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how to just barely get a visa
the past forty-eight hours have just been sort of a blur of long bus rides. we traveled to bratislava for the second time to pick up our visas, but it wasn’t all quite as simple as that. to obtain our visas, we had to show documentation that we have paid for at least six months of czech insurance, and could only pick up the visas within a half hour window. the bus we wanted to take that would eventually get us home before midnight would leave less than two hours from the visa pick-up time. recipe for stress! after barely making the bus TO bratislava in the first place, we…
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When You Miss the Country Right Outside Your Window (+ Holiday Plans)
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english teaching success story
i think the months of december and january and all the uncertainty and stress about finances, jobs, and visas has all culminated to make up this week: the most successful week we’ve had since arriving in the czech republic. i received notification that my trade license (visa) is ready to pick up– legal to live and work in europe! obtained two new lessons: convinced one student to sign on for eight more weeks of lessons with me after a trial lesson! made verbal plans with landlords to remain living here in this beautiful flat for at least SIX MORE MONTHS for an amazing price. (something i’d been worried about since we moved…
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any day now
this past week has been a good one– one that pushed my comfort zone and made me nervous (as i had my first classes) but i think the more i teach the better i’ll feel about it! i’ve been patiently awaiting a ton of things it seems: my visa notification and a couple of packages from the U.S. that have not arrived for whatever reason. arghhhhh. a great week for alex though, as he got his visa notification and had an excellent first full week of teaching kids. he says “it went as expected”, which i think means it went well. above are some photos of budejovice from this week.…
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snowy sundays
awoke this morning with the intention of creating an amazing mexican brunch a la señor moose, my favorite ballard mexican joint. created chilaquiles with ingredients i had already– basically fried tortilla squares under variety of diced vegetables, two eggs topped with sour cream (erm… plain yogurt) and jalapeños, served with horchata lattes. this yielded a big thumbs up from alex, who could not believe he was enjoying eating a mushroom, a pepper, and an onion in a single bite (three vegetables he used to dislike). it’s near impossible to get food mexican food here, and they barely even sell mexican spices. at nicer grocery stores you can pick up…
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cesky krumlov-ing it
we took a day trip seeing as we both have the week off from lessons– half hour bus ride away to beautiful quaint little cesky krumlov. it is basically what would happen if prague was tiny and only old town with winding streets and plenty of cobblestones. alex is lucky enough to have the opportunity to work here, teaching the local primary school kids english once a week! the people are friendly and being there in february on a wednesday morning, it was practically deserted. (off-peak travel really ain’t that bad!) i had visited here six and a half years ago during my first “eastern/central europe” trip– it was the…
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employment
yesterday was a monumental day in the life of “cynthia abroad”, for i have been hired by a language school as an english teacher. as clients come up, they will assign me classes and slowly my open schedule will fill. i have already been assigned a course with an employee at a local firm here that will start the week after next, as this next week is the czech “spring break” holiday. the czechs LOVE skiing and usually plan ski trips for their families to nearby ski resorts in the south of the country or in the austrian alps. i also had my first paying gig last night– first lesson…
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next phase
on thursday, we moved from prague to ĉeské budêjovice– about a two hour, twenty minute bus ride in complete snow. upon arrival (in which i, not going to lie, felt a liiiittle nervous about… “am i going to like it?”) we were whisked away by our landlord and alex’s new manager, marketa to our new home for the next five weeks. our landlords are super nice and thoughtful, and the woman reminds me of mrs. hudson from sherlock (yes, i have watched the entire BBC ‘sherlock’ series thus far. now i’m into ‘the wire’). it cannot be overstated enough that our flat is GORGEOUS and giagantic and i can’t believe…
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Last Days in Prague
last days in prague, which is quite snowy and freezing at the moment. not exactly great exploration weather but it’ll have to do. today i’ve sort of shut myself inside all day with tea, sweater, and a candle sifting through hundreds of apartment listings in ceske budejovice. and of course there is something wrong with almost all of them. trying to accept the fact that i will be moving into a terribly communist looking building as most of them there are like this. as almost a strange hobby of sorts, i’ve always liked perusing craigslist for cool looking apartments in great neighborhoods… just for fun. but i have to say, it is so…
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here we go again
from the very beginning of this trip we’ve been on the move, and when we landed in prague i really had no idea how long we’d be here at all. we moved into a beautiful flat in mala strana with a cool roomie and life has been great, besides the whole lack of jobs and money thing. however, our jobless streak is over as today, alex has officially been offered a position in České Budĕjovice with an English school that specializes in young learners and will be teaching about 18 classes a week to primary school children in both CB and Česky Krumlov, a nearby small town as beautiful as one from…
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funemployment
i have been unemployed (not by choice) for over three weeks, which is normal from what i hear talking to other past TEFLers. the first two weeks were a blast– it was christmas time! lots of dinners, events, fun things to check out. then week three happened– the week that is bringing plenty of wondering: “where are all the jobs?” “should i stay in prague?” “should i start looking elsewhere?“ the amount of jobs and job related activity in the past five days or so has been close to nil. i have heard the january was the second biggest hiring time of year in prague but you wouldn’t know it.…
