Amidst a flood of metaphorical roadblocks last week my fellow teacher turned to me and commented, “Wow I can’t believe how optimistic you are.” Maybe it’s the tendency for Czechs to be realistic to the point of pessimism, or the American belief in the light at the end of every tunnel, but I think that … Continue reading Maintaining Optimism
Since last posting I have kicked off my spring season of visitors and travels! However, before going into detail about all of that, I’ll first recap the subject of almost all of my lessons 2 weeks ago: St. Valentine’s Day. I have never been a fan of Valentine’s Day, but the amount of lessons I … Continue reading Heading West
This past weekend marked my official halfway point of this amazing Fulbright year. As my fellow ETAs and I kicked off our Mid-Year conference weekend reminiscing about great and terrible bands of the 90s and early 00s I figured this would be an appropriate title for this blog post (“All Downhill From Here” is the … Continue reading All Downhill From Here
This week, for the first time since September, I was asked to give a formal introduction of myself to a new group of people. I dug back in my brain to the presentation I made last summer in preparation for meeting my students at the beginning of the school year that showed pictures of the … Continue reading Czenglish
Even back in June when I was pondering about what this year would bring, I knew to watch out for January. I knew the Christmas season would be over, my visitors would have left, it would still be cold and gloomy, and I still would not have reached the half way mark. Surprisingly, after 22 … Continue reading The Longest Month
Ok so now that the holidays have settled down I will do a small recap of my winter break from school and the culmination of the Christmas holiday. The school “semester” ended with a marathon of American Christmas lessons to 12 classes of jaded students, anxious to just be done with school already. I wore … Continue reading A Central European Holiday
In honor of the New Year and before I recap my winter holiday, I would like to dedicate this post to a reflection of my year through the amazing travels I have had. The past year for me has been one of great learning experiences, primarily brought about by experiences through traveling. As much as … Continue reading 2013: My Year in Travels
The Czech Republic has become a Christmas wonderland! In just one week of the Advent period (the 4 Sundays before Christmas), I have now been to four Christmas markets and witnessed several important traditions leading up to the ultimate tradition of Czech Christmas. The week started with the beginning of the Advent period in Prague. … Continue reading ‘Tis the Season
*"It will be winter, it will be frost." A traditional Moravian folk song I have learned to play in my guitar lesson and now hum and sing in my head as I walk around in the cold. First of all, HAPPY THANKSGIVING AMERICA! As I sit here in my new local café hangout spot, I … Continue reading Bude Zima, Bude Mraz*
One of the first events I was invited to upon arriving in Znojmo and starting to teach was the Ples. I was told over and over that this could be considered the Czech high school prom. So with small warning and description of what to expect, I went into this weekend expecting something like an … Continue reading All “Proms” are Not Created Equal
Mariel Sporn Tavakoli 