Sorry Everyone

I'm sorry everyone, I've been a miserable blogger. I really feel awful about it. Before I had a blog of my own, I would see un-updated blogs and scoff at how lazy and uncommitted their authors were. I told myself that one day I'll have my own blog and it will be the most updated blog ever. Well over the past few weeks that dream has died. I was so busy with classes, homework, activities, and traveling that I didn't have a free hour to sit down and update all of you folks back home on my whereabouts and condition. And then when I did have some time, the month of internet I'd purchased ran out. And after that, I spent a few days traveling and settling into my new home here in Hradec and meeting all of my new bosses at my jobs in Opava. I have some more time now and find myself in a more static position so I'll be able to update you all much more frequently. My plan is to put out regular posts every Sunday and Thursday. So lets just put those rude weeks of silence behind us and move on to more consistent blogging.

I apologize ahead of time, this post in mainly a quick and dirty review of the past few weeks. Future posts will be more detailed and they'll have a little more variety to them, I promise.

My language course in Prague ended roughly one week ago. In the last couple weeks of class my Czech improved, (slightly), I got used to the routine and style of the class, and continued to go on to various places of interest in and around Prague (see pictures). I graduated with an A but definitely didn't deserve one. I was the worst in my class by far, (and I was in the lowest level class). I'm extremely glad I took the course though, I can't imagine where I'd be without the limited Czech that I now have. I know just enough Czech to get myself into trouble, because if I say "Nemluvím Česky" (I don't speak Czech) everyone automatically assumes that I can in fact speak the language and I'm just being modest, since most foreigners don't even bother to learn that simple phrase. But I digress... At the end of my course there was a big graduation party with a feast, (see picture). The food was great and a Swedish girl and I got to teach everyone the word "Smorgasbord". After the feast I had to part ways with my friends, (see other picture). I truly made some great and interesting friends from around the world, (they were the other reason I was glad I took the course). Being with other foreigners in a foreign place really eased my transition into the Czech Republic and they always kept me socially busy. By the end of the course I was sad that we were all parting ways, but I was also ready to get settled into my new home.

After everyone left I had a few days to roam around the city and be more of a traditional tourist. I woke up early one morning and went to Charles Bridge (before the swarm of tourists hits), I wandered around Prague's Old Town, visited the Museum of Communism, and shopped for souvenirs for the fam. After that I had a meeting with the other Fulbright ETA's and some of the Fulbright staff to discuss the Czech school system and some of the troubles we may run into. The meeting was brief but it was nice to finally meet everyone that I had been emailing all summer. I met both of my supervisors, Kate and Karel, at the meeting as well. They were both extremely friendly and excited to have me at their respective schools. Kate has been especially great, she's helped me with everything from getting my bus pass to getting a bicycle and she even took me on a ride in a small four person plane to see the Moravian Mountains. It was an incredible experience. I'll post pictures of the plane when I get them. She also let me help her train her two hunting dogs, which was great because I've been missing Oscar, (my family's dog), back home.

I got settled into my new home about three days ago and I couldn't be happier with the situation. My flatmate, Pavel, speaks English and is a great guy, and his parents, who live above us, are the nicest people. All three of them are always giving me food and are constantly concerned about my well being and comfort. Essentially they are spoiling me with home grown fruit and vegetables, homemade food, and providing me with everything from a mirror to slippers.

I've visited both schools where I'll be teaching, but I haven't taught yet, (that starts tomorrow). So far I've enjoyed both schools for different reasons. The agricultural school is much more casual, the students and ambiance reminds me of a high school back home, I'll have more responsibilities as a teacher, plus they've given me a set schedule of where and when I'll be each week. The other school has better facilities, the students seem to have more skills in English, and every week that I'm there my schedule will change, (I'll even be going into music, biology, and history classrooms). I have a feeling that I'm going to really appreciate the variety that the two different schools will provide me. These first couple weeks of classes will probably just be introductions and a short personal biography from me, (which I have yet to prepare). But as time goes on I'll be dealing mostly with English conversation and writing. Any tips you guys might have on topics for discussions on the U.S., holidays, culture, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

So once again I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update the blog and I promise that it won't happen again. I hope that some of you are still there and willing to put up with my poor punctuation and ramblings. I'll be updating every Sunday and Thursday from now on and I promise to go into more detail instead of brief overviews like this post. Thanks for reading.