September 10, 2013
I have been in Prague for one week exactly, to the day. So far, it’s been a whirlwind.
No, I have not been daring enough to try Czech food yet. Lame, I know.
But Czech food is lots of hard core meats, such as stuffed boar leg, lamb,
or rabbit. I am not really into any of
that…as someone who rarely eats meat, aside from occasionally chicken or bacon;
this is a tough cuisine for me to venture into.
They also eat lots of sauerkraut, fried foods, dumplings and
sweets. Aside from the desserts (as you
all know, I am a devoted consumer of all things sweet), not much of that food
is up my alley. So as of now, I have
been a bit of an unadventurous soul when it’s come to the food portion of my
time here and have stuck to various dishes like mushroom ravioli, vegetarian
crepes with spinach, onion and goat cheese (which were DELICIOUS), a large salad
with cooked salmon, goat cheese, red onion, bacon and pine nuts, and of course,
beer (Prague is a beer city, known in fact for having some of the best beer in
the world). I will eventually get around
to at least tasting a couple of traditional Czech dishes, which is a
promise. And when I do, I will be sure
to report back the details! But for now…I
am sticking to the dishes I feel strongly that I will enjoy.
On
Sunday early on in the day, we had to meet up with our TEFL group outside of
the Language House School briefly, to say hello to one another and be given a
brief course overview. I felt quite
nervous about this, as I am naturally an introvert and while I generally really
enjoy socializing, I prefer to do it in small groups with people I have become
close with over time. Meeting large
groups of new people is always an intimidating situation for me.
However the class meeting went off without a hitch and was
just fine. After this, a small group of
us walked to Old Town Square together, bought beers and stood within the
buzzing hub of activity around us, enjoying our drinks and getting to know one
another. Then we strolled over the
magical, stunningly beautiful Charles Bridge and settled in, upon my suggestion,
at Kampo Park where we sat in a circle and conversed for a couple hours. This was relaxing and fantastic. We ended the afternoon with a grocery store
excursion, which is a story in itself, my god, going grocery shopping here is
insanely daunting and stressful, that is for sure. Stay tuned for more on that experience. And then we all headed back to our respective
flats to relax for the rest of the day and rest up to begin class the next day.
On Monday, we officially began class. We enjoyed learning various ice breakers and
warm up games, ways to introduce our subject matter to our future students in
what would be affective and attention-grabbing ways, to engage with them and
increase learning. This was a lot of
fun, it got everyone laughing and interacting with one another. Then on Monday evening after class, we were
given a three hour tour of the city by a young woman who works for the
school. She was fabulous. Energetic, incredibly funny, warm and a great
speaker. We toured Old Town Square and
learned some fascinating history about the square, we walked the Charles
Bridge, and we headed up the hill to Prague Castle which we walked around and
were rewarded with up close and personal views of. I felt like I was standing outside of Hogwarts
Castle in Harry Potter! It’s so Gothic
and magical looking. We took a break for
beer or ice cream, our choice (I instead settled on the choice of a
pastry. A gingerbread star to be exact,
which was so delicious, it reminded me of eating Christmas), and then we headed
out to a little restaurant for a free meal, compliments of the TEFL house! That was a blast and a wonderful respite
after a long day of walking and touring.
Today we had our second day of class, during which we had to
teach our fellow students how to do something within 15 minutes. I taught the class how to pull their thumb in
half, a fun little magic trick that my Dad taught me when I was little, which
used to leave me in awe and giggles whenever he performed this for me. The class seemed to get a kick out of
it. And at the conclusion of the day, we
were left with our homework being that we have to prepare our own ice breaker
and warm up game for tomorrow (with a specific topic that we might use for a
lesson) which we will be teaching to ACTUAL Czech’s this Thursday!! That will be our first real, live, partial
lesson. So that is rather nerve-racking,
though simultaneously exciting for sure.
I am getting psyched to begin the actual teaching part. I find that part anxiety provoking but also
sort of exhilarating, getting up there in front of everyone.
After having been here for a week, I am still feeling pretty
good about all of this. I am still very
excited about the entire thing. I cannot
wait to be done with the course, which after this week, ends in just 3
weeks!!! And I am very much looking
forward to securing a job and beginning to actually teach on my own, how cool
will that be? Plus, then I can begin my
real endeavor that I wanted to undertake while I am here in Europe, which is to
TRAVEL!
I am not feeling a huge amount of culture shock (yet…) but I
am beginning to really miss my friends and family. I am having random, sporadic moments of
missing them deeply. Hearing a song that
reminds me of them (when I was jump roping this morning on the little courtyard
outside of my flat, Sunset Driver by Michael Jackson came onto my i-pod. That reminded me of playing Just Dance on the
Wii with my little sister and my Mom), or just wishing I could call up one of
my close friends on the phone on a whim to say hello and tell them about
something crazy/fun/interesting/you insert the adjective, that happened to me
today. I miss seeing them weekly
too. So I am hoping to be able to make
Skype dates with all of them sometime soon, within the next week or so.
“One of the great
truths of life is that while you’re stuck with your family, you can choose your
friends. There is a different love that
flesh and blood cannot guarantee; the love of a friend who knows you, doesn’t judge
you, and will be there for you no matter what.
True friends are never just friends.”
That aside, I am feeling incredibly happy to be here. Blessed by the fact that I even have this
opportunity. Excited and intrigued by
the unknown of what my future holds over here…where this might take me…what
could happen. It’s sort of like reading
an interesting memoir as it unfolds, except the story is my own and I am living
it! It’s outstanding.
Until next time, I am signing off for now. I miss you all. Stay tuned for upcoming adventure updates!
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