PRAGUE!!! (email to grandma)
Uhm...I don't know. I went there being very against it; then again
hardly any city in the world has a fighting chance when they're up
against Barcelona in my mind. Regardless of this ridiculous bias I
have towards anything and everything related to spain or spanish-ness,
I went with an open mind and really tried not to be too critical of
everything.
It's undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, but
it doesn't look real. disneyland was modeled after that kind of
architecture, and just due to the circumstances of my upbringing i've
seen much more disney than prague in my lifetime, so now instead of
seeing disneyland and saying "hey it looks like prague" im seeing
prague and saying "it looks like a fairytale castle" and im half
expecting minnie and mickey to come out of one of those building
waving those oversized white-gloved hands with only 3 fingers or
something.
soo yeah...i found it hard to kind of get a feel of what reality would
be like there because it's on such a large and glamorous scale. also,
the tourists were everywhere and i think for every 1 czech person
there were about 10 tourists, granted we were in the old town which is
the center of the city (most touristy obvs) so i guess this is
understandable, but i don't know. it just seemed too nuts for me with
people and cameras.
czech people are shy. they are unlike the dutch in the sense that they
arent all jerks but they very much take after them when it comes
financial matters-- meaning they're very cheap. this trait can be
attributed to their post-communism attitude of trying to be industrial
and frugal and surviving on ones own etc etc but it has resulted in
them scamming a lot. as in, giving us a bill for lunch for 90 euros
when it was actually around 25 seeing if they could get the dumb
americans to pay (of course beau almost did). of course they said
"oops we gave u the wrong bill" and its like well yes you did because
we weren't havin 10 beers and 5 steaks at 1p, but of course thats an
understandable mistake (or not). so this is the justification of the
corruption on a personal level, but honestly, i dont give a shit what
happened in the past, its still DISHONEST. its still LYING and to me
its a sign of very bad character and its soo immoral and all the
communism in the world isn't going to make this indirect pilfering
justified in my eyes.
sooo in conclusion, prague was pretty. if my parents wanna live there,
good for them, they can give themselves braindamage over learning
czech and they can live in the same weather as amsterdam (we found it
always rains in prague, not snowy like dad thought) and deal with all
the red tape regarding visas and residence permits but i think those
are unavoidable in any country. the thing is, my mom says it will now
be easier to move now that she's had experience of doing it in two
other countries, but its like-- you have the choice of where u wanna
move. u spoke french in france when we did the paperwork, they spoke
english in a'dam, so why dont u do urself a favor and move to spain
where u not only know the ropes but you also KNOW THE LANGUAGE. it's
like all the moving-paperwork-experience is going to go to waste
because its not gonna do a damn thing when we'redealing with all of it
in CZECH. and people there do NOT speak english.
mm so this is my opinion. i didnt hate prague, but i would never live
there if it were up to me. then again i am much more about what the
native people contribute to a place rather than the style of
architecture (coughbeaucough). mom wants outdoor cafes and sun and
prague has rain and basement cafes because there is an "underground
city" .... its where the main city used to be before it was raised to
eliminate the risk of flooding so like bars and restaurants are 2
stories down. cozy but creepy. mom needs sun. and fresh air. i need
friendly people who aren;t shy like in prague; dad is up against a
daughter who loves warm people and a wife who needs sun and fresh
air-- i mean, the two of us even LOOK mediterranean!!! how it got into
our blood i dont know. viva espana. or italy, greece, turkey, croatia,
wherever else is not cold in weather and in the attitudes of the
people.
ok i gotta go. i hope this email didnt seem too negative about
prague-- it really is astounding in its physical beauty and i really
had a great weekend with my parents. pictures are up on fotki
(obvvviously!). right now i must attend to the grocery shopping aka
making sure i have enough beer in my fridge to last the night. ahh, la
vie est dur. i can't wait to see you in may!!!!! xoxoxoxoxo
bair
hardly any city in the world has a fighting chance when they're up
against Barcelona in my mind. Regardless of this ridiculous bias I
have towards anything and everything related to spain or spanish-ness,
I went with an open mind and really tried not to be too critical of
everything.
It's undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, but
it doesn't look real. disneyland was modeled after that kind of
architecture, and just due to the circumstances of my upbringing i've
seen much more disney than prague in my lifetime, so now instead of
seeing disneyland and saying "hey it looks like prague" im seeing
prague and saying "it looks like a fairytale castle" and im half
expecting minnie and mickey to come out of one of those building
waving those oversized white-gloved hands with only 3 fingers or
something.
soo yeah...i found it hard to kind of get a feel of what reality would
be like there because it's on such a large and glamorous scale. also,
the tourists were everywhere and i think for every 1 czech person
there were about 10 tourists, granted we were in the old town which is
the center of the city (most touristy obvs) so i guess this is
understandable, but i don't know. it just seemed too nuts for me with
people and cameras.
czech people are shy. they are unlike the dutch in the sense that they
arent all jerks but they very much take after them when it comes
financial matters-- meaning they're very cheap. this trait can be
attributed to their post-communism attitude of trying to be industrial
and frugal and surviving on ones own etc etc but it has resulted in
them scamming a lot. as in, giving us a bill for lunch for 90 euros
when it was actually around 25 seeing if they could get the dumb
americans to pay (of course beau almost did). of course they said
"oops we gave u the wrong bill" and its like well yes you did because
we weren't havin 10 beers and 5 steaks at 1p, but of course thats an
understandable mistake (or not). so this is the justification of the
corruption on a personal level, but honestly, i dont give a shit what
happened in the past, its still DISHONEST. its still LYING and to me
its a sign of very bad character and its soo immoral and all the
communism in the world isn't going to make this indirect pilfering
justified in my eyes.
sooo in conclusion, prague was pretty. if my parents wanna live there,
good for them, they can give themselves braindamage over learning
czech and they can live in the same weather as amsterdam (we found it
always rains in prague, not snowy like dad thought) and deal with all
the red tape regarding visas and residence permits but i think those
are unavoidable in any country. the thing is, my mom says it will now
be easier to move now that she's had experience of doing it in two
other countries, but its like-- you have the choice of where u wanna
move. u spoke french in france when we did the paperwork, they spoke
english in a'dam, so why dont u do urself a favor and move to spain
where u not only know the ropes but you also KNOW THE LANGUAGE. it's
like all the moving-paperwork-experience is going to go to waste
because its not gonna do a damn thing when we'redealing with all of it
in CZECH. and people there do NOT speak english.
mm so this is my opinion. i didnt hate prague, but i would never live
there if it were up to me. then again i am much more about what the
native people contribute to a place rather than the style of
architecture (coughbeaucough). mom wants outdoor cafes and sun and
prague has rain and basement cafes because there is an "underground
city" .... its where the main city used to be before it was raised to
eliminate the risk of flooding so like bars and restaurants are 2
stories down. cozy but creepy. mom needs sun. and fresh air. i need
friendly people who aren;t shy like in prague; dad is up against a
daughter who loves warm people and a wife who needs sun and fresh
air-- i mean, the two of us even LOOK mediterranean!!! how it got into
our blood i dont know. viva espana. or italy, greece, turkey, croatia,
wherever else is not cold in weather and in the attitudes of the
people.
ok i gotta go. i hope this email didnt seem too negative about
prague-- it really is astounding in its physical beauty and i really
had a great weekend with my parents. pictures are up on fotki
(obvvviously!). right now i must attend to the grocery shopping aka
making sure i have enough beer in my fridge to last the night. ahh, la
vie est dur. i can't wait to see you in may!!!!! xoxoxoxoxo
bair