dobry den.

so czech is a really difficult language. it's not a romantic language, in fact it's sort of the opposite, so having learned spanish before czech has made learning czech more difficult. the vowels are pronounced different, the consonants include both hard and soft, and it's hard for me to discern where one word ends and the other begins. when i am at a supermarket or a karnavoka (coffee shop), I find myself responding to a befuddling blur of czech with a response spoken in spanish. i think this is because my mind knows that i'm not allowed to speak english, but since it takes me years to form sentences in czech i immediately switch to spanish. if im not careful, i'll start streaming spanish at some unsuspecting tram conductor who is confused by the spaniard-american who can't speak chesky. i was actually once pleasantly surprised by the baggage check dude at one of the clubs in old town. i went upstairs to drop off my bag before the dancing took me, and he said something in czech that i didn't understand. i tried a few feeble czech sentences and then helplessly lapsed into spanish. his response brightened the room: "Catracho, no? Mi amor, espanol esta aqui!" Which translates to, "Honduras, right? I love it, spanish in prague!". He was from spain and working in prague, and apparently my accent is still authentically honduran. cheers to that.

euro 2008 is pumping up in intensity. i love football (soccer, dummy) in europe. no american sport brings thousands upon thousands of screaming fans into the streets to watch games on huge screens. it is such a unanimously loved sport, and I love that that is the case. im for spain all the way. they played a shotty match against italy last night but won in penalty kicks. here's the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/euro_2008/7468465.stm