On Being 25

So, it's finally happened. My car insurance is officially lower. Too bad I don't have a car, and too bad I don't live in America. But if I rent a car (maybe i'll do that soon just because) it'll be cheaper. That's really the thing I'm most excited about. It's been an interesting last two months, for many reasons. Mostly I'm glad to be back over here because it's a great place for me right now. It's where I need to be. Some things that have happened recently:

- I recently heard that my long-term visa has been processed, so finally all the hassles and problems are behind me and I can finally rest happily with my visa. Next Thursday I will be traveling to Dresden to pick it up. Wow, my last 4 years in the Czech Republic, I drove through Dresden once, but in the last 6 months I will have been there 4 times. Wild times. Nice city though.

- I participated in a bowling tournament in Kralupy. It was great. About 20 people came and first prize was an IPhone, but unfortunately, I came in second, so I had to settle for a few prizes that were not as hefty as the prized phone. But it's ok, it was fun and I had a really fun time.

- I have finally, after much trouble and hassle and problems, applied for my Teacher Certification! Finally, after all those years of hard work and turmoil, I finally will have my certification and license to teach History! The processing fee was 52 bucks which is stupid, but i guess they have to make money somehow, and I guess they figure the students will have the same reasoning that I had,"If I spent all this time and money to apply for the license, and if all that's standing (finally) between me and getting my license, then so be it. I guess I'll do it."

Well... I guess that's at least 3 important things that have happened. My birthday was really nice. I kept myself quite busy with phone calls from friends and fun times. That's the great thing about birthdays is that you don't just have to celebrate it one day, but maybe for about a few weeks when you have time for special excursions here and there :)

A Foreign Saturday

So, as time goes by, I start to think that I know a lot about my small village of 18k people, give or take. I've been here long enough that I think I know most of the different kinds of foreigners. And I start to feel like normal. But what happened to me today made me feel exceptionally different.

Me and Joseph wanted to get out, so we left the flat in search of a good walk and a good lunch. We went to the market about 7 minutes away. The weather was rainy, yet sufficient nonetheless. I really liked it. Typical fall weather that makes you feel like your life is continuing. That's the reason for seasons, but enough of that. So we went there and got some food for the day and went to pay. I was getting ready to pay, with my food on the conveyor belt, and I looked at what the person behind me was buying, really really cheap beer in cans. Hm... I didn't pay much else to it, and continued in the line. Then the guy bent over to tie his shoe or something and hit my arm on the way up and I looked at him and he was Asian. He then tried to apologize to me and was quite insistent on it. Then he tried to invite me for one of his beers, or so I thought, and I declined. But he was ruthlessly insistent and took my by the arm and Joseph followed, to the nearby Chinese restaurant.

This man really couldn't speak Czech at all. And it was entirely impossible to understand anything that he was telling me... almost. He asked me my name a hundred times, and I finally understood what he was asking for, and then he asked Joseph's name and where he was from. Throughout the day, he continued to ask this. This fellow wasn't Vietnamese which the majority of people from Asia in CZ are from, this guy was from Mongolia. And what I got from the two beers that we had with him were the following.

He has lived here for three years. He can hardly at all speak any Czech (he just knows the words: wine, beer, vodka, finished, home). He doesn't know how to write in Latin alphabet, only Cyrillic. His wife is finally coming tomorrow to Czech Republic. He has at least two small children, maybe a third one. His father was killed by the police in front of him when he was thirteen and he then tried to fight the police, but they beat him up. Joseph is a super friend, and so am I. Mongolia has passports that look like drivers licenses (only some laminated plastic card).

I'm pretty sure that's all I got out of him. But It was a really interesting afternoon. I came home after that and was really confused at what had just happened. But these things seem to sneak up on my quite often. Interesting to say the least. :)