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?"
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?"
posted by David at 1:46 PM
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