City of kings

So... since i had to use two days of holidays and therefore had whole week free i decided to travel a bit. Right before Christmas eve i went to Olomouc for day trip. I intended to stay the night, but in the end finding accommodation didn't work out, so it was day trip. I read that Olomouc is considered most beautiful city in whole Czech republic by i think Lonely planet, but somehow i didn't agree with that. When i travel, my liking of the city depends if i would like to live in it. I could live in Olomouc if circumstances force me to but actually it's way too small for my liking even if i'm not fan of big cities. It just feel that everything worth seeing is in one place, so when you leave old tow, it's just gray and boring. I think i had that feeling only in Slavkov u Brna before when i had to think how to use my time before the bus back home.
After surving holiday craziness (surviving, because no shops were working for three days, so forced diet) i got myself ticket to Krakow, Poland. Before that i went to hike around Brno artificial lake one guy organised in facebook group, but left early as guys (we were two guys two girls) got wasted and i needed to prepare for my trip.
Journey was almost uneventful. I had to change train two times - in Bohumin and then Katowice. That looked kinda strange as in Bohumin, which is total village with not much going on and everything closed (looked like after zombie attack) on second Christmas day i had almost hour and half and only half an hour in Katowice which is city with something going on (well, not on second day of Christmas, it's very religious country after all). I found really nice host (more likely he found me, as it was emergency because of christmas stuff) and since he had to leave flat for a while i spent almost five hours on my own, just walking around Krakow and taking pictures. It's truly beautiful town and most of historical buildings looks pretty massive.
Second day was more eventful. I went out in the town with another surfer of my host from USA. I didn't really wanted to, but that guy was very clingy so to avoid discomfort i agreed. He's freeloader (lives in Krakow for few months already but does not rent a place) and self-absorbed (wanted to go only where he wanted). Later we joined church-trip organised by local CS. That girl was really great at her job and new so many interesting facts it was interesting even for me, not religious-crazy person. The only unpleasant experience was meeting local CS 'ambassador', Tony. That guy is so self-obsessed it's crazy. For few hours he kept talking non stop without even acknowledging other people or even introducing himself and asking their names and most of the time he was blabbing about his ex wife like some obsessed ex. Funny thing, on his profile he writes that he don't like disrespectful people with bad manners and he's exactly like that - disrespectful person with zero manners. I know sometimes i'm not supposed to say truth so all the time he was blabbing i just thought that his girlfriend must be with him because of money because as person he's almost repulsive. But i guess when somebody is so self absorbed he just wouldn't notice that orgasm is faked.

i managed to escape him and that clingy guy when they went to pub where it was not possible to pay with card and went to local McDonalds in one of mains streets to have burger with cola and just sit without having to listen blabbing about ex wife. Later i went back to my host and clingy guy retreated to his computer and in the evening i changed host. In the evening we went to meet one girl i met in Vilnius over summer and her friends. It was really nice to talk with her and after some confusion where to meet i was glad that my host enjoyed it well. I did not feel comfortable only after she left for a while as her friends spoke only in french or polish (although they all speaks english).
My third day was kind uneventful as i slept well, woke up kinda late and just took some long walks around old jewish district. I also went to Schindlers factory - museum. It was not expensive, so it was o.k. but i feel i didn't get anything from that museum. Don't know why, maybe i saw way too many nazi/genicide/occupation themed exhibitions so i felt totally indifferent about that one. I just saw Schindlers' room, took photo, put mental plus on my to-do list and that was it. Also i went to lacal House of beer - only lithuanian beer they had was 'Svyturys', probably worst one, consumed mostly by tourists as locals refuses to drink it unless there's no other beer around. Overall selection was nice and i was convinced that saying that in Poland beer sucks is just stereotype.
I spent last day in Krakow with surfer of my emergency host Jakub. We joined free tour of Krakow which was really nice except that our guide kept calling Lithuanian - Polish commonwealth 'Poland' and probably some people, most probably americans, believed it. It was really nice and sunny day, but fellow surfer from Itally got cold, so we went to some georgian restaurant which was simply great - food very tasty and portions quite big. Later we parted out ways ans she and her polish friend went to walk around jewish quarter and i went to meet my new hosts. We went to some local small pub "Embassy of herring" (totally recommend - very tasty, good beer and shots and good prices :) ). Later we spent evening just talkinga nd enjoying each others company. I felt a bit uneasy as i had to leave quite arly (around 7 a.m. - i had to climb over the fence as gate was frozen) but seems they were okay with that. I cought my train to Katowice and there on the train to Bohumin i met my collegue so it was not so boring anymore :)  Bohumin was dead to the world because of weekend so we had some small meet and drinks and train station's bistro and then got on train to Brno. So good to finally be home :)

Holiday spirit

Been a while since i wrote something, because my mind was really occupied. I love my new job and try to be good at it, so i study a lot and res a lot as well.
I'm very happy to live in location where i can reach lots of cities kinda easily. So i went to Bratislava last week. Ridiculously expensive (well, in my eyes) although nice city. 11 euros for lunch in cheap looking bistro Sbarro. I think i paid for plate weight as well, but still, was nice to come back in Brno with normal prices. Christmas market is in full swing (here's night post with list of activities) still and city is getting more and more empty as people are leaving for holidays. I'm staying though as i see no pint going home as i would be able to spend only one day there due to stupid bus shedules and see no point on wasting money on a plane.

I only miss my guinea pigs. There i have only cat at home but he's way too active for my liking so i don't enjoy having him in my room as he likes to destroy things. But not wanted guest is even worse. Now there's some mentally disabled girl in my flat who keeps coming late and then shouting in the kitchen. I just wish she will go way as i was awaked by her shouting three nights this week. And of course my flatmate didn't inform about her.
Also i just had one of weirdest CS experiences. Since i'm stuck in Brno in this holiday period, i decided to go to one meeting in tow. There's one dutch guy visiting and from profile he looked okay but it was huge dissapointment. We went to one pub and he and other guy started smoking without asking if other mind that and making stupid remarks about non smokers. Later everytime i was trying to say something they just cut me off and kept making quite not smart comments about russians. I was kinda relieved to get home after that. So much for trying to be less realistic and more positive...It seems that i'm simply allergic to stupid people.

Never trust the one who does not trust you

Just had probably one of most stressful experiences there in Brno, which proves that people on Couchsurfing are not exactly hospitable. Especially when it involves money.

To start with, when i arrived there, i was looking for place to rent. I found one via couchsurfing group. I didn't like guy at instant, as he was paranoid and hysteric, but decided to go with it after concultation with lawyer. At first that guy wanted us to sign contract which involved only obligations for me, but no rights and i would have been considered responsible even for force majeure. Thankfully later he decided to use brain and our final contract was o.k. I paid deposid and finally he took off. He was acting extremely weid and clingy - invited me as a friend on facebook and constantly asked annoying questions. Even asked to take some stuff from his not very tidy friend who just dropped stuff on the floor after coming in.

The guy finally decided he wanted to come three days earlier. I wrote o.k. if you want to return me money paid for these days as i have no reason to trust you (because of him being clingy and not providing copy of his i.d. document while insisting for mine). Then he got hysterical and demanded me to drop my plans to wait for him. Also he decided he helped me and did favor by renting me a flat and wanted to keep my money because of that stupid idea. In the end i agreed to come over the flat if he paid me my money first and he said o.k. Seem he's also a lier as he tried to take off with my money after taking keys, but came back after i told him i would call police as our contract was still valid and he had no right to be there.

Moral of the story - don't trust  clingy people who decides they are doing you a favor by taking your money.

On more positive note - my current flatmates are just great, even bit loud at times. And we have a not very smart cat. I even can use post box as my grandmother does not know a thing about email.

Now i finally can realax and be happy that i don't have to deal with that creepy guy any longer and can just enjoy life there and wait till i will be able to actually start working. For that i need awful lots of acesses and since it was end of month people were very busy and not exactly able to answer my questions so i did lots of self education. Hopefully my manager won't be angry that i was not exactly useful.

I would like to meet some more people there and maybe learn czech language so i started looking for tandem partner. I plan to go to English pub night to maybe meet somebody willing to help with my czech. It seems that people, even young, are not very good with english there so even some not very smart ones keeps insulting me telling that i speak with english with russian accent, my english is still much better that theirs.

Going to post is always adventure there as they don’t speak much English so it’s hard to explain what I want. Today I went with note prepared with Google translate. Luckily today the only English speaker in my post office was working, so I got my letter from grandma (all my mail went to post office and I had to go and ask for it as I had no post box). Also I bought box for parcel as I’m still not sure if I will be able to go home for Christmas and probably will send something home.

Being thankful

On satuday aside from becoming one year older i experienced my first american thanksgiving party there in Brno. I was invited by lovely american lady whom i met there in Brno over my third day there. Now i understand craziness about that celebration as traditional dinner was simply delicious - turkey, sweet potatos, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and other stuff i never tried before. Even after goodling i don't fully understand roots of that tradition, especially why in USA and Canada it has different dates.

I also started working. I love that in my job we are not allowed to gossip and to talk about company stuff, so people actually go to work at work, not to disturb others by gossiping. My team is really nice and helpful, so i expecially enjoy learning a lot. I just didn't ever thought that i will find my dream work enviroment there, in Czech republic. Guess people's character and mentality adds a lot to that. Maybe in Lithuania works is always a finght as most people are negative most of the time and just lashes out at collegues. I remember how stressful it was for me to work in female company (there was one guy, but he left for the same reason as me) while all of them was fighting and gossiping all the time, as well as drinking at work and not respecting anyone, even themselves. I think i escaped just in time before becoming negative angry woman myself.

Since i'm new at job, my first holiday will be in half a year. That means Christmas will be celebrated there. While i'm not religious person myself, i will definitely miss my grandmother, mom and my guinea pigs (they should have babies around december according to my mom). I think i will find something via Couchsurfing events as there will be many foreigners stuck there.

I'm not really disappointed by that as i learned more living on my own and had more positive experiences than while living at parent's place in Vilnius. Also now i have much better opinion about myself as well as do my relatives. Just my mom is still woried how i'm doing and constantly sending my money and asking if i eat properly. 

Couchsurfing

I decided to write one post purely about couchsurfing mostly as result of discussions in forums and my most negative experience. 

I joined this website two and half years ago when i was doing my erasmus in Tartu, Estonia. I was introduced to couchsurfing by one very stereotypical american girl, who talked about surfing and hosting with such enthusiasm that i decided to give it a try. But first time i actually used was few months later when i went to Czech republic for a week (i had money left after my erasmus and wanted to spend it travelling somewhere more far than neighbouring countries). Well second time surfing was extremely weird. I was in Prague and stayed with guy who answered emergency request. I know it was stupid not to send normal requests beforehead but in my defense i can say that i was very new and didn't get concept of cs back then.  Good talked too much for my liking (basically all the time), kept asking questions and simply stuck like wet leaf to naked ass. I like interacting with host, but i'm unable to speak constantly for few hours, especially about topics i have no interest in. When it was time to rest, i had to watch movie 'Devil wears Prada" with him in his room. he inssited that i would sit on his bed but i pretended to give myself foot massage after long day walking. When i was finally set free, he asked if i want to sleep in his bed, on floor or on sofa. I chose sofa. After i asked him to use his laptop to check some stuff, i discovered he had fake profile with photos and name of some vietnamese girl. When i woke up, i saw him watching me. Damn, that was somne crazy stuff. I was happy to get rid of him in the morning but had to return as i left some clothes in his apartment. If i wouln't have been so new, he probably would have one negative reference more (he has two already).

Another weird experience was when i hosted myself. I did it two times and both were not so pleasurable. First guests, couple from Latvia, acted like i was free hotel - no interest in hanging out together, came only for one night, kept talking in latvian. I left posite reference only because they did it first. Second was polish girl who sucked at basically everything she did. I left no reference for her and she left none for me. I feel that i had too much patience with her. First, i had to walk for half and hour home as she got wrong trolley, although i wrote correct one, and we missed last trolley. Then nex day i had to skip concert as she insisted she would come back from city to take phone charger. And managed to get wrong trolley to wrong direction again. She was unable to plan her time and wasted mine. Never said 'thanks' and well, i guess i was wrong accepting her.

Next bad experience was one i already wrote about - liar host with lack of social skills. Otherewise i just try to learn something from expriences i don't entirely like. Sometimes there's clash of opinions in forums. Sometimes people just are too stupid to read whhat's written - one time i asked question in forum - what reference one would write if experience is very negative - negative or neutral one. One guy (i agree with negative reference in his profile) just gave me few diagnoses and analysed me and my experience instead of anwering. When i pointed out he didn't answer my question, he just wrote an essay. I deleted topic when i saw it's not going anywhere. Nex time i was called egocentric and freeloader because i answered that don't think about money when i surf/host (question was if it's necessary to pay money for host) and i believe that if host thinks how much surfer cost him, he should not host at all or use AirBnB. Because of that guy analysed me and my profile. I think that person does that when he has zero arguments to prove his opinion and looks for opponent's personal faults. I just didn't answer. I like lithuanian saying "duok durniui kelią" (give idiot free way) so i liesten to it quite often. Then it gives me satisfaction as i feel smart and as a winner of argument.

I still think that couchsurfing should be about cultural exange, not money or travelling for free. And i don't feel as worse couchsurfer just because i am unable to host right now and in close future. Partly my expriences are like that because of my sarcastic 'no bullshit' personality and saying what i'm thinking, partly because some people just has different idea of it or are too stupid to read what's written. Some has mostly positive experinces. One amazing guy i met just before hitchgathering in Lithuania learns from any exprience. I think it depends on person. and country one is from. I noticed that in expensive cities and tourist destinantions, for example Copenhagen, Norway, Australia people think about money all the time but instead of using air BnB contantly brags in forums about 'freeloaders' surfers. Also there are some cultural differences. For example, i would never give copy of my document to anybody i don't know. For me it's the sign that somebody don't trust me. For others - perfectly normal procedure. I learned a lot from mine and i'm happy i joined page as i during two years i met so many great people in Vilnius couchsurfing comunity, travelled, met some great people during my trips and simply shared expriences. And human interaction, good or bad, always gives something to stay.