nicole

for days (days!) i've been wanting to get some real quality time with the blog. to come up with some new profound way to look at my travels and wow our readers with insights and lively prose. but now i'm here. i have time. i don't know what to write.

i want to write about anna and greg. i suppose i could just give an elaboration and an update. i'll copy it from an email i just wrote so i don't have to re-think about it over and over. i know they're will be some rehashing. last thursday, my friends anna and greg were coming back late from the european student dorms on a night tram. at one stop, anna saw a group of six skinhead kids get on the tram. they walked up to greg, who was sitting silently and inconspicuously in the back of the full tram, and asked him something in czech. he said 'nemluvim cesky' which means 'i don't speak czech' and they basically just started kicking the shit out of him. they would grab on to the railings at the top of the tram and jump up and kick him in the face. anna is sort of a tough, like very admirable girl. after she got over the shock of what was happening, she started kicking one of the nazis to divert attention from greg, who was being severely beaten. she said one of them turned around, smiled at her, and then kicked her in the chest and face. they jumped off at the next tram stop and a woman helped them call an ambulance. another american couple was beat up by the same guys right after greg and anna, and when they heard the ambulance coming, they ran towards it. anna and greg spent pretty much all the rest of the night and the next day in the hospital and police station. greg's face is smashed and bandaged. anna is mostly fine, but shaken.

i had a dream about her last night, but she wasn't being beaten by nazis. she was at a rape trial of six men who had raped her as a child (this didn't really happen, it was a dream fabrication). i kept crying at the horror of her experience and laughing at the absurdity and i tried to help her escape. then i woke up.





rachel is here. i love having her here. there's not really much to write after her terrific guest-post. team xod (that's the three of us) had a great day yesterday. i like how positive and energetic rachel has been about prague. she gets us to do things. i like that. my friends like her too.




i ran into corbett from austin who was teaching in korea for a year and now travels around hoping to eventually end up in japan with his lovely girlfriend. you might know him. he has really cool grey hair. he's pausing for a month in prague to take a toefl class so that he can be an english teacher. hopefully we'll get to hang out. he seems like he'd be fun to hang out with.


i'm having a lot of trouble concentrating right now because the kids in the study abroad office are all having animated conversations, which is nice (you know, bc they're all happy), but making it hard to concentrate.

last night we saw a bad ballet. i've seen three ballets in my life, and all of them here. the first two were so good that i didn't really understand what made a bad ballet- i just figured all of them were good. i'm glad i now know the difference between good and bad ballet. you learn something new all the time.

okay. good ballet: the movements are light and graceful. the dancers don't look like they are straining. they don't express emotion with their faces so much as with their bodies. the choreography reflects the theme of whatever scene is being presented. there is a plot. all the dancers lift their arms and legs to the same heights as each other, etc. etc.

bad ballet: no plot. random characters just randomly dancing pretty with no purpose. the pretty dancing really isn't that pretty, it's just spinning around and moving limbs in various directions. the movements look heavy and difficult. the dancers are all out of sync with one another and they forget where they're supposed to dance. people drop things. costumes fall apart on stage.

none of that is very articulate, but listen, it's beautiful outside and i need to get out of here.

read rachel's blog beneath this one; it's got more.