February!

Meg....

Yipes! February went by so fast I hardly felt it!! I thought I would be able to blame its passing on House of Cards, but that was only this past week...lemme see...so here's what's happened since New Year's...

Middle of January...we found out our permanent place was open for us to move in! SO cool! We were only a tiny bit disappointed because our roommates just got a cute little chihuahua named Vernal:

That disappointment passed super quickly when we realized we were going to be living in the SAME place for more than a few weeks. Goodness, what a relief. These past couple months have felt like a whirlwind moving from place to place, finding jobs, starting jobs, getting work clothes, getting our visa paperwork together, and just building a brand new little life for ourselves. 

So after getting our few bags transferred over and moved into the new apartment, we started making visits (after paychecks) to Ikea and the hardware store...

My Tommy borrowed a drill from a friend and in minutes made this place feel more like home,

with a bedside table for both of us, a quick shoe rack out of scrap wood, and free paint chip art to add some more color:

Gosh, we realized how art and pieces made by us made us feel so much more at home. Thank you Hornbach! (Home Depot in Prague)

Speaking of art...I teach art now as part of my schedule. Look at what my 2nd and 3rd graders did! We learned about shading and perspective....they're little artists too!!

So, at the end of January, we finally got all our paperwork and money together for our visa. This meant it was time for our interview at the consulate...in Berlin. Don't ask us why the interviews have to take place in another country outside of the Czech Republic to get a visa to live in the Czech Republic, but it does. We had a few options, but Berlin got us in the quickest, and well we'd LOVE to be "forced" to visit Berlin. So I made some cookies....

(without a measuring cup #newwife). Then I made better cookies...

And we hopped on a bus to Berlin. Berlin is AWESOME. We felt so comfortable there right away. It was such an easy city to get around in, and all the places we found ourselves in were just so yummy and friendly and made us want to stay longer. 

So we had our interview and it went well (we just last week found out our visa applications were approved, so we get to live here legally finally!). Then we did a little sight seeing around the city with the few hours we had left for the quick two day trip:

We got to see the Brandenburg Gate, some Berlin wall ruins, and just cool buildings around the city...

It was such a cool trip and we can't wait to go back! :)

Speaking of "cool", we have just got the best landlords ever, a little family of four who has decided to take us in and treat us to all kinds of fun Czech Republic things, like a hockey game! It was my first one ever so I was extra pumped...the boys weren't as excited to take pictures with their tickets, but they smiled anyway. :)

Go Sparta!!!!

I think that's all for now...March is bringing more sunshine and a more consistent schedule, so we'll just be working and living in Prague, if you wanna come visit, we've got extra Ikea bedding now, so come on! 

The Zoo (Prague, Czech Republic)

So this past Sunday, one of my dreams came true and I got to hang out with some tortoises. Tom and I have been really lucky and found an incredible language school that is employing us to hang out with them, learn about their programs, teach a few classes, and write some blogs! All things we love to do! The other day they sent us on a mission to tour the zoo with one of their English students and report about it. Yes please! Turns out it was like a special backstage pass kind of tour that we got to go on the sides where the people FEED the animals and stuff. Guys this was incredible. Also, the Prague zoo is apparently the #7 zoo in the world (#3 in Europe). Way to go Prague. So I just wrote a blog for the school and it's on their website and I'm too tired to type the same words twice, so here's a link to their blog:

http://teachabroadtips.blogspot.cz/

Tom also contributed to their website a couple weeks (months?) ago. So if you scroll down you can see that too! :) Here's a little sneak peak to my zoo time. Love ya'll! :)

New Years and Friends :)

Meg:

So we got back from our incredible little Dresden stay on December 29th. We arrived at the bus station, wiggled our way to our LAST friends' place, picked up our stuff, and moved to our place for the month of January (only ONE move after this! woo!). 

So we were able to find this place on a Prague Expat Facebook Page. It's a one bedroom, with a lofted bed, shared kitchen and bathroom. We moved in with another married couple who ALSO had ring tattoos, she was from Texas and he's Czech. Because they're married and have ring tattoos, they're basically us, but they're models-real live models. Hehe...they weren't just models they were really cool too! And guys, the location of this apartment is, excuse me, KICK ASS. It would be hard to live here year round, just because of all the tourists, but we are so happy we got to stay here for a few short weeks. 

Here's if you are standing on The Charles Bridge looking down. We have a 3rd floor room in a building on the left:

If you're still standing on the bridge and you turn to your right, you see this! Just castles and crap everywhere! Oh, and a handsome man :)

Here's the view out the window:

Here's on your way to the metro station...not a popular spot or anything, just a quaint sight on your way to work...well, it's dark on your way to work, but ya know, on the way home-no that's dark too...on your way to the store or something on a Saturday...

We haven't shown you any of these pictures yet, but the metro stations are really cool!! Also interesting to mention, they are SUPER far down SUPER steep escalators, and we asked why they were so steep, we were told they were prepared as bomb shelters. Sweet huh!?

So in our unlucky-have-to-move-everywhere situation, we were blessed with an AMAZING view for New Years!!! 

I know some people say, we just wanted to stay in on New Years. Well we REALLY wanted to stay in. We had a better view than ANYONE (except for our roommates) and we got to clink our $0.25 beers and watch up-close fireworks that tried to come in our window! So cool. 

So, for some reason, everyone has a ticket to try to kill themselves on New Years. Everyone goes out and buys a gadjillion fireworks and sets them off wherever they want. So, I've tried to upload a video here we shot, there's one set of actual city fireworks and there's a buttload of everyone else, try to tell the difference, you can't. Here's the link on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8FixJeKEUQ

Here's another link of a firework trying to come in our window, excuse a tiny bit of language:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q98NwNumczc

Just after New Years, Dori, a GREAT friend of mine from Ghana, brought her friend Martina for a little New Years Prague visit!! Woo!!!!! Here's us by the Lennon Wall which is up and running again!

Martina and Dori have traveled a lot together, in fact, they had visited my family and I once in the US. And hey Mom, for some reason, Dori and Martina remember your Sloppy Joes and wish they could have more. So work on that will ya?

It was Martina's birthday the next day, so we celebrated with little dollar store cakes, big dollar store beer, and played UNO all night long. :) Happy Birthday Martina!!

Tom and I spent the next two days preparing for our first days of school. We'll update you on that soon!!! Lotsa love to all!!

Christmas and Dresden

Meg:

I'm gonna jump RIGHT into it! So, we finished class, and like I said before, I started my job, which I'm in LOVE with. It's an international school. I'm teaching 2nd and 3rd grade. I have a Czech co-teacher, and we split the days, so whenever I'm teaching English to one grade, she's teaching Czech to the other. It's an incredible system and I'm so impressed by these students who have been in this program through most of their school-lives. There are a couple new kids, but most of them are now completely bilingual because of it! It amazes me everyday. So I've got 10-12 kids in each class, depending on the day, and they already feel like a little family to me. My favorite part right now is that I get to teach art and music on top of the normal classes. Music is hilarious and fun and so is art, especially with the help from my live-in art teacher! :) Speaking of that art teacher, Tom did a helluva lot getting things ready for us to move again and running around the city, preparing things for our work-visa (there's like 5000 pieces of paper you need notarized and stamped and really just rubbed on so many butts to make them legal).

Then after that week, it was Christmas break! For the first time in my teaching career, I felt like I didn't need it, but I was of course, happy to have it. On the previous Thursday, Tom and I moved all of our things to an apartment of 3 of our new friends. Our time was up at the first apartment, and we needed to move out, but with no where to go just yet, our generous friends took us in. :) They live close to two churches. 

This church here, we call the toilet church because it does kind of look like a toilet. :)

 

And this one is in the middle of a square that is pretty central and has a cute little Christmas market in December.

So, we stayed for a few days until they needed the bed for other visitors, and hearing our plight, another teacher at my school offered her apartment, as all of her roommates and herself would be out of the country for Christmas. We still cannot appropriately express our gratitude to all of these people that so graciously took us in. 

Once we moved, it was just about Christmas time and we were leaving again for Dresden, so we didn't want to leave a living tree in our friends' apartment, so we went to the dollar store and picked up some green paper and made our own! We're not sure how long it lasted because the fridge is always a happening place, but it was perfect for our little first married Christmas.

When I posted this picture before, everyone tended to focus on the wine bottles in the corner, but believe me when I say, we only contributed one bottle of champagne which was one of the many gifts given to us from my new school. Christmas Eve we were able to skype with both sets of parents and some siblings. It made us feel so good but also made us miss home. I know we've said this before, but while we've been crazy, moving from one place to another, and working on crazy Visa-stuff and adjusting to a new culture, our families have been so supportive and encouraging. They hated the fact that we didn't have an address to send things to for Christmas, but somehow they compensated for that by sending a million hugs and kisses over Skype. For Christmas Eve dinner we made cheese fondue and meatballs and got packed up because on Christmas Day we had decided to take a bus to Dresden, Germany! 

It sounds yucky, a bus on Christmas, but ACTUALLY, this bus has video screens for each person, a free cappuccino or hot cocoa, internet, and a bathroom! Sweet deal huh? Also, we passed a castle on the way.

We arrived at the station and there was a huge tree. We meant to get one of the two of us, but got too busy meeting our CouchSurfing host and heading to the grocery store that we forgot. So here's one of my happy hubby.

I'm sure I've told you about CouchSurfing before, but if you haven't heard, a short explanation would be that it's like facebook, but for your couch/extra bedroom. Everyone has a profile, they have references that they can't take down (good or bad), and a picture of the place they have available for you to stay and it's location in the city. It's FREE and MUCH more enjoyable than staying in a hotel. We were lucky to stay with a guy named Alex who had a bunch of positive references. He picked us up from the station, took us grocery shopping, he bought stuff for dinner and we bought stuff for breakfast. For the next four days, we played TONS of card games, table soccer (they were so surprised to find someone who could actually play with them-and beat them), cooked all our meals together, drank lots of tea and wine, and looked out this window of the spare bedroom we got to stay in:

Alex also took us through town on a mini-tour (it was super cold so it was fast, but perfect!). Turns out most of Dresden was bombed, flattened, and burned in the war. They have been working SINCE then, to replace all the blocks right back where they should be. A lot of the buildings actually look speckled because they have rebuilt them, putting the burned ones in exact places and filling the rest in with new blocks:

You gotta read about this Frauenkirche church sometime, it's gorgeous. I think they just finished it in 2008 maybe? Check those stats.

We wanted to hang out by the Frauenkirche for a while, so we stopped for some Gluhwein in this cute little Christmas Market :) For the record, Tom's the one that called it cute, I just called it normal.

Apparently all the Dukes of Dresden are on this thing:

Here's a pretty theater :)

THEN....

We went to a cool coffee shop and later a pretty sweet "hole in the wall" bar to have Dresden beer (which was delicious-obviously).

I'm sorry this is so quick and just the facts! But I wanted to catch us up so that we could talk about what's going on LATELY instead of way back then!

Dresden was wonderful and we loved the look of the city. We were told it was very similar to Prague, and I think someone told us that they bombed the city thinking it WAS Prague (lucky for Prague). I'm so sorry if my facts are wrong, my brain was very cold and on Christmas break in Dresden. hehe

This is long enough...I'll send more later. We love you all tons and tons and tons. More updates are coming soon!

Catch Up: Weeks 2-4 (Prague, Czech Republic)

Meg:

So I'm squishing weeks two through four together, because that's how they felt. We spent almost all of our time either in the classroom, or working on something FOR the classroom. Besides shopping for groceries, we didn't get out much. This could be considered a shame, due to the fact that we are living in one of the most beautiful places in the world, but because we plan to stay for a while, we weren't worried. So here's what our schedule looked like for weeks 2-4:

9:30-1:00: In class learning a million things a minute with a half hour break in between
1:00-5:00: Get lunch, have interviews, check out possible apartments, grocery shop, prep for lesson
5:00-8:30: Teach 45 minute lesson and observe 1-2 of your peers teach a 45 minute lesson as well to real live Czech students usually between 20 and 70 years old. In 3 weeks we had 3 different levels and 3 different sets of students-it was incredible practice and we learned an insane amount from both our students and our observers
8:30-1 or 2am: Cook dinner, see more possible apartments, prep for lesson due the next day, study for upcoming grammar test, work on added homework assignments, try to hang out with equally stressed out spouse.

Insane right!?!? Goodness, we just felt like we were drowning in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). However, turns out, it was just one of the best classes either of us have ever taken. We went from knowing NOTHING about teaching English, to feeling confident in our abilities to teach our own class and perhaps help others with the process.

I am proud to say that both of us passed the course with flying colors and came out with some great references and FANTASTIC friends. Tom worked like crazy to find work, and came out with three jobs before the end of the course (well deserved). He's currently employed with a language school to teach a few evening classes and write a blog about his experiences on their website, he has a couple students lined up for private English lessons, and on top of those is employed full-time with an international kindergarten (http://dejvice.skolka-bambino.cz/en/homepage.html). I got super lucky and found that a friend of a friend teaches at an international school (http://www.beehive.cz/english.html) and they had a job opening (teaching 2nd/3rd grade)!

So, with our jobs and new certificates, we finished the program...PHEW! Our last Friday we had a fantastic party at the founder's flat with wine and cheese and a bunch of other snacks we all hadn't seen in a while. It was glorious and we were all so relieved that we couldn't help but show it...

This big bunch of goofballs did an amazing job of keeping us sane (so did our parents via Skype). We were incredibly lucky to end up with these 11 and we're so excited to have these new friends to take us into our new Czech lives.

Next up was a week of teaching for me and running around organizing our lives for Tom. We will catch up you on those in a bit. For now, we hope your New Years Eve was safe and wonderful, and you made some great wishes for 2015! Happy New Year's everyone!

Catch Up: Week 1 (Prague, Czech Republic)

Meg:

Hey everyone :) So, we have been in Prague for about a month and a half now. A JILLION things have happened and most of them are pretty sweet. Tom told you about our arrival with Jan and Emma, they dropped us off and immediately we were dropped into TEFL land. The Language House (TLH) is an incredible instant community (see insert to the right). Apparently we were dropped off into a little alumni meet and greet. New students were meeting students of the past to see how their lives are now. Did they like the program? Were they able to find jobs? Do they like drinking Czech beer every night? Do they use it to brush their teeth instead of water because it's cheaper? The answer to most of these questions was yes. This night gave us a huge positive outlook on our next month because first of all, people survived a course that seemed to be very intensive, they were able to find jobs, and they still liked each other and the program! Like Tom said, we had had four big beers on empty train stomachs and then hopped over to this place, so we didn't partake like the rest of our crew, but we still had a blast meeting new friends and getting "forced" to try slivovice...a terrible plum vodka. We say terrible, others say perfect. Anyhow, the night went well, we walked home to unpack a little so we could continue orientation the next day.

The next day, we had a great time "orienting". Our new friend Nica, who is now a substitute teacher for our program and a previous student, showed our group around for the day. We did fun get-to-know-you games and a scavenger hunt and learned a whole bunch about Prague and the 11 new friends that we would be spending every day with for the next month. Guys, it turns out, they are super normal! And by normal, I mean the cool kind of normal that's a little bit crazy. :) Apparently, the "November" group of this program, that has been going for a lotta years, is always a little crazy (but not the good kind). It makes sense. November in Prague is dark. You wake up and go to school in the dark. The sun sets at 3:30 in the afternoon, so you get home and it's dark. "There are no holidays in TEFL" so we go to school on Thanksgiving. It's so close to Christmas so hardly any students go home, and what kind of people would volunteer for a time like that? Crazy ones. Luckily our group was full of the right kind of crazy....

Abbey-Crazy about fashion and lived in Prague for a summer, she's fun to follow around and we adopted her into our family
Alex-Crazy about plants and knows everything about Japan including the language
Andrew-Crazy about Michigan! He's from our state and is loud like a Michigander should be?
Becky-Crazy about traveling...somehow she's been to 87 countries and it shows, she also taught speech so don't try to talk while she's talking, you'll feel funny (we decided she would make a killer tour guide)
Drew-Crazy about Europe; he spent 1 or 2 months traveling to a billion different countries before he parked himself in Prague
Jessica-Crazy about Prague, she moved here with her boyfriend in September and already knew everything we were learning on orientation (so she didn't go)
Kelly-Crazy about hair, owned her own salon in the States and laughs one of those laughs that makes the people around her feel warm and happy
Kelsey-Crazy about fun, she's always looking for it and it causes the rest of us to find it
Macauley-Crazy about humor. She can't say anything without making everyone around her (and herself) laugh
Matt-Crazy about good food: used to work at Whole Foods and is scared of the sushi in Prague because it's a landlocked country-he makes a good point
Richard-Crazy about everything...our resident British kid who hates Christmas and puppies (but really) and we love him for it
TomandMeg-Crazy about each other. Married. Some people call them The Power Couple, Macauley calls them Mom and Dad behind their backs.

So with that crew, week one of our program FLEW by.

In a building found on this street (the door to our school is just to the right of the Tornado sign) across from a 5-story mall called The Palladium, TLH dropped us right into teaching methodologies, Czech lessons, lesson planning strategies, loads of games for our 'teacher toolbox', etc. etc. They took us out for a fancy dinner, made us teach a game to our new Czech students who looked at us all like we were crazy, and Friday night finished with the October group showing us around to all of their favorite places. We were exhausted after our first week here, but SO pumped up. We had learned a ton about Prague, about our new program, about our new friends and cue the music...a little about ourselves already. We can't wait to tell you more, but for now, it's currently snowing in Dresden, Germany and I can't look at this computer screen anymore when that old town beauty is waiting for us!

Christmas here was beautiful and we of course miss everyone at home so much. We hope your Christmases have been extremely blessed and you were able to focus on your favorites this season. Merry Christmas to all of our favorites (that's you)!!!!!!!!!

We made it... the Prague blog begins... (Prague, Czech Republic)

Tom:

After a peaceful stay in Budapest, which is tied for my favorite city (with Odou), we gather our absurdly heavy things one last time and board the train. A mixture of sadness and relief sweep over me. It's over. It's beginning.

I start to reflect on our trip - it has been an incredible two weeks. I have experienced a whirlwind of culture, cuisine, beauty, and love. The memories Meg and I have created together are precious, invaluable. I'm overcome with thankfulness, and am starting to realize that we get to share a lifetime of these types of moments. The thought makes me smile as the Czech countryside rolls by: We are going to live in Prague.

*Side note: If you are ever traveling from Budapest to Prague, I would recommend doing a little research before buying a ticket. Although the train was fairly empty and we had plenty of space, there was basically no food or drink for the 7 plus hour ride. Not cool, man.

As the train eases to a halt, we tussle with our luggage and manage to de-board. Our feet touch the ground, and we glance up to take in the moment. We immediately recognize two people that we have never met in person: Our hosts, Jan & Emma. The first thing that Meg and I notice is that Jan has a strong resemblance to my brother, Ben. As a matter of fact, he looks exactly like him. Thank you, Prague, I already feel at home.

This picture does not capture how massive this church is - this is what we see when we walk out of our door.

After Jan and Emma get us settled into the apartment (they picked us up from the train station and drove us there - they didn't have to, they offered), they invite us to have dinner and pivo (beer) next door. The restaurant has a cozy, comfortable feel to it - Meg and I can't stop smiling. Emma, who is from France, orders us both a half liter of pilsner. We clink our glasses together with anticipation, as we are about to have our first taste of the world famous Czech pivo. It does not disappoint.

The golden ale is light, smooth, and drinkable. It differs from the American style in several ways, but most notably in variety. There are basically three types of beer served in Czech breweries: Light, dark, and a mixture of the two. Most of the beer served in breweries is "tank" style, meaning that it is not pasteurized. As a result, it only stays fresh for about 5 days. Luckily, the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world - so finishing a batch is rarely an issue.

But I digress... while enjoying one to four large beers, we learn a little about our hosts. As I previously stated, Emma is from France - she speaks three languages (French, English, and Czech), and has lived with Jan in Prague for nearly 5 years. Jan is originally from a small village in the Czech countryside - he also speaks three languages, so they are constantly switching back and forth during conversation (super cool). He studied agriculture in the U.S. for a year at Kansas State and studied business in France, which is where he met Emma. In summation, they are kind, friendly, and incredibly interesting.

I feel my story meandering again... I think I'm trying to showcase my enjoyment of beer on my first night in Prague. So, after a lovely time, Jan and Emma (who insisted that they pay for our meal) drive us to another bar where we are meeting our TEFL classmates for the first time. Good thing we are sober!

After meeting our fantastic fellow students (I'll let Meg tell you more about them in the next post), we head home and collapse into bed. The dream begins.