Dobry Den! (good day, in Czech) I always feel like I am in Ireland when I say that, and hear it as a response. However, Prague is definitely not like any Ireland I have ever imagined (seeing as I've never been to Ireland, I couldn't tell you for sure). I know this blog has gotten neglected since I left Switzerland, but that is the nature of travel blogs, isn't it? We all start out, rosy-cheeked travelers intent on updating in every city, if not every other day, but as one city fades into the next and your travel journal where you are supposed to keep diligent notes gets days and days behind, catching up with your blog seems an increasingly daunting task. As you leave every city you think, I should take this chance (on the train, plane, bus) to update my journal so I don't forget anything and can write amusing, detailed blogs in the next city. Inevitably, however, the train is too bumpy, the plane is too cold, or you are sitting next to someone too interesting to bother with the journal. Then, once you reach your destination, there are too many sites to see and things to do to make time for the internet, and on those rare occasions that you do decide to shell out 6 euros for 20 minutes at an internet cafe, e-mail and facebook always seem more pressing than the blog. And as you leave that city, intent on updating the journal (now 6 days behind), the cycle repeats itself.

Now, you may say, and one may think, that since I have been living in Prague now for three weeks, I have no excuse. I agree, I should be regaling you with tales about the Clown and Bard hostel, my day of sightseeing in the heart of the city, and what it is like to be living in the fairy-tale city...if only I had time! The realities of a CELTA course (Certified English Language Teacher for Adults) are such that it hardly matters which city you choose to take it in, a fact I did not know until the program began. People back home and on my travels kept asking me "why Prague for the course? Why not take it at home?" and my answer was always, "because I can take it in Prague!". Little did I know that the Prague I would come to know well would not include the lovely old town with its famous clock tower, or the rambunctious nightlife for which Prague is so famous. Instead, my Prague consists of my lovely little flat which I share with two other amazing CELTA candidates, the four-block walk to the bus stop past three little mini markets, a real estate office, a building with a big pink T, and lots of dried dog poop, bus number 124, the walk from KFC to the Akcent school, and the school itself. This is not to say I don't love my little piece of Prague, but it is certainly not the Prague from the brochures.

The majority of my time, from 8am-6pm most days, is spent at the teacher training school itself. It is located in a small little building near the actual Akcent language school. There are three main classrooms, one staffroom, a library with 10 computers, a cafe that serves up delicious lunches, and a coffee machine downstairs that eats up at least $5 per week of my weekly budget. (I was very excited to find out half-way through the second week that there was an option for no sugar you could push before making your selection! Finally, coffee that tastes like coffee!!) Since I know you are all on the edges of your seats, I will walk you through a typical day at school. I generally arrive at about 8:05 (which means waking up about 6:30 and leaving the flat by 7:40...my roomates think I'm insane) and spend the first hour of my day either typing something I wrote the night before for an assignment or lesson plan, frantically running around making copies and cutting up bits of paper for a lesson, or, rarely, surfing the web, looking for jobs, and checking e-mail. Our first "input session" (read - lecture) begins at 9:15, and one of the tutors (there are three, one for each 6 trainees...so those of you are good at math realize there are 18 of us) begins by demonstrating a mock lesson, lecturing us on language analysis or different methods of teaching, or giving us other manner of secret CELTA knowledge that only we are allowed to know. *wink* We then have a coffee break (it is always a scary experience to look in your wallet and find that you don't have any 10CZ coins to offer to the coffee machine downstairs!) and continue with another input session until 12:30. At this point, we break into our "TP groups" as they are fondly called (teaching practice/prep...none of us are quite sure) and get to have one-on-ones with our tutor to talk about our upcoming lessons (for them to help us with errors in our plans so we hopefully have less chance of screwing up during the lesson itself). Once you have met with your tutor, you are free to go to the library to type or copy some more, or, if you have the luxury, go to the cafe for a nice lunch with your fellow candidates. The soup is usually quite nice, and comes with unlimited bread...all for about $2! Food is about the only thing that is still relatively inexpensive in this city! At 2:30 you have to be in the classroom your TP group teaches in, either with lesson plan and materials in hand if you are teaching that day, or with pen and paper ready to observe and make notes about your colleague's teaching and the students' response. On normal days, the first candidate teaches for 40 minutes, the second candidate immediately follows for 40 minutes, then there is a 15 minute break and the third candidate teaches for 40 minutes, ending at 4:45pm. At 5, TP feedback begins, wherein the tutors and candidates tell the teachers how well they did, and what they can improve on. This phase is seriously affected by who your tutor is. I've had good luck, but some candidates dread this step, and for good reason. We have just gotten to the point in the course when we have started to turn in detailed 4-page long plans, and expectations have risen...and people have begun to fail lessons. Not a fun thought. I however, have avoided this so far. My grammar lesson (on the passive voice) was by far my weakest one, but it turned out I was much harder on myself than the tutor, and I came out of feedback happier than I went in. A good feeling all around.

Okay, enough about lesson plans and school. I know it really isn't all that interesting to everyone who is not living it. In the rare times the group gathers outside of school, some girls ban any talk of CELTA and charge you 5 CZ (about $.25) if you forget (it's okay though, it generally just goes to the group's beer tab...yes, the restaurant they like to gather in has self-serve beer taps that keep track of how many liters the table has poured!) I say "they like to gather in" because me, Amy, and Valerie (my roommates) like to hang out together more than with the big group. We are the trio who went siteseeing on the last free day before the program started, and it often seems more appealing to grab a beer from one of the innumerable little "potraviny" (mini marts) around and head home for some chill time than to go meet the larger group and spend a bunch of money. I know I've made it seem like we only do school and never have any fun, but last weekend we did manage to go out to dinner, and then found our way to a really fun dance club that only played 80's and 90's music (much like La Salle's 80's night in Chico, for those of you who know what that is). It was a blast!

Prague has definitely been a different experience from what I was expecting, but I wouldn't have chaged it for anything! The program has been amazing - I can't imagine what my first year of teaching would have been like if I hadn't had this practice. I can tell you, I would definitely not have been as effective! I love my flat mates, and look forward to going to visit them in Korea and England soon. I'm also looking forward to two of my European buddies coming to meet me in Prague at the end of the program when I will finally have time to explore the city and see a bit more of central Europe.

I hope your lives are going well, and you are having adventures of your own. Send me an e-mail when you get a chance and tell me how you all are doing!

Congratulations for finishing my novel. Hope to hear from you soon!

Karissa

[email protected]