First Week of School Completed!!

Written by Jadon

We made it through our first week of school! And have now enjoyed a very much deserved weekend.

Last week, both Brittany and I met with 11 of our 15 classes. That’s roughly 150 students each! And, since classes did not officially start until Tuesday, today (Monday) we have four new classes each and somewhere between 40 and 60 new students each!  But classes are going well, and we are trying our best to learn all their names.

Our time hasn’t been all business, however, since we really only had to have two “lessons” (really they were more like ice-breaker activities) planned for this last week, and, going forward, we will only have four preps a week (which is the only possible way that having 15 classes can be remotely manageable).

Anyway, on Tuesday we stopped at the McDonalds on the way home from school to get celebratory drinks and pastries from the café, since we had made it through our first day teaching in Prague. Then on Wednesday, we decided to spend some of our afternoon exploring the city.  We managed to find Old Town Square—a very touristy area—and explored the area a bit, even being lucky enough to eavesdrop on a tour guide talking about the astronomical clock (picture below). We missed hearing and seeing the clock on the hour, but when we circled back to head home, the clock had just struck the hour, and the square was packed full of people, so maybe finding it at 4:30 was actually a blessing. (To see the rest of our Old Town pictures, visit this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.904090124677&type=1&l=63bb617aa6)

This clock not only tells the time and the locations of both the sun and moon in the sky based off the the zodiac constellations, but also many other things that I can't remember now...

 

On Saturday, in the park across the road from our flat, there was a free open-air opera.  It was a Czech opera titled Čert a Káča (The Devil and Kate), and though we knew we wouldn’t understand a word, we decided we couldn’t miss the opportunity for a picnic and free opera so close to home. So, we grabbed our lunches and headed to the park. Except the park is very hilly/mountainous, and it was a good 30 minute walk from the park entrance to the opera viewing grounds, most of which was like climbing a small mountain. But there were tons of elderly people climbing with canes or ski poles, and families with small children in strollers that the parents were pushing or dragging up the rocky incline, and at least one pregnant woman, so we kept going. And it was a lot of fun (not the climbing, the opera). It was long and in a different language, but we are really glad we went.

And now it is Monday again, and we have another week ahead of us, even though our bodies would rather stay in bed.  But that is just the Monday morning blues.

Praises:

-We have made it through the scariest week of school without any major occurrences

-We have found a church that we really like, and that has lots of members in our age range

-Our Internet is still working

-We are continuing to adapt and relax in our new home and environment

Prayer Requests:

-We still have many students to meet for the first time, and that we can slowly start to remember all   their faces & names

-Continued strength, energy, and courage for both the school year and our new environment

-That we would continue to make friends outside of our workplace