Update

I know I have been writing less, and I think it is because of how settled my life has become here in Prague. When I first arrived, everything was new and fantastic, and wanting to share it with you all was among my priorities. I had never written in a blog before and I was on a self-enriching, productive high, so to speak, writing down my thoughts and feelings. I read books, wrote letters, took pictures, went on jogs, flossed (remember that?), etc. But now I live within comfortable  routines that have allowed me to live my life low-key once more. Still, that does not mean that I've been doing nothing with myself--quite the opposite in fact. Let's see, what have I been up to recently?

1. I got a job. It's a small gig for a group of czech business students that I met at a bar a few weeks back. Jose's Czech roommate Simon held his birthday celebration as a place called Popo Cafe Petle (named after a large volcano somewhere in Africa) and invited us to meet up with him there. When everyone that I knew was either at the bar or the dance floor, I decided to introduce myself to all of his friends, who were all very friendly and could speak English surprisingly well. One of them named Bob took notice to the fact that I speak English very clearly and fluidly, and asked me if I would be willing to help him out with a translation project for some money. I of course told him I would be more than happy to help, so we exchanged phone numbers and he told me he would call. Sure enough, in a few days I get a call from Bob while on my way to class. He told me that he has been translating a startup business book for his boss from Czech to English and he would pay me $100-$150 to look over 100 pages and just make sure his English is clear, understandable, and makes correct use of certain verbs and articles. I've been doing the work this weekend, finding time during the afternoons when I wake up and in the evenings between dinner and being social. It takes a bit of time, but I just fancy the idea of making connections in Prague and doing work for an actual paycheck as opposed to having my work rewarded with criticisms and reasons why I need to rework my thoughts. It's also great because I happen to find the book I'm translating interesting; it is a memoir of a guy who started a highly successful online travel agency in Russia. It's completely different from film, so I'm finding it refreshing as well as educational.

2. Yesterday, I took an "off the beaten path" tour of Prague. Our tour guide was this young guy named David who owns his own travel agency and it has been a tradition for years now that he leads groups of CET students to unknown areas around the city. He took us into Prague 5, which is a surprisingly bustling region right across the river from New Town, keeping it hidden from tourists while remaining active and alive. We jumped on a metro and rode it to the outskirts of the city, which was very different from the Prague I have grown to know so well. I felt like I had stepped out of Prague and into the heart of Pyongyang when I first emerged from the underground station. Everything was built according to the functionalism movement, which means that nothing was created to look nice or attractive but rather serves purely as a place for many people to live. It was just blocky apartment buildings stretching out for miles--no shops, no parks, no variety. The only decorations were old Communist statues that haven't been torn down or converted to look like art. After that, he took us to the largest stadium in the world which is barely in usage anymore. It had 12 fields in the actual arena, and as if that weren't enough, I later found out that we were only in the practice field stadium--there was a main field connected to it that we never even saw. It was massively deserted and we had to hop a fence to get in. From there we walked towards the center of town and walked into the park at the highest point in the city, which made for a beautiful place to stop and have a cold pivo. The tour sorta just fizzled out at that point as we walked back into the center of the city. David kept wanting to get drinks places but at that point we had been walking for 4 hours and were ready to head home. Before we left, he told us about reggae night at a club for Sunday night which we went to (and fucking loved!). All in all, an interesting tour.

3. I wrote a script! I wrote it last weekend during Friday and Saturday afternoons. The dialogue is pretty cheesy and I'm sure the pacing is way off, but nonetheless it was my first completed attempt and a milestone in my career as a filmmaker. I gave it to my group's head writer who made a few small corrections and we sent it off to our professors. They told us it was approved and that we will be contacted very shortly by our production managers to begin looking for actors and locations.

4. This weekend a friend from AU has been visiting all of us here in Prague. Her name is Carolina and I've known her since probably welcome week of freshman year. She was one of the first girls I met and actually started hanging out with at the start of college, and she knows pretty much all of us (Jose, Watman, Trish, Amie, Steve) from at least one thing or another. She has been studying in Brussels and has made it seems like a fantastic place. We've spent a lot of time seeing all of the touristy places with her, which I always enjoy because it's nice to still have an excuse to just walk through the city. We had an awesome time this weekend and it just makes me more excited for when I get visitors (looking at you Mom and Dad!)

5. I've been growing out my goatee for about a week and a half now. It's looking pretty solid. I think I'll keep it going, at least until Halloween.

6. I'm tired.

7. and hungry.

8. im gonna stop now.