Guest Teaching in the Czech Republic

After a wonderful 3 days in the Austrian Alps relaxing, skiing, socializing, and feasting, I went back to the Czech Republic with my hosts.  We got to Blansko at 8:30pm and I went straight to bed after a very welcomed plateful of spaghetti.  I’m glad I got a good night’s sleep because on Monday morning, at 7am, I was heading off to work.

Monday:

On Monday, I joined Soňa at her primary school in Adamov, the small town where I spent the first month of my 2 years in the Czech Republic back in the early 90s.  It was fun!  I taught 4 hours of English in grades 1,2,3, and 4. We played vocabulary games, Simon says, and learned/sang Jingle Bells. Check out my drawing of the “one horse open sleigh” – my 3 months of drawing lessons are definitely not evident there…. sigh.  I still had a lot of energy after 4 hours, but spent the last hour at school reading my borrowed Kindle before joining Soňa and the kids for a bowl of goulash and a plateful of noodles with a sweet poppy seed, sugar, and butter sauce.  Hadn’t had that in 20 years!

At 1:30pm, we headed out to Boskovice with a stop at a palace on the way.  I had never visited this historic town with its former Jewish ghetto, its palace, and the ruins of an old castle up in the forest.  A great day indeed!

photo by Soňa

Tuesday:

At 7:15am, I met my friend Lenka, who is the director of a primary school in the small village of Rudice. After an hour of reading and an hour polishing my mathematics skills in Lenka’s grade 4/5 class, I spent 3 hours teaching grades 3, 4, and 5.  That last class could go beyond the word level and into sentences and questions, so we covered much more in our time together.  I also got to try a smart-board (interactive white board) for the first time – cool! One of the classes was much more… energetic … than all the other classes I had taught so far, and so I’ll admit, I was tired by lunch time.

Lenka and I went to the Golem restaurant in Blansko, and I enjoyed a huge plateful of roasted duck, sweet cooked red cabbage, and 2 kinds of dumplings (the traditional and potato, which I preferred).  We then spent a relaxing afternoon at her place with her partner and her cute little rabbit.

In the evening, I joined Honza (Antonin & Soňa‘s 18-year old son) at Ulita, the community tea house in Blansko where he works part time. What a great place – some of the regulars were playing board games and Honza and I got to know each other over a cup of rooibos tea.  He’s quite fluent in English, and so we chatted about a whole variety of things, including his other part-time job designing computer programs for his sister Iva’s university professor in Brno.  Impressive.

Wednesday:

I woke up early and finished the novel I was reading on Iva’s Kindle. Yay!  I was then able to join her and her brother on the 9am train to Brno, the city where I lived and taught in for 2 years.  I had 4 hours on my own to walk down memory lane, pedestrian malls, and historic alleys of this, the second biggest city in the Czech Republic.  I found 3 Christmas markets, which was perfect.  You can imagine my surprise when I heard a children’s choir on stage singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah in Czech – beautiful!

At 2pm, I met my friend Lucka, who is also a school principle.  We headed to her home in the village of Omice and spent the afternoon catching up, cooking, eating, and decorating gingerbread cookies.  I remember her doing this back in the 90s – amazing skill!  I just wished I remembered some of the zentangle patterns I had learned for this welcomed culinary arts & crafts activity.

Lucka’s designs.

My designs.

At 7:30pm, I was on the Student Agency bus back to Vienna – I had bought my ticket online for $10 (200 Czech Crowns), a third of the price of the train.  They even have individual TVs at every seat, so I finally got to see the Academy Award winning film Argo.  By 10:30pm, I was back in my student residence bed, thankful for such a wonderful week with such wonderful people. My heart just opens up every time I’m in the Czech Republic.  It’s a very good feeling, and I’m glad that this time, I was able to give as well as receive.  There’s such pleasure in both!