Je suis un ananas

Kept Man and I were having our nightly skype call (gotta keep the romance alive!) and he was mentioning that he's been trying to watch movies in French to get more exposure to the language. Only problem is that even the Disney movies talk really fast and use big and/or slang words making it hard for a beginner to really keep up.

Trying to think of something easy for him to watch I remembered these silly videos in Middle School French classes that involved a pineapple. The word for pineapple in french, ananas, is one of my favorite words in French to this day because of this video.

Once I mentioned a talking pineapple be both immediately googled (like the bay area nerds we are) and low and behold Ananas is on You Tube. God bless the internet.

And I had forgotten about the song! And Ananas is pretty freaky looking. He looks like one of those strange dolls with the moving beaks and the eyes that move back and forth. I forget what they're called.

Anyways now Kept Man has at least 13 episodes of Ananas and beginner French to enjoy. Or be slightly disturbed by. Whatever.

I smell

like an ashtray.

I don't know if it's just Europeans or Eastern Europeans in particular but people in Prague smoke. A LOT. Apparently the anti-smoking campaign has not hit here yet.

It's no wonder Philip Morris has a big presence here.

Gross.

Alone Time

As many of you know I'm back in Prague. Alone. Kept Man is back in Marrakech taking care of the apartment, cooking, running, biking and hanging out with some friends.

I'm working, catching up on TV that Kept Man hates and holing up in my hotel room. A bigger hotel room than last time I might add. Same category but just a little more space. And larger windows. Kept Man is going to smack me now.

Many of you may be wondering why I didn't just stay in Marrakech. Why go back to Prague. Why separate myself from Kept Man and our life in Marrakech. There were a couple of reasons.

1. I'm doing interesting and brain challenging things at work which is so much better than the current situation in Marrakech where I'm left with practically nothing but busy work to fill my time.
2. I'm raising my profile in the company. I hope. Which at this point in time is pretty important.

Things aren't looking so great in Marrakech. No opening date, lots of people leaving, lots of tension. Anything I can do that results in positive impressions of me and keeping me working in the company are a priority numero uno at this point.

Unfortunately the novelty of staying in a hotel and being in another city has worn off. Basically I'm bored an lonely. And while I tell myself about all the career pluses to being here, the opportunity to have a little alone time and pleasure of watching some tv shows without groaning in the background I miss Kept Man horribly. I miss the silly faces, and the hugs and the nightly cuddles. I also miss his not so subtle pushings to make me get out of the hotel on the weekends.

I am a creature of habit and I hate to do new things. I like familiar things. I like knowing where I'm going, who will be there, what the place looks like, what's expected of me and how to act. New places and experiences have none of these things and I therefore do not like to deal with them unless pushed, prodded, or accompanied by someone familiar.

I'm sure many of you are now thinking, "how did this girl end up in Morocco?!" The answer is I pushed myself to make the move to Morocco. And I didn't think. I leapt with out looking. And I knew I would regret not having taken the opportunity and adventure when I had the chance. And I had Kept Man who gave up his job to go traipsing around Europe and North Africa with me. I had a human security blanket.

But funny thing about taking a leap it can sometimes lead you to somewhere unexpected. And the leap to Morocco has now lead me temporarily to Prague. With no familiar people, places or things. With no Kept Man and a lot of time to think. And be lonely and feel sorry for myself and lay around in bed like a bed potato. And I've decided I need some goals. To push me. To keep me active. To keep me from hiding under the blankets all weekend with only a computer as a companion. And I hope that you my very few readers will help keep me accountable for these goals. Some of them are of course more long term but I'm hoping that on the way to reaching the bigger goals to tell you all about the short term ones when I accomplish them or more amusingly when they might blow up in my face.

So in no particular order, the goals, ahem:

• run or bike for a least 30 minutes 2 times a week
• make it to a spin class once a week while in Prague
• go to a Meetin Prague event
• go to the Irish Music Festival the week of St. Patrick's Day in Prague
• go to the opera once more in Prague
• finish all the books I have with me in Prague
• take a trip to the Sahara Desert with friends
• take a trip to Essouria with Kept Man
• try out Surf Berbere or something like it
• become better at French
• save for a down payment for a home
• find a hobby I enjoy. The following are ideas to try
• Knitting
• Quilting
• Biking with Kept Man
• Photography
• Gardening
• Ballroom Dancing
• Home craft projects
• go back to school and/or take classes to help better my skills for my career
• start a family
• blog at least two times a week 
• take a trip to the greek islands with Kept Man
• go see a leg of the tour de france with Kept Man

Hold me to it people! Or tomorrow being a bed potato is going to sound even more appealing than it did today.

*Suggestions for the goal list are welcome
**Obviously not all of these goals (even the shorter term ones) will be possible in Prague or Marrakech. They're to remember later
***Amendments can and will be made to this list
****Berating is allowed in order to get me to accomplish any short term goal. 

It's not a Wishing Well

A few weeks ago Kept Man and I took a day trip out to Kutna Hora. Mostly we went because I had heard years and years ago about a bone church (otherwise known as Sedlec Ossuary) with a chandelier made out of every bone in the human body and I wanted to take a look.

So what did I think of said bone church? Artistic displays of human remains? Pretty creepy. And dirty. No one dusts the bones. Ever. I mean they're on display shouldn't they be cleaned. Wouldn't that be a nice gesture towards those whose remains have been used? Another nice gesture might have been to not make them look like party streamers. But maybe that's just me.

Maybe I'm just being harsh. Maybe I just don't like being confronted with my own mortality. Maybe I'm just creeped out.

Despite my reaction to this church I still have to confess that it is fascinating to see in person. So if you're every in Czech Republic it's worth a look and the graveyard I found to be particularly interesting and pretty even in the winter. There is a also a beautiful church (St. Barbara) and a castle in the town that is worth taking a look at if you happen to be in that neck of the woods.

But I do recommend Spring...or Summer...or even Autumn....or really just not the dead of winter. The town was pretty much D-E-D as my Granda would say when we were there and it happened to be a particularly cold day. By the time we made it back to the train station we were like two human popsicles. But still we got out of Prague for the day! Yeah us.

So on that note, Happy Valentine's Day. And for those of you wondering, Kept Man surprised me with a watercolor of the Charles Bridge as a present this morning. It's to match my watercolor of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice which after 10 years I have yet to get framed. I'm hoping with a matching watercolor from another city I might make a better attempt. Kept Man does ok when we wants to. He just likes to set the expectations particularly low.

Kept Man and Me at St. Barbara's Church in Kutna Hora. See how cold it is?

Alive in Prague

Kept Man took me to the Opera last night. There was lots of pageantry, women with big boobs and obviously singing of the opera variety with subtitles for those of us who don't know what the hell they're singing about. All and all a good time.

No elephant, just tusks but some people shouldn't provide unrealistic expectations. I'm looking at you girls.

My favorite part of the evening was during the overture. We were up in the first gallery right over the pit and could see all the musicians. Watching them begin to play was like watching a wave. First a few on the right start, then some on the left join in then the brass section all pick up their instruments at the same time. It's mesmerizing. Or I'm just easily amused.

It's Still Not Here

No sign of my package. And no freaking update on UPS.com. It has "left the seller facility and is in transit". How non descriptive. Where the hell is it?!

Annoying. Sigh.

It only took me 2 months (according to Garren)

to convince myself to buy a kindle.

At first I thought it might be an option for an xmas present, but then we nixed getting presents for each other as we were traveling over the holidays. Then I thought, I don't need one, I'll just get the books I'm dying to read when we go to London. Then the books I wanted to read had not yet been released in the UK.

Then. Then I just got depressed. I mean I have books. Books that have been sitting on my shelf for months. And I bought one or two in London (which I already finished) but there is not a big selection of new choices in Marrakech and I won't have too many trips to London. And frankly with all the weight limitations these days on flights it makes bringing them or buying them kind of a pain.

And then Jade got one for xmas. And I asked her to tell me that she hated it. She didn't. She told me it was fabulous. And then I had to tell myself it was too expensive and remember I had a lot of books on my shelf at home that I could read. And then I remembered all the books I wanted to read and how they are oh so inaccessible. And then I started obsessively reading the reviews on amazon and comparing the kindle to the sony e-reader and trying to decide which one I would get, if I could convince myself to spend the money on it.

And I'm still not sure I should have spent the money on the thing. Garren finally decided for me and told me to shut up about it and buy the damn thing and soon so he didn't have to hear about it anymore. And secretly (Garren says, "Really?! Secretly? Really!?") I'm really excited to get it.

So it's arriving. In 2-6 days. Make it 2! Probably won't be until 6. sigh. And hopefully it's as fantastic as I hope. And I won't curse it for broken non instant access to books I want to read. Hopefully it will be magic instant access to books I want to read.

I'll let you know.