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.
