The first European country I visited is coincidentally where I live now. The year before at a summer camp in California, I met Danny, a Czech guy from Prague, who ‘marketed’ his city. Some guidebook even commented that “Prague is the Paris of the Eastern Europe.”I had an internship in Poland in summer 2004, exactly one year after I met Danny and remembered all the nice things he said about the city. Seeing that Poland was neighboring the Czech Republic, I booked a flight ticket from London to Prague for a quick sightseeing trip before taking a train to Poland.
I never cut my hair while traveling, but I did so in Belgrade. Why? Maybe so I could be in a closed environment with Serbs?
Psychologically, you cannot say anything bad about the person who tries to make you beautiful. I sat five meters across from Jelena’s former boss who had returned to work after recovering from an apparently terminal illness only to find she was now reporting to a former subordinate who was less qualified. Now she looked forward to her early retirement. While walking about the city, Jelena mentioned an invitation from a cousin whom she had not seen in a long time and wondered if I would not mind going there with her so she could spend time with both of us. I didn’t want to appear over-zealous, but secretly I wished Jelena would take the cousin up on the offer and take me there with her right then.
Last Friday night, my colleagues and I went for a beer at a pub in Vysehrad. I was chatting with the husband of my co-worker when I heard something like “jako Sarajevu” from the other end of the table. “It was strange,” I thought to hear anything about Sarajevo in this country. Then Tomas, the husband explained that they have a popular expression in Czech: “Sedm koukle jako Sarajevu” meaning “Seven bullets as in Sarajevo.”
My name is Cindy, also rhymes with travel junkie. A friend said I was probably a gipsy in my previous life. One of my many secret missions in life is to convert you to run off every once in awhile.
