Where in the world is Brad?

I am in a cubicle on the third floor of the building opposite the Tesco in Děčín in the Czech Republic.

My television at the hotel in Hřensko had only ten stations available: two in Czech, eight in German. I watched an episode of Scrubs dubbed into German this morning. I don’t think the people doing the dubbing were adequately replicating the speech cadences of the actors; in particular, the Dr. Cox character lost a little something. Had I not needed sleep, I might have watched an episode from the first season of Prison Break in Czech last night.

It’s very difficult trying to eat well here. Wait, scratch that. It’s very difficult to eat correctly here. It’s no trouble at all eating a sufficient amount. I just wish they’d serve Coke in something larger than the lilliputian size; I think the bottles are 250 milliliters (about eight ounces).

I’ve driven twice this week. That’s a bigger deal than it sounds because our car has a manual transmission and I don’t know how to drive one. I understand the concepts, but the techniques aren’t in muscle memory yet.

Tonight we drive to Praha (Prague) to stay at the Marriott at the airport. Our flight leaves at 9:20 AM for Amsterdam. After a little more than two hours there, we leave at a quarter after one on our eight hour and forty-five minute flight to Detroit. We’re scheduled to arrive at four.

(Comments from old site:)

That is a big deal.

It’s a bigger deal if you’re in the car with someone else that might judge you, even just a little. Are there coworkers with you, or did you travel alone?

I think you drive a little worse with new people in the car. At least I did. George Piskorz was (I think) the first person I drove with after Lisa taught me how to drive her manual transmission truck. Plus, it was in Texas. My experience with the hills dwarfs, I’m sure, (Is that an insensitive cliche’? I apologize if it is.) in comparison with driving in another country in a vehicle not your own.

Driving in the Czech Republic

Yes, I’m here with a coworker, but he knew I didn’t know anything about manual transmissions. The different signs and the various widths of streets are a little disconcerting.