We started teacher training this week and that seems to have taken up most of my time. Sorry for not posting in a while.
Last week was good. Friday we took a trip to Thies to exchange some money and take car of a few things. This was a good start to the weekend, but nothing compared to the rest. Saturday morning, we got up early to head out of town again, and I have to admit, I left town with a slightly different idea of the trip than was actually true.
Our friend Masar, who we hang out with at our mutual friend’s hut on the beach, is from Mauritania. He speaks at least 7 languages and has been to most countries in Africa. What does he want to do the most? Walk around the desert – he’s a nomad. He talked about it a lot, saying he planned to join some friends in Mauritania again soon.
Devin, the peace corps volunteer here, had a goal of riding a camel before he left here and had yet to accomplish this. Since I’ve never ridden a camel, this seemed like a good idea. We talked to Masar and he said he could help us take care of this.
What I thought when I left: We were going to meet some nomads, ride camels for longs ways, and see something real authentic.
What the reality was: We went to a French tourist destination and our friend Masar was the only African that didn’t work there.
Still, it was pretty cool and the weekend cost about $40. We took a few separate car rides out to this small town about 4 hours from M’boro – where I live. Then, we talked to this old man in a little grass hut and got a truck to come pick us up. We sat in back as he raced through trees and over sand dunes, unable to slow down without getting stuck in the sand. Needless to say, we moved around a bit in the back.
When we go out there, we walked a few hundred feet to the edge of a dune before we looked down the hill to see the other, 100 foot dune that our tent was in front of. Cool place. It was just like a bowl in the Rockies, but made of sand.
There were camel rides involved – but again, less than we expected. It consisted of the five of us going less than 3k with the guide leading the way at a safe pace… no camel racing anywhere along the way. This was a disappointment, but considering how uncomfortable the seat was, I guess it was ok. They were a far cry from the camel-mounted couches that Masar described himself riding on.
That night we had a great dinner and met some cool people while others played drums and danced, and then a number of people sat around the fire for a while. Me, Devin and Masar took a walk out into the desert to sit under the stars for a while. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the Milky Way before – which I feel like is not normal for my age – but I certainly got a good look that night. The only obstructions were the bats that flew overhead and sounded like distant helicopters.
To wrap the weekend up, we arranged to go back on a one horse, flat-bed cart. 40k along the beach is a bit more direct than our previous route, but three hours on a wooden cart is a bit more taxing. We had him drop us off at our friend’s house in the shore and took a swim before heading home.
We had to go to school once back in M’boro because there were still about 60 laptops to charge for the teacher training and first day of student training Monday. This took a bit but wasn’t to bad. The weekend turned out well, as all have so far. I feel a little foolish for thinking it would be so much more, but it was actually plenty – just different than intended.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Life is but a dream
Ok, really, I can’t complain. I manage to a lot, but it just feels good. In reality, life is going as well for me here as anywhere else I ever am.
The teacher training can be frustrating – “Click here…No, I said here... Yes, but now click… wrong button, it’s ok, go back…Too far, uhm… right, ok, now click here… I know you already clicked there, but really you need to move the mouse down about a millimeter and then click… yes, the hand, once it makes the hand.”
But really, the teachers are doing well and progressing much faster than I thought they would. They are kind and patient, even though communication can be an issue and what they’re dealing with is stressful for both them and me. Come to think of it, working with my parents and neighbors in the past has been a good introduction to this – we deal with just about the same problems.
People will get it. For the most part, they want to. For the other part, they have to. They realize that too.
It is a bit sad for me to think it, but people who can’t use computers are at a great disadvantage when compared to others in the world, not socially or culturally, but just in terms of job opportunities. Even in Senegal, ten years from now, when these kids – god willing – graduate high school, it seems like the only options available for people without computer skills will be mango sales and taxi drivers.
If you read the other blog, which I know you must, you will have already read this next bit, but Stephanie interviewed the principal here for a class writing-activity. In the interview, he gave the reason why he saw the computers to be important, stating, “Students need to know how to read, they need to know how to write, and they need to know how to use computers.” Later he continued:
“In the beginning, if you want to know how to use it, if you have the desire or drive, then it is easy. The teachers in the beginning were scared, they kept saying I'm going to break it. But, now they are getting it. In the end it doesn't matter if they are scared or not. Come October they have to use it in their classes and teach it to their class.”
Whether here at school or off in the ‘real-world,’ kids and teachers both will need to know how to use computers. It is a hard reality that I am coming to accept – this along with a few others. Still, as Pierre said, they are going to have to use the computers, but they are getting it. The latter part is encouraging. What I am doing here isn’t a waste of time or a forcing of foreign influence. While the foreign influence is certainly creeping in and may still hit them like a tidal wave, I’m simply helping build reinforcements so it doesn’t knock them down.
In the mean time, weekends are still nice to have off. If you can’t tell, I’ve been at the beach a lot. We started off Saturday with an early walk to the shore, leaving town in a different direction, through a more farmed part of the area. It was a great walk and much different scenery than we normally get, but the slightly extra distance meant that my calves didn’t completely avoid the midday sun. None the less, we made it in time for a great day at the beach.
I am lucky enough to have already made friends with someone who has a two room hut right on the water. It’s great to relax under his trees, talk with him when I can, and meet the other people who float in and out through the day – the lifestyle on the beach is incredibly open and communal, minus those trying to rip off the white people.
For dinner, Friday, we cooked rice and fresh fish and then about ten of us, including Eli, from my group, ended up staying in his hut. It was too great wake up to the waves and walk along the beach before taking a morning swim. The entire day I sat thinking about how dream-like life is here and that a piece of property like this costs about $4,000 US.
Ok, that is life for now. I’m trying to stay regular with this blog thing – and supposedly gaining some more readers if you who shall remain nameless are actually reading now. I’m interested to see if they finally tuned in.
The teacher training can be frustrating – “Click here…No, I said here... Yes, but now click… wrong button, it’s ok, go back…Too far, uhm… right, ok, now click here… I know you already clicked there, but really you need to move the mouse down about a millimeter and then click… yes, the hand, once it makes the hand.”
But really, the teachers are doing well and progressing much faster than I thought they would. They are kind and patient, even though communication can be an issue and what they’re dealing with is stressful for both them and me. Come to think of it, working with my parents and neighbors in the past has been a good introduction to this – we deal with just about the same problems.
People will get it. For the most part, they want to. For the other part, they have to. They realize that too.
It is a bit sad for me to think it, but people who can’t use computers are at a great disadvantage when compared to others in the world, not socially or culturally, but just in terms of job opportunities. Even in Senegal, ten years from now, when these kids – god willing – graduate high school, it seems like the only options available for people without computer skills will be mango sales and taxi drivers.
If you read the other blog, which I know you must, you will have already read this next bit, but Stephanie interviewed the principal here for a class writing-activity. In the interview, he gave the reason why he saw the computers to be important, stating, “Students need to know how to read, they need to know how to write, and they need to know how to use computers.” Later he continued:
“In the beginning, if you want to know how to use it, if you have the desire or drive, then it is easy. The teachers in the beginning were scared, they kept saying I'm going to break it. But, now they are getting it. In the end it doesn't matter if they are scared or not. Come October they have to use it in their classes and teach it to their class.”
Whether here at school or off in the ‘real-world,’ kids and teachers both will need to know how to use computers. It is a hard reality that I am coming to accept – this along with a few others. Still, as Pierre said, they are going to have to use the computers, but they are getting it. The latter part is encouraging. What I am doing here isn’t a waste of time or a forcing of foreign influence. While the foreign influence is certainly creeping in and may still hit them like a tidal wave, I’m simply helping build reinforcements so it doesn’t knock them down.
In the mean time, weekends are still nice to have off. If you can’t tell, I’ve been at the beach a lot. We started off Saturday with an early walk to the shore, leaving town in a different direction, through a more farmed part of the area. It was a great walk and much different scenery than we normally get, but the slightly extra distance meant that my calves didn’t completely avoid the midday sun. None the less, we made it in time for a great day at the beach.
I am lucky enough to have already made friends with someone who has a two room hut right on the water. It’s great to relax under his trees, talk with him when I can, and meet the other people who float in and out through the day – the lifestyle on the beach is incredibly open and communal, minus those trying to rip off the white people.
For dinner, Friday, we cooked rice and fresh fish and then about ten of us, including Eli, from my group, ended up staying in his hut. It was too great wake up to the waves and walk along the beach before taking a morning swim. The entire day I sat thinking about how dream-like life is here and that a piece of property like this costs about $4,000 US.
Ok, that is life for now. I’m trying to stay regular with this blog thing – and supposedly gaining some more readers if you who shall remain nameless are actually reading now. I’m interested to see if they finally tuned in.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Gimme a minute
I have to sit on this for a bit. It has been the first week of teacher training and I thought about writing a few things but I have to phrase this correctly and it takes some thinking. I won't lie - there are ups and downs. At the same time as it is going well, it's still like building a boat in the ocean - you need to start with something firm, some base. We don't have that with any but a few teachers.
I'll get back to you in a day or two after I chew on this a bit more.
I'll get back to you in a day or two after I chew on this a bit more.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Fun in Foundioune
Last week
The teachers went on a small vacation and, since we had nothing better to do in M’boro without the teachers around, we went with!
The bus picked us up at 6AM Tuesday and we were off to southern Senegal. Again, I love driving through places. Even though stopping and visiting would be better, you can still get a little bit out of watching the change of the landscape and lifestyle. A few hours later we got to the ferry which took us to our destination. It wasn’t an island but we needed to cross a river to get to the tiny town we were staying in.
The place wasn’t that much different than where I live now – small town, not a lot going on – except that there were not only goats all around but also a lot of pigs. This surplus meant that we got two for about forty dollars – good deal. Meals don’t generally have that much meat, but vacations and celebrations are all about eating as much as possible and splurging on good food. We had pork sandwiches for breakfast, pork, sauce and millet for lunch, fried pork over an onion cucumber and fried potato salad for dinner. Of course, this was all eaten from a few large platter and mostly with your hand. Meals here are very communal.
Both afternoons we went swimming in the brackish river, which is supposed to be where the salt water and fresh water mix but it seemed even saltier than the ocean. It’s always nice to take a refreshing swim and be covered in a thin gritty film. On the second day they had even arranged a short boat trip through the mangroves in that area. It was a pretty good ride, but someone needed to be bailing at almost all times since our vessel was a well-worn, Senegalese fishing boat, and one of the teachers started crying because she thought we were all going to drown – none of the teachers could swim.
The two evenings there were spent cooking late into the night, and then, after eating as much as possible, the teachers began to dance. Some of the music and dancing here seems to have no kind of rhythm, but maybe that’s just a white boy’s perspective, because the always manage to find the terminating beat. I just chose to save my dignity and stay out of it. The nights ended with about 20 of us on mats in one room, sweating far more than I ever want to again. They had cabins at the Catholic mission – cheap destination for a Catholic school – but they hadn’t been used in over two years and would have taken more work than it was worth – the mice won that battle.
Highlight of the trip: butchering the pig.
Life lesson: It is always good to find the articulation and make a clean cut around the bone, but when that doesn’t work, just hack through the bone with the machete – people gotta eat.
The teachers went on a small vacation and, since we had nothing better to do in M’boro without the teachers around, we went with!
The bus picked us up at 6AM Tuesday and we were off to southern Senegal. Again, I love driving through places. Even though stopping and visiting would be better, you can still get a little bit out of watching the change of the landscape and lifestyle. A few hours later we got to the ferry which took us to our destination. It wasn’t an island but we needed to cross a river to get to the tiny town we were staying in.
The place wasn’t that much different than where I live now – small town, not a lot going on – except that there were not only goats all around but also a lot of pigs. This surplus meant that we got two for about forty dollars – good deal. Meals don’t generally have that much meat, but vacations and celebrations are all about eating as much as possible and splurging on good food. We had pork sandwiches for breakfast, pork, sauce and millet for lunch, fried pork over an onion cucumber and fried potato salad for dinner. Of course, this was all eaten from a few large platter and mostly with your hand. Meals here are very communal.
Both afternoons we went swimming in the brackish river, which is supposed to be where the salt water and fresh water mix but it seemed even saltier than the ocean. It’s always nice to take a refreshing swim and be covered in a thin gritty film. On the second day they had even arranged a short boat trip through the mangroves in that area. It was a pretty good ride, but someone needed to be bailing at almost all times since our vessel was a well-worn, Senegalese fishing boat, and one of the teachers started crying because she thought we were all going to drown – none of the teachers could swim.
The two evenings there were spent cooking late into the night, and then, after eating as much as possible, the teachers began to dance. Some of the music and dancing here seems to have no kind of rhythm, but maybe that’s just a white boy’s perspective, because the always manage to find the terminating beat. I just chose to save my dignity and stay out of it. The nights ended with about 20 of us on mats in one room, sweating far more than I ever want to again. They had cabins at the Catholic mission – cheap destination for a Catholic school – but they hadn’t been used in over two years and would have taken more work than it was worth – the mice won that battle.
Highlight of the trip: butchering the pig.
Life lesson: It is always good to find the articulation and make a clean cut around the bone, but when that doesn’t work, just hack through the bone with the machete – people gotta eat.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A taste until tomorrow
So, once again, I have written a few blog posts but between traveling a bit with the teachers, teacher training begining and the power going out for a couple days I have not had a lot of time to post them. Instead of flooding you with all the posts, here is a quick adventure to tide you over - and DON'T FORGET to check in on the other blog for near daily updates of the teacher training and project work - AfricaXO.blogspot.com
The days here can drag a little. We try to stay busy at the school, but with things going so well it gets hard to spend too much time there. Lunch is around 1 most days and then most things are closed until around 4 when it starts to cool down just a bit. It leaves a good space for a nap in front of an oscillating fan that hardly does the trick. After 2 hours of rolling around to find the driest part of the sheet, we usually wake up a bit wrestless.
I got Eli to join me for a walk down to the market with no real goal in mind. After passing a few shops, and struggling to decide if the price of 40 cents which I was quoted for a small mirror was a good price or the toubab (white person) price, we managed to walk out of town town. We stopped at one last mango stand to grab some sustinance before exploring a path through some farms.
Wandering up and down the dunes, our goal always reaching the top of one to pick out the next, we decided to aim for the beach about seven kilometers from where we then were. First, we needed to stop to ask a farmer if we could use some water to wash off the mango juice which had run down our hands and arms. A 'yes' was a pretty safe bet since Muslims aren't supposed to refuse anyone water. Judging from the young farmer's reaction, another safe bet may be that we were the only two white people to ever set foot on that farm.
Minding our way through the patches of cacti and thorny vines, we headed in what we thought to be the right direction. Passing two men, as confused as the farmer by the white people in the desert, we doubled checked... and redirected slightly. Here we met a donkey.
The days here can drag a little. We try to stay busy at the school, but with things going so well it gets hard to spend too much time there. Lunch is around 1 most days and then most things are closed until around 4 when it starts to cool down just a bit. It leaves a good space for a nap in front of an oscillating fan that hardly does the trick. After 2 hours of rolling around to find the driest part of the sheet, we usually wake up a bit wrestless.
I got Eli to join me for a walk down to the market with no real goal in mind. After passing a few shops, and struggling to decide if the price of 40 cents which I was quoted for a small mirror was a good price or the toubab (white person) price, we managed to walk out of town town. We stopped at one last mango stand to grab some sustinance before exploring a path through some farms.
Wandering up and down the dunes, our goal always reaching the top of one to pick out the next, we decided to aim for the beach about seven kilometers from where we then were. First, we needed to stop to ask a farmer if we could use some water to wash off the mango juice which had run down our hands and arms. A 'yes' was a pretty safe bet since Muslims aren't supposed to refuse anyone water. Judging from the young farmer's reaction, another safe bet may be that we were the only two white people to ever set foot on that farm.
Minding our way through the patches of cacti and thorny vines, we headed in what we thought to be the right direction. Passing two men, as confused as the farmer by the white people in the desert, we doubled checked... and redirected slightly. Here we met a donkey.
They are all fairly focused in town, always at work, but this is under a cheap yoke and the threat of a whip. In the desert, no one around, he seemed to be quite interested in us and soon became slightly more threatening than those pulling the carts or the one befriended by Pooh Bear. We wondered if this one this was maybe an escaped donkey which now had a grudge against the species that enslaved him. After dancing for a while down a few different paths, a useless, dried vine in my hand, the donkey - which we totally could have taken on in a fight - lost interest and went a different way.
A while later, still not at the beach, we checked our path again with a woman passing by. This time, we were right on course, even after being rerouted by the donkey. We finally got to a strip of pine trees which we assumed signaled the nearness of the ocean. A ways a way, first thinking it was a pack of cats, I got to see my first group of monkeys - I didn't even know they had monkeys in this area. They paused to take a look at us but weren't as interested as the donkey.
Soon enough, we proved ourselves correct and found the ocean just beyond the trees. A part that we had never been to, we used our semi-keen sense of direction - a setting sun on the coast makes North and South pretty easy - to find our way back to a village where we could get a ride back.
We found Stephanie and James in the kitchen helping our land lord, Mohammed, cooking dinner. He had bough some of longest fish I'd ever seen - said it was related to sardines but these were about two feet long, not two inches. Everyone ate dinner on the roof to avoid the heat but eating large hot meals followed by boiling mint tea still takes its toll. We stayed up there for a while afterward but it was almost 11 and teaching began the next day. After staying long enough to be polite, we thanked our host and headed to bed for the secondtime that day.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Back-owed blog posts
Ok – These are a lot of back-owed blog posts that were written but did not get posted. Internet has been an issue on and off and when I have had internet I have not always been able to load these off the USB or I just had more important/official things to do. Sorry. Now it is up to those of you with time and strong eyes whether or not you would like to read them. The bonus is that if you get to the end, you are up to date and I will post again soon. Sorry again - Have fun.
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Those of you who have read my blog before know that I tend to stay busy rather than stay connected. In Rwanda, I most certainly stayed busy but being connected was not always an option. Either way, I apologize for only updating you now.
So for starters, thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday a bit ago. It was the first day of the conference and I only remembered my birthday the day before, so there wasn’t a big party or anything. I’m ok with that. There still happened to be a social hour planned for after that day’s sessions, and meeting all of the other teams and so many people in one day was enough of a gift.
I can't tell you all of the things I took away from this time in Rwanda. There is just far too much that will still take a lot of time to reveal its full value. The team that lead the orientation was personable, motivated, and did a great job of talking with each of us to get to know us personally as well as get to know our own goals so that they could help us as much as possible. The school visit was great - which you can read about at the end of this whole mess of a blog - and the time spent with other students was bitter sweet, start to finish, and I am grateful to work with such a great group. Don’t mean to gush, but this was quite an experience.
Outside of the conference, Stephanie and I took a trip to Gisenyi, a town in a northwest border, to see Lake Kivu and visit the NGO started by some new friends of ours. Gisenyi is most well known, today, not for its beauty but for its neighboring city, Goma, across the border in Congo. This is where many of the rebels were pushed into after the genocide. Goma is still over-crowded and in need of a lot of help. Attacks still regularly occur within fifteen year old refugee camps which act as breeding grounds for both healing and hatred of the Tutsis and Hutus.
While here, I found opportunities to speak with a few local people who where about my age. At 21, I was timid to ask about their family and their experiences, but both of the people who I spoke with the most were able to admit that they lost both parents and multiple siblings 15 years ago. What I couldn’t ask was how they managed to survive. Honestly, even if they were able to tell me, I don’t know if I could respond to hearing how one witnessed and survived the death of his or her family.
Still, there is a lot that is changing and advancing in Rwanda. The president is dedicated to his project 'vision 2020' which promises to make Rwanda a middle income country by 2020. Although we didn't get to talk much, I was able to meet him as well as representatives from the ministries of education in Uruguay and Haiti. I spoke with the man from Haiti and am looking forward to working with him and a Rotary club in Appleton on expanding an on going project there in Haiti.
I knew that we would also be visiting the house of the king of Rwanda, and while I knew that he hadn't officially been king since the early 60s I knew he was still active. What I didn't know was that he was active from the U.S. where he had lived for some time now. His house in Rwanda is a museum now. The bus ride was beautiful anyway and I loved the long drive up and down the mountains - only a couple close calls passing on curves.
It was a good two weeks, even with the cold bucket showers on days when the shower wouldn't work - at least some water did. A subtle transition into what was to come.
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Me and Stephanie were the first to arrive and tied for the last to leave. When we got to the airport, we saw the team of two from Ethiopia - where we happened to have a 13 hours lay-over. There were 100 people from different teams at this conference and I am bad with names - I have to admit that these were two that I had yet to learn. My first thought was, 'crap, we have to fly with them - how long can I hide that I don't know who they are?' Luckily, they didn't know our names either.
We talked for a little while before getting onto the plane. Nice flight, biggest exit row I've ever sat in, and pretty good food. Here's the best part - After we landed, me and Stephanie had heard rumors that we could get a free hotel. We thought we'd just have to pay for the visa. Well the visa was free, hotel was free, free transport to and from, and we happen to have two nice Ethiopians available to show us Addis Ababba (the city in Ethiopia).
Ethiopia is a place I would certainly like to go back to. We got a great history lesson from our taxi driver into town which helped prepare us for our night. We went out to a place to watch some cultural dancing. At first I thought they took us there just because we were tourists, but when I asked what Ethiopians do on a normal night, he looked confused and assured me that they just go and watch dancing. They take part in the dancing too.
From the look of the people and dress, to the style of their food and dancing, Ethiopia is an overt, cultural crossroads for Europe, Asia, the Middle East and all of Africa. In the states we have a lot of cultures that exist side by side, but here they fuse together. I'll admit that there was a lot of visible poverty where we were, but there was also a lot of construction - often a good sign. While in some areas that could put a culture at risk, I think that in this case it will only enable the mix that the culture already is to continue to grow.
It was a good night out and a decent rest in the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. Next morning - bright and early - off to Dakar!
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[Originally meant for the team blog]
Orientation and School Visits
The conference is finished and, as you read this, Stephanie and I should have just arrived in Senegal. The past two weeks of orientation have been a wonderful opportunity to delve further into the goals of the OLPCorps program as well as develop a network of support to help us while we are on site in M’boro, Senegal.
The team leading the conference did a great job of working with the Corps teams - like me and Stephanie - to find out what our most pressing concerns and needs were to get us the information and experience that would best prepare us for our deployments. One of the most valuable experiences which I had was the school visit. Stephanie and I visited separate schools and those of you who keep up on the blog may have already read about her experience. While mine was relative to Stephanie’s, I was happy that we were able to get different perspectives on different situations since we have yet to see exactly what our own situation will be this summer.
Our first day at the school was teacher training. Although we believed the teachers had had some experience with the XOs prior to that day - that was mostly untrue. Still, the goals set for Friday morning were ambitious, working with a fairly advanced program, and the teachers picked it up much quicker than I had expected. I sometimes underestimate what people can do with minimal guidance and the support of their peers around them. Kinya-rwanda is a language I have yet to learn, but if I could work with one teacher who seemed to be getting it quickly, they would easily turn and help three others. In the afternoon we worked with other programs like Record to show them how to use other media in their classroom projects and it was incredible to watch them chuckling like children as they made videos and took pictures of their own, awe-struck faces. While it highlighted a number of things to be aware of as I begin working with teachers in Senegal, it was certainly a motivating experience.
Monday, I began working in the classroom with the children. I had the honor of instructing the kids how to turn on the XOs for the very first time. When working with someone who has never once touched a computer, it is interesting to see what teaching needs to come first. They were three of us Corps members and about 45 students, unfortunate odds, but it was a fun for the kids and us to work with Paint to develop basic skills for using with the mouse pad and learning to click, drag, and draw. Also, a circle indicating ‘record’ and a square to mean ‘stop’ is not common knowledge if you did not grow up with a VCR or DVD player. The kids picked it up very quickly though and I am sure that they will be working with the more advance programs very soon.
In the afternoon, we had to deal with some electricity issues but were able to resolve them in order to work with a math class. The goal was to demonstrate knowledge of fractions by creating images in Paint that clearly depicted things like ½, ¾, and 5/7. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised with the students’ ability to learn quickly and then share the knowledge with those struggling around them.
Sorry to make this long, but the time spent at the orientation was quite busy and also quite beneficial to the project that officially begins as soon as I land in Dakar in a few hours (I’m writing this on the plane). However, before I end, I would like to clarify something. There is blog called OLPC News that is in no way affiliated with One Laptop per Child. It seems official and they provide a good bit of necessary reporting, but, due to their lack of affiliation, fail to fact check much that they report and often misrepresent OLPC. While we have asked them not to report information from this blog, they did so anyhow since blogs are considered public. We ask that you consider this if you happen to come across their website, and remember OLPC News is not connected in anyway with OLPC or the separate group of OLPCorps.
Thanks for reading this long and we will be sure to keep you updated as we begin to work with the school in Senegal.
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Ok – This is the most recent thing – you’re almost done.
We spent a couple days in Dakar before the Peace Corps could drive us to our new home. It was a good couple of days and a gracious transition to the country - living in the capitol with a bunch of people from the US before moving to a small town not too near to anything. After that, the four of us got as many computers as we could along with our baggage and sweaty bodies in the back of a Land Rover and then bounced our war to our the town of M’boro.
We’re now in M’boro – the town of the school that we are working with. Everything has gone wonderfully so far. If you are reading the team blog – AfricaXO.blogspot.com – you already know a bit about our progress. We make it a priority to update that blog – not so much this one.
We thought we had a great house lined up but that fell through the day we got here. We then moved into a bed and breakfast that had just enough room for us all since the husband was away in France for four more months – then he called and said he’d be back in one day. So we moved to our, hopefully, final place. Stephanie has her own room and the four guys share a big one. We have enough mosquito nets for all and the school loaned us mats to sleep on. Water only works at night but if we fill enough buckets we have enough to bathe in the morning.
We started working with the school and have been really successful in getting them to invest in the program. This helps to ensure that, after we leave, they won’t let the program fall to the wayside. The school dug trenches to lay the Ethernet cord, they are putting extra outlets in each room, and we met with the head of Catholic schools in the country and who then agreed to supply the conduit so we can install everything professionally instead of just stapling it to the wall. Best part yet – electricity in town is free thanks to the phosphorus mine/factory in town. Life is good.
So we are still working at the school to get all this set up and training will begin in less than a week. Meanwhile, we live five kilometers from the coast. A taxi costs about $1.50 to get there so we decided to relax a bit on Saturday. After about 5 hours of swimming, we almost went home but ran into our friend the Peace Corps volunteer, Devin, who invited us to his friend’s house on the beach. It turns out we were sitting in front of his friends house earlier, we just had yet to meet.
We watched the boats fly by the coast and throw lines to groups of waiting locals. If you help pull in the net, you get a cut of the fish. We didn’t help, but fresh fish are cheap and within an hour of the fish arriving on shore, they were cooked over the fire and buried in onions and sauce. Eight of us around one big plate were able to pick it apart with our hands in minutes. It was the best fish I had ever eaten.
Normally, dinner is at one of a few small huts along the road and they all cook delicious, traditional food – well, I find it delicious, some in my group disagree. There are bugs bigger than I have ever seen but they still seem more afraid of me than I am of them. Lizards of few kinds chase each other around and up trees, stopping half way to watch me pass by – something like desert squirrels. The streets are made of sand which follows you everywhere, and although the heat is a constant reminder of the more-intense desert to the north, there are still plenty palm trees and mangos to show the more tropical area that exists to the south. Maybe since things are going so well I’ll have some time to travel to one or the other.
If you have made it this far you have earned the right, if you please, to ask me questions. Feel free to comment or email me and I'll try to respomd to you personally or blog about it - depending on the subject of the question. Thanks for finishing - now go do something more interesting!
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Those of you who have read my blog before know that I tend to stay busy rather than stay connected. In Rwanda, I most certainly stayed busy but being connected was not always an option. Either way, I apologize for only updating you now.
So for starters, thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday a bit ago. It was the first day of the conference and I only remembered my birthday the day before, so there wasn’t a big party or anything. I’m ok with that. There still happened to be a social hour planned for after that day’s sessions, and meeting all of the other teams and so many people in one day was enough of a gift.
I can't tell you all of the things I took away from this time in Rwanda. There is just far too much that will still take a lot of time to reveal its full value. The team that lead the orientation was personable, motivated, and did a great job of talking with each of us to get to know us personally as well as get to know our own goals so that they could help us as much as possible. The school visit was great - which you can read about at the end of this whole mess of a blog - and the time spent with other students was bitter sweet, start to finish, and I am grateful to work with such a great group. Don’t mean to gush, but this was quite an experience.
Outside of the conference, Stephanie and I took a trip to Gisenyi, a town in a northwest border, to see Lake Kivu and visit the NGO started by some new friends of ours. Gisenyi is most well known, today, not for its beauty but for its neighboring city, Goma, across the border in Congo. This is where many of the rebels were pushed into after the genocide. Goma is still over-crowded and in need of a lot of help. Attacks still regularly occur within fifteen year old refugee camps which act as breeding grounds for both healing and hatred of the Tutsis and Hutus.
While here, I found opportunities to speak with a few local people who where about my age. At 21, I was timid to ask about their family and their experiences, but both of the people who I spoke with the most were able to admit that they lost both parents and multiple siblings 15 years ago. What I couldn’t ask was how they managed to survive. Honestly, even if they were able to tell me, I don’t know if I could respond to hearing how one witnessed and survived the death of his or her family.
Still, there is a lot that is changing and advancing in Rwanda. The president is dedicated to his project 'vision 2020' which promises to make Rwanda a middle income country by 2020. Although we didn't get to talk much, I was able to meet him as well as representatives from the ministries of education in Uruguay and Haiti. I spoke with the man from Haiti and am looking forward to working with him and a Rotary club in Appleton on expanding an on going project there in Haiti.
I knew that we would also be visiting the house of the king of Rwanda, and while I knew that he hadn't officially been king since the early 60s I knew he was still active. What I didn't know was that he was active from the U.S. where he had lived for some time now. His house in Rwanda is a museum now. The bus ride was beautiful anyway and I loved the long drive up and down the mountains - only a couple close calls passing on curves.
It was a good two weeks, even with the cold bucket showers on days when the shower wouldn't work - at least some water did. A subtle transition into what was to come.
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Me and Stephanie were the first to arrive and tied for the last to leave. When we got to the airport, we saw the team of two from Ethiopia - where we happened to have a 13 hours lay-over. There were 100 people from different teams at this conference and I am bad with names - I have to admit that these were two that I had yet to learn. My first thought was, 'crap, we have to fly with them - how long can I hide that I don't know who they are?' Luckily, they didn't know our names either.
We talked for a little while before getting onto the plane. Nice flight, biggest exit row I've ever sat in, and pretty good food. Here's the best part - After we landed, me and Stephanie had heard rumors that we could get a free hotel. We thought we'd just have to pay for the visa. Well the visa was free, hotel was free, free transport to and from, and we happen to have two nice Ethiopians available to show us Addis Ababba (the city in Ethiopia).
Ethiopia is a place I would certainly like to go back to. We got a great history lesson from our taxi driver into town which helped prepare us for our night. We went out to a place to watch some cultural dancing. At first I thought they took us there just because we were tourists, but when I asked what Ethiopians do on a normal night, he looked confused and assured me that they just go and watch dancing. They take part in the dancing too.
From the look of the people and dress, to the style of their food and dancing, Ethiopia is an overt, cultural crossroads for Europe, Asia, the Middle East and all of Africa. In the states we have a lot of cultures that exist side by side, but here they fuse together. I'll admit that there was a lot of visible poverty where we were, but there was also a lot of construction - often a good sign. While in some areas that could put a culture at risk, I think that in this case it will only enable the mix that the culture already is to continue to grow.
It was a good night out and a decent rest in the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. Next morning - bright and early - off to Dakar!
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[Originally meant for the team blog]
Orientation and School Visits
The conference is finished and, as you read this, Stephanie and I should have just arrived in Senegal. The past two weeks of orientation have been a wonderful opportunity to delve further into the goals of the OLPCorps program as well as develop a network of support to help us while we are on site in M’boro, Senegal.
The team leading the conference did a great job of working with the Corps teams - like me and Stephanie - to find out what our most pressing concerns and needs were to get us the information and experience that would best prepare us for our deployments. One of the most valuable experiences which I had was the school visit. Stephanie and I visited separate schools and those of you who keep up on the blog may have already read about her experience. While mine was relative to Stephanie’s, I was happy that we were able to get different perspectives on different situations since we have yet to see exactly what our own situation will be this summer.
Our first day at the school was teacher training. Although we believed the teachers had had some experience with the XOs prior to that day - that was mostly untrue. Still, the goals set for Friday morning were ambitious, working with a fairly advanced program, and the teachers picked it up much quicker than I had expected. I sometimes underestimate what people can do with minimal guidance and the support of their peers around them. Kinya-rwanda is a language I have yet to learn, but if I could work with one teacher who seemed to be getting it quickly, they would easily turn and help three others. In the afternoon we worked with other programs like Record to show them how to use other media in their classroom projects and it was incredible to watch them chuckling like children as they made videos and took pictures of their own, awe-struck faces. While it highlighted a number of things to be aware of as I begin working with teachers in Senegal, it was certainly a motivating experience.
Monday, I began working in the classroom with the children. I had the honor of instructing the kids how to turn on the XOs for the very first time. When working with someone who has never once touched a computer, it is interesting to see what teaching needs to come first. They were three of us Corps members and about 45 students, unfortunate odds, but it was a fun for the kids and us to work with Paint to develop basic skills for using with the mouse pad and learning to click, drag, and draw. Also, a circle indicating ‘record’ and a square to mean ‘stop’ is not common knowledge if you did not grow up with a VCR or DVD player. The kids picked it up very quickly though and I am sure that they will be working with the more advance programs very soon.
In the afternoon, we had to deal with some electricity issues but were able to resolve them in order to work with a math class. The goal was to demonstrate knowledge of fractions by creating images in Paint that clearly depicted things like ½, ¾, and 5/7. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised with the students’ ability to learn quickly and then share the knowledge with those struggling around them.
Sorry to make this long, but the time spent at the orientation was quite busy and also quite beneficial to the project that officially begins as soon as I land in Dakar in a few hours (I’m writing this on the plane). However, before I end, I would like to clarify something. There is blog called OLPC News that is in no way affiliated with One Laptop per Child. It seems official and they provide a good bit of necessary reporting, but, due to their lack of affiliation, fail to fact check much that they report and often misrepresent OLPC. While we have asked them not to report information from this blog, they did so anyhow since blogs are considered public. We ask that you consider this if you happen to come across their website, and remember OLPC News is not connected in anyway with OLPC or the separate group of OLPCorps.
Thanks for reading this long and we will be sure to keep you updated as we begin to work with the school in Senegal.
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Ok – This is the most recent thing – you’re almost done.
We spent a couple days in Dakar before the Peace Corps could drive us to our new home. It was a good couple of days and a gracious transition to the country - living in the capitol with a bunch of people from the US before moving to a small town not too near to anything. After that, the four of us got as many computers as we could along with our baggage and sweaty bodies in the back of a Land Rover and then bounced our war to our the town of M’boro.
We’re now in M’boro – the town of the school that we are working with. Everything has gone wonderfully so far. If you are reading the team blog – AfricaXO.blogspot.com – you already know a bit about our progress. We make it a priority to update that blog – not so much this one.
We thought we had a great house lined up but that fell through the day we got here. We then moved into a bed and breakfast that had just enough room for us all since the husband was away in France for four more months – then he called and said he’d be back in one day. So we moved to our, hopefully, final place. Stephanie has her own room and the four guys share a big one. We have enough mosquito nets for all and the school loaned us mats to sleep on. Water only works at night but if we fill enough buckets we have enough to bathe in the morning.
We started working with the school and have been really successful in getting them to invest in the program. This helps to ensure that, after we leave, they won’t let the program fall to the wayside. The school dug trenches to lay the Ethernet cord, they are putting extra outlets in each room, and we met with the head of Catholic schools in the country and who then agreed to supply the conduit so we can install everything professionally instead of just stapling it to the wall. Best part yet – electricity in town is free thanks to the phosphorus mine/factory in town. Life is good.
So we are still working at the school to get all this set up and training will begin in less than a week. Meanwhile, we live five kilometers from the coast. A taxi costs about $1.50 to get there so we decided to relax a bit on Saturday. After about 5 hours of swimming, we almost went home but ran into our friend the Peace Corps volunteer, Devin, who invited us to his friend’s house on the beach. It turns out we were sitting in front of his friends house earlier, we just had yet to meet.
We watched the boats fly by the coast and throw lines to groups of waiting locals. If you help pull in the net, you get a cut of the fish. We didn’t help, but fresh fish are cheap and within an hour of the fish arriving on shore, they were cooked over the fire and buried in onions and sauce. Eight of us around one big plate were able to pick it apart with our hands in minutes. It was the best fish I had ever eaten.
Normally, dinner is at one of a few small huts along the road and they all cook delicious, traditional food – well, I find it delicious, some in my group disagree. There are bugs bigger than I have ever seen but they still seem more afraid of me than I am of them. Lizards of few kinds chase each other around and up trees, stopping half way to watch me pass by – something like desert squirrels. The streets are made of sand which follows you everywhere, and although the heat is a constant reminder of the more-intense desert to the north, there are still plenty palm trees and mangos to show the more tropical area that exists to the south. Maybe since things are going so well I’ll have some time to travel to one or the other.
If you have made it this far you have earned the right, if you please, to ask me questions. Feel free to comment or email me and I'll try to respomd to you personally or blog about it - depending on the subject of the question. Thanks for finishing - now go do something more interesting!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Something about Senegal
Ok I know it has been forever, but I promise that it is not on purpose. I am sorry to anyone that has sent me email that has not gotten a response. Internet has been hard to find or out temporarily out when I find it. I have been writing blog post but unable to load them from a flash drive so some day you will look at this and have more than you could ever want to read. I hope someone still looks at this at that point.
Senegal is nice but very hot. Much hotter than Rwanda. As I sit here, I am dripping over a foreign keyboard (please excuse the typos). I drink water out of a little bag, which is the cheapest way to buy it. I even sweat through the entire night, sleeping under a mosquito net in the Peace Corps regional house. Nice people and a nice place. Tomorrow my team and I are moving out of Dakar to head to Mboro where we will live. The Peace Corps is driving us out there and will get the laptops out of customs by Friday, then driving them out as well.
I Will find good Internet soon enough. Stay with me.
Senegal is nice but very hot. Much hotter than Rwanda. As I sit here, I am dripping over a foreign keyboard (please excuse the typos). I drink water out of a little bag, which is the cheapest way to buy it. I even sweat through the entire night, sleeping under a mosquito net in the Peace Corps regional house. Nice people and a nice place. Tomorrow my team and I are moving out of Dakar to head to Mboro where we will live. The Peace Corps is driving us out there and will get the laptops out of customs by Friday, then driving them out as well.
I Will find good Internet soon enough. Stay with me.
Friday, June 5, 2009
New Look - New Location - Same Great Blog!
Having someone pick you up at the airport is almost like cheating - just too easy. Still, after we arrived to Kigali, Rwanda, I was grateful to see one of the program heads, Paul, when we walked out of the baggage area. We got a cab and headed to our hotel just barely down the road to drop off our bags before meeting some people for dinner. Luckily, even after traveling for 36 hours, me and Stephanie were surprisingly awake when we got here.
I didn’t see much from the airport to the hotel since it was only about a half of a mile and we arrived around 7 PM, just after sunset. Later, however, I could look out over different parts of the city as the three of us road across town, each on the back of our own Moto-taxi. The town is fairly spread and since nothing is too big or too tall, you can usually see a good distance in any direction depending on what part of the hill you happen to be on. The gentle roll to the area helps the house windows and street lamps create an impression of a net of lights draped over the city’s swells. It’s nice.
We met some of the project leads and ate at buffet style, outdoor restaurant – good, heavy food. It was great to meet everyone and we had some interesting conversations. Since me and Stephanie were the first to arrive, I think that this was a good, calm way to get introduced as opposed to after the next 100 or so students all get into town.
Outside of this program, I do not know when I would get the chance to come to Rwanda, but am very grateful to have this experience. This is a country known for genocide and sadness but this is not just the site of atrocious events which once took place – people still work here, go to school here, raise families and live here. My time spent here, what has passed already and what will soon pass as well, will help me to understand Rwanda a bit better – will help me be able to locate a certain event within the country’s history as opposed to identify the country by a certain event. I really like what I have seen and experienced so far and I think that the next two weeks will be good – but this is certainly something outside of what I have experienced before.
I didn’t see much from the airport to the hotel since it was only about a half of a mile and we arrived around 7 PM, just after sunset. Later, however, I could look out over different parts of the city as the three of us road across town, each on the back of our own Moto-taxi. The town is fairly spread and since nothing is too big or too tall, you can usually see a good distance in any direction depending on what part of the hill you happen to be on. The gentle roll to the area helps the house windows and street lamps create an impression of a net of lights draped over the city’s swells. It’s nice.
We met some of the project leads and ate at buffet style, outdoor restaurant – good, heavy food. It was great to meet everyone and we had some interesting conversations. Since me and Stephanie were the first to arrive, I think that this was a good, calm way to get introduced as opposed to after the next 100 or so students all get into town.
Outside of this program, I do not know when I would get the chance to come to Rwanda, but am very grateful to have this experience. This is a country known for genocide and sadness but this is not just the site of atrocious events which once took place – people still work here, go to school here, raise families and live here. My time spent here, what has passed already and what will soon pass as well, will help me to understand Rwanda a bit better – will help me be able to locate a certain event within the country’s history as opposed to identify the country by a certain event. I really like what I have seen and experienced so far and I think that the next two weeks will be good – but this is certainly something outside of what I have experienced before.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Adventures in Netherlands, Belgium and Beyond
I have to make this quick – I have my good buddy Tony D. here and we’ve got a few things to do today so here’s the short of my trip to Holland and Belgium:
Started off thinking I was going to sleep in the airport so I could catch my early morning plane – but last minute I figured out how to take night connections at 3 AM. So I do it but end up in an unfamiliar are and couldn’t find my transfer – and still ended up taking a cab to the airport that cost over half the price of my ticket…Oh well I’m going on vacation!
Fly to Holland and arrived - after a long morning – still earlier than I would want to wake up – and a little sick. But this was my vacation and a trip that I was looking forward to for too long!
So I wander around Amsterdam for like 5 hours, almost non stop walking since I didn’t want to stop to spend any money – tight budget for this trip. But I got to see a ton of Amsterdam – beautiful city. At like 1, I met up with this girl who showed me her favorite café – one of the cooler I’ve ever been too – and then we went to a museum outside of town that her friend worked at. It was all about the change in politics and social structure and how architecture was the driving force in the change - SUPER interesting and something that most tourists would never see. Then we met up with her friend who worked there and got some traditional Dutch food and after talking for a while they said that every Wednesday – the day I happened to be there – they cook food together with another friend and they invited me to come…OKAY!
Her friend lived in a shipping container but it was actually temporary student housing – they had made a little village of apartment buildings from it. So unique.
Note: The weather throughout that day and the trip was so random – I always needed sunglasses, an umbrella and a jacket. Rain, heat, sun, threat of rain – it was nuts.
Then they walked me to the train station through their favorite part of Amsterdam and it was probably my favorite too – really nice and along the water…like most of the city.
That was my most action packed day – then I took a late train to Rotterdam and stayed with a guy for 5 days. I didn’t plan on staying that long but he was so nice and generous. Over the time that I was there we saw like 5 or 6 cities, a famous Dutch amusement park, the damn that closes the river Rein, a Dutch bath, and ate dinner with another family. (I know that description was a lot shorter than that of Amsterdam but this was just way to much to even try to lay out. An incredible person to stay with and some great talks about life and traveling.
Then I headed off to Belgium to see a friend I had made earlier this summer in Krakow, who then visited me in Prague. (These plane tickets for this trip cost less than my train tickets to Krakow.) So I got to Belgium and Thomas was still busy so I had some time to wander. That was nice to see Antwerp and I have to say is probably one of the most wonderful cities I have ever been too. Beautifully preserved architecture that isn’t perfect or fully restored, just left at this romantic state that took hundreds of years to achieve. Its not too big and not too small and I think some day there’s just enough room for me.
But seriously, HUGE beautiful church in the center right next to my favorite pub in Antwerp. Great little place that serves just about every beer that Belgium makes – that’s an overstatement but they have a lot. Having a beer with Thomas was like going to school – he knew so much about so many – and I loved hearing about them all while sampling a few a long the way. (Don’t worry family – remember I had a low budget – nothing out of hand). I got to meet a lot of his friends too and hang out at his… student housing type place – that will take an explanation in person – and we went to a free movie a long the river one night – part of a summer long festival called Summer of Antwerp. - - - - great city and a great time.
Over all a Great trip – and this is only a fraction of the stories. But I am headed home soon and you can all hear more in person. Keep checking this though – I might post once more before I get back and once I am back I will do something about those pictures I promised all summer – slow internet stopped me from doing that here – sorry.
So keep checkin’ in and I will talk to you all soon – I need to go show Tony all the highlights of the Czech Republic.
Started off thinking I was going to sleep in the airport so I could catch my early morning plane – but last minute I figured out how to take night connections at 3 AM. So I do it but end up in an unfamiliar are and couldn’t find my transfer – and still ended up taking a cab to the airport that cost over half the price of my ticket…Oh well I’m going on vacation!
Fly to Holland and arrived - after a long morning – still earlier than I would want to wake up – and a little sick. But this was my vacation and a trip that I was looking forward to for too long!
So I wander around Amsterdam for like 5 hours, almost non stop walking since I didn’t want to stop to spend any money – tight budget for this trip. But I got to see a ton of Amsterdam – beautiful city. At like 1, I met up with this girl who showed me her favorite café – one of the cooler I’ve ever been too – and then we went to a museum outside of town that her friend worked at. It was all about the change in politics and social structure and how architecture was the driving force in the change - SUPER interesting and something that most tourists would never see. Then we met up with her friend who worked there and got some traditional Dutch food and after talking for a while they said that every Wednesday – the day I happened to be there – they cook food together with another friend and they invited me to come…OKAY!
Her friend lived in a shipping container but it was actually temporary student housing – they had made a little village of apartment buildings from it. So unique.
Note: The weather throughout that day and the trip was so random – I always needed sunglasses, an umbrella and a jacket. Rain, heat, sun, threat of rain – it was nuts.
Then they walked me to the train station through their favorite part of Amsterdam and it was probably my favorite too – really nice and along the water…like most of the city.
That was my most action packed day – then I took a late train to Rotterdam and stayed with a guy for 5 days. I didn’t plan on staying that long but he was so nice and generous. Over the time that I was there we saw like 5 or 6 cities, a famous Dutch amusement park, the damn that closes the river Rein, a Dutch bath, and ate dinner with another family. (I know that description was a lot shorter than that of Amsterdam but this was just way to much to even try to lay out. An incredible person to stay with and some great talks about life and traveling.
Then I headed off to Belgium to see a friend I had made earlier this summer in Krakow, who then visited me in Prague. (These plane tickets for this trip cost less than my train tickets to Krakow.) So I got to Belgium and Thomas was still busy so I had some time to wander. That was nice to see Antwerp and I have to say is probably one of the most wonderful cities I have ever been too. Beautifully preserved architecture that isn’t perfect or fully restored, just left at this romantic state that took hundreds of years to achieve. Its not too big and not too small and I think some day there’s just enough room for me.
But seriously, HUGE beautiful church in the center right next to my favorite pub in Antwerp. Great little place that serves just about every beer that Belgium makes – that’s an overstatement but they have a lot. Having a beer with Thomas was like going to school – he knew so much about so many – and I loved hearing about them all while sampling a few a long the way. (Don’t worry family – remember I had a low budget – nothing out of hand). I got to meet a lot of his friends too and hang out at his… student housing type place – that will take an explanation in person – and we went to a free movie a long the river one night – part of a summer long festival called Summer of Antwerp. - - - - great city and a great time.
Over all a Great trip – and this is only a fraction of the stories. But I am headed home soon and you can all hear more in person. Keep checking this though – I might post once more before I get back and once I am back I will do something about those pictures I promised all summer – slow internet stopped me from doing that here – sorry.
So keep checkin’ in and I will talk to you all soon – I need to go show Tony all the highlights of the Czech Republic.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
No time to witty titles - Just read
Ok – so since last week… again not much has happened. At least not much that makes for lengthy stories – although it seems that I manage to turn any story into something lengthy.
I am sitting on a train right now and enjoying the trip back to Prague (don’t have internet but I am pre-writing this on my computer to save some time). I have been in Budejovice for the past 5 days or so doing pretty much nothing. It was great.
Most of my friends are traveling right now – nearly every Czech takes a minimum of 2 solid weeks of vacation each summer – national minimum is 4 weeks throughout the year. Wouldn’t that be nice? But my friends being gone gave me time to spend with some of my host families who did happen to be in town either right before or after their vacations abroad.
For those of you who don’t know all the super specifics of my exchange the last time I lived here, I never actually lived in the city center, but always within the reach of city busses – and I am so happy. I always landed in one of the many small and romantic towns that plan themselves along the side roads that jut out from the main city. Mainly when I’m back now I stay in Doubravice with one of my host moms and her son. It’s on top of a hill and I can see most of the city from the balcony. Beautiful place to step out of the city and enjoy yourself for a while. I had a great time spending a lot of evenings with neighbors, cooking some of the best meat I have had in a long time (not your fault dad, locally-raised meat marinated for a day and then cooked over an open fire with friends and beer is tough to beat). It was nice just to relax.
Now I am headed back to Prague – a day later than anticipated since some friends I hadn’t been able to meet with yet just got back to town and talked me into skipping my train so we had more than an hour to spend together – an hour to compensate for three years of absence doesn’t quite cut it. Glad I stayed but a lot still to do in Prague today.
It’s my turn to clean the flat – hope that goes alright. Then a lot of things to prepare for my trip and I don’t even think that I’ll get to sleep in my own bed tonight. I took a 6AM flight to Holland tomorrow because it was so cheap – then I remembered that the metro doesn’t run that early and I don’t know if night busses can get me there and a taxi would cost as much as my plane ticket. It looks like I might just have to sleep at the airport so I can check in at 4 or 5. I’ve heard of people getting stuck at airports and having to sleep there but who starts their trip like that? This will be an interesting trip as a whole.
Like I said – I am good at turning a whole week of nothing into a whole lengthy post. Maybe I just naturally write proportionally to my height. But MAKE SURE to tune in for what’s up next week when I tell all about my Adventures in Netherlands, Belgium and Beyond.
I am sitting on a train right now and enjoying the trip back to Prague (don’t have internet but I am pre-writing this on my computer to save some time). I have been in Budejovice for the past 5 days or so doing pretty much nothing. It was great.
Most of my friends are traveling right now – nearly every Czech takes a minimum of 2 solid weeks of vacation each summer – national minimum is 4 weeks throughout the year. Wouldn’t that be nice? But my friends being gone gave me time to spend with some of my host families who did happen to be in town either right before or after their vacations abroad.
For those of you who don’t know all the super specifics of my exchange the last time I lived here, I never actually lived in the city center, but always within the reach of city busses – and I am so happy. I always landed in one of the many small and romantic towns that plan themselves along the side roads that jut out from the main city. Mainly when I’m back now I stay in Doubravice with one of my host moms and her son. It’s on top of a hill and I can see most of the city from the balcony. Beautiful place to step out of the city and enjoy yourself for a while. I had a great time spending a lot of evenings with neighbors, cooking some of the best meat I have had in a long time (not your fault dad, locally-raised meat marinated for a day and then cooked over an open fire with friends and beer is tough to beat). It was nice just to relax.
Now I am headed back to Prague – a day later than anticipated since some friends I hadn’t been able to meet with yet just got back to town and talked me into skipping my train so we had more than an hour to spend together – an hour to compensate for three years of absence doesn’t quite cut it. Glad I stayed but a lot still to do in Prague today.
It’s my turn to clean the flat – hope that goes alright. Then a lot of things to prepare for my trip and I don’t even think that I’ll get to sleep in my own bed tonight. I took a 6AM flight to Holland tomorrow because it was so cheap – then I remembered that the metro doesn’t run that early and I don’t know if night busses can get me there and a taxi would cost as much as my plane ticket. It looks like I might just have to sleep at the airport so I can check in at 4 or 5. I’ve heard of people getting stuck at airports and having to sleep there but who starts their trip like that? This will be an interesting trip as a whole.
Like I said – I am good at turning a whole week of nothing into a whole lengthy post. Maybe I just naturally write proportionally to my height. But MAKE SURE to tune in for what’s up next week when I tell all about my Adventures in Netherlands, Belgium and Beyond.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Its good to be back
Still don’t know if anyone checks this anymore – I just seem to get worse and worse at updating. I have been busy but its not so many fantastic tales of near death experience or outrageous chance-happenings.
After the last time I wrote, I spent most of a fairly quiet week here in Prague. I found some great new places in my exploring and met some awesome new people who I really connected with. I love that. 2 of the people where from Idaho and they were so cool. They came to Prague for 2 days and stayed for a week. I tell everyone to do that but no one actually does – maybe that’s why I liked these people – they have good taste in location.
Then, I had been talking back and forth with some people in Ceske Budejovice where I used to live and thinking about when I’d go as if I’m so busy I could hardly get away – then I realized I’m being dumb and just went. I planned for about 3 days and stayed for almost a week.
This is possibly the highlight of my summer – By good fortune all my closest friends happened to be in Budejovice for the summer and I got to see almost all of them. Almost non-stop for the whole time I was there I just got to talk to them, catch up, see the band that some of them are in now, and see a number a places I attended as often as school. It was incredible and so little has changed – the city, the shops, the people. That could be taken as bad, but I can tell the people are wiser and they have changed some for the better, but the part of them that I love is still there as it was. I am so glad to still have these friends. I’ve been back in Prague for about 2 days and I am already heading back for a concert and some more time there. I can’t wait.
I also secured the plan for my good buddy Tony to come over for the last week that I am here – that will be a blast. I am going to drag him back south to Budejovice so he can see where I used to live the people there. Then we’ll spend some time in Cesky Krumlov (google that town – it’s worth it) and Prague.
You can only show so much in a 4x6 and only tell so much through blogs and stories, so I am glad that I finally have a friend as good as Tony coming that I can show and share this with. I am really looking forward to that. Its too bad that when caitlin was here we didnt have enough time to head down that way - I'd really like to share this with all my friends.
Lastly, by way of more good fortune, I bought plane tickets to Holland and home from Belgium. Best part is – the first time I looked I found them at a great price – I was going to pay about $50 each way. Then I left for a week and came back and they were almost double one way and triple the other. I didn’t know what to do! The next day I search again on the same site and they dropped them to about $40 each way – which means almost the whole ticket is “tax and fees” and my fare is about a dollar.
I’ll be traveling between the two over a course of a week. I made a friend in Krakow when I was there and then he came to see me in Prague – I am returning the favor by visiting him in Belgium, hopefully he’ll travel a bit with me Holland too. It’s good to have friends all over. Makes traveling much more exciting than the gawking at artfully crafted stone and cement.
Some good stories should come out of that trip. Hope you guys tune-in to hear about it later.
After the last time I wrote, I spent most of a fairly quiet week here in Prague. I found some great new places in my exploring and met some awesome new people who I really connected with. I love that. 2 of the people where from Idaho and they were so cool. They came to Prague for 2 days and stayed for a week. I tell everyone to do that but no one actually does – maybe that’s why I liked these people – they have good taste in location.
Then, I had been talking back and forth with some people in Ceske Budejovice where I used to live and thinking about when I’d go as if I’m so busy I could hardly get away – then I realized I’m being dumb and just went. I planned for about 3 days and stayed for almost a week.
This is possibly the highlight of my summer – By good fortune all my closest friends happened to be in Budejovice for the summer and I got to see almost all of them. Almost non-stop for the whole time I was there I just got to talk to them, catch up, see the band that some of them are in now, and see a number a places I attended as often as school. It was incredible and so little has changed – the city, the shops, the people. That could be taken as bad, but I can tell the people are wiser and they have changed some for the better, but the part of them that I love is still there as it was. I am so glad to still have these friends. I’ve been back in Prague for about 2 days and I am already heading back for a concert and some more time there. I can’t wait.
I also secured the plan for my good buddy Tony to come over for the last week that I am here – that will be a blast. I am going to drag him back south to Budejovice so he can see where I used to live the people there. Then we’ll spend some time in Cesky Krumlov (google that town – it’s worth it) and Prague.
You can only show so much in a 4x6 and only tell so much through blogs and stories, so I am glad that I finally have a friend as good as Tony coming that I can show and share this with. I am really looking forward to that. Its too bad that when caitlin was here we didnt have enough time to head down that way - I'd really like to share this with all my friends.
Lastly, by way of more good fortune, I bought plane tickets to Holland and home from Belgium. Best part is – the first time I looked I found them at a great price – I was going to pay about $50 each way. Then I left for a week and came back and they were almost double one way and triple the other. I didn’t know what to do! The next day I search again on the same site and they dropped them to about $40 each way – which means almost the whole ticket is “tax and fees” and my fare is about a dollar.
I’ll be traveling between the two over a course of a week. I made a friend in Krakow when I was there and then he came to see me in Prague – I am returning the favor by visiting him in Belgium, hopefully he’ll travel a bit with me Holland too. It’s good to have friends all over. Makes traveling much more exciting than the gawking at artfully crafted stone and cement.
Some good stories should come out of that trip. Hope you guys tune-in to hear about it later.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
I finally have a free minute - hope you have two
OK – life is coming back down but not in a bad way.
Caitlin left today – had to wake up at like 7 to get her to the airport – I think she had a good trip but was ready to get back home. We did a lot of stuff in the two weeks that she was here.
But where I left off in my last blog - - - It was dark and rainy and we were in the deepest part of the Viennese wilderness --- not exactly.
We had just gotten to my good friend Vera’s flat in Vienna. A nice little place that was perfect for the sum three of us to fit in. We saw so much in Vienna – it’s such a huge city with so many massive buildings. It’s the same population as Prague – BUT ITS MUCH BIGGER. Or feels it anyway.
Highlight of Vienna had to be the hoerigger (no idea how to spell that) but it’s a place that I was talking about at the end of the last post I had. But it was up in the hills just outside of Vienna and right by Beethoven’s old house (I’m pretty sure it was Beethoven). Such a cool place, great food, and great company. Possibly the highlight of the trip for me.
Then that overnight train to Krakow. The nicest sleeper car I have ever been on. I even got a prepackaged breakfast croissant and a bag with a towel and soap in it – plus free bottled water. I couldn’t have dreamed of so much on a train over here.
But Krakow is great. I’ve been there before and I was excited to go back. I went to Auschwitz again though – so Caitlin could see it. Could have done without that but I didn’t take the tour this time (but I suggest everyone take the 3 hour tour the first time they go) and so I got to spend some more time wandering there by myself. Bit of a different experience.
I almost met some very interesting guys at the hostel that night – one of them is even coming to see me in Prague this weekend. It was cool to see some of the city with such a mix of people from so many places. Makes me just want to keep traveling and go to every country I hear of though – it’s an issue.
The next day we went to Zilina in Slovakia – another place that I was going to for the second time this summer (by the way – anyone traveling over in that area needs to take at least some day trains – the countryside between the borders of Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia… Incredible). We got there and luckily – since nothing was confirmed – met my friend who is a rotary student there from Pennsylvania. It was like one of her last days and all her friends were on vacation – I felt so bad knowing that she had to go home soon but I could certainly relate (sigh).
But yeah, the point of going to Zilina was just to end the trip with something beautiful and quiet in the mountains – and something a bit more traditional and interesting that Bratislava. It worked out well.
Then an awful train ride home to Prague. Its only 6 hours, so we didn’t think we would get beds on this train to save money. Here’s how it went –
We got reservations instead of beds thinking that would save us from any trouble finidng a seat. Our cabin already had 4 sleeping people in it though, and that didn’t leave much room – so we braved the halls and tried to find a new place to settle.
First we get a cabin by ourselves and think - ooh lucky, we’ll la down and go to sleep. Normally that’s no issue and everyone leaves you alone then. First comes drunk guy number one – he starts giving me a hard time about how we didn’t reserve the whole cabin so we cant do that, then sits down and talks for 20 minutes while we sit and try to ignore him. Then number two – but he’s only there for a second. Then two leaves and comes back a while later with and older even drunker guy – that was it – we left.
After standing in the hall and the end of a car for some time we find a nice spot by someone our age. Then he leaves and an older woman comes – possibly drunk as well. She sets her bag on her lap and every time she dozes off it slips through and smacks on the floor, startling her awake – and every time, it happened she thought we were in Prague – it happened at least every five minutes from the time she got on the train – we were 5 hours from Prague. Then a 4th guy comes, quite sober, and that’s not so bad – four people total is livable. Then “SMACK” the bad hits and the old woman gets so excited about our supposed arrival to Prague, she even goes to wait at the door at the end of the car. That just freed up her seat to be taken by two large campers who just slam open the door and don’t even ask if the seats are free, but say “these are free right?” and then sit down with there larger-than-average backpacks – some above us and some having to rest between me and the man now facing me. 3 hours to Prague. Back comes the old woman.
This was beyond cartoonish. We got home and slept a long time.
My friend Chrisina was staying with us too for her last couple days in Prague before she flew back. We had a good time seeing things for the few days we were here and say a lot of the city. There were a few more things we would have liked to do but I guess you always have to leave enough of a snack that it’s worth coming back. That goes for me and Caitlin. Funny thing is the more you do the more you hear about – maybe that’s why I meet so many travelers or so many generations – once you start, you never quite finish.
Kind of like reading this blog – you always think the next paragraph will be the last, and then I have more to say. Thanks for reading.
Caitlin left today – had to wake up at like 7 to get her to the airport – I think she had a good trip but was ready to get back home. We did a lot of stuff in the two weeks that she was here.
But where I left off in my last blog - - - It was dark and rainy and we were in the deepest part of the Viennese wilderness --- not exactly.
We had just gotten to my good friend Vera’s flat in Vienna. A nice little place that was perfect for the sum three of us to fit in. We saw so much in Vienna – it’s such a huge city with so many massive buildings. It’s the same population as Prague – BUT ITS MUCH BIGGER. Or feels it anyway.
Highlight of Vienna had to be the hoerigger (no idea how to spell that) but it’s a place that I was talking about at the end of the last post I had. But it was up in the hills just outside of Vienna and right by Beethoven’s old house (I’m pretty sure it was Beethoven). Such a cool place, great food, and great company. Possibly the highlight of the trip for me.
Then that overnight train to Krakow. The nicest sleeper car I have ever been on. I even got a prepackaged breakfast croissant and a bag with a towel and soap in it – plus free bottled water. I couldn’t have dreamed of so much on a train over here.
But Krakow is great. I’ve been there before and I was excited to go back. I went to Auschwitz again though – so Caitlin could see it. Could have done without that but I didn’t take the tour this time (but I suggest everyone take the 3 hour tour the first time they go) and so I got to spend some more time wandering there by myself. Bit of a different experience.
I almost met some very interesting guys at the hostel that night – one of them is even coming to see me in Prague this weekend. It was cool to see some of the city with such a mix of people from so many places. Makes me just want to keep traveling and go to every country I hear of though – it’s an issue.
The next day we went to Zilina in Slovakia – another place that I was going to for the second time this summer (by the way – anyone traveling over in that area needs to take at least some day trains – the countryside between the borders of Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia… Incredible). We got there and luckily – since nothing was confirmed – met my friend who is a rotary student there from Pennsylvania. It was like one of her last days and all her friends were on vacation – I felt so bad knowing that she had to go home soon but I could certainly relate (sigh).
But yeah, the point of going to Zilina was just to end the trip with something beautiful and quiet in the mountains – and something a bit more traditional and interesting that Bratislava. It worked out well.
Then an awful train ride home to Prague. Its only 6 hours, so we didn’t think we would get beds on this train to save money. Here’s how it went –
We got reservations instead of beds thinking that would save us from any trouble finidng a seat. Our cabin already had 4 sleeping people in it though, and that didn’t leave much room – so we braved the halls and tried to find a new place to settle.
First we get a cabin by ourselves and think - ooh lucky, we’ll la down and go to sleep. Normally that’s no issue and everyone leaves you alone then. First comes drunk guy number one – he starts giving me a hard time about how we didn’t reserve the whole cabin so we cant do that, then sits down and talks for 20 minutes while we sit and try to ignore him. Then number two – but he’s only there for a second. Then two leaves and comes back a while later with and older even drunker guy – that was it – we left.
After standing in the hall and the end of a car for some time we find a nice spot by someone our age. Then he leaves and an older woman comes – possibly drunk as well. She sets her bag on her lap and every time she dozes off it slips through and smacks on the floor, startling her awake – and every time, it happened she thought we were in Prague – it happened at least every five minutes from the time she got on the train – we were 5 hours from Prague. Then a 4th guy comes, quite sober, and that’s not so bad – four people total is livable. Then “SMACK” the bad hits and the old woman gets so excited about our supposed arrival to Prague, she even goes to wait at the door at the end of the car. That just freed up her seat to be taken by two large campers who just slam open the door and don’t even ask if the seats are free, but say “these are free right?” and then sit down with there larger-than-average backpacks – some above us and some having to rest between me and the man now facing me. 3 hours to Prague. Back comes the old woman.
This was beyond cartoonish. We got home and slept a long time.
My friend Chrisina was staying with us too for her last couple days in Prague before she flew back. We had a good time seeing things for the few days we were here and say a lot of the city. There were a few more things we would have liked to do but I guess you always have to leave enough of a snack that it’s worth coming back. That goes for me and Caitlin. Funny thing is the more you do the more you hear about – maybe that’s why I meet so many travelers or so many generations – once you start, you never quite finish.
Kind of like reading this blog – you always think the next paragraph will be the last, and then I have more to say. Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Travel and vacation are two seperate things
Sure it’s great to travel - but I cannot wait to get pack to Prague where I can sleep in, wake up, go to a park, and fall asleep again!
I apologize for not writing in so long. I hope that some of you are still reading this. About two weeks ago when I wrote last, I was heading off to a film festival in Karlovy Vary - beautiful town spread like fingers through these valleys in the hills of northwest Czech Republic - google it. That was really great and you wouldn't believe who I bumped into - literally --- Robert Deniro.
He was one of the special guests at the festival and a friend that I was with loves him. We had time one day so we walked through the town toward his hotel joking that he might open his window and we'd catch a glimpse... but he didn't. So as we're walking back - my head was a bit above the world as usual and in my aloof state I walked right into the man as he was shopping for postcards.
Honestly, I don't see what the big deal about him is. He was wearing saggy khaki pants and looked like he had just woken up - he's just as plain as I am. But at the special showing of New York, New York that night he gave a speech and everyone else thought that was pretty special - he didn't even seem like he wanted to be there. "Uh yeah, thanks for having me...blah blah blah... this film is old and so am I [everybody laughs] - Enjoy" (Not an exact quote). Anyhow the film festival was good.
I was home for one day when I had to rush off to the airport to pick up my friend Caitlin from the states who I am currently traveling with. We were only in Prague for the night and then the next day off to Budapest.
After a long hot train ride with more people than I have ever been squished with - we spent only two short but amazing days in Budapest with a guy that she has meet once but stayed in contact with named Gergos. His dad rents a flat downtown which was empty so we got to stay there for free. The first night he gave us a driving tour in a 1972 Trabant (you have to google that). And the visit only got better from there - our visit to that city was far too short.
Next, to Bratislava. Although I have been to Slovakia a lot, I have never made it to Bratislava... This must be why - Maybe it would be better with someone from there, but my visit matched up with other reviews that I have gotten from friends. It's surprisingly small and not over crowded with tourists, but there’s really not much to do. WE arrived at 6 one night and saw just a bit of the city - pretty dead but we figured it was because it was a Sunday night - not much changed Monday. Maybe someday I'll give it a second chance.
Then we came to Vienna! My friend Vera lives here and has a nice little flat and is an incredible host. I have been here a few times before but I just love coming back - too bad it’s a bit expensive - good thing I get to sleep for free here. Tonight we had dinner outside of a vineyard - ate some incredible food and tried some great wine. Tomorrow it’s back to the city to enjoy some more coffeehouses and see a bit more before an overnight train to Krakow, Poland.
I think Caitlin is enjoying herself too - overall a great trip in my opinion. Sorry this was long and I'll get some photos up as soon as I'm back in Prague next week. We still have to go to Krakow and visit the High Tatry Mountains in the North of Slovakia (the part that I know I love).
Again, sorry I haven't written more lately, but this traveling is taking it right out of me and I am in need of a vacation. If you're still reading, I promise I'll give you more to read soon.
I apologize for not writing in so long. I hope that some of you are still reading this. About two weeks ago when I wrote last, I was heading off to a film festival in Karlovy Vary - beautiful town spread like fingers through these valleys in the hills of northwest Czech Republic - google it. That was really great and you wouldn't believe who I bumped into - literally --- Robert Deniro.
He was one of the special guests at the festival and a friend that I was with loves him. We had time one day so we walked through the town toward his hotel joking that he might open his window and we'd catch a glimpse... but he didn't. So as we're walking back - my head was a bit above the world as usual and in my aloof state I walked right into the man as he was shopping for postcards.
Honestly, I don't see what the big deal about him is. He was wearing saggy khaki pants and looked like he had just woken up - he's just as plain as I am. But at the special showing of New York, New York that night he gave a speech and everyone else thought that was pretty special - he didn't even seem like he wanted to be there. "Uh yeah, thanks for having me...blah blah blah... this film is old and so am I [everybody laughs] - Enjoy" (Not an exact quote). Anyhow the film festival was good.
I was home for one day when I had to rush off to the airport to pick up my friend Caitlin from the states who I am currently traveling with. We were only in Prague for the night and then the next day off to Budapest.
After a long hot train ride with more people than I have ever been squished with - we spent only two short but amazing days in Budapest with a guy that she has meet once but stayed in contact with named Gergos. His dad rents a flat downtown which was empty so we got to stay there for free. The first night he gave us a driving tour in a 1972 Trabant (you have to google that). And the visit only got better from there - our visit to that city was far too short.
Next, to Bratislava. Although I have been to Slovakia a lot, I have never made it to Bratislava... This must be why - Maybe it would be better with someone from there, but my visit matched up with other reviews that I have gotten from friends. It's surprisingly small and not over crowded with tourists, but there’s really not much to do. WE arrived at 6 one night and saw just a bit of the city - pretty dead but we figured it was because it was a Sunday night - not much changed Monday. Maybe someday I'll give it a second chance.
Then we came to Vienna! My friend Vera lives here and has a nice little flat and is an incredible host. I have been here a few times before but I just love coming back - too bad it’s a bit expensive - good thing I get to sleep for free here. Tonight we had dinner outside of a vineyard - ate some incredible food and tried some great wine. Tomorrow it’s back to the city to enjoy some more coffeehouses and see a bit more before an overnight train to Krakow, Poland.
I think Caitlin is enjoying herself too - overall a great trip in my opinion. Sorry this was long and I'll get some photos up as soon as I'm back in Prague next week. We still have to go to Krakow and visit the High Tatry Mountains in the North of Slovakia (the part that I know I love).
Again, sorry I haven't written more lately, but this traveling is taking it right out of me and I am in need of a vacation. If you're still reading, I promise I'll give you more to read soon.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Crazy is moving from a state of mind to a way of life
I finished my CELTA course after crazy week back from
Saturday morning I moved into a new flat. Nice guys, I have a big room, but I don’t live alone. Could be worse but I live in the center, perfect location, and I pay almost nothing. I used to live in a great area, but a little ways from the center, and in one month there I paid 2 times what two months will cost me here. Having a roommate is worth it. Plus I have internet here – big plus.
July is going to be incredibly busy, so I decided Sunday that it was then or not for a long time, so I went to
Then I went to town to meet an old friend who - glad I went when I did – is going to
Everyday I am getting into contact with more people and I am so happy that they are still glad to see me after all this time.
This week is pretty calm, enjoying a last day with my CELTA friends, meeting a friend of a friend who is coming through town, then meeting my friends from Budejovice before going to the film festival this weekend. Then I get back from that for a day and Caitlin comes from the states to travel for two weeks.
Unfortunate that I couldn’t earn more money this summer, but this would make one heck of a MasterCard commercial.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
things are calming down but only for the moment
I apologize for not writing more lately, but the last week and some days have been a whirlwind – but a productive one that managed clear up a lot of loose ends.
I am pretty much done with my course. I taught my last lesson today and handed in my last assignment on Monday so all I have left is to show up for the next 3 days and I passed. Hooray!
I went to
I know I don’t put up many pictures, but google
Also, I went to
Anyhow – it didn’t save the trip because it was so wonderful, but for all of the miserable traveling, the hot weather, sore feet on a long walk, and starving from having no food Saturday when I went to the camp – my problems were all quite small. Although the complaints crossed my mind, what I was seeing grossly overshadowed my minor discomforts. I was very disappointed in those who I heard express those things in a way that seemed to ask for sympathy – that was not the place to get it.
I walked by a wall of pictures with information about a number of the people who had been there. Without even thinking, simple math enabled me to figure out the number of weeks or months that most of them survived there. Think hard before you choose to visit a place like this, because for many, those who would rather not think about this for a long time and accept the effect that it will/should certainly have on them – the history channel will do.
Sorry for the depressing notes, but I promise that the horrible things make me appreciate the seemingly mundane ones far more.
I move to my new flat this weekend and I am very excited. The people there are some late twenty Czech guys and they’re very nice and incredibly interesting. I’ll tell you all more of that when I know. July is going to fly by and I am gone almost the whole time, but I will be sure to keep you all updated.
Hope all is well at home and the rain hasn’t put anyone reading this out of home.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Just keep swimming
Second week is done! I am exactly half way through the course having taught half of my required lessons and already completing two out of the four written assignments.
Still, next week is practically my last week of the course. I have all except for one of my remaining lessons to teach then and I must do both of my remaining assignments – I have planned a trip to Auschwitz for next weekend and will be gone from the moment my classes end Friday to late Sunday night. Not much time in there for work since I’d rather not take my computer with me. Last assignment is due that Monday.
My travel partners are actually some very nice people I have met recently in
Just received my first assignment back and I am a part of a minority who does not need to resubmit. That is a huge relief going into the weekend. I have a lesson to plan for Monday when I will be teaching a new level of students and I have little to no idea of what to expect from them. Rgh it is really difficult to plan when you know so little about their ability level.
STILL – I have little to complain about at the moment.
I seem to be dealing with the stress of the course much better than many of my peers – that is not to say that I am doing better, I simply stay more relaxed. Maybe still being in college back in the states is helping me adapt to this type of class-all-day-study-most-of-the-night kind of demand.
I still manage to find some time to enjoy myself and make new friends.
Alright- a bit brief, vague, but a good summary of my life over the past while. Do not get me wrong – this course is hard (especially the wooden chairs I spend 10-12 hours a day in for my classes). Only two weeks left though- obviously short and I am trying hard to taste the sweet.
More soon.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The heat is off...at least for now
Finally the heat is off – literally and figuratively. This heat wave that has been killing me the past 2 weeks is gone – very suddenly. I almost want to wear a jacket outside now sometimes. That’s a big shift from sweating non stop anywhere in the sun. (or up in front of my students) And I get a 2 day break from class.
So I guess I didn’t expect this to be easy, but this is a beast. It’s my first weekend, I have already taught two lessons, I have two more this next week, and two large assignments due. Yes, this qualifies as an intensive course.
My first lesson was… rough. It wasn’t horrible, but I certainly left room for myself to improve. So – on the second lesson I did. It was so much better than the first. And my second lesson was a grammar lesson which I think is way harder but it really went well. Still, I can do better. I teach again Monday and I already feel pretty comfortable with my lesson plan. No/few worries.
The people in my class (like the other teachers) are pretty nice, some really good teachers. Others, seem like they are in kindergarten – honestly you wouldn’t believe it if you met them. I found out this week, and so did everyone else I guess, that I am easily the youngest person in my class of 12: I ended up putting my birthday on the board for an activity I did with the students and everyone of the other teachers in training was pretty surprised – half because my birthday is this Sunday and half because I am only going to be 20 (it was funny to watch their jaws drop). I think the second youngest is 23 and after that 25. I don’t feel that young here – just weird when I say that I am going back to school after this course.
Got to know some of my classmates pretty well – REALLY interesting people. Friday we went out for dinner and then to town for a little bit, but pretty much everyone has way too much work to do this weekend. That kind of squashes anyone’s hopes of staying out too late. Still, I met some interesting people in town and had some good conversations. I am almost the only one in my class who knows Czech and it’s a big plus here for me in the city. Though, I still have room to improve on that too.
I had a friend from
Well, I am not sure what else to say. It was a long week, more of the same ahead. I am sure my parents are glad to hear that I must be getting back to my homework now. And to all of my friends with summer jobs that take up a lot of time - just be glad you're not getting HOMEWORK!
Monday, June 2, 2008
I am SO glad that I chose CELTA
For those of you that don’t know much about Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificates, there are a number of them. The two big ones are the Cambridge Certificate and the Trinity Certificate – I chose the Cambridge CELTA.
Only since I have arrived here did I find out that pretty much any where in the European Union you must have the CELTA or you will not be considered. I hear this from almost every current teacher I find – not just the ones teaching at my school, but ones that I have met from others, and ones that are now taking the CELTA course so they can get a better job even after years of teaching. I did not really find that information online so I am glad that I seem to have made the right choice.
Started classes today… WHOA am I back in school or what. This is the longest class day I have had since high school. And I think those days may have been shorter!
We covered a ton of material, I observed a class being taught, and I took a Hungarian language lesson. That was actually really useful since I will be going to
Tomorrow, I will be teaching 40 minutes of the same class that I observed today. The people in the class know that they are not always being taught by qualified teachers (hopefully near-able, just not qualified) but they pay less for the class because of it. I was handed my topic and a choice of materials. That helps but it will still take a bit of preparation tonight.
Alright well off to work. Those of my friends who are working for the summer – I now feel your pain…for a while, then I’ll be back to traveling. Still, I know that this will be worth the work.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Not having internet is hard!
Ok - I owe everyone an apology. The only photo I have given you so far is not a very good one. You probably all think - Why did he put up a dark photo taken at 4 in the morning.
Well that wasn't the plan. It was supposed to be the first of many but its SO SLOW to load photos on the internet in a cafe (actually KFC right now - come get a coffee and hop on - its the best internet around). So anyway, that one photo is all the further I got. Here are a few more:
This is Zilina, Slovakia during the festival Nove Mesto, celebrating the town being 800 years old. It was early then so thats not even many people like there was later on. Beautiful city in the mountains. The wall to the right is part of the rail kind of to this gorgeous church. To stand on the lower square there and see the people line the zig-zagged steps to the church at night during the concerts was awesome!
This (look down) is me at the fountain on the upper square holding all my stuff. Little shops in the back where they sell the handmade things - wood, steel, clay, porcelain, jewelry, clothes, ANYTHING that they can make. Really cool stuff.
I don't know why this is all underlined...
<- This is the daytime view from my flat. A bit nicer than the other shot I have up. What you see is not the main part of Prague but its still nice. I spent a good chunk of time on my balcony lately. Its good to have.
Thats new TV tower in the back there and if you could see it closer it has bronze babies crawling up and down it. A Czech artist thought that was pretty cool - I guess its gives it some spice
Ok I hope that this is better. I'll try to have more pics more regularly from now on. Have a good one!
Justin
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