The Joys of City Life

I spent a lot of time on the Internet today (and apparently continue to) so I didn't really get a whole lot done. But after a lovely Skype date with my from Leila (the infamous bring-the-rain-on-every-trip-we-ever-take-together Leila), I finally went in search of an Open Card office.

The Open Card is simply a public transportation pass. Apparently it's a lot like the Taipei EasyCard which you can through your life savings on to and use at stores and such... Or you can do like me and just buy a month's worth of unlimited public transport credit.

Used to you had to go in each time your pass was about to expire and file for a new one with a new photo and then you would get your new card in the mail in a couple of weeks. That's every month or 90 days or year depending on how long of a pass you can afford to buy at any given moment. 

That system sucked.

Well apparently the government officials figured out that system sucked because they decided they would make the Open Card the only way you could buy month passes. The benefit is that you only have to have the one card (which still has your picture on it) and when you need more credit you can simply go to a machine or a counter and pay for it and then it works again.

The crappy part about this is that everyone and their mom needs one so the lines are crazy long. Yesterday the line was out the metro entrance and those folks looked cold so I decided I could wait. Today's line wasn't so bad.

Unfortunately, I'll still be paying for public transportation for two weeks until my new card comes in the mail. 

Oh the joys of city life.

Tomorrow I start my two-day orientation for my new job and then I have a one-to-one lesson with an 11-year-old Czech-British girl. Apparently she lives here in Prague with her Czech mother and her Egyptian step-father and they want her to practice her English since she's not around her dad all the time anymore.

At least I don't have to start completely from scratch because that's hard with one-to-one lessons. 

Looks like tomorrow's lesson is going to consist of get-to-know-you questions and lots of games.