Happy Boxing Day!

Good morning all! I hope you all had very merry Christmases - I know I did.

I got up on the morning of the 22 and got the last of my stuff together, and staggered to the airport. I was extremely tired, owing to the fact that the night before I didn't get home until late-ish, as some friends talked me into going out for a drink with them.

While we were sitting in this small club, Jon and I were debating what a sign on the wall meant, and I said 'well, it's vaguely reminiscent of this t-shirt...' and this drunk American comes STORMING up to our table, practically yelling 'did you say vaguely reminiscent? did YOU say vaguely reminiscent? did you SAY vaguely reminiscent?' and then starts going totally crazy about what kind of crazy kids use words with more than one syllable while out at the bar. He was nuts. He also was persistent. We couldn't get him to go away! He kept sticking around telling us the stupidest lies (I'm going to buy 70 dogs tomorrow!), and generally being a pain. When we got up to leave, he waved his business card at us three girls, wanting to know which of us was the 'most eligible bachelorette.' Well, let's just say that the three of us immediately remembered our serious, long distance relationships, and boogied for the door. What a weirdo!

Anyhoo. I got to the airport, highly uneventful flight (yay!), landed at Gatwick, and there was Lucy! Yay! She got us day long passes for the underground, and we headed off. She showed me Covent Garden, which was lovely, and Camden Town, which is full of alternative kids and Strange Emily and such, and which was very cool. We had dinner at a cute little pub, and headed over to the Isle of Wight. We got in, and I pretty much passed out - travelling makes me tired!

On the 23rd, her dad took us around the island. We took a couple of different walks, and it was amazing. The land is hilly with trees and grass and little woods, but you are right by the sea, too. It was absolutely beautiful, and I kept wishing Grandpa could be with me, because he would have loved the walks. Lucy's brother and his girlfriend were home for Christmas as well (absolutely lovely people) so it was really nice to wander around looking at amazing scenery and chatting.

On the 24th we did some last minute shopping and errand running, and cooked dinner together. In the evening, I went with one of Lucy's friend's mums to the midnight mass at a Church of England. I've never been to anything quite so formal before, but it was cool. The only bit I didn't like was the incense - hello asthma! They even sang their prayers, which was neat to hear.

We got up at about nine on Christmas morning, and opened all our presents. A few people on the island were worried about me not having anything to open, so they bought me gifts. I had a ton of presents to open! It was great. I got clothes and wine and a DVD about the Isle, and one of Lucy's photographs beautifully framed. Amazing!

Throughout all of this time, I also met a bunch of Lucy's friends, and they're such great people. Her friends are interesting AND nice, and made me feel right at home. I'm quite looking forward to seeing more of them this week.

Well, that's enough for now. Not sure when I'll post again, but I hope you all enjoy your holidays.

Love,
Elizabeth

12 Drummers Drumming

I'm a bit late, as it's after midnight -but this is it! The last day of my countdown. In 8 hrs I'll be at the airport, leaving for an English Christmas. I'm super tired, and I'm going to bed now, but it was a good day, and a fun night out with mah friends. Remind me to tell you why the words "vaguely reminiscent" will forever make me laugh and think of Prague.

I love you all. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

God bless,
Elizabeth

Eleven Pipers Piping

Hi all,

just a short post today, as I'm tired and don't have much going on.

It was a good day. I wrapped up another 4 classes for before the holiday, which was nice, and one of my classes gave me a stuffed giraffe! They didn't even know that I collect them, so how lucky was that? We did my lesson on "The Elf's Lament" and it went over really well. It was a fun day all around.

Last night we went out for dinner at the Afghan restaurant. Man, do they have some good food. I woke up reeking of garlic still, but it was worth it! Note for next time - one order of bread for every two people, not one each!! We had so much bread left over that we could have all had it for lunch today.

Tomorrow is packing and finishing up 3 more classes (one cancelled, darn it!). I'm sooo excited to leave for England!

Love you all,
Elizabeth

Ten Lords a-Leaping

What do you call Santa's helpers?

Morning! It's a lovely sunny day here in Prague (hurrah for the sun!), and I'm feeling MUCH happier now than I was this time yesterday. The homesickness seems to have passed for the moment, and hopefully it won't return. If it does - well, I'll try to do what mum and dad suggested: cry for a bit, and then be thankful that I'm used to having Christmases that are so good that they are worth crying over when I don't have them!! :)

I went out for lupper (lunch/supper) yesterday afternoon with some friends, and it was very nice. We wandered into a little Italian place to eat, and I had spaghetti. It was sooo nummy. Then we wandered off to a pub, where they had some really nice apple cider. Cider was seriously necessary yesterday, as the wind was blowing like it thought it was in Alberta, and it was snowing a bit. Damp cold = yicky!

Then I headed off for the carol service. It was lovely. The church was FREEZING, even though they ran hot pipes under the pews. My bum was warm, but the rest of me was totally icy! The music more than made up for it, though. They alternated scripture readings with carols sung either by the choir or the congregation. The theme was "voices" (which may be traditional in Anglican churches, I don't know), and so we had the voice of the angel (a reading about the angel, then a song about the angel), the shepherds, the wise men, etc. The choir was excellent and they sang some truly beautiful pieces. Afterwards there were refreshments - yum for traditional Czech cookies. I've also discovered that I quite like mince pies. They've got a bit of zip to them, and they're especially tasty warm. I can't believe all the new stuff I'm trying this Christmas season!

My morning classes went well this morning, with nothing too exciting happening. Lots of conversation since everyone's barrelling towards Christmas with lots of fun stuff to chat about. One of my students told me that she hasn't done ANY of her Christmas shopping yet! It's her tradition to leave her shopping til 3-5 days before Christmas Eve. I told her that that would have caused HUGE problems in our family - the kids always expected to see the gifts starting to collect under the tree by mid-December at the latest! :)

I also saw my first carp here today. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but the traditional Czech Christmas meal is served on Christmas Eve, and it consists of fried carp and potato salad. The old-school way is to buy the fish live, and keep it in your bathtub til Christmas Eve. Then you kill it, and fry it. The carp I saw today were in big round tubs, swimming around and around, and looking like they had no idea that their days are numbered (and that number is 5). I guess more and more people don't like the fuss/mess/fish-in-the-bathtub, so you can also buy your fish dead.

Ooh, I have a funny story for you! We got a fair bit of snow this week, and it was really wet and sticky. I was waiting for a friend, so I was standing out of the snow, and watching people go buy. Lots of hats, umbrellas, and coat collars pulled up high. Then I saw this older man go buy... he was balding, and I expect he doesn't like having a damp head. To avoid this, he had put a clear plastic bag on his head (hence I could tell that he was balding). This is funny enough on its own, but the best part is that the bag was quite small, so when he pulled it on, air got caught in the bottom (now the top) of the bag, and it was standing straight up off of his head! He had the bag handles draped over his ears, looking like they were hanging on for dear life. It was soo cute, and I had to turn my head the other way and giggle to myself until he got past me. Yay for middle-aged men wearing plastic bags!

Hope you have a super Monday!

Love,
Elizabeth

Subordinate Clauses!! Probably funnier for the linguists among you... ;)

Nine Ladies Dancing

Good morning!

I went to Harry Potter last night, and it was pretty darn good. It's two weaknesses (I thought) were 1) a patchworky feeling because they had to leave so much out, and 2) Mad Eye didn't actually bounce Draco-the-weasel/ferret on the ground. I got the distinct impression from the book that Draco was hitting the ground and bouncing back up. Darn. That was the best part of the book! I really enjoyed it, though, and thought it stayed pretty true to the spirit of the book. I also loved how Harry spit out his juice when he smiled at Cho. Such a throw-away shot, but so worth it.

I went to church this morning and promptly was schwacked over the head with good ol' (well, not old, because it's the first time I've ever experienced it) Christmas homesickness. All those carols, and reading Luke 2, and Christmas in general.... I was just completely overwhelmed with this intense desire to get home NOW. I spent most of the service being a total baby and crying silently in my seat, while my friends sitting on either side of me worried that I was sick, and if they should do anything. Rather embarassing, but I've come to accept the fact that I'm total cryer, and there's no point in trying to hold it back, because then I start snuffling, and if there's one thing worse than crying when you're 22 it's snuffling. So. After the service the nicest lady came up to me (someone I've seen before but never spoken to) and told me that this is her and her husband and son's first time away from family for Christmas, too, and she knows just how I feel. I AM NOT ALONE! wOOt! So we commiserated on our Christmas misery, and I felt much better. I'm hoping that this is it: I'll be sad now, and get over it and be deliriously joyful (or just, you know, peaceful and content) while I'm in England.

I'm going to a carol service tonight - here's hoping the waterworks don't start up again. I think a good-sized group of us is going, so it should be quite nice.

Have a happy Sunday!

Elizabeth

Eight Maids a-Milking

So, why'd the elf go to elf school?

Hi guys! I leave for the Isle in just 5 sleeps - eek! I've sorted through my suitcase, as I was using it as a dresser, and now it's prepped to be packed. Did my laundry today, so I should have clean clothes to wear - always a bonus! I need to print out my "ticket" information, so that I don't end up totally lost, but my flight is actually ticketless, which is a bit nerve-wracking for me. If you are the last person there, well, you might not have a seat!!

I went out for coffee with Tiffany this afternoon. There was an older woman in the cafe that two grown men had to carry/drag out because she was drunk/high/disturbed and causing problems. The weird thing is that I hadn't really even noticed her before they took her out, but after they removed her... well, first she hung around the doors, and then she tried to come back in and be disruptive, so they had to remove her again. It was sad to see. I had to wonder what her story was. Hopefully she has someplace warm to go to, given all the snow we've had today.

Tonight I'm going to see Harry Potter! Yay! I'm quite excited to see it. Here's hoping James and I read the schedule right, and that we end up at an English with Czech subtitles show, and not a dubbed one! :) My Czech ain't THAT good (well, it's not good at all... but that's beside the point!)

Well, it seems to me to be supper time. I'll toddle off now.

Hope you're all well! I'd love to hear from you, if you have time.

Love,
Elizabeth

PS - You didn't think I'd leave you hanging, did you? He needed to learn the elf-abet! *rotfl* *wipes tear from eye* Thanks dad, I love that joke!

Seven Swans a-Swimming

Here it is Kim! I just needed a little extra time today. :)

Last night's Christmas party was veddy nice. Skrivanek provided us with dinner and champagne, and gave us day-timers! Awesome - now I can stop using my seriously beat up notebook, and use something a tad more professional looking. One of the hors d'oeuvres (spelling?) was a bit of bread with a piece of brie, a grape and a walnut. Soooo good. Highly reccommend them, guys! I met a few new teachers, and mostly just spent the evening chatting with people. What's really interesting is that we didn't talk about TEFL very much. Usually all TEFLers do is talk shop, so I was pleasantly surprised that we managed to talk about other things.

Today was very quiet. I was hoping to go out to Cesky Krumlov (I'm certain I spelled that wrong, but I'm tired, so... well, that's what you get!), but the bus left while I was still teaching, so that wasn't an option. I spent the day at the library, just reading and writing in my journal (I seem to do a LOT of writing these days... blog, letters to Grandma, journal; it's good because I like to think about all the things I'm doing, and writing's a good way to do that). I love the library here, it's big and well -lit with lots of huge windows that you can stare out of aimlessly.

After that I went to Bible study. There's such a great group of students of there. I quite like meeting up with them on Friday nights. They're all just so darn smart, so we can have quite in-depth conversations about... just about anything!

Not sure what's on for tomorrow... I think skating, and I'm going to see Harry Potter in the evening. And just think, I leave for England in... (counts on fingers) 6 sleeps! I'm glad I could count that out on my fingers... I was paying my half of the internet bill, and somehow came up with half of 555 being 240. Nicely done, Elizabeth, nicely done... maybe that's why I have such difficulties following a budget!

Love you all!

Elizabeth

Six... geese...a laying?

I think it's six geese a laying, but I no longer trust my judgement. If I'm wrong, let me know!

Today's been a good day. My first class had their Christmas party/class today. We ate a lot of Christmas cookies, and did Christmas activities. The best one was when I made them close their eyes and draw the floor, a Christmas tree, a fireplace, a stocking on the mantel, a star on the tree, and presents under the tree. Then they opened their eyes and got points for how accurate things were. There was much laughter! My lovely, wonderful students also gave me a Christmas present, which was awesome. I know have a very snuggly teddy that I have named Tomaš. He's very cute, and I think he'll be perfect for cuddling with.

Then I had my Czech lesson. We're working on the accusative now. I'm Ok with the verbs, but when you have to change the adjective form according to gender, and then according to case - well, let's say that I'm still getting a little (coughcoughalotcoughcough) lost. Elizabeth needs to study her Czech!! I shall try and practice some this weekend.

Well, I'm off to teach my last class of the day. Then it's home to change and to have a bite to eat, and then I'm going to Skrivanek's Christmas party. Yay for parties. I'm loving the Christmas season, but I can't quite believe that it's so close to Christmas time!

I leave in a week! Just a week!

Love,
Elizabeth

Five Golden Rings

Hi all!

How're you doing?? Things are going well here. My mornng class cancelled, and so I had a very quiet morning to myself. I went down to the library and read there for a while, which I should do more often. It's so lovely and peaceful.

Classes today went well, which is always nice. My students are just such sweethearts. I really like teaching!! Some of my students and I can spend 15 or 20 minutes just chatting about things that are of interest to them. I think that's my favorite part of teaching - watching the students use the language naturally, in a way that they find interesting.

I wandered into a bookshop today and found Christmas CDs! I really wanted some Christmas music for my students' Christmas parties, but I have no money. Also, most of the CDs were Czech. I asked a clerk if they had any English CDs, and she said "yes, one." She handed it over... and it's Willie Nelson's Christmas!! It was only 29 Kc, which is like a dollar fifty. So I bought it. And now my students can listen to Willie Nelson's Christmas... I am going to torture them into learning English! Bwa ha ha ha.

Well, I'm pooped. Have a good night, all! Love you!

Elizabeth

More Pictures

I had more time today than I thought, so here are some photos!

My Bedroom/Living Room






The Dining Room/Kitchen






The Entrance (the washroom and laundry room are just down the hall)







My Merry Christmas Picture!





I hope you like these.

Love,
Elizabeth

Four Calling Birds

No one caught it! I screwed up, and no one said anything! People, it's two TURTLE DOVES, and then four CALLING BIRDS. Not two calling birds! I have corrected my mistake, and decided that it's actually really hard to do the song "backwards" (aka starting from one, instead of from 12).

I'm feeling rather festive and seasonal today, as Christmas-type activities are starting to line up. This Thursday is Skrinvanek's Christmas party, which I'm looking forward to. I met another teacher today, and he seems really nice (he's Irish, and he moved here to be with his girlfriend), so I know I'll know a few people there, and will probably meet lots more. Then David told me about 30 Kc skating!! You only have to pay for the rental, so I'm hoping to do that this weekend. Was it really busy David? I hope that I can get in. :) I looove skating. Jake, I miss going skating with you. When I go skating, I will think of you! Sunday morning is the IBCP "Christmas Service" since so many of the regular attendees go away for Christmas, and Sunday night is a carol service at St. Clement's Anglican Church. If anyone wants to join me for the service, I'm meeting people outside of Tescos at 5:30 PM on Sunday to take the yellow line out to the church. Hope some of you will make it! (Um, for those of you in N. America - I know you'll be there in spirit.) :D

Only 3 classes today. I got confused about class a student cancelled in advance, and showed up for one that I didn't need to. Oops! Oh well, a little trip out to Ceskomoravska isn't any big deal. It's good for me! Builds character, and all that jazz.

Only 3 classes tomorrow, too. My two person class has one student on holidays, and since he's on holidays, the other one is working twice as hard at his normal work, and doesn't have time for English this week. I'm liking the relaxed schedule... but I imagine that Jan. 15's paycheque will be a bit of a wakeup call. I've had ... 4 classes cancelled this week alone! Christmas season is not a good time to work on a "per class" basis. Boy, would a salary be sweet right about now!
But I'm happy as can be. I really like teaching, and I'm looking forward to doing Christmas activities with my students. I have a few lined up, but could really use some more ideas... Kim, Bari and Karlie (oh faithful commenters) do you remember any Christmas things you used to don in elementary school?

I leave for the Isle of Wight in nine days - woo hoo, down to the single digits! Another schwack-load of beautiful Christmas cards arrived yesterday, and I'm thrilled. I'm also like a 4 year old, and keeping picking them up, just to "look at the outside" while I'm waging internal battle about keeping them for England and not reading them now. I also have to completely ignore the Christmas tree and that which is kept under it in order to restrain myself from peeking at whatever it is that mum has sent me for Christmas. I'm guessing... stocking stuffers from Vicky's Secret (does she even HAVE a secret anymore?) and a tshirt, but I could be wrong!

I took a "Christmas photo" of myself today that I'll try to get up on the blog in the next few days. I'm wearing turquoise and black, but I'm sitting by a tree, so I figure it counts for Christmas. I also took some snaps of the flat, so y'all can check that out. But I don't have time for that today, unfortunately, because I have to teach. Check back - um - Thursday, maybe. Who knows?!

Anyhoo, time to skedaddle to the metro and out to wherever the heck my next class is (all I know is that I get off the metro, onto the bus, and ride the bus to the LAST STOP). I totally need to start marking all of my classes on some kind of online map so that you guys can see where I teach! Does this sort of online thingamajig exist? Hm. Must use "widely known search engine" and check this out.

Love you all!

Elizabeth

PS FOUR calling birds, not TWO! Two TURTLE DOVES! Duh!

Three French Hens

A good Monday morning to you all! How's it going?

My Monday has been very quiet. I taught my first class, and it went well (oh the joys of all of our "be" collocations... be up with somebody [what's up with you?], be up, be on [medication]...). Then I headed out to Letnany (a good 45 minute metro trip) where I discovered that my student is in Poland this week and will therefore not be having her lesson! :) I rode back into the centre, and came home, to find out that my afternoon class has cancelled as well. So I'm at home til about 5 when I will leave to teach my evening class. I spent a fair bit of time at home this weekend already, so I'm feeling a bit bored, but not bored enough to actually put on real pants again and go outside. I'm laaaaaaaazy.

Another stack of Christmas cards arrived today from family and friends from Knox Church. How exciting! I think I have about 10 cards to take with me to the Isle of Wight and open as presents. Aunt Leslie, I must confess. I didn't read the card, but I did sneak the photos out of it. They are so CUTE! You have some of the cutest grandbabies EVER. Thank you!!

I went for a walk last night and ended up in Old Town Square. I had some really fortunate timing and arrived just in time to hear a classical choir perform. I really wanted to stick around to hear the guitar duo, but I had worn sneakers, and my toes were too cold! It was so neat though, just to stand in this amazing historical place that's all lit up for Christmas, and listen to these beautiful songs (all in Czech, and Czech sounds amazing when sung). It was wonderful!

Well, that's all that's new here at my house. I know, I know, boring, but somedays that's just how it is. Hope this blog finds you all well. Anyone else getting excited for Christmas?

Love,
Elizabeth

Two Turtle Doves

Good morning all. It's eight thirty here in Prague, and I'm up and puttering about, getting ready church.

It was a funny night last night, as not a whole lot happened. I hung out in the flat all day, just being lazy (it was lovely!), I got all my lessons planned, did some laundry... you know, the exciting stuff. I met up with a friend for some dinner, and then went out for a drink. We wound up in this little cave like club listening to "Two moon planet in a lunatic system" wail out some really, really bad... um... "music." ;) Ah, Prague randomness. How I love it. I also saw a guy carrying a ferret in toque. Huh. Now if it had only been St. Nicholas on the tram, playing the accordion with a ferret in his toque....

It was a pretty early night (I was home by 11 as I haven't been feeling 100% this weekend), and I chatted with mum and dad a bit (dad and I have skype working, which is totally awesome). I crawled into bed, and promptly had the weirdest dreams ever. I dreamt that a girl I went to high school with (and that I haven't seen in... I think 4 years) came to Prague to do some chemistry courses at a college here (she was insistent that she wanted something easier than what Charles' U offers), and so we met up. Mixed up with all of this was my friend Tiffany trying to teach me Czech, eating at a place called "baba ganoush" (which doesn't exist, as far as I know!) and going mountaineering (boy, do I love mountaineering! um... no... actually...). I woke up feeling like I'd already been up for a day!

This morning is church, and then I think, out to the soup place for a bowl of soup. I really do want to wrap presents this afternoon, and I have a letter to Grandma and Grandpa to finish. I'm thinking a walk in the Christmas market might be appropriate. A general "who knows" hangs over the rest of my day. :) Mum and I want to try skype tonight, so hopefully that will get up and running, which would also be awesome.

So that's it folks. I leave for a much-needed Christmas break in just eleven days, and I'm so excited. Lucy and I are going to have such a great time.

Love,
Elizabeth

Partridge and a Pear Tree

Ok. I know that Dec. 10 is probably NOT the first day of Christmas. However, I'm leaving for the Isle of Wight in twelve days, so... well, I hate coming up with titles, so this seemd like a good idea. I don't have to come up with an original title for 12 days! Yeah!

So it's noon on Saturday here, and I've got the vast majority of next week planned. I'll have to spend about half an hour on it tomorrow, but that's no big deal. It always helps when your students fall behind and/or cancel, because then you already have the lesson plan done. ;) Makes the work go by way faster! Planning is also a bit easier because I'm re-using a lot of materials throughout a bunch of my classes. Lots of seasonal materials. My best one so far? I've got a wicked lesson for The Barenaked Ladies' Elf's Lament. It's great, because it's got a lot of business language in it, and I can use it for just about all of my classes. Plus, elves aren't part of the Christmas mythology in the Czech Republic (St. Nicholas brings small gifts during the night of Dec. 5, and "Little Jesus" brings gifts Christmas Eve), so my students get to learn about N. American culture as well. I did a trial run of this lesson with a business student yesterday, and it went over really well. It's such a fun song, and it's fairly easy to understand (I give my students tapescripts [pages with the lyrics] to help them follow), and it's a change from grammar and discussion. Whee!

Now people, I was completely serious about my request for Christmas activities last time. I've got a few lined up (e.g. a Christmas trivia game for children that should be about the right difficulty for my students, since they don't know a lot about N. American traditions). I've also got the Christmas Carol Title Game. You know, you get the name that's in formal or technical English and you have to match it to the traditional name? It's going to be tricky, so we're going to do it as a matching game. But I need more activities! More I say! They don't even have to be terribly "English" oriented, seeing as the whole class will be spent speaking English. A number of my classes are 90 minutes long, so I need a fair few activities. Yes, I know, we can always play "Christmas Hangman" to fill in that last 10 minutes of class, but that won't work for the last 45 minutes... ;) Help me, please!

I'm thinking I'll wrap my Christmas presents this afternoon - that is, if I can convince myself to get out of my pajamas, down to Tescos, back... oh. That sounds like a lot of work. Maybe tomorrow. :D I like my pajamas.

I went for a medical check-up for work yesterday, and the doctor weighed me. According to her scale, I've lost 20 lbs since arriving in Prague! No WONDER my pants keep sliding off. I don't think that I look all that different, but you'll just have to come to Prague and see for yourself (oooh, I'm so subtle. Look at me sneakily sneaking hints in to my posts... I'm sooo clever... I have a cunning plan... I'll write my blog post on a turnip and...).

Well my darling readers (according to the site metre, there are like 28 of you a day! Well, Ok. 26. Maybe 25. Yes, I check my blog a lot. For absolutely no reason, as your comments get emailed to me. Ahem. Out of these parantheses now, and one with real stuff...) I hope you all have a good weekend.

Love,
Elizabeth

PS - A big thank you to those of you who have sent Christmas cards. I haven't read any of them yet, because I'm saving them to have as Christmas presents in England. I will respond (maybe not snail mail, but email for sure!!) after Christmas. You all ROCK!

Love,
e.

I always hated titles.

Hi guys,

sorry about the lack of a Thursday post, but I'm sadly feeling under the weather again, and so I wasn't doing a whole lot of anything.

Absolutlely nothing of interest happened yesterday! My classes were very ordinary; they went well, but nothing special happened. Oh, well, one of the classes decided to have a Christmas party in class next week, which should be fun. Any ideas for activities, anyone?

My Czech lesson went well, too. One of the more elementary students wasn't there again, so things are sliding more towards beginner, and I definitely felt less overwhelmed. Plus, I had looked over the lesson in advance (yes, I'm a keener, but I hate feeling stupid in class!!), so I felt a little more comfortable with the language. Oh, and we learned the genitive case, which excited me because I theoretically knew what the genitive was, and now I'm actually learning to use it in a real language. Sweet!

Ok. I have one class today, and then I'm heading off to the doctor's office. I love you all.

Love,
Elizabeth

Hump Day!

It's hump day! The rest of the week is all downhill from here. And good downhill, not bad downhill. Just an easy free-wheeling towards the weekend. Awesome!

My classes yesterday went really well. My new one-on-one is a very nice man, and he enjoys chatting, so the time goes by very quickly. We did one of my favorite lessons called "Politically Incorrect Humor." For all you Scotts out there, here's the best joke in the plan:

Q: How do you make a cat go 'woof'?

A: Soak it in petrol and throw it on the fire.

Hahahahaha -*wipes tear away*. I know, I know. The rest of you do NOT find that funny at ALL. But you aren't Scotts! That's why! And remember, it is politically INcorrect jokes!

My morning class was great today. We played the adverb game, where you have to randomly combine a verb and an adverb and make a sentence. If my student ever tires of the financial world, he could make a million by writing romance stories in English... one of the sentences he came up with was "she smiled dangerously at me... I was about to fall in love." It was awesome! For you TEFLers out there, it's a One Stop English lesson, and it works great. It's a lot of fun, and you can play it a couple of times, no problem.

Speaking of work, I've been invited to the company Christmas party on Dec. 15. I'm quite looking forward to it, as I've briefly met a number of the other teachers, but it would be very nice to actually have some time to sit and chat. Hurray for Christmas parties! I wonder if any TEFLers are having any... maybe I should ask Megan if we should have one!

I leave for England in just 15 days. Before I leave, I need to try grog and mulled wine. They seem like pre-Christams kinds of drinks. Maybe I'll do that this weekend. I'm hoping to get some people together to go skating (Rob, did you get my email? Would you and Marta want to go skating?) one afternoon, and I think grog and mulled wine after skating would be perfect. Such a European Christmas!

Well, three more classes to teach, so I'd better get my rear in gear. I hope you're all doing well, and enjoying the Advent season.

Love,
Elizabeth

Pictures!!

Hi guys, here are a few photos. I know we all like pictures! A huge shout out to BARI who taught me how to put these up! Thanks Bari!! Everyone, say thank you to Bari!

Dad in my classroom, doing an unofficial observation!





The Charles' Bridge.





A window in St. Vitus' Cathedral - so beautiful! And the colors are just so intense. It's an incredible place to be on a sunny day.



A dark picture of the amazing circus that we went to.





Dad at a statue at the Prague Castle. He really liked it. It creeped me out. ;)





My classroom at Skrivanek - where I taught the intensive course.



Goulash! The national and delicious dish. Served with knedlicky (dumplings) and sour cream.






A letter I got from Amy. Those are giraffes! Giraffes! And it came just like that! I saw giraffes in the mailbox, and went racing upstairs to get the mailbox key so I could figure out WHY on EARTH there were giraffes in the mail!





Now that I've got this figured out, more pictures shall be forthcoming.

Love,
Elizabeth

Aaargh, help please!

Hi all. I have been trying for at least 2 weeks now to post some pictures for y'all to look at - but it won't work. I officially have them on the computer, in a nice little file, they're all named and everything... but when I go to upload them, nothing! The computer says that it's "loading..." for like 5 minutes, and nothing ever comes of it. The same thing happens when I try to email them. The computer claims that it is "loading," and the email never sends.

Do you have any ideas for me? Help!

Love,
elizabeth

Da da da da da da, da da da da da da...

Monday Monday (da da da da da da) so good to me (da da da da da da da)
Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be ...

Hi all. As you can tell, it's been a good day! One of my classes ended early, so I had time to come home and munch lunch, which always makes me happy. Plus, I tried a new kind of Balkan cheese today, and it was even better than my usual brand! Hurrah for small happinesses.

My student this morning (whom I absolutely love, she's wonderful) brought me these amazing little gingerbread cookies that she'd baked and decorated. They were delicious! What a great (and stereotypically Scott) way to start the morning. Mmm cookies. I can't wait to do some baking at Lucy's house this Christmas.

My next student was a new one, and she's fabulous, too. She works for Tescos, and her job is determining where everything goes in every store. All the Tescos with the same floor plan have their merchandise in identical places, and it's her job to figure out what goes where. Cool! She was also telling me about her grandmother, who lived in the same house, in the same location, all her life. However, her country changed 6 times!! Ican't remember the exact order, but it was something like "Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Czech Republic." Crazy!!

The afternoon was quieter with my boys, who worked quite hard today, and then the evening was very quiet with public class, as only 2 students showed up. We did a fair bit of grammar, but they were troopers, and I think they may actually understand the 3rd conditional now (good thing - maybe now they can explain it to me... kidding, kidding).

Today is the Eve of the Feast of Saint Nicholas, so there were all kinds of angels, devils, and St. Nicholases running around, along with lots of people collecting money for needy children. Traditionally, adults would dress up and go door to door, asking for the children. They would then quiz the kids on their catechism. Correct answers got sweets or small gifts from St. Nick, but wrong answers brought coal/punishment/being kidnapped from the devil. The angel was there to protect the children from the devil. How neat! Now, it's mostly a day where parents give small gifts to their children (or your student brings you cookies!!). The weirdest part was when I saw a St. Nick on a tram playing the accordion while his angel kissed a random passer-by. Ah, the things you see in Prague on a Monday night. This is truly a place like no other.

And as it is a place like no other, I came to realize this weekend that I don't want to leave early. I want to stay til the end of June. And so, I'm praying that I will indeed find summer work by Jan. 15. I so hope that I can finish out the school year here.

And now it's bed time, as it's a busy day tomorrow. Only 3 classes, as one was cancelled (early, darn it, so I don't get paid!)

Love you all,

Elizabeth

Lazy Day

Hi guys,

it's been a lazy Sunday, which was lovely! I got up early (I'm still not sleeping quite right, but it gives me lots of time to get stuff done!) and worked on lesson plans (this week is all done - now to start trying to get ahead for Christmas). Then I headed off to church where we sang our first carol of the season. Today is the "peace" Sunday of Advent. I do love Advent. All the getting into the true spirit of Christmas makes me a happy camper. Then Tiffany and I went out for lunch with a Czech guy from the church, which was neat. He has a car! We actually rode in a car today! (We don't do a lot of car riding here). The afternoon was spent emailing, msning, watching Jane Eyre and reading. Like I said... lazy day.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind. 4 classes, and I'm not sure if I'll have time to come home for lunch or not. Doesn't really matter, I suppose. I'm meeting a new class tomorrow (one on one), so that should be interesting. I think it should be a good day.

I've got all my Christmas shopping done, which is exciting. I was a bit worried about what to buy Megan, but I was walking down the street, and something in the shop window just caught my eye. I trotted right in and bought it. I can't tell you what it is, because word gets around fast in our TEFL circle, but I think she'll like it, and if you remind me, I'll tell you what it was in the New Year.

18 days til I leave for the Isle of Wight. I imagine that I'm going to need the holiday!! I'm so excited to do some more travelling. It seems as though I should be seeing more of the world while I'm over here... but the finances are sadly lacking to be able to do that. Hopefully my new fuller schedule will permit more weekend trips in the New Year. I'm seriously hoping to get to Salzburg in January if I can scrape my krowns together. Megan and I are kicking around the idea of heading out to a few other countries before I leave, too.

Well, that's all that's new here. I hope you all had a good weekend.

Love,
Elizabeth

Be good to me, Česka Pošta

Well, it's official. I have applied for graduate studies in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Alberta and Dalhousie University. Hurrah!! I mailed off my applications this morning, which was no mean feat as I don't speak Czech and most of the postal workers don't speak English. Fortunately, I found one who did, and we got all my envelopes sent off as registered mail. Now I can track them! That is, I can track them if I can find the website to do so, and figure out where to put the number, and then decipher the Czech text.... Well, I am potentially able to track them! And so now the wait is on... I should hear in April or May if I've been accepted. All prayers appreciated!

Love,
Elizabeth

Fridays are Friendly

Čao! (that's the Czech spelling - see, I'm learning something in class! Go me!) It's Friday, and it's late (for me, that is - ooh, 11 pm!), and I'm blogging. (Caught you off guard with that one, didn't I?)

Not much happened today. I taught three classes, made some šopsky salad, and went to Bible study. Some of our students couldn't be there because they're studying for their dissection exam (eeeeeew), and they're very busy. So it was small numbers, but a good time nonetheless. I'm all about the socializing on the weekends, since I don't get to do a whole lot of it during the work week. Yes, teaching means I'm with people, but it's not always as much as you might hope!

I have a prayer request for y'all. As a few of you know, I'm at a point now where I have to start thinking about how long I'm staying in Prague for. When I left home, I was thinking 8 months to a year. When I got here, I decided to stay til the end of June solely because that's the end of the TEFL school year here. I have since come to realize that this may be a problem. Assuming that I get into grad school for fall 2006, I need to work all summer long. There is no TEFL work in Prague in July/August, so I can't stay here longer. Finding work in Edmonton/Wetaskiwin for July/August will be difficult, since it may only be for 6 weeks, and all of the students (university AND high school) will be in the job market already. For this reason, I'm thinking of using my plane ticket as is, and coming home on April 24. This would give me 4 months to work in Canada before starting classes.

However, I don't love the idea of leaving here before the end of June. I have a lease til then, I've made comments to my work about staying til then, and I feel that I have something of a committment to my students (especially the ones I've bonded with). This is not an easy decision for me! I'm refusing to worry about it, and instead have been really praying about it. As I prayed, I came to realize that 1) the only reason that I would have to go home early is to be able to be certain that I'm employed for July/August, and 2) if I knew I had work for July/August (in Czech or in Canada), I could stay here til the end of June, or later.

As Skrivanek requests 3 months' notice from its staff, I need to tell them by the end of January if I'm leaving at the end of April. This means that I have to make up my mind by January 15 or so. Hence, I'm asking you to pray the following with me:

Lord Jesus, if you want me to stay in the Czech Republic til the end of June or later, then please provide me with a job for July and August by January 15, 2006. If a job is available, then I will stay in the Czech Republic. Amen.

I don't know if I want to stay or not... I really can't make up my mind! But I think that I'm leaning towards wanting to stay longer, just so that I have a real sense of having completed the tasks that I started here. On the other hand, it would be nice to be at home with friends and family before starting grad school, especially if I end up out in Nova Scotia. So I'm in a "wait and see" kind of mode.

Thank you all for supporting me and praying with me!!

I love you,

Elizabeth