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Interests: Alfons Mucha, Archibald Leach, big words, Bob Hicok, Brian Eno, Cat Power, Charles Bukowski, Charlotte Masaryk, cheese, clarity, dark chocolate, David Byrne, David Foster Wallace, Dorothy Parker, Douglas Adams, Edna St. Vincent Millay, E.E. Cummings, Frank O’Hara, Fred Rogers, garlic, Gaudi, Gertrude Stein, ginger, Gustav Klimt, Iva Pekarkova, Jane Austen, Jaromir Nohavica, Jeanette Winterson, Josef Skvorecky, Joseph Campbell, Joss Whedon, Just a Minute, Kate Bush, Kurt Vonnegut, laughing until it hurts, Laurie Anderson, Leonard Cohen, little kids singing, Lloyd Alexander, mandarin oranges, making lists, Margaret Atwood, Miss Manners, New Yorker, Paul Simon, performance, P.G. Wodehouse, poetry, Rebecca Solnit, Rob Brezsny, Robert Anton Wilson, Robert Creeley, salt, Salvador Dali, secrets, silence, Star Trek, Stephen Dunn, Talking Heads, Terry Gilliam, things that stain, This American Life, Tom Waits, T.S. Eliot, vegetable juice, veiled cultural references, vinegar, water, wine, W.H. Auden

Will work for food?

I am recycling an old idea I once had about visiting all the restaurants that have their menus in English and offering to edit the menus in exchange for a few free meals.

Something’s gotta happen. I mean, this can’t keep up, right? But I’m sitting here thinking that when I came here it was 32 kc to the dollar and 8 Kc for a beer, and I was making Czech crowns and paying off dollar debts; now it’s 14.5 Kc to the dollar and at least 25 Kc for a beer, and I’m making dollars, and I can’t even begin to explain how incapable I am of writing math problems sufficiently intricate to reflect my frustration with this particular state of affairs.

I think I could probably do something with this, though. Do you think they’d feed me? Better yet, would I get some free beer out of it? Right before my eyeses?

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5 responses to “Will work for food?”

  1. Madeleine Avatar
    Madeleine

    I feel (an undetermined fraction of) your pain. I earn US dollars and spend Canadian dollars. Four years ago this was a good thing but I’ve taken a serious paycut since then.
    I’m sure that if they borrowered your skills, their website would be much betterer. But you’ll need to taste-test all the beers for confirmation, because someone has made an error with the pics of the pale and filtered lagers.

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  2. ste3ve Avatar
    ste3ve

    To think, all this time I had no idea that Brno was the capitals of fairs. Seriously though, ABYSS web design? Maybe you can make some money just by finding them a name that inspires a little less despair.
    And the dollar ain’t exactly buying a lot here where we don’t have to trade it for any of yer fancy furrin munnys.

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  3. Patricia Avatar
    Patricia

    Go for it, and have a brewered ale on me while you are editing.

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  4. Michael Avatar
    Michael

    I tried this a couple of times when I worked in Liberec. I found hotels work best – their translations are uniformally awful. Didn’t make much cash but usually got a free feed and a night on the ale.

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  5. Strange Proportion Avatar
    Strange Proportion

    Dude, if I remember right, Czech requires a space after a comma too. You can’t attribute all their problems to not knowing English. Sorry about the weak dollar (or the strong crown). I feel your pain. Dairy products now occupy 25% of my weekly food budget. It takes a lot of corn to give them cows milk.

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