Return to Prague

Prague was a sort of midpoint interlude for me, partly because I was so exhausted from Berlin and partly because for the first time on this trip, I didn't feel compelled to do any sightseeing, having lived here for several months already when I studied here. The result was that I had a very laid back, relaxing experience which ended up being exactly what I needed to freshen up for the second leg of the trip.

I stayed at Sir Toby's Hostel, which is only a block away from Osadni, where I lived when I studied abroad. I thought it might be weird to be living in that neighborhood again, but it really wasn't weird at all. If anything, it was just really convenient because I knew where everything was and how to get anywhere without needing to get used to a new area. In fact, being back in Prague wasn't weird in general. It was just nice, sort of like coming home after a first semester in college or going back to summer camp. I spent most of the daylight hours each day on my own (which was exactly what I wanted after being crammed in with so many people in Berlin) walking around the center of town, my favorite neighborhoods, and that park next to Vistaviste which was my favorite spot to go chill out when I studied in Prague. I also got to know some new areas, most notably the vast park area around Prague Castle which has some amazing views of the city.

Without a doubt, the best part about being back in Prague was the people I met, and I owe this in part to the wonder that is Sir Toby's Hostel. Sir Toby's is without a doubt that best hostel I've ever stayed in, and this is true in every aspect: great neighborhood, really friendly staff (I went out with a few of them for drinks), immaculate facilities, comfortable beds, cheap prices, good food, and a great community feel. Just like everything in Prague, Sir Toby's is housed in an old building with a dungeon. In this case, the dungeon houses the dining area, a weird Moroccan music room (basically, a room with lots of cushions on the ground and a few guitars), and the coziest pub I have ever seen. Every night, the pub would fill up with people early in the night, everyone would get acquainted, and then groups of people would either head into town or stay in the hostel to play board games (which often got rowdy). On the first floor is a large communal kitchen where people would cook for each other every night although (call it the Prague curse) the one night that I cooked, by the time I finished everyone was either gone or full. Which wasn't a problem because at least I had free leftovers for the following day.

The social dynamics in the hostel were interesting. This was the longest I had stayed in a hostel (7 nights) so it was the first time I got to experience what it is like to have a wave of people move in, become your friends, and then leave. During my stay, there were two distinct "waves" of people, and because each group had its own separate dynamic, I had very different experiences in the two halves of my stay.

The first three days, I hung out primarily with a group of party-hardy Aussies and a British girl named Dani with whom I shared a room. As soon as the Aussies and Dani all left, a pair of newlyweds moved into my room, and they were my best mates (in the Australian sense) for the rest of the week. Danny and Rebecca delighted me and cracked me up to the highest degree and I adore them both. They had just been married two weeks before in America and were now taking a very roundabout trek across Europe to Australia to live (Rebecca, like everyone else in Europe, is an Aussie). I don't know what it is about being around newlyweds, but they just made me so happy and having them there (despite Danny's snoring) made my stay that much more enjoyable. Another key figure in my Prague experience was Ashe, a photographer from New York that had moved to Prague to find a photography job "just for the hell of it". Since she didn't have an apartment, she had been living in the hostel for the last few weeks and the entire staff knew her. She and I bonded over being from New York (she lived in Alphabet City and is friends with the owner of Cheap Shots) and hung out a few times during the week. I also met up with some of my friends from Berlin when they got into town.

Marta, my adviser who is now 8.5 months pregnant, met me for lunch at Radost (yes Armand, it's got awesome food) one day and gave me the CD from our jazz concert at the end of my semester abroad. It was a little weird to hear me singing from two years ago, but it could have sounded worse I guess. In any case, it's good to have a record of the show (if anyone else that played wants it, let me know). I also went out for drinks with Beata, my amazing composition teacher who really busted my balls and worked with me on some of the music I'm the most proud of from college. She got me a free ticket to her concert, so I got to go see her perform and sing with her band, which was sweet.

So that pretty much sums up Prague. I got a lot of writing done, went to Cross Club and Bohemia Bagel several times apiece, and saw some old and new faces. And ate at Radost. Finally.

Now here's a weird, random story to top off this entry...

When I went to see Beata play, the only tickets she had available were seats on the stairs (evidently, she's getting really big in Prague, as there were posters all around with her name on them). So I ended up sitting on the stairs on top of a little cushion I was handed on my way up. I ended up sitting behind a teenage girl and her mother. I was pretty clearly the only person in the place that didn't speak Czech. Anyway, about five minutes before the performance was to start, I began coughing. The air was really bad in Prague, so I had allergies pretty much the whole time. My coughing continued for a minute or two, and then the mother in front of me turned around and said something to me in Czech. I responded the way I normally do when I'm caught off guard by someone speaking to me in a language I don't understand...I sputtered something that's an incomprehensible combination of "uh", "I don't know", and "sorry". The woman then beckoned toward me, like she wanted me to give her something. Not understanding what she was saying, I stupidly started to hand her my coat, at which point she grabbed...get ready...my PINKY and pinched it between her thumb and forefinger. Oddly, my automatic reaction to this was not to jerk my hand away and scream; rather, I just simply accepted, without even thinking twice, that this was the woman's benevolent attempt at helping me to stop coughing. So I just looked at her and smiled. She smiled back, released my pinky, and said "pet minuti" which means "5 minutes". So I pinched my own pinky for 5 minutes and the coughing stopped completely. And every time I felt like I needed to cough during the show, I just pinched my pinky again. Then the concert ended, and I ate some goulash with brambory knedlik and went to bed. The end.