Beautiful, Uphill City

I am beginning to think that absolutely everything in Prague is uphill. A la living in a city that sits in the bottom of a basin. While this can cause your feet to spontaneously hate you, it also creates the most beautiful views I have ever seen. The gorgeous orange roof tops, random castle turrets and towers straining to the sky, church spires climbing above the houses, and dots of green trees everywhere. For a city, there are a great many parks and green spaces where there are always people, especially at lunch time and right after work.

The negatives:
I have blisters (oops no band aids on and new flats)
My feet hurt (1 1/2 hr walk home)
It's hotter than hell (still only 80 but the humidity is climbing)
My apartment tried to kill me last night (huzzah blown fuses!)

The positives:
It's stunningly gorgeous
Even when the streets don't make sense and have 5,000 letters they end up making sense and are super clearly labeled
I manage to make list directions and avoid looking like an idiot who has a giant map
I can at least say Dorby Den and take a stab at pronouncing the road if I get more lost
The landlady's son fixed the power, though we have one broken outle t
It's really pretty

See?!

The Municipal Building, an opera house

So, I am here for a class...so what am I doing in that? After two full days I can concur that it's intensive and that I will be severely hooked on coffee thanks to our two coffee breaks and the only instant coffee I have ever liked, thank you Czech coffee company (I am clearly buying this before I leave). We have had two Czech lessons that we then used to talk about techniques in teaching language. Today was lesson planning and I saw a lot of similarities to SED [Say it with me: Students will be able to...] and have spent most of the past two days going that's how I learnt Spanish!! Knowing that Jeremy knows what he's talking about and is stressing backwards design makes me happy. It's fun to see the differences in teaching new language! I'm enjoying it a lot.

It is just me, a Californian girl, Adrian, and a Finnish woman, Sari, in this session. Thankfully they're both very pleasant and we seem to be getting on well. We have coffee and eat our lunch with the to die for view on my Tumblr from Sunday in Letna park. While we are all super tired after class, we make it through! haha.

I am looking forward to observing tomorrow and everything else that comes next! Now off to attempt to cook again without the kitchen trying to set me on fire...

Comment or ask questions/tell me what you want to know or have me write about. :)

As they say in Praha, nashledanou (good-bye)!

Fallon

New Home Sweet Home

I arrived in Prague this morning at 10:55 am local time, meaning it was 4:55 am my time. All my flights were easy and smooth with just enough time for the connection to grab an Irn Bru and Water. At the airport I was picked up by a driver the apartment/TEFL uses. He didn't say a great deal, which was unfortunate as hearing about the city would have been nice. When I realized he was more like a reliable hired taxi, it made more sense.

After a few bumps, I was brought by the landlady up to the apartment I'm staying in with a girl who is here for her university exams. Another TEFL girl will be arriving in my building tomorrow. It was about 5 flights of stairs (100 steps) up to the apartment. This was less than ideal with a 23 kg suitcase. It was also less than ideal with bags of groceries. At least it will be healthy.

Take a look at the beautiful view from my window! I couldn't have asked for lovelier weather; I am glad the forecasted rain held off.

What did I do today? To be honest, not a great deal as I am very tired. I do not sleep on planes. I managed about 45 minutes this trip in total.

I met the landlady, met my departing flat mate, unpacked, napped, showered, and then went on an adventure. The adventure to which I refer is the wandering about trying to find the Tesco's so I could get everything I needed. There is a mini-market next door, there are mini-markets EVERYWHERE around me, but I thought the grocery store was best for beginning foods. It took me a while with the vague directions, but it's a lovely day out - 60 degrees and sunny - so I didn't mind. The buildings are old, and even in less than perfect shape, are lovely to look at. There's a park down the street I'll have to walk through later and several cafes and restaurants. There are also a million signs for Pilsner Urquell, which is unsurprising as the Czechs invented it. The area the apartment is in is very quiet and calm, apparently pretty residential. It is very close to both the tram and metro though, and it only takes 15 minutes to get downtown and about 30 to the school.

Overall it seems nice and the pace of the city seems relaxed. I'm glad to be here though, as I still know no one, it is a touch lonely. It is like the few days before any school semester; however, when you are there but classes haven't begun yet. I know I will meet a least one girl tomorrow and everyone else Monday. So for now, I will munch on my bread, apple, and yogurt then relax and get an early night. I chose to come this early so I could sleep, for once, haha.

Ciao,
Fallon

One Week

When I realized I leave in one week for Prague, I can barely describe how exactly I felt. I was excited and felt butterflies exploding in my stomach, but I also felt a brick pulling me down and making me feel ill. I am both thrilled and terrified to step onto and then out of that plane.

Perhaps many of my fears stem from this image below:

In seriousness, that's not true; however, I am intimidated by the massive amount of unpacking and packing I have left to do.

What I find most amusing about this situation is that I have spent a large part of my life moving or travelling. I went abroad last summer for four weeks as well, but to see people I knew and still felt this rollercoaster of emotions. The pre-departure jitters are probably my least favorite part of the whole ordeal. It will be amazing; I will meet great people; I will see a beautiful city. I know these things and yet...here I am in the middle of a full blown existential crisis.

Who am I? What do I want to be? Do I want to teach? Will I be any good? Where do I want to go? Do I want to live abroad? And on and on and on. It is silly to write about, but it also true and I want this to be an honest blog.

I will leave in one week on a plane to Prague, Czech Republic and I will hopefully come home certified in TEFL [Teaching English as a Foreign Language]. I want to take on the world and wish to have the skills to do it, so screw the jitters and let's hit the road, Jack and not look back!

Ciao,
Fallon

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