Getting Situated

After getting in on Wednesday night, I had to work 8:00 sharp on Thursday morning. Oy. Leaving Jett that first morning was hard. But we got a good walk that morning, and I learned very quickly that nothing is a square city block, and getting lost is very easy.  

Niki picked me up and got me a coffee and a croissant from a local bakery, so I was already in heaven. 

 [Backyard of primary school]

First up was a tour of the school. My classroom is the first one! I absolutely love it! I’m right at the top of the stairs, and next to the staff room, so I think I’m well positioned for being social. 

[And this is my first apology in this post, I’m sorry for all the vertical videos! I’ll fix it in the future.] 

But my favorite stop of the tour was the boiler room, which is always running. It’s been an ongoing issue, but my Head of School says I will never be cold at school! No ice falling out of my heater this year!! 

The rest of the day was a mind boggling amount of government required safety training, the big one being fire training. It was so intense, I felt like a little kid when you explain the first fire drill. I felt like we were under the imminent threat of a fire alarm going off at any moment. The main cause is leaving electronics plugged in. So you can bet on that first break that I ran home to unplug my phone charger. I wasn’t positive that I could find the building that I live in, but I was unfortunately guided home by Jett’s barking. My poor neighbors! The staircase is especially echoey, and the doors cannot be shut quietly, they have to be slammed. But since I started tucking Jett into the middle room, and playing Netflix loudly for him, I haven’t heard him this entire week as I come and go. *Phew* 

Also, all of our electronics will be brought to school one day to get official approval from the government. So I will likely bring my iPad and my Bose speaker so I can use them at school as well. 

Everyone tells me that the Czech people are very dog friendly, and so far that seems to be very true. There are LOTS of dogs here, and people are apparently used to the barking in the buildings. The biggest difference here seems to be dog etiquette. I have had zero problems with people, kids, or dogs approaching Jett, despite many dogs being off the leash. We walk for at least an hour each afternoon, and Jett is so comfortable with all the dogs, that we pass most without incident or need of treats! 

[pictures from our walks] 

And despite my slight ginger-ness, I must look like a local. I’ve had several people stop to ask me questions! Unfortunately, I haven’t found any English speakers outside of the mall. I’m told I will have more luck with people under 35 years old, as they likely learned some English in school. People over 35 learned Russian. 

[more walking pictures]

Friday was an incredible work day. I was able to dig into all of my units, and arrange my room. I found out that I have at least two 45 minute planning periods per day, and an hour long lunch. And I will have 14 students. The staff were kicked out of school at 2:30 which is a bit early, so I asked my Head of School about the possibility of coming in this weekend. It is very overwhelming to be teaching a new grade, with limited resources and I want to be as ready as I can. But, the crazy thing is, we are not allowed at school on the weekends! So, without any work, I have no choice but to stay at home this weekend, relax, read my book (I still don’t have WiFi), and take Jett on as many runs as he likes! It sounds like a good plan to me :)

[This was the location of our first teacher “book club” on Friday after school, a pub called the Prancing Pony, you can see the smaller round sign with the pony on it.]

Saturday was a rest day. I did go sit outside school to steal some WiFi, and I learned something new ...

And Sunday I decided to rearrange my flat. Sorry the “before” pictures have all my clothes out, since I needed to move the wardrobes.

[Before Pictures]

Also, the weather this week seems a bit like Florida. A thunderstorm has been rolling in everyday around 3 pm. Here’s my first one. The thunder seems to keep rolling for forever, even after you can’t hear it on the video anymore. 

Travel Days

I made it! 

It’s been a busy few days, but the travel days for the most part went really well. 

The flight was perfect. Jett was amazing in SeaTac and Frankfurt airports. We flew business class, and ended up with TWO seats!

[and this is my first apology for taking vertical videos for most of my trip]

When we landed in Frankfurt, Germany Jett diligently waited an hour in line for customs, where my passport was stamped after 2 questions, and the officer didn’t even ask about Jett. I’ve been stressing about Jett’s paperwork since May, and Dad and I went on an emergency paperwork run to Tumwater the Friday before the flight, but no one even asked to see it!!

[Jett and I at baggage claim]

We stayed that night in Frankfurt. I paid for the hotel breakfast buffet, but didn’t really think it through. Although it was a dog friendly hotel, no doggies in the restaurant. I had to leave Jett at the door (thank you Paul for the carabiner for Jett’s leash!) and quickly rushed around the buffet, grabbing as much food as I could, and then ate it in the lobby. There was a business man who had followed me in, who looked slightly uncomfortable by Jett’s presence, but by the time I was leaving the buffet with my full tray, he stopped me to tell me how impressed he was by my dog, and it was a shame that he wasn’t allowed in the restaurant as he was behaving better than some people! 

[Lobby breakfast for me!]

I paid for a shuttle service to pick me up in Frankfurt, one that my Aunt Lynne had used on her travels. So Chris picked me up and drove me to the train station in Prague. He was a wealth of knowledge and very interesting to listen to. Unfortunately the only tidbit that I remember is the fact that Czech vodka is apparently so gnarly, that Czech grannys drink it to get rid of their bunions! I think I’ll stick to beer!   

[I was really hoping for a giant sign that would say “Welcome to Czech Republic!] 

The real action happened on the train. Chris was kind enough to park and escort me through the train station. At one kiosk, you can look at a map of each train to know where your car will be, which for me was the carriage in the middle of about 9 cars.  Then you have to wait in another area, as train platforms are only announced at most 20 minutes before departure. Then it’s a rush to get to the platform. Thank goodness for Chris, as we had to take an escalator. He took 2 of my suitcases, and I had one in one hand, and Jett under my other arm. Chris left me in the middle of the platform, about where we thought my carriage would stop. 

Except, the train overshot all of us. I wasn’t sure how long the train would wait, so I caught up to the last carriage and just starting throwing my suitcases on. I wasn’t going to miss this train! As it turns out, my carriage was actually the very first car, directly after the engine. A very kind young Czech guy offered to help with my suitcases, but it was a struggle. They barely fit in the aisles, plus Jett got stuck moving backwards at one point and had to travel the length of a carriage tail first (that’s how small the aisles were, even Jett couldn’t turn around in that carriage). And once the train started moving and listing back and forth to each side, it became very difficult. The Czech guy let go of my carryon for a brief second to make sure one of the doors didn’t close on me and Jett, and my carryon rolled down half the length of the carriage! We were both very sweaty in the end, but made it to my seat. There were 6 total seats in my room, 5 were occupied and there was already a dog on the floor. And my assigned seat was right in the middle. It was a tight squeeze. There was also no place for baggage, so mine had to roll around in the hallway until the room had cleared out. But it didn’t matter, I had made it! 

[I took this video as we were coming into Ostrava, after 3 and a half hours on the train.]

Niki, my contact and some sort of deputy head of school, picked me up in Ostrava at the train station, so the struggle was over. About 40 hours after leaving my house in Bellingham. She got me to my new flat, and took me out for a beer. A well deserved beer. 

[This is my flat.]