Redundancies

For those of you who have been trying to keep up with my blog, I apologize. I must admit, I have not been writing as much as I should. The latest news is redundant, if you will excuse the pun. The economic crisis is global. Sure, no news there, but as we were finishing our TEFL program (and celebrating the job guarantee) the declining economy hit the Czech Republic. So, on the day we were supposed to be getting our fist assignments someone from upper management came in and informed us that there were precious few classes to fill our schedules and requested that some of us volunteer to take a couple of weeks off. The good news was that they would pay our rent as well as give us $300 spending money to do so. Eager to start my new job, I decided not to volunteer, and I never regretted it. Things began to look up soon, and those who agreed to start later now have full schedules. 

Recently however, we got more bad news. Two weeks ago, most teachers at the Caledonian received this e-mail:

Dear Teachers
 
As announced in last month's newsletter, we are facing challenging times based on the global economic crisis. The school administration has been restructured and tasks have been redistributed. One of the most difficult tasks, however, is still ahead of us. The number of lessons has decreased and we are currently overstaffed. We cannot expect this situation to improve based on current trends and market figures.
 
In order to be able to fulfil all our contractual obligations to clients and employees, we are in the unpleasant position of having to make a number of teachers redundant before Christmas. The exact number will be determined as soon as possible and decisions will be based on one or a combination of the following criteria: length of service, performance and/or disciplinary record. Teachers who are being considered for redundancy will be contacted in the next weeks.
 
We regret not being able to announce better news before Christmas but in the light of current events we are left without choice.
 
If you have any questions or concerns regarding these steps, please do not hesitate to contact me, Micha Kirchem or the Personnel Office.
 

Caledonian School
Vltavská 24, 150 00 Praha 5
Tel. +420 257 313 650
Mobil +420 603 842 142
Fax +420 251 512 528  

Needless to say, it was scary. And for those of you who don’t know, being redundant is the politically correct way to become laid off. We have, however, since then received an e-mail announcing that all is well and the redundancy scare is over. Fortunately, I have over 26 teaching hours now (which is considered a full load, 20 being the minimum for full time) and I am no longer contractually obligated to accept classes. Yeah!

The doctor

I was late for my first class today. I was late because I went to the doctor. I'm not sick, but in order to get your work permit you have to have a note from the doctor. So, I went to the guy the school recommended. They told me that he spoke english, so I wasn't too worried about it. Elizabeth and I showed up around 9:30, but I didn't have my passport. So, while she waited in line, I ran about two Kilometers to my apartment and back to grab my passport. (yes, I said kilometers, you do the math) On the way back, I decided that I should tell the doc about my knee. I've been trying to run some and have really messed it up, It hurts when I walk .

    Anyway, I get back to the doc and elizabeth is still sitting and waiting, they haven't even taken her passport yet. I settle into the cramped wiating room full of sick looking eastern European men and wait. Eventually, the lady takes my passport and a while later tells me to come back. She points to a key and a cup saying something is czech the whole time. The cup was on the back of a sink and had obviously just been rinsed out (I've really admired the way the europeans recycle but this is too far). I peed in the cup and got sent back to the waiting room. I didn't actually see it but I've been told that the pee test is done purely on smell. Have fun little miss nurse. 

    When I finally got called to the doctor, it was the sketchiest room I had ever seen. The doctor was old, greasy, and fat, and spoke very little english. I sat down and answered a list of questions like. "Do you feel good?" "Are you sick?" and "Do your joints feel good?" All of witch I answered with a sound yes despite the fact that I want to cut my leg off everytime I take a step. Then, I took my shirt off while he pressed on my abdomen and that was it. So, I made a contract with my friends that if I get a disease that isn't currable with WebMD.com then they will shoot me. 

    By the time I got out of there it was 12:30 and I still hadn't planned my lesson. So, I was late. 

The Zoo

So, I went to the Prague Zoo with my bank holiday. Ok, so I’m eight, but did you get down and party just because the banks were closed. The zoo is supposed to be one of the top ten in Europe, but I’m not so sure. We did get to see gorillas, elephants, African Giant Cockroaches, and so on, but most of the animals were kind of sleepy because it was cold and rainy. The best part though is that they don’t have any of the harsh rules about keeping animals in cages there. You walk into the rainforest exhibit and there are sloths and monkeys crawling all around you. Really, no cages. I mean they didn’t come up to our feet or anything, but they could have if they wanted too. (I hear sloth are very sneaky and caniving) They also have an exhibit where you can play with the lemur. Well, by play I mean you can get in the exhibit and as close as you dare to a pack of lemur. They even had peacocks roaming around wherever they wanted. Ok, so you’ve seen the peacocks roaming around before, but have you been to a zoo that allowed you to bring dogs without their leashes and had peacocks running around. It’s quite impressive to see. The peacock turns into some kind of prima donna velociraptor; it’s an impressive combination. Sorry, no pics, to cold and rainy.

Teaching Logistics

A little about teaching. According to my schedule, I have 19.3 hours plus the time it takes to plan 19.3 hours of class. It isn’t a huge load, but it’s plenty to keep me busy. I teach a sales manager at a company called Ratiopharm, a pharmaceutical company. He’s about 40 years old and very businessy, he can’t stand for me to waste a second of his time. It’s a good thing though, I really feel like I can make some progress with him. It’s weird because my roommate, Jake, also teaches him. Jake teaches him on Tue. and Thu. and I teach him on  Mon and Wed. I still fill like I’m impersonating a real teacher, hoping that no one will notice.

            Another class happens to be at Lego, which is fun because the office is filled with Lego things, like a Lego Deathstar. The worst part about it is that it’s in Kladno, which is outside of Prague, about two hour hall from my apartment. I have two classes there, but they’re back to back which is good. The first class is Elementary, which I did not expect to be teaching as a new teacher. It’s usually a job reserved for those who speak Czech, can you imagine teaching someone who knows very little English. Then, my last class is for a sales lady at a huge furniture chain much like Bed, Bath, and Beyond. And those are the basic logistics of it. You'll here a lot more stories and grouse later. 

Pics of Kutna Hora

More pics of Kutna Hora. Above left is just some old guy. Above is the church of Saint Barbara, and left is the Ossuary.

Podcaster Extraordinaire

So, this is the Eerie tea-man Jiri. We are on our way to Kutna Hora to check out the bone church (The Ossuary.) Those stylish glasses you see in fact double as stealth blogging equipment. Jiri order the glasses from the US and they have two small but powerful microphones built in. This is only one of many microphones that he brought along for the trip. Hopefully, a link to the podcast will come along soon. 

It's finally here

So, it took long enough, but here is the blog that I promised to make 5 weeks ago. And an intense 5 weeks it has been. It began with the TEFL course. 5 days a week 9 hours a day we spent in those damn classrooms. What is there to learn about teaching you might ask? Well, I have a hundred pages of notes and handouts on TTT, ETA, STT, T before T, FCE, CPA, yeah the list goes on but I just want to vomit thinking about it so that’s all you get. What does it all mean? Well, it means a lot when you’re teaching in a classroom with 8 students, 4 classmates, and a supervisor judging you. Then, it's the difference b/t a failed lesson, and a successful one. But, what does it mean as a teacher on the streets of Prague, instructing needy businessmen etc, nothing. Absolutely nothing. YEAH, well whatever it got me a job in the city. 

         As you can imagine, there are people here from many diverse backgrounds, ages, and so on. Well no, not really. Were mostly a big group of Americans in our 20's. But, there are chances to mingle outside the norm. And, America is a pretty big country (the entire Czech Republic is about the size of SC.) One of my best friends here is a 35-year-old Czech guy who in a txt to me yesterday referred to himself as the Eerie tea-man Jiri, but we mostly call him Jiri. By the way, my keyboard can’t do it but there is a hacek over the r that makes his name impossible to pronounce. You think the Spanish r is hard to pronounce try the Czech one. To attempt, try the Spanish r and hold it out for a few seconds then try to spray the person closest to you with as much spittle as you can while doing the Spanish r. Yeah, it's lots of fun. Anyway, I will post some pictures of the Eerie tea-man, and hopefully soon a podcast that we made on our way to Kutna Hora. Oh, so you may want to know where the Eerie tea-man stuff comes from. Jiri is an outcast among the Czechs b/c he has done the unthinkable and given up alcohol. Now, he drinks tea, and he drinks it by the truckload. Anyway, one day a few of us went over to his house and drank so much tea that we felt like we were buzzing. He's pretty intense about it. For every pot he makes, he records the angle he poured the water at, the height, the temperature, everything.