matt

Waking up early to go to the airport is a pain in the ass, even if it’s only in Basel. But still it was so mentally tiring to get up after just having got home night before, and then leaving promptly out for Eastern Europe again. Of course the train to Basel was jam packed with people going to work in Mulhouse (what’s there anyways?), so I just napped until we got to Basel. As usual nobody checked passports, and I went out the door to the airport bus. This Spanish woman was so rude I wanted to tell her to get out of my face, but I put my luggage in the area and sat down after having bought my ticket. The damned machine only takes coins, and I was short on some Swiss Francs so I went and bought a sandwhich around the corner beforehand, turned out to be a lot more than I expected but hey it’s Swizterland!

Airport was clean, modern, and boring as hell. Waiting and waiting because there are no line-ups for anything. They didn’t even look at my passport when going through security, but I was on an EasyJet flight for the very first time. Lucky me to have chosen to be on the plane with a group of 40 Swiss-German teenagers about 17-18 years old who were obnoxious, loud, and just plain irritating. I avoided them like a plague whilst sitting in the London Heathrow area, clearly not wanting to go there. But we were called to line up and we stood, and stood, and stood, and stood and finally walked out to the runway about 40 minutes later. Loaded the plane, sat down and fell right asleep as we were taking off. I wasn’t going to be bothered by anyone; I swore on it.
Quick flight, and we landed in Prague, went through security and such and got my luggage. It took about 1.5 hours to wait for the luggage though, what’s up with that? Two other flights went through our conveyer-belt before ours came throught. It was probably those Swiss people smuggling drugs into the Czech Republic, usch! The sun was shining upon leaving the baggage claim area, and there were tons of people waiting and crowding around the door. I would have thought there was a superstar coming out, but I sat down for a couple hours because I had a feeling it was going to rain and going to the park in Praha 2 would be a horrible idea. Rightfully so, because as I woke up from my nap in the terminal the clouds were so dark I’d never had seen anything like it before.

I was bored until someone sat next to me, funny that eh? He was young, and had this huge bag with him and seemingly waiting. I read on the bag that he was part of the British National Modern Pentatholon team; and naïve me having no idea what that is eventually got curious. However before that a Czech man came up and begged the two of us for money, I played the I don’t speak English card, and he played the I don’t have any Czech money card. He was pushier than any other begger I’d ever seen, but eventually he left and buddy next to me and I had a good laugh. It turns out that he’s a really nice guy and coming from London, and waiting for the rest of his team which were coming from Bristol. Their flight had arrived about an hour before, and he’d been waiting since. We chatted about his sports and he was really quite pleasant. I learned that there was the world championships or something in Prague that weekend and that’s why he was there, and explained penthalon to me. It was nice to have met someone nd actually conversed with them whilst trying to kill time.

Eventually his team-mates came through and I wished him good luck, and they all ran off. I swear I am going to find out his name before I forget, because I met someone famous! At this moment though the clouds had gotten even darker and it was about time for me to head downtown to meet Matt again at his new office. It was more windy than I had ever seen, and the lightning was spectacular. I was surprised to see planes landing and taking off though in the weather, those crazy Czechs. I got on the bus, and it was fine and then transferred through the rain to the metro. I sat across from a sketchy looking bodybuilder who was hitting on me in Czech, so I moved spots and hoped to god that he wasn’t getting off at the same metro stop as I.

Matt had moved to a new building, over by the main museum so I found my way there and waited a few minutes for the clock to hit five. It had poared rain like I’ve never seen just while we were on the bus coming into Prague, so I was a bit worried that it would rain cats and dogs again. It was not to be, and Matt came out of his office all stressed out and we walked back to his flat. People again trying to get us to go to strip bars (at 17.00; wtf?) and I as usual played the I don’t speak English card. It’s really a good one to have; it takes a lot of skill!

Upon arriving at the flat and unloading our lives onto the floor, we got changed and decided that food was very necessary and went out the door. I needed cash, and so did Matt so we went to the cash machine around the corner. Something caught my eye though, as there were bunches of people taking photos of my sky. I looked up assuming to find someone about to jump off the roof in a suicide attempt, but really it was a couple of women sitting on chairs pinned to the wall, nd knitting. Interesting but confusing all the same time; who knows what it was for.

Dinner came and gone and we went back to the flat to get changed and go out to Valentino’s again. God I love Prague. He had a horrible day at work and a horrible week frankly so he was ancy to go out and dance and have a good time; I reckon he also wanted to pick up, funny him. We stopped in at a bar named Friends, and the atmosphere was really nice. He just wanted to show me how things were at different places, and I was quite pleased that I wasn’t grabbed at or molested the entire time whilst there. The night was a slight blur after I started to get a few drinks, I forgot that they were double shots, and well Matt had about six or seven huge beers, so he was pretty tipsy as well. Between frequent breaks to the sketchy bathrooms and drinking and somewhat dancing to the weird music we eventually left there around four in the morning. What was there on the way home? Well let’s just say that I was weeving in and out of the streets, and Matt was holding it together much more. We got home and I passed out even before stripping down.

Apparently when I woke up to the sound of the toilet flushing, Matt had gone down for a little bit of a puking session and then back to bed. So much for him taking alcohol better than I, but he did have significantly more than I. I was hung over like horribly, not sick just the headache and the body pains were so bad that I layed around all day. We both vowed that we wouldn’t go out becasue we were feel so ill, but we changed our minds after eating some non-tomatoe pizza at a local pizzaria. It was nice, and the sun was shining and we had milkshakes, but not before we went to Club Termix which is well lets say a bit scary at first. We couldn’t find where it was first; but he’d been there a few time. He eluded to this being the elite club for basically pornstars and amazingly goodlooking people, so I was a bit hesitant upon going. The locked door with deadbolts and a little peep hole didn’t do it for me either, but we descended and it turned out to be quite well lit and a nice place.

The atmosphere was friendly and it was fairly empty when we got there, but it’s just as well because I needed to loosen up a great deal. I didn’t notice until Matt pointed it out, but there is a novelty car hanging out from the wall. That made me laugh, and then I started to get tipsy. I rejected all non-alcoholic drinks and then found myself trying on Matt’s glasses, seeing that I looked quite good in them. You can tell my drunkeness from the massive smile and blurr in t
he photo. But after this we went to the dancefloor. Oh what a moment.

It had really filled up and there were no longer slutty guys dancing seductively so I went into the corner and we danced, and we danced, and I got really warm so without even thinking I started to undo my buttons and reveal my torso. I really wasn’t thinking, I was just really hot is all; honest! But then someone grabbed onto me, and I was like “hrmph get off me” and then I was like ok fine but only for a minute. So I danced with someone that was really quite short, and in no way goodlooking at all. I was falling over, being propped up and dancing and being felt up when Matt piped up to see if I needed help. At that moment was fine, and then I got some Czech pickup lines in my ear. I told him that I didn’t speak Czech and I wasn’t interested, but he kept saying stuff. I was confused and drunk, so I just danced some more slowly moving away. That didn’t go over well, and I got grabbed and grinded some more.

The whole time I was thinking to myself, why is it always the creeps? Anyways, luckily for me the jeans I was wearing were very tight, because ugly-buddy kept trying to put the hand down there. No go, thank God, and then after that rejection he grabbed my arm and tried to “persuade” me to go to the dark room with him. Like fucking hell I would, dumbass! I felt good rejecting him, and he fell on the floor like an oaf. Then Matt and I froliked some more being all camp, and I eventually started a laughing fit. As it turns out, Matt told me later but as I was being felt up, buddy creepster had stripped his pants down and was waving himself around at me obviously trying for me to take hold. I had no idea that any of this was happening because I was in my own little happy dancing world. I love my little world, it’s great!

So yeah, we departed and it was even later than it had been the previous night, and again I was swirving in and out in a fuss. I managed to grab some photos and a video to explain the maddness that was going on, so I share above. The real highlight of the night was the video below of us walking home, I was trippin’ all over the place as Matt points out. Oh golly.

The next day was so lazy and relaxing. We went for sandwhiches and the same Tomáš that served me last time. I think he recognised me and he smiled when I was ordering in English; he was still as flirty as the last time. We got our stuff sat down at the window to do some people watching and I got cold because of the air-conditioning so we moved. Matt was being creepy and spotting goodlooking people that were far too young for even me, so we argued about who was better looking and such and then we were off. The day was lazy, and we basically did nothing but louge around, being hungover and tired. He had work the following day but would eventually call in to work from home; and then I went to the KFC for a large order for the both of us.

I got confused using the keys so it took awhile longer and they didn’t have half the stuff that we wanted but I eventually dragged it all up the stairs and we had dinner, leaving some for breakfast of course! I woke up well rested and packed my things up whilst Matt worked, I would take the subway and busses as last time to the airport. I got lost finding the right station though, naïve me thinking that I could do it, but nooo I ended up in the wrong place. All is well that ends well though, as it was Monday morning and I made it and there was no lineup. There were some annoying British people on the way back though, talking about their adventures that sounded oh so boring compared to mine. I snickered and pretended not to understand English.

The same Swiss people were on my flight, so i was bleh, but we got home and the bus on the way back to Basel was packed with Spanish musicians. I was molested several times by a woman who kept trying to get her guitar in the right position, and then finally I got on the train to go home. I arrived in Strasbourg in the rain, got my mail and then unpacked to repack again for my trip back to Sweden. God I’m a busy little bugger aren’t I?

For all those who had no idea that I was embarking on a journey, surprise. For all those who already had known; sorry for the redundant nature of my writing but I’m writing about it anyways! I had been talking to Matt for awhile, and decided that it would be cool to go and visit him as he moved to Prague, Czech Republic back in January / February with his company from the UK. I was going to go the weekend before, but he was ill and had other company over, so it worked out better this last weekend. I found great flight deal, thanks Lufthansa, despite being sort of worried about not having any linguistic background. I tend to get nervous in those situations; paranoid really but that’s just a character trait already.

My flight left at a reasonable hour from Stuttgart, so I had all morning to get there without having to worry about sleeping in the airport (for the 6th time). I left on the 07.00 train to get there for 09.00 leaving me a few hours at the airport to eat, relax, and go through security. Turned out to be perfect timing since checking in / security lasts about 10 minutes, the rest was just reading the news that I collected on the way. The train to Stuttgart, bound for München was oddly filled especially after Karshrue stop, not surprising as it’s always a huge stop for some reason. All the businessmen got off at Stuttgart though, so I felt like one of them, despite being dressed a great deal less nice than them.

Hopped off the train, wandered down to get a bagel and then went to the S-Bahn to get to the airport, of which was empty and quiet during the morning hours (in other words, it was great). Automatic check-ins are my friend, just now I need to have a larger credit on my card so I can actually buy tickets with my own credit-card. In the waiting area, I shared the normal Zürich area, and a flight going to Romania so there were tons of really different looking nationalities. None of the people going on my flight to Czech Republic were actually Czech, kinda funny!

The flight was quick, up-down-1-hour, and I was in the nations capitol with a backpack and a bunch of Czech Krona and didn’t know where to wait. I had to wait until around 17.00 until Matt got off of work, and I would meet him downtown somewhere which was unarranged. I could have stayed in the luggage pick up area but I didn’t want to get arrsested by the guards, plus there was more going on in the arrivals area. In other words I saw a group of Canadians who were traveling for footie, a bunch of Danish missionaries collecting their people from Danish flight; and even some Finns who were arriving from Helsinki. There was also this group of Asians (from I think Cambodia) who were dodgy and hanging out there nearly as long as I did.

I tried to sleep, listen to music, but it was really boring and I had a lot of time to kill. About five hours in any case, but it’s all good (better than wandering a city alone). I was originally going to take a shuttle bus, but since I was bored I embarked on a public-transport journey, so a bus to metro then metro to downtown. At only 20:- it was a great deal, that means that it was about 0.80€ (love it). The bus was crowded with Czech people who were staring at me, cause obviously I am not as amazingly attractive as the Eastern Europeans, plus they were probably just curious. The metro was packed, so I was paranoid about being mugged or raped or something, but all went well. I followed some guy who seemed to know where he was going, so when he got off, luckily it was the same place. I didn’t speak any Czech so I had no idea how to say “excuse me”, turns out to be simplier than I had originally thought!

Got to Můstek station, the apparently largest one in the city, and then wandered to the street where I could be “spotted” and called Matt. I stayed put since I thought it was the best idea, and then gave semi-helpful descriptions as to where I was. And arrived he came after a few minutes, dressed up in his smart work uniform where he’s not seen, but must look best due to “company image.” Sounds pretty funny to me, but I would like it, I love dressing up in nice clothes as it makes me feel a lot better about myself. Plus I look hawt in a tie, anways.

So we headed to his flat, which had a front door entrance with those old fashioned keys (awesome) and then six flights of stairs which really is about ten flights of stairs due to high ceilings. His loft is amazingly nice and wooden, with skylights; in other words I was highly impressed. The hot weather had us pooped so we relaxed for a few minutes before deciding that we would go for some snacky-foods at a bar. As most people can gather from my social retardedness, bars are sort of weird for me, but it was okay cause we got nachos and just chatted. I think I’m just a little more put off by bars and pubs because they are usually fulled but at the hour of 19.00 it was quite nicely emptied.

We walked around for awhile after that just to orientate me with the general area, but lack of structure or direction worries Matt. I go with the flow, so turning down random streets doesn’t bother me at all. As a side note I nearly stalked someone who walked by; I can’t help it if some people are attractive. But since I’m not a stalker, I restrained of course (I’m awesome). I saw gypsies but I didn’t realise they were them, so I was confused but oh well! We floated some more and then decided to go to a very Czech place for dinner, it was quite late but amazing. It’s a nice resteraunt, a lot nicer than I had expected but we had to wait whilst the waiter fixed some problem and then we got a nice little window seat in a room that was nearly empty apart from a little business meeting in the corner.

Our food was amazing, I had milled carp, a very Czech dish with patotoes and bacon on the side. There was a weird sause on the fish which I thought might have tomatoes in it, so there was a bit of a scare; and all ended well after it turned out to have none in them. Maybe a raddish sause Matt thought? I wouldn’t know, I’m bad with tastes, but the result is that I didn’t die, which we were both really happy about. If we had to call an ambulance I and he would have no idea what to say. Chances are they wouldn’t have spoken English! I was flattered and felt guilty after leaving, even after a nice evening of calm conversation and followed by C.S.I. episode watching.

I felt like I had been there for a lot longer than I was, but I guess that’s just how great I seem to get along with some / most people. The social bufferfly wings had spread! And after some that episode, and falling asleep serveral times during V for Vendetta (his favourite film) we went to bed. The film was really good, but I seemed to have missed some parts after dozing off. I denied all such things at first, but apparently it’s true, I know that I closed my eyes for some time, just unknowing the duration of such naps. Again I felt bad, but it’s okay and understandable as I was quite tired after the few hours of traveling and then five hours waiting around in a airport!

First impressions of Prague, were great; very touristy, very nice, friendly people, and lots of nice archetecture. And as a side note, there is nothing wrong with having a SmartCar as a dream car. We passed this building that I claimed looking like a opera house, we laughed, but days later it turns out to actually had been one. Go me! I’ve got a good eye for types of buildings!

So when one thinks of teamwork, they think of team, and even though my English is only half decent, I’m pretty sure that there is no ‘I’ in team, or even a ‘U’. So then what’s people’s problems when it comes to play games that are for teams, and actually require teamwork?

So we play intramural volleyball that’s co-ed for our house activity, and we are all various levels from advanced the entry level, and then we have a few varsity basketball players (simply becasue of their height and we needed people). So then what’s deal with the people that play on other team sports like basketball, can’t transfer that sort of self control onto other sports too? Jumping infront of girls to take the ball, or never passing it to them isn’t nice, and nor is it even polite.

So serve coming in, and I ask Matt if he is going to cover short serves, and he says ‘Yes’ and I say ‘Okej I will take the back ones’ and he nods. So all signs point to teamwork O.K., until the serve comes in and goes right in the area where I asked him if he would cover it. He lets it fall onto the ground, and then looks at me and says ‘What the fuck Osky, why didn’t you go for it,’ and so I give him a dirty look and move away from where I was standing and say ‘Okej then I will cover back and far left’ and he nods. Serve comes in again, into my exact spot I was standing and he runs over to jump infront of me and takes the ball.

Now, I’ve played varisty volleyball since I was in year 6, and he’s more or less new so I figured maybe it was in-experience. So Mallory in the front row (who is like his best friend) says ‘Matt, that’s unfair, let other people play the ball’ and he grunts, no doubt. Anyways, so the serve comes in again and I step farther off the court, and it goes right into the same spot as the original serve. I don’t see him move at all for it as he looks upset that he was told off; so I dive for it and save it and he just gives me the dirtiest look. By this point I’m loosing my patience, and I’m very patient person. So serve comes in again, and low and behold it goes to the same spot and it lands on the same spot without him doing anything, as I told him again that I would ‘Only cover back left.’ He stares me down and puts his hands into a ‘What the Hell’ way, and I look right back at him and say ‘If you’re not going to play for a team, then just take a break for min’ and then he doesn’t speak to me again for the next 48h.

So I really don’t give a care about how he thinks of me, but frankly he and his roomate André have been very rude to me since months ago and for no reason since I never am rude them, I’m always friendly and saying ‘Hi’ and such like that. So I’m about 5mins away from going up to his room and telling him to either: 1) If you have a problem with me, take it up with me, or 2) Deal with it yourself.

Since Matt is being a baby (which he always asks like anyways) I don’t really exepct him to say anything more then ‘What’ and go all red and then try to guilt trip me. Well you’re out of luck Matt, since everyone notices how rude your are to Andrea and I, for no reason at all! Get over yourself Matt, and grow up and act your age.

Now, that doesn’t sound so friendly at all, consider he is part of the house executive next year! Thank gosh I will be in France away from all the stupid drama that goes on here, and never have to hear of them again! How’s that for a guilt trip?:>>