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 :)