Flipping Heck!

Hello, blog readers! It's been a grey and rainy week so far in Prague and its environs, and this miserable weather provides suitably melancholy conditions in which to bid an emotional farewell to my old friend Pauly M, who as I write is packing to leave for England tomorrow. He has just informed me, however, that he 'will definitely be making a return visit', though this may have more to do with the fact that we did not quite get around to eating at the all-you-can-eat pizza and pasta buffet restaurant this time. It's been great having Paul to stay for the week, he's been an excellent hiking/touristing companion and, as only he knows how, has almost split my sides with laughter several times. The title for this blog post comes from us having uttered this phrase with alarming frequency, be it at spectacular hiking sights, delicious meals or the longest escalator in the world (really. I challenge you to visit the escalator at Namesti Miru metro station and then find a longer one). So I will miss Paul greatly but at least I know that the buffet will lure him back eventually.

We had a lovely hike on Saturday through the Czech countryside, after embarking on a train on Friday night which took us to Turnov, otherwise known as the 1980s. A town where pink guitars are readily sold and taxi drivers sport grey ponytails while wearing tracksuits and listening to 'Nikita' by Elton John. The hike took us from Turnov town centre to 3 castles in Cesky Raj - first Waldstejn, then Hruba Skala and finally Trosky. Our walk ended up being somewhere between 15 and 20km long, due to our managing the unmanageable and getting lost on Czech hiking trails. I should explain. There is usually no map-reading necessary here, and definitely no compass work, for the maps are marked with either red, yellow, green or blue hiking trails which correspond to very clear and well-organised signs pointing down said trails in the woods, and splashes of each colour are also displayed with reassuring regularity on trees, houses and other landmarks along the trails. However, we started on a red trail, deviated to a blue, ended up on a yellow and surprised ourselves completely ('flipping heck!') by emerging onto a green. Ho hum. So having taken in a few incidental sights we made it to each castle in turn, admiring their beauty and jaw-dropping views across Cesky Raj. A highlight was the 'rock town' of Hruba Skala - absolutely beautiful gully carved naturally between rock faces inside the forest - but this was slightly marred by a sudden downpour and the unfortunate incident of my dropping the camera and breaking it. Despite these happenings though, a very satisfyingly tiring day was had, and by 7pm we had repaired to the hotel restaurant for the most gigantic gastronomic guzzle-fest of carbohydrates and sugar that any hungry hiker could hope for.

On Sunday morning we awoke to a downpour that has by time of writing made itself resident in Prague and refuses to budge. So we hastened home to dry off and spent a leisurely afternoon chatting, chilling, listening to tunes and browsing warm, dry shopping centres. Other highlights of Paul's visit have mostly been the meals - Thai, Indian, Italian, Czech - and the swimming in which Paul spurred me on to swim a mile. I was so pleased with my effort that I saw it fit to celebrate with a curry. His visit has also enabled me to do some quality touristing - the Astronomical Clock, the Old Town Square at night, the fascinating and emotional Jewish Museum and cemetery. And quite a reasonable amount of eating overpriced ice cream.

There are many more adventures to be described, but it's far too late to start describing them now. I don't want to waste the restorative powers of today's Bank Holiday by going to bed far too late, especially as tomorrow night is my only night to myself for the foreseeable future because Thursday heralds a 3-day Duke of Edinburgh hike with school, then next week sees a trip to the UK and following that the arrival of the parents! So I shall close now, and try to think of some witty anecdotes for the next blog. And purchase a new camera so that I can keep the photos going.

Love to all reading this, and may I have many more wonderful visitors like those I have had the pleasure to receive so far. xx

A Tourist Weekend

Hello, blog fans! Long time no write,

I am very sorry about that. This will be a quick post too since I am yet again short of time. Here are a few photos from the weekend - all were taken from Charles Bridge. In the two night photos you can really see why Prague is often called 'the golden city'!

I was lucky enough to be graced with a visit from Anthony this weekend, who flew out on Thursday night to spend the weekend getting to know my new home town. I can safely say that he loved it! I introduced him to just about the right combination of International Food Festivals, drinks, beautiful riverside restaurants, impressive nighttime cityscapes, Euro-Rock clubs and sunny tourist walks, so I believe he went home happy.

We took in Charles Bridge (of course), the castle, Letna park and beer garden, Wenceslas Square, Old Town square, and many winding little streets which we found whilst getting lost in Stare Mesto. We found Grosetto Marina Italian restaurant with its beautiful riverside view; rested in Ebel Coffee House in the Old Town; and made it for Mojitos in the graffiti-adorned Blue Light bar. There is still much to do and so hopefully he'll be back for another visit soon.

More blog to follow later - hopefully a more interesting and finely-crafted entry - to include D of E tales, EISP International Week and plans for New Year.

'First week down...' type musings

Good evening! It's been a while since I've written, which is probably testament to the fact that I've been keeping busy and making the most of the time in which I'm not at work. We've had some mixed weather recently here in Prague- last week we witnessed a LOT of rain, but the weekend was largely beautiful! In fact, I have had various reports from England of rain, rain and more rain beating down the doors and windows, while at the same time I have been eating on restaurant terraces and swimming in open-air pools. But wait! The laugh will be on the other side of my face, once the snow sets in and all my friends back there DON'T have to wear thermals and a ski jacket to work. For now, however, I shall enjoy the advantages of living abroad!

In the photos above we have two shots of Slapy, a river/dam/lake/nature reserve (we spilt wine on the map, so couldn't quite make out which). On Sunday I joined Anuska, Rhian and Sarah for a day out of the City. We started at 11am with a trip to Tesco to stock up on all the good things in life - cheese, bread, olives, crisps, chocolate biscuits and of course Pinot. Astonishingly I refrained from the Pinot, since I fancied a 'healthy' day. Pah! the crisps soon made up for that. Anyway, we took the bus from Smichovske Nadrazi up to Stechovice and on to Slapy, in total around 40 mins' journey from Prague, and all for the princely sum of around 30kc. It was a lovely journey, with the sun shining into the bus, beautiful views all along the river and plenty of woods to make up for the fact that I am missing the New Forest a little! Once in Slapy it was down to Sarah to read the Czech map (pre wine-spillage) and get us to the beach by the riverside in Rabyne. This ended up being a one-and-a-half hour walk, which was enjoyable apart from the constant stream of very loud motorbikes passing us. We eventually made it to the little beach and commenced our picnic, joined by Jon (another work colleague) and his partner. All in all a very pleasant day of walking, eating, nature and conversation was had, and I am grateful to my 'new friends' for looking after me so well! (They had warned me, 'Sarah - our picnics are epic/intense/massive' - and they weren't wrong. Which is the way I like it.)

The other picture is from U Knihovna or similar, a nice Czech restaurant down in Stare Mesto, in which we Newbies celebrated having survived our first week of school. Friday evening was spent here in the company of Chris, Dave, Tara, Aileen, Lyn and Katie, the other 'new starters', plus another Katie from our rival school (!), and her boyfriend Neil who is currently visiting. I enjoyed a 'Kureci Hawaii', a chicken steak topped with ham, pineapple and cheese, complete with fries and garnish for just over £3. Recommended.

The night proceeded to become much longer, taking us to the Pirate Pub (arrrr! one for Phil Seaman there!), the Grossetto restaurant in a breathtaking location by the river and to which I shall henceforth be taking ALL my visitors for its 'wow' factor, then on to the very smoky Blue Light bar and yet further to Popo Cafe Petl, by which time it had somehow become shockingly late/early and so I made the executive decision to head home. I do believe that a good night was had by all, as they say.

INTERRUPTION - I am officially slightly silly. The oven timer just rang to signify dinner was ready, and I answered the front door. Hmmm, I'm not so sure that living alone is all that good for my sanity...

School continues to delight, with lots of very nice and slightly cheeky students. On Friday I had the pleasure of a day-hike with my Year 12 tutor group, and since then I feel I have struck up a slightly better rapport with some of them... but they still don't really talk much. A couple have signed up to D of E though, and we have our first camping weekend this Friday, so we shall see how that goes. Today my efforts were mostly taken up by the initial research for a German trip, much like the one we ran at Mountbatten. Things are looking good for that project, I am pleased to report - more news as we get it up and running.

Other than that, not much to add - life carries on just fine and the learning curve is nice and steep, which is what I had hoped for. D of E will take over most of this weekend, and arriving next Thursday is my first visitor! Better start cleaning the apartment...

Hoping all's going well for everyone reading this, thanks as ever for following, it's nice to know you're out there. I've had a few lovely phone/Skype conversations with some of you recently, which has reminded me how much I miss you all and what funny times we had last year! Keep in touch - it's always nice to hear a friendly voice and receive an update on what I'm missing. Rain, most probably.

Love to all x

Early mornings, long days, such is life in Prague!

Greetings from a much-awaited blog post, well at least long overdue! No photos this time I'm afraid since I filled up my memory card with cute little videos of my Year 3 class doing plays with their first few lessons of German, and haven't had a moment to copy them and then take more photos of other, more interesting stuff. So, just ramblings tonight, and probably not many at that because I'm absolutely shattered.

School is working out very well indeed. Experiences I have had so far which are completely different from those I enjoyed at Mountbatten: 1) two students begging me to teach them German in any slot I might happen to have free on my timetable, because they REALLY WANT TO LEARN IT. 2) Break duty in the canteen consisting of me having to supervise... wait for it... 3 kids eating sandwiches and then putting all their litter in the bin, tucking their chairs under and leaving promptly at the end of break with no hassle. 3) After informing my Year 10 class that I would work them *really* hard this year, their reply of 'oh thank god miss, we don't think our levels are good enough and we really need to get them higher'.

I could go on, but I won't. These are just some highlights. There are obviously some gripes, after all nothing is perfect, but I have decided to turn over a new positive leaf and so am deliberately focusing on the positives and avoiding the moaning. And hey! any down sides that there may be are outweighed by the fact that I'm here, in the middle of Europe, hearing more languages spoken every day than I could shake a dictionary at. As a language teacher, that has to be worth a lot.

One big adjustment, though, ('adjustment' rather than 'moan' - just feel the positivity!) is the early start to the day. Basically, if I'm not up at 6.15, I feel there won't be enough hours in the day to get everything done. Now, if my Dad is reading this, he will right now be commenting to my Mum along the lines of 'pfffft, 6.15!! These kids just don't know they're born!!' Every day is like a Top Gear Challenge: down the stairs, through the Prison Gate (extra safety in my block of flats - don't ask), across the road to the tram stop from where you can guarantee a tram will have just left. On the next tram 4 stops to IP Pavlova metro station, down the steps, into the metro, 5 stops to Kacerov, up the escalator, onto the bus, 13 mins (precisely) of the squeaking, squealing ex-USSR (surely, it must be) bus, through the woods, down the road and into school. Phew! I admit that this description makes it sound much more arduous than it actually is - it takes just over 35 mins in real terms, which I use as 35 mins of sleep/daydreaming/lesson planning in my head - but it is still more of an effort in some ways than 15 mins in the car. However, I am one of those strange sorts who enjoy using public transport for the sake of it, so it's all good for me.

Inaugural Wednesday night meal was had tonight - this is Chris' and my decision to force ourselves (not much forcing required, I must admit) to go for a meal once a week, to both let off steam and to ensure that we actually do get out and socialise in amongst the hectic schedule of work. However, I have made it to the swimming pool on Monday and the torturous Aerobic Dance gym class yesterday, so perhaps I should establish a weekly 'stay in' rather than a weekly 'go out'! This time, if my parents are reading, they'll be tutting and shaking their heads and muttering 'some things never change'. Just joking M&D- I know you're happy for me really!!!

The Czechs take their fitness seriously, and now, so do I. Well, in between the Chinese meal I had today and the enormous Thai feast I had on Saturday night courtesy of Anuska, that is. The swimming pool at Podoli really is a sight to behold. Comprising a 50m indoor pool, a 50m outdoor pool and a frighteningly high diving board, this swimming centre is a behemoth. I had a lovely de-stressing swim outdoors on Monday night, as darkness fell, but did start to wonder halfway along my first length exactly when or if I'd get to the other end. 50 metres seem much longer than 2 lots of 25 metres - now how does that work? But the strangest thing about the pool was undoubtedly the 'drying room'. You see, apparently you are not allowed to enter the changing rooms whilst wet. This would appear to make things rather difficult, however this is where the 'drying room' comes in. Have you ever walked past the extractor fan from a restaurant and felt that hot, greasy air pumping out into the street? Well this is something similar, except a) the air is less greasy and b) you are naked. Everyone is naked. Nakedness is embraced and indeed celebrated in the Czech swimming pool showers and drying room. In fact, it rather reminded me of being in Germany where a similar love of nakedness is displayed. I must confess that I enjoyed the drying room, it certainly did add to the pleasures of swimming and that lovely feeling of being all warm and clean that you get after a trip to the pool.

I shall leave the terrifying and painful tale of Aerobic Dance for another time, mostly because I now have to go to bed and it might take me a while to get there, seeing as I am currently walking like a horserider/very sore cowboy as a result of that darn class!

But in summary, all is going very well here. There are tricky moments, as there always are with setting up home somewhere else, but the positives are definitely at the front of my mind. I miss you all, but it's nice to know you are there, and all those good wishes on Facebook as I started my first week were lovely - and greatly appreciated. More and more visitors are lining up now though - I am happily booked up for New Year - so get in touch if you need a room in Prague and I will see what I can do!

Love to all - you are in my thoughts xx