One Week Down!

Written by Brittany

We made it through our first week (and two days)! It's hard to believe we've already been here that long, but at the same time, it seems like we've been here much longer. It's amazing how many new things you can learn in a day and somehow (by the Grace of God) still retain most them.

Our week was very full. On Monday we went on a trip with our school to Germany which was really nice but really long! We were picked up at 5:15am and did not return home until around 10:45pm! We saw a lot of beautiful scenery, but everything was either in Czech or German, so we never really knew what was going on. (To see pictures of our Germany trip, you can visit our Facebook album here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.899771923387.1073741831.69601108&type=1&l=0de5859a8d even if you don't have Facebook!)

The rest of the week was divided between time at school and time getting all the necessary things done when you move to a new city. We had to report to the Foreign Police on Tuesday morning. Our deputy headmaster went with us, so we really did very little as he spoke to the policewoman in Czech, and apparently all went fine. Then Tuesday afternoon we finally got our transportation cards, which makes getting everywhere SO much easier. Now we can get on & off buses/trams/metros without having the buy a new ticket each time. This week we also successfully paid the Internet bill; then when the Internet went out, we went back to the provider's store and got that worked out. We also had our first Starbucks and McDonald's, both of which we live quite close to!

At school, we've been given our keys and shown our classrooms. We change classrooms every period, so we spent some time going through the school making sure we could find all of them. We also now have our offices. Jadon is on the ground floor and shares his office with two Czech English teachers. My office is on the third floor (which here they call second floor - it can get confusing), and I share it with two other Czech English teachers. The whole English department seems really nice, and there are two other new teachers, so it's nice not to be the only ones with a million questions.

My Door

My Office

My Desk

Jadon's Door

Jadon's Office

Jadon's Desk

This weekend has been really nice as it has been our first real time of relaxation. Friday we were able to go to the McDonald's, which has a much more cafe-like feel here than just fast food, and get our year plan made for all three classes, which feels really great to have that completed! Saturday we had our first Teach Beyond team meeting and got to meet everyone who is here in Prague with us from our organization. And then last night we were invited over to our new friend Shara's flat for dinner. It's so nice to have connections here so quickly. If we're ever lost/scared/confused, we already have so many people we can contact for help!

Praises:
- Getting registered at Foreign Police, transport cards, and Internet fixes went well & relatively easy
- Our stove & oven have been fixed
- Though are Internet was out for about 29 hours, it is back & working well
- Making connections with both English & Czech speakers

Prayer Requests:
- Strength, Patience, Energy, Excitement: all that is needed to start a school year well!
- For our students and the other teachers at our school; also for the other teachers on our Teach Beyond team & their schools
- Continued grace and provision as we transition