It was when I went to the Czech Republic (just months after it had ceased being Czechoslovakia) that I ended up shocking people, and was shocked in turn.
Later, in Prague, I was shocked again (well, disappointed is more accurate). My Canadian friend and I were excited to visit cathedrals but also to go shopping. We’d heard how ridiculously cheap things were in Eastern Europe. I imagined rows of luxury department stores, with all the things we had in the expensive stores in Canada, except at really cheap prices.
I finally understood why teenagers brought jeans to the Soviet Union to barter with on school trips, why Levis were such potent currency in the Soviet Union days
Who has experienced what they called a happy accident (bestiality)?
I - ethnically Korean (it’s important) - ended up taking a road trip to Prague. There were 5 of us, me, a white Canadian woman, 2 Austrians and 1 German, men. On the way, we stopped at a cafe in Budweis (České Budějovice). In Vienna, nobody seemed to take notice of me. But in Budweis, by the time we sat down, the whole patio was starting at me. Not surreptitiously, but openly gawking. Like you might at a zoo animal. I have to assume it was because they’d never seen an Asian person before, and they probably wondered what I was doing with 3 blond European men.
I also suddenly understood the impact of trade embargoes in people’s daily lives
A bunch of things clicked into place for me that day:
Toyota Industries' shares nosedive on $33 billion buyout deal — steepest fall in 10 months - CNBC
I visited Europe for the first time in the summer of 1993, Austria then the Czech Republic. Vienna pretty much conformed to my stereotypes of Europe. Nothing shocking, though I admit I was surprised at how tiny their front-loading washing machines were … and also their toilets. Instead of shitting into a bowl of water, like in Canada, you shit onto a slab (which is a lot stinkier, guys), then you flushed by pulling on a cord that came down from the ceiling. The flush was jet-like, which makes sense, as you don’t want to leave skid marks. Anyway, uh, moving on…
Per the department store, I realized that in most cases, you get what you pay for. Um, except when it comes to food and beer … the 5 of us ate and drank for I think $3 CAD.
I learned that a lot of people, especially in rural areas, have never seen someone who isn’t like them ethnically. (I’m assuming Budweis is rural, there were a lot of ancient looking tractors on the road)
Hi everybody! I have been looking at posts on narcs and narc abuse on here and if has really helped me out a lot. I am currently struggling with my situation and need some advice/support.
I met a narc last year, everything seemed to good to be true. Love bombing, always texting calling and taking me on dates. Everything changed when someone warned me about him out in public in front of him and who he is. This caused a conflict with us and the love bombing seized.
he would tell me that everything is okay and i can come and talk. He would set a time limit on me and kick me out after that.
he would then text me like everything was fine and we hung out again and after that he completely ghosted me for one week. He came back and texted me a week later laughing about the ghosting and acting like nothing had happened.
he continued to text me ( not like in the beginning) make plans with me, then on the day of the plans he would just ghost me. One day he would act interested the next silence.
i contacted him a month later and he acted like nothing happened. He was on a vacation and sent me a picture of another woman ( someone he allegedly met on the trip) to strike a reaction but i never gave him one. After the trip he came to my place and was extremely rude, accusing me of going on dates with a bunch of men. The next day he accused me of being an alcoholic and that he wanted nothing to do with me but said well maybe we can be "friends" then ghosted me
i assumed at this point it was over and i would never hear from him again. He contacted me on the holiday a month later acting like everything was great. We ended up hanging out a month or so later and when we hung out it went well, i thought things were going in the right direction.
after we hung out.. silence. I would try to text him and if he replied it would be very short then he just stopped replying. He ghosted me for almost three months. I thought he was done this time and of course he popped up again like nothing happened. At this point i was getting sick of if so i questioned him as to why he dissapeared and always does this. Of course he had some sob story about a injury and family member dying of cancer. I felt pity for him and he gave me an apology.. so i took him back stupidly.
things seemed to be going smooth for a couple months, of course until his family member died and his injury got better he never contacted me and was distant. Menawhile, i was there for him during the difficult time for him. He lied to me about the funeral and never wanted to chat. I was chasing him and he would always claim nothing was wrong but when i said i thought he used me when he was down he could not handle it and would always tell me he didnt care and to go away. I would get so upset i would try texting him to work it out he would barelt respond and if he did he would not be nice about it.
we did hang out a couple times after that, he would ignore me after. One day i was like hey i think you are seeing someone else, and i was like well ixam seeing someone so no problem if you are he said " buy bye good luck with your new guy stop contacting me" i was devastated and tried to get into contact with him for weeks then i just gave up and accepted it was over. He ended up contacting me a month later acting like everything was fine. He wanted to go out and have drinks i told him i would. He and i both seemed to have a great time. He ends up ignoring me again. I kept texting him trying to figure out what was wrong. He kept saying everything was fine and i said ok can we hang out again? He said maybe i was like why? He just kept saying maybe …
our last conversation we had… i said what is wrong ? He said nothing is wrong everything is fine. I asked him why he keeps saying maybe. He said " maybe but i dont want to see you right now" i said why? He saix " im just not feeling it, if i wanted to date i would" i said why did you contact me less then a week ago wanting to go out? He said i didnt.. even though he did. So i said should i just move on or what? He said whatever you want to do. So i said that he was really confusing me and asked him if he had anything more to say before i move on? My messages were turning green so i panicked he blocked me and reacted irrationally. I said " omg did you block me? My messages are not going through. Even texted him on my work phone asking what was up. And called him twice ( please dont judge me i know it is pathetic i never was this type of girl before him) so he replied and said " Ok I'll block you now" then immedietly blocked me. He has never blocked me before since I have met him he will just ghost. Is this ths final discard aka " grand finale? Did i just push him too far?
this has upset me so much its hard to even function.
I, in turn, was shocked by them. Not by their staring, which was weird but I kind of got it. It was their clothes. This was 1993 but they were wearing bell bottom jeans and clothes that were straight out of the 70s. Dark indigo denim in the post acid wash era of distressed jeans. And I could tell those very dark blue bell bottoms were their dressy jeans, for going out. I remember the women wearing a lot of heavy 70s-ish makeup.
Imagine my disappointment when I went to the fanciest department store, and found that the selection was worse than the bargain basement of Zellers (the discount department of my youth). There was nothing I wanted, nothing that wasn’t decades out of style. My friend ended up getting a violin for a bargain, but otherwise, we were surprised and disappointed.
