Hello Again

Finally getting around to updating my blog. I had a GREAT summer in Colorado, and I've been back in Prague for almost 2 months. It's nice to be back here too. Things are a lot busier this year at the school. I'm teaching 1st and 3rd grade English, English club twice a week (kids from 1-4 grade come to that), and preschool English once a week- but for 2 hours- which is a long time to keep a preschooler entertained, especially in a different language! The regular English classes (1st & 3rd graders) are different this year, because our program was approved by the Ministry of Education. So we are more integrated with the school rather than just being an after school program. And I am in charge of teaching and giving grades for music and art- we have to fulfill the Czech requirements, but in English. Fine by me, since music and art are two of my favorite things. So each week the kids have 1 hour of music, 1 hour of art and 2 hours of English from the textbook. My 1st graders are really advanced- some of them went to all English preschools so they're basically fluent. And I have one girl who has one parent who is American. Every time I ask the students if they understand something, this girl raises her hand and says, "I understand because I'm American. I was born in New York." Adorable. My 3rd graders are great too- I taught most of them last year, so it's nice to get to see them again. They teach me Czech during our breaks in class. I learn a lot from them. I have one 3rd grade boy who watches a lot of TV/movies in English- so he knows a lot of phrases (and cuss words...) that I don't expect him to know. If I have the kids act out a story in class, he always adds in some of his own lines. If the line is, "Who are you?" he'll say, "Who the hell are you?!" Never a dull moment.
I'm also teaching the adults with mental handicaps again- 2 classes a week. I enjoy it more than I ever thought I would. It's challenging, for sure, but they try so hard and they're so excited to be there. I've been playing a lot of music for them this year- Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, etc. They don't understand everything, but they try to sing along anyway.
I'm also helping out a little with Young Life again, playing some guitar. And volunteering at one of the high schools that doesn't have very many native English speaking teachers.

I think that's about it for now. I've taken a few trips since I've been back, and will post pictures soon. I was Berlin 2 weeks ago, and they were preparing to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the wall coming down on November 9th. Here are a few videos about it:
Video #1
Video #2

And this Tuesday, the 17th, is the 20-year anniversary of the end of Communism in the Czech Republic. Click here to read more about that. There was also a concert by Lou Reed, Joan Baez, Suzanne Vega, etc. on Saturday night to celebrate 20 years since the Velvet Revolution. I would have loved to go, but it was by invitation only. Click here for a video clip. And here's one more (you'll recognize this song).

Pretty exciting!

Headed back to the states...

...and I'm way behind on my blog again! I leave for Colorado tomorrow. Time flies. I'm excited to see everyone back home. For those of you who don't know, I've decided to teach in Prague another year, so I will be back here in the fall.

Most of you know that besides teaching English at the elementary school, I also teach English to adults with mental handicaps once a week. You can see a video HERE. Just click on the picture of us sitting around the table, and it should load.

Okay, back to packing. See you soon!!

Springtime in Prague

Holland!!

I finally made it to Holland to see Stijn and his family! My mom and I were supposed to fly there for Christmas but I was sick. So I went for Easter instead. We had a great time. And it was fun for me to reminisce about my first time in Europe in 2005- when my brother and I went to Holland to visit Stijn. That was the trip that started it all for me- I remember thinking I could really spend a few years in Europe...and now here I am! I never thought it would actually happen. Here are some pictures:

Easter in Prague

I actually didn't spend Easter in Prague- I had a 5 day weekend so I went to Holland (see next post). But here are some pictures of the Easter Markets in Prague. Also, it is a tradition in the Czech Republic for guys to hit girls with sticks on Easter (I'm not sure how this came to be, but...) and then the girls are supposed to give them eggs, candy, etc. Doesn't quite seem fair to me...

Sorry for the Silence!

I have been really terrible at updating my blog lately. Here is a highlight from last month:

On April 5th, I saw Obama speak at Prague Castle. Now, most of you know that I'm not very interested in politics (nor am I very knowledgeable on the subject), but I have to say it was pretty cool. I have never seen a president speak, much less in another country! The speech started at 10 a.m., but people were there much earlier to try to get a good view. I, on the other hand, rolled out of bed around 8:30 and slowly made my way to the castle. When I got there, one of the volunteers who was working at the entrance gave me his last "special invitation" which allowed me to go to the front of the line and stand in the section closest to the podium (I still wasn't very close, though). I don't think this is the way it was supposed to happen, because I have friends who got to the castle at 5 a.m. and they didn't get anything. They ended up in the back section. So it really wasn't fair. There were around 20,000 people there I think. You can read the text of Obama's speech here, and below is a video I took.

Barcelona

After 3 amazing days in Rome, Emily and I flew to Barcelona for the remainder of our spring break. There are sometimes really cheap flights within Europe, which is what made all of this possible. One of the flights we got cost nothing; we only had to pay the tax (I think it was around 20 Euros).

Rome was definitely my favorite, but there were some nice things about Barcelona too, like the beach! We rented bicycles and rode along the beach one day- that was probably my favorite part. And the last day we were there it was warm enough for me to wear my flip-flops!

More pictures can be found HERE.






This is one of the buildings by architect Antoni Gaudi.


There was a lot of live music by the beach. Here's a clip from a band called Made In Barcelona:

ROME!!!

So, I got home from Austria late Sunday night, and had just enough time to unpack, repack, sleep a little, return my snowboarding boots, and hop on a plane to meet my friend Emily in Rome on Monday. I could spend hours talking about Rome. I loved it so much!! It was beautiful- everywhere you looked. It was so green! The food was delicious!! Lasagna, spaghetti, pizza... And the wine was delicious too. We went to a lot of the main tourist attractions: the Vatican, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon...and we spent the rest of the time just wandering- until we found a nice shop or a good place to eat or, of course, some gelato :) I loved every minute. Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures that I took- and you can see more HERE.

The Alps

At the end of February I was able to go the Austrian Alps with Young Life- the organization that I volunteer with. What an awesome time! The snow was great, the weather was great, I got to snowboard for 5 days, need I say more??

I really didn't know how good the conditions would be- being from Colorado, I have high expectations :) - but I should have known the Alps would be GREAT. And I've been told that they're even better in Italy and France.

There were a couple of "perks" that I have not seen at the resorts in Colorado: First, the main chair lift had a big plastic (or maybe glass) cover that came down to keep you warm. Very nice! Second, I never had to take my pass out of my pocket to have someone scan it- I just went right up to the turnstile and it would detect it and let me through (kind of like the Express Toll).

While on the trip I tried snow-shoeing for the first time. It was cool, but much more work than snowboarding. I must admit that at one point I said, "Where's the chair lift?" I also learned an important lesson: When asked whether you want to go in the 1st snow-shoeing group or the 2nd, always choose the 2nd. Let the 1st group make the path!! ;)

Here are some pictures- and you can see more by clicking HERE.

More Prague Pics

I'm sleeping in a real bed now!!

That's right, my days on the couch are over. For those of you who don't know, I've been sleeping on a couch since I got here in September. Now, don't start feeling sorry for me, because it unfolds into a bed, and was perfectly fine to sleep on, really. But let me tell you how this all came to be in the first place. When I moved here in September, I had no idea where I would live. When I got to Prague, my boss picked me up from the airport, and said that I would be staying with a girl named Kara (from California) for a few days until we figured something else out. He explained that there were actually two Karas, but one was in the States for a few weeks. Come to find out, the Kara that was back in the States actually went to CSU also, but we didn't know eachother. What are the odds that I would end up on her couch in Prague?? Anyway, what started out as me staying with them for just a few days turned into me never leaving. And I'm so glad, because we've had a lot of fun. Last Sunday, Kara from California went back to the States. She'll be there for 6 months or so, and then she'll probably be back here. So now I have a bed, but honestly I'd rather Kara was still here and I was still sleeping on the couch. I miss her!

Budapest!

In January my friend/roommate and I took a trip to Budapest, Hungary. The bus ride was about 7 hours (nothing compared to Paris), and less than $40 round trip. We stayed in a hostel for 2 nights- about $30 per person. And I spent less than $30 while I was there, which means I went to Hungary and back for less than 100 bucks. It doesn't get much better than that! I wish I could host a television show where I would just travel around and see how little I could spend. That would be a fun job! I must confess, however, that I probably would have spent more in Hungary had I realized that 10,000 Forint was only like $24...

Anyway, we had a great time. We got there late Friday night and left pretty early on Sunday, so we really only had one day there, but we packed in as much as we could. We spent Saturday outside just exploring the city and taking lots of pictures. Budapest is known for it's thermal baths, so at the end of the day we went to the Gellert Baths for a few hours, which was awesome. I didn't get any pictures from inside, but you can see some at this website: http://www.gellertbath.com/

Mom's visit to the Czech Republic

Hello Everyone- I just wanted to share some pictures from when my mom came to visit, and also of our day trip to Česky Krumlov (about 3 hours from Prague by bus). We had a great time while she was here- after I was done being sick, of course. We did a lot in Prague: went to the Christmas markets, the castle, Charles Bridge, etc. We tried to go to the Harley Davidson, but it was closed. We did a lot of shopping, which she loves. Me? Not so much. But we had a good time :)

Here are some pictures in Prague:





And here are some from Cesky Krumlov. I really loved this town, and can't wait to go back when it's warmer.