I know that I am way overdue for an update....but I've been a busy girl.

The last two weeks of the TEFL class were insanity. We had hours and hours of class followed by hours and hours of lesson planning, grammar tests, and one-to-one tutoring. It was exhausting. I have a new found appreciation for teachers. I saw that a well prepared teacher is a much more effective teacher, and that this takes both a lot of time and effort. But all of our hard work definitely paid off....

We finished our TEFL certification on Friday. That afternoon, my group was teaching a class of 8 pre-intermediate woman for 4 hours. I was the caboose of the group, teaching the last 45 minutes of the class. The last to teach the last class on the last day. I was pumped to go out with a bang and teach a great lesson. But things did not go according to plan and I BOMBED the last lesson. My timing was off, I never got into a good rhythm, and knew the students were not even remotely interested. With 10 minutes left in the class, I threw my plan right out the window. Luckily, I had a fun game in mind and used that to salvage the last few minutes of the class. It was the least I could do to save the last lesson of the last day.

But I didn't get too upset about the awful last lesson because we were finally done! Word on the street was that the champagne celebration after the certificate ceremony was epic. But we all had our doubts. How can they throw an epic cecelebration for 25+ people? But they did not disappoint. The champagne was flowing for several hours while we all celebrated with each other, snapping as many photos as possible. This is a picture of our teacher, Terry, and his "biatches" as he so kindly refereed to us. Terry was a great teacher and I learned an enormous amount from him. He was determined not to just teach the information but for us to discover the information and learn for ourselves. On top of his great teaching, he is also a very funny guy. I don't know if it his British accent of his immense collection of anecdotal stories, but he could keep us laughing for hours.

After the champagne ran dry, we continued the celebration and hit the town. We left the Vysocanska metro station one last time as a big group and went downtown to find some fun bars. The excitement buzzing through the whole group was palpable. We were ready to get down....it was business time (hat and all). Our teacher, Trisha, led the way and brought us to two fun bars. We danced the night away until the sun was finally coming up. A fun time was had by all.

Saturday morning....not so much fun. We had spent our last night in Hotel Pivovar. We were hung over and tired after only 3 hours of sleep. We checked out at noon and had a surprisngly easy move into our new apartment. From the first minute of putting my bags down, I haven't stopped loving this apartment. It is amazing. It is located in Nove Mesto, a cute and fun part of town. We have hundreds restaurants, bars, and cafes all within a several block radius from our house. We walk out of our front door, turn right and less than a block away is the Vlatava river. A 5 minute walk brings you into the center of Old Town Prague. Its amazing. This is the view from our balcony. We look over the National Theater. At night, hundreds of white birds prop themselves on the roof and just hang out. Every now and then, all of them will start circling the building. It is a little errie but amazingly beautiful at the same time.

Now that we are living in the city, I am trying to see as much of it as I can. The streets alone are enough to be awed by this amazing city. Every building has intricate detailing and beautiful moldings. The pastel colors of the buildings makes for a beautiful canvas atop the cobblestoned streets. Yesterday, I went to the Jewish quarter with my friends Farah, Clinton and Jake. We walked around a bit and went into the Spanish synagogue. It was beautiful. The stained glass windows were purple and yellow and illuminated the building magnificently. I have never seen a synagogue be so ornate and magnificent. The signs said no pictures, but I snuck a few in.

That is all the blogging I have in me for today. Now that I am no longer in school all day every day, I hope to keep this blog a little more up to date. Next time I will tell you about finding a job and hopefully signing a contract.