Getting into Prague Life

I'm writing this post while consuming a somewhat late breakfast of toast and beet/grapefruit/lime juice that I just made a few minutes ago. Despite the fact that it's almost 9:00 and I'm just now eating breakfast, I've actually been up since a bit after six. Around 7:00 I went for a run in the local park. Can I please be this motivated every day?

I've been pretty busy these last few days. I moved to Prague last Friday. Since then I've been roving around with Jaye, learning how to get around town through the transit system, where to shop for groceries and clothes. On Monday I met one of the families I will be tutoring for and then managed to navigate my way home. Yesterday I went to actually tutor the mother for an hour. By the time I got home it was about noon and so hot that I could hardly stand it. I made some lunch and tried to work up the courage to go back outside. I really can't tolerate heat. I don't like sweating and I prefer weather to be no higher than 75F. It was so hot that I debated with myself for quite awhile on whether or not I wanted to make my planned trip to the mall to buy tanktops to wear in the heat.

Finally I sucked it up and headed to the bus stop. Getting to the mall I went to is pretty easy as it's just one bus. Getting back is a little more tricky, however, because only every other bus actually goes all the way up the hill to where my bus stop is. Sadly, on this particular day, I forgot that. But it was fine. I just had to wait outside for another 10 minutes or so.

I actually had two missions at the mall yesterday. One was to buy tank tops, which I found at H&M on sale for 70C (less than 5USD!!). The other was to get price estimates on roller blades. You see, the park by my house has a really nice paved path for bikes and roller blades. And on the weekend there are so many people out having fun and roller blading that I really wanted to attempt it myself. I'm currently looking for a used pair, but I haven't had any luck and I would like to get a hold of them soon so I have time to put them to good use. I've managed to find a few pairs for about 60-70USD but most of them are more like 100-150USD. I'm not sure how I feel about dropping that much money after just having spent that on a phone....

Before I went on my actual shopping spree, however, I decided I was in dire need of caffeine. There was a Costa Coffee (England's number one coffee chain!) in the mall, so I stopped in there for a bit. I sat at a table and doodled some. It felt so good to just be able to draw without pressure. I didn't feel guilty like I should be doing something else, like studying, but I also didn't feel like I was just forcing myself to draw for the sake of drawing, which is how I've felt for about the past month. So yeah, that was really great! After I'd been sitting for a bit, one of the baristas came around with a tray giving out lemonade samples. It was awesome.

I had such a good time being out yesterday that I'm going to attempt the same this afternoon if the weather holds. Apparently it's supposed to rain a bit today or tomorrow. This is only a concern because the only way to cool down the apartment is to open the windows and pray for a breeze.

Now that I'm a bit more settled, I'm going to attempt to keep this more regularly!