Catching Up

I am fairly exhausted at the moment, but I have been using that as an excuse too much of late and need to get something on here. Last week was our first week back from break, and I was not relishing the thought of coming back to work. I was fortunate enough to have the day after my travels off, and took the time to get laundry done and relax. On Wednesday, I was given some gifts (mainly chocolates and cookies) from some the students and Petra, the third grade teacher I work with most closely. Petra gave me a bottle of wine, as well, and the sweets and wine proved to be a lovely dinner option for my flatmates and I that night. The week flew by fairly quickly, and before I knew it it was Friday night again. Laura and I reluctantly left our house to meet some friends at a pub and ended up having a great time and staying out until four. On Saturday night, I slept in until noon or so and we had a pajama and movie day here at our flat with our friend Lani. I bailed at the end to go on a date (again, reluctantly) and actually had a pretty good time. Even though he doesn't know much English at all, we were able to communicate without too much of a problem, and I was able to understand and use Czech words that I wasn't even aware that I knew. He was a bit sad that I left just passed eleven, but I was pretty tired...I am not sure if I will see him again, but we do have tentative plans to meet up again this weekend.

Now, for the good stuff!!!

This week was pretty exciting for me. Petra had been really worried about the parent teacher meeting that could decide whether or not she will be able to continue with her class up to the fourth grade or whether she would be assigned to a new first grade class. The English program and the work that she does with those kids is amazing, and they have the ability to communicate with ease about several subjects. I really believe in the program and its ability to open doors for the children now and especially in the future when they might want to travel, study, or get jobs abroad. Petra, in not only my opinion, is the most successful with her integration of English into the class, and I wanted to do what I could to make sure that the kids have the best possible foundation in education for their future. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday coloring a new picture on the blackboard for the meeting as I like to do on a monthly basis for her, and on Tuesday evening I stayed at school until 5:30pm so I could speak at the meeting and encourage all of the parents about their choice to be a part of the program and to let the few dissenters have a glimpse of their childs' potential from a very outside perspective. One of the parents had spent a great deal of time in England and translated for me, and I think it went well despite my nerves. Afterwards, I had to run to get some sushi on my way to my private lesson at 6.

After the lesson, in which my student (who has become a good friend) and I discussed the latest ongoings of our lives, thoughts for the future, and tried to problem solve some of the issues that have been affecting us negatively in our respective lives...I really enjoy our lessons. When that was over, I headed to the pub to meet my first acquaintances turned friends in the Czech Republic to catch up on the holidays and whatever needed catching up on. I ended up staying out until 2am or so getting a kebab and discussing religion and politics with one of them. That morning was Wednesday, my busiest day of the week, in which I teach from 7:55 until 12 at Husova, have a private lesson from 1:15-2:15, go to office at the town center to teach kindergarteners from 3:15-4, and then have a private lesson with a high school student named from 4:15-5:20 or so. It happened to be the same day that my colleague Dustin, his friend Tomas, and I like to go rock climbing, so I don't have much time to go home, eat, relax, and get back out there. My private lesson with John was particularly great this time, though!

Last time I talked to John, he was telling me that he doesn't often get to see his dad who works most of the year in China while his mom and he are here in the Czech Republic, and he was discussing the fact that he was excited to share his good grades with his father over the holidays so that he would be proud. I asked a bit more, and was told that his dad never really responded to his emails beyond telling John to study harder and ask if he needed money. John said that he was a bit sad that his father and he had such a small relationship and that his father seemed to have no interest in his fitness, MMA, or any other things that were relevant to his life outside of school and money. I suggested that he discuss the situation with his dad and to start sending two separate types of emails, one for business and one for personal life. I said that it would be unfortunate to not have a dad that you could talk to and proposed he try to mention and work on it before he was older and there was not much time left to get to know each other. When I met with him yesterday for the lesson, he said that he took my advice and thanked me for it. His father was grateful for the discussion, said that they would work on it, and is visiting John next week. That made my day.

Rock climbing later was great, too, especially since I ran there and back. I was very tired, but able to complete a 6+ after not having climbed for a while, so I was not upset with myself. It was great to catch up with Dustin and Tomas as well, and my friend Vladimir met us to chat and get a few beers after. I got home around 1:15am and took a bath, but somehow I have made it through the day of the usual work and two private lessons without being too worn out. The kids are really brightening my days as I have started hearing certain shy kids speak more and smile more in the past week than I could have expected even last week. I am really proud to be a teacher this week, and know it will be hard to move on from the kids and people that I have been meeting's lives when the time comes.