Happy Independent Czechoslovak State Day

Yes, there is a national holiday for a nation which no longer exists (though Slovaks do not celebrate this). October 28th marks the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, and while the country is no longer united, the date is still celebrated as a sign of democracy (until those pesky communists came along). Regardless, a day off work for all of us, which would be fabulous if I wasn't staying in bed battling a horrific cold (made better by yesterday's shopping trip to raid the lékárna of every cold remedy available, and a trip to the grocery store for basic supplies, like Walker's Shortbread Cookies and Lentilky, the Czech version of Smarties/M&Ms. Also, orange juice. For the vitamins.). 

This week I had my first classes. Was incredibly nervous because now not only are these people looking at me expecting me to teach them something (psssht), but they are also expecting me to be able to find these locations, which is asking quite a bit given my abilities regarding directions. Luckily, only had three groups this week - one with 2 people, and 2 one-on-ones. All of my students so far are really great - one of them even worked as an au pair in Summit, NJ (small world!), and another one owns a tiger. Yes, a tiger. As in a giant, incredibly heavy, potentially ferocious wild cat of the jungle (though I was sad to learn that Nina the tiger does not live in Prague, making my chances of getting to meet her much smaller... this does answer my first question however, of where does one keep a tiger in Prague and do you take it for walks?). Everyone has been very nice and things have gone very well, but my schedule picks up a lot more next week (as in quadruples basically), so I have a lot of lesson planning to do this weekend. Lesson planning is incredibly difficult due to the fact that I'm still not very clear on what I'm doing, so it looks like the first few months are going to be a bit rocky! But as long as my students continue to be as fun as they've been this week, I think it should go really well. (Fingers crossed!)

Must stop procrastinating and get down to actually doing some of this lesson planning. Once I make a cup of tea and dig out the Walkers...

Happy Czechoslovakia Day everyone!