last dances with czechs

i just came home, at four in the morning, and there is some strange girl already snoring in what i thought would be an empty bed tonight (since i. left in the morning).  i was at our school's end of the year party, dancing along to "thriller" and "material girl" with my remaining friends and people i had never seen before that smiled big smiles at me.  of course msc did not call me today, but this was to be expected.  however, just before midnight, a miracle happened.  i looked at my phone to find a mile-long text message: he was in brno all day and just returned, he is so sorry for not replying, can he see me tomorrow?  what time will i leave? he has two exams tomorrow so he is pressed for time, but in case we don't meet, do i have some email address?  this is the first time ever that he has demonstrated to me his ability to use the telephone.  how very magical of him, after a whole month, to remember about me on my last day in prague, but better late than never, i say.

two nights ago, i joined two friends on a trip to the cinema to see coco avant chanel.  the film is in french with czech subtitles, which greatly worried me, but you know, i understood everything.  sure, many words here and there were not clear, but i got the idea of everything that was being said!  i noted that some of the words i knew because they are similar to russian, but most were ones that i had learned in class or independently.  i tried to pay attention to some grammar usage too, but i cannot do so many things at once.

movin' on up

the dormitory turns into a hostel now, and we could only stay there until the 25th of june.  i moved with i.  into an apartment a few blocks away, on strossmayerovo náměstí.  it is a large and spacious place where three russian students live, and we were able to rent a nice room with two beds from them for five days.  here is the view from the front balcony, above milady horákove, the main street going through the letna district.  and in other news, more goodbyes.  this morning p. and i went to put m. on a train to hamburg, where he will be for a few days before he returns to milan.  and now s. is on a plane to paris.  goodbye, goodbye...

curiouser and curiouser!

"in a place far away from anyone or anywhere, i drifted off for a moment."  i took the tram to divoká šárka again, and climbed as high as i could this time, where i found a comfortable rock like a throne and sat quite still for i don't know how long.  then i walked the 8 km (5 miles) home through the picturesque dejvice district, with the sun behind me and listening only to the most cheerful camera obscura songs.

at five o'clock this morning, i was in letna park, wondering what kind of dimension i have entered, as the two extremely magical czechs that i was there with were pirouetting around barefoot on the grass and waving their arms in the most perfect illustration of the word "frolicking" that i have ever seen.  then one of them climbed a tree and could not get down for the longest time.  when he finally did, he grew very attached to a large metal pole and refused to let go of it, while the other was trying to convince me of the virtues of walking around barefoot on cold, wet, dewy grass;  his ancestors did it, he said, and i should too.

painting the roses red

prague is a-bloom with roses.  j. left for tallinn this morning, and i went to hlavní nádraží to see n. off on a bus to barcelona. we will meet again, i know, i can feel it, we will make it happen. our last party will be tonight, to say goodbye to the spanish and french economy students. again i am alone in my half-empty room, just the way i started out four months ago.  my time in wonderland is coming to a close as well, and i have a strong desire to go to old and new places and do things by myself for a while. take a bus somewhere, walk for hours, return in the evening.  maybe it is even kind of exciting: my time is fully mine again.

ветер перемен

strange feelings taking over.  school is over, and many friends are leaving this week.  i am stupefied by the speed of time and temporarily immobilized, but i am working on changing that, because i don't want to be lame like the person that wrote the thing above.  that is not a productive way of looking at things.  i will attempt to think less and do more, filling the remaining days in my calendar with something to do.  i would like to travel around the czech republic, visit a castle.  the question is, which one?  the czech republic holds the world record for the greatest amount of castles per square mile.

l'auberge espagnole

yesterday evening we (six girls) were invited to a dinner party at a flat in dejvice where three czech boys, some of g.'s friends, live.  five minutes within walking through the door (the space where the door should be, that is; the actual door was leaning on the wall a meter away), we were cutting vegetables, washing the dishes, airing out the tablecloth, and emptying ashtrays, while our hosts stood back in quiet defeat.  and we made some balloon animals on the way there.  oh and between the nine of us, we represented six different countries: czech republic, russia, estonia, france, italy, mexico, and japan.