My cousin Tona Valach was 20 years older than me and was a doctor, an internist and cardiologist. He was also the sports doctor for the national Czech rowing team. After high school he had gotten me to join the Slavia rowing club in Prague, so we had that in common. There was a world rowing competition in Vienna at some point during my year there and Tona came with the Czech team. He did not want to meet me at the races since someone from the Czech delegation might recognize me, so I picked him up somewhere in Vienna on my moped and we went to a restaurant at the main railway station.

After we finished dinner and I paid and we were walking out, someone stole my wallet. All the cash I had saved over 6 months and my papers were gone. That is why the extra 2 months of bonus pay that Mr. Konir gave me at the end was so important — without it I would have been in serious trouble just before leaving for the USA.