Posts Tagged ‘personae non gratae’

After dwelling in Eastern Europe’s bizarre post-Communist galaxy for more than eight years now, I’ve observed a ton of radical changes in this region over that span of time.

In my case, Czech Prague has disturbingly evolved from a city of mystery and intrigue — one with an ominously dark brooding aspect, albeit with an unsettling checkered past — into a ho-hum sleepy mitteleuropaische burg which doubles as a transit point for all and and sundry who seem to exist here in a sort of transitional bubble. The only people who seem to have anything to do with the Praguers are the Praguers themselves. Even other Czechs seem to resent their big city cousins terribly, perhaps quite normal for most countries. Prague is populated by locals and others who are pushing westward from Europe’s post-Soviet, post-Bloc East in search of a more permissive European environment in which to fulfill lifelong dreams or hatch their mendacious schemes for lucre. There are also those hailing from the wealthy West in search of a post-collegiate drunken, drugged-out adventure and those reviled washouts, castaways from societies where they just couldn’t make the grade. Losers by any other name.

Alas, Eastern Europe – and in my particular case, the hapless, bumbling, drunk, and extraordinarily corrupt Czech Republic – is not the People’s Republic. The Czech Republic – not in dog’s years — couldn’t ever boast of China’s expansive possibilities or come anywhere close to promising China’s seemingly endless opportunities for advancement.

So let’s draft a brief outline of the typical profiles of the ones who formerly flocked to these landlocked shores during the Golden City’s heyday, those wild post-Wall Fall 1990s:

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