thankfully i see...

dotingly ragged my new favorite door opens up to me.

femme fatality in the dregs of October

today was the first day i appreciated a river over an ocean. all the yellow leaves lean- in and gladly accept the cold and slow hellos. there's an entrance to kampa park just around the bend from our apartment and while trying to find a laundromat the last few fall days distracted us. today all the stone czech women took a serious stance and serenely accepted their beauty. and despite some conflicting opinions i have been told about women's roles here i smiled to myself noticing all the lofty places we inhabit quietly. it is nice to sit still, i just hope i will learn patience first.

the first in a serial entitled, "what are you trying to tell me prague?"

boy am i trying...

yesterday it snowed. not enough to blanket but consistent enchanting flakes. on the tram on my way to school two little kids' eyes were blinkless and beautiful. they as lucky czech speakers have likely seen it before but don't remember, i on the other hand, english- speaking and sun- raised actually have hardly seen it fall. i did cerebral ping- pong between the foggy window and their faces. one headache and awestruck later i was at my stop.

mostly, i admire the little kids and their ability to speak czech. the first few years of education should be nothing but languages. save math for later. i find whether children know if they have 2 shoes or 8 to be irrelevant, hopefully this will keep them less materialistic. after the little kids, i enjoy the really old people at bus stops and sadly am speechless when they explain some exasperation about the weather. i want to tell them, "no i would not ignore you normally, i am quite upstanding for my age and temperament it is just such a tricky language".

so after a wild eyed, red lipped, snow haired maid failed to share a pedestrian moment with me i ran across the cobblestones through trams to an "antikvariat" (used/ antique books) that's about a block away from our apartment. i was so overwhelmed with books on manes and matisse and original copies of mayakovsky and capek i bid the raven- haired owner adieu only to come back an hour later slightly more awkward with a grocery bag with milk, bread, and grapes. he has a whole collection of ex libris labels that are hand penned and beautiful and comical. i plan on returning again for anything we may hang on our walls. but not just yet.

i am in the strange phase where i am well aware of what a tourist is and know i don't fit the description still. i don't need a map downtown, i don't drink tourist beer in wencelas square or get excited about taking endless photos of oompa bands at overpriced mediocre cuisine restuarants. but i can't quite prove it either. i'm waiting for that seamless bus stop chat or to not embarrass the sweet grocery store girl when she realizes she should have been english not czech when i smile blankly after she has clearly asked a question.

i do think there's something good about boiling tea water in the one pan you have in your flat. and never being able to get coffee the way you like it. i would like to meet more people in the middle. so ta-ta comfort i am going to embarrass myself everyday until i can moderately speak czech.

although, one comfort did make its way via loophole. the warmest coat i could find... i sincerely hope there is someone laughing somewhere.

sunday stroll...

1.& 2.unlike our photographing predecessors (a smiling couple exuberantly running around the steps) we decided against posing next to the statues at The Memorial to the Victims of Communism. The more you look the more the statues blend into trees and background. 3. finally the most pristine fruit next to the filthiest door. 4. the national theater after morning rain. 5. fall colors on a less famous bridge.

there should be a hacek over the r in "petrin" which means it is nearly impossible to say.

a quick intro to our neighborhood (petrin hill is right behind our building)....

on your way up petrin hill there is a pear tree. we are fond of the rejects. our apartment is just to the left of the pear behind the tree.

and now our room with a view.

we have moved (!) we picked out a modestly written ad out of a series of apartments for rent which just happened to be the one historic building in prague that isn't inflated in price or already filled with people who never want to leave. when we came to look at it the first time and stepped out of the tram and i counted the numbers i assumed we would be living next to the beautiful gray and red building and was shocked to see the 10 foot tall aged wood doors open for us. we are living in the heart of mala strana (praha 1) on ujezd which shocks any czech resident when they ask where we are living (which subsequently shocks me because i am used to being met with repulsion at the dull and trashy berkeley streets i chose to inhabit before). part of our luck is the owner recently converted the attic into an apartment and now it is home sweet home for us after a quick climb up 5 flights of stairs. there isn't a washing machine, an oven, or a stand- up shower but the view overshadows any "modern inconvenience." just a few things i can drink overly sugared instant coffee to:

1. prague castle

2. petrin tower

3. the national museum

4. the tallest part of the charles bridge.

the czech violnist Ferdinand Laub was born here but right now i can just hear my neighbor practicing piano (thankfully) beautifully. it doesn't seem real or maybe too real.

*the first photo is of some ornate decor in the dome ceiling in the entryway. i invite interpretations of what is going on in the scene.

fill in the blanks...

is a worksheet i have learned to create this month with ease. it is also the title of this blog in response to the complaints towards the ghostliness of posts and strong demands that the reader(s) get more than they received this last month (thanks grace). allow me...

i don't know what i expected for a training course... possibly because the only practical training i have ever received was driver's ed (which you may have guessed by now if you have ever sat on the curb for 25 minutes while i parallel parked how little i got out of the course). but this TEFL course was the real deal. basically, we lived in a classroom or teacher's workroom (8 am to 11 pm or when they finally kicked us out) for the last 4 weeks and were trained to talk less as a teacher and get students talking. something that as a permanent student worried me since i know my classmates wandering eyes when asked a direct question. but, it really is quite amazing to see it in action. you treat students as if they actually know the answer and suddenly they begin to speak. comparing it to any foreign language i have taken and how persistent i was to keep my lips sealed i am amazed at the fluency of even lower level students.

jeremy and i have had about 10 hours of observed teaching and rigorous evaluations and feedback sessions. essentially, this last month has also served as a working interview. and, as of yesterday we received the school's decision to award us a "highest pass" and offer to start working immediately which is quite a bit sooner than our anticipated start date (January 10th) that had kept us living pretty meagerly just in case. i have never been so happy to be employed 1. because i like this job 2. because i get free czech lessons 3. they're already predicting snow here and its hard to choose between a few dinners and a coat.