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.