an interlude

I attempted to only post pictures during this project, but I realized that so much of who I am is found in story. True, a picture can tell a thousand words, but I still need to story-tell. So, here is the first.

Faithful readers of my blog will know the term "lolipopping". For a detailed explaination see one of my previous posts. So, for the first time in my life, yesterday, I was lolipopped! We were driving to a castle and I made the mistake of not noticing the two signs above. One is a no driving symbol and the other is a Walking Zone.

Right when I saw the officer, I knew it was going to happen. His left arm flew out the window and extending from it was the dreaded lolipop! He signaled me to pull over, so I did. Right as he did I realized I didn't have my passport with me. Now, before you say, "You idiot". When you live everyday in Europe, you begin to realize that you don't always need to carry your passport everywhere.

So, in broken Czech I began to explain to the officer everything. He wasn't too pleased. At one point a Czech in a USA shirt walked up to see if I needed help. When he heard I didn't have my passport he said, "Oh, I don't think I can help you there." So I began to throw out all the Czech prases I knew, "I'm sorry." "I'm an idiot", etc. I actually used the Czech word: blbost which is a softer form of idiot and a VERY Czech word. After I said it he kinda laughed and said (in Czech) "Good Czech".

Fortunately, he let me off with a stern warning. I really count it a miracle, cause Czech cops aren't known for their grace. Especially to foreigners...especially to foreigners without passports. I think if I wouldn've been Czech I would've gotten a ticket. I think if I wouldn't've been able to speak any Czech I would've gotten a ticket, but for some crazy reason, he was amused by my crappy, broken Czech and I think that is the only thing that saved me.