Sarah and I had a long weekend, since Tuesday (today!) is St. Wenceslas' Day, a national holiday in the Czech Republic! We decided to venture off by ourselves, and after consulting with teachers at our schools, decided to visit the beautiful castle town of Cesky Krumlov. We weren't disappointed. The pictures are of us on one of the many bridges across the Vltava River (which winds around the town center), the cathedral tower, the castle from the castle tower, and the view from one of the bridges. Festivals seem to follow us wherever we go, and the square was filled with folk music and dancing (see the video), little booths of cute things to buy, and inevitably, the wonderful Czech fair food (ask me about the trdelnik, svarak, and hralusky, and palacinky). With the cobblestoned streets and the scent of food everywhere, people in costume and the castle always in view, it was not hard to imagine it as a medieval town. We toured the castle and heard all about the history of noble families and colorful characters that lived there; visited the museum of marionettes; wandered the castle gardens; and tasted various Czech dishes. And of course slept a lot--it's vacation after all. We did have a rather, mm, interesting experience at our hostel: we'd made a reservation online, but when we got there a drunken receptionist appeared, couldn't find our reservation, and put us in a room without noting that she had. Or something like that. We returned in the evening to find the (sober and nice) owner, who had just put somebody in our room...so we ended up on mattresses on the floor in a room of 6 British boys who didn't know we were there. They came back late, after we went to bed, and lots of whispering and surprise ensued...but it all worked out in the end. We had our own room the next night, thankfully. In all, it was a delightful weekend; and it somehow brought home the fact that I now live here, in the Czech Republic. This was just a weekend trip for me; and now I'm home again, in another Czech town. How exciting is that!

I've been teaching for almost a month now...it's nearly October! To be honest, it's still a bit of a struggle...I'm getting the hang of it little by little, but it depends on the day. Sometimes I love my job, and enjoy teaching a fun lesson; other times I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water and struggling through each class period. But I think I'm learning. I was so happy when a couple of students came up to me after class to ask questions: what's the difference between "must" and "have to"? If arachniphobia is the fear of spiders, what is the name for all these fears in general? I'm finding students that make my day by showing interest, answering questions, and participating, and of course a few (several in one class) that try my patience, but I'm stepping up to the challenge and being creative in how to engage them. Also, October marks 6 months of dating a very wonderful man...hooray! His support and love have been priceless over the past few months of this journey. As has the encouragement of friends and family...I miss all of you, and am so grateful for each one of you!

Well. Week one at the Gymnasium, accomplished. And what a crazy week it was. I've been waiting to update until I could sum up one whole week, although a lot has happened: last Friday was actually my first day of teaching, and then we went to Prague for the first ESI retreat which was so wonderful. It was great to see familiar faces again, and to swap stories and discover that I wasn't the only one with a silly food mix-up, or who felt like they had no idea what was going on at their school. I really enjoyed my first students on Friday, and wished that I could just see them all week long: but, instead, I have 15 different groups that I see, ranging from the equivalent of 5th graders to juniors in high school. A lot I see only once a week, a good amount twice, and only one class I see three times a week (teaching the whole class, instead of sharing it with Czech teachers). Monday and Tuesday were really rough: not only is this my first real job (sorry CPO, I don't really count you--you were too much fun!), but it's my first year teaching, which is supposedly hard, and it's in another country! I felt lost, I felt overwhelmed, I felt like a flop, I felt like giving up and going home. Tuesday, I walked into a classroom full of a huge, loud class, started introducing myself, and had a student raise her hand and manage to say, "Mr. (yes) Patrick, you know this is geography class?" My face must have been priceless, because everyone laughed...and then the real teacher walked in. A little mortified, I made my way to the office and found that my schedule had changed.

Now on the other end, I'm still nervous for the rest of the year, but I'm excited and like quite a few of my classes. I made my students laugh (this time intentionally!) by acting out words like "confident," "talkative" and "shy"; and by confessing that yes, Titanic is one of my favorite movies. I got them thinking and talking. I'm learning how to be more organized, but let myself relax sometimes so I don't stress constantly. I know there are many learning moments to come...and I've never been so grateful for a Friday in all my life! It's a party on patek!

Pictures: views of Prague (with Ashley and Sarah); the sunset out our window on our balcony; and me on my first day of school!