June 13, 2010

June 13, 2010

I was exhausted on Sunday and although I had my friend from elementary school coming into Hradec to meet up I was in no shape to give him the best of tours, not that Hradec has a great deal to show off. It is a beautiful city, but as far as landmarks go there were but a few which Andrea and I found. Andrea may even argue with me that the city of Hradec is a beautiful city. It was not only the walk the day before which had worn me down. On top of my body just being plain out sore from the walk, my legs were burnt to a nice crisp and it was my legs being the shade of a cherry tomato which limited my sleep the night before. I just could fall asleep with the pain I felt in my legs. No other body part had been burnt. You see, as I have wrote, I did buy sun tan lotion. However, half way through my trip, in Nechanice, where from there I knew I would be walking in the sun rather than the shade as I had been; I tried to apply the lotion. The problem, I got the lotion onto my arms, face, neck, and shoulders, but when I tried to put some on my legs the bottle broke. It was a spray bottle; I tried my hardest to get the lotion out another way to no avail.

All of that wrote, I come to what I actually did on Sunday. I was going to walk with my friend from elementary school all about the city. I was going to show him the few sites then I was going to show him the two beautiful parks which lay just outside the town square. That didn’t quite happen though.

I met my old friend at the train station and walked with him to a café, which was on the way to the old town square. At the café we stopped to have a coffee and a little bite to eat. We got a chance to sit and talk for nearly an hour. It was then I noticed my phone was about to run out of battery and I had spoke with the guy I had met the night before and one of my friends from Hradec about meeting up to watch some of the World Cup. I did not have my charger on me in Hradec. So, I actually walked with my old friend back to the apartment I had stayed at. I wanted to use my computer to call the people I had made plans with, this was at about 12:30, I had met my old friend at the train station just a little after eleven.

I did leave out one of the most interesting parts of the day. When I woke up from a horrible sleep I went into the living room of the apartment to use my computer and I found my friend’s roommate, I had met him before, but I never before had had the chance to speak with him. He offered me some coffee and we sat down across from each other and had a great conversation. I was taken off guard when he told me his family was originally from Iran. I have met people from the Middle East, but never have I met someone from a country with such infamous ties to America. I was astounded as he told me his perspective of the nation he had been born in, all about its government, its own history, and further, its history with the US. It was an enlightening conversation.

It was back to that apartment where my old friend and I headed. Luckily, we were able to walk past one of the major sites of the city while traveling to the apartment. I showed my old friend the old castle wall. The wall has been renovated, but still many of the elements of it remain and it is beautiful to see. Past the old city wall we entered my friend’s apartment and I was able to connect with the two people I had made plans to meet. We decided to meet at two o’clock to watch the first World Cup match of the day.

After setting the plans and only having an hour or so before we were all to meet I took my old friend on a short tour of the old town square. I turned out very uneventful and I think my old friend was thoroughly unimpressed. After the short walk around the town square he and I sat down outside at the sports bar we were supposed to meet my other friends. It was not long after sitting that my friend from Hradec, who is actually from Wales via Pakistan, joined us. This friend I have made while living over here was perfect for today. He is very friendly and can carry on a conversation with anyone. I think if you sat Fidel Castro in front him he would smile and share a nice word with him. Anyhow, with the three of us now there, just waiting on the new friend I had made from Scotland. We all sat outside for a while until the match started. My friend from Hradec and old friend seemed to get along well. I knew it would be next to impossible they wouldn’t with the type of attitude my friend from Hradec carries with him.

After sitting inside and watching the match for about 10 minutes my new friend from Scotland joined the party. We all just sat and watched the game. There was very little need for me to exert any energy which I am grateful for, I was the only one at the table that knew everyone, and everyone else at the table had never met one another. And yet, they got along as if they had known each other for ages. I just sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the game and conversation. It was an interesting day bringing together these three people.

I cut the day short though. My fatigue had the best of me and after the first match I told everyone I needed to head back to Novy Bydzov. And after the first match, my old friend and I walked back to the train station where I left him and headed to the bus station.

The bus ride added a little extra humor into the day. I knew we were on the bus, which takes the long route back to Novy Bydzov, I took it knowing the bus schedule and that it even though it was a longer ride it would get me back home the quickest. Two ladies who got on the bus with me were not aware of this fact. They did not know we would be taking a very roundabout way of getting to Novy Bydzov. It was actually rather funny because at one point the bus seemed to be just going in circles and one of the aforementioned ladies got out of her seat. She ended up getting in a shouting match with the bus driver. I could not understand what was being said between them, but from their her body movements and her facial expressions I think she was angrily giving the bus driver directions to Novy Bydzov as the bus driver tried to calmly explain he was heading to Novy Bydzov, but that she was on a bus which did not have a direct route there. Well, we did get there and you could tell the bus driver was happy to have this particular ride done and over with.

I was even happier to be back in my town where I went straight home, washed up, ate, and fell asleep with a quickest I had never had before. My legs were feeling better.