Day 1, The Rose Woman

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Day 1 June 7, 2009
The Rose Woman

Jet-lag. Luggage is safe. Met the most fascinating couple on the plane, a writer and a writer/cartoonist. They were both here for some kind of invitation-only writers’ conference that their agent sitting behind us described. The man (the cartoonist) just finished an animated copy of the Book of Genesis. The woman, who was fluent in French and constantly jabbing with the French stewardess, was a trip. Big tall pointy black boots, flaming red hair, diamond studded sunglasses, a purse covered with 3-dimensional red fabric roses, a red belt studded with roses, and a rose tattoo. Quite the character.

I almost got lost getting to my dorm, but didn’t. The dorms are located in Praha 3, a residential neighborhood that is located near the end of tram line. Discovered my room assignment is in the oldest part of the building and the shower head is broken and I am sneezing from the dust. But hey I’m here, in the freaking Czech Republic! Did my first venture on the trams today, just to go to TESCO, the 5 story Target of Prague. I don’t really have any sense of how to convert Czech crowns to dollars yet, so I find myself buying things without really knowing the price and assuming it’s low because “hey, this is Eastern Europe”. OK, I’m buying a calculator tomorrow, which I will put in my AWESOME fanny pack. Yes, fanny pack, my classmates and whoever is reading this may be laughing at even the phrase fanny pack, put I won’t be the one calling home because I left my purse in a restaurant and it mysteriously disappeared 2 minutes later. So ha!

I write this sitting in the window ledge of my dorm room (I love how European windows don’t have screens). The weather is remarkably cold, wet, and windy for June, about 50° F, 14° C. Still trying to wrap my head around this whole standard system things, cm and centigrade. The dorms are located directly across from a tram stop. The stopping sound of a train is quite jarring, like something from “Transformers” (no joke) but I suppose I’ll get used to it. I do need to pick up a Czech phrase book pronto. The lady at the bookstore didn’t speak English. For some reason I was under the impression that everyone in Prague spoke English, that is NOT the case.

Feeling good that I’ve already written my paper that is supposed to be due on our first class day tomorrow at 8 AM, and I’m definitely still not recovered. Gonna scrub down the dorm, listen to some Dvorak (the famous Czech composer), try to read a textbook chapter, and CRASH!

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