Christmas in Kralupy Round 2

So... about the days just before Christmas... As the end of the year was winding down, everything at school is all about fun and relaxing... at least in English class it is :) It's usually pretty hectic in the other classes from what i hear. So... with Christmas parties in class, there was surely more fun to be had. The first fun time was when my colleague invited me to his school chess tournament after school on the last day (Thursday). I came and sucked. All the students beat me and wiped me on the floor. It was really sad. I won 2 out of 7, and the 2 guys i beat didn't win at all i think :)

And that was just the beginning of an exciting Christmas celebration. Every year our school holds an end of the year hockey tournament with each classes participating. And lo and behold, of course I was asked to play with one of the freshman classes. It was a nice offer, but what i didn't tell them was that i am about a million times more worse at hockey than chess. The whole skating capability proves to be quite an important funtion in the sport. Anyways, I think that I provided comical effect to the whole school. But it didn't matter, cuz we still took home the gold, which I was very proud about.

And then there's Christmas day (the 24th here). It was quite a wonderful day I think. It started with me waking up and relaxing :) And it didn't really turn much from this I think. It was quite beautiful. And then one of my good friends came over for a bit and she gave me some christmas sweets (which might have been the best I've had here), and exchanged presents and enjoyed expresso. Then my friend Jarda came over and took me to his parents with whom I spent the christmas dinner of Christmas carp and potato salad for yet another year. We relaxed and opened presents and then we just sat for a few hours to wait to go to the midnight Mass at the nearby church. It was an hour and i didn't understand anything :( oh well. Then i stayed at his place and came home the next day.

Now for the real Christmas day. I came home and finished my packing (for this evening I was meant to travel to Cyprus). I packed and then went over to see my friend Paul for a bit to wish a Merry Christmas. Then I headed into Prague to meet with some American friends with whom I hadn't seen for a while (due to the fact that I never go into Prague). I visited with them for a while and we had a nice Christmas dinner and there were quite a few people there. It was fun to chat and see people I hadn't seen and to wish a Merry christmas. And I talked with most of my family this day (they called me, aren't they nice). And then I headed out with Stephen to the airport where we headed to make our 10pm flight to Larnaka, Cyprus as to where my story continues for another 5 crazy days. But I must stop for now and wait until I am able to regroup everything so as to make it seem like you were there with us experiencing all the crazy and fun and crazy moments we had.

Out goes the Old, In comes the New

The 2nd Longest Season in Kralupy Officially Begins

Of course the longest season in Kralupy and the rest of the Czech Republic is the winter. The infamous season of "The Ples". Well actually ples season has been going on for a few months, and it actually never stops, but i'm talking about a certain kind of ples. The Maturantni Ples. What is it? Well i suppose it's the equvalent to the Prom in the States. But still a bit different. For one thing, the main difference is that it's like a big dance put on by the graduating class, and everyone is invited. Parents, teachers, students, random fools. ANYONE. More differences... alcohol is prevalent, and perhaps a main staple of the ples. There is quite a bit of classical style dancing (which i've kinda liked to try). The night goes as followed: Graduating students (maturants) come out and have a special thing and get sashes and then have some champagne. Then is student-teacher dances and the student-parent dances. and then some free dances for anyone and the some special performance that the Seniors made and then more dancing and talking and drinking (it's quite a good atmosphere for students to speak to me more freely because we aren't in school and maybe they are a bit drunk. So it's fun). Then there's a special mdnight surprise which is usually another performance by the seniors. And then everything finishes at 2am, and then the afterparty begins at one of the surrounding bars and pubs. It's quite an interesting time, but really one of my highlights of being here. So, why do I say that this is the 2nd longest season? well, because we don't just have one senior class... we have 4. So last night was the first one, and the last one I think is in March, though i could be wrong. ok, so that's that for now.

Christmas Sweeties

So with a new Christmas season in Czech Republic, as also comes the beautiful tradition of "bake a million Christmas Sweets in 3 weeks". It's a great thing and even I decided to chip in a bit on the tradition and pay my due. (Thanks to the help of one of my great students letting me borrow some different decorative cutters and other things necessary in making these so-called "sweets".) it was an arduous process, but after a good 2 hours or so, I had completed enough sweets to fill a plate of awesome little Christmas Sweets. I made linecké pečivo, or Linz sweets, (as you can look at the process of making them below. from beginning to end). I had some trouble at first, but succeeded quite handily. it was great. in the middle i put some special things. I made 3 different kinds. the first was normal strawberry jelly, the second was nutella, and the third was my surprise (peanut butter and jelly). it was super, and just like that, they were all gone. I don't know if i'll dive in again quite yet, but it was a fun way to spend a few hours on my dull sunday. ok, enjoy the process I have shown you below. peace

Thanksgiving and the Hereafter

Welcome to December everyone. After 12 long months, we're finally here... just as it so happens every year. Thus far, it's been quite a nice and fun wintery season. Not too bad. They say it's the warmest winter in about 10 or 15 years (which is fine since last winter was the coldest on record). But it's not all rainbows and shining happiness. It's still fairly cold and stayin warm is a chore everyday. But thanks to my new acquisition of a scarf :) and some new gloves, and a new beard, I'm stayin fairly warm :) What's new over here? Just workin everyday just as you are back in the states. Teaching students and speaking english. It's a lot of fun. We're starting to come into the "Ples Season" as I like to phrase it. What is a ples? A ples is just a dance. A special dance. I've been to a few already for my students who are taking a dancing course. But what I'm talking about isn't just some ordinary pleses. These are special pleses for Seniors at my school. In comparison, it's like the Prom. Similar, but not quite so. Sure everyone dresses up in suits and nice dresses, but classical dancing is the name of the game and everyone is invited to partake. It's quite an interesting experience, and something that I am always looking forward to. It's a fun time to relax and talk to friends and students outside of school. And so, we have our first Maturitni ples (Senior ples) in two weeks. And in 3 weeks is the beginning of a beautiful break! :) wow, so great. Ok, hope things are rockin. Talk to you soon.