Time to update!

The Blog from Prague will soon be coming to a close.  Because I'll soon be leaving Prague.

Thanks, Carl.

Emotions, they are mixed.  Logic, is at peace.  Bags, are not packed.  Friends and students are sad to see me go, which is always a good sign.  I could stick around and be fine, but nothing much is going to change unless I were to make plans to settle down here permanently and I'm just not feeling that.  I'd rather be one to do a good stint and move on, or stay forever and ever, but not in between like so many seem to.

Anyway, since the last update I've been to Berlin.  It was awesome.  It's all very new and rebuilt of course.  Very gritty and arty.  I learned a lot and put together a lot of history.  Been enjoying the sun and beer gardens in between spring/summer rains.  Hanging out with friends, watching television, teaching, making future plans, etc.

I had an awesome birthday back in May.  I'd wanted to just hang out at a beer garden all afternoon and let people come and go whenever they could.  Too bad it was cloudy and 50/10 degrees.  Called off the park and turned it into a dinner.  It was still great though, about 15 people came to dinner, some came and went just for drinks after.  We moved from there to one bar, then when that closed to another bar, then when that closed home (since it was light outside by then).  It was an epic one.  I've been 24, 25, and 26 in Prague.  Weird.

Not much new otherwise.  We'll see what plans pan out in the future.

April.

When not one, but two whole people mentioned that I hadn't posted anything in a while, I knew I had to act.

It's true, I have not updated the world on myself lately.  Other than a trip to Krakow, there is not much to tell.  Teaching is much the same.  I got a small raise but it really adds up at the end of the month.  I still like it, and like most of my students.  Still with mostly the same friends.  Some people have left before me and I'll leave before others.  It seems like I meet new people but don't really get close to them or initiate hangouts like I did when I first got here and met somebody else who spoke English.  I've been making solid plans to leave Prague recently.  The people are definitely what I'll miss the most but I figure I won't miss them more than I've missed people at home.   And now I have friends from all over the world to visit.  This spring hasn't been as nice as last year, but then the winter wasn't nearly as bad either.  Definitely ready for consistent warm weather and sunshine though!

Krakow:  Went with Canadian friend a few weeks ago.  We took the night train (woowoo!) and arrived in the city around 7am.  Hit the town as it was waking up.  It's small and beautiful in the main square.  The neighborhoods seemed nice, but a little run down or not well kept.  We took a free walking tour and learned how superior Krakow is to every other European city.  It used to be the capital before Warsaw got bigger and took over.  Vienna stole the ring-design layout of the city.  And it has the best, most educated, well trained tour guides ever.  Our guide finally got to the historical walking part of the historical walking tour.  Very cool stuff though.  Beautiful architecture; similar to Prague in a lot of ways.  Lots of churches and statues, a castle, a river, bridges, etc. 

In the afternoon we met up with a Prague friend's friend who is another English teaching expat there.  C and I agreed to hang out with him first before agreeing to sleep on his couch.  Luckily he was very normal and cool.  In fact a tall, gangly, British guy who talks too much named Jack.  (....So I may or may not have a "type".)  He took us to his place to drop off our stuff and we chilled out and chatted a while.  Then he took us out to a late lunch/early dinner at a really cool nice cheap Polish place.  The Goulash had veggies in it; different.  The beer was good...and locals often drink it through a straw.  I couldn't bring myself to join.  We met some of Jack's friends, mostly Polish but a few other expats and went to a couple of bars.  The city is cheap and small so it was a nice night.  We never took a tram anywhere, just walked. 

Sunday was a bit disappointing.  We didn't get moving early enough to make a tour to either Auschwitz or the nearby salt mines.  And there were less tours on Sunday.  However, we hit the town again and tried more Polish food and watched people.  Took the night tram back to Prague (slept pretty good actually)  where I went straight to a class after pulling into the station.  There's been a few cities that I feel like I can check off the list but others I'd go back to no question.  Congratulations, Krakow!

It's funny how I pronounce certain cities the correct way and others the American/English way.  It's "Krakov" and "Budapesht", but I still say Prague instead of Praha, or Vienna instead of Vien.  Not sure why some stick and others don't.  I think there might be a few small Czech trips and hopefully a bigger one to Berlin before heading home. 

February

Aaand after January took forever, we're into February! 

Today was the first day this winter that it really snowed in Prague.  It's so pretty, and not as cold as it has been lately.  It's sad when 20 degrees seems like an improvement. 

I've been a sluggish, unmotivated, useless creature lately.  Teaching is actually going really well.  I've picked up quite a few new classes, and lessons in general tend to be smooth and feel like I've done something useful.  Weekends are pretty eventful with socializing (despite the temperatures).  It's just between classes or in the evenings I find myself doing absolutely nothing productive.  I've caught up with television and watched a lot of movies.  (The Godfather is really really good, by the way.)  Going through a bit of a completist phase when it comes to my music.  Started with getting every Radiohead album organized in iTunes.  I've started a painting for a friend so hopefully that gets some more creativity going.  It think it's partly the winter weather and partly other stuff.  I'm going to give myself a bit more wallowing leeway for February but when March starts up it's going to be fitter, happier, more productive. 

Birthday for Finnish friend this weekend!

Christmas to now.

So yes, I went home for Christmas.  It was great.  I pet puppies and held babies and caught up with friends.  But this is not The Blog From Home!  This is the Blog from Prague!!  Whaaaaat! 

I got back into Prague a few days before New Years Eve.  Jet Lag.  Awful jetlag.  New Years Eve was lots of fun with B and her Finnish boyfriend M and the Canadian friend C.  Had dinner at M's then we went to a bar in Zizkov, then went to the hill in Riegrovy Sady, watched fireworks and drunk people, met up with Czech boy D, went back to the bar, and then crashed at C's since she lived the closest.  They love their fireworks here, you could hear them going off all week actually. 

The first week back to work was long.  Not too difficult since a lot of students were still on their holidays.  Just super slow to get back into the swing of things. 

Took a day-trip to Dresden last Saturday.  Check Germany off the list, although I do maybe want to go to Berlin or Munich.  It wasn't very big, but it was pretty and quite interesting.  Almost everything was bombed in WWII  (like most of Germany), so everything has been rebuilt to look like it did.  There's debate about where the actual Slaughterhouse 5 is or was, but it's where Kurt Vonnegut was a POW. 

Last Thursday I had a Skype interview with a language school in Santiago, Chile.  I think it went well but there were some tough questions about what I'd do in certain situations so I don't know how I did with those.  I won't hear back until mid-March so I'm going to do more researching and searching until then. 

This weekend was really busy in a social way.  Got a couple of beers with some TEFL people on Friday night.  Saturday there was a get-together at another TEFL person's flat with food and games, then I went to a pub for my Australian friend T's going away party.  I always just saw her around at stuff, we never hung out on our own but I always really liked her.  Sunday I helped B move and went to see "The Descendants".  George Clooney looks hilarious when he runs. 

I was all prepared for another iced over, freezing winter in Prague, but it hasn't even really snowed much yet.  It's cold but still above freezing for the most part.  About half sunny/half cloudy days.  I tell the new ones how nice this is and how lucky they are. 

Honestly, January is taking forever.  It seems like New Years happened so long ago. 

2012!

November?  Really?  I'm the worst.  Much has happened in the past two months.  But nobody wants to hear me whine.  So again, I shall share my emotions through the art form of gifs!!! 

For a long time things be like:

Then various things took me off guard:

And then I was really lame for a while:

But after going home for Christmas and having a killer New Years things are getting back to:

Meh. Sure.

Feeling better.

And back to my regular cool self.

With my super cool friends.

...And some of this.  ...This is Prague after all.

Perfectly clear, I'm sure!  Or you could listen to Noah and the Whale's "The First Day of Spring".  But you should listen to that anyway.

This afternoon I have a Skype interview with a school in Chile!  So like, wish me luck on that.

I'll talk about New Years and work and going to Germany and future plans later.  Here's to 2012!!!