greetings, my furry little donkeys!

this kezboard is totallz messed up. the quick brown fox jumped over the layz dog. +ěščřžýáíé (that was the numbers row. man, foreign keyboards are WEIRD.)

so, hi. i´m in Prague!

last night: after i got my hostel and flight to Prague sorted, i booked a hostel for one night, my last night in Rome. i wish i´d known about this hostel earlier, because it was awesome. ran into some dudes who i first met in London, that was weird. my last night in Rome was spent properly: karaoke. the drunks thought i was awesome.

this morning was mostly just a morning. packed, got to the airport, was worried i´d miss my flight, bought a travel guide about the Czech Republic, may have fallen asleep on the plane, got a bit lost finding the hostel. by the way, two things: i´m getting kind of tired of staying in hostels on the edge of town. they´re shady, hard to find, and usually too warm.

second thing: i don´t understand why people feel the need to applaud when the plane lands. the pilot´s just doing his job. it´s not like he just saved your life or pulled off a wicked hard guitar solo. do you applaud when the bus driver stops at the bus stop? no. do you applaud when the chef doesn´t give you food poisoning? no. so why applaud the pilot? i don´t get it. moving on.

an Italian girl met a girl from Prague on the plane. they spoke english. it was weird.

oh, one quick thing: European women. everyone you´ve ever heard talk about them sazs that they´re more beautiful than American women, right? well i figured it out. they´re not reallz more beautiful, they´re less ugly. and there are more of the upper end than in America, and fewer of the lower end. to sum up: the uggos are less ugly and fewer than in America, the hotties are more plentiful but not more hot. okay, glad we got that straightened out.

i saw three women breastfeeding in public while i was in Rome. which is two more than i´d ever seen anywhere ever. ever.

today, after i checked into my hostel, i went out for a Czech meal. no mom, i´m not eating out every meal, i just figured it´d be nice to eat some local fare on my first night. anyway. i had a delicious pork steak with grean beans and onions, and i ate the garnish too. then i had head cheese with red onions. i´m not sure what head cheese is, but i don´t want to google it, in case it´s something bad.

tonight i drank a pint of the world´s first lager, in the city that created the world´s first lager. it´s okay to be jealous.

i have with me a general European phrasebook/dictionary. i noticed tonight that it´s missing what is, without a doubt, the single most important phrase one can ever learn in a foreign language: "how do you say ____?"

also, Rick Steves was right: don´t be afraid to make a fool of yourself. when the check came i pointed to my phrasebook, the phrase "the meal was delicious, thank you." the waiter said the phrase, then i had to point to "could you please speak more slowly?" he laughed, then repeated it until i was able to say it back to him. we had a moment. he appreciated that i wasn´t just wantonly butchering his language, and i learned a useful phrase. win-win!

there´s no smoking ban here. so the restaurant where i ate actually had a non-smoking area. i giggled when i realized. and eating in a smoking restaurant wasn´t nearly as bad as the anti-smoking propaganda and my memory makes it seem. just sayin.

there´s a "night clubs" about two blocks away from this hostel, called Sweet Paradise. no, i´m not sure what it really is, nor do i want to know. and yes, all the signs for it call it a "night clubs". what´s the Czech version of Engrish called?

right. that´s it. tomorrow i´m going to see the local castle, and try to apply for a Chinese visa. then Friday i´m going to the Sedlec Ossuary (google it.)

goodnight all!!