Things I won't be seeing anymore

It's beginning to dawn on me that I don't really have anytime left here. That soon I won't be just wandering through this every day.

Rear elevation

This is one of those things that I really like about Europe.



The people on the top floor have their own veranda. There's little trees, nice tile, the washing is drying in the sun. They've got it made. Look underneath there. You see that pair of white plastic chairs just waiting there in the shade. You could see that and think, "Might be nice, but it's small and only gets a couple hours of sun in the morning." You'd be wrong. I think I'd rather have that flat. It's got more space to lie out. (Hint: it's red.) Now look at the left. See the giant glassed in space? I'd really like to live there. For one thing all the windows and light, but for another climb out the window and voila! there you are with a huge space for sun bathing, barbecuing, drying mud bricks, and what have you.

Not only that, but maybe you could introduce yourself to the other people who live in the place with the white plastic chairs. Maybe you'd be buddies. You could just nip across your back 40 there and borrow a cup of sugar or show up with two beers and BS about your favorite football team. Could be grand. You'd probably never meet these people as neighbors any other way. It's not like there's a tenant's association for the block or anything. You might never know them to have a connection, even though they're just a short distance from you. But here they are.

This kind of stuff crops up all the time over here. Things are old. Most buildings built in the way-back-when are used for something or in a way their builders never envisioned. Things are added and deleted over decades, it's haphazard. There's not an army of lawyers around to litigate you into a building code/safety inspection straitjacket. It just kinda happens. I like that.

Said Friends

Hana and Cat get revenge on Tim for the photo of him and Brian in her bed at the last party. That's too complicated. It's a good photo.


Aussies, what can I say? Phil and Anthony. Note Cat trying not to be seen at the bottom, and Hana's splendid little addition.

With apologies to my adoring public...

Sorry for the unexplained and significant hiatus. Life was rough for awhile there and I didn't really have time/energy/focus enough to keep the blog going. I've told one or two of you that I don't really like short posts mixed in with giant ones (like I tend to have), but we've found a loophole: photos. I've finally gotten a decent camera here (Thanks, Mom & Dad!), so I can now document the wondrous, glorious, banal existence that is life in Brno. Expect lots of old buildings and graffiti. I've also decided to start reviewing some of the bars/pubs that I find myself frequenting, as well as the beer that is served there. I think we can expect at least one review, one graffiti, and one old building per week. Probably an actual written post as well, but no promises.

To those of you who wrote encouraging me to keep going, thank you. Especially, those of you that I haven't written back to yet.

I finally got a new house. It's part of a shared flat on Kopečna street, just downhill from the Cathedral. I'm in Stare Brno, i.e. Old Brno, the most ancient part of town. This puts me a five minute walk from the main train station and a fifteen minute walk from work, because I have to climb up and over.

This is the view from my front door.

This is taken from the top of those steps in the first picture. Yes, that is a sculpture on the grass roof, which tops my landlords' apartment. My window is the one on the left with the bars.

Some Differences from There to Here

--I have probably mentioned all of these at some point already, but they give a better picture when you stack them on top of one another.--

Distance is both smaller and larger here here. At home a few hours drive would take you across a state, or to a different city, but here a few hours drive will take you to a different sovereign state. Different language, different customs, different money, different wins and loses, and often a different attitude. You man not be able to see the border, but I think they can feel it. Like birds and magnetic north. However, you can scarcely go a kilometer without running into buildings, structures, and accretions of history. Many of them even come with people.

There are not mechanical dryers here. Everything is hung outside in dry weather, and on wire racks indoors when its wet. The preponderance of radiators is good for drying socks or quickening a pair of jeans.

The toilet is always in a different room than the bath. If you're lucky there is a sink in the same room. These toilets tend to have a broad shelf where your offal lands and it is then sluiced down into the hole by water released from a separate tank roughly a meter above the throne. Or more modern toilets have two-part buttons on the top of the tank planted directly upon the throne. Unless you are visiting a building remodeled in the last ten years, the plumbing has a mildew and vinegar odor.

Most bathrooms have no shower curtains. The majority have a shower-head wand on a flexible tube that sticks straight form the top of the faucet. Even tubs that have the hanging rod for a curtain must be used carefully, because a standard shower curtain is not long enough to cover everything.

Water heaters are boxes stuck high on the wall, which ignite with a 'whooomph' when you require their contents.

There are no closets, but wardrobes and built-in shelving abounds. Beds are narrow firm affairs, low to the floor. Its normal not to have a sheet, but just a large fluffy duvet. Herringbone patterned wood panel floors are common. As are electric kettles and one section sinks.

Light switches are black rockers in square white panels. Electrical sockets are round and recessed. They have holes for two circular prongs of identical size.

Houses are not simple one family affairs. Most are row houses, set back a little bit from the street with giant open green spaces on the far side of them. There are at least two flats in every three story building, even if it's only one room in width. You may have a yard, but it could be shared with other people, if you're even allowed in there.

Most everything is made of brick and stone, with stucco type facades. Nice buildings have been painted and colored since the Communists fell, but many are flaking and peeling, dropping sections to reveal their lumpy skeletons. It feels much worse to me than any house with peeling paint. Its even more disconcerting when the building still has all the original carved stone flourishes and cherubs and gargoyles, which are dirty, because they emphasize how nice the building must once have looked.

American TV ruling the world

American TV that's been dubbed and put onto one of the two Czech channels here:

The Sweetest Thing (Cameron Diaz)

30 minute advertising spot for The Holiday (Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet)

Police Academy 2

Monk

Lost

Goldeneye (Pierce Brosnan's only good James Bond flick)

CSI: NYC

Mind you, I put the TV on b/c I'm used to a lot more noise in my life and I'm also trying to get my ears trained for 'Czech' in terms of pattern and sound. This list is gleaned from maybe 6 hours over an entire week. And here's the capper:

Live Earth was playing as I went to bed last night. Kevin Bacon, KT Tunstall, and SPINAL TAP!, were all dubbed using this Czech woman who had the perfect NPR/BBC tone. The highlights were still playing this morning when I woke up. The Beastie Boys are fun to listen to, but they look like jackasses on stage.