Dude brought a sword!

Here's a rather unusual glimpse in to some very rare street violence. It happened in Vinohrady, on Vinohradska... that's our part of town.



In case you didn't pick up on it - the taxi drivers here are meat-head idiots... and people are really in to LARP.

Tuesday Sept 5

Apparently I've caught whatever the kid's got. Big ole bummer. She gets to stay home for days and I've had to go to work. This is a busy week for me... the start of the new term for all of our new students, papers due, writing to review, and today was my first day teaching at a university. I'm sure you're shocked, after having followed my writing, that I could be teaching university, but wonder of wonders, I am. And as nervous as I was, as underprepared as I felt having devoted my weekend to mommy stuff rather than class-prep, and as sick as I am - well things weren't too bad. One student, on the way out the door, even said he loves stuff like I just gave him - challenging thought provoking questions that require genuine work and reflection. Right on - or maybe write on... it's a writing assignment after all. :)

Tuesday

(apparently I forgot about tuesday - all day i thought it was wednesday. at the end of the day i found out i was wrong. even with the day wrong i managed to take care of all my tuesday obligations. woo hoo me!)

not strep - Motol Hospital rocked!

The Kid's most likely just got a virus of some sort and will be home till at least Wednesday.

The trip to the hospital was easy - since she's a child they didn't require anything from her... no ID, no address, nothing. I think it cost a bit more than my check-up did but that's probably due to her having to be seen in pediatrics. They were fast and efficient in the foreigner's department, and then we got lost in the pediatric wing. We asked a nurse for the area and she didn't speak English but really went out of her way to be helpful - she pantomimed, asking us if we wanted the sleeping children (she put her hands together and layed her head down on them as if they were a pillow and closed her eyes) or if we wanted the doktora. I answered the doktora and she walked us up the stairs to the correct department and waved us goodbye.

Even the doctor was quite sweet and helpful. I understood pastilky and we all said you suck on it like candy, yet she wanted to be perfect and so got online to translate - the translation is lozenge, by the way. The Kid was satisfied with the care and thought the doctor was really nice and quite earnest in her desire to be as helpful as possible.

All in all, for being quite miserable and sick, it was a good experience and I'm grateful she had one when she's feeling so awful.

hospital without ID?

We still don't have our passports. It's Saturday. The Kid appears to have strep throat so I've spent my morning calling hospitals. Technically she's still a child so she can only be seen in a children's department. Most of them are closed. I think I've found one - we're on our way... waiting for the taxi. Hope they'll let her in without her national ID. Please send her a get well email. Thanks.

Our passports are being held ransom

Seriously.

I hired what I was told a reputable company to process the Kid's visa... apparently the person who referred me was wrong. I provided all the information, signed the forms and handed over our passports for the Embassy's review. It was submitted - but more than 2 months after I engaged them to do the job... unnecessary delays which are going to result in Schengen issues, again.

The day the application was submitted I got an email stating that we needed to pay 200%+ what I'd been quoted and that once we pay we'll get our passports back.. and if I wanted an accounting of the charges there would be an further increase - the "discounted" rate would disappear plus they'd charge VAT, which apparently they hadn't done yet. Obviously the visa hasn't been issued yet, that's the final product of their work and it hasn't happened but payment in full is still required - and then some!

I don't have it. I won't for a while. Even then I don't really have it. I have more than enough to cover what I'd been told was the original price, but not enough for this. The money is a major issue, but still a minor issue in the big picture - I am so sick and tired of this kind of crap. I forget and trust people upon their word - they didn't create a contract so I didn't sign one, which means I don't have the original price in writing. I'm tired of non-Czechs being targeted like this. I hate feeling stupid. And I hate being broke.

the last one

Tonight I attended the last back to school night of my parental career. My kid is a senior and will graduate in the spring, so there aren't any more out there on the horizon for me. With that perspective, it's so bittersweet.