Wow...I am bad at this....

I know you all rely on this to keep track of me. Ha. Kiiiiddding. But seriously, for as much as I love to write, I'm horrible at keeping up with a blog. :(

Since the last posting, everything was going good. Job was good, in love with Prague, yada yada...Nothing has really changed except for the fact that uhh...well, I've decided to come home! I am still in love with Prague, I still love the kids I teach. But the reality is, I am living here illegally, and the visa process is the most difficult EVER!! And also, I'm definitely not making enough money...boooooooo! I hate to rely on that, but really, you have to have the $$ to survive. So in approoooximately 16 days I will be returning to the great US of A. I am very very excited to see everyone and share some of my G-rated stories. ;)

It seems as soon as I decided to leave, I realized exactly what I would be leaving. I've made such wonderful friends and learned so much about myself and this world I live in. I cannot ever take anything for granted again such as the loyalty of true friendship, the peacefulness and serenity of discovering a new world by myself, and the unending support that comes from my family every day and every way I can possibly imagine. I also am so thankful to Ashleigh Ide (look 'er up!) who truly inspired me to point and shoot at anything I could. If she were not in my TEFL class, I would not have realized the completion that photography could bring to my soul. Thank you Ash. Also thanks to Jiri, who taught how to make everything I touch psychedelic. I am forever greatful. I am aware this sounds like some kind of acceptance speech, but in a way it is. Acceptance of a new outlook on life, so I must say thank you to many. Thank you to Morgen. I would not have even THOUGHT of taking this journey if you had not invited me to join you. You have taught me more about kindness and generosity in such a short amount of time and I am amazed at your capacity to empathize and always listen to your friends. Andrew and Janka, I never imagined I'd meet two people as compassionate as you both are. Andrew, your lust for learning and question asking surprises me every time I see you. Janka, your calm soul soothes me. Not only are you both beautiful in outward appearance, but anyone would be safe in saying that everything about you both is wonderful. Your relationship is one to look up to. Rae, for being there even 5,000 miles away. Sometimes I just needed your familiar voice to feel more at home. Many others I am missing I'm sure; Josh, Teacher Mila, Sheila, Eric, Chris, Keith, Svatka, the amazing little chilluns at Babbles, so many others...but to keep this kind of short, finally I must thank my sisters and mother. We are a team, we never leave one behind, and this has especially been proven to me these past six months. Meg, though you're pregnant and uncomfortable you always make sure I'm okay before I can even ask how you are! Paige, my busy little bee, growing up into such a beautiful woman, making your mark. I am so proud of you, and proud to share our special day every year. Katie, you are beautiful. The fire inside of you is still being tamed, but as you grow older you will learn how to control the flames and become even more fierce. The loyalty that you portray to your family is part of that fire, please don't ever lose it. Mom...well what can I say. I love you always, to the moon and back. We've had our tough times, but we always come back to each other. Thank you for letting me go when I needed you to.

Well..geez enough of that, now that I've made myself cry. I will see you all soon, thank you thank you thank you EVERYONE for allowing me this time to begin my self discovery.

lovelovelovelovelovelovelovelove,
coco.

Yizzoooo Kizzoooooo!

Hello Everyone!

Coco comin' in, do you read me? Yes you do. Good. Soooo...last time I wrote I think I told you all that I got a job at a preschool. The rest was rubbish I'm sure. New news...some of you might already know, and if you don't know now you know. Morgen left two Thursdays ago to return home to Yakima. Good thing she did, because she found out that her foot had been fractured!!! Yeah unbelievable! It was about two months ago, that she accidentally rammed her foot into a suitcase (that I accidentally put in the way, sorry Momo) and had been limping around on it for TWO MONTHS!!! Now she has a boot, I'm guessing a really HUGE boot, that is most likely embarassing and for that I am sorry as well. Her choice to leave was purely hers, she felt it was time, and that is okay. I miss her so much and the flat is so quiet without my roomie. Momo if you're reading this I miss your face! Good news though on the roomie front. Travis, a 32 year old from Australia is moving in on Sunday. He's a nice bloke so far, and an English teacher as well. And then of course there is the accent. Won't be hard to live with that. :D

I'm loving my job, I love the children, they are SO smart. The first week was overwhelming only because well..I hadn't actually worked in 2 and 1/2 months. The commute is sometimes rough, and I have been late a few times since I can't seem to get the bus schedule just right (Lisa...they are just as forgiving as you were for my lateness, I don't even get the sideways looks that you gave!!!). The children are just now beginning to understand that I'm also in charge as well as the other teachers. They all call me Coco, even the adults, because the 'rt' is very hard to pronounce for Czech speakers. If they do attempt to say my name it's more like 'currrtney' with a rolled R, where as when Spanish people tried it was 'corny'. Right Elisabeth? :) Coco is just easier.

What else...what else....Hmm. I've been incredibly bored since Mo left. I do have a few friends here, but not ones that have a lot of free time, and neither do I. So, I went out and bought myself a puzzle. That's right, 1,000 pieces. Puzzle queen, right here. Mm hmm. No sign of any love interest on the horizon. I need more friends first, THEEEEEN...maaaaybe just maaaaaybe try to meet someone to cure my love ills.

I think that's all for now. Now I must create insects out of construction paper. Ladybugs and bumblebees for the children to count. It's raining here and has been for it seems two weeks. No summer weather yet, for that I do miss Yakima.

Love you all, and hope to talk soon. Don't forget I have an email addresssss!! courtney_myoho@yahoo.com yay!

COCO

yada yada yada...

Hello everyone! Yes I realize, you've been dying waiting for my next blog insertion. Well the waiting is OVAAAA. I'm standing in my kitchen right now (the internet signal is much better). The background noise is some random music our friend just loves to introduce us to, and a dripping noise. Ohhh...the dripping. Apparently the flat one floor up from us has a washing machine problem. I called the landlord Jan (Yan) and he rushed right over. It was quite funny to hear him swear. He's a very reserved Czech gentleman. He speaks perfect English as he left Prague in 1968 to escape communism. "Shiiiiiit", he said. "Okay, okay...I'll be back shortly, who are you?", to Josh. He cracks me up. Hopefully he'll be back soon with a new ceiling. :)

Now...Michael Buble in the background. For those of you not in the know, I have gotten a job!! Yesssss Sirs! I start on the 8th at Babbles Preschool. When I went originally and had the demo lesson, I absolutely loved it, and didn't even apply for anything else, because I loved it so much. Some people might say I have to much faith in the unknown. I just KNEW...

I was originally supposed to begin tomorrow, but for some reason they put it off for one more week. I already have the work contract so no worries! :)

On another note...EVERYONE IS LEAVING !!! Well not everyone, but all of the friends from the US that we've made here, are leaving. It's sad, but I have no doubt that I'll be able to make just as many Czech friends, and plenty from other countries as well. Prague is quite the melting pot. I think we've met people from almost every European country, North America, Asia, Africa even. Loooooord knows a few of them have to like me enough to hang out with me.

Let's see, can't think of too much else, yes it was short. But at times I feel guilty for not posting blogs. For myself though, not all of you. Heeeehehehe. Okay...I'm going now. GOOODBYE!

COCO.

I don't have much to say today, so I thought I'd share pictures instead (for you Shawn!). They are as follows: random pictures of Prague, the church in Old Town Square, views from the Charles Bridge at sunset, stuff at and around Prague Castle, and a few pictures from the beer garden. Miss everyone so much! Love, M

What the eff?

It's 2 a.m. and I am still awake. I don't understand...why, why, why? I'm so tired of only 4 hours of sleep a night. Actually, I'm just plain tired.

I'm looking out the window across the courtyard to the other apartments. For once it's completely dark, save one window lit by a lone candle. It's amazingly pretty; the orange glow of candlelight illuminating a completley dark courtyard. I'm listening to my favourite band, Stumble Yonder, and missing home so very much that my heart aches. I got to talk to my mom today; she's so amazing. I miss my family. Talking to her made me realize how very much I miss everything I left behind. I'm glad I came here; it's what I always wanted. I just miss everyone so much.

Today, my friend Josh and I went to Prague Castle. We had a "tourist" day. We walked for hours around the extensive grounds. I had no idea it was so beautiful. I've been there twice: once to see President Obama speak, and the other wandering with friends. I've never explored the complex in depth until today. It was a gorgeous day out, and I got sunburned (boohoo). We walked for hours and finally decided we deserved a beer or two. We went to my favourite Irish pub (J.J. Murphy's) and had a few beers and dinner. Then we decided that since we didn't know where the Metro station was, we would wander over Charles Bridge and into Old Town Square (which was quite a walk) and keep going until we found one. It took a quite a while. Needless to say, I should be completely exhausted (which I am); I'm just not sleepy. Yuck! Instead, I'm sitting here, writing a poor excuse of a blog.

Anyway, I have more to write about, but me thinks perhaps I should lay down for a bit. Maybe tonight I'll be wisked away to a magical land, where everyone sleeps for eight hours and wakes up refreshed and ready to go. Oh boy...I'm ready!

I miss you all so very much! Write more soon.

Who knew?

Well, it's finally official...Coco and I have passed the TEFL course, and received our "diplomas." I have to say that I'm actually really surprised. Proud of myself, but awfully surprised.

I'm sitting in my favourite coffee shop right now, wondering if I'm ever going to get a job. I really hate job hunting. It's been kind of hard not being employed. I'm so used to working two jobs; not having even one is ridiculous. Ah well...I'll keep pounding the pavement, and I'll definitely keep my chin up. I'm extraordinarily happy for Coco; she has a really promising prospect. I think she'll have a job by tomorrow. She had the interview and she offered to teach a demo lesson which they accepted. She's nervous of course, but I know she'll do fantastically well. It's at a preschool, and she'll be working with young kids which is what she wanted most of all. Yay for Coco!

I'm not sure what's going to happen if I can't find a job soon. My 90 days without a visa are up at the end of June. Who knows, but that I'll have to come home for a while. I would love to come home and work for a while (and of course see everyone I love), but I don't want to feel like I failed at something I've wanted for so long. I really want to live in Europe. I love it over here, even if Prague isn't the most comfortable place for me. I love the culture, the food, the lifestyle, the fact that I have to walk everywhere. I even love the stairs, which still kick my ass every time. I have a good prospect in sight for a full-time teaching position. It doesn't start until September, though, so I'll have to find some private tutoring to do until then (provided I get the job of course). Keep your fingers crossed for me!

This is an awfully short post, but I seem to have a bit of writer's block. I took me an hour to write one postcard; I'm not sure why I decided to give blogging a try. I'll write more soon, as I have a ton of stuff to talk about, but not the energy to write it all today. Love you!

M

PS. The pictures are as follows: The garden at Petrin, a view of Prague from Petrin (and yes, it was one hell of a climb), me, and the Petrin "Eiffel Tower"

It's EARLY!

By COCO

I woke up early this morning...6:30! I haven't been awake this early in a few weeks at least. It feels great. It's quiet outside, and all I can hear are the last few raindrops hitting my window sill and the birds chirping. Oh wait...there goes a siren. But you get the idea. Today is 'the big day'. I have my meeting with the director of Babbles Preschool at 7pm tonight. I've got a few things to do...1. Find a Copy General store to print off my CV. 2. Find the restaurant where we're meeting. And 3. Chant.

I'm really hoping I get offered this position. It is exactly what I want, to teach little kids! I have been doing some research on lesson plans and structures for preschool classes, and it's really not as easy as some might think. These children have no idea how to speak English, let alone to read and write it. The lesson plans are very detailed and you have to keep them moving and paying attention at all times (for 3-5 year olds this can be tricky). They want bright colors, pictures and games. They don't like competition, and they LOVE attention. No reading or writing skills can be introduced this early, so it's all about listening and speaking. But no matter how difficult it might be, I can only imagine how wonderful the benefits must be. Their lovely little faces, looking at YOU their teacher expectantly to show them something amazing, something they don't know, and will love you for teaching them after you've finished. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me get this job.

Both Morgen and I have also received word from the Caledonian school here in Prague that they'd like us to fill out application forms. The classes for that school don't begin until September. From their website the job and benefits sound amazing. A monday through friday workweek, health benefits, also FREE intensive Czech lessons for all of their teachers. If we wanted to learn French or Spanish, they also give those courses at a discounted price. So we've got that to hope for as well.

Other than the job search, things are going well. I can only speak for myself on this part though; no job and no money = homesickness/depression. I knew it would be coming, I knew I'd miss everyone terribly. It comes and goes. As soon as I have a job and feel useful again, I'm sure it will subside.

But of course, we've been having tons of fun! On saturday a few of us took a picnic to Vysehrad park (basically a huge castlegrounds). Morgen, myself, Ashleigh from class, her boyfriend Jiri, Logan (one of our teachers roomies who's is leaving back to Utah on the 21st) and one of the new classmates Josh all sat on a blanket, watched people playing frisbee, football (soccer) and just had a great day. We ran into our teacher from class Mila who was meeting his football team to practice, and ended up having a few more people join our picnic. Peter from Rochester (who I'm convinced played Problem Child), Andy and Tom from Ireland, and Morgen's former student Josef. After the picnic we all headed to a restaurace in Old Town Square to try a Czech dish that Jiri had been raving about. It's called svickova na smetane. Basically beef meat with gravy, topped with cream, a slice of lemon and cranberry. YUMMMM!!!! So delicious. I was so full of snacks from our picnic that I didn't eat a lot, but what I did have was so so good! After that some headed home, and some decided to go to a pub and hang out for a while. The 'some' were myself, Morgen, Josh, Mila and all of his football buddies. It's called Acropolis. I couldn't say it for the life of me, I kept thinking "apocolypse"...grrr. Ha. Anyway we had ANOTHER great time there. Danced to techno music, drank pivo and went home to bed.

I guess this blog doesn't really have a point. I just thought I'd fill you all in on what's been going on here the last week or so. It's great! I love it. But I miss home dearly. I need a JOB! :)

Guess that's all for now. Maybe I'll try to sleep a little more. Maybe not...

Ahoj!

It's raining...but it's not pouring.

Yes, that is meant to be a metaphor. But it is also literally raining (not pouring). I woke up this morning to a thumping noise, a loud...annoying...thump thump, thumpadeee thump thump. Oh...it's the rain. Normally I wouldn't mind, but it woke me up, and who dares wake me up is in for a bad day. Too bad I can't hurt the rain. Oh well.



Metaphorically speaking, I was woken up by a thump thump in my head, a thump like the stress kind. "Thump...wake up...thump...time to get a job...THUMP!!!!".



Yes my friends, it is that time. No more school, no more 'practice teaching'. Now it is the real thing. I have my CV ready to send out (to quite a few different language schools), with a bright smiley picture attached. Then after I accomplish that feat, I perform the follow up. I will go to the language schools, announce myself, and bravely ask for an interview on the spot. Something I am definitely not used to. I'm used to the 'turn in the resume, wait for a call, two weeks later get called, maybe have an interview' shuffle. This time, it's all up to me.



I am still in love with this city. I did after all just sign a one year lease for this apartment! Yes..the apartment. It's great. Two bedrooms, a washing machine that WASHES clothes, a microwave oven! Yes I still love Prague, though I am becoming quite homesick. My fundamental darkness is coming in to play. A person's mind can play dirty tricks sometimes. I find myself thinking I might not make it, I might have to go back with my tail between my legs and tell everyone I failed. I failed...I failed...I failed...I keep hearing it. I have been chanting much more, and feel my life condition becoming higher, but that negativity is still there, it's still trying to get me down.



Yada yada, this is not meant to put a damper on anyone's rose colored thoughts of our time here, it's still wonderful. It's still the best thing I've ever made up my mind to do, and I have no regrets.



We did meet the new class of TEFL students (minus one) on Saturday night. There are four of them. Andrew from Scotland who lost his long time real estate career in the recession, Josh from Cleveland, Ohio, a medical science major who got tired of his job, and then there's Graham. Oh Graham...an older 'gentleman' from England, and he has been drunk since he arrived in Prague. There is one more who hadn't arrived at that point, not sure of his name. Meeting them I have to say, made me realize AGAIN how lucky Morgen and I are to have met such amazing people in our class. The dynamic seven, awesome, wonderful, beautiful people. Definitely people who I hope to keep in contact with for a long, long time. We're having the remaining four over for dinner tonight for a kind of housewarming, along with the new kid Josh, who "should've been in our class", Mo and I decided.

Oh yes, I haven't written about London yet, I think Mo did? Either way, it was a blast! We always meet the most interesting (and hot) people. That's it, just a blast. I'd love to go back again, and not just there...everywhere. Did you know that in most countries in Europe you are mandated to take 20 days of vacation or holiday as they call it, a year! For instance EVERYONE had Friday off, for no reason really, just...had it off.

I'm kind of going off here, but that's just me I guess. I'm sure you don't mind. As this is the only way I communicate with some of you. :*(

But really folks...it's time to get a job. I miss you all and hope to talk soon. You're all in my thoughts. LOVE YOU!

COCO

Finally...

It's official...I finally have my own bed!!!! It's even in a room with a door that closes and locks! It's a miracle! I even have an armoire, so I don't have to have to live out of my suitcases anymore. Can life get any better?

My newest and most noble quest has begun. I'm in search of that most illustrious, elusive creature...employment. I've written my CV (aka resume), and starting Monday will be sending it off to tempt employers. I hope it works. I have a lot to offer, right? I think so, but we'll see. I'm pretty nervous though. Teaching a language I can barely speak to people I don't understand is going to be a definite adventure. YAY FOR ADVENTURE! I feel like I need a shield and sword and some magical power and maybe a pet dragon that can fly (the really scary thing is, I really want a shield and sword and magical powers and a pet dragon).

Back to the blog...Coco and I just returned from a lovely jaunt in our new neighborhood. It is absolutely perfect outside. It's about 65 degrees, sunny, slight breeze, and the air smells like lilacs. We went looking for a grocery store, as we had absolutely no food in our apartment whatsoever. Luckily, we found Lidl (pronounced Leedel). It's a little market, and we were able to fill our reusable shopping bags (for you Terra!) with the essentials: pasta, pasta, pasta, lunch meat, bread, vegetables, yogurt, and for a special treat ice cream. I think we're set for a few days now.

Tonight, we get to meet the new TEFL students that start class on Monday. The new class consists of four guys (oh darn). Two are American, and two are British. It'll be fun to meet some new people that speak English.

Anyway, I'm off to fulfill my destiny as a...well, I'm not sure as what yet. But when I figure it out, I'll let you know. Kisses and cuddles to all, and to all a fantastic Saturday!

Sorry...it's a long one!

Well, let's just see here. I have so much stuff to talk about, I'm not too sure where to begin. I guess I'll take you back to time not so long ago, when my sanity was slightly more intact...

It all began on a dark and foreboding Friday morning. I was up before dawn's early light; 4 a.m. to be exact, and I wasn't sure why. All was quiet, save the screaming in my head: "I DON'T WANT TO TAKE A TEST! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME! WHAT'S A PAST PERFECT PARTICIPLE? AHHHHHHHH!" Oh yeah...that's why. It was final test day. My legs felt like they weighed more and more, every step closer we got to school. I don't think I've ever really dreaded anything so much before. Well, maybe the time we ran out of Guinness on a Thursday night, and I went to Bob's on Friday knowing we were out. Anyway, the test consisted of two 90 minute parts. The first part was the grammar portion, and to be fair to myself, I didn't do badly -- I did far worse than that, I know it. I was pretty upset after the first part; and yes, that means I shed A tear. Let me just say that I hate English. I feel that we are completely ill-prepared in the rules and regulations of our own language (or something like that). I've decided that I'll probably end up teaching Spanish (since I suck at English grammar), for I seem to be able to randomly bust out some Espanol every now and again. The second half of the test was easy-breezy goodness, so at least I had some positive thoughts about the test (besides being positive that I was going to fail). Don't get me wrong here; I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I'm just trying to prepare for the worst case scenario. That way if I do poorly, I won't be surprised.

Moving on... After the test was over, we all waited for each other downstairs. We took our bottles of champagne (we each got one at the end of the test), and went to the park around the corner. I felt kinda bad though, because we decided to pop the corks all together; the old lady on the bench next to us nearly had a heart attack. Actually, to be quite honest, I didn't really care. The popping of champagne corks is one of my favourite sounds in the world--what's better than hearing 7 pop all at the same time (besides maybe 8)? It was a beautiful day, and we sat and laughed and laughed and laughed. Finally it was time to depart. We made plans to meet for dinner at a restaurant called the Hairy Ghost (LOVE IT!!!), where we had the best pizza ever. After dinner, we met Teacher Mila (or ex-teacher), and went to a great ex-pat beer garden that we all went to a few weeks earlier. We had a fantastic time; in my opinion, the highlight was watching Mila change out of his shorts and into jeans under the table...and yes, of course I watched (hey, he's not my teacher anymore). It started to get cold and windy, so we moved to a different bar where we stayed until Shiela, Coco and I had to depart for the airport. We were pretty tired, but held it together to make our flights to London. That's right folks, we stayed out all night long. Sorry Mommy...I was forced to, I swear it! It's hard being the responsible one; they all overpower me and force me to do things I don't want to, like staying out all night. I just have a weakness for that mischeivous, impish band of Pucks (as in the pagan trickster/half tamed woodland sprite who lead people astray in the nighttime woodlands). They can be changed, I know it!

Our flight to London only lasted about an hour and a half, and I have to say I was glad when we landed. Sky Europe may have cheap tickets, but the seats are ridiculously close together. Our friend Iain picked us up from the airport and took us to Dartford in the county Kent, which is about 45 minutes outside of central London. He was kind enough to let us stay there Saturday night. He took us to Greenwich Village and to his favourite pub/restaurant/beer garden called the Gypsy Moth. Greenwich Village is a super cute college town full of bookstores and street markets. It was a perfect day out too, which made it even better. We sat in the beer garden and talked and laughed and soaked up the sun for hours. Later in the evening, we headed back to Dartford for a delicious Indian dinner. YUMMY! The next morning, I was up early (as usual), and decided to take a walk around Dartford. It's a quaint little town, and I was rather pleased to stumble across Central Park. It's a gorgeous park that spreads out for miles. It was completely a-bloom (is that even a word?) in flowers of every color, all laid out and landscaped perfectly. I was the only person there, so I decided to sit on a park bench and do some much-needed writing. It was so peaceful and perfect, and I got to see the most beautiful sunrise. It was like I got a private viewing of nature's finest moment. Amazing!

When I finally got back to the house (for I got lost), I found that Coco and Iain were awake and semi-ready to go. We decided to head off to London so us girls could check into the hotel. We got to London around noon, and stopped to eat at a great pub called The White Hart. I had the best fish and chips ever, and Iain and Coco both had burgers. By the time we were done, I was so sleepy. We walked to the hotel, said goodbye to Iain, and went upstairs to take a short nap. When we awoke, we decided to walk around to see what was near the hotel. We stayed in Euston Square, which is about 10 minutes or so by Tube to central London. We wandered around; it was really a gorgeous day out, so that made things even better. Later, when we started getting hungry again, we found a restaurant called Green Man. It was a fantastic place, and we both fell in love with it right away. It was packed full of people (most of whom ran the London Marathon that day), and we met some fantastic people. The bartenders, Alex and Roberto, were pretty fantastic too (not to mention cute), and they took good care of us. We have so much fun always, and are so lucky to meet cool people. When everyone was being kicked out at 11 p.m., Roberto said if we stayed and finished our drinks, he and Alex would sit and have one with us. So we stayed and got to hang out after hours. It was so much fun!

Monday, we ended up sleeping in a bit because we were pretty tired still from Friday night. We finally left the hotel and embarked upon a quest to find a bank who could give me a cash advance on my credit card. For whatever reason, my bank put a hold on my debit card, so I couldn't withdraw any cash. Both our credit cards only worked in certain places, which really sucked because we couldn't take the bus or Tube. We finally found a bank with helpful people in it, and we were promptly informed that I would be needing my passport as well as my drivers license in order to get a cash advance. We walked all way the back to the hotel, got my passport, and returned to the bank only to find it was closed. As a matter of fact, all the banks we found closed at 4:30. SUCK! We decided to find a place to roost, since we told Iain we'd meet him somewhere, so we chose the Greene King. We had dinner and a couple of Guinness. Our bartender was very attentive to us (and go figure, very attractive), and Iain remarked that we must be pretty special, because he's never seen a bartender pay so much attention to a particular table before. In England, the bartender never waits on tables. We had to go order food and drinks at the bar ourselves, and someone else would bring out the food. We felt special, but we called it a pretty early night. The next morning, we ate a fantastic continental breakfast, packed up and checked out. We decided to leave early, because we didn't know how long it would take to get us to the airport.

Before we left the hotel, I had asked the manager if he could tell us which Tube to take that would get us to the airport. We wanted the most direct route possible, because we get lost all the time and wanted it to be easy. He assured us that if we took the Tube to Waterloo Station (where they filmed part of the Bourne Ultimatum), we could catch the train directly and we'd be on our way in no time. Sounded fantastic, so that's just what we did. When we got to Waterloo, we decided we'd better ask someone just to make sure that we were on the right track (literally and figuratively). The lady was very kind in telling us that we were told wrong. "That's ugly," she said, meaning that the manager at the hotel lead us astray. She reassured us that our tickets were good to get us to the airport and sent us back one stop to London Bridge Station. When we got there, we realized that we were definitely in the right place, and right on time, for we only had to wait a few minutes for the train. We boarded safely (and made sure Coco's 90 pound suitcase was stowed properly), and we were finally off. Sweet relief! The country side was beautiful, and we made about three stops before the station agents boarded demanding tickets. We showed David ours.

"Where you going?" he asked.

"Luton Airport," we replied meekly.

"Not on these tickets."

Ah shit... "But the lady at the station told us these would get us there," I said trying my best to sound fairly pathetic. "Where can we get the correct tickets?"

"See that station?" he asked, while pointing at the one we just left.

"Yes."

"That's the last place you could have gotten tickets."

For a split second, I really thought he was going to throw us off the moving train. But he ended up being very nice and selling us the proper tickets.

"From now on, be sure to check your tickets. You don't want to get slapped with a twenty pound fine," said he.

"Oh we will." We gave him our best innocent faces, and he smiled and went about his business. I have to say that our sigh of relief would have blown a small chihuaua away. Could anything else possibly go wrong? I didn't dare ask myself that question. And, nothing did. We ended up at the airport a good two hours ahead of schedule, ate lunch, went through security and waited until our flight was called.

It was actually nice coming back to Prague. Even though it's not really our "home" per say, we have friends here that were happy to see us, and that meant a lot to me. Really the only depressing part was knowing that we had to go to the old apartment and finish moving our luggage out. I hate stairs! Alas, it was the last time we had to climb that particular five flights, which is actually a great feeling. We got all settled in to our layover apartment, which we share with a gentleman named Marco. He's from London, and has been teaching English for about six years now. He's been extraordinarily kind enough to let us stay in the extra room in his flat for a few days, until our apartment is ready. I'm excited to finally have not only a real bed, but my own bed as well. No more sharing!!! Yay!

Now we are all about settling in to our own comfortable place, and beginning to look for jobs. Joy of joys. It'll turn out all right though, so we're not terribly worried. Right now, though, I'm exhausted and in need of some sleep. I'm off to Neverland tonight, and can't wait to meet Peter Pan! Oh the adventure!

Okay, so that was really random, but to be honest, I'd love to meet Peter Pan and live forever in Neverland.

Don't judge me people...

LOVE YOU ALL!

I'll be writing more soon. The continuing saga of the pigeons is never ending. It's war I tell you...war!!!

Spring is upon us. Everywhere I look there are signs of new life: a million green buds covering the branches of the trees, timid flowers poking their sprouts through the ground to evenutally reveal a beautiful abundance of colour.

The sun has shone for a whole week. Glorious warmth! The rays lift my melancholy spirit; I feel rejuvinated and alive. Today even the stairs are my friends, and I find myself tripping blithely up them, feeling victorious when I reach the top (even though I'm despartely gasping for sweet life perserving breath). I love it!

We have class in an hour, and I don't really want to go. I want to wander through the gardens, brave the enormous bumblebees (seriously the size of ping pong balls), and daydream. Alas, it is not to be. Ah well...at least we have a pretty good time in class, laughing at each other's ridiculouness.

A few weeks ago, Courtney, Ashleigh (fellow classmate), Jiri (Ashleigh's boyfriend), and I went and saw President Obama speak at Prague Castle. We were among a crowd of 25,000 people. It was amazing. The speech started at 10 a.m., but we arrived there around 7:30. I was glad we were early, for it took an hour or so just to get through security. Once inside, we stood and waited and people watched. It was amazing to see the set up of security. The Secret Service were everywhere in their suits and sunglasses. I started to laugh because they looked "just like the movies." There were snipers on almost every rooftop. I think they were ninja snipers. They were all dressed in black and had masks on. They carefully observed the crowds with their gigantic binoculars. I like to think they were watching me (Arrogant? Exhibitionist? Perhaps a little. What can I say...my dreams keep me going). I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb; not only was I wearing light colours (pretty much everyone was wearing dark clothing), but I am lily-ass white. I think my face shone like a beacon in a stormy night.

The speech was amazing, and I was so proud to be an American that day. He is a very eloquent speaker, and he moved me to tears. I was glad I wasn't the only one. I think I detected a sparkle in Ashleigh's eyes too. Yea for Obamova (as the Czechs call him)!!

To be continued...

Sausage...

By Courtney

This won't be a long blog by any means. I just had to tell everyone something very amusing...

Our entire class has a great chemistry, we all like each other...we all have a similar sense of humor...and no one is easily offended (thank Buddha). The other day, I hit my hand on an unforgiving piece of sidewalk that jumped up at me, which left a very ugly bruise and bump on the palm of my left hand...

I went to show it to one of our class mates Andrew, palm facing him, fingers spread, and he screams.... "OH MY GOD...IT LOOKS LIKE A SAUSAGE!"....I said, "No Andrew, that's just my thumb."

hahahahahaha. Oh I love it. I bring it up everyday in class when he least expects it...

Like I said...Not easily offended...

Off to class now, bye!
Love, COCO

Quicky McQuickerson!

By Courtney

Hello all!

It's 11:20 am on this side of the world. It is a beautiful sunny day. I just walked down to the corner market to pick up a few things. I smiled at everyone I saw, and they all smiled back. I think I might be making some progress.

Today in class will be my second time teaching English to Czech speaking students. Probably only three or four. But who knows, yesterday Morgen taught, thought she'd only have three, and SIX showed up. She did a great job. No sign of nervousness on her face or in her mannerisms. I've decided to do a lesson modal verbs, only because that's what we (the trainees) went over yesterday. It's fresh in my mind, and hopefully I can explain it as well as our instructor Olga did to us.

It seems as if during the day we never stop moving here. Always on the move, down the stairs, up the stairs, to the metro, to class, down to Tesco to grab a quick sandwich for lunch in between lessons. Then...when we finally arrive home, at last we have a moment to sit. Last night the internet was not working due to a quick spring thunderstorm. We sat, read the newspaper, ate ice cream, and drank some champagne. I worked on my lesson plan and Morgen finished a book she's read many times before. There really never is a dull moment, though we might only be sitting and reading. It's something that I personally never really took the time for back in the States. I truly enjoy the quiet time.

Good news! One of our instructors, Alena, asked all of us in class what are plans were after graduation. I told her, "I'm staying!!". She said, "Great! There's a Montessori school here in need of a teacher, would you like me to recommend you?". How could I say no? From the moment I knew I would be an English teacher, I've dreamt of teaching the little ones. Their bright faces and yearning for information is what I keep envisioning in my first lessons. To really make a mark in some youngsters life. To give them approval, and hopefully set them off on a lifetime of learning. So, I'll get my resume started, apply for the position, and then of course go through the hiring process, which is usually two or three interviews. I'll of course apply for many more. As many as I can get my grubby little hands on.

Morgen and I have been getting along so well, and I'm so thankful that she is here with me, as I'm sure she as that I'm with her. Yesterday I woke up to a not so happy message and started my day off completely on the wrong foot. Leave it to Morgen to get me out of my slump. An extra red bull and a pink Gerber Daisy is what she gave me. I'm so easy to please, thanks

MO MO!

This blog is a bit all over the place, but I hadn't written in a while, and wanted to keep everyone updated. I was going to write a detailed blog about the food in this country, but I couldn't get past the first paragraph. Let's just say...it's goooooooooood as well as aesthetically pleasing each and every time. If we were back home eating the way we are now, we'd have gained weight in a snap. But oddly enough, we've both lost weight. I fit into an old pair of jeans, and Morgen noticed some bagginess in hers. It's great! As much as I hate the stairs, they do a body good.

Well everyone, I guess it's time to catch the metro. Off to class, wish me luck!

-COCO

Czech beer... Friend or foe?

Definitely friend, unless you drink too much and then your head hates you the next day. You can drink two and be hungover the next day. The beer here is really great, but sadly I'm still very loyal to Guinness; I can't help it. It's just so good! Last night, Courtney and I went out with a few of our classmates to J. J. Murphy's (the Irish pub we found on our first day here). We had dinner and a few beers, and met an ex-pat named Christina who's here on a work exchange program for the year. After we left Murphy's, we went to Lavka (literally means little lava), and danced and danced and danced. We met a bunch of English gents and hung out all night. It was fantastic. We got home around 6:30 this morning, and as usual I only slept for about four hours. I'm wide awake now and being domestic. I washed all the dishes, have been doing laundry, and am about to sweep the floors. Who knew I'd be such a neat freak? I like the place to be clean. It makes me feel better, which is really weird because my bedroom back home was always a total disaster. Of course it was an organized mess; I could tell you exactly where everything was.

Anyway, tomorrow the President is giving a speech and my classmates (save one from Texas) and I are all excited to go. The speech is at 10, but we're leaving the apartment around 7. Courtney doesn't know that yet, but I figured a 6 a.m. wake up call would be good for her! It's going to be amazing!

It's quite lovely outside today. It's supposed to be almost 70 degrees. I can't wait for the trees to bloom. It's still pretty dreary here, especially when the sun doesn't shine. I miss spring in Yakima (although I don't really miss the allergies). I haven't had too bad of a problem here even though everywhere you go there's a hundred people smoking. Even the mall let's you smoke in the restaurants, which are little open-air places located in the center of each floor. I pretty much always smell like smoke; I'm not overly fond of that, but what can you do?

I am so proud of myself...I haven't gone into the men's restroom for two days! Yeah!! It's a miracle! Funny thing is, every time I go into the men's room, they don't seem particularly surprised to see a woman while they're doing their business. Europeans = laid back.

That's pretty much all I have for now. I have to go shut the windows; there's an army of pigeons sitting across the street giving me the eye. Creepy...

The picture is of Christina (the ex-pat), Courtney, Eric, and Sheila (our classmates), and Iain (English gent) and I.

I HATE PIGEONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Morgen

Oh my dear god...there are freakin' pigeons everywhere in this city. It's disgusting. They are seriously the biggest, fattest birds I have ever seen in my entire life. They're so fat that can't fly too high, and if you don't pay attention, they will seriously fly right into your head. They're not afraid of people either, so if you're sitting on a bench they will come and peck at your shoes. They also wake me up at the crack of dawn, because they like to walk across the skylights and flutter their wings and coo and coo and coo and...well you get the picture. I told Courtney the bright side was if we were desperately starving, we could take comfort in knowing we could always eat like kings on meals of pigeon. She wasn't particularly thrilled about the thought (it grossed me out too).

Okay, enough about the birds. Class has been really interesting. It's weird to learn how your own language works. I feel like a first time student again. I didn't know half of the stuff we've learned this week. Our teachers are really great. Mila (a guy) is actually Czech, and he speaks English with a Czech/British accent. I have a hard time not copying the way he says things. Our other teacher, Keith, is a sarcastic smart ass, and he's really funny. We also get Czech lessons, which I'm pretty happy about. It's a difficult language, but it really helps to learn the basic phrases. We've found that people are a lot more receptive if you at least try to speak Czech. Even if they don't speak English, they're a little nicer.

I've already had a one-on-one tutoring session with my student Josef. Our first meeting went really well. He's very proficient in English; he just needs a little help with tenses and some grammar. We just sat and talked about politics, religion, the present state of the economy, different laws in our countries, travelling, sports, etc. I felt like I was on a first date (and to be completely honest, I really wish we were. He's very attractive...wink wink...and single!). I definitely don't mind that I have to meet with him every week!

Yesterday (Thursday), I taught my first class. My class was a little larger than Courtney's, with 5 students. My fellow classmates and Keith observed; surprisingly I wasn't nervous at all, which is something new for me. I created my lesson plan, kept things organized so I knew what I was doing, and away I went. I think it went pretty well. I wasn't actually nervous until it came time for feedback from my fellow teachers. Everyone said I did a good job, but gave my little things to work on like remembering not to speak so fast and to make sure I don't mumble. I was glad when it was over. After class, Ashleigh, Sheila, Courtney and I went to the pub and had a "Hooray! Our first lesson is over with!" beer. My fellow classmates are pretty cool people. Courtney and I hang out a lot with Ashleigh and her boyfriend, Jiri. The four of us have a lot fun.

Let's see, what else...oh yeah! Sunday, we're all going to see President Obama give his only public speech on his European tour. We're really excited about that. I think it's going to be fantastic to be a part of something like that. I've never had the opportunity to see a president speak before. EXCITING!!!!

I don't know what my problem is around here, but I have seriously walked into the men's bathroom five different times at five different places. The worst part is, I even pay attention to the signs on the door--men's bathroom, figure of a man. Women's bathroom, figure of a woman in a dress. Not hard, right? How the hell am I going to be able to teach English, when I can't even understand a universally recognizable sign. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Well, I think that's about all I have for now. I don't know what else to say, except perhaps
I HATE PIGEONS!!!

If you knew the words...

It's been quite a day here at COCO-MOMO Depot. Therefore this will be short & sweet. I felt a bit of guilt by not keeping up the blog, so here you go. Appreciate!

Morgen is writing her postcards. I am mostly thinking. Staring at my computer thinking. Listening to POE. Staring.

I am so completely drained right now! Class started on Monday, it was great, and has been every day since...only two days since but you get the picture... I feel as if I can relax juuuust a little bit for the first time this evening. Today I "taught" my first class. Not just one man in a conference room. But THREE people; in a classroom! Wow! Ha. It was more fulfilling than I had expected. I absolutely loved interacting with these three women; Jana (yana), Vera, and Blanka. And amazingly in the past year I have somehow overcome my fear of public speaking...the only part that I was nervous about was the fact that I had six other people staring at me, judging every move I made...MORGEN of course was one, the other five trainees and our instructor Keith.

The criticism wasn't bad at all. I got great input on what I did wrong, and what I did wonderfully. As I had presumed before I began, it was of course my nervous rapid fire speech and self-deprecating humor that took hold of the audience. It made the students laugh, and helped them be put at ease. After all, they are the ones learning a new language right? Right. One thing I was told to work on was "don't slip into an accent". Oops...he...hehe. Yes, apparently there were a few times when speaking to the students in ENGLISH, I spoke with a Czech accent. I don't know how, since I've never tried. But...oh well, whaddya do ya know? :)

So...no Czech accent, continue to insert foot in mouth, and I'll be just fine. Now...it's 11:20pm. I'm going to bed.

We have late class tomorrow which means soooomeone gets to sleep in. That's me...incase you were wondering.

I will leave it up to Morgen to give you a more detailed blog. Muaahahaha.

Hezky Den!

oh me oh my...oh metro...

By Courtney

I was dead set against this thing they call the metro. I'd like to stay above ground puuhlease. None of this accidentally falling on the tracks, or feeling like moles nosing our way to the surface. No No, not for me. Well...this is hard for me to say, but; I was wrong. Morgen and I decided to brave the under world since everyone and their mother tells us that it's "the easiest thing in the world". So down we go to the 50 foot long escalator. Down below. A warning for anyone who is a. afraid of heights or b. get dizzy easily: DON'T DO IT. I'm not one to get a queasy stomach, or be afraid of heights really, but this was different. With the bright neon lights above, uber steep escalators, people running up behind you and others going the opposite direction, this is not even an escapade for the thrill seekers. Alas, we made it down safe and sound. I had to stop a moment and pick my stomach up from below my shoes...then we were off. A, B, or C? Red, Yellow, or Green? We had no idea. The only thing we knew is we were trying to get to school to see how long it would take us. We picked the right one! The yellow line was right, and we sped away to the stop at Narodni Trida. It only took us about ten minutes (which of course means I can sleep in!). We spent a couple of hours going back and forth to different places, and found that this whole 'subway' thing, really did have something to it. It was great...and now...I will never ride a tram again (like a trolley, but stinkier).

We met last night with all of our classmates minus one who was too tired from flying in, and another who won't arrive until tomorrow. So far we have myself, Morgen, Andrew from Ohio, Jana (pronounced Yenna) from Slovakia, Ashleigh from Brooklyn, accompanied by her awesome boyfriend Jiri (yuree). Morgen and I definitely hit it off with Ashleigh and Jiri, awesome awesome people. She's a photo retoucher and he a graphic artist. He has strong roots here in Prague and speaks a lot of Czech. I know we'll get along because one of the first things they asked was "When is Obama coming???". :)

They invited us out to hear a friend of his DJ'ing at a club called Lavka. This place was sensational. Four floors; all completely different. The floor we walked in was more of a lounge type, where dinner was served. Down one was the 'hip hop'? section. Take a couple steps down and you're underwater. Well not literally, but the walls are painted as ship boats, there are naked mermaids, and seashells everywhere. We decided to sit under the sea, where we could easily talk to each other, and easily see the different people coming and going. Actually, the word different is putting it lightly. There was a group of German male tourists, all wearing the same white shirt. Italian tourists, South Americans, Czech locals, and of course the go-go dancers. We had a blast, and died laughing when the Ghostbusters theme song came on, and every single person on the dance floor knew the words.

For anyone who comes to visit here, I strongly suggest a watch. Most clubs or bars here are open until around four in the morning. The first instance I asked for the time, I was horrified that it was already 3:30 am. Needless to say, we left. Made our way home and slept our tired and weary legs.


We have our first day of class tomorrow starting at noon thankfully. We're safely moved into our apartment (another blog in itself), went to the local Tesco and stocked up on the necessities (salt, sandwich meat, red bull), and now can relax for a moment. I hear a German soap opera and salami sandwich calling my name.

Miss you all, have a great day!
-CoCo

You've got to S-M-I-L-E...to be H-A double P-Y

By Courtney

That's true right? You have to smile at some point during your day to keep your happiness intact. At least I believe it to be true. If I notice myself feeling down...I notice that I'm also not smiling. So far, I have found one problem with Prague and it's citizens. It is very rare that someone you do not know, will smile at you, or say hello on the street, or in their case, Dobry den (good day). After Morgen and I had made it safely up our apartment stairs with our luggage in tow, we decided to step into the pub that is right outside our apartment entrance. Our landlady Marketa had mentioned to us that some of her previous students frequent it, and they LOVE English speakers. Well, they weren't there. In fact there only about five people inside, including the bartender. It was smoky and dimly lit, a mish mash of decorations, and wooden tables and chairs.

As we walked in, I immediately spotted her (the bartender) and exclaimed Dobry Den as a greeting. Expecting a greeting back though was not right. She said nothing, her face didn't crack, and she stared at Morgen and I as if we had just told her the worst joke in the history of jokes. So, I requested two small beers (mare pivo proseem) and we took a seat at a table. After leaving there we decided to find our school which we did with no trouble. And after walking around for another half an hour or so, we decided to stop and eat. We found a restaurant that seemed alright (Morgen was thankful it was non-smoking) and walked right in, picked a table and sat. The waitress approached us...Dobry den we say.......crickets I tell you. Nothing. Soo....two pivo proseem I say. The food was delicious, the service wasn't bad. And we were quite entertained the entire time by an Italian family that refused to sit at a table, they wanted to stand...and chit chat, I could tell that what they were saying was funny, I just wished that I could understand it! Darn. :)

So, I told Morgen at some point during the day that I just don't get it. Why don't they smile at people they don't know...or say hello or good day to people in the street? But I am now making it my mission (and i'll make Morgen join me) to smile and say good day to as many people as I can.

Two people can change things ya know?

Sweet relief...

We managed to get all our luggage up five flights of stairs without incident. It was rather interesting riding the tram with our suitcases. We took two trips in order to lighten the load a bit. The tram is actually pretty fun and easy to navigate. I can't believe that I, of all people, think navigating on public transportation is kind of easy. It's rather exciting! After we took our second set of luggage to the apartment, we decided to try to find our way by tram to Old Town where our class is. Luckily for us, it was only about two blocks away from the stop. We were pretty glad about that, mostly because it limited the distance we had to walk today. We had an early dinner before heading back to the hotel. I think tonight will be an early one, since we have to get up early. Tomorrow, we're meeting the girls from the plane in Old Town to go to the Easter Markets. It should be pretty fun. Then around three, we're meeting the other students from our class for a beer and a meet and greet type thing. It's going to be a good day!

Anyway, this is a rather short blog because I'm tired and ready for bed. One of us will write more tomorrow. Dobre vecer or goodnight!

Morgen

Oh legs...how thy do hurt

By Morgen

Why is there no effn' elevators in this damn city? Stairs, stairs everywhere. Our legs are in a state of pure agony. We took the tram today, to find our new apartment. By tram it's not too far away from where we are now. It's in an older building, which means that there is no elevator. The apartment is on the top floor of a four-story building, and the stairs are winding and narrow. I have no idea how we're going to get our luggage up there. Courtney and I opted to take on two other boarders (fellow classmates), which decreases our rent. Their names are Andrew and Yenna. Andrew is from Ohio, and Yenna is from Slovakia. They met in New Zealand, and have been dating for two years. They're really nice, and Andrew is extraordinarily sarcastic; I don't think I can handle that...

Later, we decided to walk to the building our class will be in. It's about a fifteen minute walk over the Charles Bridge and into the Old Town, and of course we got lost. We were exhausted by the time we found it, and then were not happy to find that the class is located on the top floor of a five-story building. That meant about ten flights of narrow stairs. I was pretty much in tears by the time I reached the top, and my calves were screaming at me. I was glad to find though, that our class is very small; only seven people are enrolled (six Americans and one Slovak). I think it'll go pretty well. Class starts at 9:00 a.m. every morning and ends at 8:30 every night. Lots of work, but I think we're up for the challenge.

After we left the school, we decided to kill time by wandering around back the way we came. We stumbled upon the original Pilsner Urquell restaurant. We sat at the bar and had an appetizer and good old-fashioned Czech beer. It was delicious! Around eight, we headed towards the cool astronomical clock in this huge square and met up with the girls I met on the plane from Frankfurt. We took a ghost walk around Prague. Our tour guide, Camilla, was very animated and lots of fun. The only part I wasn't too thrilled about was around almost every corner, someone in a mask would jump out and scare the shit out of us. I wisened up pretty quickly--I walked up front with Camilla and saw him coming every time except the last one when he creeped up behind us. All in all it was pretty cheesy, but entertaining. We're meeting up with the girls on Saturday morning for the Easter markets, which is kind of like Folklife festival meets Farmer's Market. It should be pretty fun. Also, we get to meet our other classmates for a beer later in the afternoon. I'm not sure if I'll be able to walk at all by that point. Courtney may have to push me in a wheelchair.

I guess I shouldn't complain; all this walking is good for me, and I'll be in such good shape.

Sigh...

Sleep? What is that?

So until we figure out how to create dual administrators on this high tech blog, we'll have to let you all know exactly who it is blogging. THIS IS COCO!!!!!

Okay now that we have that settled, we can get down to business. Business being, Jet-Lag. Does anyone know how to get rid of it? Is there some kind of magic potion or elixir, a puckish fairy I have to catch? Anything...tell me.

Other than the staying up until 5 am and making Morgen wait for me to wake up until 12 noon, things are unfolding splendidly. At 2pm today we are meeting our landlord for the first time whose name is Marketa. She'll be showing us our flat, giving us the keys, and leaving us to our own devices. According to her it's about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We'll officially move in on Saturday, and make it our own for the next month. We'll each have our own room, which I'm sure MoMo is thankful for as apparently I'm a sleep talker and have some hellacious musical snores...

One of the things I've found most interesting so far is that the Czech cater to most nationalities...it really is amazing. On almost ever window sign, menu, bus info, things like that...there is a Czech, French, English, and Italian version. It's really...well great. Too bad we can't be that way in the US.

Last night we went to dinner at the pizzeria just outside of our hotel door. We got an appetizer, amazing. Overdone bread topped with sauteed mushrooms and prosciutto. Then, since we both figured...we can have pizza anytime in the US...we tried something a little different. Some tortellini and garlic pasta. Both delicious, but we couldn't quite finish. As we saw a server bring out to pizza pans overflowing with cheese and pepperoni, I couldn't help but tell Morgen, "I'm getting pizza next time!"

I still feel like I haven't left quite yet, I'm here but I'm not, I'm there but I'm not. I really do miss you all terribly, and hope SOME of you can make the trip to visit. Czech ya later hoooomes!

- COCO

Oh dear me...

Well, where to start? The flight over went very well (aside from the lack of sleep). We landed in Frankfurt about 40 minutes ahead of schedule. I was pretty glad because I was a bit stressed out about having to go through security and having enough time to make our connection. There was really no need to fear; the line going through security was short, and they had people there to tell you what to do. They were much nicer in Frankfurt than they were in Seattle, and we didn't have to remove our shoes! We had about an two hour layover, so we made perfect use of our time-- we drooled over the seemingly endless parade of hot men. I think that we were both content to stay in that airport for the rest of our lives!

Our trip from Germany to Prague was extraordinarily short; I don't think it took 30 minutes. On the airplane, I sat next to three American women who were on vacation. They asked for my email and phone number so we could all meet up this week. We decided to take a haunted pub tour, and I was thrilled to find an email this morning requesting our presence tomorrow evening. Our landing in Prague was less than wonderful. I was really afraid that we flew all that way to die in a crash landing. Alas, we survived. When we walked into the terminal, I was astounded to see the only people in the airport were from our flight; it was completely empty otherwise. We retrieved our luggage very quickly,and started for the security section. When we got there, they just kind of looked at us like, "What the hell do you want?" Apparently, there is no need to go through customs in Prague. So we walked outside to find our driver "Jerry" holding a sign with my name on it. He was very nice and helped us with our luggage, which I was thankful for, because Courtney not only had three bags, but they also weighed about 100 pounds each (kidding Coco!). As if our landing wasn't bad enough, the drive from the airport to the hotel was the scariest ride I've ever been on in my life. I thought cabbies in London were horrible drivers...I was wrong. Jerry drove like a bat out of hell, weaving through traffic, playing "chicken" on narrow streets with the on-coming traffic. I think my heart rate went through the roof.

The hotel is pretty cool. It's an old building, but it's decorated pretty nicely. The elevator can barely hold three people, let alone two women and five suitcases. Courtney had to go up first. Our room is pretty simple, but it's clean and comfortable. On the door key there's a card that we have to stick in a slot by the door. The card is how we turn on the power in the room. I've never seen anything like it before.

After we kind of settled in, we decided to wander around. We found the Embassy, but it was closed, so we decided to go to Murphy's Irish Pub just up the road. I instantly fell in love with the place. It's a true Irish pub, run by a true Irishman named Peter. I had the best Guinness (sorry Bob), and we met a British ex-patriot named Phil. He gave us the run down on Prague, where to go, what to see, etc. He even bought us a beer. It was great. When we finally left, it was snowing really hard and the wind was blowing. It even thundered. Weird combination of weather; I already miss spring in Yakima. Bedtime came early last night. I zonked out around six; Courtney lasted until around nine. I was up half the night listening to the drunks outside and the sounds around the hotel. If I knew how to work the thermostat, I would've turned it off because it was so damn hot in our room. I finally got up around seven and got ready for the day. Courtney slept in a bit, and then we were off to the Embassy. Someone suggested that we were going the wrong way, so we turned and really went the wrong way. We wandered around for about an hour and decided to get breakfast. Finding breakfast here is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. We finally decided just to eat lunch, and I was glad we did, for we found the greatest little restaurant not far from the hotel. We had a traditional Bohemian meal, which consisted of duck, beef, the best ham I've ever had, dumplings, and red cabbage. We had some great Czech wine too.

After lunch we walked back to the Embassy (which was down the road we started out on earlier, thank you very much) and registered our stay. We walked around for a while, went over Charles Bridge to the Old Town, and went to the Museum of Torture. That was rather interesting. By the time we were finished there, we headed back to the hotel for a nap, and ended up sleeping for about four hours. Now I'm sitting in the lobby typing this post, thinking about dinner, and missing everyone so very much. I hope to hear from people soon. Courtney and I both have Skype accounts, which allows us to video call computer to computer for free. If you already have Skype, my user name is morgen.pero, and Courtney's is courtney_crutcher. Peace out!