Fresh Cuts

Well, after missing the party on Monday night, I was pretty annoyed, but I woke up on Tuesday with a clearer head and was able to start the day off on a good foot. We first went to the Anglo-American University in Prague for a session on their project that they will be conducting. Their project is titled, "Managing Your Online Reputation." It is a really interesting topic that is especially relevant for young teens today. It is a topic that transcends nations and will only continue to grow in importance. You can check out more about their project by clicking here.

After the meeting with AAU, we moved back to the AIESEC offices to begin the Camp Prep Week (CPW). This was what I was working on all of Monday night. We went over the schedule for the week and looked at a general picture of what camp will look like when we begin in a couple weeks. Actually, Camp 1 is only a week away right now, so it really is crunch time. After I went over the agenda, Jenny had a few things to say about logistics and after that we had a meeting while the others finished some cultural education. During the meeting we finalized the expectations of the universities and I received the last of the information I needed to get the facis started on creating the projects for camp.

After the day was over we went back to Letna, the beer garden on top of the hill overlooking Prague. We had a few drinks and made our way back to Jenny's to rest for the night. Jenny's roommate Roman had moved out because he was going to San Francisco for the summer, so I moved into his room and made myself at home on his bed (he invited me to do so of course). It was nice to be in a bedroom, rather then sleeping on the living room floor. I went to bed relatively early and woke up this morning rested and ready for the day.

Since I'm in charge of CPW, Jenny stayed at home and caught up on some much needed rest. When we got to the AIESEC offices, we began working on our Global Village materials. Lessya is making a Kazakh lamb dish, which kind of look like Indian samosas or hot pockets. Aysegul is making kisir, a Turkish dish--something with rice, Ekta (just to clarify, the correct spelling is E-k-t-a, even if my dyslexic fingers type Etka sometimes), is making Indian curry, Jolin is making fried rice, Tete is making "Chocolate Sausage", a Portuguese dessert, and Ana is making some chocolate something, which I can't pronounce or write. I'm going to represent the US with an attempt at bean burritos, but we'll see what happens. I may just have to order some McDonalds french fries...

After preparing what we needed for Global Village, we began working on the first project. This is a marketing strategy project for the Banking Institute of Prague. We each finished our parts by 5 PM, so we had the rest of the day free to run errands, go home and relax. I had a few things to get done before I went home. I'm in charge of planning the faci adventure in between the two camps. This means I'm in charge of booking the bus tickets, getting our hostels, finding out what to do, etc. I'm fine with doing this because the first time I came to Europe, I did the exact same thing. I'm used to it and it's fun! Have I told you what we're doing for our 6 day break?? We're planning on leaving from Brno (the 2nd largest city in Czech Republic, about 30 minutes away from camp) to Vienna, Austria. We'll stay in Vienna for 3 days, and leave to Budapest, Hungary for 3 days. I'm really excited.

Anyway, I was planning on heading to the bus station to price the tickets (I already have our schedule), but I also had to pick up some deodorant, eye solution, and soap at the store AND I had to get a haircut. Of course, if you remember me, I always have to get my haircut every 2 weeks because I can't stand when it gets "long". I found my deodorant and soap at the store, but I couldn't find any solution (and I'm about to run out). I'll have to look for that another day. I instead focused on the important things--getting my haircut. I found some free wireless internet and searched for hair salons near me. I found a few places, some were closed others were for ladies and I found one that didn't look so bad for $20 haircut. I thought it was a bit pricey, so I searched for barber shop instead. I found a few new places, but one was closed and the other was too far to walk. I figured that I'd might as well just bite the bullet and spend $20 on the haircut because eventually everything would close and then I'd have to deal with it another day after already spending 30 minutes looking around aimlessly.

I went into the place and found out that they spoke English, but they only took appointments. I understood and was ready to leave when the boss lady told me to wait. She talked to one of the girls and then came back and told me that if I could wait till 7 PM, they could cut my hair. I said OK, and waited the 20 minutes more. This was a great place! For $20 I was really enjoying the shampoo and the lady cut my hair very well. I was really pleased with everything. When I went to pay however, all my happy feelings went away. I had misread the prices (of course) and was reading the "Men's Cut with machine only". Well of course, after re-reading it I still don't know what "machine only means", but the one right below it says, "Men's Cut professional stylist". I don't know what that means either, but I do know now that Petra Měchurová (the name of the place) charges 800 CK for a "Men's Cut professional stylist"...if you do the math, it was about a $36 haircut. Thanks Prague, you've just taken over as "The Most Expensive Haircut in the World" for me. China is still in the lead for "Cheapest Haircuts Ever" charging $3 per haircut, followed by Mexico, coming in around $4 a cut. Well, now that I've spent my weekly allowance on one haircut, I think I'll be living off of bread and cheese for a while. If I don't post for a while, you'll know that I have starved to death and am being fed to the pigeons in Old Town Square. Until next time...cheers!