The One Where Spring Arrived
I THINK it is finally here! I hate to say that with any degree of certainty or I know will be proven wrong, but the signs are all there. We had an enormous early spring snowfall a few weeks, which sort of disabled the city/airport. Now it has all melted and it's been a week or so since the last snow. Then 2 days ago, I left Kava Kava Kava, walked out of their courtyard, and all I could hear was one bird. It was the most bizarre thing! It was louder than any of the traffic or street noise - just one songbird. The really odd part was that when I heard it, I looked around, and everyone on the street was stopped, staring up, trying to see this one bird. It was just a little blackbird high in a tree, but the whole street had paused to hear this songbird. Strange. Surreal. Mesmerizing. And yesterday, Nyla called my mobile phone and I stood outside talking to her for about an hour - without a coat. So that settles it - spring has arrived in Prague!
I guess the other sign of spring is that our team formation has begun. All of the returning ESI teachers and the new teachers back in the States filled out our official Questionaires this week. Soon we will all be exchanging those, contacting each other, silently judging (what!?!?), and deciding which people we can live with for a year! I can't wait to get stared, although it makes me realize that my time with my current teammates is limited! ;-(
Spring had already arrived in Budapest when we were there AGAIN last weekend. It's a great city and the weather was phenomenal! If I lived there, I would spend all of my free time in the baths! Thanks to Sam Keyes, we were well-fed, and I got to visit a huge culinary store with him, which made my day. Matt's generosity kept us from sleeping in the cold - again. Amazing! It was a great weekend and Sunday we left happy, if not totally well-rested. I highly recommend going there. AND it's a short 7 (ish) hour train ride from Prague! Two birds...
The One Where I Decided to Stay
It has been a while since my last (and only other) post. The last few weeks have been a little stressful. This is the time of year when we all have to decide whether to stay another year or to go home at the end of the school year. I had to weigh my options and make a decision. So this little rant is part of what helped me decide:
At first I was thinking that, of course, I would stay. I am living in Prague! But truthfully, I don't even remember Prague most of the time. I just do what everyone does: I get up in the morning and go to work, which I don't always love! I see moody 16-20 year olds all day who just want to skip class and go to a pub! On a bad day, one of them might(true story!) write "This class sucks" on the board behind me. On a good day, that still happens, but one of the other students defends me or tells me that he(the writer of the insult) is an idiot. ;-) I am friends with some students - hanging out with them occasionally at pubs or at our house for movie nights. Others barely tolerate me and I them! They try to read books or do Sudoku puzzles or look at porn while i teach. Point is: not heaven! not the ideal situation. not what I envisioned when I signed on here! It's just life as usual, but without the comforts of the U.S. or the easy support of family and friends.
On the other hand, I am happy...just a deep happiness that I feel almost always. I will say that this is the first time in my life (adult life) that I feel like I am IN IT. I am not just here, biding time until the next thing starts. I am IN THIS and it is my life! This is it. I love that feeling. I guess it's contentment. I worry less, I anticipate the future less. I don't know. I don't think it's just being in Europe. I think it is living the life that I have wanted to live, and coming to the realization that it is NOT perfect, but enjoying the living just the same - it's still just ... life! There are things that I miss desperately! I miss my nieces most of all. Madison and Avery are 7 and 3, and I am missing a significant amount of time in their little lives! Nearly every day, I think of that and sometimes it makes me cry! I know I will never get that time back. But I do need to "begin" my own life, even if that means some separation.
So, after weighing all these things, I have decided to stay another year. This was no big shock to me. I had originally intended to stay 2 years unless something happened to change my mind. Nothing has. Here I am!
Having gotten that out in the open, I feel more like sharing some less significant (but fun!) events. In February, we went to Slovakia for an ESI ski trip. Let me say first that I hadn't been skiing in close to 10 years! I felt pretty nervous, but it came back to me quickly. Mid-day, I was reluctantly telling Laura that I hadn't fallen even once...and then I proceeded to fall down right there...in the cafeteria...without any skis on! Aside from Laura and I being locked in the hotel bedroom by a faulty door (which eventually had to be KICKED IN), the weekend was relaxing and fun!
Last month, I went to Budapest, Hungary with my friends Sarah and Christie over Spring Break. We had an amazing time (and when I say amazing, I mean that I would like to move there!). ;-) I really did enjoy Budapest. It's a great city and we have great friends there. Our host, Matt, set us up in a spare flat in his building. He was great and showed us the city...even putting up with our "coffee shop tour of Budapest." We owe most of our good times to him. Sam, another teacher there, cooked us a fantastic meal and showed me the culinary secrets of the city! We ate great food, drank countless coffees (which usually included dessert!) at countless coffee shops, saw churches and a mummified hand, ice-skated at a beautiful rink in front of a castle, and (on Valentine's Day) went to the thermal baths! Overall - a spectacular vacation!
This month has been less eventful. The only serious excitement was Ben and Amy's birthday weekend. We celebrated with them all weekend, beginning with a Ples (a ball) on Friday. We finished the weekend off with the Brazilian Barbecue, a remarkable restaurant in Prague which serves all-you-can-eat meat ... served on swords! It was incredible, but a little ridiculous!
You can check out my pictures from some of these events on my yahoo photo site. It's on the right-hand side of the blog.
