Well, I haven't broken any more doors - although I seem to have acquired a klutziness factor - I keep knocking things over, which didn't make me to many friends in the market... and electronics are spluttering at me... but no permanent harm!
We still don't have enough keys to the apartment, but we can get in and out so that's good.
Tonight I am going to my first MEETinPRAGUE event. I tried to get a little dressed up for it this morning when I was getting ready for work. I think I look nice, I hope I look nice, and if the evening is a success I will have someone take a picture with me in it (I brought my camera)and will post it later, attached to this specific post.
I have been trying to figure out how to get to the meeting place, and while I think I'm pretty sure how to get there, after my experience the other day of buses and trams not being where they should I'm just a little hesitant going anyplace new.
So, if I get lost tonight here's a link to where you should send a search party Riegrovy Sady Beer Garden. The link is actually another blog, written by an American, I presume, who writes the food reviews for one the English language papers in town.
I think I'm meeting up with a few of the people I've met so far - but I'm not positive. Some of them are apparently very particular and not happy it's an outdoor event since it's been so cold lately - even though it's just about gorgeous out right now!
I'll get back with a review of the evening after it's over.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Did I somehow jinx myself???
It is 11:38 am as I sit down to write this.
In the past 36 hours we've had problems with the doors, the kid has caught a cold, and I lived through this morning. As the day is not yet half way over I wish I could just take a long nap and sleep through the rest of whatever it is fate has in store for me.
I got up at 6:15 today in order to make my 8:00 am appointment at the pre-school. I carefully plotted out my route last night, on-line, and confirmed it this morning before I left. I gave myself half an hour to make a 15 minutes two bus trip to the metro station we were to meet at.
I started off right.
The world did not cooperate.
I got on and off my bus at the appropriate stops. When I went to catch the second bus there was a problem. It wasn't there. The bus did not go to the bus stop I was at, the bus stop the transit site told me to get off at. So I tried to find other bus stops in the immediate area - there were quite a few. I got on the bus and then realized and then when it stopped and everyone had to get out I figured out I had got on the wrong bus. I couldn't see the next bus stop right away, but I found one and walked over to read the route - I had found bus the right bus but it was going the wrong direction.
There was quite a crowd waiting and I could not see the correct bus stop anywhere - I asked a woman for help, in czech, 'excuse me please, where ' and that's all I got out before she looked at me and sort of spit out ' I don't know, I don't know' and turned away. Everyone else turned away too. So far from helpful, but her refusal to even let me finish my question really made me mad and rubbed in how helpless I was feeling at that moment.
I walked around trying to find the right bus stop and I found one - and then I got on the wrong bus - on purpose this time. Instead of going to the metro station I wanted it was going to a different metro - I got off on that metro as it was only one stop away from the station I needed to be, and it was the fastest way for me to get where I needed to be.
AND THEN - I got on the metro going the wrong direction. So I got off that metro at the next stop and got back on the correct direction and got off and met my boss and another new teacher in the middle of the metro station.
I spent a few hours at school, observing and playing with the kids, and then I left - with a mission.
When the man replaced the lock yesterday he only gave me one key - obviously we need another as the kid needs to be able to come and go at will. I took the red line metro, transferred to another line, the green line which is our home line, and went past out stop to the next in order to get to the one place I know of where they make keys. I got off the metro and walked to Tesco through the mud - yes, it's still raining today - and went upstairs to get some copies made.
Apparently when I went to buy the kid cold medicine last night, I took my dictionary and phrase book out of my purse - which I realized when I went to request new keys. We managed to get through that and he understood how many copies I wanted. He took the key and started grinding a new one.
And then he stopped after just one key (I wanted extras). It seems that he doesn't have the right size keys for my housekey and so wasn't able to make a copy after all.
I don't know of any other key makes, can't find my book, and am tired after having had a stressful morning - and hoping I wasn't about to get fired for being so late to the metro. The kid texted me, which I didn't get until a moment ago - she can't find her housekeys. While she doesn't have a key to get in the apartment she does have a key to get in the building... but not right now as they're lost.
I'm tired and now I have to get ready to go to work. And I have to find a new key guy too.
In the past 36 hours we've had problems with the doors, the kid has caught a cold, and I lived through this morning. As the day is not yet half way over I wish I could just take a long nap and sleep through the rest of whatever it is fate has in store for me.
I got up at 6:15 today in order to make my 8:00 am appointment at the pre-school. I carefully plotted out my route last night, on-line, and confirmed it this morning before I left. I gave myself half an hour to make a 15 minutes two bus trip to the metro station we were to meet at.
I started off right.
The world did not cooperate.
I got on and off my bus at the appropriate stops. When I went to catch the second bus there was a problem. It wasn't there. The bus did not go to the bus stop I was at, the bus stop the transit site told me to get off at. So I tried to find other bus stops in the immediate area - there were quite a few. I got on the bus and then realized and then when it stopped and everyone had to get out I figured out I had got on the wrong bus. I couldn't see the next bus stop right away, but I found one and walked over to read the route - I had found bus the right bus but it was going the wrong direction.
There was quite a crowd waiting and I could not see the correct bus stop anywhere - I asked a woman for help, in czech, 'excuse me please, where ' and that's all I got out before she looked at me and sort of spit out ' I don't know, I don't know' and turned away. Everyone else turned away too. So far from helpful, but her refusal to even let me finish my question really made me mad and rubbed in how helpless I was feeling at that moment.
I walked around trying to find the right bus stop and I found one - and then I got on the wrong bus - on purpose this time. Instead of going to the metro station I wanted it was going to a different metro - I got off on that metro as it was only one stop away from the station I needed to be, and it was the fastest way for me to get where I needed to be.
AND THEN - I got on the metro going the wrong direction. So I got off that metro at the next stop and got back on the correct direction and got off and met my boss and another new teacher in the middle of the metro station.
I spent a few hours at school, observing and playing with the kids, and then I left - with a mission.
When the man replaced the lock yesterday he only gave me one key - obviously we need another as the kid needs to be able to come and go at will. I took the red line metro, transferred to another line, the green line which is our home line, and went past out stop to the next in order to get to the one place I know of where they make keys. I got off the metro and walked to Tesco through the mud - yes, it's still raining today - and went upstairs to get some copies made.
Apparently when I went to buy the kid cold medicine last night, I took my dictionary and phrase book out of my purse - which I realized when I went to request new keys. We managed to get through that and he understood how many copies I wanted. He took the key and started grinding a new one.
And then he stopped after just one key (I wanted extras). It seems that he doesn't have the right size keys for my housekey and so wasn't able to make a copy after all.
I don't know of any other key makes, can't find my book, and am tired after having had a stressful morning - and hoping I wasn't about to get fired for being so late to the metro. The kid texted me, which I didn't get until a moment ago - she can't find her housekeys. While she doesn't have a key to get in the apartment she does have a key to get in the building... but not right now as they're lost.
I'm tired and now I have to get ready to go to work. And I have to find a new key guy too.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The problem with doors... or why I missed half of class today
I was originally thinking about this last night, but was too busy with homework to post. Maybe if I had that would've been the end of it, or maybe I would have had to write an addendum today.
It started yesterday at school:
I forgot how to open the door. I know that sounds silly, and thinking about it right now, it really is, but that's the truth of it. I have those monstrously large doors at the courtyard to both buildings of my school and I just couldn't get them open.
When I went to work there was a guy who was going to the lab. He stepped over and buzzed and I pushed at the door. Nothing happened. He buzzed again and I pushed, still nothing going on. And again, but this time I tried moving the handle. The fourth time he buzzed, pulled and pushed and we got in.
After work I went next door to turn in the keys. Three times I buzzed and three times I was unable to open the door. Noone else was around to help me, and then I remembered I still had the keys to the building in my bag as I had closed up the school the night before. I finally was able to get in by using the key.
Frustrating. Comical, yes, but definitely frustrating.
When I got home last night the key turned in the lock a few too many times. I just attributed it to my bad door luck and thought nothing more of it till, oh, let's say about 45 minutes ago. I should have been a few hours, though.
It should have hit me about 8 am. When the kid left for school this morning she couldn't get the key to work correctly - she couldn't get it out or get the door unlocked - I don't remember exactly, but it was something. I pulled her key out and used my key to unlock the door - and it worked just fine. She left and was on her merry way.
When she got to school she called me as the door was locked and no one was responding to the buzzer. She didn't quite know what to do (I forgot to mention she was running late at that point, school had already started). During our conversation someone saw her outside and buzzed her in. Great.
Then me - I have class... and so like a good student I was leaving for class in a timely manner when it happened. The lock broke.
I stuck my key in and opened the door and when I went to pull it out it wouldn't let me. I pulled and pulled and finally turned and turned and then it slid out - with the lock fully extended. I tried to use my key to retract the lock so I could close the door, but no dice. That lock wasn't going to move - it wouldn't budge no matter what I did - and I tried both sides of the doors, jiggling it, looked at was I shoving the key in too far, not far enough, too hard, too gently.... I was stuck in my house with a door that wouldn't close.
So I emailed my landlord in the hopes that he'd check his email, see my plight, and come to our rescue, much like he did when we blew the main fuse outside the apartment. And I sat down to wait. I can't leave with my front door wide open. I can't close the door. I wasn't seeing many other options.
And then I heard it - something in the hall. So I ran out to check and there was a man... whose english skills are equivalent to my czech, but with a bit of mime and the obvious visual aids he was able to understand my problem. I thought - I'm saved, I've just somehow triggered some freaky door lock thingy and this guy is czech so he knows how to undo it. I was wrong. I didn't trigger anything. The lock was broken.
And with a sudden change in luck, it turns out the guy I'd cornered was the handyman and he ran downstairs and got the part I needed and switched it out in under 5 minutes.
And I have missed a good portion of class already, so I'm headed over to join in with the break and explain to my instructor what the heck happened. I still don't know what I did, and I really hoping I can remember how to open the doors once I get to school... I'm sort of counting on my luck to change.... something, anything, just get me back in the gods good graces... or I'm going to be stuck inside and outside of a lot of buildings for some time to come.
*************************
Evening update: When I got to school the door was open, but I got jumbled up trying to leave school and buzzing myself out. When I got home I freaked out - the key was not on my ring - but it had jumped to another key ring - I didn't remember moving it, but it was the key that opened the door so I forgot about the freaky moving key... until...
I got a phone call from the kid. I'd run out to the grocery store and she had arrived home and the door would not open! She tried and tried but her key would not open the door! Fortunately I was on my way home, around the corner, so she waited for me and when we arrived back upstairs I opened the door with my key... the freaky key that had changed key rings. Upon closer inspection it is a new key - the lock was changed, not just a piece of the lock, and so tomorrow I have to go make copies so we can both freely access our house.
It started yesterday at school:
I forgot how to open the door. I know that sounds silly, and thinking about it right now, it really is, but that's the truth of it. I have those monstrously large doors at the courtyard to both buildings of my school and I just couldn't get them open.
When I went to work there was a guy who was going to the lab. He stepped over and buzzed and I pushed at the door. Nothing happened. He buzzed again and I pushed, still nothing going on. And again, but this time I tried moving the handle. The fourth time he buzzed, pulled and pushed and we got in.
After work I went next door to turn in the keys. Three times I buzzed and three times I was unable to open the door. Noone else was around to help me, and then I remembered I still had the keys to the building in my bag as I had closed up the school the night before. I finally was able to get in by using the key.
Frustrating. Comical, yes, but definitely frustrating.
When I got home last night the key turned in the lock a few too many times. I just attributed it to my bad door luck and thought nothing more of it till, oh, let's say about 45 minutes ago. I should have been a few hours, though.
It should have hit me about 8 am. When the kid left for school this morning she couldn't get the key to work correctly - she couldn't get it out or get the door unlocked - I don't remember exactly, but it was something. I pulled her key out and used my key to unlock the door - and it worked just fine. She left and was on her merry way.
When she got to school she called me as the door was locked and no one was responding to the buzzer. She didn't quite know what to do (I forgot to mention she was running late at that point, school had already started). During our conversation someone saw her outside and buzzed her in. Great.
Then me - I have class... and so like a good student I was leaving for class in a timely manner when it happened. The lock broke.
I stuck my key in and opened the door and when I went to pull it out it wouldn't let me. I pulled and pulled and finally turned and turned and then it slid out - with the lock fully extended. I tried to use my key to retract the lock so I could close the door, but no dice. That lock wasn't going to move - it wouldn't budge no matter what I did - and I tried both sides of the doors, jiggling it, looked at was I shoving the key in too far, not far enough, too hard, too gently.... I was stuck in my house with a door that wouldn't close.
So I emailed my landlord in the hopes that he'd check his email, see my plight, and come to our rescue, much like he did when we blew the main fuse outside the apartment. And I sat down to wait. I can't leave with my front door wide open. I can't close the door. I wasn't seeing many other options.
And then I heard it - something in the hall. So I ran out to check and there was a man... whose english skills are equivalent to my czech, but with a bit of mime and the obvious visual aids he was able to understand my problem. I thought - I'm saved, I've just somehow triggered some freaky door lock thingy and this guy is czech so he knows how to undo it. I was wrong. I didn't trigger anything. The lock was broken.
And with a sudden change in luck, it turns out the guy I'd cornered was the handyman and he ran downstairs and got the part I needed and switched it out in under 5 minutes.
And I have missed a good portion of class already, so I'm headed over to join in with the break and explain to my instructor what the heck happened. I still don't know what I did, and I really hoping I can remember how to open the doors once I get to school... I'm sort of counting on my luck to change.... something, anything, just get me back in the gods good graces... or I'm going to be stuck inside and outside of a lot of buildings for some time to come.
*************************
Evening update: When I got to school the door was open, but I got jumbled up trying to leave school and buzzing myself out. When I got home I freaked out - the key was not on my ring - but it had jumped to another key ring - I didn't remember moving it, but it was the key that opened the door so I forgot about the freaky moving key... until...
I got a phone call from the kid. I'd run out to the grocery store and she had arrived home and the door would not open! She tried and tried but her key would not open the door! Fortunately I was on my way home, around the corner, so she waited for me and when we arrived back upstairs I opened the door with my key... the freaky key that had changed key rings. Upon closer inspection it is a new key - the lock was changed, not just a piece of the lock, and so tomorrow I have to go make copies so we can both freely access our house.
Monday, September 22, 2008
September photos from a drizzy day of shopping
These pictures were from our shopping trip on Sunday - in between the rainy periods. The paintings are more than what they may seem - the are mini-car tops... the little minis that you'll see on the road, these are tops that were painted for people and then removed and put on exhibit on the streets of Prague. The other photos are of a marionette and a man - super cute routine timed to some classical music and a comedy bit - in the photos here the marionette is playing the violin and it was perfectly synced, stroke for stroke, with the music.
Pics of the my walk home and the Lennon Wall... yes it's the Lennon Wall and not the Lenin Wall!
These are some pictures we took shortly after arriving that just haven't made it on to our blog yet. The colorful ones are of the Lennon Wall (named for John Lennon) it's been around for decades now, as a symbol of hope, peace, and freedom. It is around the corner from my school - actually if I walk out the side entrance from the computer lab it's on that wall. Facing it are various embassies. The government used to show up regularly to paint the wall over - every few days or so - and finally one of the ambassadors asked them to stop - they let them know they didn't mind the graffiti or the crowds.... and it's remained since then. Popular spot, the art work is constantly evolving.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The kid's first pair of skinny jeans....
She was reluctant to get them as they're rather trendy and now they're her favorite pair...
She's awfully cute!
Please note the mismatched socks and Wonder Woman t-shirt
She's awfully cute!
Please note the mismatched socks and Wonder Woman t-shirt
political ponderings...
For the most part I'm trying to leave my political views off of here - this is supposed to be about our life here, in Prague... but I found a cross-over and so here's the (first) political crossover...
I have some strong views on our government and where we're at, where we're headed - the upcoming election... and in pursuing my interests I've discovered some devastatingly detailed articles I've forward to friends back home - sort of like - here's a summary of the news that came out while you were sleeping that I found most worthy... and I'm getting emails back saying - there's been nothing of this in our news... the US agencies haven't touched this... nice to know the international media isn't holding off on reporting what's important and untouched by the domestic channels - basically stuff about Palin and her horrendous and duplicitous style of governing. And other stuff too.
So - what's been super interesting to me, here, is how much non-americans care about our elections - the coverage and attention being paid to our issues was at first surprising to me, but now I think I have a better grasp as to why.
Fear.
There is a lot of fear over here and that we're headed in to another world war - that with the wrong government, that with our current administration even, steps will be taken that will further alienate and isolate Russia and tensions will increase - with the radar installation being developed along with the conflict in Georgia and the aid we're extending - that those steps in conjunction will be taken as potential acts of aggression on our behalf and with the precedent of pre-emptive attack that we've established the world balance of peace will be thrown seriously off kilter and that the situation here, or near here, or beyond even, will be quickly shift back in to one of fear and weapons accumulation and a cold standoff if not out right acts of aggression,
The American President will have a major role in how this plays out.
They don't want another gung-ho might is right and god is on my side fanatical leader - or vice-president - but someone who will be slower to jump to the guns and more diplomatic in thought and word (Did you see McCain lump in Spain with the Latin American countries who are being aggressive towards the US??? And when he was corrected not backtrack before rather affirm they'd better watch their step with us.... they're our allies!!)... They don't want a fanatical hockey-mom heading who thinks humans have been in existence for only 3,000 years, since god blew breathe in to their lungs and physically placed them on the planet. They don't understand someone who would place restrictions on women's rights as we're supposed to be the land of the free - and free here post-communism is a word with a different meaning than we've created for the American 'free' - they're a bit more liberal in some stances.
It's been interesting to me when non-Americans bring up our political situation - and most of the American students I've met are more liberal - which is to be expected, having chosen to live in Eastern Europe for the cultural experience and personal expansion.... while the older adults I've met are very conservative - and I do believe I am the only American OBAMA supporting parent in the kid's school - which also isn't shocking as they're very conservative Christians who also believe Evolution to be a political/scientific fallacy disproven by the Bible which is accepted (by most CISP American parents, who are here on some sort of missionary journey) to be the literal word of God.
Living overseas during an election is turning out to be a rather interesting experience... and in case things go Republican I'm already removed from a nation I will not know how to respond to.
I have some strong views on our government and where we're at, where we're headed - the upcoming election... and in pursuing my interests I've discovered some devastatingly detailed articles I've forward to friends back home - sort of like - here's a summary of the news that came out while you were sleeping that I found most worthy... and I'm getting emails back saying - there's been nothing of this in our news... the US agencies haven't touched this... nice to know the international media isn't holding off on reporting what's important and untouched by the domestic channels - basically stuff about Palin and her horrendous and duplicitous style of governing. And other stuff too.
So - what's been super interesting to me, here, is how much non-americans care about our elections - the coverage and attention being paid to our issues was at first surprising to me, but now I think I have a better grasp as to why.
Fear.
There is a lot of fear over here and that we're headed in to another world war - that with the wrong government, that with our current administration even, steps will be taken that will further alienate and isolate Russia and tensions will increase - with the radar installation being developed along with the conflict in Georgia and the aid we're extending - that those steps in conjunction will be taken as potential acts of aggression on our behalf and with the precedent of pre-emptive attack that we've established the world balance of peace will be thrown seriously off kilter and that the situation here, or near here, or beyond even, will be quickly shift back in to one of fear and weapons accumulation and a cold standoff if not out right acts of aggression,
The American President will have a major role in how this plays out.
They don't want another gung-ho might is right and god is on my side fanatical leader - or vice-president - but someone who will be slower to jump to the guns and more diplomatic in thought and word (Did you see McCain lump in Spain with the Latin American countries who are being aggressive towards the US??? And when he was corrected not backtrack before rather affirm they'd better watch their step with us.... they're our allies!!)... They don't want a fanatical hockey-mom heading who thinks humans have been in existence for only 3,000 years, since god blew breathe in to their lungs and physically placed them on the planet. They don't understand someone who would place restrictions on women's rights as we're supposed to be the land of the free - and free here post-communism is a word with a different meaning than we've created for the American 'free' - they're a bit more liberal in some stances.
It's been interesting to me when non-Americans bring up our political situation - and most of the American students I've met are more liberal - which is to be expected, having chosen to live in Eastern Europe for the cultural experience and personal expansion.... while the older adults I've met are very conservative - and I do believe I am the only American OBAMA supporting parent in the kid's school - which also isn't shocking as they're very conservative Christians who also believe Evolution to be a political/scientific fallacy disproven by the Bible which is accepted (by most CISP American parents, who are here on some sort of missionary journey) to be the literal word of God.
Living overseas during an election is turning out to be a rather interesting experience... and in case things go Republican I'm already removed from a nation I will not know how to respond to.
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