OK, so lots of updates:

Friday afternoon Charlie and Kinnon arrived in Prague. I was really excited to see them and had lots of exciting plans for us. It was kind of surreal though, hanging out in Prague, because we have gone to school together since the 6^th grade, so going out together in a city half way across the world was cool. On Friday night we went to a really cool club called the Cross Club, and it was nuts. It looks like it came straight out of a Tim Burton movie- they had multiple levels with different DJs playing different kinds of music on each level, and the walls were covered with crazy moving mechanical things and the light fixtures moved and changed colors. I’ve never seen anything like it before, it was definitely the coolest club/bar I’ve ever been to. We stayed out until about 4 am and took the night tram back to my apartment. The night tram in Prague is like the drunk bus because it’s the only mode of public transportation from 12-5 am so everyone on it is rowdy and crazy and drunk and it’s a lot of fun. We got off the night tram near my house and got a bit turned around, and walked around for about 30 minutes until (thanks to Charlie’s iPhone) we found our way back. After making late-night quesadillas with the most delicious cheese (pepper cheddar) we all crashed so we could rest up for the adventure we had planned for Saturday.

Saturday at 2 we caught the bus to Orlik, a town in the countryside about an hour outside Prague. The ride was beautiful, and I really enjoyed getting to see another part of the country. Our mission: falling into the 4^th dimension. There is the bridge in Orlik that is really high above a valley with a river at the bottom. And off this bridge you can “jump into the 4^th dimension”. Essentially it’s bungee jumping, but they use 2 bungee cords, so you fall extra far as you are also jumping over a large valley. So it’s as if you’re “jumping into the 4^th dimension”. We were all really stoked about doing this and have been talking about it for weeks. When we get to Orlik, we walk about 5 km to this bridge, only to find no one there. As it turns out, the company was closed for the season, so we couldn’t jump. There was another company somewhere in the forest, 15 km away, however. We thought it would be smart to check when the last bus returned to Prague before we embark on another journey to find this place. At this point it is 4:15 and we find out that the last bus to Prague is at 5:30. So, defeated, we turned around and head back to the bus station thinking at least we could go back to Prague and get ready to go out. Wrong. While it took us only an hour to get to Orlik, the ride back was not so easy. We had to take an 1.5 hour bus to Pisek, a town even further from Prague, stay in Pisek for 2 hours, and then take another 1.5 hour bus ride back to Prague. So we got back into Prague around 11, worn out and unmotivated to do much of anything.

On Sunday evening we we went to a hockey game and it was really fun. Sparta Praha v. Barolsav. The Czechs are so intense about hockey here! And they have cheerleaders who dance to really horrible 80s rock music, which I thought was hilarious. Not to mention the cheerleaders themselves are horrible and have less coordination than I do and it's just really funny to watch them. And the hockey isn't nearly as violent as it is in the US which I thought was interesting. It was kind of a bummer actually because in my opinion one of the best parts about hockey games is watching the players hit the sh** out of each other and slam each other up against the walls. There weren't fights and there were maybe 3 penalties the entire game. But still fun nonetheless.

I officially started my job on Monday and I love it! I teach 2 post-secondary classes of about 14 students in each class, and they are from the ages of 19-21. These classes are 3 hours a day (for them—I teach only half) and its an intensive English course. Basically these are students who didn’t get into university or didn’t want to go to university or dropped out of high school, and post-secondary classes are recognized by the Czech Ministry of Education as attending school so their parents can get the benefits of them being enrolled in school. I was kind of nervous about this at first because I thought that they would be unmotivated and not very smart, but actually they are great kids, very smart, and we have a lot of fun together. So I’m really enjoying teaching those classes and in October I begin teaching a few business English classes.

And I’m SUPER EXCITED because Monday’s classes are cancelled for some Czech holiday (St. Wenceslas Day or something like that) so tomorrow (Friday) Ali and Anneliese and I are going to Berlin for the weekend! And Charlie and Kinnon will be there too so we are going to have another great weekend together. I’m really excited because I haven’t had a chance to travel since I’ve been to Prague, and I hear so many great things about Berlin.

Well I must get back to lesson planning…