Jsem Konečně Tady

Friday, September 17^th, 6:07 PM

   Again in Ostrava. The Fulbright orientation is formally over, though the (minimal) program this morning was optional and I decided instead to sleep through it. I'm pretty tired, I think mostly because Andrew kept stumbling in at 3 AM and snoring like a rusty chainsaw going through a drainpipe. All told, though, it was nice to live with him, albeit only for a short while. Walking all over creation every day probably helped tire me out as well. I'm really looking forward to getting settled in in Ostrava – finally having a home, and being able to fully unpack, and, like, invest in a coffeemaker and a tram pass. That will, though, have to wait until Sunday, it seems. I'm a little bit worried about the finances aspect, since they strongly recommended that I open my account in Ostrava instead of in Prague, and so I still haven't been paid for September. I have enough money in my account to pay for the security deposit and first month's rent, though I'm only able to pull it off by draining my savings and I think I'll have to let a bit of money roll over on my credit card, which irritates me to no end. The CB ATM rejected my withdrawal request here, but I got a decent chunk of change in Prague this morning, so perhaps there's a daily withdrawal limit I was going over. I think I might try once more before Misa gets here, taking out less, and if that doesn't work I might have to call their international helpline. I really hope that they didn't decide to freeze my account.

   The Fulbright orientation was a little strange but probably good that I got the opportunity. It seemed like the orientation was really heavily oriented towards the English teachers and teaching assistants rather than towards the researchers, but there was some good information, and some documents. Honestly I was a little underwhelmed as to the information available for me in Ostrava, though if I were to be in Prague they'd have all sorts of resources available. I tell myself that I'm a pioneer. I'm not really looking forward to registering with the Foreign Police, though I must and so I will. I ought also register with the Embassy. It'll be a busy week, I think. I need to set up a bank account first of all, so I can send it in to Miloš and get paid so I can afford to do anything else. And then find a grocery store, a shopping mall, maybe a Kaufland, get a transport pass, find the University, meet my sponsoring professor, find the archive, and maybe actually get a little bit of work done. It'd also be nice to find a gym, but I'm still not totally sure about what the process is, or what the best way to accomplish that would be. It might be a huge pain in the ass to try to put together a home gym, especially since I would have to transport the whole thing on my back. Who knows. Not a lot I can do about it now, I suppose. I don't have a lot on my plate for tonight, though we may end up dropping by the apartment. It's unclear. Tomorrow may be a good day to get some errands out of the way.