• Summer

    řijen / october

    i bring you: silly czechpat tales from the first week of october! on monday, i noticed a reasonably fashionable dressed young woman on the street… carrying a whole tomato that she had just taken a bite out of like an apple. had to text alex about what kind of silly country we live in. that evening, i famously had a huge ramble session with myself about life here and life in the united states that alex kept cracking up about. i was in a philosophizing mindset, thinking about how life might be if we moved back to the states, but i probably should’ve just wrote it down in a journal instead of…

  • Summer

    září/september

    september is here again in south bohemia. all the little kiddos are scrambling around with their new backpacks and school supplies and the leaves on the trees in na sadech park are just beginning to turn the slightest hint of orange. just like my hair has! this may be a fluke and i may need a couple more weeks to correctly prove this, but people here in budĕjovice seem to be friendlier lately. i cannot for sure tell if this is czech republic smiling upon me after my grand return from summer trips abroad (reason one), everyone has been in a good mood these days (reason two), my own good mood…

  • Summer

    summertime

    it’s past the halfway point of my favorite month of the year. (okay, actually that’s december but this takes a close second) that means it’s time to step back and think about how i best want to enjoy my summer. really, i want things to sloooooowww down a little bit, but between hanging out with czech kids for ten hours a day every day for three weeks (i’ve just finished week two!) it’s kind of hard for that to happen. on one hand, it’s inspirational since kids are all about just enjoying a simple moment. on the other hand, i often come home exhausted, but doing something simple like eating…

  • Summer

    end of (school) year

    i’ve been a bit relaxed lately. maybe it’s all the warm weather giving me visions of summer, the constant student cancellations, or the fact that i have only one more week of teaching before our summer holidays, but i can’t even be bothered to set an alarm clock lately. especially yesterday, when i woke up four minutes after my german class had begun. i managed to make it in forty-five minutes later and felt like i owed the class some explanation. i proffered a simple: “ich bin nicht aufgestanden.” (i didn’t get up). they were amused. so much for that perfect lipstick/ponytail/preparedness thing i had going for awhile. not even…

  • Summer

    spring, lately

    happy may, all! this week was rife with student cancellations (more than half of my students cancelled, for real), odd occurrences, and happy times. i chose this week to participate in daily diaries because of all the weirdness and happiness that has surrounded this week. on monday i had the strangest experience. i went to the university as usual in the afternoon, where i was about to have two lessons in the same building. unfortunately, there was a GIANT puddle of water on the floor in the lobby and the receptionist spoke very limited english, but enough to tell me that no students (and apparently, myself) were being let in. however,…