chapter 1 - late august to late september
well here is sit at the british airways gate.. w-a-i-t-i-n-g - it took about a minute to check in a the desk.. totally NOOOO hassle with massage table - about a minute with TSA and about 3 minutes going thru security.. took me longer to get my shoes back on and my laptop back in it's case than the security check did!! wow i feel safe!! so there is a plug at the gate so i could mooch a little electricity.. my computer found the ORDBAGMGR wireless, but it won't let me log on as i don't have the key!! man could i use one of my "geek boys" now!!!
there is a nice spanish family sitting by me -- their two teenage sons.. one is all pouty and crying because he doesn't want to go back to madrid.. it's kind of sweet...sulky teenagers are cute as long as they aren't MINE!!
thank you to everyone that's been so supportive of my new adventure.. i couldn't have done it without all of your kind words, encouragement.. money!! everything.. promise lots of great postcards and emails with all my adventures!
it's amazing to be sitting here.. looking out the window, watching the BA jet get loaded up with food and baggage.. and to know that in 75 minutes i will be getting on that plane and in 8 hours i will be in london!!! i have wanted to make this flight for 33 years!!
a very cute young girl just sang the star spangled banner to kick off the republican convention... grrrrr but maybe i will get to hear rudy guiliani, he's such a great speaker.. sorry about the ambient stream of consciousness -- but this is from an airport.. wow, only 63 days until the election.. amazing.. very happy to see the olympics went off without a hitch... well there was the gymnastics gold medal thing..
many hours later... sitting at gatwick.. it's 12:50pm.. my flight to Prague doesn't leave until 5:25pm.. i can't check in until 3:25 --- there's really nothing for me to do as i have to watch my luggage trolley
flight was completely uneventful.. BA is great.. very nice crew.... lots of fairly yummy food... even a little pouch with a toothbrush/toothpaste, socks and an eyemask!!! nice little movie screens on back of each seat with a choice of about 8 movies and the really exciting - "all time great cricket matches" -- sorry but i really couldn't watch.. i did however snag a bottle of pimm's no.1 - they have the duty free trolleys come through the cabin so you can just buy stuff on board!!! those brits they think of everything.. it was 11.50pounds.. so that's about was i was expecting to pay.. it was about 4 pounds more at the airport when i got off the plane!! the lads in prague will be happy, though i don't think a bottle will last long! fortunately the ones i promised it to are ones who have been quite helpful!
really need to sleep. .but not really feeling jet lagged.. just really tired.. i didn't sleep much on plane - just dozed a bit.. and caught about a 20 minute cat nap on the motor coach to gatwick.. scott, you were right about things looking like you could be anywhere.. it looked like i was in ohio or pennsylvania.. very nice and green.. saw a few sheep and some cows.. but other than the uniquely worded highway signs and cars driving on the wrong side of the road.. wouldn't really know i was out of the country...
HOWEVER--- i started crying as we flew over london.. to see the millineum wheel(first thing i spotted) , the tower bridge, then seeing the house of commons, and st. paul's and wembley.. i just couldn't help but weeping.. it was so amazing to see all those places.. even at a bit of a distance.. but once i landed it just seemed like another airport.. we picked up about 45 minutes.. i got off the plane, (about 10am) got my passport stamped (YAHOOO FINALLY!!!) and got my bags, all in about 1/2 hour - there was NO customs to go thru, just a hallway that said "nothing to declare" and then i was outside and waiting for a bus, by 10:30am! Easy peasy!
got to gatwick, got a sandwich, a dr. pepper (no dr. p in prague... ), some "crisps" and a BIG cadbury fruit and nuts... it's going to take me all month to eat it, as it's SOOOOOOO rich.. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm didn't really feel like hauling the luggage up stairs.. tooo tired.. flight delayed by about 90 minutes, but I don't feel so bad, as there are about 30 people who were supposed to be on yesterday's 5:25 flight to Prague and it got cancelled, so they are about 26 hours late!! There was a cheer when we finally took off!!!
My American friend, Andy met me at the airport, along with Kat (a very nice Czech girl) and her boyfriend, Radovan. He has a nice big Mercedes and gave me a lift to Lenka's apartment! Staying with Lenka was a lifesaver
Well gentle reader, it's now September 25th and this is the first time I have really had to sit back and write (also just discovered that at The Globe, an internet cafe, when you fire up your laptop to their network, you can access your regular email. A few of you have gotten emails from me from my Yahoo account, as I haven't resolved my billing with Earthlink.) Feel free to send to my Yahoo account or just answer here, I have it forwarded.
So one more week of school.. YEAH!! It's been total bootcamp, the first two weeks were overwhelming, new city, new language, new people and personalities, OH and being back in school after 20+ years!!! There are 50 people in my course, but only 12 in my group, my Czech angel continues to look out for me, as NONE of the trixies in the course are in my group, many of the trainers really like our group. Our two trainers are both English, John, who looks a bit like Mike Myers, very nice, but VERY strict, and Tony, who's just a big party! Both are great teachers and it's fun to have that contrast... Don't think John likes me because I am too chatty, which is completely the reason Tony does! Oh well, out of class I think John and I would get on just fine, but he has to put on his 'teacher face" - Learned a lot of things about how to teach, one of their methods is teaching 5 sessions in Czech, no English, so we can see that we can learn another language when we don't speak it. The lessons were pretty basic stuff, like "hi how are you, my name is", how to order meat and cheese in a deli (VERY IMPORTANT TASK!!!) one of my new fave Czech words, is ham which is sunka, pronounced shunka and the word for bad, spatne, pronounced schpatnay. It's a completely phoenetic language, so the Czechs try to pronounce every letter in English, leading to some really funny pronunciations!!! I have ordered a meal without any English, Czechlish or wild pantomime!!! Beer is THE main drink, as it's cheaper than tea, coke or even bottled water!!!
So glad I got here several days before the class started, as I was able to get a feel for the city and just know where to go, how to use the public transport, etc. Speaking of which, the States could have taken a lesson from the Russians... since they built all the trains and trams here.. it's quick, clean, ON TIME and CHEAP!!! a simple ride is only about 30 cents!!! with transfers good for 90 minutes it's only 50 cents!!! and that takes you from bus to tram to metro(underground train). The trams are awesome, they are like the old trolley buses in Chicago, as they are electric and run on small tracks in the street and overhead cables, so the tracks are electrified. Also the system is SOOOO easy to use, they announce the stop you are at and then what stop is next.. truely amazing!!
Prague is fairly small, only takes about an hour to get to the very furthest suburb and most places you can get to within 10 or 15 minutes around the city center. Walking is a bit trickier as the streets have the tendancy to just mesh into each other so you have to pay attention that the street you are on doesn't change into another street at a curve! The cobblestones are very very evil on the knees and hips... so do your yoga before you come!!! And the HILLS!!! This city could compete with San Francisco, not as steep (well the hills by the Castle are) but WAY more of them.. it's almost impossible to walk more than 5 or 6 blocks without encountering at least a slight hill. The city is in a river valley, so it's rolling hills everywhere.
But the beauty is worth the cranky knees, believe me... a couple of weeks ago, my friend Paul (who is from Aurora!) took us up to this place called the Pendulum, where the used to be a big statue of Stalin, and it overlooks the whole city, well I thought I was going to faint! Really I felt my head spin and my knees go weak... and Paul said, "yeah I have been here 10 years and it never goes away!" I was glad to hear that.. You just can't believe the constant beauty. Last Sunday, was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so a bunch of us rented boats on the river (the Vlatava, which feeds into the Elbe to the north and eventually into the Danube to the south) - We had pirate props (eye patches, swords, bottles of very good Cuban rum) and we basically were a public spectacle! Some people just rowed the other way when we approached, others just laughed as well yelled "prepare to boarded, ye scurvy dogs" and the like.. it was a PERFECT day, about 80F. And the view from the river was really quite spectacular. For those of you who have taken cruises on the Chicago River, and know how cool that is, just multiply that by about 100!!! The Vlatava is about the same size as the Chicago River at it's widest... but far more beautiful, looking.. it smells pretty fishy and there are some Olympic sized carp that live in it.. we saw one just and it must have been about 2 feet long! Oh and the carp they eat for Christmas, yes that's THE Christmas meal, aren't the big overgrown goldfish type we have in the lakes in the Midwest, oh no, these are big ugly catfish-type of critters. I saw some live in the fish department at Carrefours. (Carrefours, large French-owned mega corporate riduculously large grocery store, makes Cub Foods look like a White Hen Pantry!)
Ahhhh Capitalism... If I had to describe Prague in one sentence it would be, KFC's in the ground floor of late 19th C. Art Nouveau buildings. Yup, that's what it is.. especially in the city center... you can't believe all the commericalism smacking right up against all of the history. My school is in Old Town on the edge of the Jewish Quarter, one of the oldest parts of Prague and there is a KFC right next door and 100 yards away is one of the oldest churches in the city!!! It's SOOO weird.
Oh and you really really NEED to speak Czech. Where I live which is 18 minutes (and yes I can be that specific, as you really can set your watch by the trams!) from the city center, no one speaks English.. maybe a word or two, but I have to use my really limited Czech. I suppose if you are visiting, and only going to touristy places you could get by, but if you are living here, you have to learn at least passible Czech. It's extremely frustrating only being able to communicate on the very lowest level. I think that is the thing that is most tiring. I cannot even imagine what it must be like for people coming to the US and not speaking English! I also understand how you learn a language from watching TV. I have picked up a lot of words, at least by recognition, from watching the news and watching movies in English with Czech subtitles. Although, watching "Meet The Parents" dubbed was quite funny!!!!
Sorry this is a bit stream of consciousness here.. My English friends are all pretty nice, the bratty ones are even brattier in person, but I have met so many of the people that I had made friends with online. Sarah, this really nice girl from New Zealand, who is here studying opera, is very cool. She and I have hit it off quite well. (Scott, she is the chai latte addict, and is ALL up for the chai latte cartel!) The Czech girls are very very cold, and odd about everything, although I have met some really nice students at school. The Czech guys are another story.. I understand why NONE of the women smile.. if you smile at a guy, I think they think you wont to sleep with them!!! They younger ones are very friendly, (and VERY VERY cute), but anyone over about 30 or 35 is, well, let's just say that Czech men don't age well.. It's very odd.. the older ones, like 60+ are really fun to talk to ... we have a lot of older students at school, and it's interesting to hear about their lives and what things were really like under Communist rule. (oh the school I am at, places ads for free English lessons, so that's how we get our students for our teaching practice).
That is a whole other story... some days we have lots of students, some days very few.. they may stay for all the lessons in a day (typically 4 - 40 minute lessons) or they just leave when they want, sometimes in the middle of class.. and they come whenever they want too!! Beginners are very challenging, but we had a good group this week.. intermediate ones are pretty good, but the level can vary so much in one class... advanced are my favorite, as they have such a good command of English that it is much easier to communicate with them.. though the intermediate are the best to teach as you can really see the progress in what they have learned, even in a 40 minute lesson!
Speaking of teaching... I have a job!! I interviewed with this really nice lady (old as she said, she's 60), who runs a small language school.. her ad was only to pick up two classes, but when I called her, she said she realized that she had two other days to teach. So when we met, she really liked me and the fact that I don't speak really sloppy English. And she showed me the other days/times she needed covered and said I would be a lifesaver if I could take all the classes.. so I have 5 - 90 minute classes to teach. They are all in the evening, from 5 to 8pm and all are intermediate and advanced. Very cool, it's about 20 minutes from my house and they pay is in cash.. only once a month, but cash with taxes only taken out of one of my classes, so she joked about doing "funny bookkeeping", and I said oh, creative finances, and she laughed at that! So it's 400kc for 90 minutes, which is about 266Kc an hour which is pretty good, most of the language schools pay around 200-250kc an hour, yeah I know that's only about $8 to $10 an hour, but that is the going rate. So that was my Friday.. very good way to start the day, as I interviewed with her, before school!
AND on Thursday, I was in Mirela's office (she's the one who helps out with job placement) to borrow some scissors, and the woman came in looking for the language school that used to share space with ITC (my school). It seems they language school didn't do a very good job letting people know they'd moved.. anyway, this woman looked really bedraggled and it was cold and raining and she said, "I just want to find someone who will come to my house and tutor my children" so I said ME! ME! ME! - so we started talking and it seems that Berlitz and British Counsel said her kids were too advanced for their age and they couldn't get them into the class. And she had had two Americans who were coming to the house to teach them, and they said they would stay until September and just disappeared sometime in July. So she needs someone to come to her house to teach her 12 year old and 10 year old, twice a week for 2 hours each time.. .looks like I will be able to ask for somewhere between 300-350Kc an hour, as it's private and I am coming to her!! So with just those two jobs, I will have my rent covered!!! Which means any other teaching or massage work that I get will pay for everything else!!
Now onto massage!!! Well I have given 3 of my classmates massages which was very nice... and I got a call from some Americans who where here on holiday.. they found me on the internet, as I have an ad on the expats site... they were hysterical!! Nice folks from Talahassee, three couples, celebrating one of the women's 50th birthday!! So they paid my cab to and from and gave me 1000Kc for the massage!! yeah it's only about $40, but here the going rate for a massage is somewhere between 450Kc and 600Kc ($18 and $22) for an hour! But when you realize that the average Czech salary is 17,000Kc a month, that is a lot of money!
This is where we move onto Czech priorities.... example, a beer is about 15Kc (non tourist zone), a coke is 25Kc, a typical Czech meal is about 65Kc (think 25Kc is about $1) - a boneless pork roast that weighed a little over a pound was 60Kc, but a very small bottle of shampoo was 75Kc - a bottle of Absinthe (yeah it's legal here, more on that later... ) is 160Kc, a big box of laundry soap was about the same.. so you see it is better to be well fed and drunk than it is to be clean.. if you are well fed and drunk you don't care if your clothes are dirty and that you smell!!! that sums up this country too!!! I can buy my week's groceries for under or around 600Kc and that's buying a whole chicken and lots of deli meats/cheeses! So now you see that spending 600Kc for a massage is strictly an expat thing to do... Many of the young Americans here are only here for a short time so they just think of things in $$$ not in Kc (crowns) These prices are in my neighborhood... to give you an example of price differences.. I bought some strawberries at an outdoor market near school, city center very touristy, they were 20Kc for a kilo and by my house, they were 9.9Kc for a kilo!! Same fantastic perfect ripe amazing tasting strawberries!!! Now mind you that's the difference between about 80 cents for 2.2lbs and 30 cents... berries that you would only see that quality at Whole Foods or Treasure Island... oh and TONS of things here are organic.. the farmers here aren't under any pressure to use chemicals, as the government realizes what they do to the habitat, so natural farming is pretty much the norm. Same with livestock.. .no yucky stuff in the the cows and chickens, however for the real cow connisseur, there is almost NO aged beef here.. just fresh.
Well guess I will close this with a note from the Green Fairy, (la fee verte, as the French call Absinthe) - well my really accurate description involves describing the effects of two other illegal drugs, so I will just say that imagine feeling really really mentally clear, I mean super lucid and at the same time, all warm and fuzzy and like you just want to hug everyone around you.. oh and it takes about 15 minutes to get the feeling and it lasts for about an hour!!! yeah and that's just from one shot! Totally see how our artist friends of the past got addicted to the stuff!! and they don't even used wormwood to make it anymore.. OH and it looks and smells like Scope.. hard to say what it tastes like as it just BURNS going down.. that feeling takes about 5 minutes to wear off! But I think I will just stick to the local beers!!! Found a stout that is really yummy, but those Brit boys decided to have a joke at my expense. The beer brand is Kozel, and they call is Kozy.. and the Czech word for dark or black is cerny (chernee) so they said to ask for a kozy cerny... well the next day I am with some Americans who have been here a long time and I tell them this and they start laughing.. well Kozel means goat in Czech, but kozi, is basically Czech for tits, so had I orded a kozi cerny, I would have been asking for black tits!!! yeah very funny!! I am sure that's why they call them kozis... as they love knowing that they are calling their beers, tits!!!
well off to see Rush tonight.... should be fun.. they have nevered played the Czech Republic, so they have no fan base here and it seems that only people over 35 from US and UK know them as my friends from down under didn't know them either!! so a bunch of middle-aged drunk Yanks and Brits.. should be a great night... there are only 2 Americans in the group I am going with and about 6 Brits...
(addendum.... Rush was great... TONS of Czechs there... drank TOO much rum!! one of the many Paul's (I know like 5 here!) kept bringing back shots of rum everytime he went to the bathroom... and the Czech rum is really good as they learned how to make it from the Cubans, you know there was a nice cultural exchange under Communism... like all the Vietnamese who are here are from the north... )
Feel free to write when you get the chance... until I get internet at my flat, my time online is a bit sketchy....
love to all...can't wait for people to start visiting!!!!
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