Tax, laundry and entertainment

So... First of all I appologize for my absence on the blog for so long. I was either busy or too lazy or/and tired to write anything. But here you are!

The most important thing is that Robi is in the FINAL!!! You can check it out here. The deadline for the adventure proposal was yesterday and you will be able to read it on Thursday evening (9pm Prague time). So read it and vote for it!

The last week or two was quite busy and I have some interesting stories. One is that I visited tax office for the first time. The reaso was that the Czech government introduced changes to the tax system. Unfortunately, it was not perfect (what is... especialy about taxes; the whole idea is just wrong). Foreigners working here would not get amount free from tax (2070 kc a month) unless they claimed the tax domicile in the Czech Republic. Here comes the interesting thing: you can claim it only for a current month. However some tax offices recognize the idiocy in the law and give it for the whole year. But just some...and you need to apply to the one according to where you live. So my HR person called the one for Prague 2 (that's where we live) and they said that it's ok, I just have to come there with my contract, flat lease and application form. I did it the same day (they are open only twice a week and that was one of the days). The office was nice, quite modern, all the people nice. They looked at my documents and said: "Your lease says you live in Prague 1." And I thought: "I'm such an idiot. I live there for over 2 years and I don't know where I live!". It didn't sound right but I tent to belive what I'm told. So I went to Prague one (just around the corner from where we live). It took me around an hour to find the right room, where they told me that in fact it is Prague 2! There is a mistake in my lease; it says the flat is Prague 1. It was too late to go back, so I decided to go the next time they will be open. I was soooooo tired after running around (I was also wearing high hills this day, which made my feet hurt terribly). The next morning I received an email from the HR department, that it is all solved, we don't need anything and we will get the 2070 kC like all the Czechs do! Two hours waisted!
So that's my tax office story. I am still happy that it was not all that bad, just tireing.

The other thing that happened is our washing machine broke. It was a little over a week ago. It started leaking and stopped rincing. We called our landlords, the man came on Monday evening, looked at it and said that he can't do anything (of course!). The next morning he came again. His wife called me later that day to tell me that he and Robi was on the floor trying to figure out the serial numbers. It may not seem funny to you, but imagine 65 years old Czech man with white beard and glasses, speaking hardly any English and Robi laying on the floor under the washing machine. They found one of the numbers and the man came on Friday to look at it. He wanted 3,500 kC for the repai which is quite a lot, half of a price of a new wasching machine, so the owners promised to buy us a new one. They did it yesterday and today we're getting it! So I'm expecting it when I get home. My laundry basket is full! Oh, and the owner called me this morning to my work phone. I was still on the way to the office, so he got my voice mail...twice. The first time he said: "Ms Piekarska? Is there Ms Piekarska?". The second time he only cursed in beutiful Czech: "Do prdele!" I guess he is not used to the VM :) But he made my morning with it.

You may be already bored with those weir stories, so here comes some fun stuff. Weekend was great, I hardly spend any time at home. Friday we went to the opera to see Aida. It was very good. As you probably know, I don't know classical music too much. And I've never been to the opera before. So it was fun except that I was confused for the first act 'cause for some reason I thought that Aida is and Egyptian princess. And at the end I was waiting for the last act, when Robi told me: "That's the end, they are dead!" Ehm...
The rest of the weekend Robi was writting so on Saturday I went with Ade to the hudge vietnamese market full of all sorts of crap and some delicious food. We had Pho there which is amazing! I never had it before and totally felt in love. If only I knew how to make it! I also got some food unavailable anywhere else like lemon grass or Thai ginger and on Sunday I made Thai curry. It is quite good!
After the market I went home for like an hour and then off we go for a jazz concert. It was great! I liked them so much that I bought a CD. We all were very impressed. We also got quite drunk. I did not have that much to drink but Ade really wanted to get this mixed drink called Disharmony. You can imagine how it was based on the name. It included tequilla, slivovice, rum, fernet and a tiny bit of pine apple juice. I had to get extra glass of the juice but it didn't help al that much. It was still disguisting! And it made us very drunk very quickly, so we ambled home, popping for a delicious gyros in Chez Amis. It was a great day! And on Sunday went to church, then shopping, then for a coffee and then I cooked the curry. I have to say that I really liked the weekend, because I did lots of different things. It could only be better if Robi could enjoy it with me. But you know, it's not easy to be a RPG Superstar finalist.
And this weekend we're going to Olomouc! I'm really looking forward to getting out of Prague. The only problem is that they said it is going to snow! And the last two or three weekends I was running around just in a sweat shirt! Oh, well... I still hope for some sun.