Internet Cafe

I have never been to an internet cafe before. I was using the computer in the hotel I was staying in for free, but I had already checked out and felt like taking a walk, so I ended up here. I am soaked from the rain, with drips crawling down my hair and hesitating for only a moment before plunging to my sweater. I am sure I look like a mess, and even this keyboard I am using now has wet splotches on the most commonly used letters. I woke up at 6:30 today, read some brochures, and went to collect Nate from the airport. After two hours of waiting and inquiring after him, I needed to go and check out of my hotel. While on the computer, I discovered that he landed in Glasgow, and was wondering why I wasn't at the airport. Now I have two hours to wait for him. I texted Laura, who was supposed to arrive at 6am with her friends, but have not yet been able to get a hold of her. I have really been enjoying the people that I've been meeting, though, and would have had several people to hang out with today if I were not waiting to meet up with others. I think I', a bit tired and not feeling my best with this cold, but I am looking forward to doing some more sightseeing, meeting up with friends, and getting more sleep.

On Holiday

I just arrived to Edinburgh this morning after a wonderful, fun and family-filled Christmas. While it was not my own family I was spending time with, I was fortunate to be introduced and accepted into my friend Caoimhe's family, friends, and community. I spent five days or so with her, her parents, her aunt and uncle, and her two cousins. They were very charming young men, and everyone was a pleasure to get to know and hang out with. Somehow, even as we almost all caught a bit of a cold or something at one point or another, we were able to hang out and spend time together with little to no awkward moments or misunderstandings. I felt like I was spending time with my real blood relatives. Caoimhe showed me around Galway Bay and the town and we were able to make 9 of the 12 pubs of Christmas pub crawl the night before new years, go caroling in the threets for a good cause the night before, and I dove into the Irish Sea with Monica (Caoimhe's mom), her aunt Anne, Cormac (the 18 yr-old cousin)and roughly 1000 other brave Christmas polar plungers. It was a great experience, but I didn't get any sleep last night since my bus to the Dublin airport picked me up at 1:45am to take me here, so I am going to spend some time in my hotel and rest up tonight so I can meet up with all my arriving friends tomorrow. Night!

Early December

I only have a little time between classes, but I though I should update whoever reads this. I have been unable to sleep much, but am in good spirits. I have been busy with work and the holiday festivities going here, spending times with friends to celebrate passing exams, joining another band in which I will be singing in English and Spabish pop songs all around Germany starting in January, and getting excited for my trips to Ireland and Scotland. It will be very nice to stay in a family home with good people. I miss my own friends and family from home a bit, and was sorry to miss Katrina's 24th birthday yesterday....I am trying to keep in touch with my friends, but it is not easy to find time to. Two weekends ago, I went to Dresden with Laura for the Christmas markets. We had a wonderful time, tasting and seeing a lot of great things and getting some shopping done. This past weekend, we did much the same thing in Prague. I have yet to wrap my presents and get things ready to be sent home with my friend Nate who is going to Scotland with me for New Years. I have a lot of traveling, packing, and baking to do before our break starts on Friday afternoon, but I am looking forward to everything! I also get my green card on Wednesday, just in time before I travel far so I can't be cast off as an illegal...should be a good week!

Thanksgiving Week

Last week was a fairly difficult week for me. Since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday to be home, I was missing my family a bit extra and wishing we had the time off work as well. I could not sleep very well at all. I would be busy with work or waking up cold in my room for lack of a functioning radiator, my kittens played games whenever I woke them up that kept me up, and I slowly turned into a zombie throughout the week.

On Wednesday, I went shopping to get some things to contribute to the Thanksgiving meal my flat mates and I were invited to by another American teacher here. I bought things for mashed potatoes and decided to buy some gourds or squashes and see what I could do with them. The gourds/squashes were unmarked and usually you have to weigh everything in the produce section, but the guy I asked for help was pretty rude and said one thing and walked away. I couldn't find the gourds in the register for pricing, so I asked a young woman who worked there who asked another guy who asked the same rude guy from the beginning who started saying something in an angry voice, made a seen, and again turned his back on me... I just started walking slowly away from the produce section as a woman said "excuse me, they said the price is by the item, and I'm sorry about that." I was happy for the help and kept shopping when a guy with an unidentifiable English accent came over, outraged and apologetic for what had occurred. He said that the workers were unprofessional and should not have treated me that way...apparently, the guy yelled that I should learn Czech...I thought, fair play, but it was unprofessional, too. The guy wanted to go with me to report what I had suffered, but I said that I was pretty tired and had good experiences with the store and would wait for a second offense. The guy continued to talk to me for a half an hour, saying he's finishing up studying English at the University and needed to work with some students to complete his degree. He ended up giving me his email address and I got him the hours at my school.

On Thursday, I was so out of it that I missed two private lessons and was panicking while cooking with Laura. We ended up making great food. Laura made stuffing from scratch, and I made some sort of mashed/baked squash thing that was delicious and mashed potatoes (also delicious!). We went to our friend's place and had a great time with friends, but I was antsy to get home and talk to my family on skype. When I finally did, I cried a little bit when I was talking to them and my mom, sisters, and I all cried for a few minutes straight. It was a good time, but I probably didn't get to sleep until 2 and had to wake up early yet again. At school the next day, I finished the mural of a Christmas tree, gifts with all the third graders' names on the tags, and a window with a snowman and snow outside....the kids loved it.

After my private lessons on Friday, I slept for 4 or 5 hours before visiting with grandma and knitting before watching a movie with Laura and going back to sleep. Yesterday, Laura, Kat, and I went to see Nicole, our good Canadian teacher friend who decided to go home for Christmas and not return after. We had a great time with her at her old place, and went on to our friend Lucas's for a what we thought was a display of his photographs..in fact, it was a photo shoot in which we drank a lot of wine, played some music, and got our photos taken.

Laura and I left there to get some nachos at a bar, moved on to a classy cafe with live music where Laura said I'm a singer and the waitress said I could sing a song. Nicole joined us and we joined a birthday party that some guy invited us to join. Nicole sang the girl happy birthday and we we both sang killing me softly with the singer who was there backing us up. We moved on to several other bars and ended up eating some delicious kebabs. Overall, it was a great night. Now, we're having a farewell brunch for Nicole, so I must go!

A Wednesday Night Out

Yesterday, (Thursday, the 17th of November) was a national holiday in the Czech Republic. Because schools were cancelled, Laura and I decided to take advantage of the excitement in the air and see how the Czechs celebrate their days off. (I had really wanted to join my friend Jana on her trip to Slovakia, but I was unable to get Friday (today) off of work.)

We started by trying out a new bar for a beer and get a feel for the night, as is our current MO, and ran into one of my friends in the pub. We left shortly after in pursuit of a good social venue where we could find refuge from the brisk night air. We were walking up one of the main streets in the center of town when we heard music radiating from one of the buildings on our right. I was able to guess which window it was, and we decided to see what was going on.

The door was open, so we hiked up to the top floor and stood in front of the door as it vibrated with life from within. I knocked on the door until it was opened by a girl who saw no problem with letting us in. After asking the first person who seemed unengaged in a conversation what was going on, we learned that we were in an architectural firm and they were having an office party with live music and friends. The artistic, musically inclined group was really interesting and fun to hang out with. We started dancing along to the live music, Laura was offered some wine, and we were never short someone to talk to. There was some homemade food (including soup, freshly fried bacon, and chips) available to us, as well as homemade rum. We were welcomed by everyone we spoke to, and found that several of them knew English very well.

By the end of the night, we were invited to attend a large Thanksgiving meal in Prague, climbed up on the roof with the others and watched our hosts' light off fireworks at midnight, and I sang some songs with the musicians in one of the microphones. Overall, it was a fun night =) Now it's Friday, and will soon be time to meet up with some people we met last weekend, so I must take a bath.

Update:

Things have been pretty interesting in this chilly town I reside in. I have been to a few local concerts, am learning to crochet and horseback ride, and will most likely buy a violin tomorrow to start practicing as well.

The lady who lives downstairs (who I have been referring to as my Czech grandmother up until this point) and I started hanging out a lot this past week. I speak very little Czech and she speaks so little English, but we have somehow been able to communicate a bit about our families, favorite hobbies, laugh together about Julie the dog, go shopping together, etc. Two weekends ago we had a run-in and it led to her showing me her collection of dolls and crocheted garments that she had made, which soon led to her teaching me how to crochet. I really love that woman. She was alive and here while the town was under German occupation and English was outlawed in schools, yet she somehow managed to pick up some words along the way. Her husband has passed away and she lives with her dog, but she has so much energy and life in her...it's inspiring.

I resigned from the Czech band I joined last month...it's simply going to be too hard to learn new songs I have never heard before in a language I can't speak yet. I didn't want to slow the band down or stress myself out, plus, I really wanted to learn the violin for my band back home. Now I will have more time to devote to other things and less worries during the weak...they were a great group of guys, though, and I look forward to going to their concerts when they play out.


I've pretty much decided that I want to go back home after this. My thoughts are that I would like to lease a house that I could rent out if I do more traveling in the future, get a good job (as well as go back to work at the juvenile correctional facility), and get my masters in Anthropology. Sociology and social work would be other options, but I think Anthropology is pretty all encompassing... I will start looking into the application progress and programs in the next few weeks.

I guess that's it for now =).

Hedgehogs and a Weekend

The day after I wrote my previous post, I had a great few days at school and socially and simply felt more uplifted and happy to be where I am. On Thursday, the third grade music class I co-teach was cancelled in order to watch a presentation on hedgehogs! It was funny to me, since I had crossed paths with such a hedgehog by the museum on my way home from Prague with Laura the week before. The lady who was giving the talk had brought a hedgehog along with her at school, and I saw one in the grass on my way to school or something the following day, so I am pretty psyched about that.


Also new at school, two of the grade levels I teach in have acquired two sisters from Russia, one in the third grade and one in the sixth grade. I can't imagine how hard it must be go into a country when it is not your choice, where you don't speak the language and be expected to learn things so quickly. The girls are very sweet, though, and seem to have positive attitudes. The 6th grader knows some basic English which is helpful and apparently Russian is close to Czech so they should both be ok, but I'm spending as much time as I can working with the third grader and trying to subtly push her into the social sphere of our third grade class...so far, so good.


This past weekend, I went out seeking adventure with Laura. We were extremely tired and almost did not leave our house, but we did and decided to go to the first bar that looked half decent that we haven't been to yet. We looked through the windows of the first promising one and thought it might be alright. We slowly walked by while continuing our debate when some guys in the window knocked waved us in. They looked friendly enough, and everyone's a stranger when you travel, so we decided to join them for a bit. It ended up being a group of about 6 or 7 guys in which a few of them knew a lot of English, while most of the others knew only very basic things. Only one guy knew practically no English. We ended up going to the disco that's close to our house with them and had a great night, accidentally staying out until 4 or so. On Saturday, I woke up at 9:30 and went rock climbing with Dustin for a few hours. In the afternoon, I went to the soccer/football game with Matěj. Laura and Katrina went as well, and so did the guy from the bar/disco who speaks next to know English but would like to learn from me. I saw all of them there and it was an easy win =).

After the match, Matěj and I joined Katrina and Laura and their friends for a birthday celebration in a restaurant/bar for a few hours before meeting up with Matěj's group of friends from athletics along with a few others. We usually all meet up after every football match, so it was good to see them all again. I was going to go to a hookah bar with one of them last week and rock climbing with another one tonight, but I was/am too tired on both occasions. I did, however, go horseback riding with one of the girlfriend's who I have hung out with several times before yesterday. I help her practice English, and she is teaching me how to ride properly =). I am very excited about it. I also met up with Ivo and Jana (a couple among the doctors that I am friends with here) separately this weekend for drinks and some coffee, respectively, and very much enjoyed that.

Yesterday, I was invited into the woman downstairs' (who we call grandma) living space, and she was enthusiastic to show me a picture of her husband and two black labs when they were still alive, all of the dresses she crocheted for her old dolls, the Christmas presents that she was working on for her grandchildren, etc. She then proceeded to show and then teach me how to crochet. Mind you, she speaks about as much basic English as I know Czech, so...it was mostly through visuals repetition, and laughter that we communicated...but it was one of the most surprising and relaxing hour and a half's that I have had here, and I look forward to visiting her at some point this week to show her what I have made with the materials she gave and lent to me.

Speaking of those, I think I'll practice now.

Yest

High/Low

I am playing high low with myself and whoever is reading this, because I have experience some very different sentiments towards my job in the past month or two and would love to hash things out a bit. Two weeks ago, I was very high on life. I loved my job because of the relationships I am developing with the teachers and students, the experience I'm getting with the language and teaching in a classroom, and all of the doors it is opening for me to experience another country's education and social structure. I very much like my flat and flat mates, the people I have been meeting are great and I have an exciting and interesting social life, finances are solid, and there there are countries and to be searched and plane tickets to be used in the upcoming months. I joined the band Industrial Engineers (though I'm the only female of 7 who also happens to not be an industrial engineer) and I really like the group, think they're fun people who are great to work and socialize with, etc......

On the other hand...

This past week I've been missing my family, friends, the beach, being a student, intelligent conversation, my dogs, clam chowder. etc. I am really excited to being reunited with my band from home and making beautiful, funky, out of this world music with them. I really think if we invested enough into it we could do very well. I would like to try to invest in an income property so that I can live in Rhode Island with who I want to while I'm there and rent it out if/when I travel for long periods of time in the future, to go back to school for my masters degree (I'm thinking in Anthropology or Social Work), and maybe even to go to some casting calls in Boston and try to do some acting like I used to want to do when I was little. As much as I love meeting new people and trying new things, I would like to be semi-established somewhere and be able to have something to fall back on and to come home to that is my own.

On the other hand...

I am still young and unattached... This is the best time for me to travel and learn things experientially. I am working a steady job, providing for myself, and traveling as I've always wanted. I was looking into volunteering at an orphanage around here for the year and recently have been offered a volunteering position for the year and a paid position for all of next year, working far less, earning a lot more, and spending only a month in each village in the Czech Republic at a time...It's kind of a dream position that I wish was available now, but the project is starting up next year. There are other countries to be explored to if I stay here...

On the other hand....

I miss home.


Temporary conclusion: Put these thoughts out of my head, enjoy the here and now, and begin to think about next year over Christmas break.

Daylight Savings

The time change has been very confusing for me all day. I have been in warped time since this last Wednesday, and knowing that there is an hour time difference than yesterday simply makes me further off. Even so, this has been a very memorable week. I am not looking forward to waking up early and teaching tomorrow, but I do feel pretty good after doing some cleaning with Laura, grocery shopping, and getting a kebab =). It will be good to be back in the weekly routine, because I spent a lot of money this week between Kutna Hora and Prague. Anyhow, my roommate took a lovely picture of our house, and I thought I'd put it here. Back to lesson plans!

A Long October Weekend

This past week, I only had to teach on Monday and Tuesday. I put together some presentations on Halloween for my third and sixth graders and cancelled my private lessons for the rest of the week. I wanted to do some traveling for my 5 day weekend, but my company held training on Wednesday and Thursday, so I could not go far. Training was in Kutna Hora, though, and we were able to see the church filled with bones from 40 thousand people. It was a little insane, to say the least. We ran into some people from the states who are working in Germany now that were very nice, and may try to make a trip up to see them in November. Because it was the company recruiter's 30th birthday, we kind of went crazy at a disco on our only night there. I have now been a witness and partial participant in dancing crazily, singing in the hand-held microphone and rocking out to some songs in front of a bunch of people, body shots, etc. At around 12:30am, after the recruiter had already fallen and broken her wrist an hour previous, two girls and I walked our drunk compatriots and handicapped recruiter back to the hotel. I was the only one who knew the way, but it was simple, so it didn't take too long. I had to help my co-worker out of her boots and make sure she kept her wrist iced and elevated until she could get to the hospital the following day. Lots of people were hungover the next day. On our train to Prague, six of us sat in a cabin with an older woman. Our group was sharing funny travel stories and talking about how hard it is to find the right kind of tampons, surviving bar crawls, funny styles we have seen, etc. for roughly an hour. At the end of the trip, the woman casually asked if we were at the right stop...in English. A few people were extremely embarrassed about all of the subject matters discussed while thinking she was Czech, but the lady said it was one of the most entertaining trips she's been on...she very much enjoyed being a fly on the wall. I really liked her =). Laura and I came back to Liberec afterwards so I could get to my band practice, but it took a long time and I ended up not going and going to bed around 11. Yesterday (Friday), I went to Prague to show my friend Matěj how to make better food than spaghetti with ketchup. Laura came shortly after, and the three of us walked around the city while Matěj told us about the history of the place and of the holiday that was being celebrated. It was a lovely afternoon. Then, Laura and I went to meet Nicole for her birthday party. Nicole and her friend Jarda, who we met last time we hung out with Nicole in Prague, were celebrating their birthday together by renting out a pub, having Nicole's old band come and play, and dressing up like teachers or students. It was a good time, overall. Now it's Saturday and I would like to take a nap and get some cleaning done so I can work on my lesson plans and enjoy the day tomorrow.

ALSO! Míša of Pavel and Míša who I first couch surfed with when I came to the Czech Republic and are among the 30 year-old crowd of doctors that I hang out with is...PREGNANT!! I am so excited for them!! They told me last Monday but Míša was shy and didn't want the news to be spread about, but I randomly ran into her on my way home from Prague today at the bus station and it is confirmed! They will have their baby while I'm still here =)

Every Day A New Beginning =)

I am so happy with life today!  I went to sleep early last night (cerca 11), and woke up at 8:30 to find a text from my friend Matěj offering his TV to watch the Rugby World Cup at 10!  I cleaned up a bit around the house before he picked me up, and was very happy to see New Zealand win!  I stayed for lunch with his family before playing some ping pong and walking back to my house through fields and forest in the beautiful autumn countryside.  I have since talked to my family and some friends on skype and am currently sipping mulled wine and eating too many cookies with my roommates.  In an hour or so, I will head out to go rock climbing with Dustin, probably Ines (German teacher from Husova), and who knows if or who else.  Last week, I joined a band.  I went to my first practice on Thursday night and it went very well...I really like the guys and they are very good musicians.  The only drawbacks are that they want me to sing AC/DC and such and prefer I sing in Czech, but I think I can rock it and it will help me learn quickly.  We went out for beers after and then half of the band invited me to go to another bar to celebrate my new position as singer.  It was extremely fun and I won every game of foosball I played =).  I walked home to check my phone and found out that I had stayed out until 4:30am, which was a bit unfortunate since I wake up between 6:15 and 6:30 during the week and had to teach a math and science class to the Czech third graders in English by myself for two hours, since the professor I usually cooperate with had a funeral to attend, but I woke up fairly easily and had a great day of classes.  I took a nap afterwards and went to dinner at Matěj's.  His mom made beef tar tar and it was delicious! Then, we went to the soccer game and Liberec won which was fantastic.  After the game, we met up with 8 or 9 of Matěj's friends from track and field and celebrated one of their birthday's.  I knew three of his friends and was pleased to meet some of the others.  Overall, it was a fun night.  For those who are wondering, Matěj has a girlfriend and we are just friends =).  I have met his girlfriend and hung out with her on two or three occasions. 


Yesterday, I got some things for the kittens at the store between spending the afternoon and evening with Katrina and two of our co-workers through Wattsenglish, Lisa and Suzanne.  We bought mulled wine and ingredients to make pizza, and enjoyed some cheese and crackers while we waited for the pizza to cook and the wine to warm.  I was very happy to go to bed and do some reading at 10:30 =).  Tomorrow night, I will spend some time with my Dr. friends at the pub who I haven't seen in a while and am looking forward to it a lot.  It should be a great week filled with two days of teaching, training at Kutna Hora or so I think it's spelled....details to follow.

 Yes, we're local celebrities.

Side Note...

1.  I just realized I may have gotten food poisoning, and not have been sick from alcohol.  I will know for sure if I get sick in the next few hours after eating some delicious stir fry with the same semi-borderline chicken meat.

2.  Kat, Laura, and I got out pictures taken for a website for Liberec while we were at the reservoir, so I will post the link to our photo tomorrow =).

Post-Pay Day

We got paid on Friday!  First month's salary and first real chunk of cash I've earned since being here.  When I was walking to pick up my check, I was followed by a parade in the street being led by a man on stilts and a student of mine in costume who came over to say hello to me =)  He's a cute little kid from the second grade.   It's a pity we don't get paid more so I can save up a lot for when I get home and decide what my next step is, but money goes further here, so my coworkers and I feel like ballers!  I went out with Laura to a vinoteka on Friday night and we bought some of the burčak (new/fresh/sweet/cheap) wine and ended up talking to 3 groups of people who were curious to speak English with us and learn why we were there. One girl and her boyfriend I am staying in touch with, because they were super sweet. The three British accented English speakers from Czech bought us shots and Laura tasted one and stopped, but I am pretty sure that they led to me having one of my only and certainly my worst hangovers of my life. It was very rough, and I had to cancel on my friends Dustin and Ines for rock climbing, but I still went shopping with Petra (co-teacher) and bought a winter jacket and sweat pants! I didn't bring any sweat pants with me, here! I still need to get a lot more to be prepared for winter here, since I put my winter stuff in a box to be sent from home but it was too expensive to ship.  


After shopping, I went on a quick trip to a lookout tower with my friend to see Liberec and the surrounding towns. He made tea for us and the night was very clear so we could see very far away, but it was pretty darn chilly. When we got back to the car, he opened the driver door and asked me if I wanted to drive. I told him I couldn't drive manuals, but he was not deterred! I drove around in a field, first, and then the 20 minutes home! I stalled a few times close to home after stop signs...But otherwise it wasn't so bad! I am working my way up to being able to borrow the company car to go on a short trip to Germany or something, but I'm not sure if if/when I will ever feel comfortable enough driving to do it. Today, I am looking forward to being productive and lesson planning for my week full of classes with 7 private clients. First, though, I am going to the reservoir with Kat and Laura to enjoy the sun and have a picnic =)

Some Sayings for the Year

"Teaching can be like going to school when you're hungover and having to give presentations all day long."


"I will swim to the deepest depths of the ocean to pull you out of the muck...i will put my own breath in your lungs...but i will not hold your hand if you tie yourself to a sunken ship."


"We make mistakes every day and that is a part of our human experience and growth. Just don't let someone else make them for you."


"Time is neither your greatest friend nor foe. He simply plays witness to your highs and lows with no ability to interfere. The only one with the ability to change how you feel is you."


"It's never too late or too early to start over."




...I'll probably add to these if I feel so inspired...there are just the ones i have on my mind now... enjoy!

Another Sunday

I didn't end up going mushroom picking last week.  I got an invitation to go to Prague for a free rock concert with my friend Matěj instead.  I stayed late after class to help Petra prepare our classroom for her teacher's meeting by drawing a mural of sorts on her blackboard-or blue-board, rather.  We were talking for a while and listening to music, and I found out that she read my resume and hand-selected me to be the teacher at Husova!  She also asked me if I would consider working directly for the school next year, because my company is expensive and they would rather pay someone directly.  I really like my job there and the life here so it is tempting, but I am pretty sure I want to go home and get something settled there before I go off traveling again...I said I would think about it more over Christmas.  Anyway, I finished the autumn scene on the blue board and left from there to pick my passport up from the office and catch the bus to Prague.  I made it to the festival without any problems, but my friend wasn't able to get there until a few hours later, so I bought myself a burger and a beer and made it my mission to enjoy the music and find some people who spoke English.  It wasn't much of a challenge, since the music was great and I ran into some people who were fun.  We ended up going on two rides at the adjacent carnival together:  A mini roller coaster and something that spun around and lifted you up...called "Twister", I think.  The group was really fun, but I left them and met up with my friend once he got there, since I only had about 15 minutes left to hang out before I had to leave and make the trip back home or I would miss the last bus to Liberec and not be able to make it to school on time with the first one in the morning...It was a tempting option, but I'm a teacher now, not a student.  

While on the bus, I ended up in a long conversation with the guy who was sitting next to me.  He is a teacher at the technical university here in Liberec and was on his way back from a trumpet gig in Prague.  He invited me to come to the next show that isn't too far and told me yesterday that he knows a band looking for a singer...I'm going to check them out this Thursday or next and see if it's a good fit!! Very excitied.  Anyway, I was supposed to go away with the 30-yr-olds for a birthday hiking weekend at a cottage, but Misa, the poor birthday girl, was too sick =(.  Instead, I decided to join Laura in Prague for the weekend an hour before the bus left.  We went to book a hostel but remembered that we have a coworker and friend Nicole living there who said we could crash at her place.  We were very close to missing our bus to Prague...we literally had to run with our bags and JUST made the tram with enough time to get to our bus before it left.  We had a crazy fun night with Laura's friend from home, Nicole and two of her good guy friends, though I have no idea what hour in the morning we got back and went to bed at.  I found pieces of a phone on the ground in front of one of the discos, out it together, and texted the recently talking friends to find out how I could return the phone.  Luckily the phone was much like mine in the States so I could use it, the guy spoke English, and it was pretty easy to meet him in front of the museum the next day.  Laura and I passed through a techno festival parading through the center of Prague on our way to meet the man who lost his phone, and I almost laughed aloud when I realized it was the guy from Ireland who proposed marriage to me before he even introduced himself to me.  Fun Friday led to a pretty lazy Saturday, though, and Laura and I couldn't stay at past 1:30AM with the guys from the night before at a birthday party at a bar because we were too tired.  

Our trip back today was rough to say the least.  I accidentally bought a child's ticket and got stopped by a controller and had to pay 800ck-roughly $50.  Kind of frustrating because it was an honest mistake and I'm not rich, but it certainly could have been much worse.  When we finally did get on the tram, we witnessed a mugging of an old lady in our section of the tram.  We heard a commotion and saw an old lady pulling the hair of a woman in her early thirties who had been rummaging through the lady's purse while she was being distracted by the girl's guy friend or something.  The tram doors closed quickly and the old lady was seriously ruffled and upset, but it was so fast there was nothing anyone could do.  I'm not sure if those two were able to nab anything of hers, but she was so frazzled!  Shaking uncontrollably, it was horrible.  In contrast, the two 17-year-olds across from Laura and I were making out and groping each other as if they were in a private space somewhere.  Really a disturbing series of events.  This may be too much information, but I had a cough to to congestion all morning (most likely due to inhaling too much cigarette smoke), and as we sat there and wondered where our day went wrong, I coughed again, turned to Laura, and said "On the bright side, I think I just coughed up a booger." I know it's disgusting and I'm sorry I wrote it, but you must know that we both fell into laughter that we could not shake for five minutes straight or so.   

I am home and happily so, at this point, but must get to my lesson planning and such.  

Dobrou noc! 

Mushrooms for Mankind

A great many things have happened since I last wrote, per usual.  I was invited to play volleyball with a new group of university students and tried to speak in Czech the whole time, was treated to a football (soccer) game, went hiking through old castle ruins with Laura and friends, crossed a bridge via a horizontal pulley system, went to a jam session in a storage unit, taught a lot of classes, named my kittens Kuba and Tulačka (Tula for short), etc.  Saturday was my most packed day, as I had volleyball, the soccer game, a trip to one pub with some friends, a trip to another venue for a concert with more friends, and then to a disco to meet up with the teacher I work most closely with to celebrate her birthday.  Laura and I didn´t get back from the disco until 3:30AM or so. 

I am currently waiting for my first after school club with three 3 and 4-year-olds to begin.  I am a bit tired and not exactly looking forward to teaching small children at the moment, but I am sure I will fall in love with them easily enough.  My boss will be watching and the parents will be there, but I think that things will go smoothly enough.  I think things usually work out better for me if I don't think about the lesson too much before hand so it's still a little new and interesting for me as the teacher.

I have thus far neglected to mention this town's obsession with mushrooms and mushroom picking as a pasttime.  There are so many different kind of mushrooms here, and it seems that everyone young and old knows their names, how to recognise them, and which ones are safe to eat and which are poisonous.  Almost every other art project I have assisted in has to do with painting, drawing, or molding mushrooms.  The first graders know how how to say mushroom before they know how to say apple, I think.  I have wanted to go mushroom picking for a while, but have not yet had the time to go or the people to go with. It's supposed to snow this weekend in the mountains, though, so I think my last chance to go will be in the early morning before school tomorrow or friday.  I am not sure if I will have the energy or will power to get myelf up at 4AM or so to go mushroom picking on my own, but the early morning will be when they have just sprung up and haven't been discovered by others yet so we shall see...

I have also been teaching my first private lessons this week.  I tutor some students from the school, a young mother in her home, and a young Chinese student who I will meet and tutor for the first time after this kindergarten class today.  I'm feeling more and more like my busy self each day, but still have been able to make time for all of my friends here and enjoy the weather as well, so no complaints! 

In other recent news (Yes, there's more!), I booked my tickets for the holidays and my spring break.  I was going to try to surprise my family and go home for Christmas and New Years, but the prices were so expensive and I remembered that I came here to travel and try new things.  I will be spending a week in Ireland with my good friend Caoimhe and her family, flying from there to Scotland to spend the new year with Laura, her friends, and perhaps a friend from home if he can make the trip to Edinburgh.  For my spring break, I looked for great deals all over Europe and found roundtrip airfare for Madrid for only 129 dollars.  I look forward to planning what I do while I'm there a little bit later, but I will definitely be drinking sangria, eating tapas, speaking Spanish, and visiting the bassist from my band back at home.


My students should be here soon, so I'm off to prepare the classroom.  The keyboards here at the office are very different from those at home, so please excuse any typos I may have missed and have a great day!

A Midweek Holiday

Today was a lovely day off here in Liberec.  I'm not really sure what the holiday is for, but I'll take a Wednesday off where I can get it.  On Monday, I went to the museum to pick up my new little kitten and found two in the basket in front of me instead of one.  Ultimately, I decided to keep the brother and sister together, and now have two little kittens meandering about the place.  Thankfully, they are great at using the litter box and are good eaters.  They play with each other more than they play with things they can destroy, so it's great!  I still haven't come up with two Czech names that I like together, though...I went on a hike yesterday to the first building/tower in Liberec that was built as a beacon and place to oversee trade routes from, which was lovely.  I was going to go to play volleyball with the guy that took me on the trip and his athlete friends, but I ended up meeting up with the teacher I work with for a bit, canceling on the volleyball, and going to the reservoir to relax and meet up with some friends from the area instead.  Katrina just got back from France and I've seen a lot of friendly faces today, so it's been a good week so far.

Like catching raindrops with a strainer

I am having a pretty awesome weekend so far.  Last night was absolutely hilarious.  Katrina, Laura, Ashley, and I enjoyed the opera and the vinoteka afterwards.  We probably killed three or four bottles between the three of us, and we didn't stay out too late so we were able to enjoy today's beautiful weather as well.  I just got back from reading at the reservoir.  This morning, Katrina, Laura, and I went for langos at the reservoir, I went to the botanical gardens with a guy who met up with us briefly last night, and then I went back to the reservoir to read in the grass until the sun left and I was cold.  I have since been eating comfort food and cleaning and trying to put myself at ease...why, you ask?

Perhaps, it's that I kind of miss people from home today.  Also, Madame Butterfly last night made my eyes water a bit.  I had had a good portion of wine, but I don't think that was the issue.  I watched and listened to this actress portraying the plight of a woman who gave everything up and put all of her hope and love into a man who was simply waiting for the next phase of his life to begin.  I have felt the excitement that she had while waiting for her lover to return, and I have seen other people hope and believe in people who simply did not plan on staying in the relationship... It's so cruel when someone's words promise forever for and then the person moves on as if they are not hurting anyone by doing so.  Thank God for friends and family and other joys in life that make it worth living, because I think part of a person is destroyed when they are the one left behind.  They have to give up on the past and the future that they believed in and start over, adapting a new world view.  On the plus side, though, it is a remarkable treat to be able to start over and reshape your outlook on things.  It is a time for growth and understanding, and I think it makes a person much stronger for having withstood such shattering realizations.

Perhaps, some people might think I'm taking the subject of a broken heart too far.  My argument is simply.  Even more important than the fact that it is like internal bleeding that is hard to be recognized for and does not get fixed for years while very few people are actually able to see it and still fewer to help is the fact that we are trained from a young age to believe in love.  Love is supposed to be the goal of a life, and their are countless sayings and movies about how powerful it is, and how it is worth every physical thing that we could possibly possess.  When a person sees another person as this embodiment of love, though, it is a problem.  Where love is pure, never fails, and always endures, human beings are flawed, let you down, and can be very fickle.  I still believe in falling in love and that I will be in love with someone to the point where I would do anything for them again, but I will never again confuse that person for the incarnate of love himself in my life.  There are so many things that you can be passionate about and things and people to love.  Today, I would have loved be lying close to someone I really cared about while I was reading who I could have held hands with on the walk home and met up with some friends with later, but I have great friends, the day was beautiful, and there are always reasons to smile and be content with all around you.

...I guess that solves my melancholia for the evening.  Thanks for standing by! =)

King Friday

King Friday was a really creepy character on Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

Last night, I went for a drink with Laura, Dustin, and the German teacher from my school who I now work with.  We had some good conversations and turned ourselves in for the night.  This morning was a different story.  It started off with me giving the card and painted wine glass to Katrina for her birthday and went to work.  A few hours passed.  Dustin, Ines (the new German teacher), and I were talking after the second class and talking to the students and such for some time, and then it was time for Dustin to go prepare for his lesson at 1.  He was going to take the cat carrying case with him that I walked to school so his girlfriend Petra could pick the kitten up for me on Monday, but changed his mind as he was on a bike and would not be able to bring it or himself safely home.  The bell was about to ring and I said I would meet him after class in the city center with the cat carrier and that was that.  He forgot his English poster in the classroom and had to go back upstairs for it and so I said goodbye...ten-fifteen minutes later, I received a text from our boss (Marketa) saying that Dustin had been in an accident and I had to meet her right after classes and teach his 1 o'clock.  I quickly friended my friend Pavel who was working at the hospital and asked him what was going on.  I left before my last class (which was PE for the 1st graders in which I basically just watch one student at a time jump on the trampoline and count two minutes out in my head while I comment in English and think about how much I wish I was the one jumping on the trampoline) and went to go visit Dustin, but after I left I got a message from my friend saying he was lucky but fine and should be released from the hospital in an hour or so...So, I went home, ate the lunch that I took to go from school, dropped off the cat carrying case, and went to meet Marketa at the office.  I was supposed to meet up with a guy who wanted to show me some cool historic places, but I texted him to let him know I couldn't make it.  When I got to the office, I saw Dustin and Petra standing outside.  Dustin had bandages around his wrists, elbows, and hands.  He proceeded to tell me about how the poster that he almost forgot at school blew up into his face when he was riding the bike and he panicked, crashed, and slid into the middle of the street...no helmet, of course, and when he went to get up, pedestrians rushed him and held him down for fear of his neck until the ambulance arrived. Long story short, he's never going to live that down.  I ended up being able to teach the class, get a historic tour from the guy, pick up my diploma from the post office, and get home in time to say happy birthday to Katrina when she got home from work.  We are sipping on wine and getting ready to see Madame Butterfly at the opera now, so I have to run!  What a day!

Quick Catch-Up

Tuesday's Zumba class was great!  It was not as difficult and quick-paced as the classes I have been to before, but it was fun and I was sweating with six other teachers, so it was good.  Yesterday, I went had some meetings and went shopping for cat supplies.  I ended up buying myself two pairs of pants and two shirts as well as birthday cards and gifts for my roommate Katrina and my co-teacher Petra because its their birthdays tomorrow and October 1st, respectively.  Laura's Birthday is the 4th of October, too, so I will probably end up doing the same thing for her.  I bought them each a wine glass which I am about to paint.  I've never painted glass before, so I'm a little be nervous.  On my way back from the superstore sort of place, I was rushing to catch a bus and had to go between some railings to make it in time.  I threw my backpack over the fence and placed my cat-carrying case on the other side while I held the wine glasses and bent down to go between the two bottom rungs.  Suddenly, as I went to squat through, I heard the small rip in the left inner thigh part of my jeans rip further.  For all I knew, I was going to be walking around with small shorts with a paint leg hanging from my left leg until I got home.  I simply covered myself as I got on the bus and checked with my hands to assess the damage while the bus was moving.  The tear was definitely longer, but I couldn't tell if it could be visible by others or not.  Luckily, I was able to go straight home and find out that the tear was not likely noticeable to anyone.  That's when I ended up going shopping for the pants.  With another pair of jeans on, I went out with two of my 30ish couples to coffee, the movies, and then for drinks.  We saw the movie Drive with Ryan Gosling and it was AMAZINGly well done.  I felt like making the fifteen minute walk home instead of taking the tram, but I was so on edge the whole time after watching all the gore and being unknowingly filled with adrenaline.  It took me a while to sleep because of the caffeine.  Today's highlight (so far) was taking one of my classes outside to be talked to and get to play with police officer equipment.  One of the students' fathers was a police officer and took a day to bring his partner and two police vehicles to our school.  The second grade teacher I was working with came over and translated his introduction for me, informing me that they were immigration police!!  I almost died with laughter!  Getting a working visa/green card is a process here, so I won't have mine for at least a few more weeks!  I only have a tourist visa at the moment, and am doing everything I can to fix that, but I found myself shaking hands with the officers who could have arrested me if they felt inclined to do so!  I watched the kids climb in the car used for arrests and the car in which all the equipment to determine validity of visas and IDs and could not refrain from telling my secret to the teacher Kacka.  She laughed along with me and said "Hmm...what can you do for me?"  A few minutes later, a new German teacher came out and spoke English with me.  I told her what was going on and she said she, too, hadn't received her working visa yet.  The father of my student jokingly asked to see my passport and I said, "I'm sorry, officer, I don't have it with me...you might have to take me in"  and he and I laughed while Kacka told me she had not sold me out.  Such a funny thing.  The kids were taking turns handcuffing themselves to the soccer net and I was simply staring and laughing at the whole situation... What a day already!

La la la LIFE goes on!

This weekend, I went to a get together at a friend's house for dinner/drinks and some music!  One of the 30ish year old doctors I hang out with is extremely shy and has never played his classical guitar for his friends before.  Upon meeting him about a month ago, I was told that he plays but no one had ever seen or heard him.  They said maybe he would play for me but he was too shy.  A few weeks ago, I ran into the cheery bunch and told him that I was looking forward to hearing him play, and when was a good time for all of us to meet up.  When a few of the guys started saying that he would never play, I looked at him and said "How do you put up with this?  They don't even let you speak for yourself...I am sure you're completely capable of playing the guitar in front of us if they would stop making excuses for you and let you play or even answer your own questions."  After that, he quickly agreed to play and when we went through the days of the week to choose a good time, it fell to friday.  The six of us, Pavel and Misa whose house I couch surfed, Jana and her boyfriend whose name I always forget but who is awesome, Chlebik (Czech for bread and shy guitarist), and myself.  We had hors d'oeuvres and the alcohol was flowing as we spoke in English and a little Czech and I was shown their photos from their trips to the Philippines and Croatia.  I really want to go!  We discussed a lot of things and had overall it was a great night.  They live so close that I was able to be accompanied on the five minute walk home at the end of it all.  We made plans to start a pilates class in a few weeks, have more dinner dates, and perhaps to start a ballroom dancing class as well.  They're such fun people, and they lent me some English books to read which is a Godsend over here, because it's nigh impossible to get your hands on them here.  I got home a bit after 2:30, called one of my best friends Lauren from home to discuss her birthday and catch up for 15 minutes, crashed around 3, and woke up psyched for life cerca 6:50am.  I ended up working out by myself in my room and then taking a 40 minute run and doing some stretches around 8am.  After making myself breakfast and talking to my Kat and Laura as they got ready to go shopping, I went on a long bike ride with Dustin around the city, visiting a bunch of cool of buildings and churches and discussing history, religion, teaching, etc.  Good times.  That night, I was invited to a concert at a bar in the center by some musician friends of mine, and Laura joined me in the pursuit of a little music and adventure.  The music wasn't bad, but the bar was a little sketchy and filthy...There were some guys who spoke Enlgish, though, who couldn't believe that they ran into Americans, especially females, in that particular bar...oh well.  The next morning I slept in until lunch and then went shopping with my flat mates.  I have been working on writing, drawing, painting, and baking a bit more this weekend as well.  Today was a solid Monday of classes, and I was invited to a zumba class in one of the classrooms tomorrow with some of the other teachers...apparently they project some videos on the smart board, (which makes me think of Katrina my zumba instructing sister)...I'm so excited!!   My company doesn't allow me to work for other English teaching companies, but the founder and owner mentioned a few weeks ago that so far as he doesn't know about private clients, that's fine.  I have since acquired three or four who I will start teaching in the next few weeks, so things are going to get pretty crazy pretty quickly, but I'm looking forward to being a bit busier.   

Not Just Another Manic Monday!!

It's only 3pm here, but my day has been so full already and I'm about ready to take a nap!  I left to walk to school at 7am, but was only there for a few minutes before realizing that I had forgotten that it was one of the three days that I teach PE and I had forgotten my gym clothes.  Thankfully, I had been early, so I was able to walk back home, change, and return before the bell rang.  PE went by smoothly and I had the kids doing some relays and told the Czech teacher that I would like to teach the kids dodgeball next class =).  Yes, I am bringing that game to this town, because no matter how controversial some softies think it is, it was my personal favorite game in gym class.  My second class was with the first graders and the first grade teacher who speaks very little English.  I was very nervous for this class because I had heard that the teacher was extremely worried about having English in her class, but somehow it went by very smoothly and I look forward to the next classes.  After this class, I decided to use the faculty restroom before the magic show that was taking place in the gym during the next period.  I have keys to the room, but the lock is a bit finicky so I guess I wasn't all that surprised to be walked in on just before my pants were back on.  Luckily, I covered myself quickly and it was a teacher that I know fairly well and taught PE with this morning, but AH!  Somehow delirious enough to find it purely laughable (after barely sleeping last night), I walked my class into the magic show to join the other teachers and students. The clown came out and the kids loved him!  He wasn't bad and he had music on, so it was a fairly enjoyable alternative to teaching a math class.  At one point I was watching and felt his non-painted eyes look at me for a second and felt a pang of fear.  I remembered when I was chosen to go up and pulled a paper chain out of a magician's kleenex when I was little.  The clown then walked through the crowd until he was standing right next to me, then suddenly grabbed my hand, made me follow him around to the little stage and, lo and behold, I was his assistant.  He put some large, red sunglasses on me after making me bow as the kids cheered, and then tied two red handkerchiefs together at one corner of each and tucked them into my shirt (much to my chagrin and with my quizzical eye and death stare at the ready).  After making me do a quick hula dance type deal and having me breath on something, he asked me to pull out the handkerchiefs from my shirt.  When I did, there was a black, lacy bra tied in the middle of the kerchiefs.  I don't know how he did it, but the children were asking me if that was my black bra and if they could check and see if I was wearing one for the rest of the day!  Before I got off the stage, the clown kissed my cheeks just enough to smear his red and white face paint on my ears and cheeks, and tried to get me to kiss him on the cheek.  I kissed my hand and gave him a quick slap on the cheek before he let me go, but it has been one of the more interesting mornings in Liberec.  

Another Weekend Down

I'm doing the lesson plans I planned on doing yesterday tonight, per usual, and I am procrastinating still further to give an update on my weekend.  On Thursday night, I walked to Pavel and Misa's to have home-cooked Indian food and wine and catch up on the recent developments in our lives and reminisce together about good travels past.  After work on Friday, I met up with Laura in the center at a cafe for a coffee with ice cream.  Afterwards, we decided to buy some of the seasonal fresh Liberec wine and bring it up to the cafeteria of the mall and drink it while we did some work on our computers and discussed our weekend plans.  We came home to find Katrina in pajamas and excited for a movie night...It was a very relaxing end to our first week.  Our franchise director told me about a festival going on this weekend in which participating museums, churches, and other historical buildings were open to the public to tour.  I told Dustin and his girlfriend Petra about this, and they agreed to join Katrina, Laura, and I on our tour of the city.  We slept in and had a breakfast of crepes and bacon (compliments of Katrina), and met up with Dustin and Petra before touring the city hall and museum here.  While waiting for a tour to start in the museum, we were browsing the library and saw that a woman was their with a basket of three little sleeping kittens!  Petra is Czech and told us that the woman was selling the kittens but had one, the runt, that she was willing to give away for free.  I have been talking about getting a dog since we got here, but a cat makes more sense since we wouldn't have to worry so much about taking weekend trips and being home several times a day to take it on walks and such.  The little brownish/grey, long-furred, blue-eyed kitten will be coming home with us in a week or so when she is ready to leave her mother!  I am so excited to have a little love boat to curl up with me at night!  Our day continued with beautiful sights, funny photos, and a hilarious night for Laura and I who decided to walk to a carnival and meet up with a co-worker and some acquaintances for the night.  I ended up going on the high, spinning swings, and we all went to two bars, played guitar and sang in a pub for over an hour, continuing on to a disco to dance a bit, and making several memories before heading back home.  We didn't get in until 4 or so.  My plans for today were not foiled, however, and Dustin and I went on a bike ride in the morning back up to where the carnival was to see an old church and later back to the city to tour another church.  Tonight, we ladies went grocery shopping and I cooked my mom's meatballs and sauce, but I confused the unmarked salt container for the equally unmarked and textured sugar, so I had a hard time salvaging the meal.  With Kat's help and some instinct, the food was still very good and we are all very full.  This upcoming week should be very fun with friends coming over for dinner on Tuesday, a ballet performance with the same friends on Wednesday, and a tea and (musical) jam session on Friday.  I may head to Cesky Raj or Czech Paradise this weekend, too.  My goal is to go to Germany and meet up with my friend Flo for one of the next three weekends, but I'm not sure if and when that will happen yet.  Back to lesson planning!

First Week at School

I mentioned before that I moved into my apartment and that I love my new roommates, but I didn't have many pictures from anything, so I hope these help.

In other news, I started teaching at the school I will be at every day this past week and taught my first lesson yesterday.  The kids were very eager to participate and the teacher I am working most closely with, Petra, is extremely sweet, spunky, and helpful.  She introduced me to all the teachers I will be working with, showed me the classrooms I will be teaching in, and got me set up with lunches at the school.  I am very much looking forward to getting into the school community, as everyone was very sweet, even if they were nervous about their lack of English to communicate with.  I simply told them through gesture and words that I do not know Czech either so we can learn from each other, and that seemed to help a little.  The school is only a ten minute walk from my apartment and roughly a fifteen minute walk from the city center, which I generally walk to after for meetings or whatever I feel like.

I found out that I will be teaching not only English, but assisting and teaching math, science, art, music, craft, and P.E. as well!  I am so excited about this.  Most of the time I will be teaching Petra's third graders or eight-year-olds, but I will also be teaching first, second, and sixth graders as well at different points in the day.  My schedule is pretty good with all classes in the morning and off by lunch every day except one extra class on Mondays, but I will be picking up three after school programs at some point in October.  My flat mates and I are going for a picnic on this beautiful day and I might go bike riding later on the bike that was lent indefinitely to me by a friend here, so I must be off.  

Training in Prague

Not Taken By Me...Just Nice =)

Laura (pronounced like Lara Croft from Tomb Raider) and I are at a hostel with several other teachers for Wattsenglish.  The training is kinda boring BS that could have been summed up in an hour or two and read through if someone cared to delve further into the topics, but the people are great and the hostel isn't bad either...a free beer at check in and a kitchen!  We met the founder of Wattsenglish at training and is a very energetic man with lots of great ideas that are basically just practicing common sense, but he was entertaining and friendly at the least.  I can't believe they are stretching this stuff out over four days, and I'm so happy that I get to leave Wednesday night to start teaching at my school on Thursday.  I'll be teaching two to three weeks before all the other teachers, but I will be mainly in one school, teaching not only English, but assisting with math, science, and PE classes as well!  I am so excited to start...I like having productive things to do during the day.  Yesterday I did not get to go to Ceshy Raj with the guy Roman who wants to practice English with me, because we went hiking mount Krkonose or something instead...I think it's the second highest mountain in Czech or something...at least in our region.  It was pretty challenging but beautiful.  He invited me to get Indian food with him after, which is actually quite good here, but I went to dinner with my new roommates and new friend instead.  We had a great night before Laura and I had to get up.

Things have been going very well overall, but I had a fairly frustrating two hours when my debit card wouldn't work at another ATM.  I called my bank through Skype and discovered that someone was making fraudulent charges with my card.  I had the crazy idea of getting better service by indicating that I would answer survey questions at the end of the phone call, and it worked very well.  I had to go back and fourth walking fifteen minutes to and from the ATM when I was very hungry for dinner until the bank and I finally arranged a small window in which they would unblock my account so I could take out enough money for the next three weeks (including rent and such) until my new card gets to my parents and then shipped to me.  I feel like such a lucky person 99.9% of the time that when things don't go my way it doesn't seem so bad at all.  I was able to buy Chinese takeout and eat all of it after the incident and have been happily full ever since.  It's only 10:17 but I've felt ready to sleep for hours at this point...I am waiting for a shower to open up and will most likely in bed by 11:30 and ready for the included hostel breakfast at 8.  

Side Note

I feel slightly bad that I have been in a massive rush just about every time I write anything on here.  The English major inside me is extremely disappointed in my lack of description, so I would like to give you slightly more insight into how things are:

The Mornings:  I wake up each morning before my alarm (if one is set).  First, my eyes are still closed and I am simply aware that I am awake sooner than I need to be.  I am usually still caught up in a very strange dream that is so vivid and odd that I cannot decide whether I want to let it go or not...when I finally choose to give it up and check my phone for the time, I think about all the places I could be when I open my eyes. Some mornings, I picture my parents' house or the beach house in Narragansett... Other times, I picture other places that I have stayed along my way here.  It seems like if I just focused hard enough, I could wake up wherever the place is in my mind without thinking anything of it.  Then, I become fully conscious of my current location and open my eyes with a bit of a struggle, groping for my phone as my eyes adjust to the light and I try to shake myself away from the memories of the dreams...when I see the time, I debate if it's worth going back to sleep or if I am awake enough that I should move.  If it's an hour or so before planned, I allow the tendrils of sleep to reenter from my subconscious and take over my mind for a while longer.  If it's only 10/15 minutes earlier, I take a few deep breaths and throw myself into the air, trusting my body to steady itself in its tired stupor.  I am almost always the first awake, and tired enough to mumble people as they too force themselves over to say good morning.  Last week, whilst working at the camp, I put myself together as quickly and quietly as possible and walked to a Billa, waited until 7am when it opened, and bought myself breakfast to eat at the bus stop and snacks to eat later on during the day.  The last morning I was waiting for the bus and eating my freshly baked bread with sauce, ham, onions, and cheese, I was stung by a bee for the first time.  This morning, I washed dishes until my new roommate Katrina came into the kitchen and we had tea and made breakfast for everyone.  Things are moving fast and I have been overly booked, but I am so comforted by having a room of my own, a flat that is charming, cool, and eclectic, and great roommates who I already feel like I've known for years.  

I should go to bed now, since I have to be up at 6:30 to get ready and pack for my training in Prague with Laura and the other new Wattsenglish teachers.  I hope all is well back home with Hurricane Irene on the loose... Love you all!

For the rest of the days, I am thrown into whatever outrageous scheduled event I have, be it a job or