P.S. It is officially Fall here! The leaves have changed colors and sporadic gusts of wind knock them, acorns, and needles off trees. It is beautiful! Below is a photo of a double rainbow I saw walking home from the zoo yesterday.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Things I Ate for Internet Access
After many trials and tribulations I finally have internet in my apartment! This means that for the first time this weekend I can stay up late and skype my family and friends in distant timezones. During my first month in the CR I relied on my school's internet during the week. Everyday at school and between classes I would try to cram in all my emailing. Lacking internet meant lacking a news outlet, so at school I downloaded news-oriented podcasts, which I would watch and listen to without the internet. Relying on my school for internet meant that on the weekends, when the school was closed, I had to find alternative ways to get internet access. There are very few internet cafes in Plzen, but there are many cafes with internet. In order to validate mooching off a cafes' internet I bought something to eat and drink. After trying a few fast food joints, restaurants, and cafes I found that a cafe named "Ooo La La" had the fastest wifi connection. At that cafe I mostly ate little pastries and once even tried hot chocolate. Here are some photos of the things I had to eat for internet!
P.S. It is officially Fall here! The leaves have changed colors and sporadic gusts of wind knock them, acorns, and needles off trees. It is beautiful! Below is a photo of a double rainbow I saw walking home from the zoo yesterday.
P.S. It is officially Fall here! The leaves have changed colors and sporadic gusts of wind knock them, acorns, and needles off trees. It is beautiful! Below is a photo of a double rainbow I saw walking home from the zoo yesterday.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Lunchroom
Something that I had not thought about when preparing myself mentally for returning to high school was the lunchroom experience. In my own high school in the United States, I knew who I was going to sit with and where I was going to sit for lunch every single day. If we weren't eating in the cafeteria, my friends and I would eat in the University District. All in all, it was pleasant. College was more difficult because everyone had a different schedule everyday. I had to plan out my meals if I wanted to eat with friends or I could chance it and see who was there because I knew someone would show up in the dinning hall. If the timing didn't work out, I had to sit alone with a book. This often lead to an awkward feeling and me eating quickly.
I don't know how my students feel when they eat in the dinning hall at our school, but it is one of those daunting boxy rooms with many long tables under a high ceiling and unattractive florescent lighting. Luckily for me, there are two tables at the north side of the cafeteria reserved for teachers and if I plan on eating in the cafeteria I can ask the teachers in my office or that I have a class with before the lunch period if they want to eat together. So far, they have always said yes. However, I introduced an English language lunch table to the school, so that every Thursday students can come during the two lunch periods and sit and practice their English. Usually, this results in my getting asked by students to join their afternoon activities. Unfortunately, the first Thursday was a little lonely. The idea of sitting and speaking English was foreign to many students and many forget that the table would in fact be on Thursdays. I definitely had that awkward feeling displayed in High School dramas. The next week was better with five people the first lunch period and a full table the next. Some of the students were not even from my classes! I am excited to see what happens this week!
In regards to the cafeteria food, I have to order it on a machine a few days before. Usually, I have a Czech teacher translate the meals for me to find out if there are any appetizing vegetarian options. On days that I take the risk and eat from the cafeteria, I cut the line (something I feel guilty about) where all the students are waiting to get their meals. I grab a fork, knife, and tray, and then swipe my transportation card over a reader. This tells the kitchen staff what I ordered and they put it on my tray. This is something new to me since my high school and college were buffet style. A lot of the food I have tried are things I would not normally eat, but something went awry during the translation process. Other times I have been pleasantly surprised. Half of the students I have polled enjoy the cafeteria food and half dislike it. Sometimes I look at it and can't figure out what it is. Apparently, the students can't either. I will list some of the food I have tasted and let you guess which were the good ones: 1. fired cheese with potatoes and tartar sauce 2. fried cauliflower with potatoes and tartar sauce 3. not bread-pudding, but bread with hot pudding on top 5. fried pancakes with cheese and ketchup 4. Mediterranean salad. The answer key is at the bottom of this blog post. Typically, the meal comes with soup and a fruit. Everyday there are three options and two always have meat and usually a traditional Czech dumpling or Knedliky. I have always wanted to try either potato or bread Knedliky, but in restaurants they are served with meat dishes. Knedliky are different from dim-sum or gyoza because they are not thin nor stuffed. While I have yet to eat them, I think they look more like half-dollar to palm-of-your-hand sized gnocchi. Anyway, on days that I am not sitting with my students or eating cafeteria food I bring a good ol' fashion peanut butter sandwich or leftovers from home.
Happy Eating! And for those of you celebrating Yom Kippur, I hope you have an easy and delicious break the fast!
Answers: 1 without the tartar sauce and 4
I don't know how my students feel when they eat in the dinning hall at our school, but it is one of those daunting boxy rooms with many long tables under a high ceiling and unattractive florescent lighting. Luckily for me, there are two tables at the north side of the cafeteria reserved for teachers and if I plan on eating in the cafeteria I can ask the teachers in my office or that I have a class with before the lunch period if they want to eat together. So far, they have always said yes. However, I introduced an English language lunch table to the school, so that every Thursday students can come during the two lunch periods and sit and practice their English. Usually, this results in my getting asked by students to join their afternoon activities. Unfortunately, the first Thursday was a little lonely. The idea of sitting and speaking English was foreign to many students and many forget that the table would in fact be on Thursdays. I definitely had that awkward feeling displayed in High School dramas. The next week was better with five people the first lunch period and a full table the next. Some of the students were not even from my classes! I am excited to see what happens this week!
In regards to the cafeteria food, I have to order it on a machine a few days before. Usually, I have a Czech teacher translate the meals for me to find out if there are any appetizing vegetarian options. On days that I take the risk and eat from the cafeteria, I cut the line (something I feel guilty about) where all the students are waiting to get their meals. I grab a fork, knife, and tray, and then swipe my transportation card over a reader. This tells the kitchen staff what I ordered and they put it on my tray. This is something new to me since my high school and college were buffet style. A lot of the food I have tried are things I would not normally eat, but something went awry during the translation process. Other times I have been pleasantly surprised. Half of the students I have polled enjoy the cafeteria food and half dislike it. Sometimes I look at it and can't figure out what it is. Apparently, the students can't either. I will list some of the food I have tasted and let you guess which were the good ones: 1. fired cheese with potatoes and tartar sauce 2. fried cauliflower with potatoes and tartar sauce 3. not bread-pudding, but bread with hot pudding on top 5. fried pancakes with cheese and ketchup 4. Mediterranean salad. The answer key is at the bottom of this blog post. Typically, the meal comes with soup and a fruit. Everyday there are three options and two always have meat and usually a traditional Czech dumpling or Knedliky. I have always wanted to try either potato or bread Knedliky, but in restaurants they are served with meat dishes. Knedliky are different from dim-sum or gyoza because they are not thin nor stuffed. While I have yet to eat them, I think they look more like half-dollar to palm-of-your-hand sized gnocchi. Anyway, on days that I am not sitting with my students or eating cafeteria food I bring a good ol' fashion peanut butter sandwich or leftovers from home.
Happy Eating! And for those of you celebrating Yom Kippur, I hope you have an easy and delicious break the fast!
Answers: 1 without the tartar sauce and 4
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Plzen vs. Prague
I have just returned to Plzen from two days of free time and four days in a Fulbright meeting in Prague. In Prague, I grew accustom to comparing towns and cities because some of the other Fulbrighters created a game entitled, “what does Miriam’s town have that mine does not.” Due to the fact that Plzen is the fourth largest town in the CR (not to be confused with Costa Rica), it has many amenities. There is a diversity of restaurants and grocery stores from which to choose. Unlike smaller towns these grocery stores sell peanut butter, which is a rare commodity here. While my amigos' towns have plenty of bars and restaurants, they lack movie theaters and malls (my town has multiples of both). Overall, I feel pretty lucky to be placed in such an accommodating city, not to mention my wonderful school! Yet, I am often envious of the fact that other Fulbrighters are celebrities in their towns because everyone knows them or the fact that they are easily able to meet people our age (the majority of my new friends are teachers and students).
In the spirit of comparison, and because I have yet to fully describe Plzen and what it is like, I will do so in the context of Prague. Prague is the only city in the CR to be considered a major/large city. However, it is so small that it cannot be considered a metropolis like New York or Tokyo. Prague’s 2.3 million population means that the city has a lot less subway lines, bus, and tram routes than the major cities on the East Coast of the US, but more than the rest of the country. Although, there are a few tall lookout towers and church steeples, Prague is also not a tall city – there are no skyscrapers in its downtown. It is a big city in the sense that it offers different genres of food, stores, people, culture, etc, and it is physically more expansive than the rest of the cities in the CR.
Plzen, like Prague, has a main square with a large cathedral and many brightly colored buildings surrounding it. There are shops, restaurants, and cafes overlooking the square, and many side streets lead to more. In fact, a popular street a few blocks from the main square is named Americka – on one end of the street there is a McDonalds and the other end there is a memorial that reads “Thank you America!” General Patton liberated Plzen in 1945, but memorials dedicated to him and the liberation were removed during the communist era and American Street was then called Moscow Street. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, which ended communism, the street was named American Street and memorials dedicated to the US were created. Many people I meet in the CR explain that I live in the most Pro-American city in all of Europe because every May there are festivals dedicated to the liberation and thanking the US. Ironically, I have only met two Americans in Plzen and they were missionaries. Side note: there are two vegetarian/vegan restaurants off of Americka, and I have befriended the Nepali owners of an Indian restaurant.
Something that Plzen has and Prague does not is the largest beer brewery and factory in all of the Czech Republic. I took a tour of the bottling factory and old underground cellars, which were pretty enormous. The factory itself bottles multiple labels of beer and supplies the entire country. Plzen is considered more industrial than Prague because it also has a Skoda car-part manufacturing plant.
Plzen also has five rivers and is surrounded by lakes. There are many trails behind my neighborhood of communist era apartment buildings that lead to some of these lakes. The majority of people on these trails are women pushing strollers, people with their dogs, and mountain bikers. Whether it is correct of not, my impression of people in Plzen is that they are extremely fit because there are many trails for bikes and roller-blades. I even went to a special outdoor rollerblading track with two teachers and their two-children each. Additionally, I joined an “outdoor” group that meets every Tuesday to play soccer, hockey, and basketball. Occasionally, this group does gymnastics, and goes camping, hiking, and skiing.
Similar to how “everything is bigger and better in Texas,” things are definitely larger and more glamorous in Prague. Keeping in perspective that I am perfectly happy in Plzen and very content with my situation. An American saying is “the grass is always greener in someone else’s yard.” What looks good is not always a good fit or the most comfortable situation for everyone. All that is left to say is that I am very happy and healthy in Plzen.
Prague's Main Square and Astronomical Clock:
Plzen's Cathedral, Main Square, and Buildings in my Neighborhood:
In the spirit of comparison, and because I have yet to fully describe Plzen and what it is like, I will do so in the context of Prague. Prague is the only city in the CR to be considered a major/large city. However, it is so small that it cannot be considered a metropolis like New York or Tokyo. Prague’s 2.3 million population means that the city has a lot less subway lines, bus, and tram routes than the major cities on the East Coast of the US, but more than the rest of the country. Although, there are a few tall lookout towers and church steeples, Prague is also not a tall city – there are no skyscrapers in its downtown. It is a big city in the sense that it offers different genres of food, stores, people, culture, etc, and it is physically more expansive than the rest of the cities in the CR.
Plzen, like Prague, has a main square with a large cathedral and many brightly colored buildings surrounding it. There are shops, restaurants, and cafes overlooking the square, and many side streets lead to more. In fact, a popular street a few blocks from the main square is named Americka – on one end of the street there is a McDonalds and the other end there is a memorial that reads “Thank you America!” General Patton liberated Plzen in 1945, but memorials dedicated to him and the liberation were removed during the communist era and American Street was then called Moscow Street. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, which ended communism, the street was named American Street and memorials dedicated to the US were created. Many people I meet in the CR explain that I live in the most Pro-American city in all of Europe because every May there are festivals dedicated to the liberation and thanking the US. Ironically, I have only met two Americans in Plzen and they were missionaries. Side note: there are two vegetarian/vegan restaurants off of Americka, and I have befriended the Nepali owners of an Indian restaurant.
Something that Plzen has and Prague does not is the largest beer brewery and factory in all of the Czech Republic. I took a tour of the bottling factory and old underground cellars, which were pretty enormous. The factory itself bottles multiple labels of beer and supplies the entire country. Plzen is considered more industrial than Prague because it also has a Skoda car-part manufacturing plant.
Plzen also has five rivers and is surrounded by lakes. There are many trails behind my neighborhood of communist era apartment buildings that lead to some of these lakes. The majority of people on these trails are women pushing strollers, people with their dogs, and mountain bikers. Whether it is correct of not, my impression of people in Plzen is that they are extremely fit because there are many trails for bikes and roller-blades. I even went to a special outdoor rollerblading track with two teachers and their two-children each. Additionally, I joined an “outdoor” group that meets every Tuesday to play soccer, hockey, and basketball. Occasionally, this group does gymnastics, and goes camping, hiking, and skiing.
Similar to how “everything is bigger and better in Texas,” things are definitely larger and more glamorous in Prague. Keeping in perspective that I am perfectly happy in Plzen and very content with my situation. An American saying is “the grass is always greener in someone else’s yard.” What looks good is not always a good fit or the most comfortable situation for everyone. All that is left to say is that I am very happy and healthy in Plzen.
Prague's Main Square and Astronomical Clock:
Plzen's Cathedral, Main Square, and Buildings in my Neighborhood:
Thursday, September 13, 2012
škola
I am currently teaching 16 different classes per week at my škola. Every five-weeks my classes will change I will teach 16 new classes, with new students because the school wants me to meet and interact will each of its 1,000 students. This means I will be doing a lot of icebreakers and memorizing a lot of names. This week alone I have learned and maybe forgotten at least 250 students names, plus the names of the other teachers, people in my soccer league, etc.
My first week of school was smooth and fun. The thought of creating different lesson plans for my classes and appeasing the 11 teachers I am working with is daunting. Some teachers have been very flexible and have given me free-range over their classes – which will allow me to do fun activities and recycle lesson plans from other classes. On the other hand, some teachers have specific ideas of lessons for their class and I feel like I am limited by their expectations. Some lessons are geared towards a large exam that every student takes in order to graduate from high school. The topics range from American culture and traditions to family and relationships to shopping etiquette.
For the next five weeks I am teaching 3rd and 4th year English. Recently, they have been studying the Czech educational system, so I have been teaching them about the American school system and having them compare it to the Czech system. This has been a very easy topic for me because I have been through the system. One of the stereotypes that the students have about American schools is that students wear uniforms everyday. The two biggest differences in the school systems are: (1) Americans begin preschool and day care at an earlier age. Czech women have three to four years of paid maternity leave, and are sometimes guaranteed a job at their place of employment when they return. This means that there are very few preschools or nurseries in the Czech Republic. (2) Many high schools here specialize in a specific field. For example there are high schools the focus on engineering, hotels and hospitality, medicine, music, etc. While magnet schools are becoming more popular in the US, students in the specialty schools in the Czech Republic are on a set career path. In the US, you can choose one subject and change many times before you decide what you want to major in and that is in college! This makes for an interesting topic teach.
Other subjects I have to make lessons about include environmental issues, world issues, American cities, interesting facts about the US, and British versus American English. The topic that seems to be the scariest for me is “problems of the world.” How can I fit all the problems of the world into one 45-minute lesson? Obviously the big issues are hunger, poverty, and war. How do I condense them? They are so important and there is so much to say about each one! I am planning to ask if I can split them into individual lessons.
Many students have asked me to go with them to the pub, to play sports, to the zoo, to the movies, etc. It is very hard for me to deny their invitations, especially because I am just getting to know them. However, there are so many students that I have decided that if they want to spend time with me or they just want to practice their English, they can sit with me during lunch on Thursdays in the cafeteria. I created and “English Lunch Table” sign and they are allowed to sit and eat with me during either of two lunch periods. Hopefully, this helps. In the meantime I will play basketball with students on Thursday and go climbing with them the next Thursday, help a student who wants to apply to American technical colleges and one who wants to improve their English, and I will go to the Zoo next Wednesday! Life is getting busy and picking up! After four-years of college with no class earlier than 9 AM, I forgot what it was like to wake up early for high school!
My first week of school was smooth and fun. The thought of creating different lesson plans for my classes and appeasing the 11 teachers I am working with is daunting. Some teachers have been very flexible and have given me free-range over their classes – which will allow me to do fun activities and recycle lesson plans from other classes. On the other hand, some teachers have specific ideas of lessons for their class and I feel like I am limited by their expectations. Some lessons are geared towards a large exam that every student takes in order to graduate from high school. The topics range from American culture and traditions to family and relationships to shopping etiquette.
For the next five weeks I am teaching 3rd and 4th year English. Recently, they have been studying the Czech educational system, so I have been teaching them about the American school system and having them compare it to the Czech system. This has been a very easy topic for me because I have been through the system. One of the stereotypes that the students have about American schools is that students wear uniforms everyday. The two biggest differences in the school systems are: (1) Americans begin preschool and day care at an earlier age. Czech women have three to four years of paid maternity leave, and are sometimes guaranteed a job at their place of employment when they return. This means that there are very few preschools or nurseries in the Czech Republic. (2) Many high schools here specialize in a specific field. For example there are high schools the focus on engineering, hotels and hospitality, medicine, music, etc. While magnet schools are becoming more popular in the US, students in the specialty schools in the Czech Republic are on a set career path. In the US, you can choose one subject and change many times before you decide what you want to major in and that is in college! This makes for an interesting topic teach.
Other subjects I have to make lessons about include environmental issues, world issues, American cities, interesting facts about the US, and British versus American English. The topic that seems to be the scariest for me is “problems of the world.” How can I fit all the problems of the world into one 45-minute lesson? Obviously the big issues are hunger, poverty, and war. How do I condense them? They are so important and there is so much to say about each one! I am planning to ask if I can split them into individual lessons.
Many students have asked me to go with them to the pub, to play sports, to the zoo, to the movies, etc. It is very hard for me to deny their invitations, especially because I am just getting to know them. However, there are so many students that I have decided that if they want to spend time with me or they just want to practice their English, they can sit with me during lunch on Thursdays in the cafeteria. I created and “English Lunch Table” sign and they are allowed to sit and eat with me during either of two lunch periods. Hopefully, this helps. In the meantime I will play basketball with students on Thursday and go climbing with them the next Thursday, help a student who wants to apply to American technical colleges and one who wants to improve their English, and I will go to the Zoo next Wednesday! Life is getting busy and picking up! After four-years of college with no class earlier than 9 AM, I forgot what it was like to wake up early for high school!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Plisner Fest
As my Aunt pointed out in a blog comment, Czech people drink more alcohol per capita than any other country! Alcohol is ingrained in Czech culture. In restaurants it is more expensive to buy water than beer. I have asked people why this is and the two common responses are: (1) the cost of beer is less than water for Czech pride. (2) why would you want water in a restaurant? While there are many local breweries, Plzen is most known for Pilsner Urquell and Gambrinus brands of beer. In fact, they have tours of the factories and museums for Pilsner beer. It is not just a brand, but also a type of pale lager. Therefore, it makes total sense that in Plzen there would be a celebration of their invention.
Pilsner Fest is a two-day music and beer festival that happens every year! I arrived in Plzen just in time to attend! Like many festivals in the US, there are rows of tents selling beer and snacks. They had two main music stages, and early in the afternoon there were competitions on the stages to see who could hold two liters of beer straight out in front of them the longest without spilling. At 7:30 the Czech Olympians (only the ones who received medals) and the entire crowd cheered! There were thousands of people, most of whom were already a little tipsy, cheering each other. In the Czech Republic, it is impolite to take a sip of your beer before you have cheered everyone. There is also a rule that you must make eye contact with the person you are cheering – this meant that I had to stare into the eyes of random strangers!
I went to the festival with a teacher who wanted to meet up with some of her students. All the students I met were male and they were 18 years old, which is the legal drinking age here. We mostly sat under a tent and talked with them. There was an automatic bull machine that was in the shape of a can of beer rather than a bull that the teacher wanted to try. So we all tried riding the beer can. I was getting tired, hungry, and cold, but wanted to wait for the teacher before heading home. So I went and got a snack. Of course, this snack was the highlight of the night! I may be a vegetarian, but I love food! I bought a cinnamon, sugar, and almond covered trdelink, which is a doughy pastry. It tasted almost like an elephant ear (the kind at carnivals and fairs – not the animal). It was warm and delicious!
I was planning to leave at 11PM, so I could make the last tram to my apartment, but the teacher wanted to stay. Around 12AM I asked if she was ready to leave, but she wanted to stay longer with her students because she hadn’t seen them all summer. At this point I felt uncomfortable because in the US teachers never stay out late with young students, and definitely not in a place with alcohol. She asked me if I could get home by myself and I hesitantly said yes. The night bus to my apartment left at 1:15 AM, so I waited a little while before leaving her, the students, and the festival. Two students wanted to leave at that time and I am thankful they did because they walked with me to the bus station, which was different from the tram station!
Unlike when I began traveling (my junior year abroad in college), I was not upset or in shock by these types of events and got culture shock, I was not upset or in shock by these events. I understand that there are different customs and norms. My professor in college who took my senior seminar class out to a bar for our last class was deemed cool, and all the students were older than 21. In a sense, this event was no different. It only felt strange to me because our drinking age is older than that in the Czech Republic and we have different customs.
Na zdravi! (Cheers!)
Pilsner Fest is a two-day music and beer festival that happens every year! I arrived in Plzen just in time to attend! Like many festivals in the US, there are rows of tents selling beer and snacks. They had two main music stages, and early in the afternoon there were competitions on the stages to see who could hold two liters of beer straight out in front of them the longest without spilling. At 7:30 the Czech Olympians (only the ones who received medals) and the entire crowd cheered! There were thousands of people, most of whom were already a little tipsy, cheering each other. In the Czech Republic, it is impolite to take a sip of your beer before you have cheered everyone. There is also a rule that you must make eye contact with the person you are cheering – this meant that I had to stare into the eyes of random strangers!
I went to the festival with a teacher who wanted to meet up with some of her students. All the students I met were male and they were 18 years old, which is the legal drinking age here. We mostly sat under a tent and talked with them. There was an automatic bull machine that was in the shape of a can of beer rather than a bull that the teacher wanted to try. So we all tried riding the beer can. I was getting tired, hungry, and cold, but wanted to wait for the teacher before heading home. So I went and got a snack. Of course, this snack was the highlight of the night! I may be a vegetarian, but I love food! I bought a cinnamon, sugar, and almond covered trdelink, which is a doughy pastry. It tasted almost like an elephant ear (the kind at carnivals and fairs – not the animal). It was warm and delicious!
I was planning to leave at 11PM, so I could make the last tram to my apartment, but the teacher wanted to stay. Around 12AM I asked if she was ready to leave, but she wanted to stay longer with her students because she hadn’t seen them all summer. At this point I felt uncomfortable because in the US teachers never stay out late with young students, and definitely not in a place with alcohol. She asked me if I could get home by myself and I hesitantly said yes. The night bus to my apartment left at 1:15 AM, so I waited a little while before leaving her, the students, and the festival. Two students wanted to leave at that time and I am thankful they did because they walked with me to the bus station, which was different from the tram station!
Unlike when I began traveling (my junior year abroad in college), I was not upset or in shock by these types of events and got culture shock, I was not upset or in shock by these events. I understand that there are different customs and norms. My professor in college who took my senior seminar class out to a bar for our last class was deemed cool, and all the students were older than 21. In a sense, this event was no different. It only felt strange to me because our drinking age is older than that in the Czech Republic and we have different customs.
Na zdravi! (Cheers!)
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Door
My first night in my apartment I unpacked all my belongings and got settled. I have a washing machine, but no dryer. I went to hang my clean clothes on the clotheslines on my balcony and when I tried to close the door I couldn't. So I called a teacher. She told me to try to slam the door and manipulate it, but nothing worked. It was pouring outside and she wanted to come over. I insisted that she wait until the morning and explained that I would close the door by putting my chair in front of it. So the next morning, the teacher came over around 7:30 AM to look at my broken door. She declared that it was in fact broken and called one of our school’s many handymen to come over. He was also unsuccessful, so the teacher went and knocked on my neighbor’s door. My neighbor said that they would come over at 3PM to fix it. We closed the door as best we could and we went to school.
Now this is not an ordinary door! It is a big, glass door. If you turn the handle 90 degrees from its locked position it becomes a regular door, but if you turn in 180 degrees from its locked position it becomes a window. I have a smaller window that has the same technology. The door was broken because the handle would not move above 90 degrees or back down in its locked position. It also just wouldn’t close!
When I got home from running errands my neighbor and his wife and child came over. His wife knows a little English, but her baby was crying, so she had to leave. My neighbor, Vladimir, opened his toolbox and started working right away! I interrupted to introduce myself and ask his name. He took apart the door handle and played around with the different mechanisms on the door and then it was magically fixed! He wrote down his phone number and apartment number and called the same teacher. Then he passed the phone to me and the teacher translated for him that if I needed anything I could go and ask him and that he was going to try to call the internet company for me. I was so happy and felt so lucky to have such nice neighbors! He had been so generous to fix my door for nothing. She also explained that Vladimir’s wife was on maternity leave and would be around in case of emergency. I am hoping to run into her in the hallway and make a friend, since she speaks some English. I really want to meet someone who I could tutor in English in exchange for Czech lessons. Maybe it will be she.
Door as a door:
Door as a window:
Now this is not an ordinary door! It is a big, glass door. If you turn the handle 90 degrees from its locked position it becomes a regular door, but if you turn in 180 degrees from its locked position it becomes a window. I have a smaller window that has the same technology. The door was broken because the handle would not move above 90 degrees or back down in its locked position. It also just wouldn’t close!
When I got home from running errands my neighbor and his wife and child came over. His wife knows a little English, but her baby was crying, so she had to leave. My neighbor, Vladimir, opened his toolbox and started working right away! I interrupted to introduce myself and ask his name. He took apart the door handle and played around with the different mechanisms on the door and then it was magically fixed! He wrote down his phone number and apartment number and called the same teacher. Then he passed the phone to me and the teacher translated for him that if I needed anything I could go and ask him and that he was going to try to call the internet company for me. I was so happy and felt so lucky to have such nice neighbors! He had been so generous to fix my door for nothing. She also explained that Vladimir’s wife was on maternity leave and would be around in case of emergency. I am hoping to run into her in the hallway and make a friend, since she speaks some English. I really want to meet someone who I could tutor in English in exchange for Czech lessons. Maybe it will be she.
Door as a door:
Door as a window:
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Brno → Plzen
Orientation continued with learning how to teach English grammar rules and play educational games. As native English speakers we don’t think about these rules and why we say sentences certain ways. This was probably the hardest exercise for the group and me because we had to define phrasal verbs, adverbials, etc. It has been years since any of us have actually reviewed grammatical structures. The game section of the orientation was fun, and our competitive sides came out. Games included filling in the correct conjunction in a sentence, matching photos of food items with their names, and filling in an alphabet with different food items beginning with letters A through Z.
The last night in Brno we met again up with students from Mastyk University who took us to a castle, which was also a lookout point (see photos). Here we could see the cathedral we had climbed the day before. After the castle we went to a microbrewery and had dinner, and then sat in a park and played on the jungle gyms. It was a little funny to be 22-years-old and see-saw, flip on bars, and swing. At one point I asked the University students to teach me some Czech and of course they only wanted to teach me swear words. So now my Czech vocabulary consists of hello, thank you, please, excuse me, cheers, how are you, what’s your name, and my name is, and five phrases unsuitable for younger audiences.
On Thursday the 30th, representatives from our schools came to Brno for an orientation and lunch, and then they took us back to our respective towns. It was a three-hour drive from Brno to Plzen. I was originally told it was a five-hour drive, so I was happy! It was very hard for me to stay awake during the drive though. I sat in the back seat, the school’s handyman drove, and my teacher-mentor sat in the passenger seat. Each Fulbrighter has a mentor who is suppose to help them get settled and introduce them to the school. My mentor is Lenka and she speaks English really well. She is one of 11 English teachers at my school. I will share an office with her and a teacher named Hana. Next door there are nine more English teachers and one French teacher. Lenka and the handyman drove me to my small studio apartment and helped me get my bags upstairs. They showed me how to turn on and off the water, electricity, and heater, as well as how to use appliances that have Czech instructions (I will explain more about my apartment later). Then Lenka and I went to the super-grocery store a block from my apartment where she helped me food shop and buy things I would need. There were so many things I wanted to buy, but felt like I was wasting her time. There were also some cultural differences. I was looking to buy certain things and she did not understand why. I felt especially awkward in the shampoo isle. It takes me a long time in the US to buy shampoo because there are a thousand options that all do slightly different things. It is even more difficult to choose the correct shampoo when all the bottles are in Czech! I decided to buy only a few necessity items and to go back to the store on my own. Plus, I had enough travel soap to last me a while!
On Friday August 31st, Lenka and I met to go to the school, which is two trams and 40 minutes away. Luckily, the tram station is a block from my apartment! At school I met some of the other English teachers, got school supplies and classroom keys, connected my computer to their internet system, and ate lunch. Then Lenka took me to open a bank account, talk to an internet provider (my apartment does not currently have internet), get a city map, and buy spices at a special store. After running around all day we were pretty tired and needed a break. I went home and made dinner, and had my neighbor repair my broken balcony door (I will save the door-story for another blogpost). Later, I met Lenka again and we went to the Pilsner Festival, something I will also keep you in suspense about!
The last night in Brno we met again up with students from Mastyk University who took us to a castle, which was also a lookout point (see photos). Here we could see the cathedral we had climbed the day before. After the castle we went to a microbrewery and had dinner, and then sat in a park and played on the jungle gyms. It was a little funny to be 22-years-old and see-saw, flip on bars, and swing. At one point I asked the University students to teach me some Czech and of course they only wanted to teach me swear words. So now my Czech vocabulary consists of hello, thank you, please, excuse me, cheers, how are you, what’s your name, and my name is, and five phrases unsuitable for younger audiences.
On Thursday the 30th, representatives from our schools came to Brno for an orientation and lunch, and then they took us back to our respective towns. It was a three-hour drive from Brno to Plzen. I was originally told it was a five-hour drive, so I was happy! It was very hard for me to stay awake during the drive though. I sat in the back seat, the school’s handyman drove, and my teacher-mentor sat in the passenger seat. Each Fulbrighter has a mentor who is suppose to help them get settled and introduce them to the school. My mentor is Lenka and she speaks English really well. She is one of 11 English teachers at my school. I will share an office with her and a teacher named Hana. Next door there are nine more English teachers and one French teacher. Lenka and the handyman drove me to my small studio apartment and helped me get my bags upstairs. They showed me how to turn on and off the water, electricity, and heater, as well as how to use appliances that have Czech instructions (I will explain more about my apartment later). Then Lenka and I went to the super-grocery store a block from my apartment where she helped me food shop and buy things I would need. There were so many things I wanted to buy, but felt like I was wasting her time. There were also some cultural differences. I was looking to buy certain things and she did not understand why. I felt especially awkward in the shampoo isle. It takes me a long time in the US to buy shampoo because there are a thousand options that all do slightly different things. It is even more difficult to choose the correct shampoo when all the bottles are in Czech! I decided to buy only a few necessity items and to go back to the store on my own. Plus, I had enough travel soap to last me a while!
On Friday August 31st, Lenka and I met to go to the school, which is two trams and 40 minutes away. Luckily, the tram station is a block from my apartment! At school I met some of the other English teachers, got school supplies and classroom keys, connected my computer to their internet system, and ate lunch. Then Lenka took me to open a bank account, talk to an internet provider (my apartment does not currently have internet), get a city map, and buy spices at a special store. After running around all day we were pretty tired and needed a break. I went home and made dinner, and had my neighbor repair my broken balcony door (I will save the door-story for another blogpost). Later, I met Lenka again and we went to the Pilsner Festival, something I will also keep you in suspense about!
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