Game Night/ Večer her

On Friday we had a game night in Czech and English. Our goal was to provide another place for good relationships to form and I was very pleased with the behavior of the kids and the kindness from the teenagers. I didn't anticipate this, but it turned out to be the perfect way to invite the younger students for an extra event in the church. In fact, we had such a good time, that we might just have another one next month. Check out my photos (password: policka) for a glimpse at the evening.

When is Valentine's Day again?

It was so weird to be here during Valentine's day, and even more strange to try to teach about it. Different from when I taught about Halloween, I now feel this extreme conflict between sharing American culture and feeling like I'm forcing American holidays that were created by consumerism. I guess it's because of my experience in December, when so many people were adamant about keeping Santa Clause out of the Czech Republic.

I have always loved Valentine's Day, especially because I've never had a boyfriend on Valentine's day, so it's always been about sharing as much kindness as I can with as many people that I meet during the day, instead of sharing love with just one person. On Valentine's day you can show love to people that would normally give you a strange look if you were extra nice to them. However, I wasn't quite sure about how to use this in the classroom. As you know, anytime you use the word love in a class room with kids over the age of 7, they giggle and make jokes. So, instead of talking about "love" and Saint Valentine, we talked about giving compliments and giving help to others. With the older kids we passed around a page with our name and wrote nice things about each other. With the younger kids we read Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" in Czech and English. AND STILL, some kids laughed at the idea of happiness coming from giving to others or saying nice things to each other.

Then one of the parents told me later, that her son really enjoyed the book, but he was afraid to show it because of the other kids. It made me think about how we, those who celebrate VDAY, are used to letting down our guard on Valentine's day. On this day we are used to being nice to people we don't like. I know kids everywhere are the same with hiding their feelings, but it seems to me, that giving valentines has always been a good opportunity to share the "Agape" type of love, without feeling it might be confused with the "Eros" type of love. Here in CZ, they don't show their emotions very much, let alone show the type of love that acts in the best interest of the other person, when many things in their society are about getting what they can for themselves. So, we'll keep talking about giving and being nice to others. Why should there be only one day out of the year to be show love to everyone? Really, everyday should be Valentine's day. So whenever you read this post, pretend like it's Valentine's day all over again, and see if it makes you act differently towards your neighbor. Post your comments, if you want.

Refreshed, Renewed, and Ready

Well, I'm sorry the last month has come and gone without many posts. Our spring break came early this year, and I have been enjoying the mountains of CZ. I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy the little bit of snow that we've had in the past few weeks, but the snow has almost disappeared now. So now I'm back, with a fresh mind and new ideas.

My first endeavor will be to start a participation competition with my students. Last term they had a passport and got stamps for coming to class. This term I want to try giving them points for coming to class and special events, and I have some special questions posted on our website that they can answer for more points. If you want to look at the website here is the address:
http://anglictinapolicka.blogspot.com/
The site is half in English and half in Czech. I also would like to encourage you to comment on the questions if you like. I would ask that you only answer the first question, but after that you can write a note to the students to say hello. The logic questions will get harder, so if you don't know the answer, feel free to make some sort of joke. My goal is to encourage them to look at the website and communicate with each other as well as with our friends over seas.

I also want to point out a new addition to this site. You can now register for my email newsletter in the column to the right. I've been sending a newsletter once a month through the mail and email. The newsletter has more detailed descriptions of my experiences and projects. So, if you aren't on my mailing list and you would like to be, you can use the form on the right or email me your address.

There's a lot in store for this week. We're starting the new term of classes, we have a movie night on Wednesday, and then we will have a Game Night on Friday. I'm so excited to get back into the class room!

The Wind and Snow

Wow! The winds came through and our period of warm weather is gone. We have tons of snow just in time for our winter break. So, I'm just posting a note before I'm off to the mountains like everyone else in CZ.

To answer you questions, no one that I know was injured or suffered from the major winds we had last week. Some of the kids didn't have school on Friday, because we didn't have power for 10 hours or so and we weren't sure when we would get it back. I was really surprised with how quickly everything was cleaned. There were branches everywhere, but the roads were cleared pretty early in the morning. At times I had flashbacks from when my family lived in Charlotte, NC, and we felt the effects of Hurricane Hugo. This wasn't nearly as bad, but the wind was amazingly strong.

I, too, feel like a wind has swept over me, as I just finished our first term of English classes. There were ups and downs, but I feel like we ended on a good note looking towards the future. This month in the classes we have been working on numbers and colors with my younger students, team work with another group. With the older groups ,we've been playing games such as "Would you rather" and logic problems. When we start the next term, we will end the first week with a game night in the church with families from the classes and from the congregation. I'm really looking forward to the start of another term, that is after I have a good break with a good bit of rest. When it comes to my classes(and also to my whole life here) I still feel like I'm learning a lot more than I'm teaching, but I guess sometimes, that's just life.

Christmas has just begun

Well, this weekend was filled with many heartfilled moments. I missed my family in USA, but my friends in CZ tried their best to make me feel at home here. At moments everything was so new and different that it felt like a different holiday. New songs, different decorations, and the familiar stories read in a different language were all a part of this foreign culture. And yet, by Christmas Eve, it was all a part of me, too. Now the tunes of Czech Carols trigger Christmas memories for me, as much as the tunes of "White Christmas" and "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas". I've posted a few of our Christmas Eve photos on My Photos if you would like a little piece of what I experienced.

We had a little snow on Christmas morning, but the ground is still pretty bare. In many places the trees are covered in ice from fog freezing on the branches. Because of the rolling countryside some patches have frozen trees and snow, while other patches have green grass and green trees. So, since no one can ski, they're all spending time together and with friends. I'm visiting with people that are usually busy, and I'm glad to get to know them better. It feels as if Christmas has just begun, as I begin to feel at home here.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, just not the American kind. This morning we were greeted by one of the Scouts coming from Jerusalem with the light of Christ. They come door to door sharing candles caring the light of Christ from Bethlehem. Then Majda and I watched Anna prepare the Czech Christmas Bread Vanočka. We can't eat it until tomorrow, and I can tell you, it smells fantastic! So fantastic that I don't smell the dead fish. Yes, Pepa's live ended this afternoon when Jan killed and filleted him. Did you know the mouth on a fish still moves for several minutes after it's disconnected from the body? It's so strange! It's as if the head were still alive! I also posted some pictures from the Christmas play last weekend on the photo site. Here's a picture of our t-shirts that we got a Christmas present from the Sunday School teachers. That's the name of the play around the little girl. Isn't she adorable, or something.

Meet Pepa; our Christmas dinner

Today we went to buy the Christmas Carp. Every Czech family buys a carp, sticks it in the tub for the kids to watch and play with, and then fries it up and serves it with potato salad on Christmas Eve. Mmm...I can't wait for the fried fish!

Christmas will be very different this year. We still don't have a Christmas tree, would you believe it? In CZ they don't decorate it until Christmas Eve. So Anna will get a tree from her father tomorrow(he always gives them a tree from his forest), and after church on Sunday morning, we will decorate the tree.

Maybe the best new thing, besides the fish, is the multitude of cookies and sweets. Every respectable woman, working or not, bakes at least 10 different kinds of cookies for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Mmm...Gingerbread cookies, shortbread cookies, cookies filled with jam, chocolate sweets, and so many cookies I've never seen before in my life. I miss brownies and chocolate chips, but I love rohlík cukrový, a sugary crescent-shaped shortbread-like cookie. I had plenty on Thursday night, because we had a party for my Adult Conversation Class. We had a special game of Dirty Santa. You'll never guess what I stole! An Ostrich Egg!! We will eat it tomorrow! More pictures and updates to come!