Jobless yet again

So, to explain my lack of blogging, I must confess it hasn't all just been because of Internet issues. I found out nearly a week ago, just two days after I got to Croatia (and about four days after getting to Europe), that I lost my job before I even started it.

The school e-mailed me to say that because of the current economic situation and how many businesses were canceling their contracts with the school to provide teachers for their employees, my contract would be cancelled as well. They simply didn't have enough hours to offer me and the several other new teachers who got the boot, they said. And the contract I signed gave them the leeway to terminate said contract before I started for unforeseen reasons like this.

It wasn't completely surprising, as I was one of their last hires for the season, so would likely be the first to go. And the situation across the board for language schools in Europe isn't particularly great right now. But it, obviously, stings quite a bit. To come all the way out here for the promise of a job and to not have it is pretty discouraging.

And I'm taking this as the second big sign in a year (the first being all the fruitless interviews I went on after finishing the Oxford course) that teaching in Europe, or at least in Prague, is not what I should be doing. Of course, I have friends in Prague who are on the warpath on my behalf and trying to pull out any connections they have. But, I'm just not sure it's worth it.

In a way, it's weird. I was excited to start teaching again. I was freshening up my skills, pulling out all the notes I had taken at Oxford. During the days leading up to the trip, I found myself idly pondering things I'd teach. I'd read a word like "photography" and wonder how I'd explain its pronunciation to students, how I'd show them the first "o" and second "o" aren't pronounced the same, where the stress fell in the word. And even now, nearly a week after getting the e-mail, I'm catching myself imagining teaching present perfect tense or irregular verbs.

Yet, when I got the e-mail, it was a bit of a relief. I had actually dreamt getting an e-mail like it, and I imagined what it would say if it did happen in real life. So, there was a moment of déja vu and, like I said, relief, because there was a part of me wondering if I'd really enjoy teaching business English to a bunch of professionals for a year in Prague and not getting paid very well for it. I had taken the job because it was the one offered out of the many that turned me down, and it was the only one willing to provide assistance with a work visa. Of course, there was the added bonus of living in Prague again and seeing my friends there again.

But I just didn't know if I'd be happy doing it. There are obviously many more subtleties involved, but that's the gist of it.

So, my move to Europe has become more of a vacation, it seems. I have to say, it helps to be on the Croatian coast when you get bad news like that. Kind of lessens the blow. I've been enjoying Croatia a ton, despite the heat and the tourists and the lack of air conditioning, and I wish I had more time to explore other areas of Croatia, and possibly go into Bosnia and Hercegovina and Montenegro. But I have a huge bag of luggage sitting in a flat in Prague, and I told the friend watching it I'd be gone about a week. I'd hate to leave it there for a month while I bounce about the Balkans carefree.

So, tomorrow, I'm going to start making my way back to Prague. I'm taking a bus to Trieste in eastern Italy, then figuring out whatever's the quickest route north to Prague. I'll stay there a few days and hang out with friends, then get things in order to come home.

I'll update you loyal readers if something changes or I end up finding a different teaching job in Prague or elsewhere. And I'll be sure to publish some more photos from Croatia as soon as I have a chance and a better Internet connection!

Life on the Dalmatian coast

Hey, bloggity blog! So, in about a week's worth of traveling Croatia thus far, this is the first place I've stayed that has wireless. And I think I'm stealing it from the neighbors. And this is also the smallest town I've visited. So, that kind of explains Croatia's attitude toward the Internet. Although, Dubrovnik claimed to provide free wireless across the entire old town. I don't know if that's true, I tried it, walking around with my laptop like I was trying to catch a radio signal. Didn't work.

The Interwebs aside, Croatia is a fantastic place. At first, when I was planning this trip, I was like, "Why don't you hear more people talking about Croatia?" That's because, I've discovered, they are all in Croatia right now. Seriously, it's jam-packed with people, at least in the bigger destinations. Dubrovnik especially. But that hasn't taken away its charm.

Croatia's coast takes a lot of influence from its neighbor to the northwest and across the sea, Italy. Split and Dubrovnik feel like Tuscan villages built on ridiculously blue water. All red roofs and stonework and polished marble streets. Palm trees, fishing boats, fresh seafood. All that. The only thing different on first inspection is the language. Then there's the Austrian-Hungarian influence in the interior, and the more recent connections with the former Yugoslavia, the Serbs, etc. It's got a lot of stories.

I'm on the northern coast right now, on an island and town called Cres (pronounced "Tsres," with a rolled "r" — which brings up another interesting connection, Croatian being a Slavic language, is very similar to Czech), and it's just lovely.

Anyway, I need to get some sleep tonight because tomorrow morning, I'm taking a bus to some hiking destinations on the northern side of the island, where there are a lot of abandoned medieval villages and olive groves. But I wanted to share some photos of the trip thus far.

Here's a few from Split:

There and back again

So, I find myself returning to this blog, as something interesting is about to happen -- in the teaching-English-in-a-foreign-country-again sense.

Oh, blog! So much has happened since I last clicked on you!

Yes, yes! Before I left Prague way, way, way back in May, I interviewed -- on a whim -- for a job at a really great-looking school in the city. It was actually just a few blocks away from my flat so, y'know, I didn't have to travel far in my business attire, and that kinda sold me on interviewing.

My previous entry from May explains a little about my feelings then about how the interview went and the prospects for fall. And so far, those notions have been correct. The school e-mailed in July to say they wanted to hire me for the fall. They sent a contract, I looked at it, over and over again. Considered. Questioned myself and those around me. All that.

The pay wasn't all that good, but this is to be expected in a saturated teaching market in Europe right now. The work schedule is under 30 hours a week, but that's technically considered full-time to the TEFL folks, and there's always the opportunity for part-time work (more about that later).

The biggest draw was that they were willing to help me apply for a work visa. That was enough to get me to sign the contract. After all the problems and stories I'd heard since the spring about Americans getting denied work visas and schools not even willing to entertain the idea of hiring Americans because of this, I was worried I'd hear the same mantra from this school. But fortunately, they seem to be pretty positive about the work visa situation for the fall, as I heard from other sources as well -- most people I talked to were saying the visa-approving bodies of the Czech Republic would start loosening their grip for the fall, when most teachers are hired.

And I've already sent the school all the documents they needed to start the work-visa-applying process. So, fingers crossed everyone's theories and expert opinions and analyses will be right so I can actually fulfill the year contract I signed with the school. They are called Caledonian School, by the way. I'll be teaching business English for them, going to different companies around Prague each day to teach on-site. Lots of running around the city involved. They also offer free Czech lessons to their teachers and have an excellent resource center and computer lab, so I can get all my materials together.

Oh yeah, the other exciting thing about all this is that I leave Monday. Like, three-days-from-now Monday. Holy craziness, I know! I think I'm ready, but actually, I have no idea. It's funny how, even after all this traveling, I still find myself getting outdone and mindboggled by the process of packing.

The next other exciting thing is that, even though I leave Monday (which was the day I booked to return way back in May because it fulfilled the required three-month leave from Europe to get a new tourist visa, plus a few days), school orientation doesn't start until two weeks later. So, two days after I get to Prague, I'm running off to Croatia for a week to squeeze in some Mediterranean sun and pretty coastal towns before I am banned from seeing the sun for a while. Expect pictures!

The some more other exciting thing is that my friend Shannon, who I met at Oxford TEFL Prague, got a contract with the same school and will start teaching at the same time, too. We're hoping to split the rent on a flat in Prague, so I'm very happy about that.

The and even more exciting thing is that, as I said, I may have time for part-time work. And I may even have some of that lined up already in the form of freelance writing. More news as that comes to fruition.

OK, I'll end this here for now. Good catching up with you, blog! I look forward to more frequent visits in the future, and more positive rants now that I actually have a job!

Edit: Spellcheck doesn't like "mindboggled," but I do.

Two days left

Laura left this morning for her flight home. So, now it's just me until Saturday morning, when I leave. I teach my last class this evening and I have some last-minute gifts to buy plus, of course, lots of packing to do. Then there are all the goodbyes with my Oxford friends. I'm wondering if I should be out wandering the streets one last time, but then, it might not be the last time.

I had an interview at a school in Prague yesterday. They are going through fall hiring. I think it went really well and they confirmed this in a follow-up e-mail saying they'd be in touch soon about "terms, etc." It's a really great school and I'd love to work there. The interview also made me feel more confident about my decision to leave for the summer. They said, because of all the visa problems in the Czech Republic, they may only allow new hires to begin work once the visa application is approved. Usually, a school will put out an offer and help the new hire through the visa process while they work. As of late, many of those new hires have been rejected from getting a visa and the school is forced to let them go.

It looks like it will be in my best interest, then, to solidify a job offer at home and start the visa application process before I even leave. So this may turn out to make things much easier. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Until then, the farewell tour continues. Like I said, I'm not really itching to run out around the city today and tomorrow one last time. I don't feel like it will be. What I am sad about is that some of my friends might not be here if and when I come back. Some are sticking around until June or July. Some are leaving the Schengen zone for countries further afield. Some are just not sure.

But I guess that's what happens. And I guess that's what Facebook is for.

Oh yeah, so I'm leaving ...

In all the hoopla planning for Laura's arrival and participating in Laura's arrival and teaching a few classes a week at Oxford, I've forgotten to mention something on here.

I'm leaving Prague next week. And going home.

Yes, I'm nearing the end of my tourist visa and the job hunt has continued to be fruitless for me and every other American I know in Prague. I'm also not too keen on staying here illegally. On top of that, most schools are asking us to put in our resumes now for the fall semester when, they (and we) hope, the Czech Republic will start allowing visa applications through again. That's not until September. Most, if not all, schools here say that's when they'll start hiring again.

I bought a ticket home. A round-trip ticket. It has me returning to Prague in late August, so I'll fulfill my obligation to stay out of the Schengen zone for 90 days. I hope by then to have secured some kind of job offer and it will likely be easier for me to work out the logistics of a work visa from my home country than while floating in a neighboring country outside the Czech Republic.

I have a lot of people offering advice and trying to talk me down different paths and toward teaching opportunities in different countries. It's made for a lot of options to drink in during such chaotic last days here. That's why I'm really looking forward to going home and stepping out of it for a while. Grounding myself again and really taking the time to do the research, think things through and prepare myself without all the distractions here — hanging out in Prague with a bunch of other people who don't have full-time jobs and are just looking for ways to pass the time.

Which is not to say I haven't been enjoying myself. Oh God, I have. And which is also not to say I haven't been productive. If anything, teaching at Oxford these last few weeks has showed me that I really do enjoy working with students, developing lesson plans and helping them with their English. I want to continue to improve as a teacher. I want to do this full time.

Now we just have to hope those options will be available at the end of the summer. From what many people have been telling me, they will. Fingers crossed, and all that.

Ivana Trump, Becherovka and swine flu

Laura's here. And though her sleeping schedule is still a bit off, we've managed to do quite a bit already. Yesterday, we wandered around Old Town and peaked inside a few churches. On our way from the Jewish cemetery, I took her down Parizska street — what I refer to as the "5th Avenue of Prague." Lots of famous brands have shops there, like Dior, Prada, D&G, etc. We were walking in front of the Rolex shop and Laura noticed some strange activity. I, of course, have gotten to the point here where I don't really pay attention to the surroundings anymore, just focus on where I'm going.

Anyway, there was a guy standing around with a huge camera, and the store clerk was waiting in the doorway, looking very well dressed and a little anxious. Then there was a guy in a suit standing in the middle of an empty parking spot in front of the store, stopping people from parking there. "Let's see what happens!" Laura said. So we did, and we waited. Then up rolls this fancy, black SUV, and an entourage leads this woman in. She had blonde hair pulled back and up and she was dressed in a pantsuit, I think. She walked up to the store clerk and they kissed on both cheeks. That's when I said (quite loudly) "Oh, it's Ivana Trump!" And then she disappeared inside the Rolex store.

Laura and I both agreed she looks really, really good for her age. Later, we Wikipediaed her back home to discover she is, in fact, from the Czech Republic. But at the moment, walking back into the square, we discussed how cool it would be to be wealthy and have such a scene unfold just for you to buy a watch. Somehow all that talk about the good life may have brushed off, because we decided to "be the tourist" and take a seat at one of the outdoor cafes in the square for a drink or two. They're notorious for being expensive, and we learned this as we took the waiter's advice and ordered a shot of Becherovka with our beers.

It's kind of a traditional Czech liqueur and it tastes very cinnamony. I've had it before, but never with a pint of beer. Interesting combo. Also, not so cheap.

Anyway, I'm still very much enjoying my upper level class. And they may in fact enjoy me, because they still show up or haven't switched classes. I did a lesson yesterday on "The Haves and Have Nots," and, somehow, we started talking about the swine flu — mainly because we were discussing how poorer countries don't have good health care. I really enjoy being able to talk about current topics in the classroom, but it did get a little strange as I tried to include the topic in our grammar lesson on reported speech — "I have swine flu." "He said he has swine flu."

Eh, you work with what you've got.

In the news

Before I forget, some things I read lately (mostly in the NY Times) that make mention of the Czech Republic and/or things of importance to my current situation:

Here's the first. Basically, it says migrant workers are fleeing the once promising cities in Europe and returning to their crappy homelands (Romania, snore!) because of the far-reaching effects of the global recession.

This bit was interesting:

The Czech government announced in February that it would pay 500 euros, or about $660, and provide one-way plane tickets to each foreigner who has lost his job and wants to go home.

They will pay you to leave. Similar to paying you to not work. Dang, too bad I don't have a job to lose, yet. I also wasn't aware so many younger Czechs run off to Dublin to find jobs. But I was struck by this one woman's rationalization for leaving Ireland and heading home:

While unemployment is also rising in the Czech Republic, “it is much easier to be at home with family and with friends and not to have a job,” she said, “than to be here and not to have a job.”

Amen to that.

Also, here's a story from the Prague Post, the English-language paper here, that tries to shed some light on the visa issues we teachers are facing in Prague. I say "tries" because, pardon the snark, but it looks like it was written for a college journalism class. Be sure to take a look at the photo — that's my teacher, David, and my friends Shannon and Hannah sitting in the background (appearing to be in deep conversation while David teaches. Nice.).

And finally, a guy from my homeland got detained in Prague and promptly sent back to Louisiana. Who, you ask? Oh, just this guy. So that's what he's been up to! I never thought to ask until now.

Czechs don't blog

I apparently have the largest class out of any of the teachers at Oxford right now. Figures. But I don't mind. It's about 20 students total, I usually get around 15. They're upper level, so they're more talkative. And they seem to be more interested in conversation than exercises and grammar lessons. Which is fine by me. I mean, I can write up gap-fills and matchings and reading exercises till the cows come home and then leave again. But I'd much rather just moderate conversations and role playing. 

So far, I've taught them how to express their opinions on world issues and I taught a lesson on blogs and their various uses. They really enjoyed the world issues lesson — mainly because I had an exercise where each of them would read a statement and the other had to give their view. I gave them a list of phrases to use and then demonstrated with exaggerated renditions ("You CAN'T be serious!" "You MUST be joking!"). It was fun listening to them use it in their groups.

They seemed to be interested in the blogs lesson and had lots of questions, but the second half was supposed to have them brainstorm blogs they would start and pitch their ideas to the class. They weren't into it. I should've known this when my tally of who had a blog consisted of me and the only Asian student in the class. As one student told me, "Why would you want to put all your personal information on the Internet? You will be vulnerable!" That led to a discussion of anonymity.

Then they asked me for the Web site of my blog and I kind of changed the subject.

This week, though, I'm going to talk about money and the "haves and have nots." That phrase was in one of their reading assignments and few of them knew what it meant. So off my mind wandered. We're mostly going to discuss trade-offs — would you give up this if you could have that? Would you buy this over that? And I think I'll try to find a way to talk about charity organizations like kiva.org, which let you loan money to poor people in third world countries so they can start a business. Do organizations like this help? Would you be willing to donate directly to a struggling business over just a general aid group?

Next week's lessons will probably be about advertising and the art of persuasion. I think it helps when the lessons revolve around current events. 

Anyway, all that aside I'm excited because tomorrow morning I'm picking up a good friend at the airport. Yay, Laura! It'll be nice to see Prague again through the eyes of someone who's never been here before.

Which reminds me, I need to finish cleaning my room.

Chleb

That's "bread" in Czech. I was reminded today that even though I'm getting tired of heavy Czech food, the bread is still amazing. I walked down to the grocery store this morning because I was out of shampoo and decided to see what was in the bakery. Czech bakeries are amazing things. There are a few aisles of huge wooden crates, each filled with different types of bread and rolls. You have your usual croissants and long, skinny loaves, then you have all these other shapes. Some are topped with poppy seeds, some with sesame seeds, and even some with pumpkin seeds.

I found these this morning:

The first thing that sold me was that they were warm. When I brought them home and tried one: Heaven. Buttery and garlicky and a little bit of cracked salt on top. I try to go for something new each time, but I think I'll come back to these again. 

Anywho, Life Update Time:

I have a sorta teaching job! Oxford TEFL is letting me teach two 90-minute classes a week for the next four weeks. I start this evening with an upper-level group and I'm really looking forward to it. The thought of getting to try out a few more methods I learned has got me giddy, which I guess is a good thing. 

I'll let you know how it goes.

Kaplice, the best place ever? Um, no.

A bunch of us went on a two-day road trip to Cesky Krumlov this weekend that turned into nearly a five-day trip for a few of us. Cesky Krumlov is, like, one of the most photographed little towns in the Czech Republic. And rightly so, it's gorgeous with a castle perched on a cliff and the Vltava winding ridiculously through town. 

After getting our fill of the village life for two days, Nathan, Shannon and I decided to hop a bus to the nearby Sumava National Park. Lots of trees and mountains on the German/Austrian border. We picked a village called Kaplice to make our home base while we hiked the wilderness. 

The hour-long bus ride took us to Kaplice, yes. But a completely different town of the same name in the opposite direction from Cesky Krumlov, famous for not really anything and close to virtually nothing of interest. The Lonely Planet guidebook does not let you in on this important bit of information.

It was a Sunday, so nearly everything was closed. Thus, the ghost town-like scene that spread out before us:

We tried to make the best of it, wandering around town, getting weird looks from locals pondering why these backpackers were here. We did find its "bustling" town center and a place for lunch that was open. Then we went back to the bus stop and waited and waited for a bus to bring us back to Cesky Krumlov. 

Shannon had to go back the next day, but Nathan and I did eventually make it to the park and took a five-hour hike through some really great scenery.

Lesson learned: Make sure no other town shares the name of the town you want to go to. Or, just travel by train from now on. That seems to be worry-free.

Easter picnic

So Easter Sunday was a fantastic day. Nathan, Sarah and I spent most of the day chillin' on a blanket at Letna park. It's across the river to the north of Old Town and is perched on a hill overlooking the city. A great place to spend a lazy afternoon. We've made friends with a bunch of the students in the Oxford course that followed ours and they came out to meet us for a while. The good news is there was a beer garden nearby and you could take your plastic cup of beer with you. Very nice, indeed.

The most productive we were was when Nathan broke out his harmonica and we tried to come up with our own Blues song. Otherwise, we played card games, munched on all the food we brought and did some people watching. 

Aren't days like that great?

Spring is here, lemurs are, too

So, waaaaaayyyyy way late on updating the blog. You'd think with all my joblessness, I'd have so much time to spend updating this thing. But no. Spring arrived in Prague just as I returned from Paris and it has taken up my time. It's a welcome change from the dreary weather of Central Europe I've been experiencing since I got here. There are people hanging out by the river, swans and other waterfowl swimming about, people paddling and running and riding bikes, flowers are all pretty and bloomin', restaurants and pubs are opening their outdoor decks, lemurs are hopping about.

Yeah, lemurs.

Today, I went to the zoo with a few friends. It's apparently one of the top ten zoos in the world? Who knew? It's pretty awesome, if only for the fact that you can actually chill out in the same space as a lemur, or many lemurs for that matter. What other zoo allows that? Of course, you can't actually touch the lemurs. They can touch you, though, so it's a bit like a strip club, I'd imagine. I bought an annual pass because, at about $30, it's a good investment, as I plan to go back. Plus, we discovered a huge public park on the way there that's just begging for a picnic. Prague doesn't have a lot of green space and the ones it does are kind of awkward. There's Petrin Hill, the dominant, tree-covered hill next to the castle, but that's more for strolling on an incline. This is a sprawling park with open spaces and a pond or two. It's quite huge.

I think that's where we might spend Easter Sunday. Several of us have decided to have a picnic for Easter and I intend to bring chocolate bunnies and candies in the shape of eggs and some fake plastic grass (if I can find that last one). 

So, springtime aside: Life Update Time!

Sigh, I'll try to keep this short because spring has me in a good mood and I don't want to ruin it. I've been on an interview since I came back to Prague. That's one, singular interview. It went incredibly well, but they told me as soon as it was done that they wouldn't hire me. It seems they and many other language schools like them are running into snags when it comes to trying to help foreigners get working papers. The Czech Republic and many EU countries are starting to put holds on working visas because of the global recession. This particular school had to fire several American teachers who were in the process of acquiring their visas but recently found out that they hadn't been approved.

I'm hearing lots of mixed reports on this. Some people tend to think it's a product of the economic crisis and likely not to get better until the economy does. Others say it's cyclical and those in charge will eventually start allowing more visa applications through in a few months as it gets closer to the fall semester.

Either way, it's not a good time. I took a day trip yesterday to a town in the northern part of the Czech Republic to meet a connection I have (from Louisiana!) who teaches there and he told me how his business isn't doing so well. He contracts out to companies to do in-house English teaching with their employees. Services companies provide like that tend to get cut pretty quickly in an economic crisis, I guess.

As he said, it's a very different time than nearly 20 years ago (when he first arrived in Europe), when all you had to do was walk into a school, tell them you were a native English speaker, and you were hired.

It wasn't a complete loss, though, going out there to speak to him. He gave me some advice on a few more places to look. I already have another interview set up next week and I plan to set my sights in a few new directions based on our conversation.

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my loads of free time here. I'm renting a room in a flat just a few blocks from the river. It's a neighborhood I really love and my street's quiet. I have three flatmates — a Brit named Evonne, a Swede named Bjorn and, I think, an Italian named Fabio. They mostly do their own things (work or go to school), but they are all very friendly, when I do get to see them.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting my Oxford friends to check out an Easter market in Town Square, which reminds me: An early Happy Easter to everyone!

PS — Sorry about the messed-up link in that last e-mail. I'm trying to figure out an easy way to show you guys my tons of photos. Blogger takes forever to load photos, so I'm trying to come up with an alternative. Any ideas anyone could give would be appreciated.

Obama: "Any Americans in the house say 'Yeah!'"

So, I got to see Obama on Sunday. I'll get back to the blog with a recap of what's been going on since I returned to Prague (sorry, flat hunting took up a lot of my time). But for now, I wanted to post a link to my Facebook album to see if this would actually work. It's much easier for me to post photos on Facebook than here, so someone let me know if the link works (you can delegate amongst yourselves who that will be, k thx).

Here's some shots from Obama's speech.

Au revoir, Paris. Dobry den, Prague!

I wouldn't say reality caught up with me, as I pretty much knew this would happen as soon as I arrived in Paris. But, I'm flying back to Prague tomorrow. 

I'm bummed but happy and excited and relieved all at the same time. Bummed because I really, really enjoy Paris and could totally see myself living here and teaching and getting better at French and all that. Happy and excited because I do love Prague and I have a few friends back there from Oxford TEFL I'm excited to hang out with again. Relieved because I won't be on my own anymore (especially because evenings in a big city can get really lonely when you don't know anyone), and because there are better job opportunities for a non-EU in Prague.

So, that's that. I've been pondering it all week and consulting with my parents and siblings and friends. I've even said a few prayers and lit a few candles in several churches in Paris (Notre Dame included — that's gotta count for something, right?). 

And thanks to those reading for sending good thoughts and prayers my way. I appreciate it, and I'm thinking things will turn out much better in Prague.

Yada, yada, stay tuned.

As light as feathered hair

So, how come I never knew what my last name means in French? I knew it had to mean SOMETHING (and I guess maybe someone told me before), but I just never really sought out the answer.

And then it snuck up on me. There's a hip little grocery store down the street from my hotel – I say "hip" because it's got a section of readymade, organic sandwiches and stuff. A lot of them say "léger" on the label. 

First clue.

Then, the hotel manager the other day, when I told him my last name, says, "Eet meanz, uh ... what eez zee oppozeet of 'heaveee'?" I almost said "Not heavy?" but then produced "Light?"

"Yezz, light!" I didn't know if I was correct or he just didn't feel like playing a guessing game with me. And so, I thought back to the sandwiches and figured maybe it had something to do with "diet" or "fat free" or "pretentious organic food that I buy anyway." Or maybe he meant heavy versus skinny.

Which brings us to today. I finally went to a coiffure and got a haircut. Hurray! And the woman cutting my hair, when I told her my last name, did a little dance and flapped her arms saying, "Leger, like light! Light azz uh feazzair."

OK, maybe I'm overdoing it with my French interpretation, but I kind of giggled. She was incredibly nice and, since I was the only one in the shop, we spent quite a bit of time trying to talk to each other in my bad French and her bad English. I did manage to ask for "just a little off the top and the sides" in French and she seemed impressed. Then she tried to do a vocabulary lesson with different salon items in French and it all went downhill.

Still enjoyable, though. And now I have a haircut, which she styled kind of funky and wavy and feathery. Whatevs. No one who's ever cut my hair has ever styled it in a way I approve of, anyway.

PS – Yesterday, I went to the Cimetiere du Pére Lachaise, where tons of dead famous people live (like Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, etc.). But there's also quite a few Legers and Prevosts (my mother's maiden name). There was even a Leger grave right next to Edith Piaf. Cool!

I'll post pictures soon (I know I've been bad about that lately).

How do you know you've been in the Louvre too long?

When you are halfway through a wing (of many, many wings) of the museum, and you realize you've already seen all of this before. What helped me figure it out was the guy working in this particular wing looked familiar. I don't know if you can call them curators — the people who sit in the lonely chairs in a big gallery and yell at you in French if you take a picture with a flash or touch a marble statue. Most of them looked bored with life, one was actually passed out in his chair, and this one ... this one I knew I had seen before.

So I've been enjoying the art museums so far.

Yesterday, I went to the Pompidou, which is the crazy looking modern art museum that appears to be turned inside out, with all the pipes and stairs on the outside. I could've stayed there forever, as I'm a big fan of modern art and there were quite a few pieces by Chagall and Matisse (two of my favorites). Also, I got to see some works by Fernand Léger and wondered if we're perhaps related — minus the accent. There was a quote from him where he said, "I abhor discreet paintings" or something to that effect, and I kind of laughed to myself because I don't think Legers can be discreet. So maybe he is family. Not so much a fan of his work, though (nor was I previously when I hadn't connected the name to the paintings I had seen of his before), but the Pompidou seems to like him.

Then, of course, I went to the Louvre today. It was overwhelming, but in a good way. I kept coming across paintings that I remembered from when I was a kid, thumbing through my grandmother's and my parents' old encyclopedias. I wanted to wander and wander, but it was when I realized I was wandering through the same place I had been in earlier that I knew it was time to go.

Tomorrow, I'm heading to the Musee d'Orsay, which I think is supposed to fill the periods of time between what the Louvre covers and what the Pompidou covers. I love museums.

Edit — Oh, and I managed to at least get my resume through the door at three different schools Friday morning. And I talked to the director of one of the schools, who reiterated the mantra of "French working papers are a must" but was extremely nice and helpful. She suggested I apply to take a few courses at a local university, which would give me a student visa, which would allow me to work part-time in France.

From what I gather, I could barely get by in Paris on a full-time teacher's salary, much less part-time. So that's a no on that one.

Also, a girl I met on the metro tonight (she asked for some gum in French and I somehow understood her) suggested I talk to the local U.S. Embassy. I've considered that already (and researched on their Web site, which is shockingly out-of-date in several areas), but she put the idea back in my head. Maybe I'll put that on the agenda for Monday morning ...

Happy Birthday Big Brotha!

It's my brother's birthday today, and though I'm fairly sure he can't find this blog without the help of an adult, I just wanted to say Happy Birthday! I'm sure someone will let him know (ahem, Christy, ahem, Mom). He is two years older than me, which helps sometimes when I can't remember how old I am (this happens frequently). So he turns 29 today (yikes!), which means I'm turning 27 in July (double yikes!). Hope you're enjoying the day, Scott!

Now, off to hand in my resume at a few more schools, then maybe the Louvre if my feet aren't already tired.

PS - Sorry for the crazy-long post that's below this one. It was late and I was bummed out from a long day of fruitless job hunting. I'm still not very positive about finding a job here, but I'm still going to try.

Working papers/striking workers

So, while I’m writing this – sitting in my hotel room in Paris, taking a break from sightseeing and job-hunting – French transit workers are on strike, marching in the streets in protest of job cuts, economic turmoil, the end of days, et al.

And here I am trying to get a job in their city. Hoo … rah.

Rest assured I haven’t seen much chaos today outside of hordes of tourists and people enjoying the nice spring weather. I took the metro all day and it ran fine. I can’t recognize the streets shown on CNN International well enough to find the action, though. Bummer. I was hoping to take some pictures of the protest marches and submit them to a few papers back home, maybe make enough to pay for a few nights in my hotel room. Riiiiigght.

But the fact that people in France are on strike (though not an uncommon thing to happen here), does put some nice, ominous background music to my heartwarming story of hopping a flight to Paris from Prague to search for a job teaching English, all wide-eyed and bushy tailed and naive.

Alas, I need working papers.

That’s all I’ve been hearing lately. If you want to work in Paris, or anywhere in France for that matter, you need French working papers. From what I’ve been told, I’d have needed to get that sorted out before I even left the states, back when I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in Prague after the course or go somewhere else.

Now, it seems that if I want a job in Paris, I need to return to the U.S., file for French working papers (and possibly a long-term visa, too – tourist visas are only three months), then come back to Paris and look for a job. Never mind that France and most Westernized European countries only want to hire EU citizens on top of that.

Hoo … rah.

Basically, this would work out if I turn back time, get born into a British family and start applying for French working papers before I begin grade school.

Part of this is my own fault for not doing enough research on France and its immigrant work laws (which are even more ridiculously stringent than other European countries). The other problem is that, for all the great things Oxford TEFL provided for me, accurate, updated, American-catered information about job searches was not one of them. They mostly knew how to get jobs as Brits.

I went in believing I could get a job anywhere once the program was done and I achieved certification. And to a large extent, that’s true. I can go nearly anywhere to get a job, easy. It’s just the places that are easiest (Eastern Europe, most Asian countries and parts of South America) are not where I’d particularly like to be. In places like Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and, yes, France, I’d end up working illegally or not at all.

If a language school is willing to sponsor you for a work visa, you’re pretty much set. Your tourist visa could run out, but as long as you are in the process of acquiring a work visa, you can stay in Europe legally.

Some language schools are willing to hire you, but they’re not willing to go through the process of sponsoring you for a work visa, mainly because it’s a lot of paperwork, time and money. That and they have to do a good job proving why no one else in Europe could do this job better than you.

I’m not particularly interested in working illegally. Even for the chance to be in a place like Paris, amazing and right-up-my-alley as it is. Our teachers at Oxford tend to think illegal teachers are becoming the norm in many major European cities where competition is tough and the market is saturated. They assured us English teachers without proper work visas are not atop the list of problems customs officials are tackling.

And with everything the Schengen laws have done to make Europe more streamlined from country to country, they’ve also made it easier for someone with an expired tourist visa to move around within the EU – they’ve eliminated most border control posts across the continent. When I was here in early 2005, we got our passports stamped crossing every country border by train and by plane. Now, I’ve traveled by plane from Munich to Prague and Prague to Paris and by train from Prague to Vienna and Bratislava without getting my passport checked once other than to see if the photo matches my face.

The point is, as one of my teachers at Oxford noted, I’d have to be extremely unlucky to get in trouble. That and if I try to leave Europe. Yeah, the other aspect of the law is that once my three-month tourist visa is up, I have to leave Europe for three months before I could come back.

Hoo ... rah No. 3.

So, with that lengthy explanation out of the way, what does this all mean for me? As of now, I think I'm sticking around Paris for the next few days, at least until the middle of next week. See how many more times I get the shaft for not having working papers, and if nothing fantastic comes of it, I'll saunter off back to Prague.

At least in Prague, schools really, really want you and they're willing to help with the work visas. The other plus is that it's, y'know, Prague — really gorgeous city, cheap and I already know my way around a bit (plus some friends from school are still there).

And at least I get to see Paris. Yes, we'll always have Paris.

Who's a teacher?

I'm now officially certified to teach English as a foreign language. Woo-woo! Just got the e-mail saying I passed both the Oxford TEFL School in Prague's certification and that of the moderating school, Trinity in London.

Now comes the hard part. Job Hunt '09.

The home stretch

By that, I mean, tomorrow is my last day of class. And my last day teaching as a student teacher. Jeez, this went by fast.

I apologize again (I did already apologize, didn't I?) for the lack of posts as of late. These last two weeks have been a hectic time of hectic-ness as I finished up all my projects and pulled all-nighters to turn them in on time (with a few days of weekend sightseeing and pub crawls thrown in for good measure). 

Today, I turned in my Teaching Practice Log, which was a mammoth collection of all my lesson plans, materials, self-evaluations, peer observations and such. Then, we took a sorta final exam (who got an "A"? That's right, me!).

Tomorrow (today), I have one more assignment to turn in, the materials assignment, which is the most important. This is because Wednesday (tomorrow/two days from now), I have to present this to the moderator from Trinity (the mother school in London) in an interview. I'll get to show off the original materials I created for my classes and explain why they worked so well. 

I'm using two things. The first is a map I drew for the pre-intermediate class where they each had a different route and had to sit back to back and describe their route to a partner using directional terms. The other material had to do with form filling (like on an application) for the upper-intermediate class. I came up with three profiles of characters and they had to fill out forms for them based on the information and extract more information based on their comprehension of the profiles.

These things are interesting to me, but I'm not sure how this will register with any of you non-teachers (Ha! Listen to me! All teachery.)

Anyway, that's my schedule for the next few days. Don't ask me about after that because then I'll get anxious and squirm in my seat and tousle my hair and say "ummm" and "uhhh" a lot.

I have no idea what comes after that, actually. (Imagine that I just took a deep breath after writing this – cuz I did.) We have to be out of our flat by Friday and so I've been in a rush to figure things out.

I've applied to a few places in Prague (and even interviewed at a school last week, fingers crossed because it went pretty well). I even sent my resume to The Prague Post, an English-language newspaper here.

I've also sent resumes to English schools and English-language publications in Paris and Barcelona – the two places I would like to be outside of Prague. I'm looking at flights now to both places and trying to decide if I should go to one/the other/both and for how long to look for jobs.

Prague is great and all (and inexpensive and somewhat familiar), but I want to go somewhere I haven't been. Plus, even though Prague is a big city by my terms, I feel like there's more opportunity in a bigger city like Paris or Barcelona. 

These might seem like cliche pipe dreams, but they aren't. Barcelona is home to a sister school to Oxford TEFL Prague, which may offer some help. Plus the city has a ton of English teaching schools. Paris has a ton as well, but I also have a desire to teach while also learning French. 

The good thing is, if both of those fail, I could always come back to Prague. The Prague Post already said they'd be willing to use me as a freelance writer. So I could do that while teaching. As I say, we'll see.

Dang, this post was way longer than I expected it to be.

Art and statue and graffiti in the city

I'm thinking this weekend might be made for some serious modern art hunting in Prague.

Why I love street vendors

This evening, I'm leaving school. It's after 7. I have a huge project due tomorrow that I need to finish, and all I'm thinking about is what I should eat for dinner to keep the energy going for an almost-all-nighter. In my hand is my standard leftover bag from TESCO consisting of one bagel and a little hunk of cheese.

I know for sure there's not much left in the flat for me to make a decent dinner. So then, the question is: Should I go to the store on the way home? But that'll take too much time and the security guard always follows me around when I have my satchel over my shoulder like I'm going to steal something even though I go there twice a week anyway.

Then, I remember! Ever since Carnevale, there've been food vendors set up in Old Town Square. They're open nearly every day selling kebabs, sausages in buns and cinnamon roll-type things. It's like the Czech people have decided it should suddenly be springtime even though it's still friggin' cold out. They've started to assemble chairs and tables outside cafes and such -- well, OK, some of the more touristy places have been doing that already. It's just they come equipped with space heaters.

Anyway, so I skip through Old Town Square and find a vendor who is still turning kebabs and sausages on a grill, order what's basically a kielbasa hot dog and walk home happily, hurriedly trying to eat it before the bread gets soggy in the misty, drizzly night.

That's probably why I think I have second-degree burns on the roof of my mouth now. Ah well, my stomach is full. 

It's a gorgeous thing to see, though, as strange as it sounds. All these wooden booths with smoke stacks and sizzling grills, situated in some kind of a circle in the center of the square, all connected by strings of hanging lights, the Tyn Church looming in the background, lit up like the evil twin of Cinderella's Castle (but in a good way), bar tables scattered about so people can stand and eat the street food, talking and laughing. 

It makes one feel like he's in a small, Bohemian village. Not such a big city. It also makes one remember tourist season isn't that far away.

How Prague Stole Mardi Gras

For all my talk and planning for Prague's version of Mardi Gras -- the Carnevale -- suffice it to say it did not happen.

At least, for us. Here's the story from my failed attempt at Mardi Gras in Prague:

It started two weeks ago, my first weekend after classes began. I went sightseeing around Prague with three other students and we came across this huge festival in a park near the Charles Bridge. There was music and people in costumes dancing and lots of food booths. It was a great time but none of us knew what the occasion was. Later, we saw a banner that deemed it Prague's Bohemian Carnevale -- two weeks of balls and events that led up to Fat Tuesday. 

I checked out their Web site, got super excited and forwarded it to my fellow students, saying basically -- "We are doing this Tuesday, don't make plans." In the calendar of events, it showed a parade starting around 5 p.m. Tuesday with celebrations in the same park continuing until 9 p.m., when fireworks would begin. It would be a way to celebrate Mardi Gras without Louisiana.

Unfortunately, the classes we taught Tuesday ended at 6:30 p.m., then we had about a half-hour of feedback with our teachers to go over what went well and what didn't work. I figured, if anything, we'd have time to catch the tail-end of the celebration before fireworks. AT LEAST, there would be fireworks!

So we leave school and walk toward the park, crossing the Charles Bridge. You can see the park from the bridge. It was completely dark and empty. No signs of music or food, or even trash on the ground from a previous good time. So I said, "Well, there are a lot of parties and balls going on, maybe everyone's there and then they'll come out for fireworks." Everyone takes this as a good enough reason. I applaud myself for quick thinking. We head to a pub for food and drinks to kill the two hours until fireworks. 

A few minutes before 9, we walk back onto Charles Bridge, thinking it will be the perfect place to see the fireworks over the river. At any given time, there are a lot of people walking on the bridge. It's kind of the main attraction. This makes it hard to gage if people are here for the fireworks or just because they are tourists and are all, hey, let's look at these statues ... at night!

9:30, 9:45, 10 p.m. Nada. About the most exciting thing we witness is the alarming amount of seagulls and swans chillin' in the water right below the bridge. We all imagine that if fireworks were to happen just across the way, it might become a veritable shitstorm all over the bridge.

But, alas, no fireworks. I start apologizing to my friends, saying, "I'm almost positive it said 9 p.m. on the Web site!" 

Then, oh ... then! The heavens opened and an angel materialized on the cold, Bohemian wind in the form of Tara Reid. ... OK, it wasn't Tara Reid, but close your eyes and the girl had the same voice. I mean, she could do the voiceover work for "Taradise" if they ever decide to release the series on DVD.

And in her raspy, I haven't slept in days but have had a lot of vodka voice, she sang a song to my ears. "Fireworks?" she asked.

"Wait, you're here for fireworks, too?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, there's supposed to be fireworks," she slurred.

Beautiful. It turns out Ms. Reid is part of a group of American students studying abroad in Prague. The rest of them walked up and we all made introductions and pondered if this Carnevale was all a scheme to punk American tourists.

Then someone said, "Hey, there's a pub over here with a guy from Texas playing acoustic guitar!" So we all went and drank and tried to forget. It wasn't half-bad for a Tuesday night, I must say.

The next day, of course, I check the Web site again and find that, even though the calendar of events was the same as I remembered it, they did post an update on the homepage saying the times had changed. The fireworks were at 6 p.m. Too bad I was still in class.

And that is how Prague stole Mardi Gras. No hearts growing five sizes bigger, no gifts of beads, doubloons and boob-baring, no one joining hands around a float at the Rex parade singing "Fah who for-aze / Dah who dor-aze" while shots ring out in the distance. 

Bummer.

Bratislava in a day

So, we spent Saturday night and all day Sunday in Bratislava. Even though it's not as interesting of a city as Vienna (only 40 kilometers away), we had the most fun there. Something about being in a foreign city you know nothing about with a local makes it ten times better. Lenka and her boyfriend Matej brought us all over the city, to some great bars Saturday night and really made the weekend a blast. I'd go back tomorrow, if I could.

Snowy Vienna

Vienna was gorgeous and cold and snowy Friday and Saturday. Last time I was there, it was cold, but not a winter wonderland like you see in the above pictures. I determined I need to find some good, cheap winter shoes with rubber soles and not made of canvas like my Converse sneakers. I brought some better shoes, but they all have harder soles, which is fine for going out to a nice place or on a job interview, but sucks in general on cobblestone. Thankfully, I doubled up on socks, so my feet didn't get wet.

We had some of the best food we've had so far in Vienna and that was a big plus. Lots of tasty schnitzel to counter all the bread and cheese and cheese and bread.

From there, we took a 1-hour bus trip to Bratislava (more snow, but also more Communist-era architecture). Those pictures up next. Be thankful I even post these on here, it takes for freakin' ever!

(Oh, by the way -- tomorrow ... Prague Carnevale ... parade ... fireworks on the river ... hurray!)

Cheese, bread, beer, repeat

That's what I've been living on nearly every weekday since the course started. You can get a couple of rolls or croissants and a hunk of cheese for about 40 koruna at TESCO, which is less than $2. That's my lunch and we often hit the pub on the way home from school. Then I get back to the flat and eat my leftover cheese and bread from lunch. Of course, I do have some yoghurt or oatmeal or a banana in the morning. (My oatmeal this morning was kind of watery, though, and it pretty much ruined my whole day.)

I'm wondering how I'm surviving on this diet. Although, I did buy some vitamins a week ago and have been taking those. So maybe I'm OK. We'll see. This weekend we are going to Vienna and Bratislava (staying with Lenka, the only European person in the course, in the place she rents in Bratislava). I hope to try out something other than cheese and bread in Austria and Slovakia.

Teaching went really, really well today. I was the most comfortable I've been in front of the class, and it was nearly an hour lesson. They all seemed interested in Mardi Gras and they were asking me questions afterward.

What's strange is on Thursday night, everyone goes to the pub next door to the school. And that's everyone -- students and teachers. So, basically, I left class and then continued to talk in English with the students from my course in the pub over beers. All that was left was a white board and the overhead. But it was fun to talk with them outside the classroom.

Well, tomorrow is a half-day of class and then hopping a train to Vienna. I think we're all bringing our weekend bags to school in the morning. I wonder if they have cheese and bread on the train?

Mardi Gras in Praha

So, I'm a little bummed about missing Mardi Gras back home. But I was surprised to find out Prague has it's own version, Carnevale. It culminates on Fat Tuesday with a parade of masked and costumed people walking over to Kampa Park, an island in the Vltava River just across the bridge from Old Town. And then, FIREWORKS!

I am very happy about this. We'll miss some of the parade because of teaching practice, but I think we'll make it in time for the fireworks.

Tomorrow (Thursday), I teach my third lesson. I think it's about 50 minutes this time and, while the others were nearly straight from the book, I get to make this one up on my own. Guess what I'm doing?

The difference between Carnevale and Mardi Gras. 

I think I'm even going to let them listen to some Mardi Gras music: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band's "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" in particular. This will require me to lug my laptop to school, but I think it's worth it.

Thursday is my last day teaching intermediate students. Next week, we swap with the other group in the class and teach beginners. Just as an FYI (because some have asked), they are all adults, some college students, but mostly adults. At the end of the course, we have the option of taking a day-long course on teaching children, but I think I'm enjoying adults enough to stick with it.

From the rooftops

Saturday, we went up to the top of the clock tower in Old Town Square to get a view of the city. Here are some shots I took. Notice the crowd in the second shot, there was a wedding in Old Town Hall and the bride and groom left in a classic car timed with the Astronomical Clock's hourly show. So there was a wedding party mixed with tourists below.

The view from here

The top is a shot of my bedroom. Notice I used the spare bed to pile up stuff. I also have a table and an armoire in the room. The rest is most of what I can see from my windows/balcony. Notice the weird little kid-with-a-top-hat statue built into the side of the building across from me. It's apparently a very recent building. And by recent, I mean 1894. So says the big plaque above the door.

Heading into the third day of school and it's snowing outside. But it hasn't started sticking yet.

The ethernet happened

So the ethernet is fixed. Rejoice. Now I get to catch up on all these e-mails. Today, I got to teach an 8-minute lesson to my fellow students about anything I wanted. I taught them how to design the front page of a newspaper. Yes, predictable, but it was easy. One of my fellow students taught us how to do Beyonce's "Single Ladies" dance. That was interesting. 

We also started our first of four hours learning another language. We're learning Gaelic from a teacher here who is Irish and named Sinead. Yep. We met her last night at the pub with the school staff and she used all the information she learned against us in the classroom. My name in Gaelic is "Beartla" and it is nowhere near what you think it sounds like. It's so nerve-wracking to be on the other side of the equation. Part of you is trying to study how the language works and the other is trying to study the teacher's method. But I guess that's the point.

Tomorrow, we meet the students we'll be teaching on Thursday and, similarly, we have to learn a bit about them and try to remember their names.

Dobre den

Hello, from Praha! My apologies for the delay in writing this. The ethernet connection in our flat isn't working (they promise to fix it soon) and the wireless connection is hit or miss. 

Flights went well, mostly. The audio on my TV did not work, so I had to make up words to "Rachel Getting Married" and "Burn After Reading." I got into Prague around 11 a.m., checked out my hotel and then spent the day walking around the Old Town. Saturday, I moved down the block to the flat that will be my home for the next month.

I am writing this from my room on the third floor of a building down a narrow, cobblestone street just a few blocks from Staromestske namesti (Old Town Square). You can see one of the churches on the square in the second picture. The first is Charles Bridge with the Royal Palace and St. Vitus Cathedral up on the hill behind it.

The weather is cold, somewhere in the 30s but I haven't kept track. All I know is I've been living in my double-breasted coat, scarf, hat and gloves every day. 

I'm staying in the flat with three other guys. One's from England/South Africa, another's from "The O.C." (by that, I mean, the show :) ) and the other is from Houston. No lie. Houston. He even went to UNO for two semesters. Weird.

Besides us, there are three girls in the course. They are from New York, San Diego and Slovakia. So we're seven total, which is nice. Everyone's really cool and most are around my age. We get along well and have spent nearly every night together walking from pub to pub drinking the really good, really cheap Czech beer. You pay the equivalent of about a buck-fifty for a huge pint. For realz.

We had our first day of school today, and it seemed to fly by. That is also nice. Afterward, the teachers and staff took us to a cool, local pub and paid for all our beers. I think I've been drinking more beer than water, here. It is cheaper, though ...

On Thursday, I'll be teaching for 25 minutes in front of a class of mostly Czech students. Jeez, we jumped into this! Pray for me that it goes well!

My room has a quasi-balcony. By that, I mean I have these huge double doors that open and then there's a railing behind it. I can open it up and look out to the street below. Across from me are some old, old apartments with ornate designs and even a statue. Hard to explain, but I'll post some more pictures next time.

Now, I have to do some homework and go to bed. It's 1:13 a.m. right now.

Na shledanou (good-bye)!

That's the sound of my forehead hitting the table

Lists are not something I normally do. But I did for this trip. I talked about it a lot. A to-do list of 25 important things. It was with me all the time. I marked off each item as soon as I did it.

I'm normally a procrastinator, but I decided -- as I'm putting so much money and time and life-changingness into this move to Europe -- I need to plan ahead. The list helped. And I'm down to just a few minor items.

But then, life happened. And now, two days before I leave, I suddenly feel like I am waaaayyyy behind.

Last week, my bank sent me a notice that because of some general and vague fraudulent activity (probably the work of Somali pirates), everyone in the world ever who has a debit card is getting a new one. I should receive mine in 7 to 14 business days. The old one will cease to be Feb. 12. Snag No. 1.

I quickly called my bank to see if they could expedite the process of sending me the new debit card because of my circumstances of probably not being in the country if it arrives within 14 days. They offered a helpful "No."

Debit cards are the only way I've been able to get cash quickly in a foreign country. Tagen reminded me of this earlier today as she told me over the phone, "Remember? We tried to use our credit cards at the ATM machines (in Turkey and Greece) and they asked for PIN numbers." I have no idea what my PIN number is for me credit card. I've never needed it, which is why I relied on my debit card. I leave in TWO days!

So then, I thought, well maybe I can use my VISA card. I called VISA this afternoon and said, "Hey, no idea what my PIN number is. Can you send it to me?"
"Sure!"
"Hurray!"
"You should received it in 7 to 14 business days."
(Snag No. 2)
"Uh, can you e-mail it to me?"
"No."
"Can you whisper it softly into the phone in your nighttime voice?"
"No."

Then, later this afternoon, feeling forsaken and moving on to other matters of dire concern, I was searching through my Filing Cabinet O' Important Things whilst looking for my previous auto insurance policy ... Oh, cuz lol!!! Sidenote and Snag No. 3: My auto insurance company sent me a letter TODAY and they were all "Yeah, you is dropped as of March 19" and I was all "Whaaaaa?" and they were all "Oh, oops, lol forgotz to tell you in the last TWO YEARS that since you moved back to Louisiana, our auto insurance company don't do no policies in Louisiana, even tho weez a NATIONWIDE company and have been happily accepting your payments since then. Thanks for those, btw."

Moving to another state seemed so simple four years ago.

Yeah, well while searching for the auto insurance policy so I could quickly ninja a new policy to take over as soon as the old one drops like a bad rap album, I found something that may or may not be my PIN number for my credit card, as it was clearly not the PIN to my current debit card. Still with me?

So I called VISA again, and was all "Can I toss out four numbers at you right now and you can tell me if I'm right?"
"No. I know nothing of PIN numbers and such. Only our computers and your soul and Jesus know your PIN number."
"Dang. OK, well how can I find out if this is the right PIN number?"
"You can ... try to use it."
"Sounds simple enough ... but lo, I called a little while ago and asked for them to send me my PIN number. Aren't they sending me a new one?"
"Did you ask for a new one?"
"I ... I ... have no idea."
"Well, if you try to use your card at an ATM and it works, that means they've sent you a copy of the original. If it doesn't work, that means they've sent you an entirely new PIN number ..."
"Or that the PIN number I have has nothing to do with anything anywhere ever."
"This is true ... but you'll get a new one in 7 to 14 business days."

So I drove down to the ATM at my bank, tried out the PIN, it did not work. If that's because it's been changed or is just completely wrong, only Jesus and my soul and a massive computer somewhere know.

Le sigh. Apparently, my big to-do list was a little too soft on the to-dos. I probably should have planned this better and stocked up on a whole slew of workable credit cards before this trip. Most of it's my fault for not having recognized the potential problems earlier. But the debit card debacle, though, that's all on the Somali pirates. Bitches.

I'm praying that my new debit card comes to my door within the next two days, otherwise, my parents will have to ship it to me. Either way, I may be resorting to travelers cheques, which are, well, the checks of modern day checking.

This has been my first official freakout in regards to moving to Europe. Let us relish in the moment.

Some things ...

Came to the realization I haven't shared a lot of basic information about this course I'm taking.

Here's a link to the school:
Oxford TEFL Prague

The course runs from Feb. 9-March 11. It has sister programs in Barcelona and Cadiz and is accredited through Trinity College of London. I've even checked to make sure it's listed with the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic.

The school sets us up with accommodations. I have my own private bedroom in a four-bedroom flat I'm sharing with other students in the course just a few blocks from Old Town Square and a 10-minute walk to the school (I'll be cutting through the square every day to get to it). We also have Internet access in the rooms, sweet.

We go to the school for about eight hours a day, five days a week, and will clock in about 10 hours actually teaching a class and getting an evaluation before the course is through.

I'll also be set up with a counselor at the beginning of the course to help me figure out where I'd like to work and in what capacity (teaching children or adults in school, continuing education courses, business professionals, etc.). They'll help set up the contacts and get my resume in order.

For those who, like some people in my family, keep asking where exactly Prague is, here's a link to Lonely Planet's Prague page. Click on the gallery on the right for some really nice photos.

Oh, and this is what the weather will be like when I get there. Scroll down to Friday, Feb. 6. Brrrr.

(PS -- I apologize if any of the previous posts have been kinda dull as I wax poetic about traveling and The Journey and such. You will have to wait until I actually leave at the end of next week for anything interesting to happen on this blog, is what I'm saying.)