A Blague From Prog: Czech it out.

Hi.

So a lot has happened since the last time I posted. The weekend came and went without too much excitement. I found some new places though. I found BoulderBar, which is exactly what it sounds like, a bouldering gym with a bar connected to it. This sounds like a dangerous combination to me, alcohol and rockclimbing? Seriously? However, its the only bouldering gym that I have found and because I don't know how to lead belay (which is the norm here) I am planning on checking it out soon to exercise and hang out with the boys. I also found a good Chinese place down the street from the hostel with is really cheap ($4/55Kc). Also a really good bagel place called Bohemian Bagel. Its very much like Bruggers Bagel and semi-pricey like Bruggers but well worth it. I had a giant breakfast bagel and it was amazing.

Also I had to break down and buy a fan for my room this weekend. The temperature is getting up in the 80s and it makes for very terrible sleeping, even with the windows wide open. I got really tired of waking up several times in the middle of the night because I was sweating through my clothes. I dont think I was the only one who benefited from it either. All my roommates seemed a little more rested than usual after the first night I had it.

This week has been a busy one, and will continue to be pretty crazy until we leave for Berlin on Friday. Monday we had class and afterwards Jessica and I took a boat tour on the Vltava River, which runs through Prague. It was about $13 but well worth the hour trip. It was very relaxing and I got some great shots from it. (below) At 4:30 the group met at the institute and we walked over to a panel discussion at a writers festival going on here. The festival is celebration of the 40th aniversary of the Spring of '68. The Spring of '68, if I am correct, was a time before and sort of caused the Russian communists to come down hard on the Czech people as far as rules and restrictions. During this time, a lot of Czech writers had the freedom to write about life, freedom, and politics of being under communist rule. When these texts got out, and undoubtedly into Russian hands, it caused the Russians to put harsh restrictions on the Czech people and many of the writers were taken to concentration and work camps. One of the writers that spoke at the conference wrote one of the excerpts for our book that we are making. It was a really neat experience to hear them talk, not because of what they had to say, which was mainly just about political stuff, but because I got to wear these headphones and get the whole conversations translated to me through them. It was really hard to follow because it was delayed a bit as well as only one person translating a 6 person panel. When people were overlapping each other it was hard deciphering who was talking.

After the conference a group of us decided to cook breakfast for dinner and went to Tesco (the local Walmart) to pick up all the ingredients. We found everything we needed, even though it was quite a search. Pancakes in a bottle, eggs and bacon. The pancake mix turned out to be more like crepe mix and instead of big fluffy pancakes we had thin tortilla like cakes. They were still good though.

On Tuesday Maura arrived. She seemed as jet lagged as we were the first day so we didnt see her much. For dinner Jessica and I cooked Italian pasta for 13! Its really hard to judge the amount for that many people but it was a success. We also booked our trip to Vienna Tuesday. Were planning on leaving Friday, June 13th and staying until Sunday the 15th. Were also planning another trip to Brno and Chesky Krumlov. There is a book design exhibition and confrence in Brno, the second largest city in the CZ, and a lot of big name people in the graphic design world are going to be there. Then were heading to Chesky Krumlov, which is a small town in East Bohemia that will be more of a country setting. I think we will be able to raft on the river and take some mountain bikes out, my kind of fun!

Anyways, Ill try to keep this thing up to date and keep the pics coming. Hope everything is going good at home. Talk to you soon.