Early Mornings, Sore Knees, Plenty to Remember

Hi.

Had a big weekend, thought I'd tell you about it.

So last Thursday during my second lesson, I was informed that the following lesson would be cancelled due to a race from the cafeteria in the basement to the German room on the third floor. Oh, and that I was going to be a part of it. The race involved 12 of the classes at the school, 6 members on each team. The race involved all team members holding hands running as fast as they can up four flights of stairs... after climbing through a complex web of string, and memorizing 15 Czech words en route. I'm proud to report that the teachers succeeded in reaching the German room in 1 minute and 6 seconds, having memorized about 9 words. Unfortunately we didn't win. But we finished strong.

Thursday evening I headed into Prague to join my friends Joel, Chrissy and Courtney for a student ball (ples) at the beautiful Lucerna ballroom. We polka'd our eyes out, waltzed like never before, and even managed to not get trampled by the hordes of people packed onto the dance floor. It was a great night.

Friday morning, Joel and I rolled out of our respective beds at about 5:30am and again returned to the center of Prague. Our goal was to take pictures of some of the more beautiful, and normally tourist-packed spots in Prague... sans people. From 6 to about 7:30 they two of us amassed at least a hundred pictures. Below you'll find some of my favorites.

I returned to Kralupy around noonish and promptly went back to bed. The rest of my waking hours that day involved little more than eating pizza and reading John Steinbeck.

Saturday morning, I again rose from bed before 6, and prepared for a day of snowboarding with my roomie Zach and three students. We drove 2 1/2 hours north (5 of the most terrifying hours of driving in my life... Czechs aren't known for their defensive driving skills) to Spindleruv Mlyn in the heart of the Krkonose mountains. If you're familiar with New York skiing, think Holiday Valley, only a bit taller and with fewer chair lifts. This being only my second time on a snowboard, I found myself facedown in the snow more times than I care to admit. But it was really fun nonetheless.

Sunday, I headed into Prague one more time, this time for some alone time at one of my favorite coffee shops and a screening of Munich. I was fast asleep by about 9:30 Sunday night.

So there. I hope you enjoy a few of my pictures...