What a joy to see... JOY! :)

by Petr Svoboda

I’ve seen HER! Finally! Right after I lost my hope and returned to Prague, depressed and frustrated!

So I drink my beer, totally sad, in this place at Mala Strana. I look through the window. Sad me, sad weather, sad world. I order another beer.

And then…

I see two people walking down the street. One of them is Vaclav Havel. He is talking to a young woman. She looks like a journalist, who is interviewing Havel. She looks like… Joy! That was her, I’m sure!

So get up, ready to run outside… But then, the place’s owner stops me - he’s a big man! - and forces me to pay for the beers!

I lost her again - but this time I’m sure I’ll find her! She is close! In this town, right now! I just need to stay close to Vaclav Havel…

Wish me luck!

Lucky Petr   

What next?

by Joy Abercrombie

Hi everyone!

I’m Joy. Yeah, THIS Joy. I know Petr is looking for me. I have known it since the Round Table talks in Warsaw. Then, he followed me to East Berlin. Later, to Budapest. And now… I can’t tell where I am now. Not yet ;)

Why not? Because there are more important things happening right now in Europe than this “thing” with Petr! And I have to write about it! My job is to inform American readers what is going on here - not to fall in love with a handsome, inteligent and romantic Czech guy…

… But when it will be over… who knows...? ;)

And it will be over soon - I can feel it! The freedom is in the air. I can feel it from my balcony in…

I can’t tell you where I am ;)

Not now.

What’s going to be next? I can’t wait!

Joy  

FREEDOM!

by Laura Moeller

What a month! August 19th I travelled to the Hungarian city Sopron for a Pan-European Picnic, organized by Austrian and Hungarian diplomats. There was food, great atmosphere, and… an opportunity to flee West! @_@

The idea of the picnic was to open the border for about three hours and allow participants to cross unchecked into Austria. There were a huge crowd of people (about 10 000!) and among them… 600 of us, smart citizens of East Germany, who decided to grab the occasion!

So, we seized the moment and the Hungarian border guards turned a blind eye, letting the East Germans through. And we made it!  

I’m in Austria now and you know what? Freedom tastes so gooooooood!

with love,

Laura

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexdram/3842353635/

Holiday is over!

by Ferenc Keleman

It’s good to be back home! We’ve just returned from a short trip to Keszthely. I wanted to take Petr out of town and show him the Balaton lake. It’s so beautiful this time of year!

We did some swimming and eat a lot of fishes. Petr stopped talkin about this Joy (uff!) for a few days. It was relief! He even talked with some girls on the beach one evening (!).

But now we are back in Budapest. Tomorrow we are going to Vorosmarty suqare to a peacefull demonstration on the 28th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall. We want it to be demolished! This stupid division of Berlin is so old-school! Enough with it! 

See you on the square! Maybe Joy will appear? ;)   

Photo credit: tutuka / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Ferenc.

Love affaire!

by Veronika Zabavnik

So excited! Just read Jadwiga's new post on her blog. I KNEW IT. She loves Petr! And Pert loves Joy. What a mess! 

I love it! It's like a soap opera but in real life! What's gonna happen in nex episode? Petr will love Jadwiga, Joy will love Mihai, Laura will love Ferenc and Ferenc will love Petr? I'm going for popcorn! :)))    

V.

I just write to say I... miss you, Petr :)

by Jadwiga Walczak 

Petr is in Budapest right now, still looking for his Joy. You know, this lost American journalist who is somewere in Eastern Europe. 


I wish him all the best. No, that's a lie. I realy miss him! I miss his jokes, his stories and his smile...
Maybe he won't find Joy in Hungary and he'll go back to Poland then? 


What else? Good news: we have a new, partly democratic parliament! Who will be elected President? We'll see, but I think it'll be general Jaruzelski. July 19th is the date of elections. 


Cheers! 


Jadzia

Love triangle :)

Hello form Budapest! You know, Hungarian city with this huuuuuuuge parliament building:

Photo credit: bill barber / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

I'm staying at Ferenc's place and still #lookingforJoy. She may be somewhere here 'couse Hungarians have the Triangle Table Talks right now. Something like the Round Table in Poland, but... hm.. triangle. It looks like it's going in the FREE direction, if you know what I mean. On 16 June we were at the Imre Nagy's (leader of the 1956 revolution) funeral. Incredible experience... Such power of everyone's hope! 

And here are some photos from yeastarday's squat concert:  

Photo credit: Sterneck / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

and my new friends:

Photo credit: Sterneck / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Yeah, it's all fine, but Joy is still missing! 
Cheers, 
Petr.