DONE!!!!

I am officially done with my class!!!! Whoo-hoo!!! I'm so happy!!

Just wanted to let you know! :)

Going to celebrate with my chums! Later folks!!

Random Thoughts About Czechs

Well, I feel better, physically that is! I'm glad to be over my cold and my nose is happy too! I've just been 'classing' it up the past few days and trying to figure out my next stop in the journey of life. I'll let you know as soon as I know more!

On a different note, over my past few weeks in Prague, I've noticed some interesting things about the culture here and thought it was time to share those things with you. So here goes:

• You can understand emotions regardless of the language you speak...couples in love, crying babies, rude waitresses.


• Double-roll toilet paper is a blessing you don't know you have until you don't have it any more. Appreciate it!


• Czech women are in denial about their shoe size...they all wear sandles too small. I don't get it.


• You don't have to bring your 1980's fanny pack that you got at Salvation Army when you come...they sell them by the rackfull here!


• Mullets are no longer a thing of the past...the Czechs sport them proudly.


• Enjoy your free water at restaurants and free refills, you won't find them here.


• Instead of mosquitoes after a rain...it's snails and slugs...gotta watch your step always. Here's a pic for you!

That's all for now. I've gotta get busy find a job! Please pray for Kami and I as we look for jobs!! Thanks so much! :) Talk to you soon!

Who Gets a Cold in August?

Since I'm officially on my fifth package of little Kleenex's in two days, I think I can say I'm sick. I've been sneezing and blowing my nose like crazy since I got up yesterday morning and it's been all sorts of fun. I officially have my first Czech cold. Boo. I got some Ricola's yesterday to help my throat and I was going to get some meds, but the pharmacy was already closed. They don't sell medicine in regular stores here...just at pharmacies. It's not like what you think of in America, you can get stuff over the counter there, it's just the only place that sells the good stuff! So, today I went to the pharmacy and got some cold medicine and it's been helping, but my nose is raw and I can't really breath. Hopefully it'll get better soon though!

Friday night was fun. There is an outdoor cinema in the summer here, so Kami and I went to see a movie there last night. They were playing 'No Country for Old Men' and since I hadn't seen it, I was glad to go. It was quite an interesting movie. If anyone has seen it, I think we need to talk. I'm a bit confused by some things.

I've been promising my aunt and cousin that I would post a picture of goulash here, so it is below. My aunt used to make goulash for us growing up and since goulash is a Czech meal, I had to try some. It's different than I'm used to but I really liked it. It is almost like a gravy with stew meat in it and they serve it with dumplings so you can sop up all the gravy!! Yum!! This particular place served it with bread dumplings, potato dumplings, and potato pancakes...they sure do like their bread and potatoes here!

Hmm...what else? Kami and I just got home from a journey to the town center and now we're just hanging out. I wanted to take some more pictures since we just have one more week here. I can't believe our time in Prague is winding down. Crazy to think about. One thing in particular I wanted to see was a monument dedicated to students that were clubbed by police on November 11, 1989. According to my Prague book, "the national outrage triggered by this event pushed the communist government towards its final collapse a few days later."

Since being here, I've learned that I definitely don't know enough about history and communism and all that. Honestly, history has never really interested me, but since being in Czech...a former communist nation...I've been trying to learn a little about it. The thing is that communism to these people isn't ancient history...it only ended a little less than 20 years ago so if you're an adult here, you probably know what communism was all about. One of my one-to-one business students was telling me some of what it was like during that time and it's insane to think these people really lived it...it's not something that happened hundreds of years ago that noone remembers...it's very fresh on these people's minds.

Last week marked the 40th anniversary of the Soviet invasion into Czechoslovakia, a very grim day for the citizens here. Kami and I went down to the town that night and saw a photo exhibit of pictures from that day and days after. It was quite gripping just to see how life was back then. I mean, one day you're just hanging out and being merry, and the next, Soviet tanks are taking over your town. The picture below is quite crazy to me...it's a picture from 1968 in front of the National Museum and you can see we are in the same square because the museum is in the background...so 40 years ago, in the same place I stood, were tanks and all kinds of craziness going on.

Ok, I think this blog is long enough now. Hope all is well in your life!

Remembering Sunday!

Sorry that it's been a few days...just haven't been in the blogging mood the last few days. But I'm good now so I'll fill you in on what's been going on.

Sunday, Kami and I went to visit what has been dubbed the "Creepy Tower" and "Prague's Eyesore"...official name the TV Tower. It's really tall and sticks up all over Prague. Apparently the citizens of Prague don't really like it and want it to be take down, but we enjoyed it while it is still here! At the tower, you can take an elevator to an observation level to get a nice view of the city and to a different level to dine (we didn't do that one). Here's the tower:

Apparently some guy (artist type) thought it'd be cool to put some babies crawling up and down the tower...a little creepy if you ask me. You can see them from afar on the above picture and I am providing a close-up just incase you don't believe me that they are babies. It's really creepy...this is why it has been dubbed the 'Creepy Tower'...but I guess it gives the people something to talk about!

So on the observation leven, there are like five rooms where you can go and look at all the different views of Prague. I'm not really sure what is in the background of this picture of the city, but it gives you a feel of what it was like. I'm posting more pics on my photo site, but this blog thing isn't really cooperative with the picture uploading.

Since then, we've just been busy with class and more class. I gave my second lesson today in front of my classmates and I think it went really well. I taught about homophones (to/too/two, etc) and it was fun. Just a little over a week left of class....so crazy to think we're almost done! I think Kami and I are sending out our CV's (the European version of a resume) tonight, so maybe we'll get a little idea of where we're heading soon. I'll update you when I have an idea...hopefully soon ;)!!

Besides that...I think Kami and I might be going to the opera this weekend...hope so anyways. I think it'd be quite fun. There is an Italian opera on tour here, so even the Czech people won't understand..ha. This weekend, I'm planning to devote a great deal of time to studying, considering we have a massive final next Friday. Whoop!

I think that is all for now. Goodnight.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Today is my father's birthday so I just wanted to say a public happy birthday to him! So:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!

Love you--Sara