The adventure of the Food not Bombs in Prague 8

Nicole really is going to kill me if I keep writing entries like the last two. The thing is, theres a lot of pressure blogging in Prague. Youre either in an internet cafe, 1kc per minute, or in a dorm, with Nicole and all of her friends staring over your shoulder as you write about how awesome they are. So, I dont have time to think through my entries, and I end up doing a hatchet job on this place.

The fact is, Prague is a miracle of a city. Its got museums, bars, people, and history. Thats three more things than most small cities have. Its history is attrocious, to be frank. It forced its jews into a ghetto, the area where Nicole and I are staying, and made the Jews wear yellow circles of shame. The brother of the prince of Prague had him murdered. The city converted to Christianity. And all this is just in the past 5 years.

I also dont know how I feel about the Czech culture. Its very monolithic, and suspicious of outsiders. Somehow, because this is a European country, suspicion of outsiders is considered cute, not xenophobic. Yuval took me out to eat for the vegan restaurant fiasco. I was just going to get fried mushrooms, but Yuval insisted that I get a beer, because it would have been too weird not to get a beer with your dinner in the Czech republic. I got a non-alcoholic beer, which met the cultures rules. You dont have to have alcohol in your beer. Just make sure to have a beer. Or else youré rocking the boat. At least I got to practice my Czech there. I left my glove behind, went back inside, and they were already sitting people at my table. "Pardona" sp? I said. "Ah"? they said. I pulled out my chair, revealing my glove. "Ahhhhhhhhh," they said, smiling. "Dequiem!" I pronounced. Its definitely not true that Czech people never smile at strangers.

I already have a lot of good memories from here, like meeting Vaclav Havel, and its been less than a week. Yuval and I met him after spending hours running in circles, looking for Country Life. On our way home, we stopped in a store so Yuval could get pickles. After that, Yuval browsed a bookstore, and found a book by Havel. He bought it, and a few seconds later a BMW pulled up and Havel stepped out. Yuval, who knows Czech, got his autograph. I smiled for a good ten minutes after that.

Today Yuval and I ventured into "Praha" 8 - it feels too pretentious to say Praha even though I guess its the right way to say it - to cook for Food Not Bombs. The idea kind of depressed me in theory. I did Food Not Bombs once in Austin, and realized that I liked volunteering at Casa de Luz better. Now I was coming to a new country to do something that I didnt like doing in Austin? Next Ill get a job at a PR company in Prague, and put on a live musical sitcom with a bunch of Czech actors that hate me! Turns out, though, it was a pretty good experience. Prague 8 is different from Prague 1. If I werent paying 1kc a minute, I would get into it more. Its seedy. The squat the food not bombers was four stories high, and covered in typical punk graffiti - "Destroy the System" with system spelled with a dollar sign for an s and a swastika for the t... I thought they could have made the y a yen symbol, the e the greek e math symbol and the m the metro symbol. It was the worst squat Id ever seen. Yuval went to the door, found a guy, and said something in Czech. The guy responded, "ščýáíěščéěš čýášěíč šáýčáíšě food not bombs?" He sent us around back. There was a picnic table, hammock, and a wood fire oven, all covered with snow. These two punks came out with a huge dobermen pincher. Yuval said something to them, and they just glared at us. They went back and forth, moving movie theater seats from the house to somewhere far away, ignoring us on their way from the house and on their way back, multiple times. Then we left. I was just glad we didnt have to cook any month old brown avacados.

I can tell this is going to be a worthwhile trip. And Im not actually miserable all the time. There are a few things that have gotten me down, all of which are technical issues. The phone is still a problem even today. I went to TMobile to see if I could get a new battery or charger for my phone. But they dont sell my brand of phone, so I would have to buy a new phone, which would cost around 80 dollars. I went to a different place and waited in line for over half an hour to find out that all their phones require a month by month contract. Then TMobile was closed. Its not an empty hope to say that it will get better.

Nicole is, of course, the best roommate anyone could have next to Joe or Rachel. I do think she was going too far when I was cooking my first night in Prague, two pieces of rice landed on the floor, and she said, "That is really bad." She has her own things to stress about, but shes also stressing about mine. Soon Ill be transitioned, and there wont be nearly as much to stress about. I would write more, but the money is practically flying out of my pocket right now. Plus, were in žiskov! More good memories coming soon!