NO Carp in the Bathtup :(

 

My very first WHITE CHRISTMAS! :-)

Countdown until Christmas... In the days leading up to Christmas we 'got into the Christmas spirit'. These days were filled with cooking, Christmas music, and lots of baking! We also decorated the Christmas tree and watched a couple of Christmas movies. And I almost forgot...we lit some sparklers! :)

Sparklers!

Dobrou Chut'!!

And finally...Christmas is here!! I suppose you could say it was a typical Christmas. Martin's family came to Podhradi in the evening. We had appetizers, champagne, and lots of goodies and treats! Once the food was ready we sat down at the table around 6pm to eat. Mmm the food was delicious! Michelle did such an amazing job as head chef making all of our evenings delights. We had potato salad and salmon. After we let our dinners settle in our stomach for a little while, we gathered around the Christmas tree to open our presents. 

The Ladies...

 

.... and the bubbly

*For those of you that don't know- Christmas Eve is the main celebration day for people here in the Czech Republic. People don't really do that much on Christmas day. 

There were so many presents that they barely fit under the tree!! Following tradition, Martin's brother (the youngest of the family) distributed the gifts one by one and each person opened their present from 'Jezisek' aka baby Jesus. This was very fun and each person got to show off what they got. I must say that I actually didn't mind opening all of my presents on Christmas Eve. At home, we always opened presents on Christmas morning, but it was nice to have everyone there doing it together. 

Officially Employed!

I got a JOB!! I had an interview at the beginning of January for a private language school called James Cook Languages. It all happened so fast! I went to the office and met the head of HR to give her my resume. She spoke with me right away and set up an interview for the following week. I thus had the weekend to prepare a demo lesson. :-) The demo lesson went very well and before I knew it....I was hired! 

The school is very centrally located and it also happens to be very close to where I live (only 2 tram stops away!). Although the classes that I teach are all over Prague, it is so easy to go there and photocopy, print, lesson plan, etc. before my lessons.

It's Official! I'm TEFL certified!

It's official!! I am now a TEFL certified teacher. After one month of class and nonstop lesson planning, I finally have my certificate! :) The course required a lot of work but I learned a lot and met some really interesting and fun people! Some of them are not staying in Prague though so I am very sad to see them go! :(

Roomies! :)

UCD Aggie <3

"The Whole Gang"

Graduation took place on Friday the 14th, the last day of the course. They called each of us up, one by one, to receive our certificates. Then we all went out to dinner to Cortez, a restaurant right by the school. 

Earmuffs, Mulled Wine, and Trdelnik

Christmas is here...well almost! What a busy week with TEFL! Classes, lesson plans to write, practice teaching lessons, and assignments, I'm glad it's finally the weekend! Couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate the weekend and the beginning of the advent season than with my cousin and her husband in the Old Town Square of Prague!

Michelle and I in the Old Town Square

Mich and Martin

December 1st marked the opening of the Christmas markets here in Prague! The markets stay open all throughout December and sell all kinds of Czech handmade goods such as glass, ornaments, jewelry, and little toys for kids. On Saturday night there was a big celebration in the Old Town Square as they lit the Christmas Tree. I went with my cousin Michelle and her husband, Martin. It was so fun! We walked through the square and had some mulled wine. The square was packed!! There was one part of it that was so crowded you could barely move because you were surrounded by people on all sides! It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic! Finally, we found a good spot to watch the tree light up :). It only lasted a few minutes though,
but then we each had a Trdelnik. (A pastry made from wrapping dough around a metal rod and roasting it over an open flame, then decorating it with cinnamon, sugar and nuts.) It was delicious!! I can't wait for Christmas to come! :-)

Mmm Yummy!

Hradec Kralove

I spent Saturday and Sunday in Hradec Kralove last weekend with family. Lukas took me out there around noon on Saturday. Fifteen minutes into the drive though his car got a flat tire! Oh no! It didn't take that long to fix luckily, but it's still a bummer that it happened. Eva had lunch already waiting for us when we got there. She made authentic Czech sausage with potatoes and apples. :-) It was so delicious!!

mmm Výborný!

Then we all drove up to the top of the hill, basically the only one in the city. There were lots of country houses but there was also a gorgeous view! The countryside is stunning!

They were so friendly! Baaaa...

As we were walking down one of the roads some of the sheep "baaaahhhed" at us. We also saw a ferret! 




Later that night my cousin, Michelle, and her husband, Martin came to join us for dinner. We all went to a local Indian restaurant. The next day Lukas and I went to a theater show in the morning and walked through the town in the afternoon. We had lunch again with Eva before we left. Then made it back to Prague in the evening. What a great, relaxing weekend in Hradec Kralove!

 
 

Happy Birthday!

Today I turned 24! Oh my! So what's the first thing I do as a 24 year old? Wake up and go for a short run around the neighborhood. :) I put on my cold weather workout gear (some pants, longsleeve shirt, and some gloves) and I was off! The apartment is on this little mountain, which is great because there are stairs connecting one street to the other that I can run up and down. It's a great workout! 

Then my cousin took the bus into Prague to celebrate my birthday with me! I showed her my apartment where I was staying and she gave me my birthday present. :) We got on the metro and went downtown. We took care of some business at the vodafone store and then went to lunch. The food was delicious and it was really nice to just talk and eat. I had a spinach/pesto risotto. Yum!

(Mich and I at an little Italian restaurant near Palladium)

After lunch we went to Palladium to do some shopping because I needed to get a couple things. While shopping we had to take a small coffee break of course at Costa Coffee.

 (Enjoying my gingerbread coffee! Mmmm...Coffeeeeeeee)

 Not quite sure what to do next so we headed to the movie theater to go see the new movie Twilight. I've never read any of the books or seen the other movies but I thought why not? The movie was really good and I even learned some new Czech words while watching it because of the subtitles.  :) Once it was over, we went back home to get ready to go out and meet up with everyone else.

Overall it was a fantastic birthday and I'm very happy that I got to spend the day with my cousin!!

Later that night we went with the rest of the group to a bar downtown, a few blocks away from Wenceslas Square. The bar was great except for all of the smoke. It was mostly underground and pretty big. I had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone!!
 

I'M HERE, I'M HERE, I'M REALLY HERE!!!

I finally made it to Prague! Yay!
 

So it is the always-lovely jet lag that brings me to my computer at 4am Prague time of course but 7pm LA time. All I want to do is shower and eat! Haha. However I do not have any snacks/food with me other than some Herbalife tea (thanks Kady!) and I don’t think anything close by opens until about 7am. And it is still a little too early to shower because I don’t want to wake up my roommate. But at least it gives me a chance to update my blog and send some emails! Maybe I will even start unpacking in a little bit! 

Views from my apartment:

I landed in Prague around 8:45pm and then took a pre-arranged taxi to my apartment. There was some confusion of where to go and the taxi driver just dropped me off in front of the apartment with nothing but my luggage and no keys to get into the building. Ah! I was quite confused and probably shouldn’t have let the taxi driver leave. Not to worry though, I made a quick phone call and someone came to meet me with my keys and information. Apparently the driver was supposed to have me pick this up at a separate building close by but he didn’t do that. Anyway I got a quick tour of the apartment and surrounding area (metro, school, etc…) and then left on my own. I got settled into my room, chatted with my new roommate, and then off to bed!