Still Alive in Kralupy

Hey,

I haven't added anything to the old blog in a couple of weeks... Take a deep breath, I'm fine. No need to panic. Nothing to see here. I've got lots to say, but most of it will have to wait until I get some of my pictures up. For now, let me give you a few things to chew on...

- A few weeks back, my great friends Lauren and Laura were in town. They are both currently studying in Rome. Twas a great weekend over all, but my camera was stolen out of my bag while touring through the city. This would explain the lack of new pictures for you to look at. Rest assured, I've managed to steal a number of pictures from some other friends who have been with me over the last few weeks, so I should have some more up for you soon. Get excited about Budapest, Vienna, and probably some more Prague pics.

- Today I had an experience I'm confident would not have happened in America. On Fridays, I have two classes... 11:50 and 2:00, both last 45 minutes. My 11:50 class is all sophomores... definitely one of my better classes. So we were meeting in room 18 for the first three months of school. Last week, we had to switch to another room so another class could use 18. Not a big deal. Today, my class is nowhere to be found. Not in 18, not in the other room, nowhere. Keeping a level head, I run to the teacher's office to see if maybe I missed a class change notice. Though I don't understand many of the things on the board, I am confident that none of it relates to me. As I'm just about to give up and assume that the class in on a trip, I decide to grab one of my students from another class and ask if they know where my students are. Very casually, this student walks over to the master schedule hanging on the wall. This schedule is huge, and lists every class, teacher, and room in the school. This schedule has not changed since August... so I think. With his pinky finger, points to my class on the schedule (a box no larger than a pencil eraser) and says with a smile, "Yes, this class is in room 1." (Say it outloud with a Czech accent... it's more fun.) At this point, I'm 10 minutes late. I run down to room 1, throw open the door, and find all my students just sitting around talking, playing cards, and reading books, as if it's completely normal that I'm not on time. "Why are we in this room?" I asked. "We don't know... they just changed the room assignements last week." (Also in a Czech accent). Nobody told me of the room change. None of my other classes have changed. There were no signs advertising said change. What the crap.

That was long, stupid story. I'm sorry.

I'll have more fun things for you soon.

In the mean time, pick up a copy of "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. One of the best books I've read in a very long time.