Prague!

Blog tiiimmeeeee! You were starting to think it wouldn’t happen weren’t you? :-P And if course now it’s been so long I don’t know where to begin. (but that’s my own fault lol) Travelling was good… my first flight was overnight from Detroit to Frankfurt. The plane was nice, individual tv screens with a few movie selections and a live flight map on every headrest in front of you. The guy who sat next to me though was kinda bigger, so he took up the armrest and I was confined to the other 2/3 of my seat…. But I was next to a window so that was good. I didn’t sleep a wink but I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and the first half of Mary Poppins and I think 2 episodes of NCIS on my ipod. The food on the plane was pretty decent, I had mashed potatoes and chicken and gravy for dinner and they gave some fruit and rolls and a granola bar for breakfast. Of course, “night” only lasted about 3 hours. I would occasionally open the shade and look out and it was so beautiful seeing all the stars… I even saw a few shooting stars around midnight. Watching the sun come up was cool too. By that time we were flying over Ireland (which was covered in clouds until the coast). I got into Frankfurt at 9am local time (3am body time) and didn’t have any trouble going through customs or immigration or wherever they checked my passport and going through security again. The flight to Prague was only about an hour which was nice. The plane was smaller but I was in an exit row so lots of extra leg room. :-D

The taxi driver in Prague was pretty crazy! Well, I guess all traffic is kinda crazy here. But he had to take some other people to their hotel first which was kinda downtown so I got a little tour. By the time I got to my apartment I just really wanted a shower! By that time it was about 24 hours of being awake? But I felt pretty good still. Met the other girls in the apartment (Dae and Katie took the course last month and have been so helpful, especially the first weekend when I would have had no idea how to get to the grocery store or anywhere!) and Sally and Amanda are in my course. They’re all pretty awesome. Our apartment is pretty nice too, which is good. Evidently other people weren’t as lucky… Though we do have a serious hill we have to climb up every time we come home. It’s about a 15 minute walk to the school, and about 10 minutes to the metro and shopping center. Anyway, the first day some people from last month’s course (including roommates) took Amanda and I out to a beer garden near the school. (A beer garden is exactly what it sounds like. There are tables outside and you can get beer. :-P ) I tried a couple sips and it was pretty gross actually. And after sitting there for a while I was starting to get woozy tired so after we went to the grocery store I basically crashed and went to bed at like 7. (about 30 hours of being awake) Basically took it easy that first weekend, though I did go on kind of a walking tour on Sunday that the course set up. Got some good pictures even though it was rainy.

We started the course on Monday and I wrote a message to Mary that I’m just gonna copy most of here cuz I don’t want to type it all again. :-P “Europe is pretty fantastic, though I'm not completely sold on making it semi-permanent. First day of class was today and not as freaky as I thought, the teachers are super nice and make things seem doable. The school actually has real Czech students who come in for English lessons... and we teach them. Tomorrow I co-teach a lesson O.O with my group but there are 4 of us so it only amounts to about 10 minutes each. I feel as though I am prepared? This week we have 2 group teachings and I think our first 45 min solo lesson. Y i k e s. Then we'll have classes every morning and Monday afternoons, then teach on 2 afternoons (either Tuesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday, though in no particular order). I guess I'll find out pretty soon if teaching is something for me!

We walk everywhere all day plus there's a killer hill on the way to the apartment, so I feel I'm gonna have awesome legs by the time this is over. The food is good, nothing really too exotic. Lots of meats and beer (which I tried the first night and found to be gross). I found a good Chinese place though that's good and cheap (my 2-portion-size plate of noodles cost about $4.75). The metro is pretty easy to get around on, no different from the US. Still haven't attempted to figure out the busses and trams though. Starting to think about a day trip outside the city... we'll see how this weekend looks homework-wise. It looks like most of the homework is gonna be lesson planning.”

My first 45 minute solo lesson was today and in the words of my observer (one of our teachers) it was barely successful, which I felt as well (it was about ecological footprints and I had to teach words like “inevitable” and “disturbing” to upper intermediates). I think by the end they basically understood and they completed the activities but it was kinda rough getting there. It’s weird though, teaching doesn’t really phase me at all. I wasn’t a bit nervous. Obviously I have a lot to improve on but I feel like I kind of know what to do? So that’s weird. I never thought teaching would be something I would do even remotely good and not dislike it. I’m still not sure it’s something I want to pursue so I’m going to give it another week… cuz then if I do want to continue I’ll have to start looking for jobs ASAP. So we shall see.

Tomorrow we’re going out of the city to some restaurant that is owned by the mother of a girl who took the course last month? I’m a little sketchy on the details but there’s food and going out of the city involved so I’m there! We have to leave by 8.45 though… not my idea of sleeping in when you have to get up earlier than you do during the week. ;-) It’ll be worth it though. Maybe zoo on Sunday?
So was this a thorough enough post? I feel like I’ve talked about everything important. Much love!