Thanksgiving news roundup

Oh gosh. So much to write about. So much happens in a single day that there is no way I can sum up all that has been going on since last I wrote. My family came to visit me, and it was really really wonderful to see them. The usual family squabbles of course ensued, and ordering at a restaurant became a 30 minute minimum ordeal, still I was rushing off after school to spend every possible minute with them. As I get older, I realize that I am an extremely family oriented person. I am so lucky that they were able to make the trip out, to take time off of work and school and have me drag them around the Czech Republic (and occasionally Poland) and show them where I live and work.

Having them in town was also good becuase it reminded me that my czech isn't entirely hopeless. I often have only native speakers to compare myself to, and I don't use czech as often as I had thought I would, and so I feel like I am not learning. Guiding my family around, interpreting menus and directing taxis and trying to teach them some czech, reminded me that, at least for day-to-day interactions,  my czech is surprisingly sufficient. So yay for that! This week I am learning comparatives ...and reviewing weather.

Mostly because of the intense amounts of snow. Which I am loving. People here are surprised when I mention how beautiful the snow is. "Don't they have snow where you come from?" they ask. Well, yes we do. But it doesn't stay white and pretty for very long. Although once the temperature drops below zero I'm sure I'll be a bit less chipper about it.

Ah, we also had a thanksgiving assembly yesterday. The other english teachers worked super hard to help prepare, mostly because events like this aren't usually held at czech schools and so figuring out the logistics of exactly how to do it took a little while. In the end, it came off well. One of my fourth year classes performed a little play about the first thanksgiving (complete with pilgrims, indians and a paper mayflower) and there was also a powerpoint and a poem. I showed the Addams Family summer camp skit about Thanksgiving, partly because its hilarious and partly because I can't bear to teach them the same whitewashed, "the pilgrims and indians were best friends forever" myth that we usually feed to little kids. They are high schoolers, and language abilities aside they should learn something worthwhile from me about the world and about America. Addams family values was the obvious vehicle for this.... Anyway, they certainly enjoyed the inversion of the authority figures being roasted over a spit.

I also found the best possible outlet for a new czech word while on my way to the post office. An elderly woman was coming out of the grocery store with her little rolling bag, and the steps seemed super icy. Fortunately, the word of the day was "may I?" so I asked her, "Muže me?" She said yes, so I easily lifted the bag down the short steps and went back up to help her down as well. It was an easy thing for me to do, took no more than a few seconds out of my day and I did it without a second thought because somehow all old people remind me of my grandparents and so I want to help them, but if I hadn't known how to offer in czech I might have been too nervous to do it. What if she thinks I'm stealing her stuff? But, at the bottom, she litterally grabbed my hand and thanked me over and over (in czech), letting me know how troublesome those few steps would have been for her on her own. Needless to say, I felt warm and fuzzy for the rest of the day. Using czech successfully and helping people? thats a gold star day for sure.