Musical Week
Enjoyed some great music last week.
On Wednesday, I went to a hardcore show at Klub 007 Strahov. Two Czech bands opened up for Death By Stereo, an American group. These Czech punks love to dance and scream. It was a really fun show and I'm glad I took the trip all the way out to Praha 6. Afterwards, I went to M1 with some Fins, who were probably the most bizarre people I have met in the past few months.
Thursday night was Thursday night. Nebe. Best music and dancing in all of Prague. Igor went with me again, along with some naive Japanese girl who was introduced to a very different world than she has even known. Although I tend to stick to beer, a group from the UK I had met the previous night at M1 bought a couple rounds of vodka, so I can't say I remember all that much about the evening.
And then it was Friday August 11. The day I'd been waiting for for weeks: Love Planet. I went to the open-air festival around in the afternoon with Petr, an Italian guy who is staying at the hostel. After a light afternoon shower, we had great weather for the rest of the night. On Friday, I saw an eclectic line-up of artists: Vypsaná Fixa (a Czech alternative rock band), Polemic (Slovakian ska), Ministry (an American industrial metal band with an awesome politically-charged video show), Art Brut (English indie), Franz Ferdinand and Pet Shop Boys. Following the concerts, there was an all-night rave in a nearby exhibition hall, where I saw Satoshi Tomiie, Hernan Cattaneo, Dave Seaman and Loutka & Tráva. It was the first time I literally danced until the sun came up. It was after 9am by the time I got home. Went to sleep for a few hours, woke up and then did it all over again. On Saturday, I saw Priessnitz (Czech rock), 100°C (Czech indie), Loonaloop (bad Aussie music), Body Count featuring Ice-T (he kept screaming that he was from South Central LA mother fucker, but I asked a Czech and he had no idea what that meant), The Rasmus (bad Finnish rock and roll) and I Am X.
I stand before my last few days in Prague. My only plan is to see an independent Czech film - with English subtitles - at an arthouse this afternoon. I'll probably just wander around the city and hang out in the hostel.
Musical Week
Enjoyed some great music last week.
On Wednesday, I went to a hardcore show at Klub 007 Strahov. Two Czech bands opened up for Death By Stereo, an American group. These Czech punks love to dance and scream. It was a really fun show and I'm glad I took the trip all the way out to Praha 6. Afterwards, I went to M1 with some Fins, who were probably the most bizarre people I have met in the past few months.
Thursday night was Thursday night. Nebe. Best music and dancing in all of Prague. Igor went with me again, along with some naive Japanese girl who was introduced to a very different world than she has even known. Although I tend to stick to beer, a group from the UK I had met the previous night at M1 bought a couple rounds of vodka, so I can't say I remember all that much about the evening.
And then it was Friday August 11. The day I'd been waiting for for weeks: Love Planet. I went to the open-air festival around in the afternoon with Petr, an Italian guy who is staying at the hostel. After a light afternoon shower, we had great weather for the rest of the night. On Friday, I saw an eclectic line-up of artists: Vypsaná Fixa (a Czech alternative rock band), Polemic (Slovakian ska), Ministry (an American industrial metal band with an awesome politically-charged video show), Art Brut (English indie), Franz Ferdinand and Pet Shop Boys. Following the concerts, there was an all-night rave in a nearby exhibition hall, where I saw Satoshi Tomiie, Hernan Cattaneo, Dave Seaman and Loutka & Tráva. It was the first time I literally danced until the sun came up. It was after 9am by the time I got home. Went to sleep for a few hours, woke up and then did it all over again. On Saturday, I saw Priessnitz (Czech rock), 100°C (Czech indie), Loonaloop (bad Aussie music), Body Count featuring Ice-T (he kept screaming that he was from South Central LA mother fucker, but I asked a Czech and he had no idea what that meant), The Rasmus (bad Finnish rock and roll) and I Am X.
I stand before my last few days in Prague. My only plan is to see an independent Czech film - with English subtitles - at an arthouse this afternoon. I'll probably just wander around the city and hang out in the hostel.
Weekend in Budapest
Just returned from a nice weekend in Budapest (which I learned in pronounced "BudaPESHT").
Although I planned to leave early Friday, a late night on Thursday kept me from getting to Hungary until 8pm. I had some difficulty finding my hostel and needed to get a bite to eat, so it was after 11 by the time I was settled in. I was set to call it an early night but instead spent another few hours talking to a guy from Florida who was staying in my room.
We buddied up to explore the city on Saturday. Budapest is actually three cities (Buda, Pest and Old Budda), split by the Danube and slightly different architectual styles. We headed over to Pest and made up our own tour which took us to the Parliament building and some other sights. We mostly just hiked around town to get a feel for the place. After he left to catch a train, I got dinner by myself and then headed out for some nightlife. I wandered around the city, stopping into bars and cafes and getting a drink at each one. I wanted to find a dance club, though, so didn't stay too long anywhere. Finally, after I had more than a few drinks in me, I happened into a club. At first glance, it seemed perfect: good music, nice seats, people on the dance floor. It wasn't until after I had gotten a drink and sat down that I noticed there was not a woman in sight. No problem, though, as gay Hungarians are far friendlier than their straight counterparts.
On Sunday, I headed over the Budapest's largest bath house. Although I ended up paying a 2500FT fine on the way over for illegally riding the subway, I had a great time. The house, which is decorated with Roman statues, has thermal pools, saunas, showers, fountains that give the best massages imaginable, and a couple of huge outdoor swimming pools. It was very relaxing and really calmed me down about the fine. I spent nearly five hours and would have stayed longer if they hadn't shut down!
Caught the train today and made it back to Prague all in one piece. I have an exciting week ahead (Love Planet on Friday!) and I'll keep you posted.
Back in Prague
Got back to Prague last Saturday. Our plan to stay with Ray for a few nights was disrupted when that selfish fool got himself put in the hospital with appendicitis. Fortunately, he is recouperating well. Unfortunately, Alyssa and I had to put up a couple more korunas than expected for accomodation.
We checked into Sokolska Youth Hostel, where I stayed when I first arrived to this city and on other occasions. Its a quiet, clean place with free internet and satellite television.
Our first night back, we went to Cafe Blind Eye. A few months ago, I met a DJ at Nebe who recommended what he called the "speak easy-style club." You walk up to an unmarked door in an out-of-the-way part of town and ring a doorbell. A few minutes later, a girl lets you into an apartment house foyer. Just follow the sounds to another inconspicuous door and enter a great indie club, frequented mostly by American and British expats. We had a good evening of beer and conversation with Igor (who has been at the hostel since before I arrived), Alejandro (a Texan student who loves his state and his weed) and an Australian couple.
Alyssa and I spent Sunday, our last day together, in some of my favorite sections of the city. We got some great Czech pub food for dinner and then relaxed in the hostel.
I saw her off Monday. Constantly being with the same person for about two months can get frustrating, but I was sad to see her go. She's back in Baltimore now and tells me that things are pretty much the same.
I've already gotten back into my Prague routine: enjoying some coffee, reading the papers, hanging out in parks. I've been back to the movies twice already and had a great time at M1 Secret Lounge last night (the beers are only 20CZK now!, less than $1US). I'll head to the best dance night in town tonight and then spend the weekend on a trip to Budapest.
One more thing: I happened across an organic grocer that sells soy-meats, like hot dogs and sandwich stuff. Its made lunches and dinners much better. And I finally feel as though I'm getting adequate sodium intake here in Prague!
Stay tuned for a post on my weekend in Budapest.
From Moldova to Prague
We left Moldova Thursday July after putting the finishing touches on the fence paint job and saying goodbyes to staffers and beneficiaries at the centre. We caught the overnight train from Chisinau to Bucharest and spent the evening with a Moldovan woman intent on using the opportunity to improve her English skills.
Bucharest was better this time around because we stayed with locals instead of in a hostel. We arrived a little after 6 in the morning on Friday the 21st and had the whole day to kill before our hosts would be home from work, so we put our stuff in the station lockers and explored the city. That night, we went out to a relaxed outdoor cafe with our hosts. Delia is a 26-year-old Brit who has been living in Romania for three years as a manager for an international HR recruitment company. Her boyfriend has lived in Bucharest his whole life and liked to sleep as late into the day as possible before he needed to get up to smoke a cigarette. On Saturday, Alyssa and I hung around their flat then met Mihaela, a Romanian who lived in London for a year, for drinks on a building-top bar. Afterwards, we grabbed dinner and then went to an expensive DJ KidLoco concert.
We left Sunday July for Amsterdam, where God knows what happened. Within an hour of arriving, we were smoking a joint in one of the city's hundreds of coffeeshops and never looked back. We had all sorts of plans for our time in Holland, like seeing the flower market and taking a day trip to The Hague, but none of them never materialized. Instead, we took trips of a different sort. We often ended up in Vondel Park, a gathering place for tourists and others enjoying The Netherland's lax drug laws. We met some characters in the hostel and enjoyed a nice dinner out courtesy of Alyssa's dad, but the four days there are already a blur. A wonderful blur. It was alot of fun.
We're now back in Prague, bringing the experience full circle. Unfortunately Ray, our couchsurfing friend who was supposed to host us once again, is hospitalized with appendecitis.
Leaving Moldova
After nearly a month of volunteering in Straseni, we'll pull up the stakes tomorrow and head out of Moldova. Its been a pleasant time, picking fruit, painting and making connections with beneficiaries and employees at the centre. We've also had the opportunity to experience life in a rural community, where people think nothing about taking their cows for walks after dinner. Although its interesting, small town life can get boring, even with the option of going into Chisinau every week, so I am ready to move on.
The real vacation starts now. Back to living out of a suitcase, sleeping on floors and in crowded hostels. But it promises to be fun. I can't wait to get to Amsterdam.
Gettin' Back
Don't forget that travelling actually involves alot of, well... travelling.
And we did just that on Tuesday. After packing up, saying some goodbyes and grabbing some breakfast, Alyssa and I walked the 30 minutes from the hostel to the train station to catch the tram headed for the bus station. We hopped on only to realize neither of us knew which stop to get off and wound up taking a guess. A bad guess. We wandered for about 20 minutes before deciding that we had no time to spare and were thus forced into desperate measure: paying for a cab.
The bus ride started off comfortably enough. It was hot and crowded, but there weren't too many bugs and we got first row seats with plenty of leg room. We had just settled into a groove when we hit Transistria.
The separatist province between Moldova and Ukraine was the stage of a bloody confrontation in the early 1990's that never really resolved itself. Although not officially recognized in the international community, Transistria considers itself an independent state and acts like it. It also steadfastly refuses to deny the disintegration of the Soviet Union and so hangs on to its Communist identity - including an unreasonable and corrupt bureaucracy that pokes its ugly head out at border crossings.
We had tried to avoid it. When someone from the centre bought our tickets to Odessa, we specifically requested taking the once-daily bus that avoids it on its route. Getting the ticket back, however, we didn't have the luxury of someone from the centre brokering the deal. Imagine standing in a pushy line in a confusing bus station, trying to buy tickets from someone who doesn't even recognize English. If only the alphabet was Latin, we could point! But we couldn't even recognize "Chisinau" on the Cyrillic-only board. Luckily, we ran into a girl we knew who had lived in Moscow for a bit and she offered to help us purchase the tickets. Somewhere, however, the "no Transistria" demand was lost in translation.
So here we are at the border of a non-existent country when the border guard checks our passports and dollar signs virtually light up in his eyes. We returned to the bus, thinking our documents would be returned as at other crossings. When we started to pull off, I ran up to the front and did my best to explain the situation. Alyssa and I jumped off and ran back to the building, to find the room we had just been in was now empty. We stood there looking confused until a guard directed us to a little post behind the main building.
"Ah, Americans," said the man behind the window.
"Yes, just passing through."
"You businessman?"
"No, just passing through."
"Stay in Transnistria?"
"No, just passing through."
"Come on back."
We made our way to a back door and entered the little office where we faced more questions, including whether or not we were trafficking in bombs, cocaine or heroin. And then came the one everyone had been waiting for:
"How much money?"
I was prepared. We'd been warned about this. I knew how to deal with it.
"Very little," I replied.
"We're students," Alyssa added.
Two minutes and a 50 lei bribe later, we had our passports in hand and ran back to the bus.
Safe and Sound in Odessa
We are in the Ukraine.
The trip to Odessa went as smoothly as can be expected - which is to say, not very easily. The five hour bus ride was not altogether uncomfortable by Moldova standards. There was a warmish sort of air circulating throughout and the bugs weren't too annoying. The customs check at the Ukrainian border went off without a hitch, although it took over an hour to get through.
It wasn't until we got off the bus in Odessa that we realized we had absolutely no idea how to get to the hostel. We had some unclear directions from the airport and train station, but they didn't help us get there from the bus station. Besides that, the street address we had was written in Latin letters, which is of absolutely no assistance in a city where everything is in Cyrillic. After wandering aimlessly for a bit, we stopped into an internet cafe to try to figure out our way. We put our heads together and did some good investigative work that got us the street name in Cyrillic and pointed us in the right direction. Two hours after getting off the bus, we finally arrived at the hostel.
Odessa is a nice city. Its very sophisticated, with expensive shops and upscale dining along tree-lined streets. Very rich Russians and Ukrainians come here to spend their summers on the sea, and the city's culture reflects it. Our hostel is located on a lovely pedestrian strip with lots of foot traffic.
Besides the rich Russians and Ukrainians, another crowd flocks to Odessa: Westerners seeking mail-order brides. In the few hours we've been here, I've seen tens of pudgy bald guys going in and out of expensive boutiques with beautiful young women.
And I already had a celebrity spotting! At dinner, the guy who played the brother on
Everybody Loves Raymond was sitting at the table next to us.
