okay- this is nicole, by the way

so i don't really have time to keep posting pictures, but i have some things i want to say, so i'm going to try to write a quick entry.

first, i thought i should talk about my friends anna and greg. they were on a night tram together late at night on their way home from some far away student dorms when anna turned and saw some nazis with swastikas tattoos approaching them. without provocation, the nazi kids started beating up greg- like kicking him in the face and shit. she tried to stop them and they kicked her the chest and i think the face too. the two of them spent all night and the next day at the hospital. turns out these stupid kids were going around just beating up random people. this sort of violence is not usual in prague, i hear. but one of the kids was evidently wanted for murder. this just further proves to me that i will from now on take taxis home from the blind eye, which is our favorite bar in zizkov.

now i'll talk about the blind eye. when eddie was here, he introduced us to the blind eye, which could be my favorite bar ever. the owners are really nice and let us go pick out music in the back. tonight we're going to watch a movie before the bar opens in their movie room. we've got a nice set of expat friends there, but the bar isn't totally ex-pat-ish. they've made a concerted effort to draw in czechs as customers. the only thing is that the czechs all speak english with the english-speakers, so it doesn't feel all that authentic, but i can also converse with them, which is nice. i've also met some nice swedes and scottish folks, etc., there.

the other night, austin (who is one of the owner's little brother and is also a bar tender) played a show there. looking at austin, you'd expect his show to be a bit raw, a bit crust, but it turned out that he is an incredible bluegrass artist. sitting at the blind eye, listening to austin sing his beautiful lyrics from the depths of his beautiful diaphragm that was all covered up with tattoos and beer-gut, i had one of those moments i was afraid i'd stopped having altogether. these are the moments when you feel like you're watching yourself from a younger perspective. i wondered how i had come into this world where my friends can make such moving music in their own dive bar in their own corner of prague. who was i? i felt like i was fifteen years old, envying the life of an older acquaintance. but it was my life. i'm here.

i have so much more to write. i have no time to write it. i miss everyone. and HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!!!!!! (two days too late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!)

p.s. rachel is here. it's really fun to hang out with her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RACHEL TOO!!!! and we went to kutna hora yesterday and saw, among other things, a church where all the decorations were made of human bones.

more later, hopefully. more later.