Leah - CS # 17

No offense to anybody involved, but seriously today felt like we did nothing. We just walked, walked, and walked some more.

We had plans to meet Jacquelyn at the Charles Bridge (the famous bridge here) at 10:00 AM. We were on time, and once we met up with her we crossed the bridge into the castle district area. The bridge is supposed to be an extremely entertaining 50 meters, but without knowing what anything meant it was just "pretty". (There were statues every few feet lining both sides of the bridge.) There were really good views, but the weather was pretty overcast. On the other side of the bridge, there were countless small souvenir shops and cafes that looked delicious. We ended up hiking up a hill to the famous Prague Castle.

Naturally, we had no clue regarding the significance of the Prague Castle, other than that it's the largest/longest castle in Europe. The line into the St. Vitus Cathedral (which is part of the castle) was HUGE so we didn't even bother. We wandered around the castle area though, saw some street musicians which were all dressed up in white shirts and black ties and were quite good, and spent the morning meandering. Jacquelyn had heard of some gardens that were supposed to be really nice. We searched for them but to no avail. Eventually, we walked down the big castle hill and across a bridge. Walking down the river, we made our way to the Dancing Building. I have no clue what this building is actually called or what it is even used for, but to tourists/traveler's, it's called the Dancing Building. This is because of it's crazy architecture that makes it look like the building is swaying.

Jacquelyn had told us of her horrible experience with her dumb CouchSurfing host last night, and we were not thrilled with Karel. But, we had heard from Leah again and so we were planning on moving in with her. We told Jacquelyn this and said she could probably just crash there with us. Then we spent HOURS looking for a place to eat. Everything is fairly reasonably priced, and all I wanted was traditional Czech cuisine, but for some reason we didn't end up actually picking a place and sitting. We had plans to meet up with Leah at 3 PM, and eventually I realized that we were going to run out of time to find a place to sit and eat before we had to meet up with her so I just told my stomach to be quiet.

It's hard to have three people walk side by side on the sidewalk, there's just too many other people. What ended up happening is that Laura and Jacquelyn walked side by side in front of me the whole day, and I was pretty much just in the back by myself. It's also hard to hear any of the conversation going on in the front. So aside from feeling like we weren't doing anything, I also felt a little bit like a third wheel which was a little bit lonely and very quiet. But I tried to enjoy the (practically) alone time and eventually just put in my iPod since it was pretty clear that I wasn't easily going to be a part of conversations for the afternoon. There wasn't really anything to "do" about this situation, AND I was in Prague, so really - things weren't bad at all. I kept quiet and focused on enjoying that wonderful fact. We kept walking, and accidentally found a really cool fountain with four statues of musicians placed in a circle around the top of the fountain. Then we got a text from Leah telling us where to meet up, and I was more than ready to be around more than just two other people so that the awkwardness of having three people would disappear and I would have somebody there to talk to.

Once we met up with Leah, she asked what we wanted to do and I immediately said, "FOOD." She took us to a small bar not far away called the Ropemaker's Wife. There I got roast pork with sauerkraut, bread dumplings, and potato dumplings. The pork was alright, but I think I am getting really worn down with all this sauerkraut business. It's everywhere, and on everything. I like it, I can eat it, but it's just a little bit too much. Also, I was really excited for the dumplings but the bread dumplings especially just didn't do it for me. They were thick and heavy and had very little taste. The potato dumplings were a little better especially when dipped in the gravy from the meat. Oh, Czech dumplings aren't cute little things filled with other delicious things like meat or cheese, these dumplings look just like thick, circular slices of bread/potatoes. So, apparently dumplings vary country to country quite a bit! The restaurant was called the Ropemaker's Wife because there's a legend that the Ropemaker was so good at making ropes that he was often away, so his wife opened up a bar so she could be around lots of men and have company. There's a bust of the wife near the entrance and if you touch it you're supposed to have good relationship luck. There's also a comic book of the Ropemaker's Wife story, and a new page gets added every day or something. Such a clever little way to keep bringing customers back...

After our late lunch, David (who was also there at lunch, he is from Israel and will also be CouchSurfing with Leah these next few days) and Leah parted ways with us to go drop David's stuff off at Leah's place. Jacquelyn, Laura and I kept walking. It feels like a maze, there are so many alley ways. All the streets look the same but you know they're not. You keep twisting and turning and all of a sudden it feels like you have no clue where you are. Then, a couple turns and alleys later, you're back to something recognizable. It's weird! We found a whole row of more souvenir booths set up in the middle of a street, and wasted time looking at all that stuff. Eventually, Laura and I needed to head back to Karel's to both pack and break the news that we were leaving.

We were really nervous that Karel was going to be at the pub and we would have to tell him that we're switching hosts really awkwardly, but thank goodness he was home when we got there. Telling him actually wasn't a big deal; I didn't really think it would be. It was obvious that we weren't going to have the super fun, 'let me show you around', talkative stay with him. And there REALLY wasn't enough space. Last night I slept AWFULLY, maybe the worst of the trip so far. And it seemed like his schedule was pretty much: work from home on his computer, play with his band, hang out at the pub 3 minutes away. We had invited him to hang out with us a couple of times and he didn't really seem to into it. Anyway, we just told him that Leah was closer and that there was space for both of us, but if he still wanted to hang out while we were in town that would be great! As expected, he definitely seemed like he didn't really care - so that's good that it wasn't so awkward and didn't come off as mean.

We packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes (he thanked us for staying with him, which was cute), and headed out. We made it to Leah's at 8:35 which was really good since we were shooting for 8:30. Leah had said that she would pop her head out the window every few minutes starting at 8:30 to look for us down below, so we just stood there with all of our bags looking up. Finally, I started calling, "Leahhhhh!" a few times. Then a window opened and I got really excited and was like, "Helloooooo!" BUT it wasn't Leah! It was some older woman with died red hair who was popping her head out to smoke. She looked down at us awkward travelers and goes, "Who are you looking for?" And really embarrassed, I told her Leah. She said to hold on a minute (apparently they're neighbors). While she was gone knocking on Leah's door, Leah walked up the hill. So, Leah let us inside and her roommate, who was on his way down the stairs to let us in, met us halfway. Finally, we had arrived.

Leah's place is so much cleaner that Karel's. You can definitely tell a girl lives here. There is natural light, space for us, and she has a really nice roommate named Rubin who is also on CouchSurfing. Rubin is from Portugal, and Leah is from Russia by the way, so once again - I am amazed by the variety and nationalities of awesome people I've been meeting through CouchSurfing.

Leah is super talkative which is lots of fun and very entertaining! She has hosted a ton and is really laid back with her surfers. For example, taking 4 in at once, all pretty last minute. She gave David a set of extra keys, had another set of keys MADE for Laura and I, and is just super chill. We chatted with her while we waited for David to get back from being out and about. She loaded us up with Ukrainian and Russian candies and tea. There was a CouchSurfing meeting going on tonight at a bar somewhere in town, and I really wanted to go. I'd also told Karel that if he wanted to come, we could hang out and we'd buy him a beer. So I was really antsy to get out of the house, but we didn't have a phone and Jacquelyn and David did, so Jacquelyn was supposed to text David and we were supposed to wait for David. As soon as he came in, he checked his texts and saw that Jacquelyn was already at the CS meeting. Laura seemed a little iffy on whether she wanted to go, but I told her we really had to go in case Karel was there, and now Jacquelyn was there, and it just seemed like it would be fun.

So off we went. We had the intersection that the bar was on and we arrived to find bars on pretty much every corner. The big CS meeting was not in the first or second bar. But at the second bar, they asked me what I was looking for, and I was like, "Um...a big group of people. CouchSurfers. Do you know what or where they are?" She did (I guess we weren't the only lost CSers that night) and pointed us in the right direction, across the street. There we walked into a loud side room filled with CSers!

It's always a little awkward at first, not knowing anybody, but it quickly gets better. Jacquelyn jumped up and ran over to Laura and started talking, but there wasn't enough space to include David and I in the conversation so we just stood there awkwardly for about 5 minutes. When it seemed pretty clear that I needed to go do my own thing and was again not going to easily fit into their conversation, I just left and started finding new people. I didn't have my back pack with me because all I needed was my money and my journal with directions to the bar in it. But, walking around with my journal tucked under my arm, I got stopped by a drunk UK boy named Jordan who insisted I interview him. The interview was going decently when along came Petr, Jordan's drunk Russian roommate. Petr tried explaining to me how to order a beer in the Czech Republic, but I really couldn't pronounce it, so he ordered for me. Then we went back and sat down and he told me all kinds of crazy life stories that were more entertaining than anything. Petr got up at some point and I'd long ago lost track of Laura and Jacquelyn, so I turned to my right and introduced myself to the people sitting next to me. Meeting people seems so scary, and it's always a little nerve wracking making the first move, but usually people end up being so nice! One of the girls to my left was named Jeanette. She was born and raised in Denmark (Copenhagen) and I told her we'd be there in a couple of weeks. We talked about traveling and speaking French, and it turns out she is not actually on CS but was here with a friend who does do CS, so I told her about what CS was. By the end of our conversation, she had given me her contact information and told me that if Laura and I got stuck in Copenhagen with no place to stay to call her up. How amazing!? I told her that we would try to find CouchSurfers, but it was always great to have an emergency contact. Then I also said if she wanted to just meet up and hang out, that would be awesome, and she said she'd be totally fine with that. So YAY for making connections in other parts of the world!!!! Very exciting!!

Later I ended up talking to Petr and another guy named Dan (from Brazil) for a little bit. I told Dan that I hadn't been to Brazil yet and he said, "Oh, that's ok, there's nothing to do there. Seriously what would you do in Brazil?" To which I replied..."Uh, watch soccer!?" And then he goes, "Oh. I don't like soccer." Then I gave him the most dumbfounded look ever. We've found a Belgian boy who doesn't like beer, a Swiss boy who doesn't like cheese, but a Brazilian boy that doesn't like soccer? Are you serious?!?!! I was shocked!!

Then, I went to go find Laura and Jacquelyn and Jacquelyn was freaking out because her host hadn't picked up his phone all day and she wanted to get her bag so she could come stay at Leah's. So we left the CS 'meeting' to go bash down her stupid host's door. On the tram, we heard English speakers and I didn't hear an accent - which to me means they're from the west coast, with a good chance of it actually being Seattle. When we got off the tram, I asked one of them where he was from. Turns out he was from Mercer Island. I felt like a genius!!! He invited us to go to a famous club called the Radish where Rihanna filmed the music video for "Please Don't Stop the Music" but we told him we were on an errand and then were going home. Plus I'm not a big fan of clubs filled with Americans, clubs in general, or Rihanna for that matter.

Oh yeah - major bummer of the night: I had put around $4 in coins in my pocket to pay for tram tickets, and somehow it disappeared. I think it must have fallen out, but the coins were in the same pocket as the keys to Leah's place. Somehow, the keys were still there and every single coin was gone. Losing money is incredibly frustrating, especially because here, $4 is either 4 tram rides, 2 beers, or 1 beer and 1 street sausage. $4 goes a long way, but now my $4 is going to go a long way for somebody else :( Super sad about that, but it's a cheap lesson learned. And I don't always pay for the tram...

Turns out Jacquelyn's host was actually home, which was a little surprising, and Jacquelyn got her bag and we were back on the street about two minutes later. We caught the tram home and opened the door to see the kitchen floor covered in blown up air mattresses! It was a pretty funny sight. After feeling incredibly unproductive and slightly excluded for most of the day, but genuinely pleased at my ability to talk to strangers at the CS meeting, I was ready to be done with this day and try to make tomorrow better.


Quotes:
"Yeah - I woke up next to a Mongolian teddy bear!" - Petr (the end of one of his more entertaining stories)

Accomplishments:
Talked to new people and met awesome people from the UK, Russia, Denmark, and Brazil, all in one night!
Spotted a west coast/Seattle accent in the middle of Prague.

Travel Tip:
Make the best of things.
Do NOT put change in your pocket. Put it somewhere zippered and safe.