Differences...

I thought I should start sharing with all of you some of the differences between the USA and the Czech Republic. I'll start with food and school.

Food (and other related items)

• Water is not free at restaurants. Furthermore, BEER is cheaper than water.
• There is so much yogurt!! In one of the bigger grocery stores, there are at least 2 aisles devoted to different flavors/brands of yogurt. I dare say that I may not be able to try them all in the 9 months that I am here :)
• In most of the stores, there is only one kind of milk- no 1%, 2%, skim...just milk. It comes in something that looks like a water bottle, but a little bit bigger.
• There are cans of beer in the vending machines.
• The peanut butter is not nearly as good. And it comes in a small jar, and it's expensive. Oh, how I crave a big jar of JIF.
• The chocolate is way better. After all, I am in Europe.
• The bread and pastries are great. The best thing is when you get to the store right when they bring out the fresh bread, rolls, etc. that are still warm. And most of you reading this probably already know that bread is my weakness.
  
• The cashiers at the grocery store sit down. You have to sack your own groceries, and sometimes you have to buy the bags.
• At most restaurants, the napkins and silverware are in a glass on the tables.

School

There are a lot of differences in the school system, which makes it quite interesting for me to try to teach, especially when I have no experience anyway...

• Children take their shoes off while in school. Then have special sandals or little slippers they can put on. A lot of the teachers do it too.
  
• Writing is very important. Children learn cursive before anything else. They have to write with a fountain pen, and their letters have to be perfect. So when I write words on the board in print, they sometimes have no idea what they are. They also don't cross their t's. And while they have to use fountain pens, they still have these big pencil cases with colored pencils, markers, rulers, scissors, etc., So when I tell them I don't care what kind of utensil they use, they go crazy! They make each letter a different color.
• At the school where I teach, children have school only in the morning (for 4 hours, I think), but they don't really have recess. They do have breaks in their classrooms, and there are games and toys they can play with. But that means that just because they're in a classroom doesn't mean that it's time for class, which makes it difficult for me. In the afternoons children go to more "elective" classes, like English, art, sports, or they can go to the "After School Building."
• And here's the one I'm still trying to wrap my brain around: the endings of people's names change (Czech words in general change, depending on how they're used). For example, I have a student named Anna, but to call on her in Czech, I would say Anicka (ah neech kah). I just found this out a few weeks ago at a seminar, and now I understand why my students sometimes have no reaction when I call on them.