Just Hanging Out

I know, I know, I'm a horrible person...I just haven't been in the mood to blog the past few days.

I'm still in Prague...have no fear. We finished our class on Friday, hung out with our classmates that night and Saturday, didn't do much yesterday and today we did some more exploring. We will be in our apartment until Thursday morning, after which, we have no clue where we are going. Ha...sounds fun, huh?? Don't worry though, something is bound to come up! :)

That's just my update for now. I'll update more when I know more. Until then...

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!!

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.

Oh What a Day!

Today has been quite eventful...well class-wise.

Everyone in our class has to teach students infront of the class and then get critiqued by the teacher and students. Today was my first day to do this. Let me tell you, I was a little nervous at first, but once I got going, I was ok. Since our real Czech students didn't show up, two of my fellow learners acted as students. I think the lesson went well and I had some positive feedback from the class and teacher. Overall, I am happy with the way it went and now I just have to get ready for my next lesson...next Wednesday!

I also had my first lesson with my second student today. His name is Tomas and he works in the corporate part of an international bank here. He just got back from holiday so he said his mind wasn't working as well as it normally does...and considering today was the first time he's spoken English in a month, I can understand. Today we just talked and got to know each other and he said that next week, he wants to go over prepositions and brush up on those.

So I'm done with all my lessons for this week and I can breath until next week!

That's all for tonight!! Have a great day!

Just Another Day in Paradise...I Mean Prague!

Well, I have officially completed my first week of class at ITTP! It was quite fun and interesting and informative. There is definitely lots to learn about teaching English and I'm so glad I have chosen to take the course instead of just going straight into teaching like some people do. I just know I needed this to get me going.

I had my first one-on-one lesson today with a student outside of the school. Each student in my class is assigned two people in local businesses to teach to once a week and my first lesson was today. I met with Martina this morning at her home. She works for a local newspaper as a photo editor and attends classes at the local university. Get this though, she is married to a guy that does photography for the Czech National Geographic...HOLY COW!! I was so stoked when she told me that. She even showed me some of his work in magazines and I was totally impressed. So anyways, we just chatted for the hour I was there. She speaks English fairly well and just wanted to use our time to practice speaking, so we did! Her husband and daughter speak some English, but they do not practice together, so for my hour each week, she just wants to talk so she can practice her speaking. We covered many topics today and I can't wait to meet with her again on Monday.

While I was on my way to meet with Martina, I saw a beautiful church so on my way home, I stopped to take a few pictures.

So after returning home, Kami and I hit the streets once again to check out what was going on in the center of town. We walked around a bit, visiting some shops and snapping a few pictures. While we were in the Old Town Square, we got to see a band playing so I thought I'd share a little bit of that with you. I tried to show our surrounding so I hope they are clear.

While walking around, we also saw a couple that had just gotten married taking photographs. It was realy beautiful. Just made me think about how awesome their wedding pics are going to be...in Prague, come on now! Here's the happy couple:

Oh what a day. Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us!!

How Blessed I Am.

While most of you are stuffing your faces with lunch back in the US, I'm sitting here on my balcony, listening to my roommate share his tunes with us and enjoying the cool summer evening. It's amazing.

The second day of class went well...just learning more about lesson plans and teaching and all that jazz. We had a different teacher today, and I think we'll have him tomorrow and Thursday. I have my first one-on-one teaching lesson on Friday with a photographer from here so I'm interested to see how that goes. I would have had one tomorrow but the guy is on holiday so I have a little longer to get ready that most of my classmates.

We had lunch at a local place that a guy from our school told us about so I have my first taste of real Czech food. It was beef with a gravy sauce and bread. It was quite tasty, I must say. I forgot to take a picture of it, sorry.

Well, I think that is all for today. Hope you are splendid. I leave you with a picture I took yesterday of the Muzeum. The sky was amazing...it's been very cooperative these past few days.

Like the First Day of Kindergarten All Over Again!

It finally started...our TEFL class at ITTP started today and it was quite interesting...in a good way of course! Kami, Tyler and I left the flat a little early to make sure we got there on time, and since we were a little early, we had some time to hit a coffee shop and get our morning started right! I had a delicious cold coffee and Kami tried real cappucino for the first time...no Toot-n-Totums here!

So we arrived to class to find all of our new classmates. There are 13 people total in the class, nine males and four females. The majority of the people are from the US but there are other countries represented, including Scotland, Australia, Romania and England. It's very exciting to have a good mix and get to know people from other countries. Besides our roommate, there is another guy from Georgia (went to Valdosta State...Titletown USA!!!) and two people from New York, a guy from Connecticut, another from Arizona and a girl from Seattle. A good mix, I'd say!

Alena, the leader of the school, did a brief intro to the course and then a guy from a school in Moscow came to tell us about their program for English teachers. It was very interesting, but I'm thinking Kami and I won't opt to go there. Good info though. After lunch, a czech girl came to give us a lesson in Czech. It was nuts. She did the whole lesson speaking only Czech so we had to figure out what she said according to her cues and body language. It was crazy. Two things were accomplished with this, we learned some basic Czech and we were able to see how our students will feel when we are only speaking English to them. (So it can be done...teaching without knowing the language).

So that was pretty much it! I cooked our first dinner tonight and that was good...felt good to actually cook and not eat out. I made spaghetti and it was quite yum! Actually, it was pretty much the only thing I was certain was something I knew I could made without having to read the directions. Haha.

We also adopted a new roommate. His name is Ewen and he's from Scotland and we are happy to welcome him into our home. I kind of feel as though I'm on an episode of Real World, but hopefully I won't have to deal with that kind of drama they do. Ha. It's all good though, just hanging out!!

Oh yea, another thing. I guess that my right foot was a little jealous of my left, so it developed a blister on the same toe as the opposite foot...it's amazing...sense sarcasm! It's ok though...the walking is great...it's just the feet, they're still adapting!

So I guess that is it for the day! More to come...

Getting Our First Taste

Well, we're definitely in a foreign land. Asking everyone if they speak English before we can ask for help and not being able to know what you order at a restaurant are usually indications you're not at home. Ha. Kami and I visited our second local cafe around our apartment and were unable to communicate at all with her. After pointing to a word in our phrasebook, she said ok and we just trusted she'd bring us something. Ha. It turned out being ok, some chicken and potatoes, but it was a little scary there for a minute.

Also, for any of you that are thinking about traveling to Europe, you need to know about the water. If you order water or buy water, you need to know that most people drink their water 'sparkling' here, or with bubbles. It is SOOOO gross!!! My first water I had in Lithuania was like this and I had the great chance of getting it again today at the pub. So let's just say I'll be carrying around water with me from now on! Enjoy your bubbleless water and your free water Americans!!

We then had to the chance to get our first taste of the 'pretty' side of Prague. After our roommate Tyler arrived, we headed down to the center of town to find the school in prep for our meeting with them tomorrow. Well, we got a little lost on the journey but ended up seeing some awesome buildings and getting a few pics along the way...my first of the journey! Here are a couple, you can see more on my photo site (this site is hard to post pics so it's just easier to do on Picasaweb).

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to the castle to see the changing of the guard...that'll be awesome. We are also meeting with a guy from our school so hopefully we'll know more once that happens. I'll let you know how it all goes.

Goodnight.