Okay so apparently this KFC addiction needs some more addressing. I am absolutely obsessed with the KFC here (Jordan and whitney are shocked)! It is much much nicer than the ones at home, and its so comforting to have American food. Pretty much my only options for American food here are the trifecta (no, not jenny, Jordan, and myself) but McDonalds, KFC, and Bohemian Bagel. Tonight Ash and I discovered something WONDERFUL. Not only is there a KFC just around the corner from our house but it has FREE WIRELESS!! Best thing everrrr. I am changing my residence to KFC. Dad, when you want to send that letter please address it to the following:
Alexandra Howden
KFC
Meat Packing District
Praha
Czech Republic
It will surely make it to me then :) Ash tried to get some local food here for dinner tonight and I legitimately asked her if she could get it to go so I could go to KFC. Hahahah. In other news, I literally crossed over the line of acceptable social behavior tonight when I proceeded to skype my brother in the middle of KFC. Hilarious, I know. But it was okay because it was almost 11pm here, so it was empty, and even if it was crowded they could have cared less. Skyping in the midding of a low class American fast food chain in prague? Priceless.
But aside from sticking out like a sore thumb when I do stupid things like that (more often than not…) I am adjusting quite well here. I am learning the necessary Czech phrases to get by, so now when in public I can say “excuse me” “thank you” “goodbye” “I need help” “do you speak English” etc! We even can say “hello, how are you? I am learning Czech so I am not very good” and if you say things like that to the little old ladies that cashier at the grocery store they will love you and help you out. We have learned several new phrases that way! In other good news I got my europhone today!!! Finally connected to the world a bit more (aka I can text againnnn!) and the pricing is not bad. It only costs me one credit to send a message and free for me to receive them, so text me all you want!!! My euro number is: +420777246145 (with some 1s and 0s in front of it im sure, you know the drill).
Also, my first day of teaching was today! From here on out I will be in classes in the morning, and then I will be teaching classes in the afternoon. These are real classes that we are teaching, but while we are still uncertified the students pay a lot less (similar to people getting their hair cut by beauty school students). So we will teach a variety of different students at different levels. Today I taught a class of six adults at an intermediate level. We are teaching in groups as of now, but by next week I will be teaching the lessons completely by myself. We ran a little over on time, so we had to adjust our lesson plan on spot, so it was good experience! I think I will like this portion of the class, but I will be eager to see what options we have when we begin the job search. Speaking of such, it is coming much more quickly than anticipated. Ash and I have a meeting with our career counselor Thursday morning and she will clear up some things for us. As of now, our top three choices (and most realistic ones) are teaching in Spain, Italy, or Puerto Rico. Spain and Italy would be great, and I would love to stay in Europe all year, but they are struggling with the similar economic crises as we are in the states and jobs are limited. The hardest part is finding a job and receiving a work visa all within 90 days of being here, or else we will have to return home, so pray we find a job that’s just right for us (quickly!!). But if that does not work out we would love to explore options in Puerto Rico, because they are in need of native English speakers and are hiring. Also, we would not have to get visas because it is a United States territory. So I will keep yall updated on the progress!!
Im missing everyone terribly, but im glad im here! It was the right decision and it will give me some great life experience and some hilarious stories to tell :)
Love love love from Prague!
Hi Allie!
ReplyDeleteGlad to read you are doing well. I wanted to let you know that we were in Puerto Rico over spring break, and I had never been there before and was impressed. Obviously it's beautiful there, but we spoke to a pharmaceutical company executive on the plane and she explained that San Juan has corporate offices for most all of the large drug companies you've heard of...it was much more cosmopolitan and Americanized than I had anticipated--a big city. However, as we drove through the neighborhoods, there are the typical ghetto areas and poverty, so it's mixed. But I think you would find it has a lot to offer.
And many years ago, Bruce and I spent several weeks in Italy, so let me know if you need any personal tales about that place!
Good luck--we think about you all the time!
Love, Mit