

Once there we just found our hostel and went for dinner. We then went to a few clubs around the centre (it’s a small town so there are only a few clubs). We pretty much got stared at whenever we entered a location (I guess they don’t get many minorities in those parts and me and Hong were representing) but it was fun. We found a place that allowed us to get our dance on. Tommaso made sure to show us all his dance moves (the foot tapping, the pointing, etc) and it was great. [Ostrava family-- we missed you for La Tortura and Camisa Negra and all those songs we partied to on Stodolni!]

The next day we did a bit of sightseeing around the town and to the castle and then said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Oh, and we saw a security guard take down and start beating up a guy that had stolen 2 bottles of alcohol. It was totally entertaining.

Pictures are in the Zilina album.

I’ll see Mirka next week for a bit before she leaves to Greece since she is taking the bus from Brno. But I don’t know when I will see Hong next.

That is why I have to write this next bit.

Things I will miss about Hong
-yelling “HONG!!!!” whenever he is taking too long to come to wherever he’s supposed to be
-yelling “HONG! DRINK!” whenever we are anywhere with alcohol
-how Hong always asks, “Why? Why?”
-how if Hong is not saying “Why?” he is saying “A-HA!”
-the fact that we are all always entertained when we introduce Hong as “Hong from Hong Kong”.

Gay Restaurant

Yesterday I went to a gay restaurant for lunch. And I don't mean gay in the politically-incorrect-intended-to-insinuate-gayness-is-bad-when-it-isn't kind of way. I mean that I went to a restaurant that only has gay waiters and everyone calls the 'gay restaurant' (by everyone I mean the 2 other people that told me about it and me).

Let me tell you, it was honestly one of the best restaurants I have been to in the Czech Republic. Not because the food was stellar, or the decor was out of this world, but because of something completely simple. The waiters were NICE! This is the Czech Republic--the service is usually awful at best, and generally non-existent. That is something that you have to try to accept even though it can be difficult coming from a country where you have to be nice to the customer and the customer is always right. Remnants of communism I am told. You can't expect people to change their behavior and become friendly in the short span of 16 years. Shit like that takes TIME.

Things the waiter did that one does not expect from someone providing a service in the Czech Republic:
-Said dobre den (good day) and SMILED
-Asked how we were
-Promptly served our food (with a smile)
-Asked us how the food was (and actually sounded like he cared!)
-Told us to have a nice day (with a smile!)

You can't even get that many smiles at Mcdonalds and smiles are supposed to be free there!

Conclusion: Gay waiters are great, I am so going there again.

Plans for the weekend--going to an Aiesec conference one night and then rendezvous-ing with my Ostrava roommates in Zilina, Slovakia. I have been promised a good time. They better deliver. (This is not in doubt)

New Roomie and Hair Talk

My new roomie:
-is French and an exchange student here
-speaks English pretty well (score!)
-seems really nice
-has a hair straightener that she lets me use!!

Ok, the whole hair straightener thing might seem insignificant and shallow to the people who are reading this and don't know the wonder of a hair straightener, but I know some of you are feeling me on this one.

Yesterday I straightened my hair for the 3rd time in the last 5.5 months. It somehow doesn't look as good as it used to. I blame this on these main factors:
-I have lost hair since coming to the Czech Republic so it's thinner (damn the hard water!)
-I haven't had a real haircut since August and twice since then I have taken it upon myself to cut my own hair because for some unfathomable reason I convinced myself that I was suddenly endowed with abilities I have always lacked such as 'the ability to cut straight', 'the ability to layer', and 'the ability to multi-task and hold the comb in one hand, the scissors in the other and look in the mirror all at the same time'. Oh, and for a moment there I thought I had some hand-eye coordination. LIES!

Anyway, I hang out with too many guys here so I don't get to do stuff like get into in-depth discussions about my hair. Plus, most people here have very easy to manage hair so they don't understand. (Spoonaka- I know, I have GREAT HAIR). It's kind of weird how some girls (ahem...me included) can spend so much time having the same conversation about hair, but just on different days. I remember in first year business I was talking to a girl in my class (who usually had curly hair but once in a while straightened it) about her straightener and how straight her hair was that day when my friend (male) just couldn't take it anymore and said, "You know what kind of straightener she has! It's a [insert model here], it takes her [this amount of time to straighten her hair]. She likes her hair better straight than curly but it just takes too much time to do! They're always the same questions and always the same answers!!".

Some people just don't know how to make conversation. Maybe that's why we aren't friends anymore. I'm capable of intelligent conversation, but sometimes you need to talk about stupid shit too.

Rambling

-What some of my male friends learned about Czech chicks this weekend-

1.When your friends tell you that the girls you are hitting on are not attractive, believe them so that you don’t have a rude surprise the next night when you see them at the bar again.
2.Ask how old they are so that you won’t find out the next day that they are only 17.
3.You must be sober enough to realize that them teaching you how to count from 1-10 in Czech will not miraculously enable you to be fluent in the Czech language and that when you aren’t completely wasted you won’t have anything to say to them. (Worse is when they aren’t even cute so you wouldn’t even want to just make out with them.)

-Bratislava-
My friend Elina (Finnish living in Prague) and I went to Bratislava for the day on Saturday. We were there for about 4 hours and honestly, that was enough. The city is nice but nothing really stands out. It has the standard elements of any city in this region: main square, at least 5 churches, and a castle with a view. There were hardly any people there, which was a total contrast to Prague where there’s always WAY too many people. Not quite as bad as portrayed in the movie Eurotrip, and actually a relaxing place for a day trip. Check pictures in the Bratislava album.

-ZIMA!(Cold)-
It just seems wrong that the current temperature in Brno is about minus 20C when it is only minus 2C in Edmonton. The funniest/most tragic thing is seeing all the people around here (exchange students and other interns) who have no clue how to dress in the cold. Some girls yesterday told me they had no idea that it would be so cold because it was so sunny outside. I felt like my mom telling more than one person that it’s absolutely necessary to wear a hat, gloves, and scarf. Bundle up kids!

-Kobe Bryant-
It was brought to my attention that Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in one game (thanks Ricky). I wish I had seen it. Kobe, you’re a ball hog but I still love you.

-Conservatives…booooo!-
What the flip is happening in Canada? I will admit that I did not get my shit together and vote from here so one might make the case that I am not allowed to complain since I did not vote. However, I live in Alberta so my vote never really counts anyway. Anyway, boooo.

Random realization

Last night was my friend Hans' going away party since he is heading back to Germany. Menia (a Slovak girl) looked around and started to count the different countries represented at the party-- Slovakia, Germany, Kenya, Portugal, Albania, Canada, India, Poland, Malaysia, Italy, Colombia,Spain.

Realization: There wasn't a single Czech person there.

Oops.

The Olympics of Waiting

I beat my record yesterday, was waiting at the visa from about 9:45am to 2:15. Around 2:15 the server of the Foreign Police crashed so they told everyone to go away. We spoke with the lady for about 1 minute to say that we needed to drop off the documents and she said, "Ok, it will be ready Monday". This is the same lady who when we opened her door just to say we needed to drop off documents told us to wait. For about 4.5 hours.

The only good thing about the visa office was there was this cute little Asian kid running around and while it was walking it suddenly just fell over backwards because its head was so big. Literally, so big that it affected the child's balance so much that it would fall over backwards with no warning.

Side Note: The child was bundled up and had a really thick hat on so it felt no pain when it fell over. It didn't even start to cry.

Note to self: Stop going out so late on Wednesday nights if you want to avoid the inevitable pain of Thursday morning and the constant feelings of wanting to hide under your desk and sleep every minute of the day away.

I even had to drink coffee this morning. I never drink coffee.

Good News, Bad News and Bad News, Good News

Good News: I still love my Ostrava roomies
Bad News: They had to go back to Ostrava!

Good News: I have a back-up husband for if I am unmarried at 30 (I know this doesn't carry the social stigma it once did, but still).
Bad News: Somehow I agreed to be the breadwinner while he stays home eating and gambling.

Good News: A new trainee from Malaysia came yesterday.
Bad News: She doesn't like beer (that will probably change).

Bad News: The original "Magic Stick" (reference Christmas Cottage)was stolen in Ostrava.
Good News: We found a new "Magic Stick" in Brno at the club!

Bad News: I caught my finger yesterday while I was converting the bed in my room from a couch to a bed. The nail is now blue and I can't apply pressure to my finger at all.
Good News: I am becoming very proficient at typing without the use of my left index finger.

Bad News: I have to go back to the Foreign Police tomorrow and I don't even know if all of my documents will be ready...my visa expires on the 23rd!
Good News: Erm...maybe living/working illegally in a country would add some excitement to my life?

Making New Friends

Last night we were out at a bar in Brno (note to self: don't drink absinth on a work night) and I made friends with a girl while waiting in line for the bathroom. Guys- if you wonder why girls take so long in the bathroom it's because the line is ALWAYS long.

Anyway, she introduced me to all her friends (she's Spanish and they loved that I can speak Spanish because generally the Spaniards don't espeak the English so well) and said she would invite me and my friends to the party they are going to have. She was very nice and it got me thinking about how one may think it's kind of random that I made friends with someone in the bathroom, but it's actually not that uncommon.

Previous Bathroom Buddies:
-My favorite would have to be the girl that rescued me from the toilet stall on my 21st birthday. (I think it was 21 anyway) Now, since it was my birthday (the only time of the year when you can shamelessly make people buy you drinks) I will admit I was slightly inebriated. But, that does not mean I was incapable of operating a simple slide lock bathroom door. It was actually stuck. Anyway, I was fighting with the door trying to open it and contemplating the gross fact that I might have to crawl UNDER the door when all of a sudden there is knocking on the stall door mingled with the drunken inquiries of "What are you doing in there? What's taking you so long??" To which I reply, "the door is STUCK!" And she yells, "STAND BACK!" Thank the baby jesus (or Ganesha) I had the wits to move my ass as far back as possible because within seconds I hear WHOOOOOOSH and SLAM as the door hits the side of the stall. The amazon girl had KICKED the door open! And I loved her for it.
-All the girls I met in the bathroom in Ostrava were great and random. There was one I met the first week and saw pretty much every week on Stodolni for 5 months. I even got some phone numbers! I think I picked up more girls than some of my male roommates. Well, more than Malta guy for sure. I didn't remember them all though (really, all Czech chicks can look the same), so sometimes I would run into them on the street and have no idea who they were until they reminded me.
-In Edmonton with Medha at the trashiest bar in the world (the name escapes me, it used to be Club Malibu but for some reason I can't remember what the name of the place is at the moment) we met 2 girls who had helium balloons attached to their wrists with string. The problema? They were completely and hopelessly tangled together and not really in a state to rectify that situation. So Medha and I helped untangle them and they were very grateful. That night we coined the term 'barma'.

BARMA: Based on the principle that what you do at the bar that night and what you have done every night before influences every night to come. In short, bar karma.

Brrrrrrno

I've been spending the last few days getting used to Brno. I have compiled a pros and cons list comparing to Ostrava.

Pros (always the good before the bad!)
-The city is nicer, more historical
-The beer is cheaper in pubs (I love saving 5 crowns! Whoohoo!)
-I have my own "kitchen" ie hot plate
-It's a change
-Nice trainees (So far! But as I always say, if you can't manage to make people think you are nice for the first while you must be a real asshole.)
-There's an Indian food restaurant here!
-I work in the centre right between H&M and McDonalds (I love me some shopping and McDonalds)

Cons
-Accommodation is more expensive and I have to walk up a freakin' hill everyday. This is a tragedy as I am very lazy.
-No maid at the dormitory whereas there was a maid in the "hotel" in Ostrava. Not cleaning my own bathroom for 5 months was awesome.
-I have to wake up 15 minutes earlier than I used to
-I miss my "Ostrava family"
-No Stodolni Street, the most wonderful place in the Czech Republic
-I work in the centre right between H&M and McDonalds (I will be broke and fat, but hopefully well-dressed)

No definitive decision at the moment, it's different but both are good! Plus, some of my Ostrava roomies are coming to visit on the weekend so that should be fun.

On a random note: on Friday I was out on the town with the trainees and some Indian guys that they work with (funnily enough, an Indian company outsources to Brno. Am I the only one that thinks Indians outsourcing stuff they are outsourced seems weird?) and 'Beware of the Boys' came on. I was dancing bhangra in Brno! That was something I never expected to do. We definitely got some weird looks.

For some Brno pics check the Brno Lake and Brno Bowling albums. Yes, I have done something besides party.

Ahhhh that reminds me what I have been doing lately. Waiting. To talk to evil visa extension people. You know what's annoying? When you have to take a number to talk to someone but you are not called in numerical order. So everyone stands around watching the board that displays the number of who is next and it goes something like this:
5
6
7
38
11
242
99
198
13
I shit you not. What is the point of taking a number that is dispensed in numerical order but called arbitrarily? Most people ended up crowding the door and just asking their questions as soon as someone left the office thereby negating the validity of the entire procedure anyway. I spent 3.5 hours waiting there yesterday, and 3 the week before. And I have to go back next week. Also, I have to go to Prague to the Canadian Embassy to get "superlegalization" of a document. Basically, a STAMP that proves something is valid, even though it's notarized already. And I have to pay for the damn stamp, it's like $50! To put that into perspective for those who don't understand the value of money in the Czech Republic, that's 40% of my rent for a month. Not exciting. It makes my Mexican visa process that involved taking pictures from the side without earrings and having a midget type up my forms look efficient. And the midget was much more friendly and even flirted a little.

Rant is over.

A Huevo Finlandia!!!

I'm back from Finland and while not frozen, am considerably more poor. I had such an awesome time though, it was completely worth it!

The trip there was ok, first I had to head to Brno and drop off my stuff. Then I hung out in Brno for a few hours since I was getting a ride to Prague with my boss (free!). As I was walking through the Christmas markets I ran into a Turkish girl I know that was working in Brno. Completely random, but great because then I had someone to hang out with! The next day when I was taking the bus to the airport I ran into a Finnish girl that I know that lives in Prague and turns out she was on the same flight as me! Small world...I felt so popular.

I met up with Towa in the centre and we hung out for a while and then Heini arrived. It was so great to see my preciosa, it did not seem like it had been over a year and a half. We went to pick Dion up at the airport and then headed to Tampere. We spent about a week in Tampere/Lempaala for Christmas and then went to Helsinki for a few days and New Year's. We also had the chance to meet up with Christian (another guy we know from Mexico), so that was awesome! And I saw my buddy Timo as well..I never imagined I would end up knowing so many Finnish people!

Christmas Comparison:
-Christmas is pretty much the same everywhere...spend time with your family and feel like you have ate so much you are 10 seconds away from vomiting. And then do the same thing the next day. It was marvelous. Heini's mom and grandma were the best cooks EVER. I gained some serious weight. However, in Finland they celebrate Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day.
-Heini's family makes someone dress up as Joulupukki (Santa...or literally translated into English--Santa Stud) every year and hand out presents. Dion got to be Joulupukki this year while I was an elf. Hot stuff.

Some REALLY Finnish things we did:
-Ate reindeer (caused a bit of a value conflict and I got an email from my mom saying, "I won't get any presents, you ATE Rudolph!)
-Went to sauna and rolled around in the snow (I wore a bathing suit though, as Heini's dad remarked..."Don't you know that North Americans are the only people born with their clothes on?")
-Cut down our own Christmas tree
-Made a snowman (we called him Suomi Stud)
-Drank Salmiakki (now I remember why I don't like it)

The most UN-Finnish thing we did:
-Watched "Pimp my Ride" (or Viritetyt Vehkeet in Finnish)

New Year's:
-Started at a party with Towa's friends who were all very nice, successful, and good-looking. Fun to party with too!
-Kissed one of her "famous" friends who used to host a show on MTV Finland. The funny thing is that his girlfriend told me it was ok and to do it because it would be a great picture-- me kissing a famous Finnish person.
-Gallivanted around Helsinki to a club, a burger place, and an afterparty
-Managed to lose an earring and FIND it again in the streets of Helsinki.
-Was called "Bombay" all night by one of Towa's friends and was slightly offended until Towa said, "Well, you have been calling him "Fucker" all night". Ooops. Sign #1857458756 that I swear more than a normal person. I then explained to him that in my world Fucker=Honey.

Yay 2006!

Pictures are in the Helsinki and Tampere albums.

On the way back from Finland I stopped in Prague for a few days to spend Bina's last days in Czech Republic with her! We went to the largest club in Central Europe...a venue much less impressive than the name itself. It has 5 floors, but 3 of them were closed! We still managed to have a good time, I was surrounded by Brazilians. And really, it's good to go out with Brazilians because everyone loves to dance! We also had a really good time making fun of the guys at the club, there were a lot of mullets running around. Also, I met a guy from the Yukon which is weird because I've never actually met anyone from the Yukon before, so the fact I met such a person in Prague is kind of random.

Now I'm settling into Brno, more on that later!