Wow. I can't believe how long it's been since I posted an update...I apologize! Weeks turned into a month, and soon October flew by! Perhaps I felt that the novelty was wearing off, which is maybe a good thing...I'm settling into a routine, getting used to my students, learning (slowly!) to lesson plan, finding a niche. I by no means am fully adjusted, but Sokolov is daily feeling more and more like a home. The weather is getting colder; leaves were turning beautiful colors and now have mostly fallen, except for a few stubborn ones. I'm slowly learning random Czech words, and my students get really excited when I use them! They laugh at how I pronounce them, but tell me I'm saying it right...that seems like a contradiction to me, but whatever.

This month has been characterized by some good time spent with friends. I got to visit fellow ESI teachers in Cheb--Karina and Tammy, who live there and whom I've seen several times; but also Sally and Shelly, who teach in Prague and Ostrava and were visiting the same weekend. A friend from Wheaton, Peter, is traveling through Europe for several months and stopped in to see what I was up to; it was nice to catch up with someone from Wheaton. And I had a fall break at the end of the month, and took the time to go to Italy to visit high school friends Betsy and Jason. (I went the whole way by train and was so proud of myself! Ask for more details if you'd like to hear the story. Bottom line that it went well though.) Each instance reminded me how much I appreciate having a native English speaker to talk to :) I get used to how few people speak English here, which makes me all the more thankful for the people here that do--Sarah, my head teacher Milena, Che' from church, her husband Pavel...but also more appreciative of special chances to talk to friends in person. Unfortunately, my non-photo-taking tendencies manifested themselves and I don't have very many pictures from October...but Sarah and I made pumpkin bread, and documented it. We were very excited to see pumpkins (dýně) at the Kaufland grocery store, since people had told us they didn't have them frequently here. It was my first time baking anything with fresh pumpkin, and it was a great success! Nothing like baking therapy with a roommate :) I finished off the month with a lesson about Halloween in some of my classes; in Czech, it is becoming more common to celebrate it (there were just a few decorations around), but it is not widespread. We learned vocabulary and listened to the "Monster Mash" song, which they loved! Those are always my favorite lessons, when the students are really enjoying themselves!

Continued prayers for the language and settling in to the culture and job would be appreciated; while I am feeling more settled, one of the English teachers is pregnant and will not be teaching this year--a huge change and stress for the rest of the English department. As the newbie I got off easy, but my schedule has been changed a little, so in some ways it feels like starting over just when I felt like I was getting the hang of it. I lost one class of students I really liked, but am excited to get to know a sweet class of sophomore girls that I now have.

Thank you for your support and interest in all I'm doing! It really makes all the difference, knowing that even though I'm half-way across the world in a tiny town that so many people are thinking of me and praying for me. And I will try to not go a whole month again without an update ;)