I’m currently on a train back to Ostrava, annoying the people sitting next to me with nearly incessant click, click, clicking of the keys of my newly borrowed (without a required date of return) laptop. Mine has been on its way out for some time, now, and after somehow managing to erase its own IP address about two weeks ago, will now no longer connect to the internet or play DVDs. So, in a desperate state, I’m now borrowing one with both an English and Czech keyboard, and with a working IP address and DVD player. A friend of mine was remarking on the way that everything seems to run on connections here in the Czech Republic – life is easier when you know people. This situation with my computer has certainly demonstrated the truth of that statement…it’s interesting, to finally start feeling like I do have connections here in the Czech Republic, or, at least, in Prague.
Speaking of connections, I spent the week in Prague for an orientation with the rest of the Fulbrighters in the Czech Republic – teachers, teaching assistants, researchers and students. I hadn’t before realized that so many of us teaching assistants are clustered in northern Moravia, so it was great for us to spend a week together and getting to know one another better. We have another session together in the middle of November with teaching assistants from all over Middle Europe, and we’ll be meeting up in Krakow. There’s also a rumor circulating that our mid-year orientation in Slovakia is when we really get to know one another, since part of the sessions include nude, non-gender-discriminating spa trips.
It was helpful to hear about the experiences of other ETAs (English Teaching Assistants)…while I have certainly received a very warm welcome from my school in Ostrava, there are of course a lot of difficulties being encountered along the way. Namely, the balance between us, the assistants, and the original teacher in the room. American and Czech classrooms tend to be run in different styles, especially where discipline is concerned. So, brainstorming with other people in my position was helpful, and sharing mutual stories and trials was just hilarious. It seems that the male teaching assistants might have it a bit tougher in some senses – girls don’t need to giggle in my classes, and when my students introduced themselves to me individually, none added “making love” to their lists of hobbies.
So much of the week was spent in discussion about the Czech school system, but we also spent a significant amount of time wining and dining with folks from the U.S. Embassy. They’ve both convinced me to take the Foreign Service Test, and made me more concerned that I wouldn’t enjoy the lifestyle of a foreign service officer. I’ll be taking the test in October in Poland, so further updates will follow.
The men who worked for the embassy were, however, great for adding stories to my collection. They mostly shared a few stories about the weekends they were “on duty,” basically, or just filling in for whoever it is that usually receives the call when a U.S. citizen needs assistance. One of my favorite stories was about the American who decided to remove a sword from one of the statues on Charles Bridge. I also really enjoyed hearing from the Consular Officer who used to be stationed in the Cancun area, and received a call from the Mexican government that went something like, “We have one of your gringos, and he broke a really expensive rock.” Turns out a guy was throwing stones around at the Mayan ruins, tossed one a little too far, and it landed on top of another rock, breaking it in half. Thankfully the consular officer was skilled, and he managed to negotiate the price of the broken rock down from $10,000 to $2,000.
I did learn, too, that Obama is close to appointing an ambassador from the US to the Czech Republic, and that the ambassador will be visiting my classes in Ostrava in November. So there are more connections to be made, I suppose.
New words I’ve learned this week:
Řeřicha (watercress) – useless, but difficult to pronounce and therefore a challenge
Bohoužel (regrettably) – useful, but full of vowels that are tricky to keep straight
Well, I’m approaching the land of invasive Spanish slugs, so it’s time for me to sign off. Steven – you recommend killing all the Spanish slugs I come across, but do you have any suggestions for a method? I mentioned the slugs to my co-teachers, and they all said that they have a pair of scissors that they usually use for gardening, and that they cut the slugs in half when they come across them. While gross, I’m somehow drawn to the idea of slug shears.
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