First encounter with the white stuff

By the title of this blog you are probably wondering what does it mean....Yes, on October 19,2007 cheb had the first encounter of snow for this winter season. It was so hard to believe to see the white flakes coming down from the sky. I have been thinking that just maybe I would have a white birthday instead of the normal rainy weather. The weather has been crazy here in the czech republic. Well, it will be interesting to see what happens......more to come.

The toothless man has returned

To give you a little history about my experience in Skalka a few years ago...When I lived in Skalka(it is in Cheb but that is the name where my flat was) about 2 years ago I almost got my first kiss by a toothless man. While I was living in Skalka I had an encounter with "the man" one day. I was walking to the supermarket and he approached me speaking a lot of czech to me. When he knew I didn't speak czech he would use his hands like sign language to communicate what he was asking for. Then he motioned to me to kiss him. When I tried to walk away from him, he tried to kiss me on my face. I was a little freaked out by him, just a little=). From that moment on I always tried to avoid walking by him or anywhere near him. The memories of the toothless man.........Well, he is back in Skalka. I was there visiting my new teammates not too long ago and I saw him. He again asked me if I had a cigarette, I just kept walking. The poor man is not all there mentally and I think he is homeless as well. I have seen him dig through the dumpsters before. Then about 3 days later I was standing outside by the bus stop in Skalka around 10 o'clock at night. I saw him walk towards me and I just began to pray out loud that he wouldn't come any closer to me. I have had too many encounters with him in the past. I just kept praying out loud and tried to stay where I was. The toothless man didn't come any closer to me, he stayed by the bus stop bench which was about a foot away from me. He waited there until the bus came. I was so thankful when that bus came around the corner. So he is back..........

Grammar

So I think I just had my worst class last night. I never thought teaching grammar could be so difficult. Last night I was teaching the grammar point mustn't, don't have to, have to, should, shouldn't and must. All of my students were fine at first and they understood it, but when I did an exercise for them to practice, my whole class changed. I went over the answers and about half of them got one answer and I said another. I tried to explain why it wasn't the one answer but then they all started to argue and discuss in czech why. It was crazy and for some reason I confused them all. I tried to go through the grammar in the back of their book to help them,but they were taught differently. I gave them more practice, I hope that they will understand. I am not sure what i said that was so different or what confused them. I hope on Wednesday we can go through it again and clarify any confusion. GRAMMAR!!!!!!

Another Czech Update

Another week of teaching has past. I feel like I have been teaching for months now. I have honestly felt like i have lived at Winfield College because I am planning for one lesson after another. Sometimes it takes me forever to prepare one 90 minute lesson. Why? That I am not sure........I think sometimes my perfection comes out.
My team and I have an outstanding joke that Winfield is like our second home here in Cheb, you have the upstairs where the school is and the downstairs where hypernova is (which is a supermarket). We go downstairs almost everyday to get lunch and then come back upstairs to eat it. What more do you need? I know in time I won't spend that much time lesson planning like I do now. It will come easier as time goes on. I really don't live that far away from Winfield that eventually I can start going home more often. At least that is my goal.
Along with teaching, I have had the opportunity to reunite with some old Czech friends as well. I just feel so blessed to have those friendships here. God has blessed me in different ways through each of them. It is still really hard to believe that I am seeing them again in Cheb. When I left Cheb, I thought I would never see them again. God is so amazing!!!!