Czech This Out

2 May

Seriously, where did May come from? The last I noticed, it was mid-January! Spring flew by like this last year and here we are again...almost Maturita time and I am feeling the pinch! Wednesdays are one of my easier days. I teach a few lessons and am usually out of school pretty early. My normal routine is then to head into town to sit in a coffee shop or something to grade papers, get online, etc... Today though, a lot of students had signed up for practice exams, so I was here for an extra 2 and a half hours. I will talk later about these exams that stress out my kids so badly here.
After I finally got out of here, I went to the city center to meet with a friend and fellow ESI teacher. We don't get to talk much but sometimes we carve out the time. Those of us who live in Prague have a weekly Bible study at a local hang out called Bohemia Bagel. It's a place to get American-style food and free soda refills! Tonight we discussed 1 Kings 19:9-13..an interesting passage... not really instructional, just the middle of a story about Elijah, but an interesting look at the way God spoke to him.
On my way home, I had a "moment." Sometimes they happen - never when I expect them - but they usually hit me between the eyes. I had to switch transportation a few times; I took a Metro (too far because I was looking at a dog instead of watching for my stop!). Went back the other way with a backpack full of groceries and a arm full of papers I had been grading on the metro. I waited for my tram with a big group and got onto an already crowded tram car. Needless to say, I did NOT get a seat. I stood there sweating, carrying all of my junk, watching the guy sitting in the seat beside me...resenting him. He was 50-ish, dirty and smelled like alcohol. I know that I must have rolled my eyes. I wondered if he was homeless, but thought not because his hair was clean and his clothes were too. It was just his body that smelled bad and looked...unpleasant. I fanned myself with my hand because it was warm and full of bodies in the tram car. He looked up and saw me and his eyes got wide. He gestured for me to sit down, and my guilt kicked in. "Ne! Ne!" I told him. I didn't want his seat. He repeatedly gestured and I told him I didn't speak Czech, but he seemed so insistent that I finally switched places with him. Then I noticed he had a physical disability too. Nothing severe, but enough that he couldn't speak. I felt ... humbled. I felt so inconvenienced by having to stand on a tram for 20 minutes, carrying my work from my wonderful job, wearing my too-warm American clothes, listening to my ipod and here was this kind man, offering me his seat...just because. He just smiled down at me until the next stop when a seat cleared out for him right in front of me and he sat down, smiling and gesturing with two hands something that seemed to mean, "See? It all evens out." I sat there and teared up a bit. It was nothing profound, but just one of those moments where you get the feeling that it happened to get you to notice something or to change your attitude about something. Making snap judgments? Stereotyping? Being ungrateful? I suppose a few things might have popped out at me.

posted by Kassidee Kennedy @ 11:01 PM