:: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 ::

The Return of the Fling?

What the Lord of the Rings should have been.
(Or, How to Return the Ring to Mount Doom with None of the Hassle)

:: posted by Rob 7:34 PM [+] :: 2 comments
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Got a ticket for my destination

I'm a scant fifteen minutes away from the start of my journey to the good ol' U.S. of A. After a really long trip involving trams, metro, trains, and planes, from Prague to Frankfurt to D.C., I'm picking up my Polka dot in Pittsburgh and heading west to join the family McC in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park for a week and change of fun-filled, mountainous vacation time! So adieu to you and bon voyage to me - I won't be posting in the next week or two (like that's a surprise!). But when I return to the City of Spires, I'll post all about the trip. And just to keep you waiting, I'll also fill you in on some extra-special super-secret JOB news that's coming up. So stay tuned, and send any extra monkey-mojo or bright, shiny karma you've got laying around my way. I'm gonna need it!

:: posted by Rob 8:50 PM [+] :: 1 comments
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Hear! Hear the pipes are calling

Yeah, yeah, I don't post often enough. Too bad.

Yesterday, my Polka dot and I went with some friends to the Highland Games held at Sychrov castle in north Bohemia. I needed a little touch o' Scotland in my blood, and figured where better to get it than in the Czech Republic? (One could say Scotland, I suppose, but that will have to wait until next year.) So we boarded a bus, switched to a train, and arrived in Sychrov to enjoy all the Caledonian flavor we could find. We had quite a good time, feasting on Celtic pancakes and Irish sausages (sadly, the only haggis available was canned haggis) and watching a variety of events. There was amateur rock throwing and caber tossing, living history (from maybe 17th century to WWII), and of course, a wee bit o' the pipes as well. I found it somewhat amusing that the big musical group at a Czech Highland Games was a Polish pipe and drums group (with dancers, too!) from Czestochowa (near Krakow), but they were quite good! There was also a historical birds of prey show, with eagles and falcons and owls and ravens. Unfortunately, we had to catch a train back to Prague and so missed the caber tossing finals, but we still had a good time. Sadly, the kilts on sale were a wee bit on the pricy side, so methinks I'll have to wait until we go to Scotland to outfit myself in true ancestral style, but I need to decide on which tartan to get anyways, so maybe that's a good thing. And hopefully, I can find kilts (relatively) cheaper in Scotland than elsewhere, particularly if I don't go for handmade or touristy kilt providers. We'll have to see.

Last weekend, we went to the Love Planet music festival, where the highlight of the weekend was the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand on Friday night. If you haven't heard Franz Ferdinand, I highly recommend them. I've been listening to them almost constantly for the last two months or so, when I heard they were coming to Prague and have become quite a fan. We also got a chance to see and hear Ministry, and, in a blast from the past (from 1991, in fact), we also got to see Ice-T's hardcore metal band Body Count, most famous for their controversial (to Tipper Gore, anyways) song/album Cop Killer. They had a really good show on Saturday, playing their old Cop Killer-era songs as well as some songs from their new album Murder 4 Hire (read a great review here). We followed up two days of concerts with darts Saturday night, and a good time was had by all.

So that's what's what in the land of the double-tailed lion. My Polka dot heads for the red, white, and blue shores of the American Empire ® next weekend (sent there by her American company) and I follow scant days later, whereupon we will then visit the Great American West ™ for a week or so. More specifically, we will be visiting the great state of Wyoming and staying in the beautiful and scenic Grand Teton National Park. I've made no secret of my feelings for most of the US, but I do love the west and the Rockies. It's like the home of my heart or something, and if I could just get over these lingering political hangups I have, I think I could be quite at home out thataways. Well, we'll have to see how the future develops. Polka dot and I have been discussing just such a topic of late, but there are many cross-cultural hurdles to overcome, and we both tend toward indecisiveness where serious matters are concerned. Anybody got any spare change lying around that we could use to keep houses in both the American frontier and the Old Country? Let us know - we'll even let you visit for free!

Right, so I've rambled on enough for a Sunday afternoon. I may post a few pics of the Highland Games if there are any good ones. Until the next time, ahoj, čau, and na shledanou!

:: posted by Rob 12:07 PM [+] :: 0 comments
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Ob-la-di ob-la-da

Life does indeed go on, and I, in fact, am not dead, though apparently reports of my demise have been circulating throughout the blogosphere like vultures over a roadkill elephant that's been lying in the middle of the road for way too long.

But as time passes, more things keep happening that I want to blog about, so that by now it would take me like 8.375 hours to write about them. Not having 8.375 hours free, I have postponed posting until I had the time to post everything, which leads us to the predicament we're now in. But since I still don't have 8.375 hours, you still won't get everything I want to talk about. Maybe I can bullet point through them in my next post, which I assure you will happen before 2008.

So why am I posting then? Finally?

Because it's Independence Day, baby! The good ol' Fourth of July! Fireworks, flags, BBQs, and a little scrap of paper I like to call the Declaration of Independence.

Of course, here in the Czech Republic, we don't celebrate Independence Day, and fireworks are for New Year's Eve, man. But much though I hate to admit it sometimes, I am an American (my passport says so, for all that I was born in Japan), so here we are. Fortunately, here in the ČR we do have the 5th and the 6th off as holidays (something about Sts. Cyril & Methodius and the death of Jan Hus as a heretic), so it's not all bad. I only had one class this week, that I just got back from, and I made it into a nice little Independence Day lesson. A little bit of history, a little bit of "Star-Spangled Banner," a dash of patriotic music, and a lot of pictures of the US of A, Virginia, and DC, too. Didn't have time to get to the "Create Your Own Country" part of the lesson, but there's always next week, right? Anyhoo, it seemed to be a successful lesson, even without the fireworks.

So what are we doing on our nice little holiday this week, my Polka dot and I? Well, the original plan had been to take a trip for the five days Wednesday thru Sunday. Maybe hit the Šumava mountains, maybe a little Česky Krumlov...but other winds prevailed. Because the Polka dot is going to America! No, not now. But she does work for an American company, and they do want her to come to the U.S. for some training, and they're even taking care of the whole visa process for the most part. Which bodes well for our planned Xmas trip back to the homeland. So what does this have to do with the price of beer in Bohemia?

Because the American embassy, in all their wisdom, scheduled her visa interview for Friday. Yep, Friday. Right smack-dab between two holidays and the weekend. Which means no long vacation for the two of us. And because we're both such decisive individuals, we have been unable to plan anything else for one of our double free day periods, other than agreeing that "we should do something." Still, I can't really complain, because it will certainly help us with having the whole visa thing for Christmas. So I guess it's a case of lemonade from the lemons. As long as you remember that lemonade is still sour.

That's it for me, for now. So Happy 230th, America! Go buy yourself something special. And happy Independence day to all of you Americans, too, wherever you may be. Light up a couple of sparklers for me.

And last, but not least, if any of you pay attention to a little thing called the World Cup, which is about a sport called football (no, not that football), which also happens to be the most popular sport in the whole wide world (except, of course, America):

Forza Italia!

(For those of you not paying attention, Italy plays Germany tonight in the semifinals, hence the above.)

(P.S. And keep your fingers crossed on Friday for my Polka dot and her interview. Ain't nothin' wrong with greasin' the wheels with a wee bit o' luck.)

:: posted by Rob 4:59 PM [+] :: 4 comments
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Buda the head! (Part the Second)

(If you haven't already, you should read Buda the head! (Part the First) first.)

Saturday morning (the 18th) we woke up (relatively) bright and early, had breakfast in the hostel and prepared to head out. Budapest is famous for its springs and baths, either traditional Turkish, taken in the nude, and wherein they alternate days between men and women to protect one's delicate sensibilities, or the more modern Hungarian baths, which are coed and require swimsuits. Unfortunately, in all the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the trip, we had forgotten our swimsuits. So while our friends headed for the baths, swimsuits in hand, Polka dot and I instead went to Statue Park, my must-see destination for the trip. On the way to the shuttle bus stop for the park, we stopped by St. Stephen's Basilica and the Grand Synagogue.

St. Stephen's Basilica

The Grand Synagogue

Statue Park is located outside the city, and contains a collection of old communist statues and memorials that were saved from the general destruction of such things after the fall of communism. Being a closet red myself, I had to go, and we spent a fine (though muddy) morning wandering around the park. I'm very happy that someone had the foresight to save these old statues. I can understand the reasons why most of the formerly-communist countries destroyed these things (who really wants a giant statue of Stalin overlooking all of Prague?), but at the same time, they are a part of these countries' histories, and shouldn't just be thrown on the rubble heap of history and forgotten. And in Budapest, at least, they've at least made some effort to remember their history, warts and all (while simultaneously and capitalistically milking a little cash out of tourists like me).

Me and my boy Lenin

Marx, Engels, and McCreary

Polka dot and Lenin (notice the subtle statement of opposition)

We returned to the city in the afternoon and met up with our friends, crossing the Danube from Pest into Buda and wandered around Varhegy (Castle Hill), visiting Matyas Church, Fishermen's Bastion, and Buda Castle itself.

Matyas Church

Fishermen's Bastion

Me and Polka dot at Fishermen's Bastion

The Turul, a giant eagle who sired the first dynasty of Magyar kings by raping the grandmother of Prince Arpad, who led the Magyar tribes into Europe

Marta, Tiffany, and Elizabeth at Buda Palace

While our friends went back to the hostel for a nap, Polka dot and I visited the Castle Labyrinth, a series of karst caves beneath castle Hill that have served as medieval cellars and WWII-era bomb shelters, and which is now home to, among other things, a giant sunken stone head that brings to mind The Lord of the Rings. Following that, we rejoined our friends and went to dinner at a nice Hungarian restaurant where I had wild boar, which was quite good, before ending the night at the hostel pub with a few drinks.

Giant stone head in the Castle Labyrinth

We had to head back to Prague on Sunday, but our train didn't leave until the afternoon, so we spent a beautifully sunny and warm morning back across the river in Buda, this time visiting the Citadel and Victory Monument, probably the highest point in the city with spectacular views. And with that, it was time to head back to Prague.

The Victory Monument at the Citadel

View of Budapest from the Citadel

Me and Polka dot on the Danube, the Citadel and Victory Monument behind us

The "Blue" Danube

Going home

There is still a lot we didn't get to see or do in Budapest, so I would definitely like to go back again. Overall, it was a really fun weekend, and I'm so glad that I have opportunities like this now that I'm living in Europe. This kind of thing is one of the exact reasons I moved here in the first place, and I love it!

Where will we go next? Bratislava? Vienna? Liechtenstein?

Who knows, but I want to hit them all. Catch ya on the flip-side.

:: posted by Rob 12:57 PM [+] :: 1 comments
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Buda the head! (Part the First)

Finally I have a chance to write about our post-Ides of March trip to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, way back on the 16th through 19th of March.

We were supposed to go with a few friends on an overnight train from Prague to Budapest on Thursday the 16th, but unfortunately they brought only their reservations and not their actual tickets. They resolved to take the first train on the 17th and meet up with us in Budapest Friday afternoon, which left me and the Polka dot with a 6-person couchette compartment to ourselves. So the trip passed mainly in blissful sleep, albeit with wake-ups at 3 and 5 am so officials could check our passports as we crossed into Slovakia and Hungary, respectively.

We arrived in Budapest round abouts 7 am, and headed for the Marco Polo hostel, which may be the best hostel in the entire world. Cheap (3000 Hungarian forints a night for a dorm bed, about $13 US), neat, and clean, with a variety of room types over 5 floors. We had considered getting a private double room, but opted for 2 dorm beds instead for financial considerations. It turned out to be a good plan - a dorm room at the Marco Polo only holds 12 beds, and our two were completely separated from the other beds by divider walls and curtains, so we could actually make our own private mini-room. We each had our own luggage locker/wardrobe with lock and 2 bathrooms to share with the rest of the room. In our two nights there, we never had to wait for a bathroom or shower, and our roommates were all well-behaved and quiet. Finally, the hostel also has a basement pub where you can hang out and eat and/or drink, and where they also serve free breakfast every morning. I want to back to Budapest just to stay at the Marco Polo again! ;)

Anyways, we hopped the metro for 1 stop to the hostel (we could have walked, but we really had very little idea of where we were), checked in and dropped off our stuff, and headed out into the city. We weren't really sure what to do, as we had expected to plan our day with our friends, who hopefully had more information about what Budapest had to offer. But that plan was obviously out, so we just wandered towards the center, and eventually ended up at the Danube, which divides the city into its two constituent halves, Buda, on the right (western) bank, home to Buda Castle (and including Obuda, or "Old Buda"), and Pest, on the eastern bank, where we and our hostel were. Unbeknownst to me, Budapest had originally been three different towns (as you can see if you look at old novels or maps where it's referred to a Buda-Pest), and weren't incorporated into one city until 1873.

Polka dot on the Danube, Buda Castle in the background

The famous Chain Bridge over the Danube, between Buda and Pest

The impressively Gothic Parliament building, on the Pest side

We headed back to the hostel in the afternoon to take a quick nap and meet up with our friends, but we couldn't find them. (It turned out that they had arrived slightly later than anticipated, and did not have roaming activated their phones, so they hadn't been able to call us or receive any of our calls or texts to them. And just as we headed downstairs to the pub before going out, they were going upstairs to our room, so we missed each other.) Not knowing any of that at the time, we once more struck out into the city, this time heading deeper into Pest in the opposite direction to Heroes' Square, where statues honoring the great Magyar heroes of old are displayed. Beyond the square, we also found Vajdahunyad Castle, beautifully lit up at night, and so we spent a little time wandering around there as well.

Heroes' Square in the twilight's last gleaming

Vajdahunyad Castle at night

Inside the castle grounds

We headed back to the hostel on the yellow metro line, which was the first underground subway line in continental Europe (starting operation in 1896), and where the train and stations are still decorated to look the way they originally did, complete with beautiful wrought iron railings, old turn-of-the-century advertisements on the wall, and announcements for the next stop preceded by a decidedly 19th-century -sounding organ-like tone. It was quite cool, like stepping back in time! We stopped off for dinner at a Pizza Hut, of all places (for good ol' American comfort food; sadly, while Prague has no dearth of McDonalds and KFCs, it has a decided shortage of Pizza Huts and Taco Bells), before winding up at the hostel's basement pub, where we finally found our friends. We had a few drinks, caught up a bit, made plans for the morrow, and headed for bed.

Up next: Day Two

:: posted by Rob 10:37 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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Ibhola Lethu

Once again, far too long between posts, and far too much important information to impart in the limited time I have available. Who would have thought the life of an English teacher could be so busy?

As I egotistically reported last week, 'twas indeed my birthday. So a hearty Thank you! to those of you who sent birthday wishes, and in some cases, gifts! Woo-hoo! The Polka dot and I had a quiet birthday dinner at a local pub/restaurant which was quite nice. We followed it up with a celebratory pub crawl with friends on Friday, and the rest of the weekend was spent recovering from Friday night (in Polka dot's case at least; I was fine!).

The weekend before, I went to my first professional football match (aka soccer, for you Americans) with Polka dot and our friend Courtney. One of my classes is for a publishing company that publishes, among other things, sports magazines and newspapers, and one of my students had free tickets, which he gave to me! The match was between AC Sparta, one of Prague's top teams, and FK Teplice. More information on the clubs (in English) can be found here and here. Unfortunately, both teams were good enough that it was a scoreless game (nil-nil, as the Brits say), but we had a fun time, and a it was good day for a match: warm (finally!) and though a bit rainy, our seats were covered. And we got to hear the Sparta Ultras (kinda like "superfans") chanting, "Let's go, Sparta, let's go!" in English. Kinda surreal, and unlike in the U.S., live sports games here don't have an announcer giving a running commentary, so all in all, it seemed strangely quiet. Afterwards, we joined our friend Adrian for a bite to eat as his local pub/eatery, than we headed to another pub for pool and foozball. Woo!

Of course, before even that, we went to Budapest. Sadly, however, the details of that particular journey will have to wait for another time. This weekend, perhaps? Who knows! I'll even try to get a few pics up for your viewing pleasure, as well.

Until then, Sizobonana!

:: posted by Rob 7:58 PM [+] :: 1 comments
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In a life of Thursdays

Wheeeeeeeee! It's my birthday!!
Yes, twenty-two short years ago I was born (if you count years on a planet with a larger orbit than Earth!)

It's been a busy day so far. I teach outside of Prague on Thursdays, in a town called Rakovnik about an hour away. Usually I'm done at 12:30, but for some reason, I agreed to substitute for two more classes there this afternoon. And one of them was elementary, which meant they had never had a native speaker before. I think the shock of that, and the fact I can't speak Czech, was a little too much for them and they kind of froze up. So it was a bit of a difficult class.

On the other hand, I got on really well with the other class I substituted, who were pre-intermediates and very fun and talkative once they got over the shock of a native speaker. They even told me they enjoyed my lesson and asked if I'd be back next week!

And of course, I also got a little more cashish for those two classes (or I will, when I actually get paid next month).

So that's been my day so far. Last night we went out for dinner with a couple of friends, and tonight the Polka dot's taking me out for a birthday dinner. And something else is apparently planned for tomorrow night, but it's all very hush-hush and top secret, so I have no idea what's happening other than the fact that something's happening. I hope I survive until Saturday morning (some of my friends have the tendency to buy way too many shots of slivovice...)

I've even gotten a few special bday packages, including one from the dot-in-laws(!): a very nice book about the beautiful architecture of Poland. And I'm about to head to the post office to pick up another package before they close.

And lest we forget, perhaps the best present of all, from my beautiful, sweet Polka dot herself, the big-ass, cool-as-all-get-out Lego Viking Ship, that I have wanted since last August!! Yipppeeeee!!

I'll be back this weekend (hopefully) with posts about our recent trip to Budapest and much, much more. Stay tuned!

:: posted by Rob 5:42 PM [+] :: 2 comments
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An open mind and time to choose

It's been a busy week (and a busy weekend), and I promise I'll be hopping on soon to update y'all with all the Euro-fun I've been having lately. Until then, however, and FYI for all of you across the sea in the Great American Empire (™), today marked the beginning of Summer Time here in Prague (and most of the rest of Europe on CET).

What does this mean? Well, it's kind of like good ol' American Daylight Saving Time, but it's one week earlier.

So now I'm seven hours ahead of you east coasters (and even more, like 53 or so, ahead of you left coasters). That's one extra hour I have that you don't. One more hour to prepare my schemes for world domination from my top secret sub-oceanic headquarters!

Bwahahahahahahahahaha! Tremble in fear, those of you still mired in the doldrums of winter time!

For a week, at least. Then we're back to the status quo.

Sigh.

:: posted by Rob 8:31 PM [+] :: 1 comments
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I had a title for this post, but I've forgotten it now

I had wanted to make this post a few days ago, but then our cable and internet inexplicably went out, leaving me unconnected and adrift, lost, searching, yearning...
So now I'm doing this at my school, since I seem to have a little bit of time.

Update the first: Spring! Or rather, the lack thereof. Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water, Mother Nature comes along and throws a blizzard and subzero temps at you. (okay, so it wasn't really a blizzard, but it snowed Sunday night and like all day Monday!) So now everything's covered with snow, again, and apparently we're waiting until April for the end of winter. Something about this being a longer winter than usual for Europe. Whoopee. Even Sweden had a shorter winter than this!

Update the second: I went back to teaching last Thursday and Friday, but apparently I should have stayed home those days too, as I woke up Saturday morning having difficulty breathing. Rather than let it fester and mutate into full-fledged pneumonia like it did last year in Sweden, I high-tailed it to the doctor, where I paid exorbitant fees (plus an extra charge for the weekend) to get ahold of some them new-fangled antibiotics. And now, I'm pleased to report, I'm almost back to tip-top condition, with the exception of a small lingering cough. I'm figuring that should be gone by 2:27 am Friday morning. Mark your calendars.

And with that, I leave you. It will be a dry end-of-week for posts, as my Polka dot and I head to Budapest for the weekend. We leave tomorrow night on the overnight train, have Friday and Saturday to see the sights, and are back in Prague Sunday night, hopefully in time to get some sleep before work at oh-God-it's-early Monday morning. And don't even think about breaking into our sweet Euro-flat while we're away - I have contracted with a reputable canine security firm, and for the bargain price of two porterhouse steaks, I have been assured we will have 24-hour security coverage (at least I think that's what he said - my German isn't what it used to be...)

You know, German.

As in German shepherd.

It's a fast-paced world - keep up.

:: posted by Rob 2:05 PM [+] :: 1 comments
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Hooks in you

Okay, I know it's not technically, officially spring yet, but come on! It is March at least, and that means there should at least be some sign that spring is almost here and winter is drawing to a close. Right?

Nope.

I wake up this morning, look out the window, and see...a couple of centimeters of fresh snow everywhere (about an inch for those non-metric types out there). This has been the most wintry day in quite a while, all cloudy and snowy, and quite frankly, it's getting a bit tiresome. Bring on the spring already! You know, green growing things, flowers poking up their heads, etc. etc.

Oh I get it - the fact that the temperatures rose above zero and the falling snow turned to rain and the snow on the ground turned to this grayish-brown slush is the sign that spring is coming. Wonderful. One or the other please. Snow and winter, or sunshine and spring. Thanks. Appreciate it.

In other news, I went back to teaching today. Not as bad as I had feared, but still not as good as I had hoped. I am feeling better, but I'm still not close to 100%. I think I got rid of my fever, and my body doesn't ache all over any more, but every time I spoke I was interrupted by the hacking cough, courtesy of the fact that my cold/flu/space-plague has migrated back down into my lungs. Still, it's nice that it no longer feels like my brain is either in danger of leaking out my nose or that it's swelling up and threatening to explode my head wide open. So I'll count my blessings where I can find them, I guess.

And for the "anonymous" commenter who claimed I didn't take her advice and load up on the Vitamin C, I can only say that I did, in fact, load up on the Vitamin C, but it's not a panacea, and that I don't think Superman could have successfully resisted this thing. I'm just saying.

:: posted by Rob 5:48 PM [+] :: 0 comments
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Can't live with or without 'em

Today is International Women's Day, so let me begin by wishing a Happy Women's Day to all the womens in my life, especially my one particular womens. Interestingly, according to the Wikipedia:

During the rule of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in Czechoslovakia (1948-1989) the International Women's Day was used as a tool of the party propaganda, which hoped to convince women that the party cared about them and considered their needs in formulating social policy.

During the last decades of the regime, this event morphed into a parody of itself. On every March 8th almost every woman got a flower and a small gift (typically soap or a towel) from her employer. Many men took this day as a convenient opportunity to spend the day drinking in the local pub. As a result, the original aim of expressing respect and sympathy to women was completely lost. The party's ritualistic celebration of Women's Day became so stereotypical that it was even ridiculed in movies and on television in Czechoslovakia.

Spending the day drinking in a pub? Sounds good to me! Bring on the pivo!

However, according to my Polka dot, IWD is still celebrated in Poland, and she is Polish, so I guess it's flowers for her and no beer for me. I tried to convince her last week was International Men's Day, where women buy their men pizza, but she didn't buy it.
(Note: I highly recommend clicking the International Men's Day link - go Trinidad & Tobago!)

And finally, in either the "Oh, the irony" or the "Blessings in Disguise" category, I was all set to go back to work today, when my school informs me that my one class tonight has been cancelled. So I get another day off! But it's another day without any pay! On one hand, I still don't feel 100%, so I can't really complain that I don't have to teach tonight, but on the other hand, I'm going to end up making like two dollars this week. So blessing in disguise or oh, the irony? You be the judge.

:: posted by Rob 12:00 PM [+] :: 0 comments
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Three more words

Or bird flu.

:: posted by Rob 10:22 AM [+] :: 1 comments
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Rambling Incoherence

Apparently, you're supposed to update these "blogs" on something of a regular basis. News to me. I thought this was just some sort of vanity project to see my name plastered all over the Internet. Ah well, it's good to learn something new every day.

So anyways, now that I'm currently sick as a dog in my annual oh-God-kill-me-or-at-least-cut-off-my-head-so-I-can-breathe-again Super Monkey Rocket Pack Napoleon Death Cold (patent pending), I finally have some time to actually post something here. Of course, considering that I'm on my fourth day of the aforementioned illness, I can make no guarantees as to its narrative coherence, hence the title. My apologies beforehand, then.

Ok, so what's going on here in Czech-land? I've missed two days of work so far, with plans to start teaching again tomorrow, but I'm beginning to have serious doubts about my ability to function. I was hoping to be better by now, but perhaps with heavy doses of DayQuil I'll be able to make it through my one class tomorrow. Thursday will be a different story. Wish me luck. I've been wishing I had just taken the whole week off, but my bank account had different ideas. One can never stray far from the grindstone, it seems.

In the end, though, I just need to be better by the end of next week, when my Polka dot and I join a friend for a weekend trip to Budapest! (That's in Hungary, for the geographically-challenged among you.)

Beyond that, not too much going on. My friend Ron, formerly from NoVa, currently in Estonia, visited us for a couple of days about 2 weeks ago. It was great seeing him again and being a tourist with him, and now I need to figure out a way to get to Estonia to take him up on his invitation for a visit. I really wish it was possible for more of my friends to visit me over here, but I realize Europe is pretty far way for most Americans, not to mention the logistical difficulties of traveling so far with families. Still, it would be nice to see more of them. And for those of you reading this, the invitation remains, as always open, should the stars align properly for foreign visitations!

And finally, right before the aliens invaded my head and infected it with their crazy space-plague in an attempt to destroy all native life in this solar system prior to their colonization effort, we hosted a poker game here Friday night. A lot of friends had previous plans, but we had a good small group, some tasty beer, and a fun evening well spent. And I even doubled-up on my stake of 100 crowns by the night's end, so I guess one could call it a success.

And that's it from this side of the world, at least for now. If I haven't turned into a ravening slime monster by tomorrow (and I'm giving it 50-50 odds), I may be back with another post before June.

But I wouldn't count on it.

:: posted by Rob 4:35 PM [+] :: 4 comments
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Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Well, it's been many a moon since my last update, and apparently the blogosphere has been abuzz with speculation about my absence (those of you who have commented on you-know-who's blog about this know who you are!)

And indeed, I had plans for quite an extensive post to make up for my lack of recent posts. Tales dealing with Christmas in the good ol' US of A, New Year's in Prague, the weather, work, etc. etc. ad nauseam. Sadly, however, I don't have the time now to make that post.

Why?

Because we're moving today, baby! Yes, we're leaving the panelak-land of Opatov (aka the suburbs) for the city life of the New Town, smack dab in the middle of the hustle and bustle, and with a tram stop right outside our door to boot! So there's time only for this quick post before the great exodus begins. But I promise, I'll be back soon, with more to say, and pictures of the new place too! Once we get internet, there of course, which will hopefully be some time in the near future, or whenever I can get my Polka dot to dazzle the internet provider with her mad Czech skillz.

So stay tuned, true believers!* Like MacArthur, I shall return. (And until then, continue reading said Polka dot's blog, as usual, for all your regular updates.) :)

Excelsior!*

* with apologies to Stan Lee

:: posted by Rob 10:33 AM [+] :: 3 comments
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