A Day Spent Wandering the City

I have yet to really "see" Prague. I feel I only know the city passively right now; the sites I've seen were viewed while on my way somewhere else or while out on the weekend in Old Town. With teaching and law school applications there's been little time for site seeing, and I've decided to save most of the touristy bits for when my parents come to see me, as there's no point in seeing such things twice. Yesterday, however, I took Julian's advice; I packed a lunch and set off into the city. (Side-note, one of my dearest friends, Julian, has emerged from the California wilderness. Yay!)

I began by hopping onto the first tram I saw, and getting off when I felt like it. I ended up near the river, in a park with fountains and statues and lots of crunchy leaves on the ground. I'm very much enjoying my first real fall since I left Wisconsin at age 11. I collected some leaves and then went for a closer look at a pretty white building with statues on the front.

I continued wandering that part of the city, with no particular aim in mind. The lovely thing about the public transit system is, there's no need to keep track of where you are or how to get home. You just find a tram or metro station, look at the connections, and work your way back. I love finding trees in the middle of the city, and took this picture.

Next, I got onto the Metro at Můstek and off at Malostranská on the castle-side of the river. There I found a grand official-looking residence with a sweeping lawn and statues. I sat and ate my lunch, then looked at a display of posters from the Revolution. I saw a statue on the lawn of a woman weeping, framed by a little arrangement of trees.

Later in the day I found myself at a public rummage sale held in Náměstí Míru, one of the church squares. I bought earrings and a little figurine for 65Kc. While there, I slipped into the church. Saturday Mass was being held, and observers were allowed in the back of the church. I stayed 20 minutes to listen to the huge old organ, the singing, and the Scripture reading in Czech. Pictures were not allowed in the church, but it reminded me of Easter: bright pastels and lots of gilding, shimmering lights and singing.

My wanderings later led me to this forlorn old building. It is obviously being renovated, but for the present it is just empty and sad, its facade stripped off and its innards lying in the street and piled in a dumpster. Perhaps I'll find it again months from now, proud in new paint and occupied by people.

All in all, it was pleasant quiet day. I avoided most of the touristy places and enjoyed seeing more of the city. My favorite things were the statue on the lawn and the leaves in the park. I'm going to take a book to that park soon and enjoy the fall weather. But for now, it's back to law school applications!

Three Weeks in Prague

I have now been in Prague for over three weeks, and I absolutely love it here. Every day is exciting, an adventure. Simple things like grocery shopping have become scavenger hunts, deciphering the words on packaging with my very limited Czech and a great deal of imagination.

Difficult as it is, I enjoy learning Czech. I have learnt that doleva is "left" and doprava is "right". Nemluvím česky is "I don't speak Czech" - a very useful phrase. I can count, with reasonable success, to 100 and can ask Kolik to stoje? - "How much?" My Czech lessons have been one of my favorite parts of training to be an English teacher and I am looking forward to continuing them.

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There are over 30 people in our TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) group. We have spent the past three weeks attending workshops, writing lesson plans, dissecting grammar, preparing activities, and giving actual lessons in TP (Teaching Practice), which is followed by feedback sessions.

Because this is a year that I want to spend learning, I'll write about a few things I've learned.

1. English grammar is hard. Czech has 3 tenses: Past, Present, and Future. English has 13 or so, depending on whom you ask, and they are further complicated by the fact that some very erudite gentlemen in the 1600s decided English would be more posh if it fit into the Latin verb tenses. My four years of Latin have helped me more than anything else the past three weeks.

2. Teaching is hard. Lesson planning, making certain you fully understand what you are teaching, preparing engaging actives for your students, and not going crazy; it's all quite a juggle. But it's also a great deal of fun. My Czech students love to joke and go along with whatever I throw at them. It's odd to teach adults foreign language; I've found that I have to work on some of my subconscious perceptions. When you speak with a native English speaker and they consistently mispronounce words or use improper tenses and sentence structure, you assume they didn't receive much education - though they are a wonderful person. Here, you are teaching people who are generally highly educated. Most of my students have completed university and are learning English to improve they job chances or make their life easier. When they mispronounce words or say "Yesterday I am eating dinner at 5" it is not a lack of education, but rather the opposite. I am constantly impressed and put to shame by the effort and work my students are putting in to learn another language, and it drives me to study my Czech harder.

3. Europe is different. Which we all knew already. One of my favorite things about living abroad is the little daily things that are done differently. My flat has a bathroom and a toilet room; they're generally separate here. The washer and dryer are in the bathroom and are teeny tiny. Light switches are large square panels on the wall, and are sometimes outside the room containing the light they switch on. Flats in Prague often come fully furnished and have all sorts of interesting things left by the people who lived in them before: sheets, cuckoo clocks, odd tools, cassette tapes, books in Czech. Grocery stores do not give you bags, you either bring your own or buy them - or, if you've forgotten the former and don't fancy the latter, you balance two boxes of cake mix, chocolate whipped cream, icing, and a bottle of wine for two blocks.

My favorite things so far?

• Yummy yummy yummy Czech deserts, EVERYWHERE.
• Looking out the window from my new third-floor flat in Prague 3, pictures soon.
• Rediscovering Nutella.
• The beautiful buildings everywhere.
• Going out and meeting people from all over the world - Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Italy, etc.
• The art-deco Metro stops.
• Texting my family via gmail.
  

Next week I will write more specifics about what I've been up to. For now I just need to make it through the last week of TEFL training!

Right now I'm sitting in the Frankfurt airport, waiting for my flight to Prague during my 5+ hour layover. The flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth arrived early and I found out it only takes 20 minutes to get into downtown Frankfurt by subway, which runs every 15 minutes. I bought a round-trip ticket for 9 Euro (about $10) and headed out. On the subway I met some Americans college students on vacation; oddly enough one was a girl also named Andrea. We got lunch in Frankfurt - I had amazing beef gulash and noodles - and then wandered around the city for a while. It was beautiful, very old-Europe. The last time I was in Germany I saw Munich, which was torn up in WWII and rebuilt in the 1960's. Frankfurt looks nothing like Munich. The Americans I met are also bound for Prague via a different flight, they'll be there a week so we're going to try to meet up this weekend.

So far I'm having an absolutely fantastic time. It's such fun to be by yourself and do whatever you want, though it was nice to have people to sight-see with in Frankfurt. Figuring out which subway took you back to the airport (which is called a Flughafen in German) was an adventure. And I love hearing German spoken, and creatively communicating with people - though most people here speak at least some English.

Two Weeks Left in Austin

Two weeks from today I will leave Austin for the Czech Republic. This week will be spent packing and trying to finish my law school applications. Ok, I lied; trying to start my law school applications. I have a personal statement and addendum to grades to write, and a sea of application fees to navigate. Most of the schools I'm applying to have given me fee waivers, now I need to reach out to the ones that haven't. I also have two letters of recommendation to secure; they've been promised by the recommendors so a follow-up is all that's needed. Also, thank-you notes to people who have written recommendations for me or helped me with my applications or advised me or were generally awesome.
Beyond all that administrative nonsense, I want to spend time with everyone before I leave. I don't know if I'll return to Austin or even to Texas - law school could take me anywhere and half of my applications are to schools out of state. Please stop by and say hello/goodbye!