It's been busy since I got back but time to talk about England!
Thursday, (the 7th) we flew to Bristol. There was a chatty, very good at English Czech guy with us on the plane. He liked that we liked Zizkov and bought us expensive plane beer and told us about his life. A's friend Steve and his girlfriend picked us up when we landed. Steve had a really cool place, all the houses in Bristol were adorable with their squished togetherness and eclectic doors. We just chatted and chilled out the first night, reveling in milk and bread that tasted like it should.
Friday: Rain. We went into the city which is a pretty cool place. A needed a big fried English pub breakfast, so that's what he got and he was a very happy boy. Saw this original Banksy on a wall, ooo! Went to a super cool music/movie/bookstore. We met with two of A's friends from university. They were lots of fun. Just got a drink and chatted a lot and all headed home. Steve made chilli and we played Cranium with him and his girlfriend. Also watched an episode of "East Enders" which is big there.)
Saturday: Rain. We got up, said our goodbyes to Steve, and splurged on a bus to get into town. Got some more English breakfast type food at a nice little place and wandered around until it was time to go. Hopped the bus to Plymouth. He read and listened to music while I mostly looked at the ridiculously green, hilly English countryside. His parents picked us up from the bus stop, and took us to their huge lovely home. A's older brother and brother's girlfriend were there as well. Along with two little kittens, a new addition to the family! We visited and got tasty fish'n'chips for dinner.
Sunday: A's brother is some sort of financial director, but during the hurting unemployed recession months he put together the Tamerton Trail. A historical walk through their village. It was really cool and even A saw and learned things he'd never known before. That evening some of A's parent's friends were having a party to raise money for somebody's marathon for cancer or something. We all paid "a fiver" and socialized and had drinks. Some middle aged British guys were controling their middle-aged guy music (mostly American) and they were impressed that I'd seen Tom Petty in concert. People aren't much different wherever you go I think.
Monday: No rain that I can remember! We took a bus into Plymouth where I ate a pasty, mmmm. Bought new watches at a magical place called Argos. Looked at the sea. Went to a favorite place for tea. Walked along the Barbican. And went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 since it's dubbed for children here in Prague. (Alright, not as good as the first one.)
Tuesday: We rented a car! A hadn't driven since leaving and was a little nervous, but quickly got back into the swing of things. We drove to Dartmoor and got some lunch before going on the moors. Very very cool stuff. Just big, windy fields with rocks jutting out and sheep and cows and wild ponies roaming around. Then we went to a beach called Looe where the water was dirty and freezing and kept moving around what with the waves and all. I hate the ocean. A swam and I had a nice time reading on the beach.
Wednesday: We still had the car and drove to Lands End, the most western tip of England. I expected more beach but it was cliffs and rocks. Could have been a filming location for a pirate movie. Then to Penzance where A's brother lives. The very cool girlfriend is a local and showed us around. Also a coast town, cool historic buildings and houses, pubs. We got pizza before crashing for the night there.
Thursday: Rain. Drove back to Plymouth and returned the car. A was very relieved he didn't crash it. We made shepherds pie for dinner and watched Torchwood with the parents and played with the kittens. Said goodbye to the parents.
Friday: Hopped a bus to London! Long ride, but it was good. We got there pretty late but found W and H's place pretty easily. Which was good because according to W: "It's not a 'dangerous' neighborhood, but you probably don't want to be wandering around with London A/Z out at 11 at night.".
Saturday: Rain. We did typical London touristy stuff. And the Film Museum, which was alright but not stellar. The TARDIS and Daleks on display made it worth it. Found a pub the friends recommended in the pouring rain. That night we tried going out to a club but got there too late and would have had to wait in line for hours. I was glad, since I wasn't in the mood for a club. We wound up going to one of W's friends places and then just back to W's.
Sunday: More Rain. Mostly hung out with W, H, and W's sister R. There was a small festival in the neighborhood of Shorditch. I've never seen so many hipsters in my life. No touristy stuff other than a quick nerdy trip to Baker street for me.
Sunday: Up and off. I had a lot of fun but was really ready to get back to Prague. Too bad we brought the rain back with us. :P
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Happy Fourth!
My Fourth of July in Prague consisted of watching Battlestar Galactica with my sci-fi friends, playing Rock Band, and shooting off a single rocket in a drizzly residential street then fleeing from the scene and cracking up with my cohorts. Pretty good methinks. Also watched "Independence Day" today. Such a good flick to go back to!
Like I mentioned, yesterday and today were public holidays. I basically cleaned my flat/room and organized all of my school stuff. Woohoo! Teaching one class tomorrow then hopping on a plane and going to England! I went with my family as a kid and remember quite a lot. Haven't been there as a legal adult with a genuine British person though. The plan is basically to eat fish'n'chips, drink British beer, visit the genuine British person's friends and family, and generally wander around. First, I need to delete old pictures off of my camera after getting them on my computer.
Like I mentioned, yesterday and today were public holidays. I basically cleaned my flat/room and organized all of my school stuff. Woohoo! Teaching one class tomorrow then hopping on a plane and going to England! I went with my family as a kid and remember quite a lot. Haven't been there as a legal adult with a genuine British person though. The plan is basically to eat fish'n'chips, drink British beer, visit the genuine British person's friends and family, and generally wander around. First, I need to delete old pictures off of my camera after getting them on my computer.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Hmm, lazy on the updating lately.
Last weekend was a friend's one year anniversary here in Prague. Much fun was had at the beer garden, then a smaller bar where we might have disturbed other patrons but the bartender loved us. This weekend has been chilly and rainy. Lame! It started on Thursday with a mini-farewell for J who is going to be traveling for like a month, also lame! Went to a TEFl potluck last night at Letna and met a bunch of new people which was nice. We had a good view of a random (maybe?) firework show somebody was putting on. Mostly been bumming around today since it's, yeah, still cold and rainy. Don't know if anything is going on for the 4th tomorrow.
I'm barely going to work for the next couple of weeks. Tuesday and Wednesday are state holidays so some companies are just giving Monday off as well. I'll work Thursday but then that evening I'm flying to England with the boy! Back to his natural habitat where I'll learn that "it's not all chimney sweeps and hungry children". I'll be able to understand what people are saying! And I'll have to keep in mind that they'll know what I'm saying too.
Last weekend was a friend's one year anniversary here in Prague. Much fun was had at the beer garden, then a smaller bar where we might have disturbed other patrons but the bartender loved us. This weekend has been chilly and rainy. Lame! It started on Thursday with a mini-farewell for J who is going to be traveling for like a month, also lame! Went to a TEFl potluck last night at Letna and met a bunch of new people which was nice. We had a good view of a random (maybe?) firework show somebody was putting on. Mostly been bumming around today since it's, yeah, still cold and rainy. Don't know if anything is going on for the 4th tomorrow.
I'm barely going to work for the next couple of weeks. Tuesday and Wednesday are state holidays so some companies are just giving Monday off as well. I'll work Thursday but then that evening I'm flying to England with the boy! Back to his natural habitat where I'll learn that "it's not all chimney sweeps and hungry children". I'll be able to understand what people are saying! And I'll have to keep in mind that they'll know what I'm saying too.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Vienna take 2. Part 1.
Because if things go terribly wrong at the Czech embassy tomorrow I want to record the fun times had so far before hand.
Arrived in Vienna by train and made it to our host C's place with no problems. We hung around for a bit then went out with her to meet up with some of her friends. Went to a nice outdoor restaurant with good Austrian beer and the best burger I've had in Europe. The Czech Republic can't do beef. This was BEEF. They all spoke English but mostly stuck to German. We didn't mind, C has a lot of couch surfers and we didn't expect her friends to get to know us or anything. We didn't stay out too late and headed home to crash.
Saturday the boy and I just wandered around the city. She lives close to the center and wander we did. Took pictures of main attractions and watched people. Then we got a little further from the big stuff and just took in the more residential streets. We found a nice Italian restaurant tucked away in a corner street. Awesome food and cheaper than stuff near the center. We met up back at her place in the evening to go to a film festival she knew about about music/bands. 11 Euros for as many films as you wanted to see. We watched ones of Fiest, P.J. Harvey, Arcade Fire (The Suburbs), and Noah and the Whale. Surprisingly P.J. and Arcade Fire were my least favorites. Just plain boring or weirdly done. The Fiest one was all about how she records/performs, who she works with, etc. Really interesting stuff. I'd never heard Noah and the Whale but the film was the entire album played to a story/narrative that was really interesting. It was my favorite. We got schnitzle and beer right in the cinema later. We could have caught a tram but the wait was as long as the walk so we hauled home in the rain with one umbrella between the three of us. Spent a couple of hours at home listening to music. That's how C and I hit it off before after all.
Today we had a "Before Sunrise" plan. I've never actually seen the movie. According to the boy "it's not a chick flick, it's a haunting, bitter story of human emotion and fleeting connection". I'll have to take his word for it until I watch it. We found exactly where some of the scenes were filmed and went there to take pictures. It was actually really cool because the locations took us down streets we'd never have gone to before and we saw even more cool stuff along the way. And walked in the footsteps of Ethan Hawk! ;) Only did five out of around twenty things but not a bad idea at all.
He left for Prague in the afternoon and I met back up with C to meet yet another Couch Surfer who just wants to meet some new people. He was pretty cool and lived on the outside of the city. It was still in the city limits but didn't feel like it at all. Narrow hilly streets and vinyards on the sides. We got a great view of the city (which isn't as pretty as Prague from far away) and drank wine and ate some traditional Austrian bread with different spreads on it at a cool outdoor place. It had rained earlier and was getting windy and chilly again so we took the bus and then metro back to her place.
Got to do lots of fun/local stuff I'd have never known about if we hadn't been hanging with a local!
Embassy tomorrow. Fingers are crossed that all goes well.
Good things about Vienna. It's clean; less graffiti, dog crap, and homeless people than Prague. The bad; it's expensive. Stupid Euro. Eh well, free accomodation with a cool person can't be beat.
Arrived in Vienna by train and made it to our host C's place with no problems. We hung around for a bit then went out with her to meet up with some of her friends. Went to a nice outdoor restaurant with good Austrian beer and the best burger I've had in Europe. The Czech Republic can't do beef. This was BEEF. They all spoke English but mostly stuck to German. We didn't mind, C has a lot of couch surfers and we didn't expect her friends to get to know us or anything. We didn't stay out too late and headed home to crash.
Saturday the boy and I just wandered around the city. She lives close to the center and wander we did. Took pictures of main attractions and watched people. Then we got a little further from the big stuff and just took in the more residential streets. We found a nice Italian restaurant tucked away in a corner street. Awesome food and cheaper than stuff near the center. We met up back at her place in the evening to go to a film festival she knew about about music/bands. 11 Euros for as many films as you wanted to see. We watched ones of Fiest, P.J. Harvey, Arcade Fire (The Suburbs), and Noah and the Whale. Surprisingly P.J. and Arcade Fire were my least favorites. Just plain boring or weirdly done. The Fiest one was all about how she records/performs, who she works with, etc. Really interesting stuff. I'd never heard Noah and the Whale but the film was the entire album played to a story/narrative that was really interesting. It was my favorite. We got schnitzle and beer right in the cinema later. We could have caught a tram but the wait was as long as the walk so we hauled home in the rain with one umbrella between the three of us. Spent a couple of hours at home listening to music. That's how C and I hit it off before after all.
Today we had a "Before Sunrise" plan. I've never actually seen the movie. According to the boy "it's not a chick flick, it's a haunting, bitter story of human emotion and fleeting connection". I'll have to take his word for it until I watch it. We found exactly where some of the scenes were filmed and went there to take pictures. It was actually really cool because the locations took us down streets we'd never have gone to before and we saw even more cool stuff along the way. And walked in the footsteps of Ethan Hawk! ;) Only did five out of around twenty things but not a bad idea at all.
He left for Prague in the afternoon and I met back up with C to meet yet another Couch Surfer who just wants to meet some new people. He was pretty cool and lived on the outside of the city. It was still in the city limits but didn't feel like it at all. Narrow hilly streets and vinyards on the sides. We got a great view of the city (which isn't as pretty as Prague from far away) and drank wine and ate some traditional Austrian bread with different spreads on it at a cool outdoor place. It had rained earlier and was getting windy and chilly again so we took the bus and then metro back to her place.
Got to do lots of fun/local stuff I'd have never known about if we hadn't been hanging with a local!
Embassy tomorrow. Fingers are crossed that all goes well.
Good things about Vienna. It's clean; less graffiti, dog crap, and homeless people than Prague. The bad; it's expensive. Stupid Euro. Eh well, free accomodation with a cool person can't be beat.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Strikers gonna strike.
A few main trams and buses are still running, but the majority of the transportation system in Prague is Shut Down today. Some of my friends are hoofin' it to work or working from home if they have that kind of job, but my students and I all agreed it would just be easier to cancel class. Slept late, took care of some work stuff from my room, and having a picnic and beer garden time later!
I'm looking at a new flat today too. Living in a crap shack in the Czech Republic was fun for a bit. Kind of a different-country-lifestyle experience. Slumming it for fun, that kind of thing. It's gotten old though. I get along with the roommates but don't really dig their cleanliness/noise levels. If I don't find a new place then this one will do. I have a huge room. The location and neighborhood are great. I walk outside and step on a tram, grocery store next door, things to do nearby. The one I'm looking at is in a good location too. Between two main metros and not far from a good tram stop. One roommate, Spanish girl. A little less than what I'm paying now. It'd be nice to have a bigger kitchen and living area too. We'll see how it goes!
Music night with the boys tonight! The challenge was to pick six male and six female significant/favorite solo artists. I discovered I don't listen to that much chick music so it was kind of difficult! Should be fun, it always is!
Just one class tomorrow then hopping a train to Vienna! Getting mah visa. Getting legal. Getting six more worry free, free to travel months here!
I'm looking at a new flat today too. Living in a crap shack in the Czech Republic was fun for a bit. Kind of a different-country-lifestyle experience. Slumming it for fun, that kind of thing. It's gotten old though. I get along with the roommates but don't really dig their cleanliness/noise levels. If I don't find a new place then this one will do. I have a huge room. The location and neighborhood are great. I walk outside and step on a tram, grocery store next door, things to do nearby. The one I'm looking at is in a good location too. Between two main metros and not far from a good tram stop. One roommate, Spanish girl. A little less than what I'm paying now. It'd be nice to have a bigger kitchen and living area too. We'll see how it goes!
Music night with the boys tonight! The challenge was to pick six male and six female significant/favorite solo artists. I discovered I don't listen to that much chick music so it was kind of difficult! Should be fun, it always is!
Just one class tomorrow then hopping a train to Vienna! Getting mah visa. Getting legal. Getting six more worry free, free to travel months here!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Seldom seen kid.
So no Vienna this weekend. Again. The bad news is that Monday is a holiday so the embassy is closed. The good news is I found out about it and didn't waste a trip! WHEW. I swear if I'd gone all the way over there and it was locked up on Monday morning there would've been blood.
Had a pretty low key one. Or, I should probably say civilized one. Mostly. Stayed in on Friday and watched "Manhatten" which I'd never gotten around to before.
Saturday had actual productivity happen before noon! Went swimming at a place that charges a crown per minute. Not bad at all! It was great to go swimming again. Olympic sized pool and people old and young were just doing laps. Nice facilities. It felt great!
Also saw "Paul" finally. It's Simon Pegg and Nick Frost but no Edgar Wright, so me and fellow lover of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" were a bit nervous. We expected crap but it was surprisingly awesome. Jason Bateman has the best swearing-a-blue-streak line I've ever heard.
Starting at 7pm on Saturday was Museum Night where all of the museums were free until 2am. Got together with a group for the fun. We got some beers at Letna and went over to the nearby National Technical Museum which I'd wanted to go to for a while. The line went around the block. But the Agriculture Museum next door didn't have a line at all! We wandered around a bit before getting bored and heading out again. We figured all of the good museums would have just as crazy lines and called it a night.
Today was pretty lazy. Anything attempted to do failed, except for making smoothies! Work as usual tomorrow. The transportation system threatened a day-long strike but they've moved it to Thursday. Just in case anybody wanted a three day weekend. :P
Had a pretty low key one. Or, I should probably say civilized one. Mostly. Stayed in on Friday and watched "Manhatten" which I'd never gotten around to before.
Saturday had actual productivity happen before noon! Went swimming at a place that charges a crown per minute. Not bad at all! It was great to go swimming again. Olympic sized pool and people old and young were just doing laps. Nice facilities. It felt great!
Also saw "Paul" finally. It's Simon Pegg and Nick Frost but no Edgar Wright, so me and fellow lover of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" were a bit nervous. We expected crap but it was surprisingly awesome. Jason Bateman has the best swearing-a-blue-streak line I've ever heard.
Starting at 7pm on Saturday was Museum Night where all of the museums were free until 2am. Got together with a group for the fun. We got some beers at Letna and went over to the nearby National Technical Museum which I'd wanted to go to for a while. The line went around the block. But the Agriculture Museum next door didn't have a line at all! We wandered around a bit before getting bored and heading out again. We figured all of the good museums would have just as crazy lines and called it a night.
Today was pretty lazy. Anything attempted to do failed, except for making smoothies! Work as usual tomorrow. The transportation system threatened a day-long strike but they've moved it to Thursday. Just in case anybody wanted a three day weekend. :P
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
I think I just had a sickeningly, awesome, perfect day. The kind of day people think is going to be their whole experience as an English teacher in Prague. But isn't. But I now know can actually happen. Got up, had a great class, got my papers taken to the translation company where the people were super nice, grabbed a snack. Went paddle boating on the Vltava, ate lunch, and took a nap with somebody I like. Went to another good class. Went home for a snack. Went out to dinner and a Tesco run with somebody else I like. Found stuff I needed. Went home and played with new stuff. Worked on a painting I'm doing for somebody else I like and listened to new music. Going to bed now. And maybe turning off my phone before I get a text saying I'm fired and being deported and somebody else I like has died or something.
But here, have some Nick Cave.
But here, have some Nick Cave.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Expat.
The film is finished! I know/interact with most of these people on a regular basis. If you've got a spare 51 minutes, then enjoy. It was just a fun project but I really think it's going to be a huge souvenir for all of us to re-watch years from now and remember everybody with.
http://vimeo.com/24678112
The weekend was enjoyable but not that eventful. Dinner and drinks with people, went to a pub to watch a friend play keyboard in his band's gig, watched a thunder and lightening storm from across the river (very cool!), tried to do the paddleboats, failed to do the paddleboats because they needed a better ID than our opencards, watched Doctor Who (OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!11), did the monthly pub quiz and didn't do our best. I also dog-sitted....dog-sat? all weekend for the people who's flat I clean. It's smaller than a rat, but hey a dog's a dog. He was fun and I got paid!
The week is looking pretty easy, I'm doing testing with most of my classes so that's easy. I'm going through it with them and explaining corrections as we go instead of just sitting in awkward silence though. I think it's better. Finally found where the translation place has moved to, so I'll do that during my gap tomorrow. Might try to get the paddleboats in as well. We will paddle the river, oh yes we will.
http://vimeo.com/24678112
The weekend was enjoyable but not that eventful. Dinner and drinks with people, went to a pub to watch a friend play keyboard in his band's gig, watched a thunder and lightening storm from across the river (very cool!), tried to do the paddleboats, failed to do the paddleboats because they needed a better ID than our opencards, watched Doctor Who (OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!11), did the monthly pub quiz and didn't do our best. I also dog-sitted....dog-sat? all weekend for the people who's flat I clean. It's smaller than a rat, but hey a dog's a dog. He was fun and I got paid!
The week is looking pretty easy, I'm doing testing with most of my classes so that's easy. I'm going through it with them and explaining corrections as we go instead of just sitting in awkward silence though. I think it's better. Finally found where the translation place has moved to, so I'll do that during my gap tomorrow. Might try to get the paddleboats in as well. We will paddle the river, oh yes we will.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Oh for....
It's days like today that I realize I'm (eventually) going to go home with atrocious language. The students in both of my classes cancelled after I got to the offices. One class did give me warning by e-mail but sometimes weird Czech names get sent straight to the junk folder. The printer in the teacher's room wouldn't work for ages and I was going to try to get my invoice in today. After finally getting everything sorted I was missing one signature on yesterday's class which I'll have to get before getting stuff in now. And by get I mean forge and take it back tomorrow.
But y'know what? It's music night with the boys! And I'm about to have a chunk of change in my pocket for dog-sitting and flat-cleaning this week. BTW, I made about 20,000 czk in May. That's like, almost respectable.
Also, it looks like I won't be losing as many classes for the summer as I thought. Technically the classes "end" but if the company still wants to pay for the lessons and the students still want to take them with me (which they seem to!) then I should be fine. Still going to look for some private students though.
So, (probably) going to Vienna again not this weekend but the next. I went to get some documents translated into Czech but in true CR fashion the company wasn't where the website said it was. (Add that to the profanity-causing-list of today). I'm trying get some people together to actually do touristy stuff before I stick around and go into the office on Monday. Definitely going to England in July! And then may or may not go with other people to some smaller trips here and there. I can't leave the Schengen zone until I get the visa in my passport. I'm about ready for a vacation after this week, it's draggin' @$$.
But y'know what? It's music night with the boys! And I'm about to have a chunk of change in my pocket for dog-sitting and flat-cleaning this week. BTW, I made about 20,000 czk in May. That's like, almost respectable.
Also, it looks like I won't be losing as many classes for the summer as I thought. Technically the classes "end" but if the company still wants to pay for the lessons and the students still want to take them with me (which they seem to!) then I should be fine. Still going to look for some private students though.
So, (probably) going to Vienna again not this weekend but the next. I went to get some documents translated into Czech but in true CR fashion the company wasn't where the website said it was. (Add that to the profanity-causing-list of today). I'm trying get some people together to actually do touristy stuff before I stick around and go into the office on Monday. Definitely going to England in July! And then may or may not go with other people to some smaller trips here and there. I can't leave the Schengen zone until I get the visa in my passport. I'm about ready for a vacation after this week, it's draggin' @$$.
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