Sociology: Nighttime Sounds.

Boston: Gunshots. Police cars. Traffic. Women yelling at their deadbeat boyfriends about child support. Drunken singing.

Hradec Kralove: Fireworks.

Strange sightings.

A friend's post just reminded me of something I saw yesterday. I don't know how I forgot about it. I saw a young man around my age on the riverbank talking to a swan. Then he fed it half a sandwich. I guess I didn't know how to comprehend what was happening. They were just sitting there like two friends. I guess it's good to have a swan on your side; they're downright mean when it comes to a fight.

So Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and St. Valentine are playing poker...

All my jokes are bad.

Anyway, I am finally done with classes and can relax for a couple weeks. Of course I'm not really relaxing because I'll be traveling to Budapest and around Czech. But aside from that, the week has ended on a positive note. While I resisted strangling certain troublemakers, most of the kids were pleasant. I even received some Christmas presents including chocolate, ornaments, and one very fine gimp lanyard. I feel special. 

And because I'm a sucker for adorable faces, I took class photos. The little kids are holding up their Christmas cards. The older students taught me how to say "Merry Christmas" in Czech, which is "Veselé Vánoce!" 

One of my favorite students is little Hounzii on the right. What are you doing being so small, Hounzii? It's just silly and adorable.

Double Trouble (but lovable) Adams

Sneaky sneaks Malinka and Tereza

Crazy children who are obsessed with receiving high fives.

While this group drives me crazy, they're super fun and smart.  Lovable scamps.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

World didn't end.

Looks like I have to teach today after all.

Can You Just...Not...Speak?

Something I don't understand about certain people is the need to be around people all the time. Call me an anti-social loner but I really like my quiet time. Or at least sit around in comfortable silence with someone. I am not criticizing social people. Being social is great. I'm a fan of stringing together sentences and painting various cities and towns red (still thinking of a tag name). I think being social and talkative is equally as important. If you're too quiet, there is the possibility that you might be mute or have serious social anxiety issues in which case I suggest seeking professional help. I like small talk as much as the next person but I fairly certain there is a reason they don't call it big talk. Language geeks, what do they know, right?

What I want to know is: Is there a polite way to tell someone you don't want to see them for a week or two because you feel they are being overbearing? I don't want people to feel like they have to ask me how my dinner was (unless I'm doing something crazy exciting for dinner like eating a Bengal tiger or eating and sky diving at the same time). It's okay, dinner was dinner. Unless I die tomorrow, there will be more in my future and when those come to pass, it's still very unlikely that I will tell you what happens during those.

This is why I really enjoy Kristy's (flatmate for those of you who cannot keep up with my endlessly fascinating life) company. She reminds me of a lot of my closer friends back home. We are perfectly fine sitting together and not talking. We'll be reading, working, writing, whatever but it's never weird.

I think it's important for people to be alone and reflect. It makes your personality more 3D. If you're talking all the time, you're not doing much thinking.

On a lighter note, here's something funny:

Sidenote: This post excludes rants. Rants are welcome as long as I say they're welcome.

Plant Life.

It rains here in the Czech Republic. A lot. And snows. Maybe it's just the winter time but as Chelsea says, I am like a plant. Right now I just want to curl up and nap and not come out until the sun decides to come out.

I also got my 2nd Hep B vaccination today (out of three shots...yay fun balloons and carnivals and popcorn) and personally I think that's enough action for today. I would really love to just sit by my fake fireplace with a cup of coffee. I feel a little awkward when I mention that I have to get a Hepatitis B shot. I feel like I have to whisper it so people passing by don't stop and look at me like, "Whoa, hold on. YOU have to get a HEP B SHOT? You know that's like a sexually transmitted infection, right? Judgement, judgement, judgement, taboo, taboo, taboo, blah, blah, blah." While I know that's not the only way it's transmitted, I always assume people are extremely nosey and judgmental. Anyway, point is, shot received. I am 2/3 protected from that craziness.

As much as I would like to stay in with my cup of coffee, I'm this thing called an "adult" and "adults" have these things called "jobs". I actually won't mind today; the kids are pretty good.

It'll be so quiet when Kristy leaves tomorrow. I still have to finalize my plans for the break. I have to book my train ticket, pack, exchange money, etc. It'll be interesting traveling by myself. I usually have someone with me but I have to get used to it sometime, right? I won't be by myself in Budapest but I just hope that I don't run into any trouble getting there. Knowing me, I'll book a ticket to Budapest and then accidentally get on a train to Berlin. Well, you'll all find out soon enough.

Crawling to the holidays.

I just need to make it to Friday.

Tuesdays are always tough since they're my longest days and I am beyond exhausted by the time I get home. My fifth graders this morning were great. They had a lot of fun doing the Santa chain story. Once I got to sixth grade...let's just say they're not my favorite. There is one kid who tests my patience every single week. I don't understand kids like that. They just make your job hell. The rest of the kids are fine but there is just one demon catalyst. I know I must be patient but it's hard when you're exhausted. I don't want to yell. I hate yelling. I'd rather have fun. But the way I see this kid is that he's the Joker from Batman. Some men just want to see the world burn. I am always happy to make it to my afternoon English club classes. They make the job fun. Little Veronika even gave me another present: Ferrero Rocher. Yum. :)

I need to blow off some steam like crazy. I wish I brought my running sneakers but my suitcase was already full.

Until Christmas vacation begins, I have some small comforts to keep me sane:

1) A fireplace. Since the people I know with fireplaces live far away, I made one for me and Kristy.

 2) Pure hot chocolate (in Brno, but you can get it anywhere here which is not common in the States).

3) Silvie (my one adult student) and her daughter made fresh holiday cookies and gave me a big container to take home.

4) And I finally committed to a pair of slippers. They're very warm and fuzzy. :)

How Garfield feels about Mondays.

That's the way I feel about Tuesdays. It seems like it will never end and I have to maintain a high level of energy to entertain kids 6-12. Oy.

I start at 9 a.m. at one school trying to make sleepy and bored middle school kids fall in love with English. I think I'm pretty successful so far. I share an office with the three male gym teachers who are very nice and told me I have to hang out in the office more so they can teach me Czech swear words. I'm sure I'll pick it up from my students soon enough. Some of them already know English swear words. Around 11, I leave and have one hour to walk to the bus stop, which is a little bit of a walk from the school, catch the bus, grab lunch and run to the next school for afternoon classes where I need to have enough energy to last until 4 p.m. I decided to stop by this little Chinese restaurant Kristy has been telling me about so I grabbed some sort of chicken and noodle dish and ran out the door completely forgetting to grab a fork and napkins. I realized this once I got to the school and was so hungry I didn't care and started eating with my hands. I considered for a brief moment using my pens as chopsticks but decided against trying. I'm sorry I'm not the most lady-like all of the time. You try teaching kids for 7 hours and then tell me whether you will wait for a fork. And don't worry, I washed my hands before class.

A teacher was nice enough to lend me a spoon so I was able to eat more between one of my classes. I know I sound like a poor, starved college student all over again but I promise I'm healthy. Among all my books and papers I don't have room to store lunch on Tuesdays so I just grab something to go.

I am exhausted by my last class but I know I need to muster enough energy to entertain the last few kids so I harness the spirit of a second grade teacher I once knew (Mrs. Robinson) who was delightfully crazy and throw in a dash of various entertainers and I can just survive. Today was a nice surprise though because I got an early Christmas present from one of my second graders, Veronika, who loves to hug me and not let go.

She made it herself. :)

Also Veronika and the other two girls in that class, Miša and Hana, like to run down the hallway screaming, "ARIANA IS A PRINCESS!!!" 

I am really loving these kids. As many times as I have to tell them to sit and yell, "Quiet!" to get their attention, it makes me happy to see them. 

Ariana Hakim: Writer. Goofball. Giggle Monster. Teacher. Princess. I like it.

Extremities? What extremities?

We spent all day in Praha.

Outside.

At the Christmas markets.

It is -12 Celsius outside and it wasn't much warmer during the day.

We kept ducking in to places to get warm.

Excuse me while I hibernate for a few weeks to remember what having toes feels like.

On and Off Switches With Faulty Wiring.

Last week was crappy. This week: awesome. All my kids are doing their work and are being nice to each other (except one troublemaker whose parents I will have to have my directors call but one out of one hundred or so is not bad). I am having all my older classes do a little Christmas tree competition where if they say a full sentence (revolving around what we're studying at the moment) their teams get to decorate an ornament and put it on the tree. Whoever has the most ornaments wins.

For my Uprková classes I'm doing a slightly longer project so I won't post the pictures now but here is my Wednesday conversation class at JG. I'm not supposed to have favorites but they're my most advanced and mature group so I really like talking to them.

And just for funsies here is the carrot that my second grader, Ondrej, drew. I think it's quite good. 

Teaching Newsflash:

I've been called "mom" three times.

I say let their imaginations run wild.

Tereza (appx. 6 years old): *I am carrying her down the stairs because she twisted her ankle earlier in the day* Are you a princess?

Well Tereza, to that I say, reality be damned.

Weird. I'm Usually On Time to These Types of Things.

So we had a post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner this weekend. Kristy and I went to this little village outside of Hradec where Tim, Helena, and Dušan live. A few of their friends came over and brought some yummy tasty sugary bits of delicious. We had a lovely dinner of chicken and goat and so many other things I thought I would surely die from the sheer weight of food. Things got a little weird after dinner though. I won't go into the details because I think they're a little personal but both Kristy and I both went to bed kind of thinking, "Eeeeeeee...what?"Parents, guardians, don't worry our safety was not compromised.

In the morning we had breakfast and I played hide and seek with Tim and Helena's daughter, Sherry/Sherri/Shirri (?). Non-American pancakes were made. I was so excited when they said pancakes only to find out that their pancakes are pretty much crepes. UPSETTING. And no maple syrup. I was grateful for the food and hospitality and could appreciate the twenty or so guinea fowls, chickens, and stray kitten roaming the grounds. On top of that it was snowing in the morning. How perfect? I'm just reminiscing about winters in New England.

Then we went to Dušan's house and watched movies for a few hours. His house is still in progress but homyguh is it beautiful on the inside. I was surprised. More bonus points: 1) old books 2) old book smell 3) fireplace. I think if I had just his kitchen and living room I would be set for life. I need no other addition to the house. Except maybe a finished bathroom.