Ten Days in Two Minutes

For the past two weeks, I’ve been in Prague, studying for finals and getting ready for my final few trips around Europe. I figured blogging about the time I spent studying wouldn’t be super interesting, but there were a few adventures along the way…here are some of the highlights:

Leaving Switzerland—April 21, 2013
The gate agent called for boarding and I stowed my things into my bag. As I boarded the plane, I realized, no one had checked my passport. No one had looked at it or my boarding pass in security and no one had looked at it before I got on the flight.

At my seat (31F) I continued journaling through takeoff and most of the flight. The movie in flight was Mr. Bean and I couldn’t help but notice how people through out the plane and across cultures were cracking up at the slapstick comedy—talk about human nature!

When we landed, I gathered my things and ventured through the airport. Taking the bus to the depot, and the Metro to Wenceslas Square, I soon found myself waiting at the familiar tram stop. As I looked around, I noticed something. There were a lot of people who weren’t dressed for the weather we’d been having here locally. There were a lot of maps stumbling through the streets. There were a lot of cameras flashing in every direction. There were a lot of voices jabbering in English.

The city was crawling with tourists.

PT in Prague—April 23, 2013
I woke up this morning a little bit late. I’d been up till the wee hours of the night Skyping again so I wasn’t surprised that I’d slept through the first five minutes of my alarm clock.

I climbed out of bed, and shuffled around the dorm getting ready. The room really is becoming pretty dirty—and I’ve been known to live in a fair amount of clutter, but this is over the top for me—and there was barely enough room to lift my feet.

I grabbed my bag and raced out of the room. As soon as I was out of the room and could take a real step, my right leg went out from under me. I caught myself of the railing of the stairwell leading down from the floor above. I tried another step. Again, my ankle rolled, and my weight heaved forward. Trying again, I watched my foot meticulously, deliberately placing it as I stepped. I realized that my foot wasn’t moving; it was just hanging off the bottom of my leg. I couldn’t feel it at all.

Running late, I shuffled off to class. What would normally be a 20-25min commute turned into 45 minutes as I dragged my numb foot along with me.

What could be wrong with it? I hadn’t hurt it. I hadn’t done anything super strenuous lately—beyond a lot of walking. All I had done was sleep.

By the time I got to class, I was both exhausted and concerned. I checked in with my professor to get points for attendance, helped with the group work project for a bit, and then emailed my parents to see if I could Skype them. Leaving class a few minutes early, I shuffled back to my dorm.

Talking with my parents, we came to the conclusion it was probably a pinched nerve. With sitting all the time on airplanes, trams, and for homework, blogging, and Skype conversations, it made sense that I could have tweaked something in my leg or back. It wasn’t hot, it wasn’t red. It was a bit swollen, so I snagged a mop bucket out of the hall and started soaking it in ice water. We decided the best treatment for now would be to take some Advil and walk it off.

For the next couple of days, there was no change. I started walking to the store to buy some bread and meat for sandwiches each day. I also discovered a greenbelt behind the dorms and started walking there at nights to take in the sunset and do a little devotional reading.

The Witch Doctor—April 25, 2013
I decided to try a little bit of old world medicine too. Stumbling my way into town, I went to one of the Thai massage parlors that can be found all across Prague. First off, I was shocked by the prices (a 2 hour full body massage was only $75 USD.) I went for the cheap option however, and did the $20, 30 minute foot massage.

As the lady washed and then started rubbing my feet, she noticed the right one was very sensitive and rigid to touch.

“Is not good?” she asked.

“It feels good,” I said. “My foot is just hurt.”

She rubbed it some more before saying, “Problem not in foot. Problem in head. Here.” She stood up and walked around behind the recliner I was sitting in. She began rubbing my neck and using her finger tips to put pressure on various points in my skull.

“Wait,” she said, disappearing for several minutes. She returned with a large cup of tea. “Here, drink this.”

It was luke-warm and fairly flavorless. I drank all of it. About 30 minutes later, I still couldn’t feel my foot.

Finally Sunny—April 26, 2013

I met Lad’ka for Pizza today. We had a lot of fun chatting and walking around old town for the afternoon. Nice weather has finally arrived in Prague and it was beautiful and sunny all day. Unfortunately, that meant the tourists were everywhere.

“You do not look like them anymore,” Lad’ka assured me.

I couldn’t believe I’d ever looked that clueless…in reality, I probably looked more clueless. I just hopped that I hadn’t been so loud and pushy.

Guess Who’s Coming to Bed—April 27, 2013

Aaron was away for the weekend. I’ve never had a true roommate before this semester (in the dorms back home, we shared a suite but I had my own room.) It was funny to me how quiet the room was with him being gone.

About 3am, I heard my other roommate—who shares the suite with us—come back with his friend that was visiting from out of town. I was shocked when his friend came into the room.

“Hello,” he said. “I’m Sam.”

“Zach,” I said, a little startled and still half asleep.

“Nice to meet you mate,” he said, climbing into Aaron’s bed. Within minutes he was asleep.

The quiet room was no longer an issue. He immediately began snoring louder than a lawn mower.

Explosion—April 29, 2013
Sitting in my Intro to Czech class, my iPod chimed that I had an email. It was a notification from the US Embassy. It read

“There was a gas explosion on Divadelni Street that has damaged a building in the center of the Czech capital, Prague.  Police are saying at least 13 people have been injured.  Windows on buildings near the blast were shattered, including some near the National Theater.  We are being told by police gas is still leaking at the site and another explosion is possible.  All persons are advised to stay out of the immediate area of Divadelni Street and to stay away from windows near the vicinity. Police have closed Narodni trida and Smetanovo nabrezi.”

I emailed my parents to let them know I was okay (being 8 hours ahead, they got my email before they’d even seen the coverage on the news.)

Over the course of the day, various news stations had their own take on it. Some the US stations reported that 50 people were severely injured and countless others were trapped. A Scandinavian station reported that Prague was under attack. Most of the Czech stations portrayed it as sad, but not a big deal.  In the end, I think somewhere between 30 to 50 people had minor injuries, with the worst being broken bones.

It made me speculate: What is truth? How much of what we “know” is based on how our media reports it?

Boy Scout Skills—April 29, 2013 (Continued)
My foot still wasn’t getting much better. I was walking more naturally—at least I was getting used to how I had to step. I still couldn’t quite walk without consciously thinking about it, but it looked more natural than when I’d been shuffling along.

I was starting to get some feeling back in it too. The biggest problem was I couldn’t dorsiflex my toes (point them up towards my chin.) I could curl them, but then I couldn’t straighten them without uncurling them manually with my fingers.

I started wondering if maybe there was something structurally damaged. I didn’t remember hurting it, but it was possible I’d stumbled somewhere without thinking about it. I decided to go get an ACE bandage to wrap it up.

Going back to the pharmacy by school that I’d been in with Manu back in February, I asked for the English speaking pharmacist.

I told him, “I hurt my ankle; I was wondering if you sell a bandage I can use to wrap it?”

He produced a few and recommended one over the other. It was 45 crowns (about $2.25 USD) so I bought it.

“How do I fasten it?” I asked. “Do you sell safety pins?”

“It’s in there,” he said.

No it wasn’t, I discovered when I got back to the dorm. Awkwardly, I stood next to my bed with just my toes resting on the frame. Gravity pushed my heel down to hold my foot in the dorsiflexion position I couldn’t get it into naturally. I began wrapping the bandage first around my foot, then my calf, and then figure-eighting it to form heal locks. To security it in place, I tucked the bandage in on itself, and then put a large sock on over top of it.

It immediately felt “better.” There really hadn’t been any pain, but walking was instantly more natural. I sort of limped now, but it was less noticeable and less cumbersome than thinking about placing each step.

Dreams—April 30, 2013
Before I left home, I began having this recurring dream. In it, I was in “Prague” (it wasn’t Prague since I’d never seen the city before, but the city I was in was what I imagined Prague to look like.) In the dream Prague was underwater and I was looking down into it from a boat that being tossed in the waves. I was always crying in the dream and wanting to go home. In fact, I’d wake up crying.

Now, I am having another recurring dream. This time, I’m at the airport, getting off the plane with a sea of friends and family greeting me. Again, I’m crying but this time out of joy. In fact, I’m again waking up crying.

With six weeks to go until I go home, I’ve started thinking about some of the people I met on the WSA trips. In both Barcelona and Amsterdam, there were people who were 4 to 6 weeks away from going home. All of them had this sentiment that they were ready to get home. I think I am starting to get there. I don’t want it to end, but I am ready to see my family and friends back home again.

I Skyped with my Mom tonight. She sent me my flight information for my flight home. It turns out, I’m going home a day earlier than I thought I was. It made me laugh. Despite being ready to get home, I don’t want to go a day early. I know it’s only a day, but when I saw that in the email, I felt like I was being “short changed” in some way.

Who’d have thought that I’d fall so in love with this place or with this lifestyle? I think it’s safe to say I have the travel bug.