The Arrival- Part Dva

When I book a hotel room, I usually request a high floor, not too close to the elevator, nor facing the street traffic. I enjoy getting a good night sleep and find hotels are rarely a good place for this. I would be staying in this particular budget hotel for 10 days, so I figured would be a good idea to ensure I get a decent room. My requests were clearly not recognized. My room was on the ground floor; actually it was just around the corner from the reception desk, breakfast room, conference room, and a taxi company that apparently uses a hotel room as its dispatch office! All this time I thought it was just ghetto hotels in Anaheim that doubled as taxi offices. There must have been a reason why I was assigned to this room I rationalized, maybe it was the only long-term guest quarters. It had a big closet, little kitchen and three beds. I could have a sleep-over as soon as I make two friends, or I could eat cookie in bed and not worry aout the crumbs, just rotate beds! I could just jump out the window if there was a fire, or if someone visited me they could just knock on my window when they arrived, it was just next to the front door of the hotel, easy access! Despite what it lacked,…which was, well, everything I asked for, I was so happy to be in my hotel, I frankly didn’t care that this room was totally unsuitable. Almost immediately after I arrived Lindsey called, (the person that I would be replacing/ my buddy for the week while I got settled). She said some friends were meeting for drinks, and would I be up for a night out. I had been up about 20 hours at that point, but I said “sure, come get me”. 40 minutes later I heard Lindsey and Andrea arrive, (how could I miss it, I could hear everything that went on in the reception area) Andrea had my job before Lindsey, so together we were three generations of English Lectors.
I realized when I opened the door; I didn’t know who was who, until they spoke. I knew Lindsey’s voice since she interviewed me and we had spoken earlier that night. We headed out on a short walk around the corner to what could only be described as a sports bar. Big TVs, wood paneling, bar stools, jerseys signed and framed on the walls; typical male-style interiors. Seated around a big booth were about ten people, most of whoms’ names I was too tired to learn. I sat next to Mila, who helped me order something to eat as it had been a while since I’d done that, so it was appreciated. I remember thinking she and I will probably become good friends- and we have, we meet for lunch usually once a week. My first official Czech beer arrived promptly, what a treat, and soon after the best “palačinky” I have had yet, in the CZ. I was impressed how friendly everyone was, and how easy it was to chat with everyone that was within ear shot of me on the long bench seat. After a few rounds, Andrea announced it was disco time. Our group deteriorated a bit as we walked the several blocks in the direction of the disco, we walked the cobbled streets, which I remember making note of how nice it looked with the moss growing between the cat heads; as I would soon learn the bricks were called. I hate cobble stones now by the way, they are the main culprit that makes me late to class in the morning – without cobbles; I could walk so much faster!
On the way to (Hanny Bunny) “Honey Bunny” , the disco, we briefly stopped at Lindsey’s flat, which I would inherit within a week, so I asked if I could come inside, as I had been imagining it for months and the curiosity was killing me. The outside seemed dark, it appeared the block was gray and yellow, I was hoping in the daylight that would turn out to be an optical illusion.… yeah, not an illusion. The flat was nice, and I was pleased how close it was to the center; on the map it seemed further down the street. But no time for pondering curtain patterns, onward, the Bunny was waits for no one!
Honey Bunny: how to describe this place and do it justice. It is bright blue, let’s call it Raspberry Slurpy blue. It reminds me of something you might see in Tia Juana, arched doorway, trash barrels out front, with a burly bouncer perched upon a rickety stool, usually surrounded by several thuggish looking guys smoking in the shadow. You hear the bass as you approach, but when you get inside you realize that the song shuttle just switched to one of the following HB classic hits: Big Girls Don’t Cry, La Bamba, the Summer Lovin remix, something by Bryan Adams, or if you’re really lucky something off Chronic, or DoggieSyle. What you will never hear; is anything that has been released in the last decade. The music is beyond ridiculous, it has a terrible sound system, the dance floor is made of knotty uneven wooden logs the rest of the décor reminds me a barrack and the place is packed EVERY weekend! This is one of two nightclubs in town; the other has an equally corny rhymny sort of name and is owned by the same people, so I would guess the sound track isn’t much different. However, this did not stop me and my jetlag from dancing up a storm and swollowing round after round of vodka tonics into the early morning hours.
I made it! I stayed out as late as the girls! Man, am I tough! We walked home under the cover of darkness, so it wasn’t as late as most of my nights out in Korea, but considering I was on about hour 27 of no sleep, I felt very accomplished, enough to declare my first day in the Czech Republic a success,so off I stumbled to my ground floor room, to be lulled to sleep by the sound of Taxi customer service calls.