Swobodin v Brně

Sorry for posting only about my “adventures” in my city, may be I will create a special blog for that, but for the moment, I am away from actualities (everything is in Czech here), culture (no time at all) and so on.
Anyway, yesterday was the first time I had not to ask any person whether they know about some street or station, I am getting used to the city. It’s cold (of course), very calm and, I liked this point, a car is not useful at all, and may even be unwanted. In fact, Brno is efficiently interconnected by trams and buses, with a map and a trams plan, you can move from any part of the city to another within less than 30 minutes for 13 crowns, you only have to understand how does the system work, not too easy for a non-Czech speaking person.
After my forced stay at Grand Hotel (which, by the way, one of the lamest hotels I have ever been at), I moved to a pension, awful enough, but it was the only way to save my money. I was obliged to stay in the same room with a British archeologist, well, that was not the problem, as he was very friendly and quiet, the problem was my neighbors, a 80-year old man who spends the day listening to a folkloric radio station and the night snoozing and coughing; let’s not talk about the church bell that rings every hour the number of hours passed after midnight, nobody can keep sleeping at 23.
Finding a home in Brno is very difficult, according to many experiences, but I was really lucky to find one in an evening at the second try.
At the first real estate agency, there was no one speaking English, but we got to communicate by … drawing. While explaining, the guy used the word “también”, I asked:
- Habla usted español? (Do you speak Spanish?)
- Sí, un poco. (Yes, a little bit)
I never thought that Spanish could be useful in that part of the world, the agent was happy to practice his Spanish and to remember his old good days (in Cuba?), we found a house that fits to my needs exactly, however, the problem was the owner, who told he doesn’t want strangers. Let me not make the situation serious and say it’s because he won’t be able to communicate with them.
At the second agency, there was a girl who spoke English, she was a bit odd but funny, she managed to make an appointment with the owner the day after, and I moved there at the same time I have visited the house.
Well, nice neighborhood, nice furniture, nice equipement, decent house, but the price I had to pay was not only the 6000 crowns per month as I was expecting: Aside from it, there was a returnable deposit of the same amount plus … 9000 crowns for the agency! Therefore the fees are 250%! Crazy but I have no choice.
Asking Moravians (Brno people) about some place is interesting. First, you must never stop someone starting with an introduction like “Excuse me, can I ask you …”, they will avoid you without hearing.
The best way is to tell directly the place, for example “Masaryková!”, if they stop, which is generally the case, you must add “please” so that you don’t get the answer in Czech. Czech people are very helpful once they realize you are not dangerous. Unlike Prague, where everybody I met speaks English, in Brno, they tend to speak German. If the person you asked doesn’t speak English, they even sometimes lead you to the place you asked about! And if they don’t know, they feel like guilty and oblige you to apologize and to thank: “Sorry my friend, I would wish to help you, really, but believe me, I don’t know”.
As for safety, I did not notice any problem here, not even at night, well, I avoid strange people leaving bars, but apart from this, nothing would be scaring. Oh, yes, In Prague, I noticed this in the metro: “Be aware of pick pockets! Better warned than sorry”.
To be continued …

This entry was posted on Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 2:33 pm and is filed under General, Personal, Czech Republic, Brno, Prague. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.