Living In Brno: July 2005

Polka dancing and things in the eye

Another weekend is gone. As always more tired than before the weekend and will need this week to recover from it. And still, it was rather quiet. Or Sunday at least.
Went to a village festival with my dear friend Jaroslav and his GF Katka. Never thought polka dancing could be so much fun! Probably all the twisting and twirling, spinning and stuff and makes your head feel like a washing machine on max speed (or like a frog in a blender, speed 5). The guys in their lovely outfits added to the dizziness as well I guess, especially that front pocket of their trousers that looks a bit like an envelope. Double entry, I can definitely see the practical use of that...

One bad thing though, got something in the eye, some sort of inflammation. Inflammation does however not sound half as horrible as the Czech word for it though, zanet (missing extended chars, but sounds something like "zaaaanjet". That was a word that was only vaguely added to my Czech medical glossary - up to the eye doctor gave the verdict and I only knew that it must be extremely disgusting with such a name.

Got some stuff for it though, unfortunately not a patch over my eye as I had hoped. In my opinion, you sort of have to have something that proves to other people that you are ill or hurt, like a bruise, stitches or preferably half the leg cut off or best of course - no leg at all. When people can't see for themselves that there is something wrong with you it sort of takes away the pleasure of telling them the story about it and showing the scar and nice patchwork of stitches. Zaaanjet sounded cool, but in the end it was as cool as a blister, or sorry, not even that. Blisters are red and sometimes really nasty, that's cooler than a zaanjet in the eye. So...hmmm...what about wax in your ear? That's something that hurts but you can't prove to people apart from the "WHAT???!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!". And in that case, they might still just think that you talk loudly because you are an American.

Am having a picnic on Friday in the park to "celebrate" me leaving Brno. Hold on, tune in and be aware, there will be some crazy pictures coming up. (And Adam and Jarek, I will NOT add any of the "animations" from the biting session on Thursday. It is my blog and I will only add pictures where I look fabulous and you guys look stupid. NAAAAHHHHAAAHHHAAAAA!!!!)

Cool dudes, Cyril and Metodej. New babies in the Cizek family. Just thought I'd share as I think they look sort of like the Blues Brothers...

Coffee vending machines and elevators

So, we got a coffee vending machine (in the reception area) at the company. It makes more than 10 different sorts of coffee, tea and other beverages. And, it is silver and has a LCD display with weird messages. That should qualify it as something ultimately cool, but no it doesn't. It's just nerdy and boring, a little like Norway.
It costs money as well, no less than 7 CZK/per cup (including the cup). Although there of course is no such thing as a free lunch, that last bit is the nail in the coffin. I'm giving it max 3 months.
The elevator was behaving weirdly all afternoon. You pressed the button and there it came, but refused to open the doors. Cheaky bastard. On the other hand, I think it was just doing a bit of "nibbing" as it had swallowed Vojta sometime during the course of the day and it required all the efforts of our Service Desk to get him out of the sharp jaws.
I believe that elevator truly lives a life of his own. Sometimes it stops 10 cm under the level which it should be at which makes you fall and almost hit your head against the opposite mirror. Or it stops 10 cm above and you hit your toes. Evil that's what it is I tell you...

The Swedish prime minister is enjoying himself recently. Or not. I can't help but to feel rather evil myself about not feeling sorry for him. Ok, so what happened was that one of his colleagues have tricked quite a few of the ministers of paying out benefits to fake womens rights groups...and putting the money in his own pockets. It's kind of funny that it is the womens rights groups. They are evil too...or, sorry, that would be to give them to much recognition. Stupid, silly and completely useless is probably better adjectives for the agitating feminists.

Am hungry, thought I should have a sallad for lunch as I sort of felt guilty for all the beer I have been consuming recently (and not to mention all the lovely cheese...) but I should have known better. Salad is rediculous unless it has got meat in it.

Hasta la vista und manana.

Budapest, London and terrorists

A lot of things happening lately. First a nice, well-deserved weekend holiday in Budapest with Ben and Liam. Stayed at a very nice hotel, Ramada and were out both sightseeing and enjoying the nightlife of the beautiful city. Met up with some co-workers of mine on the Friday night, Taouria, Béla and Zoli, and went to a place called Rio. An American girl that I met on the train from Brno, Elisabeth, met up with us as well for a few drinks. Unfortunately had to leave rather early on Sunday as I had to get up early for work the next day. Good thing as well that I didn't take the night train as we were more than one hour delayed and I was exhausted when we finally arrived in Brno.
Worst thing being having to share the wagon with a group of middle-aged, fat and irritating Czech women. They were all over the place and when they started singing I thought of jumping out of the window. Throwing them out was unfortunately not an option...

The weekend after I went to London to see Ben but also to go for an interview. Spent Midsummer with Ben, Bjorn and Adrian (a friend of Bjorn's) in Hyde Park, listening to Swedes singing "Helan gar" and "Sommartider". It could have been worse...I think. The interview went well and I was actually offered the job the following Monday. I didn't really expect them to be that quick so I was sort of caught with my trousers down as I was expecting to have some more days to contemplate it. Went to see our HR Director and described the situation to her. Said that I wanted to stay with the company but that I wanted to go to our Irish office. This I have been pushing for the last year or so...So, finally with the knife against their throats they said yes and I decided to stay. Maybe not so drastically, but well...

So, now the situation is such that I am moving for three months to Dublin for a trial period. After that we'll see what the outcome was and how I like working there. If all is well I'll move over and work out of our Dublin office. Will be fun and interesting. Only bad thing is that this blog will now be limited to my occasional work-related visits to Brno...

Last thing. Bombs in London yesterday. Not really surprised I guess, but very angry. I am fearing for the muslims in the UK and am hoping that people will not turn against them. Unfortunately it is not only the terrorists that are ignorant and I believe we'll see some actions that will degrade the world slightly more. G8 summit going on as usual, anarchists and other lefties marching and damaging property. Why can't they just grow up, realize that they are fortunate to live in a country that will allow them to play their silly games and just leave people alone? They believe themselves to be speaking for the entire world, but for me they will never speak.

A bit negative maybe for this blog, but I'm not in the greatest of moods. Am tired of my personal life, e.g. not having a boyfriend and the fact that I am about to leave a city that I love. For money. Am feeling shitty about it but I need the money so desperately. I cannot keep living from one day to the other and considering the fact that I cannot see myself in Brno for the rest of my life I had to make a decision. Where do I want to live then? I have no clue...the only thing is that I will know once I see it. Same goes for the guys.

And btw, below you can see some of the pics from the trip to Budapest. Adam is away trekking in Croatia, me and Jarek miss him loads and can't wait until he gets back on the 14th. Will sure be some good party pics here then.

Thinking about it, guess I have to create a new blog for Dublin now. Cool.