just like john marsden pretending to be a teenage girl in jail, i have so much to tell you

hey melbuddies

how's it going? i haven't written since prague sucked, so i'll start there and move forward. prague began to not suck, happily. as dan/the story stealer has already told you, we had some awesome fun with svickova, free shots from crazy czech people, possible war zone experiences (i'm still pretty sure it was a bomb. you guys just don't get it on the news because of the iron curtain). but Usudu was awesome, the little bar recommended by sarah of ukranian-fearing pubcrawl fame. cocktails for 100 kroner, about 7aud, made specially by the bartender from secret ingredients that were probably a healthy mix of legal and illegal substances, but they were sweet and cheap so we rolled on happily. the czech republic is not a good place to be a vegetarian, but i did manage to find some jalapeno poppers (an american phenomenon, deep fried cheddar and bits of jalapeno) and bread dumplings which are so delicious and deadly.

on our last night we saw get smart, the fourth movie of the czech republic meaning that we had only spent two nights not at the cinema. it was average. anne hathaway's mouth is too big. the rock is hot but.

yesterday morning we had our teary farewell at the hostel. i didn't have too many tears on account of the mood stabilising drugs, but i think that somewhere deep inside me i may have some repressed sadness. hopefully it stays repressed. dan left at about 7am, making the record for the earliest morning of his entire trip, so i stayed around at ate breakfast and practised being courageous and strong. ha! i also tried to steal some bread rolls for lunch but got shouted at by the czech breakfast lady. but she didn't see the cheese triangles i'd already pocketed so she loses.

the train to munich was really nice, other than the loud scary argument between the train conductors and the czech police which went for about 45 minutes and we didn't move. this train was in little carriages, which was nice, and i didn't have to share with any creeps, which was even nicer. i think i might actually have been the carriage creep though, which is not so nice. i kept peering at people over my book and making comments in english, to which they nodded politely and looked away because they were all either czech or german. you know that person? i was that person. i was lonely shutup.

munich is really lovely, the weather has been beautiful and sunny, my hostel is great and i've talked to lots of people. last night i thought about going on the pub crawl but i don't like them at all so i just drank cocktails at the bar by myself while it was happy hour and talked to the bartenders. turns out they know the czech pub crawlers and know all about the mafia intimidation, so at least they've got some back up i guess? then i went to dinner with two jewish doctors who live off bambra rd, about 5 minutes from my house (depressing!) and an american male model who was about 8 feet tall and pretty into himself. the jewish doctors really freaked me out. they're real doctor people, they've been working for 2 years as junior doctors and they can already afford to take 9 months off work just to travel. and not cheaply either. and some awkward conversations happened about some moral issues and we disagreed and i made an excuse and walked home alone because they are weird. but they're nice i guess.

it took me about an hour to get home because i was listening to wicked and got lost in the back streets, and none of the atms would take my card, so by the time i got back to the hostel the bar was pretty packed. i thought, i can either go to bed and listen to wicked and everything will be joyous, or i can be brave. so i fought it and i was brave! i said to two boys, "hi i'm jes, i don't know anyone" and they said fair enough, and we played drinking games. one of them was wrecked and told me that he loved me so i went away from them for a while and played drinking games with some other people and eventually ended up quite drunk which was nice. an american called max kept mocking me for ordering half pints, the same as a melbourne pot, because apparently we're the only people in the world who drink beer like that. he kept asking me if i wanted a sippy cup, or if i needed a straw, or if i felt like a shot of beer next. what a tool. but you guys are getting teased when i come home because i'm so trans-national now!! har har

i slept through my alarm today and missed the walking tour so i went on my own walking tour, mostly touring the 5 different h&m stores they have in the central street but looking out the windows occasionally too. and i saw the residenz, which, i'm not sure because i don't have a guidebook but i think is the palace of a king or was or a duke or something. the specifics aren't important because the best thing ever was in the middle of the park, in a little rotunda. there was a man playing clarinet along with a jazz cd of swingy/dixie esque songs, busking, which is pretty common here, but there were about, oh at least 15 kids there, all from different familys, all under 5 years old, and they were dancing the shit out of that music. busting moves like you would not believe! swinging around, star jumps, the works. there was one little boy probably about 1 year old, whose only move was bending over and touching the ground and looking at the band through his legs, but he did it with such committment! for minutes on end! i wanted to take photos but you know how parents get about that kind of thing.

i also ate a bad sandwich and had a hot chocolate made of real chocolate (yum!!) and then i met another guy from my dorm and we did laundry. so it's been a pretty sweet first day alone. and i got a fanta which is great but the budget is blown.

anyway, that was a very boring and sequential post but i'm just letting you know i'm still alive if you're wondering, i know you are you crazy cats. you'll be getting the daniele back soon so make sure you make a fuss, he'll be in the euro-withdrawal for a few days at least.

miss u guyz, send me emails. xo