Last week was my second week of school- and it was actually a lot harder than my first for a few reasons. First, I suppose I need to get used to being sick. I've heard that the first year of teaching is always tough on the immune system and I already believe it. Thankfully this was a pretty minor cold, but last Monday I had what was close to a migraine headache and the rest of the weekend I was just achey, sore throat, really congested, sneezing... typical cold. I also was prepared the first week for the crying and tears from all the kids- but as of last week, they were still non-stop bawling all day. Two weeks of that and not feeling well kind of wore me thin.
That said, I already and developing favorite students. I shouldn't admit that on the internet (teachers shouldn't have favorites!) BUT if any parent finds this they can just assume that OF COURSE their child is among my favorites. Serious though... some of the kids are already so sweet to me and very attached and it's impossible not to get excited when they clearly are so attached. There is one little girl and one little boy in particular who are both already stealing my heart.
Last Wednesday we had quite the adventure. It was sprinkling outside. The kind of day where it's cold and gray and dreary. Nikola and I decided that it would still do the kids good to get outside- and they all had changes of clothes and rain gear, so we suited them up (it took almost 40 minutes to get 10 kids in galoshes, jackets, raincoats over the jackets, and hats). When we got outside, we walked about 200 yards to the edge of the school property. As soon as we got there, it started POURING. 200 yards with 10 two year olds in the pouring rain is a long, long way. By the time we got back to the school, all 10 were crying their eyes out and absolutely drenched... so were Nikola and I.
If I thought getting them all bundled up was bad, getting them all out of wet clothing and into dry clothing was 100x worse. First of all, they were dripping water everywhere, so the floor was all wet. As soon as we'd get dry clothes on one kid, they'd sit or slip down and be wet all over again. We're doing this all in a little cloak room and all the kids are screaming at the top of their lungs. When I finally finished... I felt like I'd done something to be proud of... even if it was just get 10 screaming wet children dry and warm. Needless to say, when it rained again on Thursday, Nikola and I just set up an obstacle course in the classroom...
Friday was lots of fun. My friend Jena had decided to have a house warming party, but then my friends realized that my birthday is this coming weekend and I'm going out of town (to Munich for Oktoberfest) so they decided to turn it into my birthday party. It was really, really nice. Tons of people turned up and Tamela cooked quesadillas, Jena provided snacks, everyone brought dips, Carrie brought a bottle of tequila, and Larry and Celieta brought burčák to share (it's a young wine- still fermenting... all fizzy and super sweet... still tastes more like carbonated juice but deceptively strong. It's only in season Sept, Oct. and Nov. and these few weeks are big festivals and tastings). People also bought me presents which was unnecessary but also really appreciated. Larry and Celieta bought me corn meal (impossible to find here and as fellow southerns we'd been lamenting the lack of southern food... cornbread and cheese grits anyone?!) and Tereza bought me a HUGE thing of chocolate which I was instructed to share with NO ONE.
Anyway, the night was lots and lots of fun... tons of goofy dancing and jokes and laughing. Random people came and went and we all just had a blast. I think we're going to try to rotate hosts once a month and continue to have parties b/c everyone had such a good time. I left really early b/c I was still fighting the cold and started fading fast, but it was really good to get out and unwind with friends.
The rest of the weekend was uneventful. I felt really bad on Saturday (staying up late while sick will do that) so I literally did not leave my apartment. Sunday I was productive, but only with things like lesson planning, laundry, and making chicken stock for more soup (still not 100% but doing better!) Today at school was uneventful unless you count lots of spills and 2 potty accidents but I made white chili (Mom's recipe) when I got home and took a nice walk since the weather was beautiful.
In other news, the sale of hard liquor is currently banned in the Czech Republic (read about it here: http://aktualne.centrum.cz/czechnews/clanek.phtml?id=757496 ). Thankfully, everyone is drinking burčák now anyway, and beer of course. It really isn't a big deal that I can't buy it, but it's what everyone is talking about.
I plan on having a quiet week since I leave Friday from work for Munich but I'll be sure to update if anything exciting happens and definitely look for a post about Oktoberfest!
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