Really?

Gone. Like yesterday. Like Al Pacino's mom. Like Keyser Soze. Gone. Like my backpack. Gone.

Here's the rundown: After school today, I went out to dinner with some friends and then went back to their apartment to hang out. After this, we went to this cool american bar called the Blind eye. Since I hadn't gone home yet, I still had my backpack with me. I hung up my coat in a lonely corner and made the mistake of leaving my backpack underneath it. It was 10 feet from this backpack all night, so I didn't think I would have a problem. After winning about 8 foosball games in a row (the highlight of the night) I went to get my stuff to go, grabbed my coat, leaned down to grab my backpa.... and just like that *poof* it's gone.

What really bothers me is that I came so close to going home like 3 different times that night. I can play the what if game all night, and I probably will, but why oh why couldn't I have just gone home. It's hard to see this turning into a blessing in disguise in any way or form right now.

Here's what I lost: The backpack itself, which kinda has sentimental meaning because I've used it for everything since 7th grade. Gloves, all my notes from my Czech class, all my pre-prague notes and ideas, my nalgene that I've been using for the past 4 years...and here is where it gets bad:

My two journals. The only things in the entire bag that I really cared about. They were priceless. I was just about to fill entire spiral notebook. Just about to be done with it and go and get a new one and leave the other one at home just to read in. I had been writing in that thing constantly since August. I wrote all about my USC experiences, and through all of last semester and into Prague. Just today on the train back from Poland I wrote three pages in reflection to my time in Prague so far.

The last thing I wrote about was about visiting Auschwitz. I'll write more about it later, but basically the feeling I came away with leaving Auschwitz was wonder at how people could be so evil. I wrote about how horrible it was that that many people died at Auschwitz for nothing more than the color of their skin and the kind of blood pumping through their veins. I hope whoever opens up that backpack tonight to examine their newly stolen treasure realizes what they've done. They gained no monetary value whatsoever. I had my wallet, my phone, and my keys on me. My ipod and camera were at home, thank God. I hope whoever stole my journals (worthless to them, priceless to me) sits down and reads them. I hope my extremely raw and private thoughts drill home in some criminal's brain. I hope they can change him. It wasn't just my thoughts, feelings and emotions that were poured into those journals, it was ideas. Story ideas. Film ideas. All gone. Just like that.

I was just entering the stage of having kind of a hard time being away from home, and friends, and familar faces and places. This pushed me over the edge. I haven't felt such righteous anger in a long time. Walking home for 15 minutes in the 30 degree cold at 2 in the morning gave me time to contemplate. I knew I had two options: To choose anger and to be filled with thoughts of revenge and hate, or I could choose to forgive, forget, let go and let God fill me with his grace. I chose the latter. But I've got to tell you, its not like I felt better all of a sudden. I understand the situation could have been worse, much worse. But it still stuck a pain in my gut that is hard for me to shake right now. I'm angry. I'm tired of always having to worry about stuff getting stolen. This is seriously going to put a dent in my confidence when it comes to bringing anything with me out into public, especially my video camera.

Please pray for me. I need it. I don't really have anyone around that I want to talk to about this. I've got friends here, but not the kind you lean on, the kind you vent with, the kind that just let you listen. I got plenty "Dude I'm sorry", "That sucks bro" and "Dude I'm sorry that sucks bro." Thanks. I know. I know, what else are they supposed to say? I'm just upset. Upset that I live in a place where I always have to watch my stuff. This wouldn't have happened back home.

I've had it. I'm going to sleep. I haven't slept for about 21 hours. I'm sleeping in, because tomorrow is the first day I'll have been able to sleep in for like 10 days.

Don't steal.

(And yeah, my passport is at home, safe and sound...)

More like the lame-bowl

Boy am I full. After eating all my words from my "Super Bowl Prediction" I am stuffed to the rafters!

Eli Manning did it. He won the big tamale. He outplayed Brett Favre and Tom Brady back to back on the road. What is happening to the world? I don't have a problem with Eli, except for the fact that he looks like he is going to cry/confused/lost/scared all the time. I just can't believe how bad the Patriots played. I mean, 14 points, in the biggest game of the (near) perfect season? Really?

That game was pretty foul too. I mean 7-3, almost all game? And this was the most watched Super Bowl ever? Ouch. I watched the game in this huge sports bar called the "Star Bar' (in english) which was about 90 degrees inside. It didn't help that my back was right next to the blazing hot heater either. And our lovely waitress wouldn't let us open the window to let in some of the 30 degree air, no matter how much we pleaded. Don't ask me why, but we tried about 3 times, and she was relentless in her quest to keeping that Sports Bar at the temperature of a Vietnam jungle. It also didn't help being that all of us were dead tired after a long day, and that the game started at 12:30 at night. But hey, I'm a true sports fan and I wouldn't miss the big game. Of course I wore my throwback orange crush Broncos shirt, while most of the other people in the place (almost all americans) were wearing Patriots gear. Needless to say, it was a rough night for them, as they got heckled by all the drunken New Yorkers.

All in all, I'm disappointed that the Pats didn't go perfect, but hey, not that big a deal, they have their 3 rings. It'll be fun to look back on "that one time when I watched the Superbowl in some random sports bar in Prague...ahhhh the good ole days."

Isn't it nice when you realize you are living in the "good ole days?"

Will update soon about the church and small group that I found. I'm heading off to Poland this weekend with some friends to see Krakow and Auschwitz, so that should be a good trip. Will put up pictures and info when I return! Now off to sleep, then to take my Czech final, and off to get a real Polish sausage!

Bustin' a move

You know you live in prime real estate when your washing machine drains into your bathtub.

So last night pretty much everyone from the program went to this club right by the Charles bridge called Karlovy Lazne (check it out: http://www.karlovylazne.cz/index2_en.php, I recommend taking the "virtual tour") which is this five story dance club. Each floor has a different music theme. The bottom floor (I kid you not) was dedicated to "Black music" (*tugs on collar*), and the next few floors pretty much are some kind of 70's and 80's discoteque or techno, leading to the top floor which is supposed to be relaxed and chill music. The top floor was pretty cool, because they had bean bags. Bean bags! When was the last time you and your friends hung out on bean bags in a public place?

After an extremely long night, we realized that we really didn't know how to get home, because all of the trams change after midnight. We took a random tram about halfway home, almost got lost, then walked the rest of the way. We probably got back after 4 in th morning. Finally I'm living up to the Chico State way!

Pictures! Here are the best of the trip so far!

The best of Praha

(If you're on facebook you can look for the new albums I just put up so see some others and to see what my apartment looks like...)

It's been a week since I've been here and I'm finally starting to settle in. Now that we know we aren't moving out of our place, we can unpack all of our bags, and try our best to make this one person apartment suitable for four.

Super Bowl Prediction:

Patriots: 35, Giants 24

I'm still a little nervous because we don't know where we are going to watch it. I haven't found a pub that I know for sure will be airing the game. It'll be strange watching the game at 12:30 am. I'm hoping the Patriots win, I want to see them complete their quest for the perfect season. Honestly, I don't think Eli Manning has it in him to overcome Brady and Moss in the biggest game of his life when millions of people will be watching. Brady and co. have too much experience over this cinderella Giants team. I think it's generous of me to give the Giant's as many as 24 points in this game, but hey, they're on a hot streak and it'll continue into the big game, but it still won't be enough to stop the Perfect Pats.

Internet!

I have internet on my computer! I can use skype! I can upload pictures! Finally!!!!!

Pictures up soon.

Settling in

So it's been almost a aweek since I've been in Prague, which is hard to believe. The first 6 days have gone by so fast, it's really been one big blur looking back on it. It seems like we had so much to do, so fast, that I never really had time to sit back and think about it. We got thrown into our apartments, taken to a pub, then a club, all on the first night. Two days later, the 40 students in the program were split into 3 groups for our Czech language intensive class. The class goes from 9 (much to the chagrin of the students) to 1:30 with two 15 minute breaks where we go and grab snacks from little shops near our school. By the way, there really is no central campus for Charles University. It's not set up like campuses back home. The buildings for the university are split up and are all over the place. We're south, down by the river. Anyways, the class has been going pretty well. We had our first quiz yesterday, and I got a 34/36, so I'm pretty pleased with that. We're learning a ton in a short amount of time, so it really takes a lot of concentration and focus, but hey, it's worth it, and it's only two weeks. The language can be tough, but its not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. By the time we're done with this mini class, I'll know enough to be polite with the locals and with people in restaurants and such.

I've already seen some of the big sights in Prague. (I have taken many pictures, but I still haven't gotten internet on my computer yet, so I can't post them quite yet...but it will be soon.) I saw the Charles Bridge and Astronomical clock, both of which lived up to the hype. The sun came out today for the first time since I've been here, which made the view from the bridge out over the river quite beautiful. There weren't that many tourists on the bridge, which also made it much more pleasant of an experience. I've also seen the old Jewish cemetary and the Spanish Synagogue. The old jewish cemetary is where all the jews from the old Ghetto's in prauge were forced to be buried. More than 20,000 jews are buried in an area the size of a football field, with more than 12 to a grave. The tombstones are overlapping, and basically out of control. It's a little depressing, but very interesting, and is located right in the middle of town. The synagogue was extremely pretty inside, and I'm sure it was the first of many to come.

I've got to say, it sure is a huge difference living in a big, bustling city. It's a strange feeling using the metro to get places. I mean, I'm a california kid who usually longboards to school. But I like the change, it's a cool feeling. Random thought: Speaking of the metro, its amazing how quiet Czech people are. A packed metro-tram is usually pretty quiet. Maybe its just because it's full of people who are strangers to each other, but its amazing how quiet these people can be. It makes you notice how loud and obnoxious americans are. Speaking of which, its pretty easy to figure out who Americans are just by looking at them. I can't tell you how many times I've walked by a person and we're looked at each other with that look of "Oh hi! You're an American too!" on our faces. Kinda funny. I'm not sure what the giveaway is, our clothes, our hairstyles, or what, but there's just something that makes it obvious.

Something cool I was thinking about: Since I've been here, I haven't turned on a TV once, have hardly listened to music, have been waking up at 8am and haven't spent hardly any time alone (besides right now actually). Does that sound like the Steven you know? (I'm sure these habits will change a little, but still.)

Alright, I'm gonna head over to some friend's apartments to hopefully download a driver that will allow me to use internet on my own computer...cross your fingers. If this doesn't work, I don't know how I'm going to use skype or upload pictures...

Nashle!

Alive and...overwhelmed

I...made...it...

After flying on a 10 hour flight, (In flight movies: Ratatouille (seen it), The Jane Austen Book Club (No interest) and Rush Hour 3 (seen it, and was disappointed) )  and connecting through Frankfurt I made it to Prague! 

So I got my swiss army knife taken away in the Frankfurt airport, but not my other knife, which is a huge buck knife. So yes, I flew all the way from San Francisco to Prague, through two huge airports, with a huge knife in my carry on. So much for all this intense security.

Also, I broke my record and stayed up for 30 hours straight. Once I was finally taken to my apartment, (which I will expand on in a second) I dropped off my stuff and got acquainted with my roommates, Joe, and Jared and Logan. Pretty cool guys, from Maine, Michigan and Texas. Between the four of us, we have the U.S. pretty much covered. The reason I didn't just crash was because it was 4 in the afternoon and to avoid bad jetlag I had to stay up until "sleep time" here in Prague. The two guys who met us at the airport, "Geiger" and Zach, who work for the USAC program, told us that they were taking us to a cool pub and a great club that was playing 80's music. Honestly, these guys are hilarious guys (Geiger read us a short story and some poems on the shuttle from the airport to our apartments via intercom) but they are a couple of clowns. They really aren't that organized and honestly, who takes 40 super tired, jet lagged kids out to a pub and club the first night they are in a huge city they are new to? It was a bizarre first night experience, but I guess it was a good way to stay awake. Plus, the 80's themed club was hilarious. (Madonna! Bon Jovi!) 

So my apartment...officially sucks. We have a decent location, next to a beautiful huge church and public square, but our apartment is super small. We also don't have an oven, toaster, or dishwasher. Two bedrooms, one big, one small and a tiny dining/kitchen. Our shower is more of a bathtub that you have to sit down in and hold the faucet over yourself. Needless to say, it's another annoying facet of the apartment.  It also doesn't help that every other student in our program have huge apartments with queen beds, living rooms, large kitchens with ovens, dishwashers, etc. I would be okay with this, but we are paying the same rent as them! We're going to see what we can do to move out of our place and into a bigger place, where we can actually have people over. We also have an 80 year old neighbor, who has lived in his apartment for like 40 years, and was a little freaked out to see four 20 year old college kids from the states moving in next to him.

So enough complaining. The city is awesome, but really overwhelming and confusing when you are new to it. It's frustrating not knowing how to get around (I write this from a friend's apartment where I don't know how to get home from and there is a good chance I will get lost by myself in the city tonight, but it's happened to just about everybody at least once). 

We started class today, which was interesting. Our professor tries to speak to us in Czech, and nobody has a clue what she is saying, but we are slowly learning the basics. The alphabet, pronunciation, that sort of thing. We're just trying to learn basic friends so we can be civil and polite with people around town and in restaurants and pubs. 

Okay, I'm a little blogged out, I'll update when I can, every day here is quite the unexpected adventure and you never quite know what is coming...

Oh and fun fact: Apparently we live in the "Gay District" of Prague. Another plus about our apartment! 

Beginnings

Tomorrow (or later today, I should say) will be the last time I wake up in the United States until mid-may. It sounds crazy when you put it like that. The longest I've ever been away from the country is one week. Welp, that's about to change.

I have no idea what you would call this emotion. Part nervous, part excited, part anxious. Thing is, I'm ready to get the heck out of here. It's a weird feeling waiting so long for something to come. Sometimes it feels like it never will, but alas, that day always shows up, whether you are ready or not.

Besides the lack of Czech I know, I'm as ready as I ever could be. Of course, I'm overpacked, being the eagle scout (a bunch of people from Chico just laughed) that I am. Speaking of all you Chico people, the last thing I packed was an ultimate-disc, so the love can be spread in Prague. Maybe I'll start up a little Friday afternoon game when I get there...

The flight leaves at 2:10 pm out of San Francisco and I fly eleven hours over to friendly Germany, landing in Frankfurt, where I have the privelage of spending an hour and 50 minutes in their airport. It's too bad I won't have a good friend there to make fun of all the German accents with. Is it true that German's just naturally sound angry all the time because of their language? I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

If all goes to plan my Resident Advisor, Jan, will be there waiting for me and the other USAC students waiting to take us to our apartments. It'll be one in the afternoon, Czech time, and I'm sure I will probably be able to sleep standing up in the middle of the airport, I'll be so tired.

So I'm at the point where I'm rambling about nothing interesting, so at this juncture of the Pragueblogue I will kindly bid you all adieu. I will miss you all, and I hope you all stay in touch through the wonderful world of the internet and skype and of course our good friend facebook. I'll post often, and take lots of pictures. I will leave you with a spontaneous, random list of 10 things I will miss:

1. 2% milk- (I hear milk over there isn't homogenized so it tastes nasty, and if you know me and my love of milk, you know how devastating this is for me...but, I will indeed press on...)
2. Lola- I'm going to miss all the drives we had together... I hope she keeps well in the care of my family...
3. Concerts- Going 4-5 months with a show is rough for me. I'm sure that I'll see some interesting live stuff in Prague and other areas, but it will probably be in a language I don't understand or some crazy DJ playing Euro-pop or something.
4. American cinema- You know me and movies. But hey, I'll get to see Indiana Jones right when I come back, so I'll be okay.
5. Mexican food- Because I doubt they have good mexican grub in the Czech Republic.
6. Bidwell pres and all the door people- You guys make the world go 'round.
7. Chico State and it's fine film program. (Oh wait...)
8. Not the rain. (It snows in Prague!)
9. People who speak English.
10. Sports (watching them, playing them, whatever. I'm going to a land where the sport of choice is Soccer. Maybe I'll get into it, but its no football americano...)

With that, Na shledanou! (Goodbye!)