On the concept of feet barely touching the floor

Hello, anyone who may still be reading. I completely understand if you'd given up, what with the ridiculously and rather rudely long gap between the last entry and this. My apologies - it has been what can only be described as hectic at least, mental at best, here in Prague. My life as an EISPer has well and truly begun, and I am starting to feel I've worked there for rather longer than just three days! For the right reasons, though, definitely the right reasons.

An assortment of photos this time - not sure of the order in which they'll appear, but you can treat it as a matching exercise - a Couchsurfing picnic in Riegrovy Sady park; my desk; one of my favourite streets in Prague so far; and most bizarrely of all, the gym which I have just joined. About which, more later.

So, EISP. Ho hum. Over the last six years since starting at Mountbatten I had totally forgotten, or maybe just misestimated, what it is like to be the small fish in a big pond. Starting all over again has been a shock to my system, and that's even before the students arrive (next Monday). The most frustrating aspect is definitely having a list of things I need to find out, and absolutely no idea whom to ask to find out said things. Luckily EISP is a very small building compared with my previous place, and so when you do eventually find out whom to ask, it does not take very long to locate them and ask them. The trouble is, most of the time they do not know the answer! However today was a much better day than Monday in that respect - today I stayed in my classroom and gradually throughout the day, people came to find me and tell me all of the information that I needed to know. Very handy.

Some key facts I discovered today. One: I have just two or three students in my IB class - nice. Two: my photocopy card does not work - not so nice, though only temporary. Three: my projector is in school and will be installed tomorrow - double bonus. And four: next Friday I am off timetable for the 'IB students' induction weekend', seeing as I am a Year 12 form tutor - which is basically a long walk. Along the lines, I dare say, of 'Mr Pennicott's LONG WALK' for anyone familiar with the delights of Mountbatten Year 7 Camp. And with my D of E hat on, that will suit me just fine.

Speaking of D of E, I was very much relieved, reassured and excited (all at the same time, that was tiring) to find that the D of E crew at EISP seem every bit as relaxed and chilled as my old Mountbatten crew. Helen, Sarah and Anuska welcomed me with open arms and are keen for me to get involved with a couple of camping weekends coming up in the next months, which is brilliant news. I love doing D of E and would definitely not have wanted to lose that.

Today was spent getting EVERYTHING out of all the cupboards in my classroom, looking at it, and deciding between 'file' and 'chuck'. It was a big effort, but with the radio on the time soon passed and at the end of the day I was mightily pleased with the result. Everything in its right place. (and have you ever thought about how weird it is when you are abroad but are hearing traffic updates on the radio about the blockage on the A34 southbound carriageway just before the Milton Interchange? I almost thought I was back in the 'Shire... good old R2)

The weekend seems so long ago, but it was a nice one. I didn't achieve anything much beyond a supermarket stock-up, a long walk through the most enchanting cemetery I've ever visited, and a nice multinational picnic with several CSers. A very relaxing weekend though, to give me the feeling of being 'at home' in my new city.

Tomorrow I shall be trawling through the IGCSE and IB syllabus websites, downloading mark schemes and preparing medium-term plans. This is the reality of expat teacher life, let me tell you! I plan to make sure I'm ready this week for the new start and the arrival of the dreaded students, so that the weekend can run as smoothly as last.

Hope everyone reading this is very well, and enjoying what remains of the summer holidays (teachers) or just the summer (unless it's rained all the time, in which case, sorry to have mentioned it).

Love to all x

First views of EISP

A quick post today as I am so, so , SO frustrated by my absolutely awful internet connection not working, that I just can't be bothered to spend ages typing now. Sorry about that. I will head to some sort of wifi place this weekend sometime and update. The engineer is on his way tomorrow morning between 8am and 11am to try to fix it, but people, don't hold your breath.

This internet thing has been the main and, to be honest, only frustration of moving here. And it's not even as if I use it very much! It's just the fact that phoning the UK is so expensive and it's free on line, and also the fact that I'm paying for it and it's just rubbish.

Ok, spleen vented! Above are 2 pics of my classrooom and 1 of our staffroom at EISP - it's been a very interesting two days of Induction - but much more about that later.

And -quick - publish while the router's little green lights are still flashing!

Love to all x

Ceska Posta - or the Bitter Disappointment of thinking someone's sent you a parcel, only to discover that it is a Gas Bill.

Two very interesting photos here, one of my transport pass (nice pic) and one of the perplexing form I received in the post yesterday telling me to go the Post Office to collect something. Disappointingly, the 'something' turned out to be a completely incomprehensible letter from Prazska Plynarenszka (or similar), the Gas Company, which I assume is a demand for payment although it may not be. And there I was, hurrying to the post office with a skip in my step, wondering which of my lovely friends may have sent me a parcel! Ha ha, I can dream eh!

Recently I have been spending a bit of time getting to know my new friends and colleagues out here. Our merry band is growing and the last additions will arrive tomorrow night, upon which I assume we'll go to our traditional First Night haunt, a fine pizzeria called Red Flower down on Vinohradska. Chris, I, Katie, Lyn and Aileen were all treated to our first official Welcome to Prague dinner there, so it's time to do the same for Tara and possibly the mysterious Dave. (this is a person who we think will be working with us, but haven't heard from for some time. We're sure he's here somewhere!)

Life is forming some kind of routine right now - a morning run every couple of days, today's being the sixth so far and noticeably easier than the previous attempts; followed by a coffee and some Internet time, then lunch (rohliky, syr a synka, voda, chipsy); after that some kind of 'afternoon activity' or jobs which need to be done (usually involving form-filling); then a rendezvous around 6pm for beer and food. It's a nice life, really! Yesterday I found myself declaring to Chris that I was looking forward to getting into the routine of work, but when I think about it, I'm more than happy really to live my life in this gentle pattern, needing to be only where I decide I need to be...

We think that we are going to try to do a Wednesday Night Social each week, to get us through the first few difficult weeks of our new jobs, and to make sure that we spend at least some time not doing work! In addition I've got the weekly CS meeting on Thursday nights to look forward to, so it's shaping up to be a healthy balance of work and fun already. I like that (as you all know).

I have a happy succession of visitors lined up already: kicking off with Sir Anthony of Constable mid-September, followed hot on the heels by Pauly M, and proceeding to good old Mum n' Dad in October. Anyone else who fancies a City Break, I have a lovely orange sofa all ready and waiting for you!

Tomorrow is the Great Internet Connection Day, and then I may do another walk in the afternoon, now that the Storm of All Storms has broken the heat and it seems to suddenly be Autumn. And then... Thursday... it's off to EISP for my first day!

Thank you for reading - apologies for poor content of late - rest assured that there will doubtless be silly stories aplenty once work gets going! The difficulties of merely pronouncing the names of our International students will, I am sure, be worth noting...

Love to all x

POZOR! Thunder and lightning!

I agree that some photos of the Great Prague Storm of 2010 as witnessed last night would be more interesting than a photo of my new chairs, but I was scared of water-damaging my camera by getting it out in the middle of the rain deluge! So new chairs it is. (The one on the left was constructed by Chris as a demo, the one on the right by me, so I know which one I won't be sitting on!).

Last night's storm has to be my main talking point today, simply because it was just fantastic! Not since the Grand Canyon (another story) have I seen such powerful lightning, heard such thunderous thunder (ok, I'm tired and my adjectival power is waning) and got so utterly drenched in the rain. You know that photo a couple of posts ago, of me coming home in the rain? Well, let me tell you that that was 'a light shower' compared with last night's downpour.

And the most amusing part is, for the first instalment of the storm which apparently produced marble-sized hailstones, I was locked away three floors down in the basement of a gig venue watching Beirut play a fine set, and so I and the rest of the crowd had no idea what was going on outside ! Until the stage manager pulled Beirut offstage early due to 'a leak coming through and water falling on the amps, and therefore danger of electrocution'! The crowd and I were thinking, hmmm, a leak? Dodgy pipes? But then we got up the stairs and released a collective 'aaaaah!' when we saw what was going on.

This will be a short post due to a) the internet cafe closing now around me and b) the fact that I need to brave a Czech post office between the impending hours of 18.00 and 19.30 to collect my mysterious package, which wouldn't fit in my post box and so the postman left me a complicated Czech notice telling me (I assume) about it. Wish me luck - more blog tomorrow when I am hopefully much less tired.

Love to all (and better weather) x

Why I don't drink Absinth, and other lessons in life

Good afternoon readers. (If there is anyone still reading - thank you for sticking it for so long.)

Well, it's the Saturday after the Friday night before, and I've ventured out of my tiny little area of Praha 10 and come into the Big City Centre for a change of scene. After much bureacratic wrangling, form-filling and downright confusion I now have my travel pass so I don't have to do *quite* so much walking any more. So it made a nice change to just jump in the tram and head down to Karlovo Namesti, to try a new cafe. I'll be walking back though, to balance out the mid-afternoon Gambrius which is helping me write this blog.

So in the photos, you can see 3 different watering holes that we found last night. They seem to have entered the blog in exact reverse chronological order, so consequently the bottom one is from the first pub we went to - an excellent venue where all the pieces of paper you can see above the bar represent the choices of beer available. Unfortunately I can't remember its name, but we were taken there by my new Assistant Headteacher so I can always ask him! The picture of Lyn (a new colleague) pouring her beer is from a venue imaginatively named 'The Pub' , where you have your own beer taps on your table and just serve yourself, then pay up your total at the end. And the wall of photos is in Vagon, the dirtiest and most excellent rock club I have been in for a long while!

Our group consisted of Tony, the Assistant Principal at EISP, and his partner Debbie, whose aim was to welcome me, Chris (SLT), Aileen (Head of MFL), Lyn (Science teacher) and her partner Katie to Prague with a few choice ales. And a very nice evening it was. We shared stories of our respective first few days in the city, tales of finding keys to apartments (me), walking a lot (me) and shipping 500 pairs of shoes from the UK (not me - I brought four). All my colleagues seem very nice and friendly indeed, and I look forward to working with them as from this coming Thursday.

Afterwards Katie, Lyn and I headed to the aforementioned 'Pub' and then on to Vagon. I love that place. It's not quite the Dorchester - more rocky, more old-school and much MUCH bigger - but clearly has lots of history to it and loads of interesting photos on the walls which I shall have to devote some time to it. Best of all in my opinion, it is inconspicuously located in the basement of some sort of shopping centre and it just makes me laugh how you descend the stairs ino this enormous seething mass of long hair, beer and loud rock music, which ordinarily you may walk on past and never notice! Amuses me, anyway.

So in Vagon Katie bravely (stupidly) tried Absinth, which I here and now promise I shall never do myself. She went from utterly disgusted to hilarious laughter in very quick succession after the shot, which was fairly funny to see, but I feel I am just too elderly and dignified for those sorts of shenanigans now. Best to observe and comment rather than partake in these moments, I would say.

After a predictably monsoon-like walk home, I dried off and crawled into bed at around 4am. A good night was had by all.

In other news, I mentioned earlier that I have acquired a Travel Pass! This was one of my prouder moments of wading through bureaucracy. As advised by all consulted sources of information, I presented myself at Muzeum station with passport photos and passport, ready to sign and procure a 90-day pass. I enquired, and was told to go to Mustek instead. So I walked to Mustek (fortunately it wasn't raining - it was that other form of Czech weather, blisteringly hot) and knocked on the window of a booth where a terrifying-looking woman was busy reading the Czech version of Take a Break. I asked her as best I could for 90-day pass. She paused, harrumphed, snarled at me and said .... 'NE'. Baffled, I thought I'd try another of Mustek, labyrinthine metro station that it is. So finally I found the correct booth, joined the long queue, and was presented with a complicated-looking form entirely in Czech. At this point I almost gave up, took the form home and saved it for another day. But no! I decided I wasn't going to be beaten. I'd walked half an hour for this pass, and really wanted to get the tram back home. So I found a quiet corner of Mustek, stuck my Ipod on and spent some quality time with my best friend, my slovnik (dictionary). I managed to work out what everything on the form meant, eventually, fill it in, queue up in the by now even longer queue, and - hallelujah - obtain the pass! Valid till 10. listopad (November - see what I mean about there being no similarity between Czech and English?) the pass gives me open and unlimited access to all city centre transport. Pleased with this not inconsiderable triumph, I celebrated by riding the transport home rather than another half an hour walk.

Tonight involves a quiet night in , and I am going to work out how to turn my oven on and try to cook something in it.

Tomorrow I am meeting another new arrival, Katie, at the airport and then going with some CSers to see the band Beirut play. Really looking forward to that.

Hopefully the next post will be more interesting, and less about beer.

Love to all x

Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be... a tourist

Greetings from a very hot and stuffy wifi cafe where I have come to update this blog (and wade through more Czech e-bureaucracy).

Today I decided I'd had enough of sleeping, studying Czech and buying stuff for the flat, and decided to go on a hike. Well, a 'city-hike'. With my camera strapped to my rucksack strap, just like a professional tourist.

I left the flat at about 9.45am and it was already roasting hot outside. Seemed to spend most of the morning going up hills... and then back down them again... and then up more hills... and sometimes along the top of the hills but then pretty quickly back down once more... you get the picture. By the time I got home, about 1pm, I was exhausted.

The hike did however confirm what I had suspected - that Prague is an incredibly green city, really. Within the bustle of the city, the rumbing tramlines and the downright frightening traffic, there are parks, gardens, grassy areas, hills, vineyards and many other peaceful green spaces which always make me feel more relaxed when I take the time to wander through them. Today I found the vineyards not 15 mins walk away from my place in a lovely hillside park. There was a cafe bar place perched high above the vineyards, which I did not visit today but have definitely earmarked it for another time. This is the third picture you can see above.

The other two pictures (grapes, and the church) were taken up at Vysehrad area, the site of the ancient 'original' Prague citadel. Walking up to the top was quite hard work in this heat, but the views were definitely reward enough. I spent some quiet time wandering the impressive cemetery and finding Dvorak's grave. After some much needed rest in the shade of SS Peter and Paul Church, I made my way home via the centre of the city just to wake myself up after all that greenery!

Apart from wandering, the last few days have mostly involved studying Czech. I feel I am making some small form of progress, managing as I have to ask for stamps at the post office in perfect Czech, and to buy some new shoes without resorting to English (and feeling smug when some others in the shop tried to use the International Language of Loud American, and failed when the shop lady flatly refused to speak anything other than Czech). But keep in mind that any amount of progress is always ridiculously small, where learning Czech is concerned, and that just when you think you're getting some way towards being able to use numbers, you will be confronted in a shop with a price that doesn't sound like any Czech number you've ever heard of.

But thanks to good old 'Czech step by step' and a few hours at the desk, I can now tell you in my best Czech that I like swimming (which is true) and that my mother is ill (which, at this point in time, happens also to be true) . Tomorrow's lesson - saying what you like to eat and drink. Now that sounds more useful!

Love to all x

Grandma's Meatball and other delicacies

Good day, one and all. Indeed it IS a good day today - blue skies, bright sun, no rain... just a shame I chose this morning for a 13 hour sleepathon really!
The picture you see here is from the Couchsurfing Tea Tasting morning which I attended on Sunday - we tried the newly-arrived Japanese teas and Janko (the tea master) gave us an explanation of his teas and how they were harvested, and explained the different flavours. It was a lovely sociable morning with many other Couchsurfers from all different places. If you are unfamiliar with Couchsurfing see www.couchsurfing.org - a great way to make new friends in your city.

Since then I have mostly been eating. Chris and I have tried a different restaurant each night, if I can remember the order rightly since my arrival (A WEEK AGO - how time flies) it was pizza, Czech, pizza, Chris's cooking, Czech, Czech, Indian. I must keep a list of all the interesting specialities and downright silly menu translations I come across - favourites this week include Cheap Cheese, Hidden Meat and Grandma's Meatball. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, neither of us was quite brave enough to tuck into Grandma's Meatball, but I am sure there will come a time...

We ate Indian last night and commented on the fact that it was 'like being at home' - that just about sums up English food for you! It was quite tasty but not my favourite meal out so far - that would be the 3 kinds of fried cheese eaten a couple of nights ago. Now you see why I have been driven to take up running. Happily I do actually seem to be losing weight despite the meals, but then, if you live at the top of a hill and walk up and down it at least 3 or 4 times a day, you've got to be on to a winner on the fitness front.

I'm off to my local GE Moneybank today to collect my debit card which has apparently arrived. I have to say, it was surprisingly (thankfully) easy to set up the bank account, largely owing to the fact that Chris had already done his and so paved the way with the lovely bank ladies for me to do the same - what a charmer. But the whole process went exceedingly smoothly and soon I will have spending power! Which will come in handy when we make our return trip to Ikea and I furnish my flat with two bright red chairs I've got my eye on.... yes my first ever trip to Ikea was yesterday, though we were carless so just had a look and decided what to buy when we return with transport, and finally I saw what all the fuss was about! What a great place. I shall have to go back. (The lure of 20kc fried cheese in the restaurant is just too much to resist).

So today's adventures involve the bank, and then purchasing some sturdy walking shoes as my poor feet need some support! Who knows what tonight's dinner will serve up - there was talk last night of playing Czech Menu Roulette - involving deliberately not obtaining the English menu and just choosing something, anything, at random.

But if it ends up being Grandma's Meatball, I think I'll go hungry, thanks.

Hoping everyone is well x

Home from home!

Afternoon! It has FINALLY stopped raining long enough for me to sit outside at a wifi cafe and update this blog. Not that a lot has happened - well, apart from the rain.

'Stair rods' just doesn't describe it.

As a consequence of this rain, I really did not do much of a muchness yesterday. Met up for kava with Chris though at Dobra Trafika, a fascinating old-worlde tobacconists half way between my apartment and his. One thick, bitter and biting cup of Peruvian blackstuff later, and I decided that the supermarket would be the furthest I would venture in that downpour. The rest of the day was spent studying Czech (Kdo je to? To je Bill Clinton? Ano, to je Bill Clinton. Ale kdo je Bill Clinton? Je politik a je American.... and so on), cleaning, tidying and procrastinating.

In the evening Chris coaxed me out with a text message along the lines of 'is it beer o' clock yet?', and I assembled the waterproof gear depicted above. 20 mins later I arrived at Na Smetance and was soaked. Repeat, soaked.

Dinner was worth it though - a delicious chicken steak with creamy tandoori sauce... yum yum. Chris can testify that the mysteriously-named 'hidden meat' was just as tasty.

Another couple of pive, half a Man City match and another sodden walk later, I was tucked up in bed ready for an early attendance at Japanese Tea Tasting this morning! But more about that later.

Hoping all is well wherever you are x

When you live in a country where beer's cheaper than water, the need for running becomes apparent

Oh dear... what a picture. I thought I'd better put some photos of something other than my flat, so at risk of being boring, I have chosen this delightful picture taken yesterday evening by Chris at the first of several beers. This was Chris's 'night of not drinking' (read: 5 pints) and tonight is mine, as I could really do with a rest. Let's keep an open mind, shall we?

So yesterday was another day of finding out information, trying to process it and ending up being bewildered. I managed to arrange an internet connection (good thing) but this being the Czech Republic, there is no rush, so the engineers will not come out until the 18th (bad thing). At least there's a lovely wifi cafe next to my building - the Motor Cafe (it is better than it sounds). I put my languages to good use by arranging the internet connection in German, since it was the only language I shared with the sales assistant . However, half way through, my landlady appeared in the queue behind me and it turned out she'd come down to arrange the internet connection on my behalf! Bless her. So she helped me, and now it's (hopefully) all sorted.

After that I explored Flora, my nearby shopping centre. For those who know Southampton, think West Quay but 5 mins walk from my front door, and much quieter, and so I was very pleased to make this discovery. After 2 days of bureacracy and beer I decided some retail therapy was in order so I bought a range of t-shirts to get me through the impending 30 degrees plus weather due to be arriving tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon was spent in the happy company of my 'Czech step by step' self study guide which I acquired in the shopping centre. I learnt 'Co znamena ...?' (what does ... mean?), 'Jsem z Anglie' (I'm from England) and 'Jak se jmenujete?' (what's your name?). And other assorted unpronounceable phrases. This afternoon I shall undertake lesson 2, which I believe contains hotel vocab and some foods. Interesting!

And last night I met Lyn, another new EISP colleague, and her entourage of partner, sister and friend who helped her bring all her suitcases here. Park was visited, pizza was eaten and beer was tidily put away. Which brings me to this morning's 11am awakening - the time by which I had eaten breakfast, done some washing and most extraordinarily of all, BEEN FOR A RUN yesterday.

Well, here's to the weekend - who knows what startling Czech incidents it may hold. See you on the other side.

You know you live in the Czech Republic when...

Welcome, one and all! It's been an eventful few days as one might expect... moving to the Czech Republic has definitely been an 'experience'! But first things first, I'm settled in my new flat which I really like, and I'm happy. Tired, and slightly confused, but happy. So that's good.

The bus journey was remarkably uneventful - it was very sad saying goodbye to the parents and I even shed a tear or two (those who know my hard-nosed side, yes there is a soft centre under there somewhere) but once the bus was on its way I settled down to 19 hours of reading, music, movies and general solitude despite sharing airspace with 50 others for the duration. Yes, the bus between London and Praha is surprisingly popular! I thought it was just nutters like me...

Arriving at 5am, bleary-eyed and most definitely not bushy-tailed, I was greeted by Chris Randell, my soon-to-be Senior Leader at EISP (but moreover hopefully my fellow Prague-surviving buddy, we can keep work and social separate, right?!) It was so lovely to see a friendly face at the bus station - we had met before, you see, during the Volcanic Ash saga - and he helped me transport my bags to his place where I was provided with coffee, breakfast and far-too-intelligent-for-that-time-of-morning conversation. His flat is gorgeous - hopefully a taste of things to come for mine?

Once showered and refreshed, we walked to Korunni, my address. Luckily we live very close to each other, so we can lean on each other in times of need! In fact, almost all the new EISP staff are living in Vinohrady which is my area of town, so we should have a good support and social network going soon. We found my address in the middle of a POURING rain storm (allegedly the first rain Prague has seen for weeks, it must be my curse) and thus began the Great Key Obtaining Saga of August 3rd 2010.

According to my contact at EISP, the key would be left 'at a nearby fruit and veg shop' for me to collect. Hmmmm, why did I ever think that would work. The shop transpired to be the Ovoce-Zelenina (fruit and veg - literally named) shop at the bottom of my building. So far, so good. In we merrily went with our much-practised 'mluvite anglicky?' hoping to at once dazzle the assistant with our attempt to use the local lingo, and achieve key-related success. Not so. She simply cowered like a frightened rabbit in the face of our Czech language prowess, and proceeded to rattle off a stream of incomprehensible (to us) Vietnamese. Yes, Vietnamese. Had it been French, German, Spanish, Italian, English or even rudimentary Japanese, we might have coped between us. But no. She did offer me some cigarettes, though, which was nice.

Hmm, what to do? Back out into the pouring rain we went, having formed the genius plan of getting the number for EISP and phoning to see if they knew anything about the whereabouts of the keys. So picture Chris and I, wearing shorts and waterproofs, huddling outside various cafes trying to surreptitiously use their free wi-fi to access the EISP website on Chris's phone, to find the number and then call the school office. Eventually, surprisingly, and after many shop fronts, it worked! The school receptionist was fabulous and very reassuring, telling me simply to return to the shop and she would speak to the lady and tell her what was what.

In Vietnamese? I hear you ask. Why, no, in Czech. Which the poor shop lady obviously still didn't understand. Which resulted in her hilariously running out into the street, grabbing some poor 18 year old Czech passer-by and thrusting my phone in his face, while Chris and I are doing speaking actions with our hands, to try to help him understand what the heck was going on! Bemusedly he talked to my school receptionist and between them they established ( I think) that this was not going to work.

Finally the receptionist decided that she'd phone my original contact, he who was meant to leave the keys at the shop, but I was to be warned that he is on holiday and may not answer the phone. Happy(ier) with this, Chris and I repaired to the cafe in which I presently sit, ordered drinks and waited.

To cut a very long story slightly shorter, it turned out that an email had been sent to my OLD email account (despite me telling the school to send my NEW address round as the old one was now defunct) explaining that...

...very simply...

... I was to ring the doorbell of the landlady who lives in the flat above, and she would come down and let me in.

To sum up, you know you're living in the Czech Republic when the simplest simplest task becomes bewilderingly complicated, and somehow you have but a part of the information required for a successful outcome.

Anyway, all's well that ends well, landlady is lovely, flat is great and here are some pictures. More to come soon about the delights of setting up internet/phone, electric and gas! (Bet you can't wait for that!!!)

Love to all x