When I finished college in swtizerland, I decided to move to Prague in the search of my roots, being that my grandfather is Czech. However, I never thought about the difficulties that would arise from not knowing the language, and believe me, eating grilled sandwiches for two months and sleeping in a freezing ambience was not what I had planned...
When I decided to change flats I didn't think it was going to be so difficult, and it wasn't. A lot of people in Prague speak at least some English or Spanish, and I knew a little of Czech, so I found another flat quickly. However, my new landlord wasn't at all helpful, she just gave me the keys and said, "oh by the way, the former leaser didn't pay his gas bills, and I'm trying to fix that problem, so during this week they should come and unblock the gas."
To begin, I already signed the contract and to be honest, I didn't check the gas before doing so. One, because it was broad day, and two, who rents a flat without gas, when the heater, kitchen and other appliances work only by gas? Unbelievable yes, but it was the reality and I decided to just deal with it.
A few days went by and nothing... So I decided to call my landlord and complain, and she said, "Hey, they went and you weren't home." Who goes to a house without calling before hand? I mean people work, and its not like I was going to sit home until they decided to come... The story about them showing up, or mixing addresses, or what not, went on for a month. Thank god I had already bought a small heater and a sandwich toaster, if not I would have gone bonkers. I decided to call the gas company myself, and I encountered another problem. There is only one company in Prague that deals with gas and electricity, and there are no English speaking employees, well at least I never found one. Yup, no one understood what I was saying or complaining about. Completely stressful! I felt so incompetent, but then again, I was living in a country were I didn't know the language, so who do I blame, me for not knowing the language, or them for not having English speaking employees? 
Finally, one of my friends helped me out and it was eventually fixed after almost 2 months, and I had gas! I made myself a huge steak that night and slept in a dessert like ambience, but believe me, it wasn't fun.
I was just wondering what would you do in this type of situation?
Comments(7)