Again with the hating of the Mondays
You know, Czech Mondays are like way different from Canadian Mondays. I never met a Canadian Monday that I didn't like, but here... well, I'd rather meet the Paperbag Princess' Dragon than another Monday!
Ok, Ok, it wasn't all bad. It was just bad until about 4. And it didn't start badly. It only got bad at about 1:30. So I guess it wasn't really Monday... it was just 2 1/2 hrs of Monday that really sucked. And now you're all curious, so I'll tell you what happened.
Today I met one of my new classes. I knew that it was a ways away from the metro station, so I gave myself plenty of time to get there. My contact at Skrivanek said that I would be able to see the company from the bus stop, so I wasn't too worried about finding the place.
So. I get on the bus, I'm going the right way, I'm feeling good. The bus ride is longer than I anticipated, but I'm still grooving. We seem to be heading right out of Prague, but all is good. I hop off at my stop, and ...
No Autosalon. Not a one in sight. As a matter of fact, all the signs say that I'm in Prague 6, but the address of the company is in Prague 5. I'm not too worried about this, given that my side of the street on Zitna is Prague 2, but the other side is Prague 1, but is still slightly disconcerting. I'm supposed to be able to see this place, and I can't, and everything that I can see is in Prague 6 and not Prague 5. So I'm panicking slightly, but I gamely head off up the hill to find someone who can tell me where to go.
I meet a man, and he says (very, very brokenly) that I need to go up another hill and turn right. Off I go. Halfway up the hill, I stop someone else and doublecheck (always, always do this. Pragueians do NOT know their own city. Quintuple check all directions). This woman tells me that I have to take another bus to get to where I'm going. I walk away, and start to cry. Then I meet a bus driver, who walks me in the direction that I was going when the first guy gave me directions. I cease crying, and feel better. Then he stops, gets out his phone, makes a lengthy phonecall in Czech, and proceeds to mime to me that I need to go all the way back from the way I came to where I talked with the first guy. I head off in that direction, and start crying again.
It is now the time that I am supposed to start class. I gave myself a solid 20 minutes to get from the bus stop to the "company that you can see from the bus stop" and instead I'm lost and crying. I contemplate getting on the next bus and flying back to Canada. This seems irresponsible. I look up the company's contact number to tell them I will be late, and discover I have no contact number. I phone Skrivanek. The first number won't ring through... instead I get a recorded message telling me that the "number you have dialled is either being cheeky, or you didn't get it right." Great. I try another number. Success! Someone answers. They proceed to tell me that I'm a total idiot for not being able to find this place, and then patronizingly tell me that they'll call the company for me and tell them I'll be late.
I go back to the original bus stop. No autosalon. I go down the street. No autosalon. I go up the street. My phone rings. The woman tells me that I should go down the street and turn right. I go up the street (knowing that there is NOTHING down the street) and turn right. I am now standing EXACTLY where I was standing when the FIRST man gave me directions. I turn around, look down the street in the opposite direction from where he sent me... and THERE'S THE FREAKING COMPANY. I didn't whether to cry with joy or frustration, so I decided that I'd probably cried enough, and quit that altogether.
I would like to note here that there IS NO POSSIBLE WAY TO SEE THE COMPANY FROM THE BUS STOP. I had to go around a bend, up a hill, and across the street to be able to see it!!
I wound up being 20 minutes late, but I pulled myself together. I was supposed to have 2 students, but only one was there today, so a lot of my plans for the class either didn't work, or didn't take enough time, which was super frustrating. However, I survived. I know that I NEVER have to have this particular day again, which is comforting. And I know that I'll be early for the next class, and it will go better.
What fixed my day was my evening class. They're the same group that I had last Monday, and they're great. There were 5 tonight (as opposed to 3 last week), and they all get along well, and seem very eager to learn. We had a good night, talking about different pictures that we had brought from home, and we played truth or lies, which is always fun. You make 3 statements about yourself, one which is a lie, and the other two are true. Your classmates then try to guess which one is the fake one. It went over really well. We also chose a textbook, so next week I can start teaching following a guideline, which makes me happy.
Well, this is a really long post, so I'll end here. Send me all your love!
Love you,
Elizabeth
Ok, Ok, it wasn't all bad. It was just bad until about 4. And it didn't start badly. It only got bad at about 1:30. So I guess it wasn't really Monday... it was just 2 1/2 hrs of Monday that really sucked. And now you're all curious, so I'll tell you what happened.
Today I met one of my new classes. I knew that it was a ways away from the metro station, so I gave myself plenty of time to get there. My contact at Skrivanek said that I would be able to see the company from the bus stop, so I wasn't too worried about finding the place.
So. I get on the bus, I'm going the right way, I'm feeling good. The bus ride is longer than I anticipated, but I'm still grooving. We seem to be heading right out of Prague, but all is good. I hop off at my stop, and ...
No Autosalon. Not a one in sight. As a matter of fact, all the signs say that I'm in Prague 6, but the address of the company is in Prague 5. I'm not too worried about this, given that my side of the street on Zitna is Prague 2, but the other side is Prague 1, but is still slightly disconcerting. I'm supposed to be able to see this place, and I can't, and everything that I can see is in Prague 6 and not Prague 5. So I'm panicking slightly, but I gamely head off up the hill to find someone who can tell me where to go.
I meet a man, and he says (very, very brokenly) that I need to go up another hill and turn right. Off I go. Halfway up the hill, I stop someone else and doublecheck (always, always do this. Pragueians do NOT know their own city. Quintuple check all directions). This woman tells me that I have to take another bus to get to where I'm going. I walk away, and start to cry. Then I meet a bus driver, who walks me in the direction that I was going when the first guy gave me directions. I cease crying, and feel better. Then he stops, gets out his phone, makes a lengthy phonecall in Czech, and proceeds to mime to me that I need to go all the way back from the way I came to where I talked with the first guy. I head off in that direction, and start crying again.
It is now the time that I am supposed to start class. I gave myself a solid 20 minutes to get from the bus stop to the "company that you can see from the bus stop" and instead I'm lost and crying. I contemplate getting on the next bus and flying back to Canada. This seems irresponsible. I look up the company's contact number to tell them I will be late, and discover I have no contact number. I phone Skrivanek. The first number won't ring through... instead I get a recorded message telling me that the "number you have dialled is either being cheeky, or you didn't get it right." Great. I try another number. Success! Someone answers. They proceed to tell me that I'm a total idiot for not being able to find this place, and then patronizingly tell me that they'll call the company for me and tell them I'll be late.
I go back to the original bus stop. No autosalon. I go down the street. No autosalon. I go up the street. My phone rings. The woman tells me that I should go down the street and turn right. I go up the street (knowing that there is NOTHING down the street) and turn right. I am now standing EXACTLY where I was standing when the FIRST man gave me directions. I turn around, look down the street in the opposite direction from where he sent me... and THERE'S THE FREAKING COMPANY. I didn't whether to cry with joy or frustration, so I decided that I'd probably cried enough, and quit that altogether.
I would like to note here that there IS NO POSSIBLE WAY TO SEE THE COMPANY FROM THE BUS STOP. I had to go around a bend, up a hill, and across the street to be able to see it!!
I wound up being 20 minutes late, but I pulled myself together. I was supposed to have 2 students, but only one was there today, so a lot of my plans for the class either didn't work, or didn't take enough time, which was super frustrating. However, I survived. I know that I NEVER have to have this particular day again, which is comforting. And I know that I'll be early for the next class, and it will go better.
What fixed my day was my evening class. They're the same group that I had last Monday, and they're great. There were 5 tonight (as opposed to 3 last week), and they all get along well, and seem very eager to learn. We had a good night, talking about different pictures that we had brought from home, and we played truth or lies, which is always fun. You make 3 statements about yourself, one which is a lie, and the other two are true. Your classmates then try to guess which one is the fake one. It went over really well. We also chose a textbook, so next week I can start teaching following a guideline, which makes me happy.
Well, this is a really long post, so I'll end here. Send me all your love!
Love you,
Elizabeth
posted by Elizabeth @ 22:06
2 Comments:
At 3:56 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
You're a real trooper Elizabeth. I probably would have been in tears too. I know what you mean about directions from our foray to the mall in the pouring rain when RTC (Quebec bus info) sent us on the bus in the wrong direction, told us the bus stop numbers meant nothing to us and they didn't know where we were without the street names (then why number the bus stops at all I ask.) and told us to get on at the same bus stop we got off at ( b/c that would send you Back! in the direction you came), or the one across the street (which was across the Other! street). Yes, I understand your pain, but at least I didn't have a professional commitment to meet, so I was just annoyed and wet.
Mental note: Always have your cell phone with you! :D
At 2:28 a.m.,
Elizabeth said…
The only thing that kept me sane was that I had my cell. While I didn't have one number, and another didn't work, at least the third one got me hooked up with someone who was kind of helpful! Boy, I can't believe I DEBATED with myself about buying a cellphone. Most valuable purchase to ever have when working in a foreign country!!
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