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.

I want a bed...

After some laughs in the airport we decided to go home. Bartolomeu and the other guy that I was always forgetting the name, were a bit in a hurry and the flight delayed fifteen minutes due to some problem in Frankfurt. It was already night when I landed and I was wasted. The guys wanted to go out for a beer that’s why they were in such a hurry, but I needed a shower and a bed urgently. They took also a jacket and gloves to the poor Brazilian that was using only the brown jacket that would be good only for spring. I wouldn’t handle the -5 degrees. So when we were leaving the airport I asked:

- Are we going by car or taxi?

The guys laughed. I just looked at their face understanding nothing, but they were a bit drunk and car in that condition wouldn’t be a good idea.

- Here in Prague you don’t need a car. The city is well organized, it’s not like Salvador dude. You will see. – Bartolomeu said laughing.

The public transport in Salvador is a joke, but they shouldn’t humiliate my city, right? So we headed for a bus stop and quickly got in one bus that was waiting there. After three minutes we went out and got to the metro station. Everything was really quick. I was carrying my bag covered in the plastic and they were carrying my smaller bags so we could walk quicker.

- Why do you have this big bag pack all in cling film, Belino? – Bartolomeu asked facing the strange situation.

- It’s simple, in the airport in Salvador we have that place to pack your bag with plastic for it not to get dirty. You have to pay around 20 reais (around 13 dollars) for that, that’s too expensive. So I made it at home with just 1 real (0,60 cents of dollar) by myself and have the same effect. Hehe.

Playing the poor guy was really shameful, but to pay 20 reais just to pack your luggage is too much. I learned how to manage with few money in the pocket (sometimes) with my ex-fiancée that always said that I wasn’t reach because I spent too much with food and unnecessary things. Haha, for some things the past relationship worthies, at least I learned how to save some money.

- So why don’t you put this damn thing on your back?

I would put if the bag pack wasn’t from the popular market and worth 55 reais (around 42 dollars). Do you really think I would put that heavy thing on my back and then see the strap break on the street? It would be really shameful, wouldn’t it? So of course I wouldn’t put it on my back. I carried like the old Baianas and African ladies used to do, on my head.

- No, no. I have some pain in my back because of the plane, I don’t think I could handle it. – that was the best excuse I could find at the moment.

During our way to the metro we were talking about our lives. Both of the guys were single and said that they needed women. Who cares? Stop drinking and fight for what you want idiot. But I also heard something interesting.

- Here in Prague the women are really pretty and you will be in a good position with them. They like black guys so much that they can’t even see one without shivering. But when someone like you, with your skin I mean, appears no black guy can handle them, you will be “the one” in the place.

Hmm, interesting. That means that an 100% black guy wasn’t that accepted but a 50% was the best.

- Besides, Brazilians here are not that common so that’s an advantage for you. With you in our team, we will pick up all women in this city. – he said laughing loud.

He must be kidding me. So I was kind of a magnetic device for them to get some women? It wasn’t for giving moral support or being a wing man but to attract the girls. This was crazy but explainable. The Czech girls doesn’t like Russian or German guys that much, maybe that was the reason of their failure. But anyway, I couldn’t complain or say anything. I would have a bed to sleep and food, maybe some beer, it was ok, I guess.

- That’s fine, but please don’t disappoint me, ok? – I said with a smile on my face.

- OK, don’t worry about that. So today we are going to Duplex.

Duplex is a famous and expensive club in Prague. It is located in Wenceslas Square in the city center and there just the best of the best women appears, so if you have some extra money and you are in Prague go there because you will like. Of course in expensive places you will find bossy women, but nothing that a Brazilian cheap talk wouldn’t solve. It would be really nice to go if I wasn’t that tired and had another problem. The “smart” guy here had lots of money in cash, and I’m not kidding, but it was Brazilian money, Real. One Real worth 10 Czech Crowns but we have to remember that I was still in Europe and 10 crowns is nothing but a coin that you don’t even pay the metro ticket.

Now you must you must be thinking: “This Belino is a dumbass, how can he travel to Europe with Brazilian money in his pocket?”. It’s simple. As in Czech Rep. they don’t have Euro and I didn’t find a place in Salvador to exchange to their money I thought: “If I exchange to Euro and then to Crowns I will lose more money than normal. I need to have money in cash because if they stop me at the immigration desk and ask about it I will be doomed, it’s better to put something in the bank account and take part of the money with me. There I will figure out how to exchange it”.

And that’s what I’ve done. But… DON’T DO THIS! Exchange your money for Euro, Pounds or Dollars, because it was terrible to find a place to exchange that damn Real money. I was lucky to find at least 3 in Prague close to the main station. In the first one 1 real = 7 crowns, the second 1 real = 8 crowns and the third one 1 real = 9 crowns. It had to be the third one, but don’t do this at all, it’s crazy.

After we arrived at home, I had a beer, took my shower and went to bed. The guys were disappointed because I didn’t have strength to go out, but they understood the situation. They had to work in the morning anyway so it wasn’t a good idea to go out drinking in the beginning of the week. The only thing that’s important is that after all I passed I finally had some hours of sleep…

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

BR Na Europa

Ahh... I really love Frankfurt ¬¬

The bus was crowded. At least I didn’t have my bag bought in the popular market, packed with cling film not to get dirt, because it would make things more troublesome. The airport was huge, really huge.

After fifteen minutes in the bus, lots of traffic lights and everyone canned inside we arrived in our final destination. I got out of the bus and went to the hall entrance. As there were three or four buses in front of us the queue was already made. Queue? Yes, a queue but it was going really fast and in less than two minutes I was already inside. Policemen and dogs were everywhere, lots of them. So an advice for you that is a cannabis user, don’t take your material with you while travelling through Frankfurt. It’s not a good place for it and you’re going to be doomed for sure.

The dogs scent everyone with no exception. I passed next to them and went ahead. I needed to find my boarding gate and in that airport this task would take long. I had to ways to go: go up using the stairs or go ahead. So I stopped and started wondering where to go. On the ticket I had the gate, but there was no proper indication in the hall. While I was deciding if I would go up or go ahead a man came closer to me.

- Polizei. – he said showing the badge.

Damn it. I didn’t even arrived properly and the Police was already checking me? And the worse thing was that when he got closer more three appeared from nowhere surrounding me. At least things were fine, I had in mind that I was doing nothing wrong. I had nothing to fear.

- We are trying to control the flow of the drugs here. So if you, sir can come with me I would like to ask you some questions. – policeman said in English.

- Is it going to take long? Because I have another plane to go to my final destination. – I tried answering with no fear.

- Sir, please come with me.

The Guy was a bit rude. I barely arrived in Europe and things were already crazy like this. Can you imagine me arrested because of some suspicion about drugs which I didn’t have? So we went to a room near the hall. He offered me a chair to sit and coffee. Then he sat on the chair in front of me.

- Where are you from, sir? Do you have any ID?

- I am from Salvador, here is my passport.

The creepy guy smiled.

- Really nice city. I’ve been their before on vacation. Really liked it there. – he said with his strong German accent.

At this moment the tension was a bit lower. But the other men were there with no friendly face.

- Where are you going to, sir?

- Prague.

- Any special reason?

Oh my God, that was worse than immigration office. Damn it!

- No, I Just want to see the city and enjoy New Year’s party.

- Have you been involved with drugs, sir?

- No, sir.

- Are you carrying drugs in your trip?

At this moment I noticed that there was a lie detector over his desk analyzing every answer I was giving. The situation wasn’t nice. The officer seemed to be friendly, but that fake smile on his face couldn’t trick me. Deep inside he was thinking: “I will get you bastard little nigga!”. But I didn’t shivered and gave all my answers straight away.

- No, sir.

- Do you do drugs, sir?

- No, I just like beer.

He smiled again and said:

- I can see you are clean, but I have to do some procedure with you.

Dear Lord! I got nervous! A procedure? What kind of procedure? I just reminded myself those cases where Africans were carrying drugs in there anus and the police finding it. Is this guy putting his hand in my ass? If something like this happened I would sue them! My moral integrity would be destroyed! Oh my God!

All those things passed through my mind in less than one second. I tried to calm down and asked:

- What kind of procedure?

- Nothing special. Please give me your hands.

He passed something like oil on them and after that used some small machine and started looking at it. Maybe waiting for it to beep. Nothing happened. Then he took the oil again and passed on my forehead. Yeah, on the forehead! I didn’t understand the reason as well. Passed the small device and started looking at it again.

- As I imagined. You sir can take your things and go ahead. Sorry about bothering you, but this is my job. – he said giving me back my passport.

- That’s fine, where is the gate I 17?

- You should go out and you will find directions. Good bye.

Uff! The relief was huge. The problem was not to stay right but someone forcing you to be wrong. This could finish anyone’s day that shivered in front of him. The lie device was there to trick people. The important thing was that I got out of that damn room and went up as I was told to do.

It was another huge hall. I was pissed with that airport. Why was it so huge? At least now I had directions, so I put chIpod in the pocket and started thinking: “This trip barely started and I already had a big gay German sitting by my side and now drug control. I didn’t even pass through the border and everything happened. It’s better to have some beer to calm down.” That’s what I’ve done.

There was a bar between the stores where I stopped to have a beer. Four Euros and twenty cents each. Freaking expensive beer, but I had two before going forward. I had two hours before my boarding so I didn’t need to push.

After finishing my beer and spending all my money I decided to face immigration. I walked ten minutes before finding where to go and stopped in the smallest queue. Six people in front of me and two Brazilian’s talking:

- Man, where are you going to?

- Milan.

- I’m going to Amsterdam, but I am really nervous.

- What happened?

- I am there illegally and I don’t think they will let me pass. I went to visit some friends in England and now I don’t know if I will go back.

For you that doesn’t know how does it work for those people from outside the EU, United Kingdom is not part of Schengen area so to come back there you need a new stamp in your passport. If you are going back to Schengen, you will need another stamp. If the small black guy in front of me was travelling inside Schengen he wouldn’t need to pass through immigration. But he thought he was smart, doing everything wrong, illegal, wanted to go back to Amsterdam and I knew inside that certainly the officer wouldn’t let him in. He knew that too, that’s why he was almost crying. I was quiet just listening both of them talking.

- Not good, man. But pray and everything will be fine.

At those times even the worst man in the world asks for God to help, right? Haha. So, it was time for the three Brazilians (I’m including myself) to go. The first one that was going to Milan went through smoothly, no problem with him. Now it was the small nigga’s turn. The officer didn’t say anything, just asked for the passport, put it on the machine and then asked where he was going to. Before the guy answered two officers arrived and took him away. The worse thing was that they used handcrafts. That was a ridiculous situation. I don’t understand law that much but I think that was forbidden. The last thing I saw was a tear dropping from the small nigga’s eye. But I had nothing to do with that and needed to go. My turn.

Nothing special. The immigration officer asked where I was going to, the trip reason, how long I’d stay and let me pass. So I just thanked the officer and crossed the small gate thinking: “We Brazilians are terrible. Try to be smart and ending up just doomed. The small guy was deported and to come back to Europe will be really troublesome for him”.

As the airport was really big I took almost forty five minutes or even more to find the damn gate. When I arrived I noticed it was full of Japanese people doing what they like the most: taking pictures. Not even in the airport they stopped. They took photos of everything and even with me as they requested and I accepted. I just needed more thirty minutes and then I could board to Prague, so I decided to take a nap as I didn’t sleep inside the airplane.

Fifteen more minutes and I saw the people moving, they were already getting in. I took my stuff and head to the plane. We took off… fifty five minutes flights and I could see Prague through the window. When we landed do you know what happened? Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap… There were six Brazilians in the plane in seats in front of me. All those Japanese were looking at them. What a shame. Hahaha.

I got out of the plane, took my bag full of plastic and my other small bags and that was it. I found the guys that were waiting for me with beers in hands… Germans…


BR Na Europa.

The Trip

With everything arranged things were much easier. My friend’s from Prague would meet me in the airport at night and everything I needed to do was to get there. I was leaving Salvador December 27^th 9pm, changing flights in Frankfurt, and arriving in Prague 28^th 6pm local time.

One of my friends appeared to wish me good luck before I head to the airport. And after the goodbye we went out. Father, mother, sister… everyone in the check-in line, that by the way was worse than the line for homeless people to get soup. The good thing was that I went earlier and made the check-in straight away. During the waiting period another friend appeared, Smeagol. He used to give me some rides from the university back home on his bike and as he knew I was leaving he came to say goodbye. After making lots of noise and telling some jokes he went home. By the end another friend showed with his girlfriend, BigNose. That bastard asked for lots of food, asked my father to pay and even made some jokes about that. Friends… try to understand them.

It was time to go to the departure lounge. My mom was crying because she didn’t want to see her baby leaving home, my sister pretended that nothing was happening and my father asking me to take care and not to do any crazy things. He didn’t know I was already doing something crazy. I hate goodbyes and the worse thing was the situation I was in. I was about to get back home at anytime. If you stop to think a bit I had tickets back on January 9^th, so if anything went wrong I would go back to mama’s arms. LOL

I passed through all those security procedures of airports and went to the waiting room. If you’ve been in Salvador before and had an international flight, you know that this waiting room is really tiny. Just some chairs, two stores and that’s it. The airport is quite organized but that was ridiculous. Without a proper place to sit I settled on the floor and started listening to my chIpod (Chinese Ipod bought on ebay for 8 dollars).

The flight delayed 35min and during that period I started thinking how would be my crazy trip to Prague. At least I would have some fun as it was almost new year anyway so there would be some parties in the city. Bands, clubs, night clubs, beer, lots of things to see, some women… everything was waiting for me. The women was a bit complicated because I already started to like the girl I met on Last.fm. I promised to go and meet her and that was about to happen.

In this trip I also had to go to Vienna to try to make some business and maybe earn some extra money. The business involved some kid that wanted to be a football player in an European club, but this story I will tell later. So if you are writing down the places we already have three: Czech Republic, Poland and Austria.

After the waiting period everyone started getting into the plane. The people was conglomerating like crazy, seemed to be a bunch of Germans soldiers in the second world war looking for a plate full of potatoes. I didn’t push, there was no point for that, all seats were marked and everyone needed to get in anyway. Inside the plane I found my place and sit. As I was one of the first to make the check-in I was able to chose where to sit, of course far away from the wing and window. The place near me was empty and I started imagining my last trip to Europe, Portugal. That flight had a group of pretty Swedish girls, pretty, tall, tanned… they were surfers. If I was lucky and one of those girls sat by my side would be perfect. So I crossed fingers and started wondering… Who will sit next to me? After five minutes I had the disillusion.

A huge German Guy full of beard and glasses appeared saying:

- Guten abend.*

- Guten Abend. – I responded.

- Verstehen Sie Deutsch?

- Nein, nicht verstehe Deutsch. –I replied saying that I didn’t speak that damn language.

So that bastard started talking in English with me. Come on, I was hoping for a Swedish girl and instead some huge German that seemed like gay appeared? This trip started really strange. Besides, the guy started a non-stop conversation. Asked where I was from, where I was going to, then told about his city, Hamburg if I do remember, and then asked what I was reading. In this company’s flights you can take some newspaper for free (800 Euros to go and come back and they say it’s for free), everything in German of course, and as I didn’t know the language, just some words, I decided to take that Bild newspaper. If you have ever heard about this one it just talks about gossip and show some women’s boobs. When I told the big guy I was just taking a look at the pictures he almost hit me saying that I was reading rubbish. To try to explain that I wasn’t reading but just taking a look was really troublesome, but I managed to do it.

After the big guy got calm again, he started the cheap chat again. The unbeatable tactics on those moments are to put your earphone as soon as you have some break. They will stop talking for sure and that’s what I did. But as I was really unlucky that day the flight attendant started giving the dinner… talking in German just to kill me.

The first one passed asking what I wanted to drink. So I answered also in German that I just wanted water and a glass of coke. It was enough to the big guy start talk again:

- You know German! I know you are just pretending! – said he in English.

After that he started speaking lots of things in German and I was looking at his face with my “I don’t care” expression. What an annoying guy. I still think he was gay and that’s why he didn’t want to see the boobs on the newspaper. At least he didn’t try to hit on me. Hehe.

After the dinner it was time to try to sleep. I’d taken some beers in the airport knowing that I needed a push to sleep. I hate airplanes. I’m not afraid of them but I really don’t like. To face a ten hours flight to Frankfurt was too much. I needed at least a nap, and that was what I tried to do.

Unfortunately the flight had five kids that, DEAR LORD, they just didn’t stop crying. When one stopped the other started, and the one from the left side started as well, and then the father went to change diapers, and then the mother… Oh my God! Why do people travel with such small babies? Wait for them to grow up a bit! And the worse thing was that when all kids stopped crying the big guy next to me started snoring. What a trip…

What I do remember is that after those ten hours flight and just thirty minutes nap we finally arrived in Frankfurt. The landing was safe and thank God no one clapped hands because it is really shameful (why do Brazilians clap hands in landings? The funny thing is that Polish people do it too). It was time to get out of the plane and face the cold weather.

I was wearing three shirts and a brown jacket I bought to go to Portugal. The funny thing is that it wasn’t that cold, it was around five degrees and the sun was helping to warm up a bit. I was imagining: “Where is all that snow?”. I’d never seen snow before and never had that much interest. I really like beaches, sun, warmth… cold weather is not nice at all. This thing that Brazilians dream one day to see snow is crazy. They can just open their old fridges and take the ice from its wall. It’s the same thing. Back to the story, no snow, had to the bus and my first step to hell started… in Germany

To be continued...

*Note: Guten abend = Good evening.