When in Praha, root for Sparta!

This picture is not from the hockey game, this year, or the Czech Republic but I added it anyway.

I went to my first Sparta game yesterday. They were playing Pardubice so it was meant to be a really good game. Sparta and Slavia are the two Prague teams and the three teams are leading the league. I was with a couple of Czechs from Pardubice so they were rooting hard against the home crowd. We lost unfortunatly, 6-3, but I had fun and plan to go again soon, the price is right for seats and beer so why not? Even I was able to join the "Jeste jeden" chant which I quickly recognized as meaning "one more [goal]." This falls into the small amount of Czech that I have been able to learn because it is what fat baby Jirka says to me when I'm pushing him on the swing.

In other news, snow finally hit Prague. We got about 6-7 inches last Tuesday and then a few more on top over the next few days. We took the kids sledding at school which was awesome. I'd convince them to sit on my lap as we went down and then we'd crash, and both get snow all over us. The child would start crying like a baby so I would start frantically rubbing at their snowy faces with my snowy gloves and telling them to blow hot air. By the time we made it to the top of the hill, they were ready to go down again. This went on for about 2 hours since all the teachers decided that wrestling in the snow and sledding was more fun then being inside or doing lessons. It was a great week.

I've also taken to singing the following tune to the kids which they absolutely love and are desperately trying to learn themselves:

Here comes Krystof floating, down the Delaware, chewing on his underwear, wish he had another pair. Three days later, bitten by a Panda bear, that's why the panda bear died.

My parents and my brother know this one well. I thought about teaching them Ciggarettes and whiskey and wild, wild women but I'm not sure that's really apropriate.

I wouldn't go so far as I love my job but I am willing to admit that I love asking Honzik and Olik (who love Batman) if they want to fight. Presumably the answer is yes, and then I'm The Joker or The Penguin or The Riddler and we wrestle for the next 20 minutes. I do a poetry lesson with them once a week and enjoy having them act out crocodiles eating fish when we're reading Lewis Carol or having them make up a poem which usually, by the end has to do with me eating poo-poo. I am delighted with their poetic instinct.

I'm planning a passport stamp trip for February which will probably be to Slovakia or Dresden.

My best lesson to date has been a pretend trip up Mount Everest (We were doing two weeks on Asia, now we're into Europe). We made a list of everything we needed to bring, which included a chain saw, but I didn't have the heart to tell them that we really wouldn't need a chain saw and in fact, it would probably weigh us down. Then we collected all our pretend supplies from the toys in the classroom, loaded them up in my backpack and took off for the park. We camped at base camp and then summited the next morning. It was glorious and

I must say, now that I've climbed the tallest mountain in the world, life is starting to seem a bit boring.

Correction!

I was actually born in Bergen County not Burgen County. Thank you to Jason for making this mistake clear to me. It shows how much I know about this area of the world. I lived there when I was very, very small, like a baby hobbit. Nevertheless, I feel a kinship with others born in this county which we all pronounce the same way despite others failures in spelling (and by others I mean my own).

P.S. Working with three year olds is kind of like sending a slinky down a set of stairs. Perhaps it will work or maybe somebody will end up crying. I love these kids!!! ( Well, I love some of them. Others, I am confident will be serial killers.) Please stand by as I await corrections from my brother that I adore.

Cheers Jason,

Em

Things are going well at the start of 2007. There's war in Iraq. They hung Saddam and somebody caught it on their cell phone. Kids these days. A few of the 6 year olds at school got mp3 players for Christmas. The Giants lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Eagles. Tiki is retiring. Rand al Thor has been declared the Dragon Reborn in the Wheel of Time series. Everything is Illuminated (Mom, rent that movie because you will like it).

The weekend was good. I continue to be unable to accomplish anything during the two days because usually one of the evenings, we are out at the bars until 5 in the morning and so I sleep away most of the day. Its freakishly warm here for January as seems to be the trend everywhere but in the Rockies. My brother is going to a bbq this week. Its been 6 months since I've been home or seen any of my friends, but Annie. I'm not homesick really but I do think of friends and family often. My Canadian roommates are my best friends here. We are all nerds so the books all get swapped around and there are regular games of chess and family dinners. The kids at school are really cute and small. We mostly wrestle around with them and then make them draw a picture or read them a story. I've taken to getting them to act out poems. Today we did How doth the Crocodile by Lewis Carroll. They loved taking turns being the alligator and eating the fish or being the fish and being eaten. It was great!

There were two small world stories this weekend. First I met a guy who was born in Burgen County, New Jersey, just like me. I can't remember the name of the city. They I met a girl who's from Burlington, VT and loves Phish. Well, thats enough of this nonsense. Someone else should write for a while. Cheers, Em

Happy 2007!

I dont have time to fill you in on a lot. I apoligize. Things are going very well, I recived unexpected holiday pay!!! In other words, i'm rich rather than poor. I want to wish everyone a very very happy and prosperous new year. I am looking forward to expeincing more of Prague, VC summer camp in Cork, Ireland and then returning home to the good 'ol US of A. I'm not sure what's in store for next fall but I have some prospects and will be sure to keep you posted. Cheers and keep in touch!