Okay, here we go again. Sitting in my friend’s apartment in Prague, fresh off some brunch at a café nearby, another day on deck, all is going well. The Czech leg of my current trip it’s coming to its end and yet again it has been a successful one. I’m really happy I get to do these often. My social batteries are fully recharged, I’m happy everyone is doing great over here and I’m excited about coming back here in couple of weeks.
My trip to the Czech Republic turned out to be pretty thrilling as my plane was delayed by about an hour which meant I had to cancel my initial bus ticket to Brno. Fortunately, thanks to my sister, I managed to get on another bus (which was pretty much the last reasonable option to get to Brno that day) and I arrived with no issues.
On Thursday, I went to a 25-year anniversary event of the Center for International Cooperation of Masaryk Univeristy I used to work for couple of lifetimes ago. This whole blog actually started right after I quit and moved to China. They invited all the current and former employees and since they did so long in advance, I decided to adjust my visit so I could make it. First of all, they really poured some money into this thing. They booked a whole restaurant by the Špiberk Castle, they paid for loads of food and drinks, all guests received a welcome bag with a publication created specifically for this reason, there was a lady playing violin at some point… They did put some effort into it. It was all better than I’d expected. I had some really cool conversations with some of my former colleagues, I had a chance to join a tour around the offices which was interesting as shit has changed a lot over the years. Everything is much more modern, connected and smart now. Big LCD screens, smart meeting rooms, whole new design… I could barely recognize my old office. The nature of their work has changed a lot, too. While I was there, office hours felt like a fucking festival. Long queues of students lining up to get their documents signed, to consult things to ask questions. Apparently, Covid changed it all. Now, everything is signed electronically. Both at the student and at the university level. Students have learned how to deal with everything without talking to an actual person. I’ve also heard that there’s much less traveling. My adventurous endeavors to Africa are pretty much done. Most links have been established and there’s no real need for things like that. All in all, it was interesting seeing all that and getting some updates. So yeah, good job! There were some weird things. Some people were getting a bit too drunk, there were couple of people approaching me claiming there we used to know each other with me having no idea who they were, and eventually, I had to leave silently because there’s only so many times I can sum up my last 9 years to somebody. But again, really good event.
I spent the weekend at my dad’s partner’s cottage. Every year, they do this big family reunion. So among many other, there was my dad, my sis and the nephew. Good food, good air, good catch-ups. And good sleep. Fuck, I enjoyed the sleep.
Outside of that, it’s been one cool hangout after another. Some of my closest people, cafés, bars, short cycling trips. I even squeezed two yoga session in at the studio I usually go to when I’m in Brno. Not drinking alcohol is so fucking cool by the way. Some of my close friends have quit drinking too and it really changes things. All of the sudden, you don’t go out to get fucked, you go out for a trip, for a swim, for a long-ass talk which doesn’t not melt into some bullshit blabbering 2 hours in. The less I drink, the less appealing I find it. I’ve been thinking about it and I really think I like my emotions sober. I like feeling happy sober, I like feeling sad sober, I like feeling energized sober, I like feeling tired sober, I like feeling social sober. It really feels like you actually experience that thing. It’s not the substance, it’s you. And I’m sure I’m gonna get a glass of wine here and there for symbolic reasons (also because I’ve never really had a problem with alcohol like that) but there has been a major shift in the way I see things. And all the worries about me not being able to function socially anymore have turned out to be unsubstantiated.
I also manage to record a song. 4 years ago, I started this thing when I record a track around my birthday. This time around, my bro sent me some instrumentals so I wrote it directly into a beat which is the preferred way for me. I really like the outcome, we’ll probably do some mixing and sometime soon, I’ll share that thing here. Even though my actual birthday is next week, we held a small family celebration on Wednesday. Got some cool gifts, got a whole fucking cake (my sister is an absolute legend), had an amazing time.
I arrived to Prague yesterday evening, got picked by at the station by one of my best friends, helped him out with some stuff for his upcoming exhibition and then we went to a village not far from the city to do a short swim in the river. On the way back, we picked up some pizza and wrapped the day up. Today, I had brunch with him and his partner around the corner and I’m using the extra time I got before going the airport to write this fucking thing.
So yeah, Switzerland here I come! Much love to everybody here… Really, it’s always such a treat being back, I see y’all soon. Hope everybody’s well, shout out to all the vegans, all my readers and everybody fighting the good fight. Don’t let them fuck with your inner light. One!
Highlights:
- Brno.
- Prague.
- Love.
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