photo ops

Some amazing weather lately. Here's the latest batch of walk-and-shoot results:

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Flat pix and nemluvim cesky

So, finally, I have taken some pictures of my flat to share. Nothing too exciting in the bedroom, living room or kitchen, but I feel compelled to point out the bathroom. Please note the presence of a tub, but the lack of a shower. Also note the hose coming out of the faucet in the tub. That, ladies and gentlemen, is our shower. Doesn't quite have the feel of "long hot shower in the winter time," does it?
One thing worth pointing out in the living room is the library that came with the place. Seems it would be great to have that many books around, especially when TV (not in the picture) only carries Czech-speaking stations. But that assumes the books are in English, which, of course, they are not. Save 2 Peanuts comics books, and a book on the legends of the Sioux. So books in my current flat are for decorative purposes only (which, *cough*, isn't so far from how it's been for me in my last few residences...).


Recently, I got to thinking on the benefits of not speaking the local language. First off, if, speaking purely hypothetically, a car nearly runs you over because the idiot driver didn't look before he turned the corner, and shouts something at you, it's great not feeling insulted. Also, it's great to return fire when you know he can't understand you either.
In addition, like the States, occasionally a solicitor (for a charitable organization or for personal advancement) will approach you. Actually, that's pretty rare, since most solicitors just stand at their stations and don't actively pursue patrons, which is pretty pleasant. But on the rare occasions I am solicited, it's wonderful looking at them and saying "I have no idea what you just said." and they go away.

Gorgeous Fall Day

So it appears that DC is actually colder than Prague today. The highs here reached into the mid 60s, while in DC, weather.com tells me that it's only in th 40s.

Given the great weather, I took a stroll with my camera. Here's some of what I came across in my travels:


Enjoy, and ahoj.

How do you know you're in a foreign country?

My dad has repeatedly said "If you want to see anything, anything at all, go to Manhattan." Yet I saw something the other night which is beyond all my experiences, even in, as Al Pacino calls it in Scent of a Woman, "Freak Show Central."
While at a bar (called a dance club, but it was far from that) with had a small dance floor, there was this older man. What brought my attention to him was not that he was the "old guy in the club". In his early-to-mid 50s, he wore jeans and a black wife-beater. Over the wife-beater was a Mr. T-style gold chain and a jean button-down shirt, open most of the way revealing some white chest hairs and plenty o' chest wrinkles. He also donned a leather jacket, and to cover his bald head, he sported a leather bandana. Yes, a leather bandana. Think about what that looks like for a moment. Oh, how I wish I had a camera to film his arhythmic gyrations to Flashdance.

On a different note, I was walking through town the other morning with my camera (it was a gorgeous day), and I came cross this sign:

Sure, the natural follow-up to shots and beer is "salads." You know, for all those health-conscious tequila drinkers.

Meanwhile, I am here to teach English. The lesson of the day for everyone out there to think about is how to explain - to a non-native speaker - why "to look like", "to look into", "to look up", "to look up to", "to look down at" "to look in", "to look at" and "to look" mean such different things. Or the difference between "above" and "over" as well as "below" and "under". Why is it "above the ground" but "over 18"? Why can a pilot say "we are currently over Germany" as easily as "we are currenly above Germany", but he can only say "we are above the clouds" and not "over the clouds"??

A quick anecdote: Heather (my roommate) loaded a picture of her cat (who is pretty overweight - the cat is, not Heather) as her desktop background image on her computer at her job. The image she loaded was distorted as Windows stretched it to fit the dimensions of the screen, so the cat looked even fatter than it is normally. Upon seeing that image, one of her Czech co-workers said, "Wow, that's one American cat!" To which Heather replied, "How did you know it was an American cat?" The immediate response was "Well look how fat it is!"

Teaching a group of 6 women and one man last night, I played a game where they have to - in teams - write on the board words in different categories starting with letters I specify. Categories such as "parts of the body", "countries", "colors", etc. Well, a few spaces were left blank. For example, they could not think of a body part beginning with the lettter V. I stated "well, there are several parts of the female reproductive system which work here." (yes, I realize... now... that I could have used "vein") After talking amongst themselves for a moment, they say "oh... we know... vah-gee-na" (where the "gee" is a hard "g" - like in "girl"). And I found myself uttering these words for the first time in my life: "Actually, it's 'vah-JI-nah'." As I was saying those words, the amusement of the fact that I was instructing 6 women on how to say this word hit me pretty hard. Pretty tough not to laugh like a 12-year old in moments like that.

I leave you with that thought.

Is time really on my side?

While talking with a student last week about types of music, it came up that we share a love for jazz. He told me that a member of the Marsalis family was playing that night, and showed me where the ticket office was. Unfortunatley I was unable to see that show, but I did see that Charlie Hunter was also playing a couple nights later. That show I was able to make, and wow, was that great. He's an incredible musician - playing a 7- or 8- string guitar, with 3 strings, played with his thumb, bass strings, and the rest guitar strings. A preview image, and short movie:


In my last post I talked about time, and how much of it free I have. Well, that only does me so much good. Many a bar, store, restaurant, and well, general establishment, has its hours posted in its front door or window, much as is done in the USA. Convenient, right? Well, that's only if the owners decide to abide by the hours they have so generously posted. It has been a common experience of mine (common as in it's happened more than twice, and each time it's pissed me off) to arrive at a cafe or restaurant hoping for a hearty breakfast, only to find that the store hours sign says it opened 30 minutes prior, but the doors are locked and the lights are off.
Granted, it's worked out for me on the opposite side of the day - there have been times I have been the only one in a teahouse, and the store is closed, but no one is in any sort of hurry to leave. I have made comments to waitstaff and owners of said places, and they have repeatedly said that I can sit there as long as I want. Not sure if they're simply being polite, but the more time I spend here, the clearer it is that the Czechs (well, Praguians) are a late-rising, late-staying-up people. You are going to have severe trouble finding breakfast outside a hotel before 11am, but there is no problem staying in a pub until 3am, even though the sign says they close at 11pm (even on a Tuesday).
Which is great, except that 4 days a week I'm up at 6am. Makes it difficult to really take advantage of the Tuesday 3am thing, and in the same breath, it makes it easier to resent not being able to get breakfast until 11, when that's more like lunch.

Hope to have internet in our flat later this week - meeting with the landlord tonight regarding some important information for that - and so for all you AIM'ers and Skypers, I'll be back on presently.

In the meantime, to give you a taste of teaching English, try describing the difference between "to shout", "to yell", and "to scream", and why it's "goose/geese", "moose/moose" and "noose/nooses", or even better: why we get "on a bus" and "on a plane" but you're literally in it, and how that's different from "in a taxi" or "in a truck". Then imagine looking at someone who wants to learn this idiotic language in the eye and asking them "get it?"

Tiiii-iii-iiime is on my side, yes it is

Adult Czechs work the same 9-5 hours that adult Americans work. So when do they learn English?, one might ask. Well, either right before, or right after, their workdays. So that means my hours are right before, and right after, the typical workday. Which, quite naturally, has its pluses and minuses.
Clearly, having not only to be at work, but teach a class, at 7:30 AM (which I do 4 days a week), is not, shall we say, preferrable. However, being completely finished with work at 8:30 AM (Fridays) or 10AM (Wednesdays) is perty darn nice. This morning I arrived home, done with my day, and already on my weekend, before my roommate had even begun her day at her 9-5 job.
Even on days where I teach in the afternoon as well, the earliest I start is 3PM, so I have several hours in the middle of the day, everyday, for whatever I please. Naps have become quite a staple in my life (which follows, given the 6AM alarm).
So yea, it's 3:35pm on Friday, and it's been the weekend for 7 hours. Gotta love it.

I've been meaning to mention this bar which is across the street from my flat. In it, the walls (and ceiling) are covered with posters of the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. Think it'd be somewhat American, eh? Or at least English? Well... not so much. The bartenders speak only Czech, and the only thing they serve there is beer. No food, no liquor. Which isn't a bad thing in either respect. Saying "pivo" gets me what I want, and everyone's happy.

One of my students the other morning told me about a big soccer match happening that night - a World Cup qualifier between the Czech Republic and Finland. As the words "Will it be on TV?" left my mouth, I recognized their inherent insanity. Not only was it on TV, but of the 4 channels we get, it was on 3 of them. CZ won, 3-0. The cheers could be heard blocks away.

Ahoj!

A Taste of America in Prague

There is something indescribably wonderful about sitting in a bar in Prague, listening to John Fogerty's "Centerfield" being played over the bar's stereo system, while reading about the Yankees' loss in the ALDS. I am a couple thousand miles away, but I know you can feel my reactions to the losses of the Braves, Yankees, and yes, even the Red Sox, in the first round of the playoffs.

My *cough* condolences to all you front-running fans out there.

But this is still a non-English speaking country... so in this bar they have flyers up advertising a Halloween event here. Yet instead of "witch's brew" they have it labelled "witch is brew". I suppose that's fine, as long as they don't say "which is brew?".

Teaching English has definitely made me notice the differences between British and American English, especially since some of the previous teachers of my current students were British. "Colour" vs. "color", "flat" vs. "apartment", etc. And I must say that I find myself torn at times... "is it a pub? or a bar?" "do i live in a flat? or an apartment?" "is it advertize or advertise?" Definitely a frustrating inner war being waged.

Cheers.

back in the old town again

So after an unexpected and unfortunate trip back to the USA, I returned to Prague yesterday with a renewed sense of focus and motivation. Immediately upon my arrival at JFK, and then again at Ruzyne, I noted the stark contrast between the American (granted, it was New York) and Czech way of life. The tension and hectic-ness associated with living in the NYC (and DC, too) area is pretty astounding when placed side-by-side with the ease of Prague. Rarely is a car horn heard here. Rarely do you hear people - even little children - talk above a natural volume. It took all of two or three minutes of my first conversation when back here to realize that the volume of my voice was decibels too high. It is immeasurably easier to speak - and be heard - when speaking in a normal volume of voice.

Welcome back to serenity.

So I've found, and am currently sitting in, a bar which not only has NFL and MLB playoffs on TV, an English menu, but it has buffalo wings AND free wireless internet. AND waitresses who speak English. Ahhhhhh. I think I've found my new home away from home (away from home, ...).

Many a family friend and member asked me during my brief visit to the USA about my thoughts of Prague. Naturally, my thoughts on the city were the same that I've posted here. When asked about my place here, and how long my stay here might last, I had a less-canned, and less-sure, answer. While, even with my limited hours of real teaching, I can safely say teaching is definitely for me. Teaching English, however, may grow unexciting. But like I said, I've only had a handful of hours in front of students, so we'll see how my opinions morph as I gain more experience.

My condolences to all Sawx fans out there. May the Spankees be next in line to start their winter vacations.

And that's all the news fit to print on this sunny Sunday in Praha.