Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Shhhh!
I don't have much time to talk today, so I'll get right on it. I'm looking for a job this week, bunch of interviews and whatnot, kinda fun going to different parts of the city that I havent been to yet. I'll keep you updated. Until then, here's a blog that's much more interesting than mine.
postsecret.blogspot.com
"I deleted the Pope's funeral unwatched off my Tivo to make room for an episode of Survivor."
postsecret.blogspot.com
"I deleted the Pope's funeral unwatched off my Tivo to make room for an episode of Survivor."
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Kde je Pub?
Ok, so i know its been a while since I posted, more like an eternity, in my case. So heres whats been going on. I got to Prague on a sleeper car, which completely sucked, didnt sleep at all, police came in at 4am to check my passport, I was ready to get off real soon. I got to Hlavni Nadrazi (central station) and finally found my ride. She took me to my apt and I got settled in. Monday morning class at 10am til 6. Long first day. We pretty much get bombarded with assignments and are told that we are teaching the next day, and the next, and the next. They pretty much just throw you in a classroom and see what happens. I little daunting to say the least. We have these lesson plans that we have to complete and turn in before each lesson and they take a while. A lot of the stuff you have to come up with on your own, based on the prescribed rule or grammar you are teaching. Creativity is key. This course is taught by Paul and Terry. Both are from UK. Paul is the more serious of the two, pretty much no frills, play by the rules kinda guy. Terry is the younger, more hip horndog type that makes no bones about flirting with the girls in the class. Got to be pretty brazen about it towards the end. Anyways, they both taught in the United Arab Emirates for a couple of years and then set up shop in Prague about 2 years ago. The class is no joke, we had papers and interviews and homework and one-to-one tutoring to do. The week was hard work, but the weekend was even harder.
So, the nightlife. The heart of the Prague club scene is Wenselaus Square. Its about ,5 kilometer long with pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants, and shoppes. Very reminiscent of Canal Street N.O.(or more correctly, vice versa.) Its in the touristy part of town, but hey, at this point, I'm pretty much a tourist that lives here. The clubs range from huge 5 story discotheques to small underground chill out clubs. Thats another thing. Everything here is underground. Almost any pub older than the Velvet Revolution is completely underground. You walk into any random place with a Pilsner Urquell sign and its instantly the coolest place youve ever been. We walked down into one little jazz club and there was a little plaque on the wall that said 'This building was built in 1492.' Can you believe that? This random place in the middle of Prague was built the same year America was found by Europeans! Think of that! The place we were sitting in, casually having a beer, is 300 years older than my country! Blew my mind.
So Alejo and Dom G stop by less than a week since I got there. I put them up for 4 or 5 nights and we had a blast together. It was really fun because I was getting to know all the new kids from the course and Alejo and Dom were getting to know them along with me. I love it when worlds collide. Highlights from their visit are walking the streets of Wenseslaus Square doing the hot dog stand crawl. The great thing about this city is that beer is literally cheaper than water. The average cost for a ,5 liter 'pivo' is 25 Czech Korunas which is just over a dollar. A half liter is about 17 oz. Outside of the centrum you can find it for as little as 16 Kc. And we're talking good beer, not just a natty light equivalent. Not only is the beer cheap, but it is legal to have it anywhere, on the metro, in retail shops, at work. These people love their pilsners. So back to the hot dog crawl. The hot dog stands sell huge brauts for 30Kc and beer and cigarettes and candy and liquor. Its amazing. You can just stand on the street all night and drink and eat and smoke. The cigarette prices here are regulated so you can be in the most plush pub and it will always cost 35Kc for a pack of Lucky Strike.
So back to Alejo and Dom's visit. We go to this place called Lucerna, its a big high school hangout and on the weekends its an 80s dance party. Well after 3am its all slow songs and it is the funniest thing to watch the Czech high schoolers all over each other slow dancing to these horrible American songs. It started off with "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum and ended with "We are the World" by every single singer in the 80s. The best part was there was a huge projector showed the videos too. Felt like I was in Napoleon Dynamite. I walked up to some random girl and told her I liked her sleeves. She didn't speak English. I didn't care.
The next night we hot dog crawl and Alejo asks the barker at a strip club where a cool, non-tourist club is. He points us towards the Muzeum and says "La Clan". We get there after asking a random dude in a car who points us down a street. No signs. We walked down it and hear a faint 'ump,ump,ump' coming out of one of the doors. We walk in and go down two flights of stairs and its this little chill out club on the -2 floor and a completely dank dance/chillout/foosball club on the -3 floor. We got there around 5 and it was pretty much dead. We hang out for a couple of hours, talk about the Hill, debate about the intricacies of SHC social circles, and have a grand ole time. We decide to leave around 7. On our way out, we notice that more people have shown up and the dj is more involved in the music. We were walking up the steps when we heard MJ's "Don't Stop til you get Enough" interlaced with Drum & Bass. I look at Alejo, he looks at me. In unison, we say "Let's have one more beer." We end up staying until 9:30 dancing our asses off. SOOO many cute Czech girls. The language barrier is a bastard, though. I need to brush up on some key social phrases. "Is that a keg in your pants, cuz I want to tap that ass." Girls love that. We leave and its like the brightest sun I've ever seen. We hop the metro, pass out and wake up at the end of the line. Shit. We finally make it home and sleep until that devil star retreats into the void. We wake up and go back into town for another night. TBC....
So, the nightlife. The heart of the Prague club scene is Wenselaus Square. Its about ,5 kilometer long with pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants, and shoppes. Very reminiscent of Canal Street N.O.(or more correctly, vice versa.) Its in the touristy part of town, but hey, at this point, I'm pretty much a tourist that lives here. The clubs range from huge 5 story discotheques to small underground chill out clubs. Thats another thing. Everything here is underground. Almost any pub older than the Velvet Revolution is completely underground. You walk into any random place with a Pilsner Urquell sign and its instantly the coolest place youve ever been. We walked down into one little jazz club and there was a little plaque on the wall that said 'This building was built in 1492.' Can you believe that? This random place in the middle of Prague was built the same year America was found by Europeans! Think of that! The place we were sitting in, casually having a beer, is 300 years older than my country! Blew my mind.
So Alejo and Dom G stop by less than a week since I got there. I put them up for 4 or 5 nights and we had a blast together. It was really fun because I was getting to know all the new kids from the course and Alejo and Dom were getting to know them along with me. I love it when worlds collide. Highlights from their visit are walking the streets of Wenseslaus Square doing the hot dog stand crawl. The great thing about this city is that beer is literally cheaper than water. The average cost for a ,5 liter 'pivo' is 25 Czech Korunas which is just over a dollar. A half liter is about 17 oz. Outside of the centrum you can find it for as little as 16 Kc. And we're talking good beer, not just a natty light equivalent. Not only is the beer cheap, but it is legal to have it anywhere, on the metro, in retail shops, at work. These people love their pilsners. So back to the hot dog crawl. The hot dog stands sell huge brauts for 30Kc and beer and cigarettes and candy and liquor. Its amazing. You can just stand on the street all night and drink and eat and smoke. The cigarette prices here are regulated so you can be in the most plush pub and it will always cost 35Kc for a pack of Lucky Strike.
So back to Alejo and Dom's visit. We go to this place called Lucerna, its a big high school hangout and on the weekends its an 80s dance party. Well after 3am its all slow songs and it is the funniest thing to watch the Czech high schoolers all over each other slow dancing to these horrible American songs. It started off with "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum and ended with "We are the World" by every single singer in the 80s. The best part was there was a huge projector showed the videos too. Felt like I was in Napoleon Dynamite. I walked up to some random girl and told her I liked her sleeves. She didn't speak English. I didn't care.
The next night we hot dog crawl and Alejo asks the barker at a strip club where a cool, non-tourist club is. He points us towards the Muzeum and says "La Clan". We get there after asking a random dude in a car who points us down a street. No signs. We walked down it and hear a faint 'ump,ump,ump' coming out of one of the doors. We walk in and go down two flights of stairs and its this little chill out club on the -2 floor and a completely dank dance/chillout/foosball club on the -3 floor. We got there around 5 and it was pretty much dead. We hang out for a couple of hours, talk about the Hill, debate about the intricacies of SHC social circles, and have a grand ole time. We decide to leave around 7. On our way out, we notice that more people have shown up and the dj is more involved in the music. We were walking up the steps when we heard MJ's "Don't Stop til you get Enough" interlaced with Drum & Bass. I look at Alejo, he looks at me. In unison, we say "Let's have one more beer." We end up staying until 9:30 dancing our asses off. SOOO many cute Czech girls. The language barrier is a bastard, though. I need to brush up on some key social phrases. "Is that a keg in your pants, cuz I want to tap that ass." Girls love that. We leave and its like the brightest sun I've ever seen. We hop the metro, pass out and wake up at the end of the line. Shit. We finally make it home and sleep until that devil star retreats into the void. We wake up and go back into town for another night. TBC....
