Wrap Up and Let the Adventure Begin

So, right now I'm sitting on the airplane just crossing the southern tip of Greenland. Unluckily, I'm sitting right in the very middle of people, so no aisle or window seat for me, but oh well, life throws you rotten apples sometimes. Anyways, I got a lot to catch up on since I feel like I've been so busy as of lately. I'd like to tell you about the last few days for me. It's been a busy, crazy, relaxing, stressful time for me. Let's start with last Saturday when I left for the mountains to a friends cottage for 3 days.

Last year me and some of my colleagues all went to a cottage in Sumava mountains. Last year was really fun and we were walking so much and wow. This year was a bit different. I think last year we walked something like 14 miles or more last year one of the days cuz we got lost and blah blah. This year we weren't so lucky I think. There were six of us there which included some of my first guys I became friends with here, some colleagues that is, it also included my school principal which is a good friend of ours also. It was fun just all of us having fun, acting like good friends and no worrying about anything else except being on holiday. We got there in the evening after buying lots of food at the supermarket (i think it was more beer than food though. They said it was a men's weekend). But I thought that was ok. We hung out the first night just collecting wood and sitting around the fire and and just talking and having fun. After dinner of sausages and bread and beer, we decided to go to this "Western Ranch" which was 2 km away. It was really funny because they tried to be all western and even had an American flag as well as a Confederate flag. There were teepees there and everyone was around some campfire and it was funny to see. We stayed for a while but then it kinda got boring and half of us wanted to leave, but the other half didn't. But in the end, we ended up walking home and stayed up late. I was the first to go to sleep since I got bored and tired since i didn't understand most of the conversations.

The next morning I slept late since I had only maybe 4 hours of sleep the past 2 days since I was working or busy packing or doing something important I'm sure So... we got up and started out on our hike at about 11 i guess and we walked to this nearby village which had a castle which was pretty cool. We sat down for maybe the longest lunch of my life, It had to have been at least 2 hours, probably close to 3. And it was good food but just too long for me. Benji was with me and he was getting restless and no one was talking to me, so after a while, me and benji went exploring and went to the castle. It was really cool. We came back a half hour later and met the guys and then walked a few more km to a small pond for some swimming. This was fun because it was Benji's first time in the water that I know of. After much discussion of where on the pond we should post up, we split and me and Benji went to the water. Well, actually it was more like I went and tried to get him in, but he wouldn't. No problem, he had fun running around. And I met the only other English speakers at the pond. They unknowingly swam right up to me. After this we decided to leave, and i was ready to go. maybe 40 more minutes of waiting for them to really get ready to leave, we left. We walked for a while longer and split up. But not to worry, after a few more km, we met up at this pub. Again, but it was ok, and I got a snack and water. It was a really hot day, and I got a bit sunburned. After this, I was happy to go home because I really didn't like sitting and waiting while they just relaxed, drank, and smoked, and me and Benji were just chilling. So we walked maybe half a km and what do you know, another pub. They stop again which frustrates me a bit cuz we have beer at our place, but it's ok I guess. I just wasn't prepared for what the trip would be like. I told them I wasn't going and they all went to the pub and I walked 5k back to the cottage with benji. It was a great relaxing walk. I hope I force myself to go on walks next year. I've recently understood the fun in them.

Anyways, to make a long story short, the next day we went for a short hike because they wouldn't wake up cuz they stayed up real late (me not) and we walked for an hour and then me and my friend Filip drove back to Kralupy. It was great. We stopped at this castle with a moat and walked around it and it was pretty cool I thought. But I had to come home early on Monday because I was preparing a meal for my neighbors who had been such a help for me the 3 years I was there. It was the least I could do for them I thought. So I really treated them well with a meal of tacos, refried beans and fried rice, really homemade style. It was great. I was really afraid at how it would all go actually. There's 4 of them, two sons of 19 and 12. And I was afraid cuz none of them can speak English, only the youngest son cuz he is learning at school, but it's still minimal. I thought that they'd come over for maybe an hour and then out of there. It spent maybe 3 hours under the skillet cooking and pouring my heart into those tacos :) or something like that maybe. They came and brought stuff also! Wow, I was so shocked that they brought stuff also. But it was good and nice. I explained what the meal was, and was surprised that they actually understood what I was talking about, though it looked quite strange to them, especially the refried beans and the salsa. But they really liked it, so I was happy and they really ate so much, which I was happy too cuz i thought that I would have made too much. But we were talking and talking and talking about so many things. The highlight for me was when they asked me how many states the US had and then they wanted me to explain the pre-communist relationship with America and Cuba. :D It was great because I really know so much about it, but it was so difficult because I really had no idea how to explain myself in a different language. Anyways, to make a long story short, we had a really great evening with each other and I was so happy that I could treat them to a dinner. They stayed for about two and a half hours and then went home (5 feet from my place). Then the cleaning starts. Cleaning the dishes after a big dinner like this takes hours. But I did it and was done with it.

Then we come to Tuesday, which was by far the busiest day of this month. The day started later than I had wanted due to another late night. But at 930 I was out and working hard. My friend Honza came over and helped me out so much this day. I don't know how I could've gotten everything done without his help. First we were packing all my glasses into a box and also my map and other pictures and then we took them to the post office so as to mail them home. Because I didn't have enough room in my suitcases for them. After this, we went to Tesco so as to give away 3 big bags of clothes which had accumulated through the years by old roommates leaving them and then no one wanting them. But it was great. We got there and there was this homeless guy there and instead of putting the bags in the bins, we just gave them to him and told him to pick out what he wanted and put the rest in the bins. He was so happy and grateful. We gave him a winter coat, some boots, and as we were leaving tesco, he was trying on a swimsuit that i bought at WalMart several years ago. He was so happy and thanked us so much. It was great. After this we drove to Prague where I had to change most of my money into dollars since I wouldn't be able to do that in America for a good price. That was quick and nice. Then later, we went to the vet because Benji had to get a checkup to say he was healthy to fly and also get microchipped. We stopped there quickly only to notice that the doctor was on holiday for the week!! Oh no! I heard there was another vet on the other side of Kralupy, so we went there and she was so so nice. and even spoke English for me. And I think Benji liked her also. We got all that settled and then we left, everything finally having been settled. After this, I went home for a few hours of cleaning, throwing stuff out, more cleaning and packing. So so busy. About 9pm, I went for my last time to Piano the pub which has my favorite beer, Hoegaarden and my favorite waiter, friendly bald guy. It was great, I went there with a few friends and said bye to my waiter friend and ;came home about 1030. From 1030 to 330am, I was just cleaning, drinking coffee and preparing to leave my flat for the last time.

At 320, my kind friend Jarda picked me up and helped me get all of my stuff, including my dog into his car. And it all barely fit, especially the crate for Benji. And we drove happily there. I left my SIM card there along with the keys that I had had on my keychain for 3 years. It was sad. And driving there, I think my heart was beating a million beats per minute. I felt so nervous about everything: leaving, traveling with Benji, leaving, and traveling with Benji. We got there before 4 (good timing, my plane left at 615. And I hat 2 carts with everything including Benji. It was difficult to push them until i realized I could act like a train and push one of them with the other one. I said farewell to Jarda and prepared for check-in. I was one of the first one's there, got to the lady at 420ish and she looked at my itinerary and there was a problem. Of course there's a problem. There's always gotta be a problem. Apparently, I have tickets to Frankfurt and Chicago, but from Chicago to Tulsa my flight doesn't exist. I'll see soon enough if it really exists or not, but I think it'll be ok. She said that she couldn't check me in until we figured this out. I said what, excuse me? Please just check my stuff in. I don't care if I don't get on the plane to Tulsa, I'll figure that out later, just let me on now, she said no, and that I had to wait and solve the problem at the ticket office which opened at 5! Oh gosh, waiting half an hour, and I was scared I'd miss the flight. I waited and talked to this old Czech couple who were told they didn't have reservations to Vancouver but they did, but they ended up not being able to go and are flying out one day later. Finally I got to talk to the person and she said that it did exist, and then she talked to the other lady and then she decided that it MIGHT exist. I don't care, I'll figure it out later! So they finally let me go. But... I had to pay for Benji's transportation first. I had called and they said it'd be about 200 bucks. I thought, fine, it's not so bad I guess. I go to the guy and he says... ok... 500 bucks. I said WHAT?? Sorry sir, but I thought it was gonna be much cheaper. They told me on the phone that it'd be half that at least! He said... let me look again. I was about to pay it when he said, "Well, since they told you that on the phone... ok," so i finally paid him something like 250 bucks and we called it even. That was just so unbelievable for me though. Then I had to go get my boarding passes again and check my luggage in again and finally it was like 545!! Oh no!! What about Benji!! What do i do with him!! They said take him over there to oversized luggage. So i did and they put him through some machine. Then they stopped and said... "Don't you wanna take him out?" I said why? They said because. I said out where? But apparently it was an Xray machine, but he went through anyways and i ran to passport control and to the metal detectors. But the line all of a sudden grew enormously!!! OH NO!!! I ran back to the ticket lady and told her my problem. She gave me a fast pass which let me go ahead of everyone and I finally made it to my gate for the last boarding call just after 6. UGH!!! It was so crazy. I'm pretty sure I slept on the flight since i hadn't for a few days and then getting to Frankfurt I had to, as usual, walk 5 km to the other side of the airport where my next plane was. WOW! In the end, I made it and now I have 3 more hours til I get to Chicago. I just want this day to be over. Anyways. enjoy your day! :D

A Spiteful Experience

I visited the doctor several months ago because i was all out of contacts and i needed a new prescription for glasses. I wanted to go here so as to avoid paying lots of money in America for a visit to the eye doctor and to get some contacts... enough that would last me for a while. It was a funny ordeal the first time, but I managed and I got my glasses a week later and I was happy, but my contacts he said would be a month. With my glasses, the prescription is perfect, left eye 7.5 diatribes, right eye 7 diatribes. I can see beautifully, after one month, the doctor, who said he'd call me when my contacts came in, never called me. I was shy, so I waited a few more weeks to call him. "Yea! Of course they're in, come and get them," he said.

I went there and he told me I should try them out and see what I thought. I put them in and said that they were really pretty good, but my left eye, he had 7 diatribes and not 7.5. I told him that I needed something a bit stronger, but that they were really good. He gave me this pair and told me to come back in a month (2 weeks before I leave). I said... ok, no problem. And thanked him and left.

As I told you in the last post, I went there on Monday and he told me that he had the right eye, but that he lost the left eye. God, why does this have to be so difficult. You only have one responsibility! My contacts! It's not like he's a supermarket. It's just one small little stupid office. How is there even enough room in there to lose something. But oh well... didn't matter. So... I went back yesterday and told the lady (who still isn't able to recognize the only foreigner who comes more often than anyone to pick up their contacts) that I had an appointment and I needed to pick up my contacts. This lady explained me that these contacts can only be used for a month. And... she gave me this small little box... I looked perplexed cuz it looked just as big as the box that had only my right eye contacts when i was there on Monday... I asked her, "Uh... excuse me, how many are in here?" She replied, "two pair." Awesome... I waited all this time, 3 months, for them to give me two months worth of contacts, because the stupid doctor lost my full set of contacts. Hm... I like how they do things here. And then the doctor who was busy with someone else came out and apologized and told me he was sorry, but if i wasn't leaving, they'd have more time to get me my contacts, but as it is, they can't. This is the best they could do... A lovely story, isn't it... :)

But that's not the end of the story, I paid them a lot of money for only two months of contacts and left. (I guess it was 3 months worth since i didn't have to pay for the contacts that he gave me a month before while I was waiting for these contacts to come in, but that's beside the point). So... I came home... and I decided that I wanted to have a look at these contacts. And as it be, I waited actually more than a month for him to change me contacts from 7 diatribes to... what's that?... yes, that's right... if you can read the picture, they finally gave me 2 months worth of contacts that are actually weaker than the ones that I had even previously ordered. 6.5 diatribes



What's the moral of the story? When you need to go to the doctor... make the experience as short as possible. Accept less and don't complain, or you'll be waiting months to get actually even less than you had to start with. :D

Good story though, huh? It's all really funny, but oh well. It'll be better than nothing.

One funny thing, the doctor was kind enough to write on my contacts (as you can see) "LEFT" as to help me out to decipher which contacts were for which eye. Wow! That was really such a nice thing for him to do! I really appreciate that. He knows I'm American and that I don't speak Czech very well. Hm... so why didn't he ever try to explain one of the difficult things to me in English... no no... or even one of the simple things. Or just say ANYTHING in English! :D And then he writes LEFT on my contacts. :D You can't help but smile at the whole experience. :D

Another funny thing is that there are supposed to be 3 pairs in the box, but they opened the box from the side (in the picture, you can see that one of the sides is opened) and took one pair out! :D I really just don't get it! :D but he explained to me that I was only paying for 2 pairs, and that I wouldn't pay the normal price. (oh good, he's such a kind man).

The Eye Doctor... Not Finished Just Yet

Today was the 3rd time that I have been to my eye doctor in the last 2 months. He's supposed to have my new contacts prepared for me. So i went there again today to finally pick them up since i'll be leaving in 2 weeks. He told me that he'd have them and that there'd be no problem?

I came in and the assistant told me to have a seat and the doctor would be right there. The doctor came after a minute and I smile and say hey to him and he looks at me and tells me that there is quite a problem. I say what is it? And he says that something is wrong with my contacts that i'm supposed to pick up. I'm curious what the problem is. He says that he only has half of the contacts. Only contacts for the right eye. Interesting. What happened to the other half? Well... he doesn't know. He told me that they just disappeared. How do they just disappear? It's a good question that I will probably just never figure out. So... he called some offices and asked them if they have what i need. they said no.. he asked them next if they have something similar... They said no again. Then they asked him if i could wait another month, he said no. And then he hung up and told me that i should come back on thursday cuz they'll be here...

So i'm not sure what i'll be getting on Thursday. Maybe they will have lost the other contacts by then also. :) We'll see... but it was a funny situation. It's not a big office, so i really don't know how they disappear. This is his job!! It's not like it's something on the side. Oh well... I'll go back on Thursday and see. He was quite apologetic though. Really overly apologetic which was quite nice. I couldn't help but smile at the situation. It was really quite comical. So that's my 2 cents for the day.

Cleanin, Packin, and Moneyin...

Things go slow here at times, but not at these times. Less than three weeks now and my life is busy with lots of cleanin and packin. I clean something, and then i find something else that needs more cleaning, and then 2 days later, it's almost like nothing was done in the first place. And the tedious job of packing is something that is never ending. Finding what stuff needs to be packed, sorted and put with other like things, throwing some stuff away, deciding what needs to be left and what needs to be given away. Sucks. Thus is life.

And i found out yesterday about my student loan for next semester! I'm getting money. Pretty cool, and 500 bucks I won't even have to pay back. Happy birthday to me.

Poor Drivers

I was surfin on NY Times today, and came across this article
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/business/06tank.html?ex=1373083200&en=93b3af51607d2e99&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
At $100 for Tank of Gas, Some Choke on ‘Fill It’
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
Published: July 6, 2008
Owners of large vehicles have hit an uncomfortable price milestone and are cutting back on recreational driving.

This article tries to stress the sadness of those poor luxury car owners who have to pay more than a hundred bucks to fill up their cars. Reading the article, I don't know if we're supposed to feel sorry for the person who bought a brand new SUV with leather seats and mini tvs built into the seat backs or what. Poor them, they bought a $100K car and now they have to pay more money than economy car owners on gas. Or maybe we should feel sorry for the guy they interview who owns 3 hummers, cuz they only get 8 miles a gallon.

I just really don't get what the whole purpose of this whole article what about.

Not Much To Say

School's been finished for a few weeks now. It's been really a sad time, as I say bye to so many students who have impacted me and vice versa in the last three years. It's really inspiring to see people who want to say bye to you and see that they truly are grateful for my friendship and such things as that. Since the last post, lots of things have been going on. Let me just quickly note all the things that have happened in the past week or two:

- We had our End of the Year School Pool Party. It was really a lot of fun which i was happy to have been a part of. I actually participated in a floaty animal toys race in the pool and just about drowned with my killer whale. For the first time in 3 years, it was actually good weather and I was happy to enjoy the music, fun, friends, and a few good last moments.

- We had a last teachers meeting where we were wished a happy summer and leaving teachers had to say something. I was scared to say something, but i did, and it went well. Sad to say bye to the teachers also, but I feel like for the most part, most of them liked me as well.

- I visited one of my good colleague's wedding reception. It was really a great party at this guy's farm near Kralupy. I saw so many people there including my old Czech teacher from a year and a half ago who i had really wanted to see before leaving. We played softball there and I was the champ of the game, although we ended up tying 6-6, but i felt good.

- My roommate Joseph went home. So now it's just me and Benji here living the bachelor life. It was pretty sad to think that we won't be living with each other again anytime soon. He was definitely one of the best roommates I'd had. Great guy that'll go on to do great things.

- My best American friend over here, Stephen, is getting married tomorrow, so we've been spending time in preparation for that. We've been having some good times of last minute singleness chat, and the we also had a bachelor party for him in which we to a small village near Prague and played paintball in this ridiculously huge place. I think it was an old industrial factory. That was a lot of fun actually.

- And today we had a rehearsal dinner and was able to spend time with some people that I probably won't be seeing again or at least anytime soon after the wedding.

And then we have things to come. Nothing really is for certain right now, but I believe that tomorrow I will be going to the wedding of two of my good friends in Prague, and after that, there's a lot of unclarity. I will be having some parties with some different people I believe, and I will be meeting with other people, and I will be saying goodbye to other people, and I will be visiting a cottage again with other people, and then on July 30th, I will return home.