Welll... GOOD news !! I am coming home December 2nd !!! I know you all miss me so much (hahahaaaa) so no more worries.. I will be on my way in just 12 ( sorry 4- it was 12 originally when I wrote this, and never got around to publishing it) short days :)
The whole job market in Praha is about as good as our job market was a year ago- - a year behind EVERYTHING here... fashion, jobs, fads, trends... etc. Ok maybe ten years behind on teh fashion judging by the neon colored clothes, scrunchies, camo and extreme layering of clothes....
I partly "blame" The Langauge House where I did my TEFL... Their website *which thanks to our class is being re-vamped* said they have "job assistance for life" and "guaranteed job placement" both of which have changed in the past year- but were never updated on their website as the website coordinator is based in the US...so needless to say there was some mis direction and mis communications taking place - actually I have been hired by the Language House to collaboratively work on the website... so I will keep you updated on that....However, the content was great- and I learned a lot about teaching styles and methadologies that PSU never blinked an eye at...and a lot about me as a teacher.
As dissapointing as it seems now, I am really glad that I had the past 3 months to live in and explore a place I probably never would have expolored on a "Euro Trip" or a summer vacation. Living in a city for 3 months is soooo different than actually visiting a place for a few days and seeing all of the tourist sights. You get a feel for the poeple, the culure, the food. the traditions etc. and I am so grateful that I got to catch a small glimpse into the Czerch culture and language (yes I picked up some Czech while I was here..too bad nobody speaks Czech anywhere but The Czech Republic ..oh well )
I also have met some really amazing people while I was in Prague... these friendships I am sure will last a lifetime- and I already have plans set to meet back up with some of them at the end of December.... I am absolutely grateful for having such great people in Prague the past 3 months... they really have helped make this journey even more incredible.
My friends Nicole and Drake left today, and after a tearful "see you soon!" It just reconfirms that everything happens for a reason, and to live with no regrets- This has been an indescribable experience in life,teaching, relationships, culture, learning and living and I am so grateful that I have had this oppurtunity - Till next time ... so long Praha- Hello America!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The One In Terezin
*** The following entry contains graphic depictations and accounts of Terezin- a fortress originally used to protect this area from the Prussians, and later inhabitated by the Germans and used a a Nazi Concentration Camp***
4-11-2009
While trying to make the most of our time here in Prague we have been researching places of interest around The Czech Republic and came across Terezin.
A little background of terezin:
Terezin is comprised of 2 "fortresses" The Small Fortress and the Big Fortress. Most of the history, centers around the Small Fortress- part of Terezin's fortification system built between 1780-1790 and served as a prison and penitentiary for army and political prisoners already at the time of Habsburg monarchy. The most tragic chapter in it's history came during the occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany in 1939, The Gestapo Police Prison was established in Terezin as a key link in the repressive system of the Nazi occupation. Terezin served as the most populated and popular transport location for Prisoners and Jews, before they were sent further East and perished.
So today we ventured to Terezin about 80 Km north of Prague, almost on the German border. My friends Sarah, Shannon, Andy and my flatate Kelly took the bus there and arrived around 11AM. We got off the bus and started walking toward the Small Fortress, as you approach the Small Fortress there is The National Graveyard with 601 graves, a grave for everybody that they recovered from a mass grave and had a burial service for after Terezin was liberated.
We signed up for an English tour, and waited in a small exhibit for our tourguide, Rosa. Rosa led us to the Small Fortress and we went to the left and entered the registration area where prisoners were registered, handed over all of their possessions-including their clothes, received a blanket, bowl and spoon and were sent to a yard where they were assigned a block/room. The First yard consists of BLOCK A and BLOCK B. They were made up of 17 mass cells, holding 100+ people each and solitary cells, where the prisoners were supposed to be by themselves but when they got overcrowded they often shared it with up to 60 other people. However some people who were in there by themselves often went mad and became blind due to lack of light and outside contact. Others who were crammed into cells with ventialtion holes no larger than a soda can often suffocatated to death and could have been left in those cells, deceased, for days.
In BLOCK A and BLOCK B, there was also a "sick room." This room was used to treat prisoners who were critically ill. Often other prisoners who were doctors were sentenced to work there and try to help other dying prisoners. They performed appendectimies, amputations, and minor surgeries with minimal tools and anthestics. The room consisted of about 7 beds, and some floor space. In 1944 a Hospital Ward was established in the Womens Ward as the outbreak of Typhoid Fever. Otherwise healthy women were often exposed and suffered from the Typhoid outbreak as a result of this relcation of the Hospital Ward.
We also saw the "Baber Shop." This was created to show the Delegation commitee (from Denamrk and Switzerland) how "good" the hygiene conditions were in Terezin- however this room - lined in sinks, and mirrors and had 2 good condition toilets- was never used my prisoners, and was never intended for thier use. It was another Propoganda move by the Germans to get the Jews to the Jewish ghetto in the Larger Fortress, or basically a fake room incase the Delegation - The Red Cross came to investigate, that is what they would show them. *more about the Propoganda later....*
From these yards we continued onto the Connection Corridor. Before we entered the Corridors we passed the Mortruary, where some prisoners were stoned to death. These lead through all 20,000 +meters that surround the fortress, today they have 500 meters for guests to walk through. These corridors are about 6 feet tall and very narrow. They were used to defend the fortress from the Prussians- in the walls are slanted rifle holes which soldiers could shoot through and long hallways used for storing ammunition.
On the other side of the connecting corridor is the Execution grounds. These were originally used as target practice for soldiers, then later as an execution site for prisoners. On the far side there is also a small Gallows, where prisoners who had attempted to escape or fought back were publically hung as an example to others. We also passed through the"Death Gate" numbered #22...where prisoners were led to the execution grounds.
In the center of the Small Fortress is a Canteen, a Cinema, a Pool and the Wardens barracks. The families of the Commanders lived here on base. Directly behind this is the Fourth Yard ( the second yard is used as a working grounds for prisoners, the third used as a womens yard) that the prionsers built in 1943 to accomodate more prisoners in the extremely overpopulated Terezin. In the fourth yard the cells held 400-600 prisoners each. By 1945 the yard housed over 3,000 prisoners. At the end of the fourth yard there is a raised wall. Here 3 prisoners tried to escape and two made it over the wall, while one was shot and couldnt escape. The one that was shot was publically executed along with 2 randomly selected men and one woman as an example. The 2 who had made it over the wall were found, brought back and publically stoned .
In 1947 the Czechoslovak Government decided to establish the Terezin Memorial, to commemorat those who fought, died, and survived for freedom, democracy, and human rights.
After we lef the small fortress we passed by The National Cemetary on our way to the Larger Fortress. Here it has the same corridors surrounding the fortress but resembles more of a town, beautiful parks, a river and many statues. However, all of this was part of the propoganda of Terezin to make it look like a "self-administered Jewish Settlement territory" It was meant to be a smoke-screen to the international public and cover up the genuine tragic fate of the Terezin Inmates and the true face of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."Those coming here thought they were going to a pleasant place , free of outside pressures and could live peacefully- they were even shown a movie to depict how nice life was in Terezin. Here is where we get back to the Propoganda part from earlier....
To make this movie they killed approximatelt 2,000 "sickly" looking innmates so they would not appear in the video. Then they staged a happy video, where peopel are eating a lot of bread (not the 5 kg of bread they were actually rationed, which quicly diminshed to 7 kg for 4 days..) Playing sports (not working to the brink of exhaustion and dehydration) and looking happy, kids cheering (not locked in school rooms for "re-education" purposes.) When these Jews arrived they had to turn over all of their possesion in exchange for food and shelter in Terezin for life.... not knowing how short most of their lives would be.
In the end some 140,000 men, women and children passed through the gates of Terezin, and in the last days of the war more than 15,00 more did as well. Less than 4,000 innmates survived the camp of the more than 87,000 who came to Terezin then were shipped out to Extermination camps (mostly to Auschwitz). sadly (and this part was really amazing, and so sad for me) the children were also victims in all of this. Many were exterminated before the age of 13. They left behind drawings they would make in teh barracks depicting life in Terezin, life before Terezin, their pets, families, fair tales they remembered, scenes from their hometown etc. They have a spacial museum dedicated to the children who perished in Terezin. While I was there I also bought post cards that have replica drawings done by the children of Terezin.
After the tour of the small fortress- We had lunch at a pizzeria to kind of collect our thougths, and reflect a little bit on what we had seen all morning, and continued on our journey through the larger fortress. We saw the Jewish Cemetaty and the Cerematorium. And also more corridors that had artifacts from Terezin such as carriages they used to pull bodies in, coffins- where they had to tie the bodys to the bottom of the coffin, because often times they had to reuse the tops to these, and also identification tags that they put on the dead bodies.
I guess the two things that shocked me the most -and these are in no particular order as I cant really grasp either concept, is that
A. Everything we saw today, the barracks, bunk, toilets, showers,coffins, carriages,doctors tools, uniforms, courtyards, gallows, etc. were real things, not "authentic-replicas" from history, but these items are only 60-70 some years old, - and the fact that you can actually touch the bed poeple died and walk by the wall peopel were exectuted in front of in is really disturbing.
B. The records they kept on prisoners- men, women and children, is amzing, They were all registered when they entered Terezin, and their record is also marked if/when they were sick, when they died- and how they died. "Heart troubles" were written as the cause for a lot of prisoners who were probably beaten or worked to death.They also recorded which prisoners were sent to which extermination camp. They recorded medicine administered, surgeries performed ect. And on some prisoners records it was recorded if they had "escaped" The idea that they would go through all of that to reserve- for lack of better words- a persons identity, who was virtually a number, a work slave and a body for target practice. They even wrote to the families and informed them if they had persihed while at Terezin, which I can't decide if it is better to know or not know in the case of these families. Now the records dropped off a little bit once the camp was overun by Nazi's and became overpopulated...but still. All of that to appease the outsiders and give the illusion of abiding by all the rules....
Anyway.... I am really glad I had the oppurtunity to explore Terezin, it was a fascinating town with an amazing history- sad and depressing as it may be. I have always wanted to learn more about hsitory- and still kick myself for not paying attention in Mrs. Dahme's 5th grade history class....History is amazing and hopefully we learn and grow from it, and pray that a tradegy like this never happens again.
You should be able to view my photos from Terezin by following this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2995655&id=9304278&l=2d6a6633b2
4-11-2009
While trying to make the most of our time here in Prague we have been researching places of interest around The Czech Republic and came across Terezin.
A little background of terezin:
Terezin is comprised of 2 "fortresses" The Small Fortress and the Big Fortress. Most of the history, centers around the Small Fortress- part of Terezin's fortification system built between 1780-1790 and served as a prison and penitentiary for army and political prisoners already at the time of Habsburg monarchy. The most tragic chapter in it's history came during the occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany in 1939, The Gestapo Police Prison was established in Terezin as a key link in the repressive system of the Nazi occupation. Terezin served as the most populated and popular transport location for Prisoners and Jews, before they were sent further East and perished.
So today we ventured to Terezin about 80 Km north of Prague, almost on the German border. My friends Sarah, Shannon, Andy and my flatate Kelly took the bus there and arrived around 11AM. We got off the bus and started walking toward the Small Fortress, as you approach the Small Fortress there is The National Graveyard with 601 graves, a grave for everybody that they recovered from a mass grave and had a burial service for after Terezin was liberated.
We signed up for an English tour, and waited in a small exhibit for our tourguide, Rosa. Rosa led us to the Small Fortress and we went to the left and entered the registration area where prisoners were registered, handed over all of their possessions-including their clothes, received a blanket, bowl and spoon and were sent to a yard where they were assigned a block/room. The First yard consists of BLOCK A and BLOCK B. They were made up of 17 mass cells, holding 100+ people each and solitary cells, where the prisoners were supposed to be by themselves but when they got overcrowded they often shared it with up to 60 other people. However some people who were in there by themselves often went mad and became blind due to lack of light and outside contact. Others who were crammed into cells with ventialtion holes no larger than a soda can often suffocatated to death and could have been left in those cells, deceased, for days.
In BLOCK A and BLOCK B, there was also a "sick room." This room was used to treat prisoners who were critically ill. Often other prisoners who were doctors were sentenced to work there and try to help other dying prisoners. They performed appendectimies, amputations, and minor surgeries with minimal tools and anthestics. The room consisted of about 7 beds, and some floor space. In 1944 a Hospital Ward was established in the Womens Ward as the outbreak of Typhoid Fever. Otherwise healthy women were often exposed and suffered from the Typhoid outbreak as a result of this relcation of the Hospital Ward.
We also saw the "Baber Shop." This was created to show the Delegation commitee (from Denamrk and Switzerland) how "good" the hygiene conditions were in Terezin- however this room - lined in sinks, and mirrors and had 2 good condition toilets- was never used my prisoners, and was never intended for thier use. It was another Propoganda move by the Germans to get the Jews to the Jewish ghetto in the Larger Fortress, or basically a fake room incase the Delegation - The Red Cross came to investigate, that is what they would show them. *more about the Propoganda later....*
From these yards we continued onto the Connection Corridor. Before we entered the Corridors we passed the Mortruary, where some prisoners were stoned to death. These lead through all 20,000 +meters that surround the fortress, today they have 500 meters for guests to walk through. These corridors are about 6 feet tall and very narrow. They were used to defend the fortress from the Prussians- in the walls are slanted rifle holes which soldiers could shoot through and long hallways used for storing ammunition.
On the other side of the connecting corridor is the Execution grounds. These were originally used as target practice for soldiers, then later as an execution site for prisoners. On the far side there is also a small Gallows, where prisoners who had attempted to escape or fought back were publically hung as an example to others. We also passed through the"Death Gate" numbered #22...where prisoners were led to the execution grounds.
In the center of the Small Fortress is a Canteen, a Cinema, a Pool and the Wardens barracks. The families of the Commanders lived here on base. Directly behind this is the Fourth Yard ( the second yard is used as a working grounds for prisoners, the third used as a womens yard) that the prionsers built in 1943 to accomodate more prisoners in the extremely overpopulated Terezin. In the fourth yard the cells held 400-600 prisoners each. By 1945 the yard housed over 3,000 prisoners. At the end of the fourth yard there is a raised wall. Here 3 prisoners tried to escape and two made it over the wall, while one was shot and couldnt escape. The one that was shot was publically executed along with 2 randomly selected men and one woman as an example. The 2 who had made it over the wall were found, brought back and publically stoned .
In 1947 the Czechoslovak Government decided to establish the Terezin Memorial, to commemorat those who fought, died, and survived for freedom, democracy, and human rights.
After we lef the small fortress we passed by The National Cemetary on our way to the Larger Fortress. Here it has the same corridors surrounding the fortress but resembles more of a town, beautiful parks, a river and many statues. However, all of this was part of the propoganda of Terezin to make it look like a "self-administered Jewish Settlement territory" It was meant to be a smoke-screen to the international public and cover up the genuine tragic fate of the Terezin Inmates and the true face of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."Those coming here thought they were going to a pleasant place , free of outside pressures and could live peacefully- they were even shown a movie to depict how nice life was in Terezin. Here is where we get back to the Propoganda part from earlier....
To make this movie they killed approximatelt 2,000 "sickly" looking innmates so they would not appear in the video. Then they staged a happy video, where peopel are eating a lot of bread (not the 5 kg of bread they were actually rationed, which quicly diminshed to 7 kg for 4 days..) Playing sports (not working to the brink of exhaustion and dehydration) and looking happy, kids cheering (not locked in school rooms for "re-education" purposes.) When these Jews arrived they had to turn over all of their possesion in exchange for food and shelter in Terezin for life.... not knowing how short most of their lives would be.
In the end some 140,000 men, women and children passed through the gates of Terezin, and in the last days of the war more than 15,00 more did as well. Less than 4,000 innmates survived the camp of the more than 87,000 who came to Terezin then were shipped out to Extermination camps (mostly to Auschwitz). sadly (and this part was really amazing, and so sad for me) the children were also victims in all of this. Many were exterminated before the age of 13. They left behind drawings they would make in teh barracks depicting life in Terezin, life before Terezin, their pets, families, fair tales they remembered, scenes from their hometown etc. They have a spacial museum dedicated to the children who perished in Terezin. While I was there I also bought post cards that have replica drawings done by the children of Terezin.
After the tour of the small fortress- We had lunch at a pizzeria to kind of collect our thougths, and reflect a little bit on what we had seen all morning, and continued on our journey through the larger fortress. We saw the Jewish Cemetaty and the Cerematorium. And also more corridors that had artifacts from Terezin such as carriages they used to pull bodies in, coffins- where they had to tie the bodys to the bottom of the coffin, because often times they had to reuse the tops to these, and also identification tags that they put on the dead bodies.
I guess the two things that shocked me the most -and these are in no particular order as I cant really grasp either concept, is that
A. Everything we saw today, the barracks, bunk, toilets, showers,coffins, carriages,doctors tools, uniforms, courtyards, gallows, etc. were real things, not "authentic-replicas" from history, but these items are only 60-70 some years old, - and the fact that you can actually touch the bed poeple died and walk by the wall peopel were exectuted in front of in is really disturbing.
B. The records they kept on prisoners- men, women and children, is amzing, They were all registered when they entered Terezin, and their record is also marked if/when they were sick, when they died- and how they died. "Heart troubles" were written as the cause for a lot of prisoners who were probably beaten or worked to death.They also recorded which prisoners were sent to which extermination camp. They recorded medicine administered, surgeries performed ect. And on some prisoners records it was recorded if they had "escaped" The idea that they would go through all of that to reserve- for lack of better words- a persons identity, who was virtually a number, a work slave and a body for target practice. They even wrote to the families and informed them if they had persihed while at Terezin, which I can't decide if it is better to know or not know in the case of these families. Now the records dropped off a little bit once the camp was overun by Nazi's and became overpopulated...but still. All of that to appease the outsiders and give the illusion of abiding by all the rules....
Anyway.... I am really glad I had the oppurtunity to explore Terezin, it was a fascinating town with an amazing history- sad and depressing as it may be. I have always wanted to learn more about hsitory- and still kick myself for not paying attention in Mrs. Dahme's 5th grade history class....History is amazing and hopefully we learn and grow from it, and pray that a tradegy like this never happens again.
You should be able to view my photos from Terezin by following this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2995655&id=9304278&l=2d6a6633b2
The one on HALLOOOWWEENNNN
Happy Halloweeennnnyyy! Halloween is funny in a country where it seems like people are dressed in costumes everyday- and who don't understand Halloween- I dont really blame them. But honestly I have wished sooo many times that I had my camera to capture some of the fashion faux pas that happen in Prague- the outrageous scrunchies on hot pink dredlocks, the mis matched stripes and checkers, the ridiculously bright colored sandals with socks and the list goes on and onnnn..... so dressing up (well finding a costume) wasn't that hard! We hit up a second hand store in the top of a train station- they had the MOST RIDICULOUSS STUFFF there... we found bright colored snow suits, absurd looking blouses and suits, ties in a variety of colors, and size 185 clown pants (not kidding you could have put about 4 people in them)
I left with stuff to make a pirate costume for $6, including a bandana with skulls on it, a red and white striped dress, and a silk blouse. My friends also left with a high school sweater, a checkered skirt, and a black suit for MIB.
We decided to have a Halloween Costume Party at our flat, and had a variety of snacks and beverages including Witches Brew ( orange punch) Frankenstein's Brains (spinach dip in a bread bowl) and maggots and worms (sweet and sassy dip- yummm) We had people over form our TEFL class, then went to a costume party at a bar called "The Bunkr" It's a good thing that we went together to the party, because we got a few looks on the tram on our way to the costume party haha. Czech's know about Halloween, and even though most of them dress like it is Halloween everyday- the looks and snickers we received were priceless!
Once at the costume party they had a live band, and drink specials and I even ran into a guy I did Berlitz training with! Small city- well actually it is a large city- and I don't know anybody except my students, people I work with, and my fellow students from the TEFL class, but it seems as though I am always running into people I know...crazy!
We danced there until ....maybe 3 AM? and then ventured home in cabs- getting to the bars is easy on the trams, but after midnight the schedule changes and you have to catch "night trams" which can be very difficult, if you dont know where you are and where the nearest tram stop is, and not just only the tram stop, but a tram stop going in the direction you need it to go- which can be hard when you dont knwo where you are... so long story short we usually soend $5 total for a cab ride home.
The Sunday after Halloween, we sat around , ate left overs and drank the rest of the brew and played Euchre alll dayyyy.... perfect Sunday , and a great end to a successful Halloween in Praha :)
I left with stuff to make a pirate costume for $6, including a bandana with skulls on it, a red and white striped dress, and a silk blouse. My friends also left with a high school sweater, a checkered skirt, and a black suit for MIB.
We decided to have a Halloween Costume Party at our flat, and had a variety of snacks and beverages including Witches Brew ( orange punch) Frankenstein's Brains (spinach dip in a bread bowl) and maggots and worms (sweet and sassy dip- yummm) We had people over form our TEFL class, then went to a costume party at a bar called "The Bunkr" It's a good thing that we went together to the party, because we got a few looks on the tram on our way to the costume party haha. Czech's know about Halloween, and even though most of them dress like it is Halloween everyday- the looks and snickers we received were priceless!
Once at the costume party they had a live band, and drink specials and I even ran into a guy I did Berlitz training with! Small city- well actually it is a large city- and I don't know anybody except my students, people I work with, and my fellow students from the TEFL class, but it seems as though I am always running into people I know...crazy!
We danced there until ....maybe 3 AM? and then ventured home in cabs- getting to the bars is easy on the trams, but after midnight the schedule changes and you have to catch "night trams" which can be very difficult, if you dont know where you are and where the nearest tram stop is, and not just only the tram stop, but a tram stop going in the direction you need it to go- which can be hard when you dont knwo where you are... so long story short we usually soend $5 total for a cab ride home.
The Sunday after Halloween, we sat around , ate left overs and drank the rest of the brew and played Euchre alll dayyyy.... perfect Sunday , and a great end to a successful Halloween in Praha :)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
The One With the Bar Fight...
October 24, 2009
So as I am sure some of you have heard and others have not...yes I punched some asshole dude in a bar.
We were at a bar near The Language House which we have named "The Stump bar"...I don't think it really has a name, but it has a very distinguishing feature- a stump, right in the middle of the crowded bar area, People gather around (usually 4-8people ) and you play the game....the game involves getting a nail for each player and one hammer for the game from the bartender...- are you intrigued yet>??? thought so! A note about the hammer- it is a regular hammer on one end and the end that usually has two thingys (very technical term) to pull nails out with has been fused together so it looks like a hatchet- even more deadly as a weapon, espeically when you are drunk...so whoever invented this is either a genius or a complete and utter moron....
Ok how to play: You hammer your nail partyl in with the regular end of the hammer, just enough so it stands on its own. then you take turns going around the stump and everyone gets one hit with the back end (hatchet end) of the hammer to try and hit their nail...the game continues in a circle until the last person to get theirs in loses- that person then has to buy everyone involved in the game a shot or a beer...and let me tell you IT IS HARDDDD....doesnt matter how sober/drunk/cross eyed/ double visioned have to close one eye to see your hand in front of your face drunk you are.... it is very difficult, until you find your sweet spot-once I found mine I think I only missed 2 times the entire game, people we were playing with were chanting "PENNSYLVANIA" it was pretty funnyyyy...
So back to tehe bar fight story... as we are playing I am standing closest to the bar and occassionally am being bumped into, understandably ( but never with a deadly weapon in my hand) but one time I feel a hand on my ass, then my lower back, so I turn around, and there is this shit faced guy standing there by himself waiting for a beer, so I say "Excuse me" and he smiles through his French speaking mouth and I don't smile back, but just turn around to ignore this obviously drunk guy in his late 20's. We continue playing the game, and hanging out in this bar, but I keep seeing this guy out of the corner of my eye, do the exact same thing to about 80% of the girls in the bar...So I said something to a guy friend I was with along the lines of , "that guy is an ass, he grabbed my ass and is now grabbing every girls ass in here..." He said " i know, I am seeing that, and trust me I was about to kick his ass when he was over here before, if he keeps bothering you (or (any other girls we were with) let me know..."
So low and behold about 30 minutes goes by, the stump game has been paused due to too many shots of Jameson (good call by the way) and the guys"bumps" into me again, and tries to introduce himself, I show no interest and walk away- he follows...introduces himself and kisses , wait drools/slobbers on my arm, an attempts for some more ass grabbage etc. I push him away and he leaves...then I see him doing almost the exact same thing to my friend Kelly ...so I felt (in my Jameson induced moment) it was my duty to get her away from him, so I pushed him and said "you need to leave now, and leave her alone" he ( I cant believe I am writing this...) pushes me back on ym shoulder, pretty much everyone in the front of the bar sees this and are about to intervene when I (thank you Paul's boxing classes at ACAC) throw a mean right hook and nail him in the jaw, he stumbles back a little- my hand hurts, so I know it must have been at least a decent shot- especially for a girl, and people immediately have him pushed out the door, and are buying me shots and beers....crazy! Dad you should be proud, honestly, I got a few compliments on my skills that night.
So after enjoying a round or two of "victory shots" and "apology shot" from his friends, the ass hole actually tries to come back into the bar, but this time the bartender spots him and immediately removes him and sends him home... we left a little while later, after another invigorating game of Stump, another apology from his friends, and another shot of Jameson .
That guy probably woke up with a sore jaw the next morning.. I wonder if his friends told him it was from a girl? I wonder if he would even be sorry? Or if he thought it was "cool" that he did something to make a girl that upset, especially in front of his friends?
I felt pretty good about that night, well my reaction to it anyway...why do guys think that is OK to do? Not even once is it ok, but to do it repeadetly? Doesn't matter how drunk/stoned/tripped out you are....it is not OK... Girls I think you should have your dads teach you how to throw a decent punch to defend yourself againest vermon like this....fight back, dont think it's "ok" or that it makes you "cute" when a guy unwantedly grabs your ass, or slobbers on you hand.... its sick. Now I am not saying we should start throwing punches in bars when a guy hits on you.... lets not get carried away, but when a guy gets carried away and takes it to far ( i think you all know when that is...well hopefully you do) then yeah, say something, dont act like it is OK, and if you are feeling like it is OK for a guy to do that, and that I was out of line, than man, have a little more respect for yourself!
Ok enough with the feminism stuff... I punched a dude, he deserved it, it felt good, end of story.
So as I am sure some of you have heard and others have not...yes I punched some asshole dude in a bar.
We were at a bar near The Language House which we have named "The Stump bar"...I don't think it really has a name, but it has a very distinguishing feature- a stump, right in the middle of the crowded bar area, People gather around (usually 4-8people ) and you play the game....the game involves getting a nail for each player and one hammer for the game from the bartender...- are you intrigued yet>??? thought so! A note about the hammer- it is a regular hammer on one end and the end that usually has two thingys (very technical term) to pull nails out with has been fused together so it looks like a hatchet- even more deadly as a weapon, espeically when you are drunk...so whoever invented this is either a genius or a complete and utter moron....
Ok how to play: You hammer your nail partyl in with the regular end of the hammer, just enough so it stands on its own. then you take turns going around the stump and everyone gets one hit with the back end (hatchet end) of the hammer to try and hit their nail...the game continues in a circle until the last person to get theirs in loses- that person then has to buy everyone involved in the game a shot or a beer...and let me tell you IT IS HARDDDD....doesnt matter how sober/drunk/cross eyed/ double visioned have to close one eye to see your hand in front of your face drunk you are.... it is very difficult, until you find your sweet spot-once I found mine I think I only missed 2 times the entire game, people we were playing with were chanting "PENNSYLVANIA" it was pretty funnyyyy...
So back to tehe bar fight story... as we are playing I am standing closest to the bar and occassionally am being bumped into, understandably ( but never with a deadly weapon in my hand) but one time I feel a hand on my ass, then my lower back, so I turn around, and there is this shit faced guy standing there by himself waiting for a beer, so I say "Excuse me" and he smiles through his French speaking mouth and I don't smile back, but just turn around to ignore this obviously drunk guy in his late 20's. We continue playing the game, and hanging out in this bar, but I keep seeing this guy out of the corner of my eye, do the exact same thing to about 80% of the girls in the bar...So I said something to a guy friend I was with along the lines of , "that guy is an ass, he grabbed my ass and is now grabbing every girls ass in here..." He said " i know, I am seeing that, and trust me I was about to kick his ass when he was over here before, if he keeps bothering you (or (any other girls we were with) let me know..."
So low and behold about 30 minutes goes by, the stump game has been paused due to too many shots of Jameson (good call by the way) and the guys"bumps" into me again, and tries to introduce himself, I show no interest and walk away- he follows...introduces himself and kisses , wait drools/slobbers on my arm, an attempts for some more ass grabbage etc. I push him away and he leaves...then I see him doing almost the exact same thing to my friend Kelly ...so I felt (in my Jameson induced moment) it was my duty to get her away from him, so I pushed him and said "you need to leave now, and leave her alone" he ( I cant believe I am writing this...) pushes me back on ym shoulder, pretty much everyone in the front of the bar sees this and are about to intervene when I (thank you Paul's boxing classes at ACAC) throw a mean right hook and nail him in the jaw, he stumbles back a little- my hand hurts, so I know it must have been at least a decent shot- especially for a girl, and people immediately have him pushed out the door, and are buying me shots and beers....crazy! Dad you should be proud, honestly, I got a few compliments on my skills that night.
So after enjoying a round or two of "victory shots" and "apology shot" from his friends, the ass hole actually tries to come back into the bar, but this time the bartender spots him and immediately removes him and sends him home... we left a little while later, after another invigorating game of Stump, another apology from his friends, and another shot of Jameson .
That guy probably woke up with a sore jaw the next morning.. I wonder if his friends told him it was from a girl? I wonder if he would even be sorry? Or if he thought it was "cool" that he did something to make a girl that upset, especially in front of his friends?
I felt pretty good about that night, well my reaction to it anyway...why do guys think that is OK to do? Not even once is it ok, but to do it repeadetly? Doesn't matter how drunk/stoned/tripped out you are....it is not OK... Girls I think you should have your dads teach you how to throw a decent punch to defend yourself againest vermon like this....fight back, dont think it's "ok" or that it makes you "cute" when a guy unwantedly grabs your ass, or slobbers on you hand.... its sick. Now I am not saying we should start throwing punches in bars when a guy hits on you.... lets not get carried away, but when a guy gets carried away and takes it to far ( i think you all know when that is...well hopefully you do) then yeah, say something, dont act like it is OK, and if you are feeling like it is OK for a guy to do that, and that I was out of line, than man, have a little more respect for yourself!
Ok enough with the feminism stuff... I punched a dude, he deserved it, it felt good, end of story.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The One with the 'Day Trip' to Plzen
17/18-10-2009
Plzen is a town about 80 km east of Prague and it is home to the Pilsner Urquell Brewery (which you can tour and try free samples! ) sounds like a great day trip from Prague to mee!!! It also sounded good to my friend Shannon, my flatmate Kelly, her brother who was visiitng from Hawaii, his friend from California and my other flatmate Nicole. So we decided to get up early and try for the 10 am bus, however we weren't really in a rush because according to Frommer's and The Lonely Planet buses leave to Plzen every 15 minutes. We met around 11am, and the next bus to Plzen wasn't until 2 !!! Bummer..So we were debating what to do.. it is about an hour and 20 minute bus ride, and the last tour of the brewery (the main purpose of the trip) leaves at 4...so long story short, we wouldn't make it.. we debated going another day...then said screw it, were here let's go, see if we make the tour and stay overnight if we have to... At this point Nicole bailed because she didn't feel good and we hadn't packed anything to stay over anyway. I don't blame her.. I don't like spending the night with no tooth brush and eye drops...and God forbid no blush but I sucked it up (and later I found some blush in my bag...yayyy :) )
So we boarded the bus and were pretty excited for our trip....however as we approached Plzen- passed the Pilsner Brewery, crossed a river...., it kind of sunk in we had no map, no idea where we were staying and no idea where this bus was going to drop us off...so I was hesitant to get off the bus...but we did and we started walking back toward the city center we passed to find some infromation. The street we were on was full of Herna bars and Erotica Bars or Strip Clubs- picture the vegas strip, now replace flashing lights and naked girl signs with HERNA BAR signs....and EROTICA....so needless to say we hurried through that part of Plzen and stumbled upon an green info board. That had labeled on it an information center... we walked about 10 more minutes toward the info center and stumbled upon a MidEvil fair in teh middle of Namesty Republicky (the town square)... i swear I am not making this up, these weird fair things happen in Prague too...there were men laying on a bed of nails, music, fire breathers, and ridiculous costumes. We enjoyed a cup of hot whiskey wine....and moved onto the info center -and found it fairly easily. My friend Shannon and I walked in trying to find a map (in English mind you..) and the man behind the counter impatiently asked us "if we needed help, because he was closing in ten minutes" We said we were looking for a cheap hostel nearby, and for Brewey tour times tomorrow..whatever we said or did, sparked his fancy and he warmed his smile and became our best friend. I immediately loved him because he was wearing an I <3 NY shirt. hahah, hilarious, and he said he liked American accents better than British accents...He brought out a book of hostels (an amazing perk of being in Europe- every city has hostels) He first directed us to one that was 400 czk/night each so $20, and we asked if they ahd anything cheaper...we looked and found one for 150 czk = $7 a night each...BINGO sold. He drew us a map, called to make our reservation and we were on our way...being mildy hesitant about the cheap price I asked him if it was a decent hostel- his response " i dont know, I usually sleep at home...." so we had a laugh and set out. By now it was around 5 and starting to get dark, and we were starving, but figured we would find our hostel and check in before it got to dark, then go get some food.
We walked mostly on major streets to get to our hostel, took only one wrong turn , quickly recovered and continued until it was time to make a left onto a side street that would lead us to the street our hostel was on...it looked kind of ghetto- pushed over trash cans, paved road turning into gravel, boxes on the side of the road, you get the picture....but we turned and then walked one block before we had to make a right onto our street....gets even more ghetto...as we turn we see a sign in white spray paint that says "HOSTEL" with an arrow under it...I kid you not...So at this point we all slow our pace and contemplate going further....do we turn back around and try to find another place, in a not so ghetto area, with a not so ghetto sign? or do we go in and check it out and hope we dont get stolen off the street and sold as human sex slaves in this ghetto tourist trap?
We did the second one...We continued on...half way down the block was the sign for the "RiverSide Hostel" and he word HOSTEL, was actually the word HOTEL with an "S" written in , in what I can only assume was black sharpie. We take a deep breath and go in.... Kelly's brother first then me with everyone else still hesitantly following... and hand the guy behind the counter our reservation stub - his response " i dont understand this price.." thinking he was trying to rip us off...I respond " we made reservations for that price, what rooms do you have available?" he replies " that price is to sleep outside in a tent" and show sus on the pre-printed price sheet...so we believed him....we say "Ok what is the cheapest room you have inside please for 5 people?" He shows us to a room in the next building - 5 beds, a small bathroom, a broken TV, we take it, we are only sleeping there for one night no problem, so $12 later we are settled have a key and venture to dinner.
I swear the street we were staying on is probably the shadiest in Plzen, I had thougths of being pulled into the trunk of a car or the back of a truck that was shadily parked our front...but The House of Blues was also on our street and a Gay/Lesbian bar....so that made it a little better.
We walked for about an hour and a half before finding somewhere we thought looked good, we passe dup touristy places, and places where we could barely reads the menu...we walk in to seat ourselves (as is customary in Czech) and there are no tables available, we wait about ten minutes and do another lap around the restaurant..and find one in the back. We sit down and are quickly approached by a distraught waitress, she says in her best english that she believes the table is reserved and we can't sit there. She goes to check and comes back 2 minutes later, even more distraught than before to tell us the bad news that yes the table is reserved, however their sister restuarant is just acrosss the square and usually not as crowded as it is a smoking bar and this one is not. She even draws us a map and says "dut dut dut" as she dots the path we are to walk...precious.
So we "dut dut dut" through the square only to find the sister restuarant (both named "The PUB" - a Pilsner Unique Bar) is full as well. We settle for an "authentic czech restaurant" and the food was horrible, we were starving , hadnt eaten in 7 hours and we still thought the food was horrible!! eughh...so we start the trek home and pass a bar on our way that sounds like they have an American cover band..but they want a $5 cover, pass.... we approached another bar, that resembled somebodys brick house/kitchen in the front, and seriously contemplated going home rather than going to this weird bar, but there was no cover and 33 crown vodka tonics= sold!
We went in and found our way to the back of the bar, downed some 33 czk vodka tonics (thast about $1.50) Eventually found our way to the dance floor - where it was a woman's- who had to be an ex strippers , 30 th bday who had a cake with pepperoni toppings? She was stripping guys on the dance floor...and was pretty much putting on a show for everyone, minus the pole. People grabbed the mic and sang Happy Birthday to her....and occassionally an American song from the 80's came on that everyoen would go crazy for ....Then "I love Rock and Roll came on" and I started singing near the DJ, he handed me the mic, and it was all down hill from there.... he handed me the mic during every single english song, and even every czech song- i insisted I didnt know any czech songs, but he didnt care LOL. Eventually we went home and passed out... around 4 AM i was awoken by a loud noise, some laughing arguing then a scream from upstairs. Then one person walked down the steps and out the front door- i re assured myself our door was locked ( we had triple checked before we went to bed) and swore that I would claim I hadnt heard anything if the polica came knocking for witnessses to the shady hostel murder....
We awoke the next day to find no blood, no police , and nobody else had heard that during the night..
On to the Breweryyy!!! On our way we climbed the top of St. Bart's cathereral in the square- it is the highest tower in The Czech Republic- amazing views of Plzen and the surrounding country side. We began climbing around 11:50am, and as the clock struck 12, the bell began ringing- we were about half way up and couldnt turn around- let me say I will NEVER climb a bell tower with a bell ringing in it again- my ears were ringing for about an hour afterwards, but it was definatelely worth the view and the experience :)
We were so excited for the tourof the brewery, we waited for an English tour and it was great!!! We took a Pilsner bus to the New Brew House, then a tour of the underground cellars, where they used to store the beer in barrels, they warned us to not get lost as there were 90 underground chambers- and they probably wouldnt find us...crazy. It was amazing, they showed us the grains and the hops they use- and we got to taste them in pure form, then the brewing process and the storing/bottling/shipping process.
As we passed by the huge barrels the tour guide (who spoke broken English, it was adorbale, he got mad at himself for forgetting the word "brewhouse") said that a full sized man would have to climb inside the barrels to wash them through a 16x12 inch hole in the bottom...to which I instinctively blurted out " no wayyyy!" that is like the size of a regular cutting board, or a lap top, or a large notebook....impossible! He said I would have the chance to try it out later in the tour, and then kept referencing my comment with " you will see when you climb through the barrell opening" It was pretty funny to our group- maybe not to the other people in our English speaking group (about 8 touristy adults in their 40's) but definately to us.
And so came the point where I was to prove him wrong......we approached the barrell (it had the bottom of the barrel part sliced off so you could climb through just the opening and come out the other side) , and I looked at the opening...and still thought no way my child bearing hips are making in through there!!!He said do it Superman style, so I stuck both arms out like I was flying and he pushed my one arm down and said like that- I was hesitant as I crouched in front of the opening no larger than a tabloid magazine and low and behold I was through it in .2 seconds!!! AMAZINGGGG, I guess now I now know how to escape from submarine windows, if the need ever be. It was hilarious, I took off my coat and all to prepare for the struggle with the barrel and it was a piece of cake...My friend Shannon has pictures that I will have to get from her.
So after the tour we sampled original barrel brewed unfiltered beer (not available anywhere but in the Brewery and in the Brewery Museum restaurant) and then ate in the museum restaurant to have some more authentic unfiltered barrel stored Pilsner- deliciousss :)
We caught our bus back to Prague after 24 hours in Plzen..and let me tell you the shower I took when I got home definately rated top ten showers of my life! Cheersss!
Me at the top of St. Barts- absolutely worth the climb
Standing at our "HOSTEL" sign the next day...even in the daytime, it's creepy
Fire Breather at the Mid-Evil fair
Ringing Bell in St. Bart's
View of St. Barts and a gorgeous sky from the square in PlzenThe one with the back blogging....
Hey guys... I know it has been almost a month...sorry! But I am back blogging my stories and posts and I wanted to publish them in order...so as soon as I finish (hopefully this weekend) I will publish them in order! Also be on the look out for some new pics. I will post the link here, but you can also find them on facebook! Love and Miss you all!
Lainey <3
Lainey <3
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Some pics...
These are some of the people from my TEFL class @ the Beer Garden, celebrating graduation!!!!
The September TEFL 2009 class @ our "Graduation Party/Dinner"- 100% graduation rate ! yayyy!
Another really expensive piece of paper- but it was worth it :)
How can you be upset about anything when you live here....
Monday, October 12, 2009
The weather is changing...
Hey again... I know I know.. 2 updates in less than a week- I must be going crazy haha. Actually this is my last week to rerlax before I start training next week, so I do have some extra time :)
I got a job at Berlitz Language School and I have 40 hours of training there next week, then the following week I will be teaching! yayy! Berlitz is also doing my VISA and Working Permit paper work for me , which is awesome, becuase first of all I have no idea where the forms would be, what to do with them, what other documents they need etc. and even if I could figure all of that out (thank you google)- suprise suprise they would be in Czech. So yeah, that is a major perk of that job. I also am working for a Russian/Irish family who lived in the States, then Ireland and now in Prague *the dad is an accountant so they move and travel a lot * and they want their 5 year old daughter (who missed the cut off for kindergarten by one day) to learn American schooling because they may be moving back to the States soon. She is a sweet little girl and we get a lot done in the hour I am with her, she also speaks fluent English and Russian, and speaks some Italian, French and Romanian. Amazing. I got to her flat to tutor her, adn the mom is soo nice, she always makes me fresh coffee, biscuits and chocolate yummm. :)
I also work for the secretary at The Language House, Dita. She runs an under the table English- Czech lesson out of a cafe her friend owns. She calls you the day before and if you can do a lesson the next day- great, if not then thats OK to, they just reschedule. You can also do a schedule on the website- but not enough of the clients know about the website yet- so it makes planning and relying on the website a little hard right now.
I am subbing for another Language School (well on their sub list) and when classes become available they will let us know, and I have some more interviews lined up. I am obviously not going to stick with ALL of these jobs because I definately don't want to burn out, but for now it is OK while I play the waiting game on my working permit and VISA.
Today it was realllyyy cold- about 50 when I woke up then it got much colder and rained (it rains everyday) later on- now it is about 40, and getting colder. I checked the weather and it may snow on Friday! Crazzyyy!!! I bet the city is gorgeous in the snow...can't wait to find out. I also had / understood my first Czech conversation today with the lady who translated me diplome (I needed it done for my working permit- remember all documents in Czech, yeah another thing I definately couldn't find out how to do on Google haha) She asked me "Rozumem Csezky? and I Said "ne neurozmem czesky, rozumem angliszky" ..which translates to "do you understand czech? I said no i don't understand Czech, I understand English" she smiled and said " dobry czesky!" which means that was good Czech . So that was fun!
Ok I gotta go , we are getting ready to do some food shopping for our flat- I love our flat, and my flattmates, I think we may have to add hot chocolate to the list...it is going to be in the 40's and 30's this week burrr :)
Love and Miss You all xoxoxoxo
I got a job at Berlitz Language School and I have 40 hours of training there next week, then the following week I will be teaching! yayy! Berlitz is also doing my VISA and Working Permit paper work for me , which is awesome, becuase first of all I have no idea where the forms would be, what to do with them, what other documents they need etc. and even if I could figure all of that out (thank you google)- suprise suprise they would be in Czech. So yeah, that is a major perk of that job. I also am working for a Russian/Irish family who lived in the States, then Ireland and now in Prague *the dad is an accountant so they move and travel a lot * and they want their 5 year old daughter (who missed the cut off for kindergarten by one day) to learn American schooling because they may be moving back to the States soon. She is a sweet little girl and we get a lot done in the hour I am with her, she also speaks fluent English and Russian, and speaks some Italian, French and Romanian. Amazing. I got to her flat to tutor her, adn the mom is soo nice, she always makes me fresh coffee, biscuits and chocolate yummm. :)
I also work for the secretary at The Language House, Dita. She runs an under the table English- Czech lesson out of a cafe her friend owns. She calls you the day before and if you can do a lesson the next day- great, if not then thats OK to, they just reschedule. You can also do a schedule on the website- but not enough of the clients know about the website yet- so it makes planning and relying on the website a little hard right now.
I am subbing for another Language School (well on their sub list) and when classes become available they will let us know, and I have some more interviews lined up. I am obviously not going to stick with ALL of these jobs because I definately don't want to burn out, but for now it is OK while I play the waiting game on my working permit and VISA.
Today it was realllyyy cold- about 50 when I woke up then it got much colder and rained (it rains everyday) later on- now it is about 40, and getting colder. I checked the weather and it may snow on Friday! Crazzyyy!!! I bet the city is gorgeous in the snow...can't wait to find out. I also had / understood my first Czech conversation today with the lady who translated me diplome (I needed it done for my working permit- remember all documents in Czech, yeah another thing I definately couldn't find out how to do on Google haha) She asked me "Rozumem Csezky? and I Said "ne neurozmem czesky, rozumem angliszky" ..which translates to "do you understand czech? I said no i don't understand Czech, I understand English" she smiled and said " dobry czesky!" which means that was good Czech . So that was fun!
Ok I gotta go , we are getting ready to do some food shopping for our flat- I love our flat, and my flattmates, I think we may have to add hot chocolate to the list...it is going to be in the 40's and 30's this week burrr :)
Love and Miss You all xoxoxoxo
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Listen to the wind blow...
Ok things are finally getting settled down around here in Praha. I graduated last Friday from my TEFl class, and it was a really hard class- like 4 years of college crammed into 4 weeks. I also moved into a gorgeous flat in Dejviscka (North Western Prague - near the castle.) It is in a really nice neighborhood and right near a metro and a tram. I have my own room (which I will post pictures of soon) and our entire flat is furnished with antiques. Picture Titanic meets Beauty and The Beast.
I also had a lot of interviews this week (and actually one more tomorrow, and a follow up on Tuesday) and I got a job offer today! yayy!! From an International Language School - Berlitz. I acepted and I start my 1 week training on the 19th, then I will start teaching the week after training(and getting paid - yay!) They are also going to help me with my VISA- so I can live and work here legally, since my tourist VISA will be up on Dec. 4th.
I also got a job tutoring a 5 year old boy, his parents are native speakers, and want a natve english speaker to tutor him in addition to his Czech-English regular school. I also found out about a Special Education School and have applied there. In Prague you can work for many different schools, as long as the schedule works out - you could teach every morning for one school, and every afternoon for another, so it can be very flexible.
I am finally finding some time to do some sight seeing around the city... I went for a long walk across the Charles bridge and around the castle to a great little tea place with my friends Kelly and Sarah the other day and took some great pictures that I will post soon. I am still in my honeymoon phase with Prague- everything is still gorgeous!
Hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all :)
Lainey xoxoxo
I also had a lot of interviews this week (and actually one more tomorrow, and a follow up on Tuesday) and I got a job offer today! yayy!! From an International Language School - Berlitz. I acepted and I start my 1 week training on the 19th, then I will start teaching the week after training(and getting paid - yay!) They are also going to help me with my VISA- so I can live and work here legally, since my tourist VISA will be up on Dec. 4th.
I also got a job tutoring a 5 year old boy, his parents are native speakers, and want a natve english speaker to tutor him in addition to his Czech-English regular school. I also found out about a Special Education School and have applied there. In Prague you can work for many different schools, as long as the schedule works out - you could teach every morning for one school, and every afternoon for another, so it can be very flexible.
I am finally finding some time to do some sight seeing around the city... I went for a long walk across the Charles bridge and around the castle to a great little tea place with my friends Kelly and Sarah the other day and took some great pictures that I will post soon. I am still in my honeymoon phase with Prague- everything is still gorgeous!
Hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all :)
Lainey xoxoxo
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
week 3 is well on it's way...
So I am now officially more than half way done my TEFL course. I think I lucked out because really week 3 is supposed to be the "hardest" week. Since the first day we started all we have heard from former TEFL graduates is how it is OK to break down and cry the third week. However, I am teaching upper intermediate students this week and they are amazing! They understand and LOT of Cesky (because most of them have been studying United for years) and they LOVE to debate issues. There are only 3 women in the class so sometimes you need to assign roles to get a good debate going. My debate topic today was "Is it ever OK to take advantage of or kill your own children?" (A little heavy I know, but it was based off of an article from BBC World News about a French couple who killed their child with Down Syndrome), I assigned an older lady the conservative position of "No it is never OK," and crazy lady with the position of "it is sometimes OK-my favorite of hers response was" sometimes it is ok to kill your children, like for example if they are ugly! "haha and I assigned the youngest student in the class of the position" It is definitely OK to kill your children. "All in all it was a very successful lesson and I received yet washed best grade on it! (We are observed by experienced TEFL teachers during each lesson and afterwards they grade us and review our lessons.)
So I have not cried yet this week (or at all! Yay me!) And I do not think week 3 is going to get me - tomorrow I am doing a lesson on "Teachers who date their students" (I smell another heated debate . ...) and I am using the "Friend's" clip when Ross dates when his student, to introduce the topic. Does it get any better than that? Pretty much my lesson planning for tonight is to watch Friends!
Or ... Week 3 could be going so well because I am coming off a great weekend of festivals Federweisser (Federweisser is a sweet wine that is only in season for a short period of time-last weekend was the first weekend of the season) We stumbled upon 2 festivals with food stands, shopping stands, live music and lots of Federweisser. It was a fantastic weekend and gave us a chance to relax. We also have some apartment viewings lined up for this week-so I will let you know how that goes as well. And to top it all off-I am hoping to get my resume out to at least 15 or so schools would be tomorrow night ... so wish me luck with that!
* I also realzied the reason for a lot of the typos in my earlier Blogs-I write them in microsoft word then copy and paste them to blogspot and it translates part of them to Cesky-(so it also translates mistakes such as confusing word order and making Federweisser into Budweieesier) So until I try to figure that out, I apologize for the typos .*
Hope you all well with everyone! I miss you all! If you have any other Q's or anything you are wondering about let me know, and I will try to get around to answering them! Love ya! xoxoxo
So I have not cried yet this week (or at all! Yay me!) And I do not think week 3 is going to get me - tomorrow I am doing a lesson on "Teachers who date their students" (I smell another heated debate . ...) and I am using the "Friend's" clip when Ross dates when his student, to introduce the topic. Does it get any better than that? Pretty much my lesson planning for tonight is to watch Friends!
Or ... Week 3 could be going so well because I am coming off a great weekend of festivals Federweisser (Federweisser is a sweet wine that is only in season for a short period of time-last weekend was the first weekend of the season) We stumbled upon 2 festivals with food stands, shopping stands, live music and lots of Federweisser. It was a fantastic weekend and gave us a chance to relax. We also have some apartment viewings lined up for this week-so I will let you know how that goes as well. And to top it all off-I am hoping to get my resume out to at least 15 or so schools would be tomorrow night ... so wish me luck with that!
* I also realzied the reason for a lot of the typos in my earlier Blogs-I write them in microsoft word then copy and paste them to blogspot and it translates part of them to Cesky-(so it also translates mistakes such as confusing word order and making Federweisser into Budweieesier) So until I try to figure that out, I apologize for the typos .*
Hope you all well with everyone! I miss you all! If you have any other Q's or anything you are wondering about let me know, and I will try to get around to answering them! Love ya! xoxoxo
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The pictures you have been asking/waiting for....
View of the Castle from the side of the Charles Bridge. My first day in Prague!
walking home with my cross- bow....what thats weird?
Kelly, Drake and I (students from the class) overlooking the Vineyards @ the Burcak wine festival
View of the city on my way to Letkna Beer Garden
Kelly,Nicole and I...2 amazing girls from my class. We are in the hotel together- and are looking for an apartment this weekend together.
There are more pictures on facebook to check out... and I will blog later today. For now we are going to try and do some laundry... should be interesting!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
That's a first...
Well I officially survived my first week in Prague. As with any new adventure / place / journey you are bound to run into a LOT of first time experiences .. here are a few of mine from this past week ...
First time eating lamb sausage
First time having to dodge puke on the sidewalk, all day every day. People here puke a lot. I wonder if it's the food or the beer ... I'm going with beer. But honestly there is puke on almost every sidealk- its a rare and good day if you can walk from place to place and not see puke. My friend Nicole stepped in some tonight, haha it was sick, and pretty funny!
First time not wanting beer !! I NEVER thought that would be a first for me(I was still nursing a hangover, I had been having beer for/with lunch and dinner ... it actually does get a little old. The water is expensive, so I have taken to carrying a liter of water around with me)
First time witnessing a drug deal and then witnessing a drug deal bust outside of a Herna Bar (casino that is a popular spot for the Mafia to meet and do deals)
First time I have ever burnt my hair on a curling iron. (picture Little Women when Meg burns Jo's hair, not even exagerrating, but its ok now. It was just a small piece in the front and barely noticeable, just very traumatic, and smelly - damn european electricity is strongggg. However I got right back on the horse, turned the curling iron to LOW and turned off the power boost, and did manage to curl my hair last night.
First time I have left the bar with a beer in my hand (legally), drank it in a cab then found the bottle enpty the next morning on my bathroom floor...
First time having an orange slice instead of lime with my tequila shot
First time buying jeans with european sizes ( a LOT of trial and error ) haha
First time at a "book store" with a full bar selection and a movie projector where they play really funny European movies.Sunday night's flick pick- Mediterreanou. It was hilarious. An Iatlian film (I think...?) about soldiers who get lost at sea and find an island full of drugs, sex and prostitutes??? - Which reminds me...our hotel is nice but a little shady . We are pretty sure they are running a very low grade prostitute service out of the "spa" at our hotel. One of the former graduates of the TEFL class was in the hotel last month and he went to the spa with one of his buddies and the girl was trying to get them drunk (by emptying their own mini bar) and in the hot tub with her for a massage??? Needless to say I don't think I will be enjoying any "services" at the spa....
First time I have taught(successfully)English to adults! They spoke little to no English and I speak very very very to no czech. The methodology of teaching a langauge in Europe is totally different than how we teach back home. Here it is a communicative approach where you become fully immersed in the language. Where as at home we take words and translate them, more of a vocabulary approach with some speaking and a lot of writing thrown in. Very interesting... and hate to say it but Europe's way is absolutely more successful.
First time I can teach in sweatpants- bonusss!!! Anything goes in Prague, fanny packs, neon shoes, MC Hammer pants ( I swear I have seen them here) you name it- you can wear it.
First time I have seen dogs being treated as kids. These people LOVE their dogs. They are in restaurants, on escalators, on the metro,in stores EVERYWHERE..Mom you would hate it haha.
First time 2 people in one night have asked us if we needed directions. And they were being very genuine and honest. I know mom and dad- i can hear you cringing from here. I am being very careful, try not to worry. And yes I have seen and remember the movie taken.
and finally...
First time I thought I really understood Czech (turns out we were just in a British grocery store, so yes I understood everything because it was in English haha. In my defense I was very sleep deprived when I realized this.
So after expereincing all of those firsts in one week (plus countless others I am too tired to rememeber right now) I am absolutely looking forward to my class being over so I have time to travel and explore a little more. Our days are very long right now. Breakfast at 8:30, class from 9:30-1 Lunch from 1-2, "Prep hours" from 2-5, teaching from 5-8, reflection/meeting with our observer/getting tomorrows lesson from 8-9 ish, then lesson planning, dinner, facebooking, emailing, blogging etc. from 9- i fall asleep. And that is life for the next 3 weeks from Monday - Thursday. Fridays we are done early (usually by 2) which is awesome! And then weekends we have been exploring around Prague, and visiting different bars and clubs and catching up on SLEEP!!!
Wish me luck on week 2...the first week flew by, hope this one does too :)
First time eating lamb sausage
First time having to dodge puke on the sidewalk, all day every day. People here puke a lot. I wonder if it's the food or the beer ... I'm going with beer. But honestly there is puke on almost every sidealk- its a rare and good day if you can walk from place to place and not see puke. My friend Nicole stepped in some tonight, haha it was sick, and pretty funny!
First time not wanting beer !! I NEVER thought that would be a first for me(I was still nursing a hangover, I had been having beer for/with lunch and dinner ... it actually does get a little old. The water is expensive, so I have taken to carrying a liter of water around with me)
First time witnessing a drug deal and then witnessing a drug deal bust outside of a Herna Bar (casino that is a popular spot for the Mafia to meet and do deals)
First time I have ever burnt my hair on a curling iron. (picture Little Women when Meg burns Jo's hair, not even exagerrating, but its ok now. It was just a small piece in the front and barely noticeable, just very traumatic, and smelly - damn european electricity is strongggg. However I got right back on the horse, turned the curling iron to LOW and turned off the power boost, and did manage to curl my hair last night.
First time I have left the bar with a beer in my hand (legally), drank it in a cab then found the bottle enpty the next morning on my bathroom floor...
First time having an orange slice instead of lime with my tequila shot
First time buying jeans with european sizes ( a LOT of trial and error ) haha
First time at a "book store" with a full bar selection and a movie projector where they play really funny European movies.Sunday night's flick pick- Mediterreanou. It was hilarious. An Iatlian film (I think...?) about soldiers who get lost at sea and find an island full of drugs, sex and prostitutes??? - Which reminds me...our hotel is nice but a little shady . We are pretty sure they are running a very low grade prostitute service out of the "spa" at our hotel. One of the former graduates of the TEFL class was in the hotel last month and he went to the spa with one of his buddies and the girl was trying to get them drunk (by emptying their own mini bar) and in the hot tub with her for a massage??? Needless to say I don't think I will be enjoying any "services" at the spa....
First time I have taught(successfully)English to adults! They spoke little to no English and I speak very very very to no czech. The methodology of teaching a langauge in Europe is totally different than how we teach back home. Here it is a communicative approach where you become fully immersed in the language. Where as at home we take words and translate them, more of a vocabulary approach with some speaking and a lot of writing thrown in. Very interesting... and hate to say it but Europe's way is absolutely more successful.
First time I can teach in sweatpants- bonusss!!! Anything goes in Prague, fanny packs, neon shoes, MC Hammer pants ( I swear I have seen them here) you name it- you can wear it.
First time I have seen dogs being treated as kids. These people LOVE their dogs. They are in restaurants, on escalators, on the metro,in stores EVERYWHERE..Mom you would hate it haha.
First time 2 people in one night have asked us if we needed directions. And they were being very genuine and honest. I know mom and dad- i can hear you cringing from here. I am being very careful, try not to worry. And yes I have seen and remember the movie taken.
and finally...
First time I thought I really understood Czech (turns out we were just in a British grocery store, so yes I understood everything because it was in English haha. In my defense I was very sleep deprived when I realized this.
So after expereincing all of those firsts in one week (plus countless others I am too tired to rememeber right now) I am absolutely looking forward to my class being over so I have time to travel and explore a little more. Our days are very long right now. Breakfast at 8:30, class from 9:30-1 Lunch from 1-2, "Prep hours" from 2-5, teaching from 5-8, reflection/meeting with our observer/getting tomorrows lesson from 8-9 ish, then lesson planning, dinner, facebooking, emailing, blogging etc. from 9- i fall asleep. And that is life for the next 3 weeks from Monday - Thursday. Fridays we are done early (usually by 2) which is awesome! And then weekends we have been exploring around Prague, and visiting different bars and clubs and catching up on SLEEP!!!
Wish me luck on week 2...the first week flew by, hope this one does too :)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Rough Take Off....
Soo.. after the end of 4 long days, it feels like I have been in Prague 4 weeks.
We left West Chester around 10.. and had smooth sailing to JFK, had a nice lunch at the Holiday Inn JKF , NY and smooth sailing to the CSA Airlines gate. Said goodbye to dad outside at the curb and mom walked me in. Had a sad, tearful, goodbye to mom, little did I know I would be calling my parents again in like 10 minutes to come pick up some of my stuff because BOTH of my bags were overweight. Talk about off to a rough start. So after saying good bye again, unpacking and re-packing bags in the JFK airport and finally lugging my bags to baggage check, I thought it was only to appropriate to find a bar near my terminal. I had a beer and baorded my plane with about 30 minutes to spare.
The 8 hour plane ride wasn't bad.. had dinner and breakfast with abour 2 hours of sleep in between. I met an artist from NY who was going to Prague to open a gallery (which I will be attending on Thursday night with some of my TEFL friends.) Only complaint- the TV was about 5 rows in front of me... I can deal with that.
Landed in Prague, breezed through customs, and went to meet Jaromir- the Owner of the Lamguage House, where I am studying. He was about 20 minutes late so I called his cell phone ( 20 minutes in a foreign airport, on 2 hours of sleep, with 100+ pounds of luggage to carry around really feels like 2 hours- which gave me a lot of time to consider/reconsider/consider/reconsider... my decision to move to Prague- Academy Park was sounding pretty good right about then...) But it worked out Jaromir - who goes by Mirka did show up and he helped me with my bags and gave me a mini audio tour of the city on the way to the hotel from the airport. He only through me off with his question of "Can you perform to me a favor...?" My sleep deprived response "uhhh I guess so..." Turns out he just wanted me to deliver a welcome packet to this girl Nicole who he had dropped off at the hotel the night before, but had forgotten to give it to her. No issue there. However the issue came when my room wasn't ready at the hotel... so its around 7:45 AM in Prague and Mirka had to leave- but only after he voiced his complaint about the room not being ready. (The owner of the hotel is a former TEFL graduate) So what to do... receptionist stored my bags for me and promised me a room by 11 and suggested I go to the basement for "free" breakfast. * Last week they sent out an email to the TEFL students in the hotel saying we weren't to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast offer since we were alrady getting reduced rooms, however I am certainly not one to turn down a free breakfast, and what else was I going to do in this strange city? and -side note- we have taken advantage of breakfast every morning, even packing our lunches at breakfast to take to school per Mirka's advice.
My room was finally ready around 9:30... I spelt until 12:30 and then met up with another TEFL student to do some exploring in the magnificient city. All of the buildings are so beautiful, it is hard to believe I will be living here...We found the school, ordered and enjoyed our first meal in Prague, got new cell phones, and did some shopping for basic things we forgot (toothpaste.)
That night we met another TEFL student who is staying at the hotel, we all went out to dinner and then to a little DJ bar afterwards- where we felt it necessary to sample every drink on the menu ( a menu completely in Czech mind you) so we could try to learn some of the langauge- so we made drinking educational... who would have thought? LOL
Then went home (to the hotel) completely exhausted... ok so that was ALL FRIDAY.- tired of reading yet, yeah?
Saturday...woke up around 11:30, and it was freezziinnggg... around 50 degrees all day and windy. Met with the other students around 1. Had a wonderful lunch of Lamb Sausages on the water near the Charles Bridge (Karluv Most) and explored around Old City until about 6. It wouldnt have taken us so long except we got so ridiculously lost in the craziest part of Prague. NONE of the streets are straight so you walk for 5 minutes and your sense of direction is completely thrown off. All of the streets circle each other and intersect and have tunnels that aren't labeled... it was sheer craziness. A few hours later we met up with another student, went to a local Polica pub, had some Pilsner Urquell for 30 crowns each ( for those of you not familar a dollar is 20 crown, you do the math... $1.50 beers- hell yea!) When we got back to the hotel Mirka had just dropped off 2 more TEFL students so there are 4 of us here total, and the rest are in flats right outside the city.)
We went to dinner that night- I ordered a burger because the food porn ( yes there is food porn everywhere- millions of pictures of the dishes in menus, windows, placemats...) looked absolutely delicious and it was-were talking McDonalds hungover good, we are talking melt in your mouth like Dove chocolate good, we are talking refreshing Natty Light from Uncle Pat's basement good... you get the picture. After dinner we went to the Legenda Music Bar.. lucky for us it was pool party night, real blow up pool, floatie toys, sand and waiters in bathing suits (pictures to follow.) It was a lot of fun and gave us a chance to get to know eachother more... we all made it home around 4 AM..? (bars here open till the sun comes up, literally, seriously.) So that ends day 2...
Sunday- finaly getting adjusted to the jet lag, but woke up with a killer headache (wonder why..) that lasted most of the day. And Pharmacy's are closed on Sundays and hard to find, and once you find them, you need to knoe the EXACT name of what you need because everythign is locked up- thankfully I found one today and the pharmacist spoke english and I was able to buy ibuprofen. Back to Sunday- Went exploring again with some of the girls to try and find a grocery store for a few snack to have at the hotel- it took us about an hour to find somethign we were literally no more than 100 meters from the entire time while following street signs for it, because it was in the BASEMENT of a strip store, who would have thought to look there? Got a few snacks and went home to nap for a few hours...
That night 6 of us went to dinner at a real CZECH restaurant and it was DELICIOUSSSS!!! I had fried cheese ( there amazing version of mozarella sticks that don't taste like old fried oily stuff, but actually like warm gooey cheese) and beef sirloin in a cream sauce with bread and potato dumplings and cranberry sauce... wow, my mouth is watering just typing this. Probably a once a month type meal or I will weigh a million pounds when I come back haha. And of course had a few beers ( since beer is about half the price of everything other beverage) and then we went home to preapre for our first day of class.
Monday- first day of class!! Very excited that we actually start at 9:30, not 9...like I had originally though- yay! Met our instructor and others in the class, got an overview of the course and went on a 4 hour tour of the city- which ended at the Czech restaurant Dnkinmbe (spelling..?) for our Welcome Dinner. The TEFL instructors treated us to dinner, and drinks of course, and it was a delicious after hiking it through the city, seeing the Castle and a million other things, and learning how to ride the metros (under ground) and the trams ( above ground) Before we left dinner we were given our first assignment- come prepared tomorrow to do a 15 minute "How to" lesson... I went home and planned my lesson and finally fell asleep around midnight. I haven't been sleeping that well here, but I am hoping that will change- I thinik the pillows are too soft and hurt my neck, so last night I slept with 2 pairs of jeans under my pillows and it helped A LOT.
Today was our 2nd day of class. We arrived and jumped right into some lecturing and "demo" ing of lessons and how to make a lesson plan. We break for lunch between 1-2. There is a nice grassy park (a fav. spot for the homeless guys and also for public urination- which is legal here) but when you can get past that, the park is actually really nice, just stay under your tree, or in the sun and away from the bushes and you are golden. We have been eating lunch with about 8 of the 15 TEFL students so we have really been getting to know eachother, and suprisingly are getting along really well! There is one lady in out class who we think may do coke... or is recovering from rehab- somethign is just a little off- more to come on her later, because SURPRISE- she is in my teaching group.
This afternooon we did our "How to" lessons. Mine was on "How to pour like a pro" so I taught my class a few simple bartending skills. I think mine went well, there are definately things I could have done better once I looked back and did soem self reflecting, but overall not a bad start. We will get our evals. from our instructor back tomorrow. After class we dropped some stuff off at the hotel and Nicole, Kelly and I (2 girls in the hotel who I have gotten to know really well) took teh metro and the tram- ALL BY OURSELVES and went to the mall ( girly) to look for girly things like travel coffee (kava) mugs, and hair straightners (I think I blew mine out...) and wallets. With not much success we had a Mongolian BBQ dinner- sort of like chicken Lo Mein and made our way back home on the metro.
Ok that is probably the longest blog I will ever write... and thats my first 4 days in Prague. The first day I was on the verge of tears, and reallyyy reconsidering my choice to make such a big move at this time in my life. I really miss my family and friends, and after 2 days in class the next month is going to be completely crazy and challenging and I wish you guys were here to support me through my 7 hours of lecture during the day and 3 hours of teaching at night...(yeah that starts next week) but I know you guys are there, and that you do support me and honestly after just 4 quick days... I think I am falling in love with Prague.
We left West Chester around 10.. and had smooth sailing to JFK, had a nice lunch at the Holiday Inn JKF , NY and smooth sailing to the CSA Airlines gate. Said goodbye to dad outside at the curb and mom walked me in. Had a sad, tearful, goodbye to mom, little did I know I would be calling my parents again in like 10 minutes to come pick up some of my stuff because BOTH of my bags were overweight. Talk about off to a rough start. So after saying good bye again, unpacking and re-packing bags in the JFK airport and finally lugging my bags to baggage check, I thought it was only to appropriate to find a bar near my terminal. I had a beer and baorded my plane with about 30 minutes to spare.
The 8 hour plane ride wasn't bad.. had dinner and breakfast with abour 2 hours of sleep in between. I met an artist from NY who was going to Prague to open a gallery (which I will be attending on Thursday night with some of my TEFL friends.) Only complaint- the TV was about 5 rows in front of me... I can deal with that.
Landed in Prague, breezed through customs, and went to meet Jaromir- the Owner of the Lamguage House, where I am studying. He was about 20 minutes late so I called his cell phone ( 20 minutes in a foreign airport, on 2 hours of sleep, with 100+ pounds of luggage to carry around really feels like 2 hours- which gave me a lot of time to consider/reconsider/consider/reconsider... my decision to move to Prague- Academy Park was sounding pretty good right about then...) But it worked out Jaromir - who goes by Mirka did show up and he helped me with my bags and gave me a mini audio tour of the city on the way to the hotel from the airport. He only through me off with his question of "Can you perform to me a favor...?" My sleep deprived response "uhhh I guess so..." Turns out he just wanted me to deliver a welcome packet to this girl Nicole who he had dropped off at the hotel the night before, but had forgotten to give it to her. No issue there. However the issue came when my room wasn't ready at the hotel... so its around 7:45 AM in Prague and Mirka had to leave- but only after he voiced his complaint about the room not being ready. (The owner of the hotel is a former TEFL graduate) So what to do... receptionist stored my bags for me and promised me a room by 11 and suggested I go to the basement for "free" breakfast. * Last week they sent out an email to the TEFL students in the hotel saying we weren't to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast offer since we were alrady getting reduced rooms, however I am certainly not one to turn down a free breakfast, and what else was I going to do in this strange city? and -side note- we have taken advantage of breakfast every morning, even packing our lunches at breakfast to take to school per Mirka's advice.
My room was finally ready around 9:30... I spelt until 12:30 and then met up with another TEFL student to do some exploring in the magnificient city. All of the buildings are so beautiful, it is hard to believe I will be living here...We found the school, ordered and enjoyed our first meal in Prague, got new cell phones, and did some shopping for basic things we forgot (toothpaste.)
That night we met another TEFL student who is staying at the hotel, we all went out to dinner and then to a little DJ bar afterwards- where we felt it necessary to sample every drink on the menu ( a menu completely in Czech mind you) so we could try to learn some of the langauge- so we made drinking educational... who would have thought? LOL
Then went home (to the hotel) completely exhausted... ok so that was ALL FRIDAY.- tired of reading yet, yeah?
Saturday...woke up around 11:30, and it was freezziinnggg... around 50 degrees all day and windy. Met with the other students around 1. Had a wonderful lunch of Lamb Sausages on the water near the Charles Bridge (Karluv Most) and explored around Old City until about 6. It wouldnt have taken us so long except we got so ridiculously lost in the craziest part of Prague. NONE of the streets are straight so you walk for 5 minutes and your sense of direction is completely thrown off. All of the streets circle each other and intersect and have tunnels that aren't labeled... it was sheer craziness. A few hours later we met up with another student, went to a local Polica pub, had some Pilsner Urquell for 30 crowns each ( for those of you not familar a dollar is 20 crown, you do the math... $1.50 beers- hell yea!) When we got back to the hotel Mirka had just dropped off 2 more TEFL students so there are 4 of us here total, and the rest are in flats right outside the city.)
We went to dinner that night- I ordered a burger because the food porn ( yes there is food porn everywhere- millions of pictures of the dishes in menus, windows, placemats...) looked absolutely delicious and it was-were talking McDonalds hungover good, we are talking melt in your mouth like Dove chocolate good, we are talking refreshing Natty Light from Uncle Pat's basement good... you get the picture. After dinner we went to the Legenda Music Bar.. lucky for us it was pool party night, real blow up pool, floatie toys, sand and waiters in bathing suits (pictures to follow.) It was a lot of fun and gave us a chance to get to know eachother more... we all made it home around 4 AM..? (bars here open till the sun comes up, literally, seriously.) So that ends day 2...
Sunday- finaly getting adjusted to the jet lag, but woke up with a killer headache (wonder why..) that lasted most of the day. And Pharmacy's are closed on Sundays and hard to find, and once you find them, you need to knoe the EXACT name of what you need because everythign is locked up- thankfully I found one today and the pharmacist spoke english and I was able to buy ibuprofen. Back to Sunday- Went exploring again with some of the girls to try and find a grocery store for a few snack to have at the hotel- it took us about an hour to find somethign we were literally no more than 100 meters from the entire time while following street signs for it, because it was in the BASEMENT of a strip store, who would have thought to look there? Got a few snacks and went home to nap for a few hours...
That night 6 of us went to dinner at a real CZECH restaurant and it was DELICIOUSSSS!!! I had fried cheese ( there amazing version of mozarella sticks that don't taste like old fried oily stuff, but actually like warm gooey cheese) and beef sirloin in a cream sauce with bread and potato dumplings and cranberry sauce... wow, my mouth is watering just typing this. Probably a once a month type meal or I will weigh a million pounds when I come back haha. And of course had a few beers ( since beer is about half the price of everything other beverage) and then we went home to preapre for our first day of class.
Monday- first day of class!! Very excited that we actually start at 9:30, not 9...like I had originally though- yay! Met our instructor and others in the class, got an overview of the course and went on a 4 hour tour of the city- which ended at the Czech restaurant Dnkinmbe (spelling..?) for our Welcome Dinner. The TEFL instructors treated us to dinner, and drinks of course, and it was a delicious after hiking it through the city, seeing the Castle and a million other things, and learning how to ride the metros (under ground) and the trams ( above ground) Before we left dinner we were given our first assignment- come prepared tomorrow to do a 15 minute "How to" lesson... I went home and planned my lesson and finally fell asleep around midnight. I haven't been sleeping that well here, but I am hoping that will change- I thinik the pillows are too soft and hurt my neck, so last night I slept with 2 pairs of jeans under my pillows and it helped A LOT.
Today was our 2nd day of class. We arrived and jumped right into some lecturing and "demo" ing of lessons and how to make a lesson plan. We break for lunch between 1-2. There is a nice grassy park (a fav. spot for the homeless guys and also for public urination- which is legal here) but when you can get past that, the park is actually really nice, just stay under your tree, or in the sun and away from the bushes and you are golden. We have been eating lunch with about 8 of the 15 TEFL students so we have really been getting to know eachother, and suprisingly are getting along really well! There is one lady in out class who we think may do coke... or is recovering from rehab- somethign is just a little off- more to come on her later, because SURPRISE- she is in my teaching group.
This afternooon we did our "How to" lessons. Mine was on "How to pour like a pro" so I taught my class a few simple bartending skills. I think mine went well, there are definately things I could have done better once I looked back and did soem self reflecting, but overall not a bad start. We will get our evals. from our instructor back tomorrow. After class we dropped some stuff off at the hotel and Nicole, Kelly and I (2 girls in the hotel who I have gotten to know really well) took teh metro and the tram- ALL BY OURSELVES and went to the mall ( girly) to look for girly things like travel coffee (kava) mugs, and hair straightners (I think I blew mine out...) and wallets. With not much success we had a Mongolian BBQ dinner- sort of like chicken Lo Mein and made our way back home on the metro.
Ok that is probably the longest blog I will ever write... and thats my first 4 days in Prague. The first day I was on the verge of tears, and reallyyy reconsidering my choice to make such a big move at this time in my life. I really miss my family and friends, and after 2 days in class the next month is going to be completely crazy and challenging and I wish you guys were here to support me through my 7 hours of lecture during the day and 3 hours of teaching at night...(yeah that starts next week) but I know you guys are there, and that you do support me and honestly after just 4 quick days... I think I am falling in love with Prague.
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