Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Long Time, No Blog
Wow. It has been a very long time since I have been on this website, nevermind visiting the website and deciding it wasn't a good time to write an entry. In my absence from blogging, Sarah and I have been to Austria with Sarah's friend Sarah Higgs, we have met the staff we are working with at Riverside School, we have met our students and begun classes, and I haven't had another Wait... What? moment. However, with all that being said, we have really enjoyed ourselves, we are alive, and we are settling in very well. A few weeks ago, Sarah mentioned that when we just arrived, we were so cautious about which streets we were walking down because we didn't want to get lost and now we're navigating public transit on all sides of the city without breaking a sweat. We feel pretty lucky and very blessed to be here. If you'd like to read about Austria and our new experiences at Riverside, you can read the next two blogs.
Riverside School
Sarah and I have been in Prague for exactly one day and one month. We have adjusted well to the culture, our apartment, we're getting better at the language, and we have just begun to meet the staff and families of Riverside School. The many planets of the "Settlingintoprague Universe" are almost completely aligned.
We are now faced with the challenge of getting used to our jobs - the actual reason we are here. Upon first glance, the school is situated on the west side of the Vltava river across from high cliffs that overlook the schoolyard. It's a very picturesque location. Next, the interior of the school gave us the impression that each staff member contributes much more that just curriculum. The walls were decorated with incredibly bright, 3D artwork and pictures of school activities were scattered on various walls. We felt that if the staff are just as great as our first impression of the school, then we have really been blessed with a perfect situation.
Sure enough, the staff here consists of teachers who are committed to the school both professionally and personally. Each person supports and lives out the Christian ethos of the school. We felt so welcomed into their community as newbies, even though they had 23 new staff members that year! We could have easily been lost in the crowd, but people seemed excited to meet us. Either they are fakers, or they were excited to meet Sarah and polite to me.
I'm teaching Year 4 (Grade 3 in North America) and the kids are really great. I have kids from 7 different countries who all speak with their own unique accent. It's very cute and I'm very happy to be teaching this class. (Also, I'm teaching the son of a Czech hero - a former professional soccer player who played for Liverpool when they won the Champions League and then for a local team in Prague. I'm really looking forward to meeting him because the staff says he's a real gentleman - a lesson to all you pro athletes who might be reading this.)
Anyway, things are going well and we're very blessed.
Sarah and I would also like to give a huge shout out to Immanuel Christian School and Durham Christian High School. Both schools gave Sarah and I our first teaching jobs and provided us with very high expectations for any school staff and school community we will be a part of in the future. Thanks to Fred, Jasper, and the staff at both schools for giving us a chance.
We are now faced with the challenge of getting used to our jobs - the actual reason we are here. Upon first glance, the school is situated on the west side of the Vltava river across from high cliffs that overlook the schoolyard. It's a very picturesque location. Next, the interior of the school gave us the impression that each staff member contributes much more that just curriculum. The walls were decorated with incredibly bright, 3D artwork and pictures of school activities were scattered on various walls. We felt that if the staff are just as great as our first impression of the school, then we have really been blessed with a perfect situation.
Sure enough, the staff here consists of teachers who are committed to the school both professionally and personally. Each person supports and lives out the Christian ethos of the school. We felt so welcomed into their community as newbies, even though they had 23 new staff members that year! We could have easily been lost in the crowd, but people seemed excited to meet us. Either they are fakers, or they were excited to meet Sarah and polite to me.
I'm teaching Year 4 (Grade 3 in North America) and the kids are really great. I have kids from 7 different countries who all speak with their own unique accent. It's very cute and I'm very happy to be teaching this class. (Also, I'm teaching the son of a Czech hero - a former professional soccer player who played for Liverpool when they won the Champions League and then for a local team in Prague. I'm really looking forward to meeting him because the staff says he's a real gentleman - a lesson to all you pro athletes who might be reading this.)
Anyway, things are going well and we're very blessed.
Sarah and I would also like to give a huge shout out to Immanuel Christian School and Durham Christian High School. Both schools gave Sarah and I our first teaching jobs and provided us with very high expectations for any school staff and school community we will be a part of in the future. Thanks to Fred, Jasper, and the staff at both schools for giving us a chance.
Vienna, Schladming, and Salzburg
Once we boarded the bus for Vienna, I thought to myself, "I'm setting myself up for failure. I live in the most beautiful city in Europe and we're going to see another 'beautiful' city. Everything I see will be compared to Prague." Fortunately, Vienna turned out to be very beautiful. The Hofsburg was a beautiful sight and so was the Parliament Building and the Rathaus. On top of the really beautiful buildings, the sculptures on top of each corner of each building were breathtaking. They were full of emotion and white as snow against the blue sky. It was really cool to see. Unfortunately, Sarah had a splitting headache for most of our first day. So on the second day we went to see Dr. Sigmund Freud at the Freud Museum. It was really cool to enter his old apartment and office where he practiced psychoanalysis. All in all, Vienna didn't turn out to be a bust.
Next was Schladming where Sarah spent three months at Bible school while we were dating. It's a beautiful town in the middle of the Austrian Alps. We spent two nights there at a small B&B and climbed a mountain (see my profile picture on Facebook). We enjoyed some time with one of Sarah's professors and had a drink while listening to an outdoor polka band. With the hike, we were now tired for Salzburg.
I should mention that Sarah and I had the great privilege to spend this time with one of Sarah's friends from Bible school, Sarah Higgs. Yes, THE Sarah Higgs (see Sarah's "Friend List" on Facebook).
Not to fear! When we got to Salzburg, we went to bed immediately and got up to take a bicycle tour around Salzburg. It was no ordinary bike tour, it was the Sound of Music Bicycle Tour! I had never seen the movie, so to bike around with some drooling fanatics who had traveled to their personal Mecca was a treat in itself. Even though I had never seen the movie, I enjoyed the tour because it was a great way to see such a really beautiful city of only 200,000.
What a relief. I was afraid the cities in Austria were going to be just like any little brother who begins seeing muscles in the mirror, only to have big brother Prague flex right behind him. In simpler terms, Vienna, Schladming, and Salzburg turned out to be that really great little brother who sometimes beats you at certain sports.
Next was Schladming where Sarah spent three months at Bible school while we were dating. It's a beautiful town in the middle of the Austrian Alps. We spent two nights there at a small B&B and climbed a mountain (see my profile picture on Facebook). We enjoyed some time with one of Sarah's professors and had a drink while listening to an outdoor polka band. With the hike, we were now tired for Salzburg.
I should mention that Sarah and I had the great privilege to spend this time with one of Sarah's friends from Bible school, Sarah Higgs. Yes, THE Sarah Higgs (see Sarah's "Friend List" on Facebook).
Not to fear! When we got to Salzburg, we went to bed immediately and got up to take a bicycle tour around Salzburg. It was no ordinary bike tour, it was the Sound of Music Bicycle Tour! I had never seen the movie, so to bike around with some drooling fanatics who had traveled to their personal Mecca was a treat in itself. Even though I had never seen the movie, I enjoyed the tour because it was a great way to see such a really beautiful city of only 200,000.
What a relief. I was afraid the cities in Austria were going to be just like any little brother who begins seeing muscles in the mirror, only to have big brother Prague flex right behind him. In simpler terms, Vienna, Schladming, and Salzburg turned out to be that really great little brother who sometimes beats you at certain sports.
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