Writhe and Shine

From Writhe’s journal:

On the train to Berlin. Last night in Prague I went to see a play that had been promoted about at the hostel. I get to the location early and go into a tea house which was pretty cool. Very small and cylindrical with only a few people hanging out. Nice idea for an establishment. Many different types of teas. I tried one and it was decent, but I forgot what it was called. I paid for a ticket to the play and went downstairs to a Bohemian bar and sit there waiting for the play to start. No one at the hostel was planning on going so I was alone. It’s been a big problem in my life where I am usually really early to things. I end up sitting around bored because I’m usually alone. I don’t know. it gives me time to think.
One guy I saw working at the hostel comes over and says that he’s glad I was able to make it out, then goes to talk to his girlfriend. More people arrived and eventually we are all ushered into a small theater through a small door behind the bar. I sit in the front row and the lights dim. Center stage light goes on and I watch three really weird plays. It was fun and I enjoyed myself. One of the plays was about the lessons backpackers should learn while they are in Prague. One of those lessons was about the beer here. There are two types of beer (or “peevo” as they call it), “sweaty peevo” and “churny peevo.” Sweaty peevo is about the color of the beer. Say you have a backpacker travelling across the country wearing the tighty whiteys for about a week. Sweaty peevo is about the same color as those underpants. Churny peevo is basically what the beer does to your stomach. It tastes good going down and you may feel good for a while, but soon you’ll hear some rumblings in your belly and need to rush to the bathroom. Another thing I learned is that it’s not nice to say things here are “cheap” as it has a negative connotation. Instead we are asked to say “pleasantly affordable.”
After the play, I take the Charles Bridge back across the river and go through a populated dark park. There are beggars and fire jugglers. Prague is a beautiful city at night. I got back to the hostel, packed my bag and went to sleep. In the morning I ate meager breakfast of corn flakes and rolls with some sort of jelly and warm boxed milk kinda like we had in grade school. I walk to the train station and arrive at 10am. My train doesn’t leave until 12:07pm so I have some time to kill. Unfortunately, I can’t find the place where you buy tickets! I wait for 10 minutes in the line for information and they tell me that I need to go downstairs. I suppose if I read Czech, I would have been able to see a sign that said where the ticket counter was… oh wait, there was no sign at all.
I buy a ticket to the border and plan to use my Eurail pass from there to Berlin. I use my left over cash to buy some pleasantly affordable food. I try a pastry and it’s pretty gross. I sketch for a bit in the station watching the departure board to see which track my train will be on. Track 5.
I get on my train and find an empty compartment. For some reason I decide to sit with my eyes closed, cross-legged with the backs of my hands on my knees and fingers together as if I’m meditating. I hear and sense many people stop at the compartment door then leave as if they don’t want to disturb me. Then some American travelers about my age come in and sit down. I get out of my pose and tell them my trick to get cool people to sit with. We talk about tons of shit until we get to Germany when the seats we are currently sitting in are occupied by the people who reserved them. now it’s just me and one other guy left with 4 Germans who are tight-lipped and seemingly upset that they have to sit with backpackers. Ugh, I’m sure there are people like this all over the world, but Germany seems to have most of them. Such sticklers for the rules and absolutely NO sense of humor.
Hopefully that will be different in the big city…