Technology, a wonderful thing! And a sad story about it.

Hello everyone! In my last post I had said that I was going to write a post about technology! Well, here it is!

PART I: LEAVING OUR FAMILIES

(cue the sad violin music)

     Being away from family is hard. I mean REALLY had. Leaving our families and friends was a whole new kind of pain that Mariah and I have never felt before. Going to college was hard because that was the first time that we had lived away from our families, but there was still that comfort, both for our families and for us, to know that we were only about two hours away if we needed them or they needed us. This adventure is very different. If they need us, of course we will be there if possible, but it wouldn't be easy. So knowing this made leaving very difficult.

PART II: TECHNOLOGY

(Cue the happy music)

    They say that technology has made the world smaller. I had no idea how true that was until now. It is amazing how even though I am about 4,330 miles from my family and friends, I still feel connected to them. If you know me, I'm an Apple freak, and I'm about to give them a huge shoutout/hug/kiss for their work.... Prepare yourself.

FaceTime 

     Oh my, being able to use my iPad , iPhone, or laptop to actually SEE my friends and family is awesome! I have been busy as of late, but I have been able to have a face-to-face conversation with our family and friends on several occasions and man, that just takes away my homesickness. Would it be nice to actually be there? Yes. But Tesla's Elon Musk hasn't developed a teleportation device.... Yet. (Yes, I know I'm a walking billboard for certain companies.)

iMessage (iOS 8) and FaceTime Audio

      If you don't know, iMessage, the texting app built into each iPhone, is able to communicate with any iOS device using just wifi. This is good because we don't have an international phone plan, yet, when we have wifi, we are able to "text" our families like normal. It has been great! Another feature which is new to iOS as of this week in the new iOS 8 update, where we can also record voice messages to our families. So, the other morning I sent my mom and dad a voice message saying "Good morning!" I'm pretty sure that made my mom cry with happiness. Along the same lines, with FaceTime Audio, you can, over wifi, call your family like a regular phone call. And because it is over wifi, if is beautifully clear.

     Now of course anyone can do this with other apps or programs like Skype, oovoo, Viber, What's app?, etc. But, I mean... Apple... That's all I have to say :)

FaceTime with Mom and Dad =)

FaceTime with Mr. Thomas P. Walters =)

PART III: Tragedy Strikes

(Cue the tragic music, perhaps a nice John Williams Jaws score.)

   Here is an equation for you;

1 Josh + 1 iPad + 1 Set of Spiral Stairs = ?

     Yep. It happened. I still get chills thinking about it. And I still get sick walking down those stairs today. I was running late one morning, I had woken up late and was rushing around. I needed to update my documents in my iCloud and sat it on the kitchen table to do so while I brushed my teeth. I came down and grabbed my bag and rushed out of the bedroom without locking the door. I grabbed my iPad and started to walk up the spiral stairs. I realized that I had forgotten to lock the room and turned around to do so and I lost my balance on the small inside part of the spiral steps started to fall. I held on to the wall, but in my struggle, I knocked my iPad out of my hands. It didn't just drop. Of course it didn't. It tumbled.... Down three, count them... THREE... tile stairs. Hitting every side of the iPad, and landing face down on the tile floor. Use your imagination and picture my utterance of shock and anger. Good, I think you got it :)

   It was no small crack. It was BAD. I was devastated. It was like dropping my child. I was a complete wreck. Mariah was such a good sport and was so calming. Later she said, "I have never seen you so upset." Yeah. In our 6 years together and almost 12 years of knowing each other, she had never seen me that upset.  So what was I to do? We had successfully moved to one of the only European countries without an Apple Store! 

     I spent the next couple of days online and chatting with Apple in California and Germany to try to figure this out. They had directed me to a certified reseller that quoted me $440 to fix the screen. I laughed and immediately said no. It would only cost $300 at home! So I looked around for the next week and sent emails asking for quotes from businesses here in Prague. I kept getting around $350 quotes and was about to just give up and have the Seymour's take it home when they are here in December. Then, I got an email from TheiPhone.cz, a privately owned business in Prague. They quoted me a stunning 3500KC ! That is only $162 and they included a 6 month warranty!!!! So, apprehensively but excited, I went to their store. The building was very clean and Apple-esque. The man behind the desk, who I believe is the owner, was very kind. I am pleased to say that they had fixed it in one day and did BEAUTIFUL work! I am actually writing this post with it now! 

That's it for now!

 Ouch.

As you can see, the top of the screen was really damaged from the impact(s).

This is the repair shop

Like new! So happy it is back :)

Half Way Done, One-on-One Dinner, Lazy Weekend

Hello!

     Mariah and I are officially half way through our TEFL training! It is crazy to think that we only have 2 weeks left until we are certified and are able to go out into Prague and teach English. But, the next two weeks are going to be more challenging than the first two. Now we are at the point where the instructors are expecting us to not make as many errors in our teaching method and really start applying and executing their feedback. On top of that, we are moving to the higher level of students this week, so we have to assess a new group of students and what they are capable of. Unfortunately, we have to teach them on Monday, so we will be learning their abilities while teaching them. But I'm sure it will be fine =)

Random thought -- There is a bird outside making this shrieking noise like nothing I have ever heard in my life! It is very annoying! It sounds like a crow, rooster, and person screaming put together. Weird...

     This week we had little time for fun, unfortunately. School and lesson preparation took up a lot of our time. When we weren't doing those things, it was either raining, or we wanted to be comatose and watched the Sopranos instead. (Thank you for the suggestion, Paul and Cathy.) However, we did have a lovely evening out with a couple of our students. 

     We are assigned a student that we are to have a one-on-one "lesson" with and part of the one-on-one is to meet with them for about 20 minutes and get to know them by asking a list of questions. The questions are like, "what are your hobbies, your job, where did you go to college (to University as they say here), what English skills do you feel you need to improve on." Mariah has been assigned to the lovely Dagmar (the woman in the earlier post who took us around town for the culture) and I have been assigned to the wonderful Vlasta (who was also with us). Instead of a boring meeting, we decided to go out to dinner. After class Thursday, we went to Café Louvre. Café Louvre is a beautiful and fancy restaurant that is very highly rated on Trip Advisor and is a historical restaurant as it's been around for quite some time! We had a wonderful time, even when I spilled my Gnocchi Salmone on my lap because the plate was too close to the edge of the table. We got to know more about these women and it was AWESOME! We feel so close to them and so fortunate that they are comfortable with us and like us. 

Jana (student), Jason (trainee), Vlasta, Me, Mariah, Dagmar, Zeidy (trainee)

Oh yeah, one more thing... Dagmar during dinner told Mariah that I am an intelligent man...which she could tell because I have a high forehead. So that is me... the high foreheaded man. 

     Other than that, we just kind of had a lazy weekend. The most we did was help out our friend Allison. She was pick pocketed on a very busy tram and had her wallet stolen. So we accompanied her to the nearest Western Union where she was able to receive money that her parent's transferred. We are all being more careful. Prague is a very safe city, but there are always people like that out there. 

    That is it for now. Soon, I will be doing a segment on technology and tell you a story about my extreme misfortune on that topic. Stay tuned!

Night Out, On the Water, and Night In.

Dobrý Den!

     One week down! I can't believe that we are 25% done with our program already! What an exhausting but exciting week. Well, it has been three days since our last blog so we have a little catching up to do.

     Thursday we attended the program as usual. We didn't have to teach, thank goodness, but we did have to watch three other people teach lessons. After class, Mariah and I headed out in search of a Croc store which was located in Praha 11 (Really far from the school but a direct shot on the metro). The store was cool but SOOOOOOO expensive compared to the U.S. So we went back to the school and went to some other shoe stores in the area in search of some non-blister-causing-non-heel-destroying shoes for Mariah. We left every store empty handed.

     At 7 the TEFL program was hosting a welcome party for the new class. It was at this bar called REPRE. Not only was it for the new class, it was also for old classes and for our students. So, we had the opportunity to talk to a little bit of everyone. I talked most of the time to one of my favorite students, Dagmar. She is a retired woman that is a firecracker. I love her! Mariah spent most of the time talking with Vlasta, another beloved student of ours. We also met a guy named Dave that was in the program a year and  a half ago who is till teaching. He is from Pittsburgh and went to UPJ!!!! Small world!

     Toward the end of the evening, Dagmar asked us if we wanted to go experience some of the Czech culture that was going on that evening. We of course said, "YES, we would love to!" We didn't really know what we were getting into, but she said that there was a festival going on near Old Town Square and there would be music and fun. At this point, it was pouring down rain, and I didn't have an umbrella, and Dagmar was hauling a group of us around Prague! It was so much fun. The music that she took us to was not what we were expecting. What type of music do you think of when someone says, "Music in Old Town Square"? Classical perhaps? Nope. It was this weird Alternative Rock/Grunge music! It was very cool, but totally unexpected. She then took us to an art gallery that was part of the festival. It was so neat. We ended up in Old Town Square where the astrological clock chimed at 11 o'clock. What an amazing evening spent with friends.

 The alternative rock band of the evening.

The Astrological Clock in Old Town Square at night.

So beautiful! The rainy haze made it even cooler. 

Dagmar's tour group =)

     Friday we went to class and had our first Czech lesson. The teacher is cool and only speaks to us in Czech, so we really have to think to understand everything, but it is a great way of teaching. Plus, now we know how our students feel because we are only allowed to speak english in the classroom. We worked a little, then went near the castle for our friend Kacey who needed to go to the British Embassy. That was almost impossible to find and when we did it was a total bust. I felt so bad. So, for the rest of the night we sat in with two bottles of wine and talked around the dinner table for about 4 hours. A perfect evening.

    Saturday we all had a slow morning, feeling the effects of a full week of class (like college all over again.... except not in Slippery Rock lol). When we finally got moving Mariah, Kacey, Allison, and I went for a paddle boat ride on the Vltava River! We then took a stroll over to Wenceslas Square (yes like the guy in the Christmas carol) where we stopped at the Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte (which is more expensive here compared to home). We walked around Old Town a little more and then made our way back home. Later in the evening, around 2, for some reason all of the housemates ended up in the same area of the house and we ended up having a wonderful evening together, talking until around 4!

Paddle Boating on the Vltava.

A closer image of the castle and church from the river. There is also a paddle boat that looks like a Beetle.

The good king himself and the top of the Národní Muzeum.

     Well, that is as much of an update as I can give for now =) Here we come, week 2, and 50% completion! Na shledanou!

First Week in the TEFL in Prague Program

Hello all!

     We officially started our teaching program on Monday! For those who don't know about the program, it is called TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in Prague and is a month long intensive course that trains us to teach English to non-English speakers. This is a well-respected course through the biggest language company in Prague and our certification can be used at language schools all over the world. We attend class from 9 A.M. - 5 P.M. Monday through Thursday and from 9 A.M. - 12:30 P.M. ending with an optional Czech Language Lesson class. Mariah and I are definitely attending this extra course!  

     So far I can say that the program is indeed as intensive as they say. This week we have already had to teach twice, which is no big deal, but it was definitely unexpected. On Monday we had the pleasure of  watching our excellent instructors teach a demo lesson to the classes that we will be teaching and were asked to prepare a 5-15 minute warm up lesson for the next day.  

     Let me take a minute to tell you about our class. Mariah and I are both placed as teachers with the lower-level English students for now and then will switch to the upper-level class during week three. These are students that are newer to the english language. They don't quite understand sentence structure, they are limited in vocabulary, their accents are still very heavy, and they make PLENTY of mistakes. But here is the beautiful and fun thing, their average ages are about 65! They are ADORABLE! They are so funny (Especially Hana [say it with a long a sound like ah] and Rudolf)! They're incredibly sweet and they just are loving life and loving learning from us and the other instructors before us. They always have smiles on their faces and try their hardest to learn the language.

     Our warmups that we taught yesterday were great! Mariah had them play a "Guess Who" game where they paired up and described someone else in the room. It was very funny. I just chose a topic (technology - of course) and had them discuss the topic and had questions for them. I know what you are thinking, 'Josh their average age is 65, why would you talk about technology?' Well most of them have a smartphone believe it or not! The goal isn't to actually teach them anything. The goal is to get them talking and comfortable. At one point I said to Hana, "What do you do with technology Hana?" she replied, "Nothing, I don't like it, I HATE IT!" and then she burst out laughing! It was hysterical! They were so much fun!

     Today, we attended class in the morning where we learned from our instructor Jarmila (say Yarmila) the correct structure of a reading lesson and how to lesson plan. It was interesting information and actually inspiring to the process of teaching music in many ways. Then we each had to teach a 45 minute lesson in the afternoon to our lower-level class. Talk about stressful!

Jarmila

Figuring out the framework for teaching an EFL student using the Communicative Approach

     I taught first of the three people teaching today. I taught a lesson on illness. Mariah taught a lesson on school. The students loved both of our lessons and were very respectful and seemed to enjoy themselves. We were graded by Jarmila and we both had higher than expected "marks" (as they say here).

    After class, we hopped on the Metro to Anděl (pronounced Ahndyel) with our friends Kacey and Allison and stepped out into a wine and Czech food festival at the shopping plaza. So we quickly weighed our options, "Should we go home to our frozen pizza or have some of this amazing smelling food?" Naturally, we decided to seize the opportunity and bought a massive plate-sized fried potato pancake and a six inch kielbasa with sour dough bread for 80czk (less than $3.74) What a great dinner!

That is all for now! Class tomorrow and Friday with our first Czech language lesson! Stay tuned!
     

First Days in Praha

Ahoj!

We arrived in Praha Friday at 6:30 am. At that time, there were only two other people here, but we didn't run into them at all. We laid down for a short nap at 8 and didn't wake up until 3 that afternoon! Clearly, we were exhausted. We gathered ourselves and set out to find some nom noms. The house we're staying in through our TEFL program is in Praha 5 and is within a short bus/tram/metro ride to any major spots in the city, including the major shopping district, Anděl. We went to Anděl and found a small (perhaps slightly touristy) restaurant, but it was very well priced! We ordered two beers, nachos as an appetizer, and a DELICIOUS mushroom and ham pizza for only $13. Not bad! We then ventured to Tesco, which is somewhat like an Aldi and a Target combined. The prices on the food are really quite good and on the second floor there are very nice home goods, clothing, electronics, and more. It's AWESOME. As exciting as this all was, buying groceries is incredibly stressful. Everything is in Czech with no English to be found. Gone are the days of a quick trip to the store for a few items! However, one of the coolest parts of this particular Tesco is that it's two stories and has escalators that are flat rather than with steps so that your cart can ride up and down between the two floors. It's so cool!

The escalator with our cart on it!

        Even after all that sleep on Friday we were still exhausted. We ended up spending all of Saturday at the TEFL house just watching Netflix and chatting with other folks in the program. We really enjoy all of the people in the program with us, but we've especially befriended two wonderful girls, one from Ohio and the other from North Carolina. They are so much fun!

        Sunday we headed out to find the castle. We took a few other stops along the way, which was really wonderful because we got to know the public transportation system better. We were thrilled to discover that it's actually quite easy! 

The State Opera (Státní opera)

The National Museum (Národní muzeum)

         Pražský hrad is the biggest castle in the world! In the compound of the castle is St. Vitus Cathedral. We decided today would just be our day to find the castle and see it from the outside and soon we will buy tickets for all of the touristy things dealing with the castle. It is truly a breath-taking sight! The history of this city is well-preserved because it was one of the few countries in Europe to have only seen mild destruction during WWII, making it unlike most cities in Europe. This can be seen in the many different historical sights and museums. Seeing the castle in person, the cathedral, and the gorgeous view from the top brought tears to my eyes. 

View from the Prague Castle! 

Within the castle walls

St. Vitus Cathedral and the gorgeous rose window

One of the many stunning stained glass windows

Goofy :)

The cathedral! I love the way the light from the windows dances on the pillars

A pan of the cathedral - this picture makes it look so tiny!

        After leaving these sights, we went with our new pals to a restaurant in Nové Město (or New Town). This tends to be a very touristy area, but I had read that there was an excellent, inexpensive, and authentic Czech restaurant here named Lokál. It definitely fulfilled all of those promises! Josh and I each only paid $10 for our meals including a 21% charge for taxes and a tip! It was an incredible filling and delicious meal for not a lot of money!

Josh's beef goulash, bread dumplings, and Pilsner Urquell (proudly brewed in Česká republika)

My roasted pork shoulder, steamed cabbage, potato dumplings, and Pilsner Urquell. YUMMMMM

Make a decision and make it right.

   

       Yesterday, Mariah and I set out from Amsterdam to our new home in Prague, Czech Republic. We decided to wake up early on our last day and seek out the bench that Hazel and Gus sat on in the movie The Fault in our Stars. We found it with no problem. It was a perfect way to end our sightseeing. We had a wonderful time in Amsterdam and highly recommend it to ANYONE that is thinking about going. Now I'll tell you a little bit about the journey from Amsterdam to Prague.

Mariah on TFIOS bench.

Where Hazel and Gus sat!

View from TFIOS bench

Oh yeah I forgot, Mariah lost her sweater in the Van Gogh museum the other day, so we had to go retrieve it as well. Oh, sweet victory!

WARNING: This part of the post seems very negative at first. When reading, please think of this as a comic setup with a lovely resolve.
                                                                                                              - Josh

     When we were planning our trip, we had the choice of traveling from Amsterdam to Prague via plane or bus (Student Agency Bus - http://www.studentagencybus.com). Me, being the somewhat frugal man that I am, said, "Let's take a bus, it will be cheaper!" and "I looked on Google Maps and the distance is only 9 hours! I've done worse!." I was wrong on both accounts.

     #1. The bus was about $20 cheaper apiece than a plane ride.

     #2. The bus was 17 hours total... 15.5 hours longer than the plane ride... 

(Sigh)

     On top of those two little details nagging at my brain all morning in anticipation of the bus ride, was the thought of how we had to get to where the bus was picking us up (Zeeburg Park and Ride, Amsterdam). Check-out at the Hostel Orfeo is at 10am and our bus was going to be picking us up at 1:20 p.m. So, we decided to take plenty of time getting to the bus stop with our over 150 lbs. of luggage and leave right at 10 am.

(Really use your imagination at this point, feel free to overdramatize it.)

    There we were, 10 a.m., dragging our 150 lbs. of luggage down the streets of Amsterdam, each cobblestone rattling the luggage, and each uneven cobblestone forcing us to stop and readjust. Sweat was pouring from our bodies like the Amsterdam Canals. When we reached our stop, the shuttle arrived within two minutes, giving us barely any time to situate ourselves. The GVB (Name of Shuttle) worker was so rude when we asked for tickets. Then, when the shuttle started to move, it caused our suitcases to move forward, almost crushing two babies in strollers (not making that up). We finally arrived at the Zeeburg Park and Ride and had to push/pull/kick/drag our impossibly heavy luggage another 100 ft. to an information desk where the dest attendant was again rude to us. (By the way, today was the first time that we encountered rude people. Everyone else had been cheery and helpful.) She told us that our bus would be at the other end of the parking lot, so another 500ft we went. 

     When we finally got there, there were these wooden benches where people were waiting. We chose a bench and sat... for 2 hours and 40 minutes. During this time, I was reviewing my past choices and kicking myself for saying "Let's take the bus!" 

 Us waiting for the bus. 

 And waiting..... (I forgot to mention that I fell asleep for an hour on the bench)

All our friends.... not.

Prepare for the positive side.

     As we sat there waiting, I apologized to Mariah and admitted I was wrong (I think that we are going to have a great marriage). She turned to me and said, "It's ok... this may not have been the best idea, but this is our reality. My dad always says, 'Make a decision and make it right.'" And that is what we did.

    We sat there and discussed all of the positives that have really come from all of this.

#1. Now we know how to get around Amsterdam on the shuttle system.

#2. What else were we going to do in Amsterdam with all of our luggage?

#3. This gave us an opportunity to see parts of the Netherlands and Germany that we wouldn't see from a plane. The Dutch countryside is amazing! Plus we passed through Düsseldorf and Frankfurt.

#4. We saved $40, which we can spend on other fun things like Pivo!

#5. We plan on taking this system later for shorter travel. (Hungary, Austria, Germany, etc.) 

     We finally get on the bus and much to our surprise, there were screens in the back of the seats to watch movies much like on a plane, there was wifi (once we reached the CZ border), there was food and drinks served at different times, and the people were nice!. It was a long, long, LONG journey. But we had a great time. We will definitely be taking this service again. But for much shorter trips. (Oops)

A beautiful view from the bus.

Stay tuned for when we arrived at the TEFL house and our first day in Prague!