So this is us having the time of our lives in Prague

This is what Prague looks like. Everyone wears those hats with the floppy ear covers here. Actually, nobody does, except for Nicole in this photo, and me the rest of the time. I thought everybody wore them here, which is why I got it. But no, still out of place here. We're in the study abroad dorm in this photo. Can you believe Nicole would have lived in this hole had I not come along?

I have a phone now (420-737-970-285). I got to choose the number, and that's the one I picked. I tried to negotiate a 512 area code so Austin people could call for free, but the language barrier made it too confusing, and I got stuck with this really long number. It's free for me to receive calls, so if anybody stumbles across a phone card...................... I also have a three month metro pass, so I'll have to wait on living out my fantasy of getting caught passlessy by the metro policie, calling them "communist-ska!" (a word I made up meaning female communist), escaping at the next stop, and thumbing my nose at them. I might pretend not to have a pass just so I can do that anyway. Down with the $ysteM, man.

Prague is showing a lot more promise. The problem up until now has been that all I do is wander aimlessly and go grocery shopping at Tesco. Last night Nicole and I accidentally wandered into an art opening where a bunch of fancy-pants Czech intellectuals were squinting at computer-generated pixelated color swirls that the artist claimed, in a statement posted on the wall, were visions inspired by the cosmic consciousness, which she taps into from time to time. At first I thought I'd discovered the first hint of pretention in Prague, but then I realized it must have been a culture difference. There was also a large cloth crucifix on the ground inside of a Star of David built of candles, and underneath a Star of David built of white string all spider webby coming from the ceiling. Nicole and I both agreed that it was unfair for there to be two Stars of David and only one cross. Just kidding. Neither of us thought that. The only problem with that part of the exhibit was that it took up most of the middle of the floor, and people kept accidententally kicking the star of David. There is a special ring of hell reserved for people who commit accidents like that. One group even got trapped in the Star of David stringy web, at which point the artist pounced and lectured them about the global mind, seeing beneath the surface of reality, and commercialism. "Ignorance of the future is no excuse," she concluded.

The best part was the chips and salsa, hard to come by in the Czech republic. They also had fried sardines to grab by the handful. I couldn't really see what they were, so I said, "Nicole, what's that?" "Not vegan," she said. Man, was that an understatement. I didn't go for them. It's actually not that hard to stay vegan here. All you have to do is only eat vegan food. In fact, this place is arguably more vegan than Austin. Country Life is a restaurant and grocery store that is completely meat and dairy free. Suck on that, Wheatsville! They even had free samples of their vegan cheese. Otherwise, free samples are almost unheard of here, as is bin grazing, which has required a huge lifestyle change for me. I think I'm becoming a better person. I do miss the free carob energy bars, though.

Tonight I'm supposed to meet this artist expat america hating filmmaker type guy. I think he reads this blog, so that's all I'll say for now. People reading this blog really cramps our style!

PS: Nicole is addicted to my tohum tahini potato salad. That salad has occupied most of our thoughts and conversations here. She's probably put on about 20 pounds since I started making it every day, which must be why she hasn't blogged about it yet....