:: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 ::

I'll take some fries with that shake

Courtesy of Drink at Work, I present...

...an upgrade of a popular advertising image...

...a beloved icon revered by children worldwide...

Ladies and gentlemen, Ronald McDonald!

In Japan, at least.

And if that's not enough to tickle your fancy, try out the The Flash Mind Reader.
It's amazing, it's stupendous, it will blow your mind.
Thrill to the mind-boggling power that is the Internet.

And finally, because I can (and because it's kinda cool):

Your Birthdate: March 30

Your birthday on the 30th day of the month shows individual self-expression is necessary for your happiness. You tend to have a good way of expressing yourself with words, certainly in a manner that is clear and understandable. You have a good chance of success in fields requiring skill with words. You can be very dramatic in your presentation and you may be a good actor or a natural mimic. You have a vivid imagination that can assist you in becoming a good writer or story-teller. Strong in your opinions, you always tend to think you are on the right side of an issue. There may be a tendency to scatter your energies and have a lot of loose ends in your work. You may have significant artistic talent and be very creative.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

:: posted by Rob 2:42 PM [+] :: 0 comments
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Good King Wenceslas looked out

Statue of St. Wenceslas on Wenceslas Square, with the National Museum in the background

Today is the feast day of St. Wenceslas, also known as Czech State Day, a national holiday here in the Czech Republic, as St. Wenceslas is the patron saint of Bohemia, or the Czech Republic, or something like that. It's good, because it means my Polka dot has the day off, but it's bad, because I don't have any interviews either, and virtually everything is closed.

I thought I had an interview yesterday, but due to a communications snafu, the school's Director of Studies had already left, so no interview. But since I looked like a bedraggled wet dog (due to being caught in a rainstorm without an umbrella as I left the Metro station), maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all. In any case, I re-scheduled my interview for tomorrow morning, and so far I have two more interviews scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Today seems like it's going to be a laying-around-the-house day, perhaps with some cleaning and decorating thrown in. And this evening, we're meeting some of our friends from Sweden who are here in Prague now - a mini-reunion of sorts.

And finally, square melons: genetic engineering gone wrong, or handy stackable fruit product?

You be the judge.

:: posted by Rob 10:50 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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Přestup na linku C

If you've noticed a few changes, you're right! I changed the webcam picture at the top to one in Prague, specifically one showing Staromětské náměstí, the Old Town Square. I also threw in a pic of Prague's coat of arms. And below that, I added a new category to the links on the side, Prague Links, which (so far) includes Prague weather, a Prague map, and some general information about Prague, as well.

In other news, this past weekend, we went to Vyšehrad, a rocky outcrop overlooking the Vltava that is one of the oldest parts of the city. Legend says that it was the first seat of Czech royalty, and where Princess Libuše, the founder of the first Czech dynasty, is said to have prophesied the future glory of Prague. Yesterday, I sent out a host of resumes in the first step of my search for the ol' jobby-job, and capped off the evening by cooking up some guláš (you probably know it as goulash), which although Hungarian, is quite popular here in the Czech Republic, especially when served with knedlíky, or Czech bread dumplings. Overall, it was delicious, and quite a successful foray into Czech cooking for my first attempt, if I do say so myself.

My Polka dot at Vyšehrad

:: posted by Rob 9:49 AM [+] :: 2 comments
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Spiral Architect

Oh, the wonder and contrast that is Prague. Below is Konviktská, the charming street where my teacher training school is located in the Old Town, with its cobblestone streets and old baroque buildings:


including the courtyard where the school is actually located:


Now compare those with Radimovická, the street where I live on the outskirts of the city in my beuatiful old communist-era concrete apartment block:


(You can see my room in the lower right-hand corner, far right, 3rd floor.)

At least the rent is cheap, if the surroundings aren't quite as beautiful as in the center.

:: posted by Rob 3:15 PM [+] :: 0 comments
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Thus endeth the lesson

And just like that, my teacher training course is over. It's amazing how fast a month passes. At the beginning, it seemed like it would take forever, and now, suddenly, it's all finished. Wham, bam, thank you, Ma'am.

So what next?

Finding a job. The ol' J-O-B. Can you feel my excitement radiating through the screen? I suppose it will be good, having a job, teaching the English, getting a paycheck again - but it's been over a year since I last worked. A nice, long, work-free vacation. And since my last job was, as most of my jobs have seemed to be, a experience in hellfire and damnation, I'm (understandably, I think) hesitant about reentering the ranks of the proletariat.

But a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, I guess. So Monday I'll be sending out the resumes, hopefully going to some interviews, and maybe even picking up some teaching hours. One of my friends from the course already has a job starting Monday. It sounds like a pretty good company to work for - with luck, they'll pick me for an interview and then, perhaps even hire me.

This weekend, however, is finally tourist time! We're going to a gallery featuring an exhibition of photos of communist-era store windows, then heading to the Mucha Museum and perhaps the Museum of Communism. Afterwards, we're meeting my friends from the TEFL program for Afghan food. And tomorrow, it's off for a stroll through Vysehrad, an old castle/park area overlooking the Vltava, and quite a pretty sight according to my Polka dot, who claims it as her most favorite place in Prague.

:: posted by Rob 8:57 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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Pilgrim's Prague-ress

Ahoj from the lands of Bohemia and Moravia!

Yes, I'm finally back online after a longer time than I had planned, so my apologies to all who have been eagerly awaiting my next post for some news, and to those who may have thought I had fallen off the face of the earth.

I am in Prague now (in the suburbs of Prague 11, actually, somewhere between Chodov and Opatov) and indeed have been for 24 days now. Sadly, I just got internet at home this past week, and I have been so busy that I really haven't had time to send out emails or update my blog until now.

My teacher training course is going well, but it's very intensive. For the past three weeks, 12-hour days have not been uncommon, with an additional 2-3 hours of homework on top of that. Weekends haven't been much better: no classes, but plenty of assignments and lesson plans to work on. I've been in Prague for almost a month now, and besides wandering around the Old Town a couple of days before my program started, and quick trips to Karlstein Castle and the Prague Zoo, I haven't been able to be a tourist at all. Fortunately, there's only one week left in the program, so I hope to be able to get out more and see some sights.

Prague is very nice, and very beautiful, as they all say, but of course there are hordes of tourists everywhere. I've even successfully given directions to poor, lost tourists, so apparently I've become a real Praguer already! Out in the burbs where I live, of course, it's not quite as beautiful. I have a flat (US: apartment) in a nice gray communist tower block, complete with tiny, rickety lift (US: elevator) scrawled with graffiti and painted a delightfully horrid 70s shade of orange. But my Polka dot and I have already been to IKEA to spruce the place up a little bit, and once we both are pulling in steady salaries, we hope to be able to do more.

Opatov's not so bad, though. It's a 5-10 minute walk to the Metro station (or you can take a bus if the weather is bad), and then another 20 minutes on the Metro to get to the center. I'm looking forward to being a tourist again after next week.

Of course, then the job hunting starts. Ugh. Wish me luck...

So goodbye for now, and start checking back again - I should be updating more frequently now that I have internet and (hopefully) time.

:: posted by Rob 9:57 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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