I AM ONLINE!! For the first time in over a month I am using the internet on a computer that I own. However, it gets more complicated...
aDSL is relatively expensive in the Czech Republic. It is controlled by the national telco and still pretty new. The residential packages include newsgroup-like limits on downloads that drop your speed once you hit certain markers (see
english site for details). With that said - it really isn't too horrible of a deal. The plan that the family I am living with has is about $40 a month. They get 1mb/s for the first 2GBs combined traffic, then 512kb/s for the next 2GB, and the 64kb/s from there, A WEEK.
So that deal isn't too bad - and I would go with that if I had my own line as was originally planned. But now it appears there is some kind of complication with getting my own line (year contract or something) and I will be sharing. So that puts me in a bit of a strange position. I am sharing a metered traffic volume connection with people I don't really know the net habits of - and who have brought me into their home - albeit they are receiving compensation. To download or not to download...?
I guess this is a good time to explain my living situation. When I signed up to study in Prague they told me there were 3 options for housing. 1 - a dorm you share with another American student, breakfast incl. 2 - an apartment, likely further from the school, you share with 2 Americans and 1 Czech student, no food incl. 3 - a homestay with a Czech family, breakfast and dinner incl. The homestay was recommended for those students that really wanted the
Czech experience (more personal contact, language practice, etc.). I put my choices in order of preference as Dorm, Apt, Homestay. Apparently so did most others - and mine was late. So I ended up with a homestay. Whatever - I didn't really have a strong opinion to begin with.
Well it turns out I certainly got one of the better homestay situations. I live in a 5 story house only a 15 minute walk from the school. Many of my friends have nice places - but commute up to 45 minutes using buses, trams, and/or the underground metro. The bottom floor of the house has a swimming pool, bar, hot tub, small weight room, and a stand up tanning room. I live on the 2nd floor with my host granny - Pani Malkova. hostGranny is 81 years old - although I wouldn't have guessed it. She is quite spry and full of enthusiasm. The 3 upper floors house hostGranny's son, his wife, and their 5 children, ages 5-15. I have my own modest room with a large bed and a bathroom nearby. The house is very modern and very, very nice.
So I have been here a week and am still a little uncomfortable in the house. There is defintiely a bit of a communication barrier. I am able to communicate everything really necessary to hostGranny - but not everything I want to. It is hard for us to have too deep of a conversation. She does try though, with dictionary handy. I know I will get more comfortable as time goes on - I don't mean to imply that I am worried about it working out - but for instance, I haven't used the pool yet, and things like figuring out the internet are complicated games of modesty. But these are very nice people and I wouldn't be here if they didn't want me to be.
Prague is awesome. I am very comfortable in the city. It is a very easy city to navigate with great public transport and all kinds of cool things going on. It is certainly true that they drink more beer than water. It is everywhere and super cheap! One of the buildings I have classes in has a bar in the basement that serves up .5L (that is just over a pint) for 15Kc (eh, 65 cents). That is cheap but not uncommon - it is really rare to pay more than $1.50 a pint.
My program is pretty cool. It is 100 American students basically just unleashed on Prague for 4 months. I have met some pretty cool people and 6 or 7 of us are heading to Berlin next w/e to go see Wilco. There are two kinds of classes. 1 type are the basic CIEE (the name of the program) "area studies" courses. These range in all subject from Film Studies to PoliSci. These classes are taught (in English) by Charles University profs at the CIEE study center in Vyserhad (15 mins from my house). The 2nd type are the FAMU film and television classes (where the bar is) a 10 minute walk and 10 minute tram ride away. All normal classes start in 10 days. Until then we are doing taking Intensive Czech Language classes. Not too exciting.
That about sums up my situation here. I will post some pics eventually. But now I should have a bit more of an online presence - unless my bandwidth gets cut off!
