chapter 2 - early october to ........

Ahoj (yup that's how you say hi here, Ahoy!) NOTE: this was written over the course of about 2 weeks!!! sorry for all the weird tenses.. but the Czechs are rubbing off on me!

Well, I have survived my TEFL course!!! Basically, if you show up and survive, you get the certification, which is kind of an insult to real teachers. When I think of some of the kids in my course who don't even speak English properly, teaching Czechs English, it's just so sad.... (note, very nice to be typing on an English keyboard, as I am composing this on my laptop to be sent later from a cafe. The Czech keyboards have some different things going on!) Oh other side note, sitting here watching TV and an ad for Jamisons Whiskey was just on... very odd... Czech commericals are very odd or very funny. There is one for Seznam.cz, which is the Czech Yahoo, sort of... anyway, their ad campaign is always to check their first so you will be informed.. so there is this ad with a very well-dressed couple, going into a very posh Chinese restaurant and she hands the waiter her fur coat, and she has her dog with her, cause this is CZ, (and people take their dogs EVERYWHERE) and she hands the dog to the waiter.. so then we see the couple sitting waiting for their meal and the waiter comes out of the kitchen with this big covered dish, all smiles about how he is going to present this fabulous dinner and as he takes the lid off, there is a fade to black and we hear the woman scream... and their tag line about how you should always check seznam.cz first comes on the screen.

Needless to say ASPCA wouldn't allow that one to run!!!

Ah there are constant revelations about the culture here. Like the constant need to put "ova" at the end of all womens' names, as that is what is done when you get married, to signify you are a man's property... only this year did it become law that you don't have to add 'ova' to your name when you get married... so it's Sarah Jessica Parkerova, and Julia Robertsova, Nicole Kidmanova..... even on a poster for a book by Margaret Thatcherova!!!

I am sure my English is already getting weird from teaching.... you find yourself speaking Czechlish-- I cheat all the time in class if my students don't know a word and I know it in Czech I will use it.. or even look it up, sometimes it's just easier than language charades!

So really feel like I am living here.... finally.. the month of school, I just felt like I was in the city, but not really here... and going places and running into people, is really cool... I think I know about 50 or 60 people and Prague is REALLY small, so it's easy to run into people you know, especially in expat places. My Kiwi friend, Sarah, (who I spend a TON of time with) is teaching me a proper Kiwi accent, so look out.. and her New York flatmate is teaching her a Brooklyn accent, which is really funny! It's amazing how one meets people from all over the world in just the course of a dinner or meeting for drinks.... I love that about this city. Oh and I really should have buffed up on my German, as people always seem to think I am German... I went to the info booth at one of the Metro stations, and the woman at the counter handed me a brochure in German! Oh well!! It's nice though, as I really haven't been branded as a foreigner.. people on the trams and trains always speak Czech to me, I even had an older man tell me I had a nice smile! There seems to be no middle ground with the people over 60 here.. they are either REALLY friendly and nice OR just sullen and rude! Mostly they are nice.... slowly picking up Czech.. getting pretty good at reading it.. have seen three movies in the theatre with Czech subtitles and have been able to read stuff before people say it and have been managed "how much is it?", but when someone answers, I still have to have them write it, as I don't know my numbers! And only one swear word!! I know usually that is the first thing one learns... Sarah has adopted her voice teacher's grandson as a student, so she's teaching him English and we were giving him a lesson in the many uses of the "F-word".. Kiwis swear almost as much as the Irish!!! Poor Ondrej, he was quite amused by us.. and I think only understood about a third of what we were saying!

Have several American friends with Czech wives, so they speak Czech, which can be quite handy at times... also guarantees cheaper prices in touristy places! I have been REALLY REALLY fortunate as far as the people I have met, mostly from online on the expats site I was living at.... knowing people who have been here a long time is great and one of my American friends is not only really sweet and very well-connected, but calls me his "sister" and conveniently, he live about a 15 minute walk away! Actually have met a couple of people who live close to me.. even a fellow massage therapist, who is from Northern California.. so she and I have a ton of stuff in common!

Back to the beauty of the city.. the other night I was walking by the river and Prague is very dark at night.. no big office buildings so it's just the street lamps and lights on the big buildings... as you have all seen from photos, the Castle looms over the river and so at night is just this gleaming thing on the hill and the lights reflect on the river! So there I was standing next to the gate at the Charles Bridge, which was built in the 1200's and behind me is this fabulous Art Nouveau building... and seagulls catching fish for dinner.... Even though it's been all grey and cold, it's still so amazingly amazing, and the last couple of days I have had time to just wander around between engagements....

oh and speaking of fish... there is actually a magic fish here!!!! As I may have mentioned, the big Christmas meal is carp... there is a fairytale about the magic golden fish and if you catch him, and let him go he will give you three wishes... so on the Christmas chocolate bars (which have been out about 3 weeks now!), there is a big golden fish! So cool, I knew I belonged in this city!

Looks like I am getting another kid to tutor... I am tutoring two kids who are just fine.. Robin, he's 10 and really sweet and really likes me.. .and Jaja, who's 12 and well.. she's 12.... their mom Jana, gave my name to a friend of hers who has a 12 year old boy .. so I start working with him on Monday... giving him English lessons before his tennis lessons, at the tennis center!

Yeah I am going to just hate being around all those tennis players, as this center is the Czech equivilant of WTA, there are a zillion courts and a HUGE stadium for matches. And this spring, they are hosting a WTA event.. which means that EVERYONE in the tennis world will be here... gee what a bummer!!!!!

And the big news is........ I may have a job at Holmes Place ( www.holmesplace.cz )they are opening their first club in the Czech Republic in November. I have met with the spa manager and she's offered me the job, but she has to do number crunching, so we shall see.. she also needs someone to teach her spa staff English!!! So they may hire me to do that too!!! The club is opening in Novy Smichov, which is a very posh shopping mall, like Westside Pavillion or 900 North Michigan. Vanda, the spa manager, is just a doll and she was SOOOO happy to meet me.. she needed a female massage therapist and that fact that I am a native English speaker is even better! So "keep your thumbs locked" as the Czechs would say. Will keep you posted... Next step is to make the film connections... "Doom" the movie of the game is about to start shooting here, so I have to look into that.. Yummy Kiwi actor, Karl Urban, who was Feomir (sp?)in Lord of the Rings, is the lead in Doom! (he also plays the evil Russian in "The Bourne Supremacy")

Note: Met with Vanda, the spa manager, today and I definately have the job, I just have to get legal here... grrrrrr - more on that later..... Nov 27th NOTE - Preview party for Holmes Place.. things looking good.. Vanda was thrilled to have me there.. just have to talk to their accountant about how this is all going to work and then do all the paperwork to get my visa.. ugh! Club is really nice, not quite as posh as the one in Chicago, but still really really nice. Met one of the other massage therapists, Petr, he's really nice and has a very funny sense of humor, and have met several of the trainers.. very nice guys, they are quite intrigued by me, as I am American and the only foreigners at Holmes Place are English.

Well the Brunch Bunch ( see Official Brunch Bunch Thread on www.expats.cz) cruises into Legends.. a bit of a touristy place as it's an American sports bar.. but it's a bit of a change of pace... (Oh and it's in Tyn court, which is the courtyard behind Tyn Church, which is this HUGE Gothic cathedral.. it was built in the mid 13th Century!) and then off to see "Yellow Submarine" ( www.filmonmusic.cz ) This is pretty typical of the kind of stuff that goes on here.. Oh and for reference, the tickets are 95Kc which is just under $4.

The amount of entertainment is here is overwhelming.. not that I have gotten to take part.. I teach until 8-ish Tue, Wed & Thur evenings.. so I can't get to city center earlier than 9pm... and most concert and theatre things start at 7pm. But it looks like I will be creating a bit of my own entertainment, as my Wednesday night Advanced Converstaion class wants to read an American comic play... any suggestions??? Even being a bit broke, there is plenty to do here on the cheap.. tonight I was talking with another American and we were saying how in Old Town, where everything is over priced a beer is 50Kc, which is $2, whereas most places a beer is 25Kc or less (the pubs near where I teach, which is "suburban Prague" the beers are 19 Kc, which is about 80 cents) and that's for a pint or a half litre and the beer is much stronger.. the stuff I like is 12% alchohol, as the dark beers are stronger... the Staropramen 12 degrees, as they say here, is just lovely! As is the infamous Kozel cerny!

Everything is all golden and rust and still some green... there are trees everywhere.. and the 16 minute bus ride I have out to my kids, is just lovely... it would be like going out to Glenview or Northbrook as far as relationship to the city, but because the transport is soooo good, it's a 16 minute bus ride, on a nice comfy super warm bus. The expressway runs along the Vlatava so it's quite scenic... looks like the area around State College, PA as the hills are about the size of the Nittany Mountains. That's as far out of the city as I have been.. so what I have seen looks like Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.

Must go to bed.. it's about 1am.. am watching "Scream 2" in Czech of course.. there is one movie a week in English and on Saturday there is Euronews, which is in English, but that's it.. everything is dubbed!

So from the Golden City (or Zlate Mesto) cau