October 24

Last weekend I took my first extended trip away from Prague, to Sokolov.  Brian, one of the teachers out there, invited all of us out there to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving (he's from Ottawa).  So Caleb and I caught the 6:55 bus from Florenc station and got there at about 9:30.  Brian, Jesse (who are roommates), Beth (who lives in Sokolov but not with them) and Stacy (who lives in Prague but went out earlier in the day) met us at the station.  Immediately we went to a club where Brian and Jesse's school was throwing a party to benefit a school in Prague that was affected by the floods.  They told us that this particular nightspot (called the Goldeneye Club, if I remember correctly) was one of the shadier ones in Sokolov.  Lots of knife fights and so forth.  I didn't see a knife fight, but I did see the biggest disco ball EVER.

Afterwards, we went back to Brian and Jesse's and I slept while everyone else watched "Meet the Parents."  The next morning, we all got up late and had palacinky (crepes, sort of.  Since it was Canadian Thanksgiving, we called them crepes) until we burst.  Then everyone else who was coming from Prague arrived slowly throughout the afternoon, and we ate at around 5 or 6.  We had chicken, stuffing, fruit, bread, gravy and mashed potatoes, with a choice of wine or soft drinks.  Afterwards, we had a dessert of walnut/hazelnut pie (kind of like pecan pie, with the aforementioned substitutions), cake and a lemon and blueberry pie.  At least, I think that was a pie.

Brian taught us the Canadian National Anthem in English and French, and we played Mafia. 

The next morning, most people took the early bus, but a few others and I waited until 1:05.  The countryside out there is beautiful, and a welcome change from the city.  There were elms, maples, and groves of birches that would make Robert Frost drool.  I could hardly read the book I had, for all the compulsion to stare out the window at the colors and the hills and the sky.

This week of teaching has gone all right. . . Just so you don't believe that teaching is all a bed of roses, I didn't have a particularly good day yesterday.  I felt that my lessons were boring, that the students weren't learning anything, that they were a bunch of ungrateful wretches.  Eventually I overcame that feeling and got back to planning for the next day.  But don't imagine that teaching is all fun and games for me, or even that I am a very good teacher much of the time.  I'm still learning, and the mistakes that I make become obvious very quickly when they are used in the classroom.

Today's lessons went a little better, though, particularly the literature ones.  Both classes I taught were eager to hear who died at the end of Hamlet (and if you haven't read it, the answer is: just about everybody).

This weekend is our first big break from school (28-30), and I'm going to Budapest to visit some teachers there.  I'll let you know how it goes, and I'll try to take some pictures to put on the site.

October 15

I spent 100 crowns ($3.33) on the cheap seats at the State Opera a week ago to see The Magic Flute.  I have written a brief synopsis of the plot, or what seemed to me to be the plot, which you can read here, after I get it polished up.  It is only the second opera that I have seen, after The Marriage of Figaro in St. Petersburgh two years ago.  That was in Italian and translated into Russian; the Flute was in German translated into Czech.  It was fun to use my imagination to create my own version of what was going on (especially since the characters included a guy with a coat of multicolored feathers, three guys who dangled over the stage on wires, and a big serpent).  If I ever see an opera that I understand completely, I won't know what to do with myself.

On Tuesday it was the birthday of Dan, one of the American students whom we ESIers have taken to hanging out with.  The party was at my school, Nad Aleji, in the apartment of the girls who live and teach there.  Their apartment is a little like a dorm; it consists of four bedrooms arranged around a central great room and lies in the bowels of the school, down the steps from the English office.  On the night of Dan's birthday, we all gathered in the great room for lasagna, wine, cake and Mafia.

Wednesday I gave my first test, which many of my students failed miserably.  There were a few who did pretty well, though.

Thursday I saw Rachel(a fellow ESI teacher)'s flat for the first time when she invited Hope and Stacy and me over for dinner.

Friday Wayne and Brent, a couple of guys from Paladin Films (link coming soon) who are putting together a new ESI recruitment video, came to Prague to shoot some footage.  Wayne was tired and went to sleep while Caleb and I took Brent to the Lucerna Music Club (which plays '80s music on Fridays and Saturdays; way cool!) to hang out with some of Caleb's former students.  We danced and watched videos on the big screen above the dance floor for quite some time.  Then they played The Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go," and we decided to go.

Saturday Brent and Wayne shot tons of footage downtown.  I did my best to wander into their shots from time to time in order to ensure lasting fame in the recruitment video, but I was not successful.  Sunday we went to church and in the afternoon more footage was shot, this time at Prague Castle.

The weather here took a sudden turn for the worse a few days ago, and has become cold and damp.  One consolation is that the leaves have now begun to turn color and fall in earnest, making the city even more beautiful than before, if that were possible.  I thought, from the past several days, that it was only a matter of time before snow arrived, but today is clear and bright and not very cold.  It doesn't matter when the snow gets here; I will enjoy the beauty of fall for as long as it is here, and then I will enjoy the beauty of winter.

October 2

I am really hungry, so I will be brief.

What has happened since September 12, when last I gave all of you an update?  Lots of stuff.  Tons of stuff.  Too much stuff to even remember.  I went down to Karlstejn Castle a few weekends ago.  It's just a few kilometers south of Prague on the river, so it is a popular excursion for foreign types like me and the rest of the teachers I went with.  We decided when we arrived at the castle that it was way too expensive to take a tour of.  So we admired the outside for a little while, then hiked through the wilderness for a few hours.  Good times.  That was the weekend before school started.

Since school started, I have (surprise!) been spending a lot of time at school.  The kids I have are, for the most part, very respectful, even though they have an inexperienced teacher who does his best to go over what is in the book but is really just as bored by some of them as they are.  but I'm working on coming up with things to do in class that are less dull than workbook exercises (ugh.).

Right now I teach 18 hours per week, but that will be bumped up to 20 hours once I begin teaching a drama class.  Why a drama class, you ask?  Well, I'm a little hazy on that myself.  Seems that I was supposed to teach a journalism class, but due to a miscommunication, a drama class was advertised.  The whole messy business was straightened out, but not before about 18 kids signed up for drama.  So drama is what I will teach.  I would hate for you to get the impression that I'm bitter about this at all; I am genuinely looking forward to it.  And if I ever need to get a journalism fix, I can always contribute to the school newspaper, which runs stuff in English as well as Czech.

A bit about my classes, and then it is really time to go before my stomach lining disintegrates.  I teach four English classes and two English literature classes per week.  Most classes I see twice a week, but my 4s and my Octavas ("seniors,"  which are in the fourth or the eighth years of their respective programs) I see four times a week. All classes here have every class all day with each other.  Not just all year, but all years that they go to this school.  Which means that they know each other extremely well, and new teachers (for example, those who have come from the United States) can often find themselves at least out of the loop, if not conspired against.  But a cool thing is that each class has a unique personality.  Of course, that personality usually consists of a few loudmouths taking over the room while the quieter ones do their best to fade into the wallpaper.  But I like it.

Anyhow, there is much else to say, but I'm about to pass out if I don't eat something quick.  I hope in the future that I will be able to update this more frequently to the point that I will be able to talk about smaller observances that I make from day to day rather than broad sweeping updates.