(Cafe Sladkovsky)
This week the Czech tour took place - I went to Brno and Prague to host small, intimate events, during which I could explain what POPrebel is about, look for collaborators to fill constantly un-filled position and promote the idea of sharing stories and getting paid for it.
Brno was chosen because I have some Polish friends living there - they helped me pick the place (which was an amazing collective coffee shop run by… anarchists. Plenty of great workshops, including poliamory talks, were announced on the walls. I felt perfect there - but I also understood why the regulars found it alienating. My bad. ) and promoted the event in their networks. We had 75 interested people… and then it was raining cats and dogs the whole afternoon. It got clear right before the event started, and nobody came. What I have also noticed, is that young Czechs don’t speak English very often - the initial idea was to hire a local person who’d accompany me, in case this would turn out true, but as we struggled to find them, a string of problems occurred. Nevertheless, I talked to all the workers of the space, told them about the call and was promised some help.
Now, the second one was held in a hipster district of Prague, in a beautiful cafe that attracts a mix of middle-class people - old and young, left and liberal. This event was not promoted, so we were ready to step in with @Jirka_Kocian - my mission was to be a bait, go talk to people, ask them to join, and then conduct the conversation while Jirka took notes, and occasionally jumped in with some more specific questions, along with @kuba_svehla. I managed to find two people who’d share their opinions and who spoke English comfortably, a relief after numerous attempts a day earlier when I tried the same and young people would just refuse to have a conversation at all.
Now, I know a lot of people who live in Prague - and only one of them is Czech. I got him on board to share the call, along with a couple of other people. Even if everyone admits that the project is interesting, and the offer we have is great for local standards, they’re not really eager to get involved. Czechs are reserved and stay inside their Czech bubbles. When you ask them about the political situation, they don’t want to elaborate much. It’s easier to get them to talk when you have a beer on the table, though. Lessons learned: get a Czech person if you want to enter their circles and a box of beers.
