Alex's Travels

An End to Pruhonice

Tonight will be my last in Pruhonice. And not a moment too soon. Don't get me wrong, I like staying in the village. It is quiet, green and pleasant. I have been enjoying the 12 kilometer walks in the morning to the tram stop that takes me into Prague. But my welcome there is running out.

When I first e-mailed Jana desperately seeking a place to stay, I told her I only needed lodgings until June 5. My second day there, I informed her that I couldn't arrange to stay in the hostel until June 7. She wasn't elated, but said it would be alright. As time wears on, however, so does her patience with my presence. This morning, she offered to help me take my bags to the bus and was disappointed when I reminded her I had one night left. "Are you sure?" She emphasized I needed to leave by tomorrow because she and Vladimir are going out of town. She also mentioned she felt "limited" with me there because she needed to be home to let me in. Besides her comments, the food has been the biggest signal that my welcome is wearing thin. The first few nights, I enjoyed vegetarian feasts. Lately, though, I have been given cheese and bread while they enjoy a meat-based dish. And this morning, she didn't even offer breakfast. Not that I expect someone who generously opened her door to feed me, but the difference from previous days sent a clear message.

The awkwardness of this aside, staying with Jana and Vladimir has been wonderful. As mentioned in a previous post, fresh drip coffee each morning! And I take a beautiful walk through the woods and some villages to Prague each morning. Spend my days in the city, my nights in the countryside. Working with Vladimir didn't turn out as hoped. Although I gave him a hand a few times, we truly cannot communicate at all, so it seemed as though I was more of a burden than a help.

Living in Prague has become bearable. I've been hanging around a few areas of the city, mostly Andel, and gotten to know them pretty well. So I'm finally comfortable here. I spend my days taking walks, reading the papers and surfing the web. And I finally have time to read! Throughout college, I always complained that I could never read for pleasure because all of it was devoted to school. But now I can dive into some great stuff. So far, I've read Chuck Palahniuk's Choke and Siba Shakib's Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes to Weep. I soothed my homesickness with Roberto Unger and Cornell West's The Future of American Progressivism and Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Then I realized I should be reading Bohemian literature. I just finished The Book of Laughter and Forgetting from Milan Kundera and am moving onto Kafka's Castle.

Even though I am comfortable with the city and having more of a pleasant time, I still miss Baltimore terribly. I read the local papers and continue to blog, but I still feel a little out of the politics. So much is happening with the races and the electricity rate hikes and whatnot, and here I am in Central Europe, just watching it and blogging a little. Can't wait to get home and get back right into the middle of everything. For now, though, I'll just focus on moving back to Prague for the next two weeks.

posted by The League: Reassembled @ 8:28 AM