GPOY!

A cowboy hat showed up at a birthday party, and I represented.

Also, it is currently 9 degrees Fahrenheit outside.  9.  That's -13 degrees Celsius (which I'm trying to get used to).  My morning class cancelled (still get paid, baby!)  with some excuse about finishing reports, but I'm pretty sure they were staying in bed too.  I'm just about ready for The Winter of Our Discontent to be over.  When this city is warm and beautiful I'm going to have earned it. 

Weekend.

I can't really remember what I used to do on weekends back home.  Hung out and took it easy with the occasional fun event or road trip. The past few weeks here around 2:35pm on a Sunday I'm thinking "Is it time to go to work yet?". 

Had a junk food and movie marathon with the crew at the flat away from flat.  (That place is a harbor for lost souls I swear.)  Well, it began with B making an absurd amount of french toast and making us eat it all.  Then we watched some crappy movies and ate the junk food.  P has a projector she can borrow from work so we get a big-screen effect and don't have to crowd around a laptop. 

Yesterday I hit the town a bit with a friend who is still kind of new here.  We got coffee and then had a history lesson at the Communist Museum.  I hadn't been yet and she was interested.  It was depressing but pretty cool.  Then we did Bohemia Bagel which I've heard a lot about but hadn't been to yet.  Very American style expat place.  Good burger and the first ice I've had since coming here.  Then we wandered around Mala Strana a bit.  Over the bridge, down to the Lennon wall, looked at buildings, etc.  I don't get over there a whole lot and am always a little thrown by all the English speaking tourists.  (Wound up giving three of them directions.) For a freezing cold Saturday in February there were a ton of them.  I can't wait until it's warm here, but I'm not looking foward to the tourist crowds.  It was really cold though so I went home for a nap and she did some shopping.  Last night was P's birthday party and it was tons of fun.  It was just house-party style which is best.  I don't really like going from place to place where you have to talk over music.  We played games and just hung out and visited mostly.

Been a bum today except for the exciting 20 minutes when we had no electricity in the flat.  Russian roommate seemed very unconcerned, German roommate was freaked about not being able to cook, and Senegali roommate and I were terrified of freezing to death.  We threw some switches in our hallway to no avail.  I called our landlord and he told us about a box on the stair landing.  Success!  I initiated good ol' American high fives all around. 

I need to go over my lessons for the week.  There's a good chance I'll get a "surprise" observation from one of the senior teachers from my school.  Although, a friend already jumped on the new Radiohead album and shared it with me.  I'm not sure if I want to start getting into it yet though.  Arcade Fire. "Suburbs".  Still rocking my life right now. 

Teaching.

I guess I should talk about classes and teaching once in a while.  Since that's what I came here to do and all. 

I really like it so far.  I'm currently finishing up my fourth week and can't believe it's gone this quickly.  I like if not love and adore most of my students.  (Except for that one class of three women who stare at me.  It's like pulling teeth getting them to talk.)  Most days I have two classes, Tuesdays I have three, and Fridays I have one.  I'm still learning a lot, but at the end of each week I've had a "step up your game" talk with myself and I'll find more resources and talk to other teachers about what they do.  We had to teach 45 minute lessons in the TEFL course and that felt like a long time and a lot of effort to make it last that long.  Most of my classes are 90 minutes and I haven't really had that problem yet.  In class we had to follow the formula they wanted us to and were being observed, but it's a lot more relaxed doing my own thing.  I still use what I learned but nobody cares if we get sidetracked and talk about other stuff or spend the last part of class just in discussion.  Most of them just want to speak in English and be corrected anyway. 

The only thing I don't like is dealing with stuff for my school.  I should just be happy they hired me and all, but I have to turn in evaluations on the students, and make a "course plan", and meet with my senior teacher, and attend workshops now and then, etc.  Probably the downside of teaching anything anywhere so I just suck it up. 

Having a routine has been fantastic though.  I think the staying busy and having obligations is mostly what has made the time go quickly.  My mental and emotional state has evened out, where before when I was job hunting and trying to fill the cold days up with something I'd have high highs and low lows every single day.  I don't feel like I need to be around people quite as much either.  Although that is important and fun and probably my favorite thing about being here. 

Another great thing is the late cancellations.  If a class cancels 24 hours or less before the meeting time I still get paid.  I've had two so far, whut up!

Artyness.

Girlfriend bought herself some cheap watercolors and paper on Friday.  I had big plans on being an antisocial artist all weekend, but on the way home I ran into a friend on the tram who asked what was up that night.  He lives a couple of blocks away, but it always surprises me when I see people I know just around town.  Not that I know that much of the population here, but for a big city it's really not.  Anyway, the FOMO (fear of missing out) beat the creative streak.  I did start up in the afternoon before going out though.  Got dinner and told bad jokes for hours in one of many bars in Zizkov. Worked a little more on Saturday, then went to a birthday party for a guy I met a week ago.  Sunday I was definitely going to be an antisocial artist, but a friend was making an uber breakfast for her roommates and whoever crashed at their place the night before so I went over.  But YESTERDAY, I finished.  Alas, I missed Sci-Fi Night, but I wasn't really feeling like taking the trek of switching metros anyway.  Battlestar Galactica isn't doing much for me anyway. 

ANYway, kinda based on a photo I took in an alley in Vinohrady.  I kind of crapped out halfway through, and I find the colors very distressing, but it was just nice to push paint around again.

Have some more Arcade Fire.  Just because.  New Radiohead album coming out soon too!





Three Month Anniversary!

Yep, been here three months today.  This past month has been the quickest and happiest and...probably not easiest, but best to go through.  Still new to the teaching thing but I feel like I've got a good handle on the city and have several people I can count on here. 

I don't think a gif party like last month is required but here's a little something.

Thanks Orson.

Starting up Week 3 of teaching!  I can't believe how quickly things are moving.  In a few days I'll have been here three months.  That's 1/4 of a year!  The two month marker felt like a long time, but the past month has just flown by.  I think the winter blues are finally over for everybody.  It's been in the mid 40's and sunny this week! 

I'm making some friends with other people who work for my school.  It seems like Glossa sent all their new teachers to a new company they've picked up, so we all see each other there.  There's a couple who got their TEFL online and have been here two weeks.  Both situations are kind of unfathomable to me.  I need to get them and some others out.  They don't know anybody but other teachers here.  I'm so glad I fell in with cohorts of other professions.  Get five English teachers together and they start talking about how they did an activation for a lesson on the Present Perfect.  Bitchin'.    

My parents are going to come visit next month, woohoo!  It'll be so fun to show them around and introduce them to my.....well, most of my friends here.  My Aussie friend who has been here a while says it's the best feeling in the world to have people visit and know the city while they don't.  You look like an expert leading them around and showing them the cool haunts.  There's a few parts of town we'll have to avoid just so I don't embarass myself though.  There's sections I haven't had much need to go to without other people and don't know as well.  Plus, so many parts of town have no rhyme or reason to why the streets wind around the way they do.  I've been to places around Old Town several times and still get lost on the way. 

So yeah, hopefully the weather stays nice for a while.  I'm sure there will be more cold before Spring finally comes, but I can't wait until it's nice here. 

Hold your mistake up.

I can't believe that stupid Where the Wild Things Are movie* almost ruined this song for me.  Almost ruined The Arcade Fire for me.  They keep coming up during music talks and it seems like me and everybody else can't stop listening to them.  It took a while for me to really get into them.  It takes a lot of listening just for the sound before getting into everything else. 

Not much about Prague again, but whatev.  I picked up my Opencard today.  Woohoo!  Legit.  Classes are going well.  I love some of my students while some are very Czech and a little more difficult.  There's a lot to do for my school regarding turning in attendance sheets and invoices and whatnot to make sure we get paid, but I'm sure I'll get into the swing of it.  Tomorrow's Friday and I don't have any big weekend plans.  Kinda nice.   After the Vienna thing I kind of just want to chill around Prague. 

*Don't even get me started. 

Vienna.

Someday I'll do Vienna and actually care.  This weekend wasn't the time for that. 

I really didn't want to, just wasn't feeling it, but yesterday I got on a train from Prague to Vienna.  I found a kind friend of a friend to host me and actually had a great time with her.  We pretty much talked about music the whole time.  She's going to Coachella in the spring and I'm soooo jealous.  She also fed me leftovers.  Anyway, she's grown up in Vienna and we did the google map thing to find the best way to the embassy and back to the train station.

This morning I got up, said goodbye, and headed to the embassy.  It wasn't too terrible.  I've heard some horror stories.  I had my paperwork together and the Czech guy doing everything was pretty cool.  I should have a visa in a few months, but for now I'm not even going to think about it.

It was kind of strange, but being there made me realize how familiar Prague has become.  The whole time there I was just focused on where I was and how to get where I needed to go.  The metro and trams are pretty similar, but having to concentrate on everything around me was kind of exhausting.  It was such a relief to pull into the station at Prague and be able to get to my apartment on auto pilot.  One of my friends who has been here a couple of years asked if I felt at home here yet and I told him I didn't know if I ever would.  Some people land and have that feeling and some stay for years but never cut things off from wherever they came from.  I still don't think anything but Home will feel like home, but I realized that I'm definitely comfortable here now.  There's still parts of the city I've never been to and don't know, but I'm pretty sure I can get to where I need to be from just about everywhere. 

I'm a TEFL teacher!  Week one down.  It went really well.  Other than my schedule getting changed a lot.  I lost a couple of classes to it but they're going to try to find me more.  But the first week was mostly about assessing the students' level and finding out where they are in their books.  There'll be more structure later. 

Got all my visa stuff together.  WOOHOO.  I kind of hate this country and the whole EU sometimes.  Nothing like blasting a little Violent Femmes on the way home from a bureaucratic runaround though.  But tomorrow I'm going to Vienna to apply for the visa on Monday morning.  Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.  I needs to get legal, yo.  It's the last big thing on my plate (other than working) to take care of here.  It'll be a big relief once it's over. 

Page, Plant, Bonham, and Jones.

I start teaching tomorrow!  I'll usually have three classes on Mondays but one is already cancelled which is kind of nice for a first day and all.  I'm really not nervous yet but I'm tired of waiting for the day.  I've gone over my lesson plan a lot and think I have enough to do and get them talking.  The first lessons are really just getting to know them and assess their levels. 

I still have a lot to do regarding applying for the visa.  It's such a pain but everybody goes through it.  If I get it all together I'm going to the Czech embassy in Vienna on Monday.  You have to apply for it outside of the country you're applying for.....  Yeah.  I'd love to spend some time in the city but I also kind of think I'll be thinking about everything I have to do and just want to get the process over with.  We'll see though. 

I confess to a weekend of shenanigans that started on Thursday, in fact.  Bit of a last hurrah, if you will.  Oh who am I kidding, the hurrah never stops in Prague.  A girl I met a couple of weeks ago said she suffers from a case of FOMO: Fear of Missing Out.  I never had it before, but since being here I understand the feeling.  I do stuff on my own too but for some reason I like keeping tabs on my friends here.  I'll randomly think "I wonder where so'n'so is in town, who are they with, what's going on, oh man I have to be there too if they're having fun, how dare they be having fun without me!"  etc. 

Also.  Czech Led Zeppelin cover band = coolest thing ever.  It was four dudes who we all agreed looked like our fathers and their friends.  They've had to have been doing this for thirty years though.  The only way they could have sounded more like Zep would be if it were actually Page, Plant, Bonham, and Jones.  I've been really really happy about it for days.