Budapest!

So we departed on our trip to Budapest and the bus ride was 6 hours. During the trip we watched about four movies from the nineties which really take you back, by the way. We also got free hot chocolate, coffee or tea on the ride. We got to Budapest, and we decided that we are going to check out one of the two hostels that we looked up. It was called Mandala. So we get to the metro station and were looking at all the ticket booths and they only take coins. Jack and I have zero cash on us, so we started to look for a ATM. It probably took us a good 20 minutes to find one in this huge metro station. But when we took out money it only gave us the amount in one bill. So we bought some water and got change back. We ended up getting our tickets finally got on the metro. We quickly found the hostel after getting off at our stop on the pest side of budapest. We buzzed in and they told us to come to the second level. It was a really cute little place with about 17 beds. The owners were 21 years old and were amazingly responsible and great hosts. The hostel was beautifully kept and clean. We slept in a room they called the zen room. We settled in and decided we needed to grab some food because we were starving. We went to the owners and asked where good food was. “you in the mood for a good burger?” we said yes and he pointed us down the road to a pub that had American style burgers. ( The ground beef in Europe IS definitely different than the kind in the states and not in a good way). So we make our way there and order some drinks. We looked at the menu and there was no burgers… just pork knuckle and salads, true Hungarian food. So Jack decided to try the pork knuckle soup and I got the greek salad. To our surprise, the food was great. Then we walked down to the river that separates the buda side and the pest side. It was a beautiful view of the city. We made our way back to the hostel and got to know some of the people staying there. We actually met one girl who lives in Vancouver, goes to SFU, exchanging to Prague and she was visiting Budapest the same weekend! CRAZINESS!!! We also met Amaar, our buddy from England. We hung with them for awhile and then went to bed.

The next morning they served breakfast at the hostel so we had some toast and jam and hit the road. We decided to do everything on foot since the tram and metro were a bit expensive. The forecast said it was going to be heavy rain all day. We walked from the pest side to the buda side where most of the sights were. The fog was super thick and could hardly see the water from the bridge. It was beautiful though. So we went to Gellert hill, which was more like a mountain to me. It was a steep incline walk and long, but beautiful and cool which was a plus. We got to the top but you couldn’t see the view, which was the number one reason to check it out. Anyways, we started to walk down. Jack has been quite the amazing GPS however this time the GPS must have been out of batteries because he decided to take us down a different way. We kept going and looking for street names. We figured they were small streets and that they just weren’t on the map. Finally we got to a main road and looked really hard on the map. Instead of being on the Northeast side of Buda we were on the southwest side… needless to say this was a looonng detour. However on our 2 and a half hour detour we got to see the residential side of buda which was pretty cool.
Sidenote: This was a Friday and it was actually a holiday: 1956 Uprising Memorial Day which commemorate the people up rise against the soviet union. This day in the past couple of years has been kind of dangerous with riots and whatnot by the people versus their current parliamentary government.
So we finally get to the castle, which was our second destination. It was absolutely gorgeous up there. The weather had completely cleared up and it was almost a bluebird day by 2 pm. You could see across of the pest side and we heard these chants in the distance. We saw this huge parade of about 300 people marching towards the parliament…. It was nice that it was so far away. We checked out the fisherman’s bastion which is this sand castle looking thing. We also saw the castle, the history museum and church. We were both getting tired so we headed back to pest. We met up with Amaar for dinner and grabbed some gyros or donnair kebab as amaar liked to call them. I hung with amaar for the rest of the night while Jack went out to grab some drinks with another guy from the hostel. He said it was this crazy underground bar that had like 7 rooms and was fun. We all ended the night at a reasonable hour and went to bed.
On Saturday we had our bus leave at 415 pm so we decided to hit up the Turkish baths before we left ( especially after our 6 hour rendezvous in buda). It cost 3100 forints which is equivalent to 15 dollars. We went in and realized we had no towels and no extra money to rent them , so we went without (with bathing suits of course). There were outdoor baths and indoor. The outdoor baths were huge and so warm and nice. We went to the indoor baths and every bath had a different temperature and feature. There were about 40 baths in total. We even went into a sauna that was 60-80 degrees Celsius. Jack lasted about 13 second and I lasted about 50. It was ridiculous in there. Anyways, it was wonderfully relaxing. We went back to the hostel and hung until we had to catch our bus. About 10 minutes before we left, one of the neighbors in the building brought over a Hungarian soup for the owners. The owner, Nicholas said we should try some. It was amazing. It was a cauliflower soup with a vegetable base. It was so delicious, and it was a great way for us to end our journey. We said by to Amaar and our buddies and went back to Prague. It was a great trip.

The Jazz Dock

October 17th- “Night at the Jazz Dock”
We were searching online for some local Jazz Bars to go and check out because it felt like forever since we saw some live music. We ended up stumbling across this band called Ondrej Pivec & Organic Quartet. They were playing three nights in a row at this place called the Jazz Dock. Nico and I met up with one of her cousin's friends (Who is a judge that disbars lawyers in California) and we all went to watch this group perform. The description of the band was simple... "A powerful jazz Hammond organ player with drums, guitar, and tenor sax." It ended up being a great night because we had reserved a table online the day before, which was a great call because the place was packed. There were only 30 tables in the whole place and people were tucked into the corners to see these guys play. We met this Czech woman who was 'over the top'. It is hard to explain how Eastern Europeans act in general, but if I had to sum them up it would be along the lines of "straightforward and bullish". I thought she was a riot, but Nico and Jodi were a little overwhelmed by her presence. She had great advice for what to do in Prague, but she seemed like she would be a handful to hang out with.

It was relieving to actually find out why people here in the Czech Republic act the way they do. It really comes down to the fact that they accept that every day will probably not be a great day. In fact, they look unhappy most of the time and do not hide how they are feeling when people look like they are having a good time.

Overall, I think we all had an amazing time at the concert. It was great to see this Czech woman crack a smile every once and a while when we started to get to know her a little better. The video below was taken very secretly (hence why the sound and picture did not come out amazingly well, but it gives a little glimpse of what they sounded like. We had no clue how cool this little venue was until we sat down, but it was right on the water overlooking the canal where all the boat tours came into dock. This place is certainly a “must-see” if you are ever in Prague!



-Jack

My first day of school

So Thursday was my first day of school. I was really anxious to get to class and get started. We, as exchange students, had to bring our portfolio to present our work from our native country. There is me from the States/Canada and Mario who is from Germany. Class is supposed to start at ten so I arrived a bit early to setup my thirteen-slide presentation. I get there, and Mario is smoking a cigarette outside our classroom. This is something I have to get used to because at VSUP you can smoke cigarettes throughout the building and bring your dog. I walk into our “studio”; this smallish room has purple walls, no desks, a few swivel chairs and couches. I am thinking, where do you come in and work? So we are waiting, 10:10 comes along, no teacher; 10:15, 10:25... no teacher. I am starting to get nervous, because with presentations if I am left in anticipation and think about them too much, I get a little nauseous. 10:45 the teacher finally shows up, and the class fills up with about twelve of us. Everyone is talking, in Czech of course, and about 15 minutes later, we start with Mario’s presentation. I see he has hand made a magazine type presentation with about 50-60 pieces of work. This guy Is talented, he has basically designed a new type of website through Java scripting and he works for the magazine at his school so he has done loads of really good graphic work. He is just flipping through his work explaining one piece here and one piece there.

I am really nervous now.

It’s my turn. The teacher tries to say something in English to me, but I have no idea what he has said. Quickly, Mario and I figure out he doesn’t speak English. I go up and don’t even say my name. I just start presenting. “ This is my work. Canada works in a very different fashion than Germany. We haven’t don’t much programming…” (I also haven’t done much “design” compared to this guy either!). Anyways, I get the presentation over with and in retrospect I think I did all right.
So our presentations are finished, and the teacher tells one of the girls in the class to be our semi translator. So for the next hour and half we sit there and listen to the teacher shoot the shit with his students and tell them about their new projects in Czech. During him talking, people are rolling cigarettes in class, leaving the class to smoke in the hallway and playing with the two dogs.
Our translator was awesome, but the only things there were to translate were stories about the kids in the class. She said we were not doing that same project as they were. Mario and I were handed a piece of paper. It read:

1st project: Redesign our studio website
2) Make your own project ( much more important than the first project) inspired by your stay in Prague.
Emails of students in class.

So I’m thinking cool, these are our first 2 projects of the semester, a little excited about making a website, but nervous because maybe they expect me to know how to do it already, because we have no idea what the kids in the classes work is like. So Mario and I are handed 6 DVDs and Tereza, our translator says “ these are for you, they are work from students in the past five years”.
So finally after an hour and a half, people start taking their bags and leaving. Seeing as we have not understood anything that was said, we go up to the assistant teacher and ask him to tell us what is up.
“ you have questions? Really?” he asked us in all sincerity as if we had understood the whole Czech conversation they had just had. He told us exactly what was on the paper.
“When are these due?”
“At the end of the semester”
“Do we have to know how to design a website?”
“No, no, just concept”
“No other specifications for our other project?
“No. Do whatever you want.”
“Are there any other due dates, like to check on progress?”
“No, You just have to bring what you did within the week to class on Thursday”
“Thursday? Do we have class any other day?
“No, just Thursday.”
“Is it a long day in class?”
“No, same as today.”
“ Do we work in this studio?”
“You can, or work from home.”

And that was it. Class was over in 2 hours. We have all semester to go all out on these two projects. Class once a week. Our main teacher doesn’t speak English and our studio is basically a lounge. This is going to be an interesting semester.

I was so baffled when I got home. I was almost speechless. Was I excited? Was I upset that I didn’t have direction? MY TEACHER DOESN’T SPEAK ENGLISH! I watched some of their work on DVD... Its different work than Canada for sure.

As un-engaging as this may sound, today I figured out that I am excited not to have so many guidelines and restrictions. Its literally you make it your own project. I think I am going to try to learn how to make a website, as well as doing the concept. I am also going to try to self teach some typography.

All in all, get ready for independence!

Exploring our New Homeland!

Well I guess its time for a new posting given it has been nearly a week since we last gave you all some love. The new house is shaping up to be a blessing considering all the places we could have ended up. It is in a great neighborhood just outside the heart of the city and it is super easy to get practically everywhere in Prague. We have located some good grocery stores, but we have yet to figure out the best place to buy produce. Damn those little things! There are these little convenient store type places all over the city (called Potroviny) and some of them offer a good selection of fruits and vegetables, but we have not really had the time to get down to the nitty-gritty details and compare their prices. We trekked across town to the end of one of the Metro lines to seek out the infamous IKEA to buy sheets, pillows, and a cheap wok (the one that was left in the apartment by the former roommate was flaking off its toxic coating..."Out with that old shit!" I said, almost immediately after seeing it). The hardest thing to find in Prague, and we have been searching for an entire week, is a blanket. This may sound utterly ridiculous, but we are dumbfounded at how hard it has been. On another note, and this might just be my inexperience with traveling the world, but Prague is the only city that I have ever been where there are bars in the tanning salons! I walked by one with Nico yesterday and I had to stop to make sure my eyes did not deceive me.
Saturday was an extremely beautiful and sunny day! It was a great excuse to get outside and do some walking around the old block to explore our new home and the surrounding area. Nico and I strolled, literally around the block, and came across an amazing park with a beautiful vineyard that lay on the southern facing slope of this hill behind our apartment. I guess Vinohrady, which is the area that we now live, means vineyard! Who would have guessed? We walked around this vineyard and came across an open gate with a little sign in Czech (It is in the newest photo album…and no it was not the one directed at dog owners!). We obviously could not make out what it said, so we just claimed ignorance and went in. Expecting to be yelled at, we walked down a set of stone steps and built into the side of the hill, underneath the vines, was the winery itself. It was very small, but there was a kind man standing behind a counter giving samples of the new harvest’s Muller white wine. It was the first fermentation step so it was called their ‘soft’ white, which was roughly translated as he only spoke a little English. It was the most delicious, slightly alcoholic fruit juice I have ever had. Towering at a whopping 1% alc by volume, Nico had finally met her first alcoholic beverage that she could digest without feeling immediately nauseous. Yes, It was a glorious day in history. The rest of walk was spent throwing around the Frisbee above the vineyard enjoying the view facing south Prague.
We spent our Sunday, as most of our days normally begin, starting off with a fresh cup of instant cafĂ© and some crepes. We had very big plans as far as the rest of our days are typically spent because Sunday is the day that we Americans love to sit back and take in the glorious gift pasted down to us by our ancestors. That’s right, you know what I’m taking about...The NFL Countdown immediately followed by the New England Patriots vs. the Baltimore Ravens. We were luckily enough to join our good friend David at his house for the festivities. As we watched the destructing New England defense barely hold on as the Ravens offense collapsed, we enjoyed some delicious pizza made for us by our generous host and took a moment to thank the Ravens for their great effort. Maybe next time!
Nico had her first Intro to Czech class and we both were practicing our simple Czech sentences. It is a very hard language, but we will get the hang of it. Difficult to master in 3 months, but we will try our best. Nico has her first real studio class tomorrow, so she is super stoked to start up again. I have been keeping busy with books and exploring the city. David introduced me to one of his co-worker’s partners, Shay, and we played tennis on the red clay court behind the Ambassador’s residence, which was incredible. Until next time…check out the new photos...Love to all!

-Jack

We Finally found a Home!



Its October first and since our last blog on the 26th of September, loads has happened. When we got back on the 26th it was midnight and we took a bus to the metro, hoping that the metro was still running. We got there and it was closed. So we went upstairs to see if there was a bus that was going in our direction. We got on a bus that looked like it did. Jack has been an Amazing rand partner ( he has an AMAZING sense of where he is and where he is going at all times). This time, his sense was too strong because when the bus took a right instead of a left, he thought it was going in the opposite direction so we got off. It actually just detoured for about 40 seconds and then went back our way. So we walked home, but it definitely was close enough where I wasn’t talking about him under my breath ☺. I had my first day of school, which was more of an orientation, and I found out that my classes actually start some time next week. Jack took a long walk across the Charles Bridge up into the Orchards behind St. Vitise Church and found himself at the back of the German Embassy where he stopped to document, as he loves doing, where he ended up.
So once we returned we were back to the grind of finding a place. We must have emailed about 50 places, but this time of year is like September in Canada where it is just ridiculously hard to get a place because classes are starting. I was not expecting to be going through the same thing twice in two months ( in Canada and Prague). We saw some cute places and some really horrible places. We went to one where the building was about 200 years old and everything was deteriorated. We went into the rooms and they were charging between 8500 Korunas to 10500 Korunas(500-650 USD) for places that had a hotplate for a kitchen, unfurnished, no washer dryer and about the size of a really dirty kitchen table at home. It was a joke, right? No, it wasn’t. So finally we met Renee via email. Her current roommate had just up and left while she was at Octoberfest and also took all of her rent money. She needed someone to move in as soon as possible. When we responded she said that she might have to break her lease and go home to Wisconsin because she couldn’t afford another 650 that month. We were pretty bummed because the way she sounded and the way she described the apartment was great, so we sent our condolences and moved on. At this point we have stayed at David quite a long time, and we really wanted to find place. The next day Renee wrote us back and said she had figured out a way to pay for rent and that we could come by and see it. Jack and I were so excited. We tried not to get our hopes up, but we also were kind of desperate. So we got to Renee’s on the morning of the 30th of September. We met Renee and she was very cool. Then we went to the apartment and it was BY FAR the nicest, biggest and cleanest apartment. Us leaving in December was news to her and this might have been a problem, but she wanted to stay in the apartment bad enough, so once we got back to David’s, she emailed us with good news that we found a new home. So we hung out with David that afternoon and cooked dinner for him one last time. He really was awesome for putting us up this whole time. Thank you so much David!
We moved in that night. We took the metro and tram at rush hour…. That was a nerve-wracking, but luckily it wasn’t horrible.
Our New Room!


October 1st
We woke up in our king size bed ☺ and then went to work. We started cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen. I must say we had a “Ruthie black out” moment. We would have made momma Ruthie proud. Then we set off to accomplish several errands. The first was to get our bus passes for the 90 days. The line was about 60 people deep ( which was better than 200 a couple days ago). So finally we got to the front and asked the attendant if she spoke English… she shook her head. We were really worried because all the document were in Czech, but luckily my school had given me all the information for my documents. So Jack memorized where he had to write what and filled out his portion. Finally after about 20 minutes of silent gesturing we got our bus passes. IT WAS SO EXCITING. Its funny how accomplished you feel when you do something so small in a country where you don’t speak the language.
Above is the super long escalators for the Metro

So then we went off to the Czech police immigration center where we walked up to the second floor. Oh my goodness I just about had a heart attack. There were about 300 people in disarray and all foreign nationals from who knows where in Europe. There was no line anywhere and there were instructions in Czech and Russian maybe. There were numbers at the stalls but we had no idea a. How to get a number and b. what area we should even go to. There was an information center, so we immediately went to it. Right when I met with the guy I said :”Hi!” and he immediately responded sarcastically “HI”. I asked he he spoke English and he responded with shrugged shoulders and “BYE”. The woman behind me spoke a little English so se translated for me. I asked where I could register with the police. The woman translating for him said that I had to have registered within 3 days of arrival, so I would be fined 5000 CZK (300 USD). My mouth dropped. She was smirking in her eyes and I took a second. “ You’re joking…” I said, and then I looked at him and said the same thing. They started to laugh. Then they said that I was going to have to come in on Monday morning at 4 am and stand in line to get a number and expect to be there all day. As I was about to leave discouraged, he asked me for my passport. He saw that I was American. “ Why didn’t you tell me you were American, you go up to the 3rd floor. I thanked them and we went up to the 3rd floor. I waited about 30 minutes and we met two nice Israeli guys there. Finally I went up to my stall. The woman also did not speak English and I had not caught her on a good day evidently as she shoved paperwork towards me and told me to come back when I was finished. I filled it out with the help of our new Israeli friend who spoke Czech and went back. As she was about to grant my registration, she saw my address and said NO! I was so confused, “what do you mean no?” “ NO NO NO NO” while she is harshly underlining my address, hands me a new piece of paper and says NO!!!!. I told her I didn’t understand, and she responded saying she wasn’t my interpreter. I had obviously pissed her off so I stood up and, completely baffled, walked out. I finally figured out that my address that I had submitted for my visa didn’t match up with the address I was now living in, so I needed to complete a new address form. I have never seen someone get so angry though. “This is typical of Czech people” we have heard from several others. They are a little cold. They don’t smile at you and they don’t say hello or how are you unless they have to (in a grocery store.) Anyways I have to get that figured out and go back. Hopefully I don’t have her again. Anyways, that’s all we have for now. We just have to buy some sheets and art supplies. Hey, At least we found housing! The Tunnel that we took to get to the Police Station

A sweet stencil that we saw and documented for C-Dub!

















The View from the Charles Bridge!












-Nico