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.