I stayed in last night. Young Kevin and I both agreed that
we wanted to save money. Having settled on a mellow night we promptly went to
the store and spent a king’s wage on all the fixings for an epic burger
session. I mixed barbeque sauce, fresh chilies, garlic and red onions into the
meat. Kevin fried them up. I lathered stone ground mustard and guacamole on a
freshly toasted roll, placed the burger on the mustard side and topped it with
Edam cheese, tomato and arugula. Kevin did the same. We each ate two of these
beasts along with a mountain of chips and salsa. Adding to the gluttony I
washed it all down with Cabernet. We don’t have a corkscrew so I
tried to pull the cork with a steak knife. It didn’t work. I pushed the cork
straight into the bottle spraying my face and the cabinets with purple nectar.
Under the circumstances I had no choice but to drink the whole bottle. Oops.
I went to bed before midnight, a rarity for a Friday. The
weeks have been flying by and I haven’t been spending enough time on creative
things so I wanted Saturday to be a good day. I woke up feeling great. Well
mostly great. The aforementioned burgers created a gaseous cloud around me that
required not only getting out of bed but also a lengthy shower.

It was cold when I left the apartment; colder than I
expected it to be. I walked up Seifertova to the Husinecka tram stop. The Black
Keys “El Camino” album was blasting through the headphones. I boarded the
Number 9 tram. It was crowded with people bundled up in scarves and heavy
jackets. I stood near the front of the tram holding onto a yellow support pole
while the tram rolled over the tracks into the heart of the city.
I exited the tram at a stop near the river and walked across
cobble stone streets toward the café. In the center of town every street has
character, every street is beautiful. Prague was meant to be cold. In the
middle of summer when you find yourself ducking into shaded overhangs to escape the sun you can sense that something is off. The images of the city seem
overexposed--blurred out by a flash that isn’t needed and doesn’t belong. In the
fall the city is perfect. Detail down to the finest grain shows on the ancient
buildings and the spires dissect the sky in clear reaching lines. Cold brings
the city into focus. It makes it a place you can feel on your skin and in your
heart.
I got to Globe Café minutes after it opened. It’s a great
space; high vaulted ceilings, maroon walls framed in white, comfortable
well-worn chairs. The front of the shop is a bookstore and the back is a café.
I ordered a coffee and courting my inner fat man (as I often do) ordered a
stack of blueberry pancakes as well. I devoured my pancakes and slurped my
coffee while catching up on important current events. According to Yahoo today’s
most important global happenings include; Harry Potter breaking up with his
girlfriend, Sesame Street suing the manufacturer of a sexy Big Bird costume and
Tom Hanks dropping the F-bomb on live TV.
I pushed aside the
white plate streaked with sticky blue and purple leavings and opened the notes
I’d written for a novel I hope to write. It is tentatively titled “Wanderous.”
I promise to reveal more when I have the details worked out.
The café was quiet in the beginning. And then all of the “artists”
started pouring in. By artists I mean American girls with valley girl accents.
I have learned to hate that accent since moving abroad. As a guy who considers
Los Angeles home you would think I would be immune to it. Not anymore. Occasionally I crave the sound of English; not just a conversation
held in English but the sound of English as white noise. But, then I come to a place like this and quickly remember that English can no longer be white
noise. I hear every syllable. I eavesdrop on every conversation. And when
the majority of those conversations are spoken in screeching Valley Girl OMG,
Totally, Whatever, it makes me want to run to the nearest local cafe and surround myself with the blissful sounds of unintelligible Czech.
I was having trouble thinking over the Americanese so I closed my notes for “Wanderous” and started writing this blog instead. MB Abroad has been a creative lifesaver. I use it as calestecics, a mental stretch and warm-up before the difficult work begins.
The Globe Café has now officially given up on its artistic
intentions and caved to the OMG girls. At this very moment the only thing louder
than the Americanese is the American hip-hop thumping at club volume. I have
headphones in. I am blasting Mozart and Beethoven. Rock and Roll. This is of
course exactly what I should have expected when I sought out cliché.
Here I sit; an imitation of an artist; stately library
chair, coffee, Beethoven’s “Mass in D major", the written word, a copycat down
to the last detail. And to remind me of my folly I am surrounded by slang and
chat speak and a sick beat that even Ludwig Von cannot keep at bay.
I need to get out of here. Number 9 take me home.
Photo Credit: Source Imagekind.com (Tram painting)
Photo Credit: Source bundleofbooks.org
Video Credit: Source Youtube via Globalmusic5
Photo Credit: Source Imagekind.com (Tram painting)
Photo Credit: Source bundleofbooks.org
Video Credit: Source Youtube via Globalmusic5
Hi!! :)
ReplyDeleteMy name is Marta, and I work for InterNations.org, maybe you have already heard of us? If not, we are the largest social network catering to expats working, and living abroad. Our 660 000+ members interact with each other in a secure online & offline environment about their individual and shared experience abroad.
Your blog is great! Your insight on living in Prague would fit just wonderfully in our Recommended Expat blog Prague section for our members to read.
If you are interested in having your blog featured on our website (InterNations.org), please let me know!
I hope to hear from you soon, and have a great day!
Marta Rubio
featuredblogs@internations.org