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!