A story or two

This comes from last Saturday night. Our team is on our way back from a fun dinner out. I got pizza that had ham, spinach, mushrooms, and sea fruits. I ordered because I didn't know what sea fruits were. Martina got the translation and started laughing. Turns out they are octopus and shrimp. Good times. My nose was clogged because of the cold I got, so I didn't get to taste much of it...for better or for worse. Either way it was a good time.

Our apartment is right across the street from a nice park, which still has fun play ground equipment that kids can get hurt on that have been banned and eliminated from all the parks in the U.S. I call them dizzy destruction devices.

After playing on those for a bit, we ended up playing with a couple young Gypsies, Roman and Brian. They were fun and full of young 10 year old gangster. We then met their older brothers and cousins. Turns out, the older guys are on a break dancing team that is heading to Croatia for a competition in July. Pretty cool. They practice for 2 1/2 hours every day, and when school gets out it'll be 4 hours a day. Their mom and older sister came over to listen to the convo, and then the fun began.

Roman and Brian showing us their moves

Somehow we ended up getting to Ong Bak 1 and 2 (The Protector) and how cool and talented Tony Jaa is. One of the guys, Honsa, wanted to show me one of his kicks. Knowing he break dances, I was expecting a high flying kick, but it was a pretty normal one.

I thought, "I could one up this guy." Thought doing something would keep the conversation going, you know, build more of a bridge. So I did one, and the guys thought it was pretty cool...my leg didn't though. I can't do stuff like that cold like I used too.

Apparently the older sister thought it was the cooooolest, and she asked if I was planning on taking any girls home with me. Her mom standing right next to her, I was quite surprised at the question, and no, I'm not taking any girls home with me. She then jokingly/semi-seriously told me to call her and said some more stuff in Czech. We decided it was getting cold and needed to leave the park. However, we did get to tell them about English camps and the precamp party that's going in Strakonice in late June.

All in all, it was a good time -- park, people, conversations.

Apparently I'm slightly more attracive because a few days earlier I had gotten my face rubbed and kneeds patted by a 50 year old tipsy woman.

I was sitting on the train away from the group doing some reading, and this woman sat across from me. After a few minutes she started speaking to me in Çzech. I told her, in Czech, that I don't speak Czech, but this didn't phase her. She spoke more emphatically and proceeded to rub my face with the back of her hand and pat my knees. Another first...

I responded by telling, in Czec, I didn't understand, which again, did not phase her at all, and to my surprise, apparently encouraged her to rub my face a few more times and pat my knees.

Fortunately, Cory took this opportunity to grab Martina, our Czech teammate, to come over and help me out. Turns out it was the woman's birthday, and she though I looked humble, sympathetic, and attractive. Who knew? All that just from sitting quietly and reading the Bible.

Needless to say, those three adjectives have become a running joke between me and Martina. We figured the Gypsy girl also thought I was humble, sympathetic, and attractive. What are the odds?