The Graduation Party...

It was almost time to get dressed. I left the video game in Jerry’s hands and went downstairs to prepare myself. A quick shower just to take out the sweat of my body was enough. I ironed a shirt and started dressing. Small socks, football socks and shoes; pants, a long sleeved blue shirt, the normal striped shirt and the suit would be the last. I went to the bathroom to shave and to try to put the hair someway that didn’t seem ridiculous. Pulled here, combed there, put it to the right and it wasn’t that bad. I put the suit and that was it, time to go.

I went up to meet Chun Li and Mrs. Hakkinen. They were ready. Chun Li’s brother called asking us to buy some flowers so I needed to go with Chun Li for them. Meanwhile Mrs. Hakkinen was waiting for the actor. That night was freaking cold but it wasn’t snowing, even though all those snow on the streets was making me crazy. We manage to get out of the house and were heading to the subway. We stopped in a small market and bought the flowers, then went back to the metro station and went to the center.

As we arrived to the station we saw Mrs. Hakkinen and she was waiting for us with the actor. We went out and went to an old building. Just in the entrance I looked up and saw a man sat on a dead horse that was upside down. The sculpture was on the ceiling… Those kind of things you can just see in Prague. We were going forward until we could see some glass structure. Chun Li’s brother was there impatient waiting for us.

Chun Li gave the flowers to him and received the invitations to get inside the building. We took a photo outside and got into the building. We went downstairs where we could leave our coats. Going forward I could see a huge saloon with some corridors upstairs that looked like cabin. Chun Li’s brother leaded us to a table asking us to wait until the party started, he would be with his girlfriend’s family.

Chun Li`s Brother, Mrs. Hakkinen, the actor and I

If you think that a Czech graduation party is like Brazilian, where people just want to eat and drink for free, you are completely wrong. I also thought it would be like this and misunderstood the thing. I was lucky that I took my wallet with some cash. The place was a bit stuffy and quickly I got thirsty. The actor then asked if I wanted to drink something. Ow! He said just what I wanted to hear. It was time for a beer to cheer up. Chun Li and her mother didn’t want any alcohol so they decided to drink some juice.

Chun-Li, myself and the actor

The actor asked me to go to the bar with him. He ordered two beers and the juices. The best part was that he PAID! That’s it, he paid. What a disappointment, I thought I would eat and drink for free and what I saw was a paid bar. Bastards. I was a bit upset but I had no other choice, it was to pay or to pay. When I was standing there the students started some sort of parade on the hall divided by classes. There were so many students that seemed they came from some market in New Delhi. I didn’t want to drink beer on that party, so I decided to change for whisky, it was the same price anyway.

A woman that was with some guy and sat at the table in front of ours was staring at us. She analyzed me upside down and smiled. I replied with a fake smile. If the man who was with her saw something like that it would be a mess for sure. I stood up and bought another glass for the actor that was telling some crazy story. He suddenly saw some student and said:

- Oh my God, such huge boobs! I am astonished. I want her.

Crazy guy, he didn’t approach any girl but was always on fire. So I said:

- Yeah, she looks like krava.

Krava in Czech means cow, but also means bitch. I didn’t know this one. Chun Li stepped strongly on my foot saying that I should be aware of what I was saying. The actor just laughed while the other guests looked strangely at me.

- Krava also means bitch. – Chun Li explained.

What a shame. The stupid boy was trying to show off and saying crap. At least nothing wrong happened. My ignorance was forgiven. The party continued downstairs with the students. A singer that graduated in the same university was presenting himself singing some popular Czech songs. Meanwhile I was in my second glass of whisky with the actor. Mrs. Hakkinen bought some snacks for us to help the drinking. She couldn’t stop taking photos.

- It’s important to take pictures, I have lots of photo material at home to use. – that’s what she said holding her old camera.

After the singers performance it was time for a professional dancer that also graduated in the university. She would show lots of kinds of dances including SAMBA! I needed to see that. She started with waltz, then salsa, meringue, lambada, blablabla, and then samba. What a shame, the woman danced samba the same way she was dancing waltz, but just a bit quicker. Lame.¬¬

After the freaky samba style of the girl there was some guys dancing break. I don’t know why but I don’t like when some guys dance break, seems like they have no rhythm. To do the stuff is possible with practice, but to do the moves in the rhythm you must know how to dance!

Finally the greatest moment of the night was to come. The students took some kind of large blanket with some stuff written and started shaking it. They were around the huge blanket like firemen asking for people to jump. But in this case instead of asking for jumping, they were asking for people to throw money. Their objective was simple, the money they received was the money for the alcohol, so they wouldn’t pay a single coin for that, but they would get drunk anyway. ¬¬

They didn’t pay a beer for me and I had to throw them my money. I took five coins of 10 Czech Crowns and threw them. Everyone throwing lots of money and I didn’t want to look like Scrooge the duck, so I threw the coins in 4 or 5 seconds intervals, this way it seemed I threw a lot. It was for a good cause anyway, they needed to get drunk. The students were enjoying their moment looking like crazy people looking for money.

It was time for us to dance. Everybody was going to the dance floor while the DJ played nice songs. Old songs, Czech songs, American songs, he played everything. Chun Li really wanted to dance, but I was still drinking my last shot. As my mother knowledge says not to leave my glass away in a party, I gave Chun Li a suggestion.

- Why don’t you go with the actor? – I said.

The actor then took Chun Li’s hand and took her downstairs. Mrs. Hakkinen was just laughing.

- What happened? – I asked.

- You just said to the actor to take her downstairs to dance, but he just can’t dance.

How would I know that. Anyway, I finish my glass and decided to go to the toilet. The woman that was looking at me before followed me. At the toilet door, before I got inside she stopped me and said:

- I liked you. Are you alone?

What a mess, imagine if the guy that was with this lady appeared there just at this moment and does something.

- Behave yourself. – I told her smiling.

- I can behave myself if you take my number. – She said giving me a business card.

I thanked her and got inside quickly. I was praying for the husband of the lady or whatever he was not to appear and kick my ass while I was peeping. I was lucky he didn’t appear. I went back to my table and breathed deeply. So many crazy people were appearing. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hakkinen was trying to show me where Chun Li and the actor were. I’ve never seen her so red. She seemed a bit ashamed to be dancing with someone so crazy. They didn’t stay even five minutes downstairs. I was laughing loud because of them, and laughing even more seeing Chun Li’s face. When back the actor seemed to be really happy and his dance partner was disappointed. I felt I should have gone instead of him and by that invited her to the dance floor again.

We had a great time that night: the actor commenting the huge boobs of the student, the nice old style camera of Mrs. Hakkinen, dancing and drinking. When we went back to our table we saw the actor talking to Chun Li’s brother about his girlfriend. He came there to show his girlfriend and family to his mother and us. We greeted her on the party and felt it was time to go home before the actor that was already a bit drunk decided to do something wrong.



BR Na Europa!

Back to Prague with a plague... ¬¬

As it wasn’t that cold I was hoping that I wouldn’t suffer that much when coming back to Prague, as I did on my way to Łódź. It would be a bit complicated to spend eighteen hours inside a train again. I knew I wouldn’t have the same patience to face it. That trip should be calm and quick, because I needed to arrive to Prague before dinner. I also thought it wouldn’t be nice to arrive that late at the Hakkinen’s place. I had keys and everything, but it would be a bit rude to arrive and talk to no one.

While the train was heading to Katowice I prayed for it not to delay. I also noticed how full the wagon was. Maybe because it was morning it was so crowded, I didn’t really know. The only thing I knew was that I felt safer. I’d promised myself no more night trains, and like that I thought it would be.

The trip was wonderful in its first part. I managed to enjoy the environment without frustration. In three hours and a half I was in “Mordor”, sorry, Katowice. That place was scary no matter when I was there. As I knew what to do in the station now, I stopped, looked and the board and saw the schedule. I had to wait one hour and a half for the other train. The cold inside the hall was terrible and the wind was making it worse. The pigeons were flying like they were aiming on people’s heads, it was crazy. At least they didn’t poop on me.

Priceless Girl made some sandwiches for my trip. It was good because I didn’t need to buy food. I went to the coffee shop to spend some time there. I had a coffee and that was it. I still had forty five minutes in that cold hell. As you know, the coffee shop was really small and I couldn’t stay there with just a cup holding the place. So I went out and went to the known bench in front of the information desk. It was around -16ºC.

I ate a chocolate and took the bible to read. I was praying hard not to get stucked in half way again, when I saw a guy with a foreigner’s face next to me. He was walking around like crazy.

- Strange guy. – I thought. – He doesn’t have Polish face, or even it doesn’t seem that he is from this part of the world, better leave him alone, I don’t want problems.

It was time to go to the train. I took my stuff and went to the platform. The train was already waiting to departure. I got inside, look for an empty cabin as usual and settled myself. The train was really warm, I had nothing to complain about. I sat, put my chIpod and waited for departure. After some minutes the crazy dude that was walking here and there appeared at my cabin’s door asking in English if he could sit there as well. As I wasn’t the owner of anything I told him to get inside. He went in, took out almost 30kg of clothes and jackets and sat. He was breathing like a desperate guy and had reason for that. As soon as he got inside the cabin, the train departured.

- Thank God I managed to take the train. – he said in Portuguese.

- Oh, do you speak Portuguese, dude? – I asked happy.

- Yeah, I do man! Where are you from?

- I’m from Salvador. How about you?

- I’m from São Paulo. Do you live here in Poland?

- No, I’m just visiting. I’m going back to Prague.

- Ah! So you already know Prague? Does it worth seeing? I’m heading there too.

So it started the one person conversation. He started telling the story about his trip and where he was in Europe. Berlin, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Oslo... And he was leaving Krakow to go to Prague. The thing was that everything was ok, but the guy didn’t stop talking for a single moment. It was a really boring monologue. The guy was excited because he was feeling cold. What kind of excitement is it? What a masoquist! He just couldn’t stop talking for a second...about the cold in Sweeden, all of the places he’d seen in Berlin, that he Loved Berlin, that he would go back to Berlin, that he didn’t like Netherlands, that he’d seen nothing special in Copenhagen… Ah! I’m tired just remembering that.

So I had the unbeatable chIpod tactics. I started slowly looking for the earphones of chIpod, I chose the noisiest song I had, put on maximum volume, and when he stopped to breathe, Puf! I put it. But guess what. Not even this way the guy stopped talking And worse, the chIpod battery died. I was condemned to listen to that boring conversation during the whole trip… 6 hours.

He talked, talked, talked and suddenly got tired. I wasn’t even listening. I know it was a bit rude, but I was really stressed with all that cheap talk. After some hours of trip we arrived in Ostrava.

- Is it still far away? – he asked.

- Around 5 hours more. When we arrive in Konin it will be close, so check the signs. – I answered.

He probably noticed that I wasn’t in the mood for talking and stopped talking. Then we were going in silence, sorry, with just the train’s noise and I managed to take a nap. The trip was too long. In some small city after Ostrava the train got crowded. Lots of people got inside the wagon. Three girls opened the door of the cabin and sat. They were talking in Czech. The silence that I liked so much disappeared.

One of the girls presented herself to me. I don’t remember her name. She was cute and had a gentle way of speaking. She asked where I was from and if I liked Czech Republic. I remember now that she was studying History at the university and was really interested in Brazilian history. We talked about some other stuff till the other Brazilian break in the conversation. No one understood anything. The three girls looked each other, they said something in Czech and started laughing.

- Are you French? – the one talking to me asked the guy.

- No, I’m Brazilian too. Everyone says that when I speak English I have this French accent.

I must had been an angel with all my patience… the guy broke in the conversation to talk about nothing. What an annoying guy. The girl was trying to talk to me and he was interrupting all the time. I was thinking to kick his balls to see if he would shut up for a while. But it was just some thought. Damn this dush. But there was more. Like it wasn’t enough, he started telling the girls the same story he was telling me, but this time in English. I thought I would ask someone to kill me. The same story again? What the heck! “I loved Berlin, because Berlin is fantastic, Berlin is perfect, because I saw a dog pooping on Berlin’s wall... Damn it!

I couldn’t handle that anymore, not even the girls. They gave their back to the guy, but even though he didn’t stop talking. They were lucky because they left before Konin, but I had to stay there because the other cabins were full.

He asked me how to get to the city center in Prague, because his hostel was located there, and how he could buy tickets. I explained everything, it was enough for us to arrive in Prague and I managed to get rid of the plague. Hehe.

It was the end of the trip, with no breaking, no cold (of course in Mordor it was cold), no “Russian”, but with an annoying dude that didn’t stop talking. It was time to go to the Hakkinen’s. I wouldn’t have trouble with the time as it was still 6pm.

BR Na Europa!

Just 25...

As I said before, I really wanted to stay in Prague, but I needed to understand how it would be and the risks I would have if I start a company there. Depending on the situation, I would start even a popular market and register as a company, I just didn’t care. Hehe. Just kidding. I had already some business in my mind, but first I needed to go to the Brazilian embassy to check how things worked in Czech Republic. But before going I needed to change my flight tickets to Brazil. I just had three more days in Europe and it wouldn’t be enough to go to Poland and solve company and visa problems. 

I called the flight company and had the “good” news that I would have to pay 130 Euros more because the day I was trying to change was more expensive. I didn’t have much choice, put it to March 21st, paid it and went to the embassy to try solving my life problems. 

This time I knew where the embassy was, I wouldn’t get lost again. I got into the building, really charming by the way, passed through a red carpet, like in the Oscar’s event, and found a gate. I called to get in the room and they answered really quickly. An old Czech lady, around forty five years old, received me. She should’ve been Brazilian but you know how things are in our country. Certainly she was some wife of a friend or even recommended by some guy who worked there. 

I was well treated, she asked me to wait a bit, offered drinks and everything, I felt important there. My visit was expected as the topic of the meeting with the consul. After ten minutes of waiting I was received by the consul. I wasn’t that well dressed for the meeting, just some jeans and a nice suit. I am not rich but I didn’t want to be treated as another Brazilian that wanted to stay there washing dishes. The consul welcomed me and asked me to sit to start the conversation. 

- So Mr. Belino, you realize that starting a company here is not difficult as it may seem. You’ll just need money for that. – the consul said. 

That’s when the money talk started. There weren’t lots of taxes to pay in Czech Rep. like in Brazil, but I would have to declare my earnings in my country as well for the first year, crazy stuff. The worst thing was that the dream became impossible when he said something about the beginning of the company. To start I would have to give twenty five thousand Reais (around U$15.000) to the Czech government to guarantee that the company wasn’t a fake and that it wouldn’t break immediately after starting it. They took this amount also to avoid immigrants to the country, and I’d never see this money back. 

Twenty five thousand Reais was difficult to have. I stopped listening to the procedures and started thinking about the money. Even if I’d give this amount to the government how would I start the company? With five hundred Reais?! That was impossible. But I didn’t have other choice, it was that or nothing. I chose nothing and gave up. It was better to have a long vacation and that’s it. I would stop thinking about immigration, that was enough! I could think about it when back to Brazil getting back to my plans to go to Canada with my friends. If I put effort it would be possible by the end of the year. 

I thanked the consul for the information and went out of the embassy a bit sad. But it wasn’t that bad. I still had some money in my pocket and could visit other countries. As I was close to the center I decided to go to the train station. It was time to buy my tickets to Poland. 

I also had some football business to solve there. My visit to that country was arranged before, but before coming to Europe the meeting with the businessmen was cancelled due to the bad time and the money problems the club was facing. As I’d promised the girl I met on internet that I would go to meet her there was no reason to cancel the trip. She called before asking if I would like to spend the New Year Eve in Poland with her and her friends, but as I had everything planned with Chun Li I couldn’t, besides I needed to go to Vienna, and from Prague the trip was shorter. 

I got in the train station and looked for information desk. They said I should go to an agency at the left corner of the station. Thank God they spoke English there, if not I would have some trouble. I bought tickets to Łódź in Poland at January 9th at night, this way I would have time to prepare myself. The trip would take nine hours and I would have a stop in a city called Katowice, also in Poland, to change trains. The tickets were valid for the whole month, so if I decided to stay there a bit longer, it wouldn’t be a problem. Cost: 79 Euros to go and come back to Prague. 

I head home, called the girl I met on the internet and asked her to find some place for me to stay. Everything was arranged, I just need to departure. Now you should be asking: Who is this girl? So, it will be explained in the next post. 

BR Na Europa!

Belly dancer...

I won’t tell about the dancing fireworks at the first night of the year neither about my business trip to Vienna in Austria. It doesn’t worth because NOTHING happened in this period. The important thing was that when I came back to Prague I made my decision: I want to live in this city.

After some research, I noticed that living there wasn’t that difficult. I had three options: To get married, get a job there or start a company. Getting married was out of question, I didn’t want to pass through everything again. To find a job would be possible if I could find something that only I could do, what wouldn’t happen so quick because the immigration had to put the announcement for all Czech people and only if no one could do it I could be hired. The only solution remaining was to start my own company.

So there goes Mr. Belino to the Brazilian embassy in Prague looking for information of how to start a business in the city. As I saw in Google maps, the embassy was close to the center, it wasn’t that difficult to find and there were lots of embassies nearby. I went to the current street and found nothing there. Walked here and there and just found one lost embassy, the South Korean. I decided to go in to get some information. 

I went inside and head to the reception desk. One lady was there but she didn’t speak English or Portuguese (of course, no one speaks ¬¬), so she asked a blonde lady to talk to me. This blonde one went down the stairs after some time, looked at me and said:

- I know you.

I opened my eyes showing surprise. I just didn’t understand. How come she knows me? So she continued:

- You are Mika’s ex-fiancé, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Marianne.

It seemed I was already famous around the country without knowing it. I was with a strange face pretending the situation was completely normal, not uncomfortable. I fake a smile and went to talk with the woman. We had a coffee and she talked about her life. She was married with an Egyptian guy and he was having birthday the day after. Summarizing, she invited me to the party saying I couldn’t say know. How could I go to a party without knowing anybody?

I was doomed and didn’t know what to do. At least I got directions to the Brazilian embassy and went out of that place with one hundred questions in my mind. Why the hell did she invite me? I head to the Brazilian embassy and puff. It was closed. The damn thing closed at 3pm dude! It opens at 10am and closes at 3pm. I WANT A JOB LIKE THAT FOR ME! Damn it! I had nothing to do but to GO there another day.

I went home wondering what to do. I decided to call Chun Li, maybe if she was going to the party I wouldn’t feel that bad. Guess what… She hadn’t been invited! Oh Lord... I practically forced her to ask Marianne to invite herself Just to go with me.

At the party night I was a bit nervous. I would meet some “important people”, not important for me of course. Consul, ambassador, God knows who else would be there. Chun Li and I met close to the bar where was the party. It was a shisha bar; shisha is that thing that Arabians use to smoke. It was located close to the river, near the third bridge. I can’t remember the name of the bar right now, but it was really comfortable and organized.

I must say that I didn’t know what to give as present to the man who was having birthday, I just didn’t know him, so I asked Chun Li what he was like, his personality and everything. She told me: “Don’t worry about it, you don’t need to spend money on that, we will buy some chocolate and that’s it. Here we do like this, the important thing is the meaning of the present”. Somehow I really liked the Czech people, they really know how to save money, hehe. If it would be in Brazil it would be really shameful to give cheap present.

We went inside the place and saw Marianne straight away. She was sitting in a huge table with some people. We went to her husband, gave the “present” and sat. As you know Muslims don’t drink alcohol, so they stayed the whole night with coke and some drinks without alcohol. I had a whiskey to warm up a bit and they were always looking at me. I was presented to everyone by Marianne. I have to confess I didn’t memorize anyone’s name. For me everyone were Mohammed, it was a shame because they were really nice people.

- Man, are you really Brazilian? You seem more like Egyptian. – one of them said.

Oh God! That killed me! Did I have Egyptian face? I smiled fakely and said that I was pride to be Brazilian. What a lie…

- But, but come on. You really look like an Egyptian. Look how he seems like us. – Marianne’s husband said pointing to his skin.

Chun Li just laughed while people were making jokes about me. I think that they just didn’t want me to feel bad in the place, who knows. I asked for another glass of whiskey to face the jokes. I was the only one drinking but they were making so much noise that seemed they were completely drunk.

After some time two people arrived, the consul and the ambassador. They were twins, can you believe it? Really nice guys. They greeted everyone till they came to me. The consul gave me a hug and then said something in Arabic. Everyone laughed. Chun Li was loving the situation, but her time was about to come.

They explained that the consul thought I was also Egyptian. Come on! I swear to God I didn’t look like them. Suddenly someone came with a “brilliant” idea. There was another Egyptian to come and they asked me to pretend I was from the same country as they were. They said that the guy wouldn’t notice and for me to act just like them, noisy. I agreed and we waited for the guy to arrive.

In fifteen minutes some crazy dude with a huge moustache and funny hair appeared. Everyone clapped hands when he got in, probably he was really loved by that group. He embraced everyone, one by one and made more noise than everyone together. His hugs were so strong that I was afraid that in my turn he would break my ribs. I sat close to the consul and Marianne’s husband, I didn’t know why but seemed that they treated me like they knew me from previous life or something, but it was where they made me sit. The moustache guy was hugging the consul and after that would be my turn. Everyone gave me some sign, it was my turn.

The hairy guy gave me a strong hug like I was his brother or something and said:

- ويسعدني حقا أن ألتقي بك يا صديقي. 

I answered:

- شكرا ، أنا سعيد حقا لمقابلتك أيضا. 

What did I say? I have no idea! But the guy seemed to understand and continued.

- أنا لا أعرفك. هل لك ان تعيش هنا أو شيء من هذا؟ - 

أنا حقا لا أعرف ما الذي تتكلمون عنه. - 

And this strange conversation took around three minutes. I couldn’t handle anymore saying things I didn’t know. I was just twisting my tongue and making some strange noises but the guy seemed to understand. Everyone was laughing like crazy. So finally the hairy guy stopped talking and asked the reason they were laughing. They finally explained him that I was Brazilian and wasn’t understanding a single word he was saying. That I was just making some noise.

He Just didn’t believe! For him I was really speaking Arabic. Haha. Chun Li was there and she could say it was the truth. I had to show him my passport. It was the most strange situation I’ve ever had, but at least we laughed about it the whole night.

After this mess they gave me a name: Musad. It meant “happy guy” or something like that. They said it was because I was always smiling. The hairy guy approached and said that before he was understanding some stuff I said, but the sound I was making was a bit strange, similar to some places in Egypt where people speak that way and almost no one understand. Can you believe it?

It was time to sing the happy birthday song, not really, some freaky song in Arabic. Chun Li and I were just clapping hands while they sang. They cut the cake and the best part was to come. The belly dance. The first to join the belly dancer was Marianne’s husband, of course, he was the one having birthday. His wife was just looking, maybe jealous, but she said nothing. After the first song everyone on the table started:

- Musad! Musad! Musad! Musad!

It was my turn to dance. The bar was full and everyone was looking at us. I was really ashamed. Why did I have myself in such situation? Why did they make me do that? I Just wanted some information! And there was I with the moves I learned in a Brazilian television. I danced quite well, at least everyone liked. Haha. After my beautiful Arabic moves...

- Chun Li! Chun Li! Chun Li!

She change color for a while, I guess. Pink, red, green, blue are the ones I remember. She has always been shy, and suddenly that. And I laughed, and laughed like crazy looking at her crying face. She paid for laughing at me in previous situation. She couldn’t escape. The guy who was having birthday took her hand and started dancing with the belly dancer and her. Maybe he thought he was in some kind of harem. Haha.

After that much noise and singing I went out because they were about to start the karaoke. I didn’t want to sing in Arabic, it would be too much. It was enough for that night. It was time to say goodbye to everyone, I really had a good time that night. Before I went out I received another invitation. They wanted Musad in another crazy party… thank God I would be in Poland…

BR Na Europa!

P.S.: Don't forget to leave your comment =)

Day 1 - the way to hell

The first day in Prague started really early. It was really noisy at 7am with the guys dressing up to work.

- Wake up lazy boy, we are going to work.

- I’m awake…

- So, I know you are going to see the city. You can take the jacket that I lent you yesterday. I’m not using it for long so it won’t be a problem, this way you won’t need to buy a new one. Write down the name of the street and take a city map too. – he said giving me a map.

- What’s this? A McDonald’s map. Hahaha.

- It should be enough for the beginning. You can always take another one in tourist information spots for free. It will be fine. See you later.

It was still early and I decided to stay in bed for more 30min. There’s no reason to go out in that cold. So I decided to take a look on the internet to check places I could see and send a message to my family saying that I arrived well, of course without telling everything that happened not to worry them. After sometime I felt hungry. Time for a breakfast.

You probably know what to expect in a boys kitchen, right? I went there all happy to open the fridge. I pretended not to see the sink full of plates so I focused on my breakfast. When I opened the fridge I was surprised. There was NOTHING in it. OMG! I almost wanted to kill those guys. Not even an old cheese I could find inside it. At least they made coffee and that was my breakfast. Just a cup of coffee.

I washed the dishes because I hate dirty thing in front of me, and promised myself I wouldn’t do it anymore. If they wanted a “Personal Maria” they should pay one or give me a fortune to do that. I didn’t go there to wash dishes but to have fun. After that I took a quick shower to take off the smell of bed, took out the rest of plastic from my bag and tried to find my camera.

You know, at that time I really needed some peace and things to go well, but the stupid guy here speaking managed to forget the camera in Brazil. Lots of things to take pictures in Prague and no camera, not even that one that after using you can throw away. I felt that I should punch myself, cut out an ear, who knows. How could I be so stupid? Anyway, I needed to calm down and I did. Finished dressing up (lots of clothes) and headed to the streets.

It wasn’t that cold, I imagined wrong. It was around -3 degrees, so tolerable. “And people think that Campos do Jordão is cold, hehe” I thought. As I was in the city center, I went to exchange some money. One thousand Reais (around 9700 Crowns) should be enough. I wasn’t there to buy anything special, besides I decided to take some Euros as I needed to go to Austria on January 3^rd. After exchanging the money it was time to see the city.

Prague was full of tourists but it wasn’t surprising, the city was simply wonderful. I got impressed with some stuff I saw there. Old buildings with modern art, some galleries, the way the city was organized, the castle (the same as the one in the blog banner), the bridges, the parks, the women like models passing through you… Of course I didn’t see everything at once, but the first impression was awesome. It is a city that I’d live easily and I felt the desire to live there. I thought: Why not living here?

I paid one of those bus tours through the city and had my time in Prague. It is really interesting city and worth seeing. After the long bus tour I had a problem, I really needed to eat. I felt week with just a coffee inside my belly. McDonald’s, Subway, pizza… things like these wasn’t interesting for my Prague day. Why not try local food?

Ahh Prague... of course the photo isn't mine, I forgot the camera ¬¬

I was in the Wenceslas Square and decided to ask someone for advice or directions. I stopped a young blonde blue eyed girl with the knees touching each other, like the ones you only find in Czech, if she knew some cheap place with local food there in the Center. So she said:

- You can go to Peklo.

- And where is it?

- You must go to that gate and you will see some sign. After that you just need to go down and you will find it.

I thanked her and went to the gate she pointed. There were some stairs with the Peklo sign over it. I started going down… and down… and down… and down… for maybe 4 floors on that narrow stairs underground. At least I could feel the smell of food. After all those stairs there was a hall in front of me where I could see the restaurant. It was like a Brazilian P.F. (Prato feito = Plate Made or something like that). You get in, take your plate and the guys go there putting your food. Everyday some different menu for a good price of 70 crowns. The day menu was some strange soup, some potatoes with cheese and ham, a chicken foot and some strange meat. What kind of creepy food was that?

I had the soup and the potatoes and that was enough. Also ate some pieces of meat by forcing it inside with some coke, but it was too much food. I paid the bill and got out of that hell. Ahh, I forgot to tell peklo in Czech means Hell. That explains a lot the food taste. My advice is for you to go to common restaurants while in this part of Europe. Not everyone like the potato food from Poland, Czech, Slovakia and so on… so, if you can, avoid it. It’s not that good and I don’t like that much. Of course you can have different opinion but that’s my advice. It’s true that they have some food that I like, those would be pierogi for example, ham, bread… if someone offers different than that run away.

I went back home to meet the guys. We planned to have some beer in a bar in Flora, a neighborhood where they have a nice mall. I relaxed a bit, took a shower and waited for the guys. They arrived, throw the backs to a corner and said:

- Let’s go, before it gets late. Tomorrow we still have to work.

We took the metro and they started pointing. One, two, three, four women and within them an old lady around 60 years old looking at us.

- They are looking at you.

- At me? -  I replied surprised.

- Just take a look.

It was true. They were looking at me. It was a strange situation because they were looking and whispering to each other. So I understood the words at the airport.

- Do you understand now what I meant with “you attract”?

That was true. I waved to two that were standing up in front of me. The result was such big smiles that seemed like those ugly women from Brazil when some guys from construction say something nasty to them. But those Czech weren’t ugly, on the contrary, they were really pretty and that made the situation incredible. To pick up some girl like that in Salvador would be really difficult for me as I am not that good looking.

- Next time we are going to Duplex. In New Year’s Eve it will worth the price.

That was a bit complicated for me as I was thinking about the Polish girl waiting. I wasn’t THAT enthusiastic with the Czech girls. Besides I had a bad situation with my ex-fiancée who was also Czech. It wasn’t nice.

After five wonderful beers in a small pub near Flora (I advise you to go to those small pubs there, because they don’t mix water with beer and it’s not that expensive) we head back home. I saw some message of a friend in Orkut saying that they were in a tour around Europe and wanted to meet me in Prague for a beer. They were leaving London that night and wanted to see me the night after. I texted them back arranging the meeting and went to sleep with my belly full of potatoes… I guess I ate too much during the lunch.