Have you ever had one of those weeks where previously things were just going along great, life was going by with not a care in the world...well maybe a couple of minor issues here and there...then all of sudden...BAM!! Everything is going wrong all once and you’re like...what happened?
Well, this past week has been like that for me. Where do I start...hum...first off I’ll start with DHL. My mom sent me a package, about three weeks ago through DHL and I still have not received it yet. The kicker being that it has been in Prague for 2 of those weeks stuck at the customs office. My mom did receive a message saying that customs had opened the package, taken everything out, and made a list of all the items in it. They then wanted her to email back with a value on all the items in there...probably for tax reasons. Okay well this happened two weeks ago. Two days after my mom sends them the list I call the DHL office here in Prague wondering why I haven’t received it yet? Oh yes, well you have to fax me a copy of your passport in order to claim it, and then we’ll send out your package. Great...when were you going to tell me this? I fax a copy of my passport out that day. Two days later...no package...I call again...what’s the status of my package? Oh well we have to send you a copy of a power of attorney statement that you need to sign, give the power of attorney to DHL so they can get the package from customs. Okay...great why didn’t you tell this to me on the phone two days ago? So I receive the email from the lady with the documents, call her the next day as I had some questions regarding it. Okay I’ll have my colleague call you back in two hours. It’s the next day and I still haven’t talked to him. I did end up sending in those documents to them yesterday so in a perfect world I should be receiving my package today...but that probably won’t happen. Moral of the story, I would caution anyone from using DHL when sending packages to the Czech Republic as their office here is not exactly the swiftest that I have seen.
Next up...my job. First thing that went wrong was that I started working this past month without a contract. I did get hired two days before school started so I understand a slight delay in the contract. And I did ask what my pay was going to be but they kept saying that they had to write up a job description for me first. Okay well, the waiting is over and I just received my contract on Tuesday, and let’s just say it’s less than stellar. Basically if I had known I was going to be paid so low I would have not have accepted the job and would have looked elsewhere. I realize the pay scales are lower here than they would be back in Canada, but when I was making slightly more per hour last year working at a Czech daycare with little responsibilities at a job that requires hardly any qualification, I feel we have a problem. The work I’m doing now requires a bit of planning and a ton of responsibility as I am working with Special Education Needs students in pull out sessions and am working on their IEP and am writing assessments at the end of it. On Wednesday I had a talk with my principal regarding a raise and she was going to take it back to the finance board. So we’ll see where that goes, and if it goes nowhere I think I’ll be moving back to my old job or finding babysitting jobs where the pay is just as good. Really disappointing to say the least!
Then there’s the whole fact that we still haven’t gotten our furniture or internet yet for our apartment. We really do appreciate living in a lovely big apartment, but we honestly need furniture and more importantly internet. We have been lucky enough to be able to steal a very weak wireless signal when we are in Chelsa’s room. This has been our saving grace as we are at least able to check internet once or twice a day depending on how strong the signal is, otherwise we would be spending tons of money on internet cafes. We feel like we’ve been super patient in regards to waiting for our furniture but on the other hand we have a contract that both parties have signed stating that we are provided with a furnished flat that includes internet. The hard part about everything too is that we’re always told that it will be coming soon. As in two weeks ago we were told that the stuff will be there that weekend, well that never happened. Then we’re told that everything is waiting for us in a warehouse but they’re just waiting to find a time when our manager can come bring it to our house. Then talking to our manager he said he was never told this information. So it’s been frustrating for sure. We’ll be taking our contract with us to practice tonight and showing it to our coach to see if he can have any pull as we think we’ll be starting to give them deadlines as we have been upholding our end of the contract by producing on the ice!
So as you can see it’s been a frustrating week for me, but I’m hoping things will get better. It’s Jeni’s birthday on Sunday so we’re looking forward to that as we’re having a bit of a party at our apartment after the game that day. But granted life isn’t all that bad as I’m still living in Prague and playing hockey!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Slavia vs. Sparta Hockey Game
On Tuesday we were told that Mr. Kott (our owner) was giving us free tickets to the Slavia vs. Sparta hockey game. We were pretty pumped to go because for one...free tickets are always a bonus and two, it’s a rivalry game as they are the two hockey teams from Prague. So we received our tickets at the rink from a teammate who was also going to the game. Upon looking at the tickets we saw that they were 1Kc. Okay that’s like about maybe 5 cents. Hum...what kind of nose bleed section are we going to be in?
Well nope they weren’t. After asking for some help we were directed to the second level, through extra security, where we were going to be sitting. Now this isn’t any regular second level – it’s more like a whole mezzanine full of seats, bars and tables overlooking the rink where you can sit, eat and drink. That’s right I said eat and drink. There was a huge buffet full of amazing FREE food along with a dessert table and free beer. I was pretty much in heaven as most of you know how much I love to eat. But also the dessert table was amazing. I’ve had some cakes here in Prague for teammate’s birthdays and what not, and have to say that they were less than stellar. Well on this table were some of the best cakes I have ever had! Needless to say we were all in heaven and I stuffed myself full off the amazing food. Oh yeah and Slavia won 2-1, so it was a great night!
Arielle and Chelsa
Chelsa and Jeni
The buffet
The dessert table
Me enjoying the free food
A picture of the rink
I forgot my camera that night, so a big thanks to Chelsa for letting me steal her pictures!
Well nope they weren’t. After asking for some help we were directed to the second level, through extra security, where we were going to be sitting. Now this isn’t any regular second level – it’s more like a whole mezzanine full of seats, bars and tables overlooking the rink where you can sit, eat and drink. That’s right I said eat and drink. There was a huge buffet full of amazing FREE food along with a dessert table and free beer. I was pretty much in heaven as most of you know how much I love to eat. But also the dessert table was amazing. I’ve had some cakes here in Prague for teammate’s birthdays and what not, and have to say that they were less than stellar. Well on this table were some of the best cakes I have ever had! Needless to say we were all in heaven and I stuffed myself full off the amazing food. Oh yeah and Slavia won 2-1, so it was a great night!
Arielle and Chelsa
Chelsa and Jeni
The buffet
The dessert table
Me enjoying the free food
A picture of the rink
I forgot my camera that night, so a big thanks to Chelsa for letting me steal her pictures!
Krakow, Poland
We had last weekend off from hockey as the National team had a training camp, therefore pretty much taking our whole team away. So for me that meant I could go and travel. I decided to head to Krakow, Poland for two days. Random you might think, which is what my mom said, but actually it’s not really. A bunch of my friends here have been to Krakow and have said nothing but good things about it and how awesome it was...kind of like a smaller version of Prague, so I decided I should check it out.
After practice Thursday night I took the night train there. I pretty much stepped back in time to the 60’s or maybe 50’s as the train I was on was super old and loud. I had never been on a night train and after that ride, I don’t think I would do it again. The quarters were cramped and the fold down bed was more like a piece of plywood. I was lucky to be riding in a compartment with a couple from Toronto on a tour group, so it was good to chat with them a bit. I arrived in Krakow at 6:30am and found my hostel. It was actually a great hostel, free internet and super helpful staff. The lady there informed me of a tour leaving at 8am to go to Auschwitz and Birkenau that morning, so I thought, hey what the heck. So after a quick breakfast and shower, I was off on the bus to Auschwitz.
The tour was amazing. I had already been to Dachau which is another concentration camp just outside of Munich, so knew what I was in store for. It was about an hour and half bus ride there and along the way they showed a video on the bus about the liberation of the camp and some other informative information. After that I pretty much passed out on the bus due to the zero sleep I got on the train the previous night. The Auschwitz concentration camp is about 30 long brick buildings (original) with 12 or so set up with museums inside. It was actually built to hold Polish prisoners but obviously was turned into something else. We went through I think close to all of them was given a ton of information. A couple of things really stood out to me. First how they had a whole building where they conducted experiments on some of the prisoners, as in infected them with certain diseases to see how they would react and other things that were pretty horrible. They had pictures displayed on the walls showing some of what went on. Second on how much stuff the Nazi’s took from the Jews. They were told that they were being relocated and were going to start a new life. So naturally the Jews took all their prized possessions. They had rooms in the museum full of suit cases and possessions (hair brushes, shoes, prosthetics, etc. ) that they had took from the prisoner . I guess they housed all of this in a big warehouse called Canada and Canada II which the prisoners had named because according to them Canada was a rich country. Thirdly they had a room that had on display a ton of human hair which was behind some glass. This was pretty powerful...upon arrival at the camp the prisoner’s hair was shaved off because of chance of getting lice. That hair was used to make socks and blankets...pretty gross. Finally they ended the Auschwitz tour with a look at one of the gas chambers. They had a bunker and inside it looked liked a big shower room. Well of course that was not the cause although they lead the prisoners to think that was what was going to happen to them. You were not allowed to take pictures inside of the buildings, just on the grounds outside as you can see below.
Entrance into the came where is says "work will bring freedom"
Streets of Auschwitz, and the big brick buildings.
The side of the camp...as you can see with the barbwire fence escape is not really an option
From here we took the bus on to Birkenau, another concentration camp that was only 3km away. This place was absolutely huge! It had more than 300 prison barracks that could hold 200, 000 inmates at one time, along with four gas chambers. Not all of the barracks are still there as much of it was destroyed by the Nazi’s. You can really get a sense of how huge the place it from the top of the watch tour.
Entrance into Birkenau
Barracks where the inmates lived.
Inside...cramped quarters.
Overlooking the camp from the watch tower...you can get a sense of how big the place is.
That afternoon and the following day I toured the city and did quite a bit of shopping which was awesome. Old town Krakow has a huge square in the middle that’s 200m x 200m. Lining the square are a ton of cafes and restaurants and in the middle of the square is Cloth Hall. On the main level is a souvenir market and on the top is an art gallery. On the side of the square is St. Mary’s church. This looks quite nice from the outside, but just like your typical European church. I thought, hum...okay I’ll tour the church. Well it was absolutely amazing inside! There was so much going on inside the church with the sculptures and altarpieces that I didn’t know where to look. Definitely worth the visit! On the outskirts of the Old Town there is the Florian Gate and the Barbican, which were defensive bastion built in 1498...very medieval looking.
Florian Gate
St. Mary's Church
Inside
Streets leading up to the Old Town Square
Cloth Hall in the middle of the Old Town Square
Cafe's lining the square
Town Hall Tower
Church of SS Peter and Paul
I also toured around Wawel Castle and Cathedral which was situated on a hill overlooking Krakow. I wasn’t able to take a tour of all the castle but did manage a one hour tour of the royal apartments. I was pretty disappointed that we couldn’t take pictures so I can’t show how amazing the rooms were decorated. I really enjoyed looking at the wood work of the ceilings and the doors, pretty intricate. There was a church on the grounds as well that had a bunch of famous Polish kings and diplomats buried down in the crypt. No pictures were allowed to be taken in the church...of course.
Castle grounds
Wawel Cathedral
Overlooking Krakow from the Castle
Finally I have to talk about the food there. I was super pumped to be able to eat perogies two days in a row. They were fabulous for sure! I also had some borscht which I can’t believe I did as I hated it as a kid, but have grown to like it and the stuff I had in Krakow tasted close to how my mom makes it. All in all it was a great time and I highly suggest to anyone coming to Europe to go and check out Krakow!
After practice Thursday night I took the night train there. I pretty much stepped back in time to the 60’s or maybe 50’s as the train I was on was super old and loud. I had never been on a night train and after that ride, I don’t think I would do it again. The quarters were cramped and the fold down bed was more like a piece of plywood. I was lucky to be riding in a compartment with a couple from Toronto on a tour group, so it was good to chat with them a bit. I arrived in Krakow at 6:30am and found my hostel. It was actually a great hostel, free internet and super helpful staff. The lady there informed me of a tour leaving at 8am to go to Auschwitz and Birkenau that morning, so I thought, hey what the heck. So after a quick breakfast and shower, I was off on the bus to Auschwitz.
The tour was amazing. I had already been to Dachau which is another concentration camp just outside of Munich, so knew what I was in store for. It was about an hour and half bus ride there and along the way they showed a video on the bus about the liberation of the camp and some other informative information. After that I pretty much passed out on the bus due to the zero sleep I got on the train the previous night. The Auschwitz concentration camp is about 30 long brick buildings (original) with 12 or so set up with museums inside. It was actually built to hold Polish prisoners but obviously was turned into something else. We went through I think close to all of them was given a ton of information. A couple of things really stood out to me. First how they had a whole building where they conducted experiments on some of the prisoners, as in infected them with certain diseases to see how they would react and other things that were pretty horrible. They had pictures displayed on the walls showing some of what went on. Second on how much stuff the Nazi’s took from the Jews. They were told that they were being relocated and were going to start a new life. So naturally the Jews took all their prized possessions. They had rooms in the museum full of suit cases and possessions (hair brushes, shoes, prosthetics, etc. ) that they had took from the prisoner . I guess they housed all of this in a big warehouse called Canada and Canada II which the prisoners had named because according to them Canada was a rich country. Thirdly they had a room that had on display a ton of human hair which was behind some glass. This was pretty powerful...upon arrival at the camp the prisoner’s hair was shaved off because of chance of getting lice. That hair was used to make socks and blankets...pretty gross. Finally they ended the Auschwitz tour with a look at one of the gas chambers. They had a bunker and inside it looked liked a big shower room. Well of course that was not the cause although they lead the prisoners to think that was what was going to happen to them. You were not allowed to take pictures inside of the buildings, just on the grounds outside as you can see below.
Entrance into the came where is says "work will bring freedom"
Streets of Auschwitz, and the big brick buildings.
The side of the camp...as you can see with the barbwire fence escape is not really an option
From here we took the bus on to Birkenau, another concentration camp that was only 3km away. This place was absolutely huge! It had more than 300 prison barracks that could hold 200, 000 inmates at one time, along with four gas chambers. Not all of the barracks are still there as much of it was destroyed by the Nazi’s. You can really get a sense of how huge the place it from the top of the watch tour.
Entrance into Birkenau
Barracks where the inmates lived.
Inside...cramped quarters.
Overlooking the camp from the watch tower...you can get a sense of how big the place is.
That afternoon and the following day I toured the city and did quite a bit of shopping which was awesome. Old town Krakow has a huge square in the middle that’s 200m x 200m. Lining the square are a ton of cafes and restaurants and in the middle of the square is Cloth Hall. On the main level is a souvenir market and on the top is an art gallery. On the side of the square is St. Mary’s church. This looks quite nice from the outside, but just like your typical European church. I thought, hum...okay I’ll tour the church. Well it was absolutely amazing inside! There was so much going on inside the church with the sculptures and altarpieces that I didn’t know where to look. Definitely worth the visit! On the outskirts of the Old Town there is the Florian Gate and the Barbican, which were defensive bastion built in 1498...very medieval looking.
Florian Gate
St. Mary's Church
Inside
Streets leading up to the Old Town Square
Cloth Hall in the middle of the Old Town Square
Cafe's lining the square
Town Hall Tower
Church of SS Peter and Paul
I also toured around Wawel Castle and Cathedral which was situated on a hill overlooking Krakow. I wasn’t able to take a tour of all the castle but did manage a one hour tour of the royal apartments. I was pretty disappointed that we couldn’t take pictures so I can’t show how amazing the rooms were decorated. I really enjoyed looking at the wood work of the ceilings and the doors, pretty intricate. There was a church on the grounds as well that had a bunch of famous Polish kings and diplomats buried down in the crypt. No pictures were allowed to be taken in the church...of course.
Castle grounds
Wawel Cathedral
Overlooking Krakow from the Castle
Finally I have to talk about the food there. I was super pumped to be able to eat perogies two days in a row. They were fabulous for sure! I also had some borscht which I can’t believe I did as I hated it as a kid, but have grown to like it and the stuff I had in Krakow tasted close to how my mom makes it. All in all it was a great time and I highly suggest to anyone coming to Europe to go and check out Krakow!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Rachel Visits Prague
At the end of August my friend, Rachel Wild, from Switzerland came and visited me in Prague. We played together back in Switzerland and lucky for me she had some holidays and decided to take a bus out to Prague and visit me. We had a great time walking around the city, going to the Jewish Getto, an area where I hadn't really explored and eating some Czech food. We also went up to the Castle and took a tour. That was awesome as we were able to skip the crowds, and go to areas that were usually off limits, as in the crypt underneath the church that I didn't even know about. Unfortunately we did not have our new flat at that time so space was a little tight, but she made it through...in the cramped quarters with four Canadians. Hopefully on one of our weekends off I'll be able to take the bus and go and visit her in St. Gallen as I never made it back to Switzerland last year. Here are a couple of pictures taken of Prague while we were touring around. Thanks for coming out Rachel!
Rachel and I in Old Town Square
Another view of Old Town Square
Astronomical Clock
Hanging out by a huge fountain in the Castle Gardens
Changing of the guard at the castle...way too many tourists!
Inside St. Vitus Cathedral, the church on the castle grounds
View from the Castle overlooking Prague
Side view of the Castle
Full view of Prague Castle taken from the river...kind of shows you why I live in Prague...so beautiful!
Rachel and I in Old Town Square
Another view of Old Town Square
Astronomical Clock
Hanging out by a huge fountain in the Castle Gardens
Changing of the guard at the castle...way too many tourists!
Inside St. Vitus Cathedral, the church on the castle grounds
View from the Castle overlooking Prague
Side view of the Castle
Full view of Prague Castle taken from the river...kind of shows you why I live in Prague...so beautiful!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
My New Address
So here's my new address just in case you feel inclined to send me a care package, letters, or anything of that nature (wink, wink, Jeret). haha. No, I'm just kiddn', but I have been asked by a few people what it is, so here you go...
PPLK. SOCHORA
CP. 732/35
170 00 Prague 7
Czech Republic
PPLK. SOCHORA
CP. 732/35
170 00 Prague 7
Czech Republic
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Quick Update
Just wanted to write a quick note with an update on things here. Currently we're still without furniture, TV and most importantly internet in our flat. So if you email me, please be patient as I'll only be checking my email about every other day time allowing. Not to mention if you try calling our Vonage phone that won't work either. We're not completely settled in our new flat yet, as we've all been pretty busy starting work this week, but hopefully will have everything finished come the weekend. I'm starting to get really sick of living out of hockey bags, not to mention I can't find anything!
I started work yesterday and had a pretty great day. Things are a little interesting at the moment as I'm waiting on the teachers to assess the students who I'll be working with as my title is Special Education Needs teacher. So probably sometime next week things will get organized with that and I'll start working with the kids. I also don't start teaching swimming lessons until next week along with helping out in the preschool on Tuesday afternoons. I'm currently aiding a grade 1 class or as they would call it year two. The kids are from all over with a couple of diplomats children in my class and it's pretty cute to hear the British accents in the class. I need to run and head off to work for the afternoon, so once again I will try and post pictures of the new flat soon...hopefully by the end of the week.
I started work yesterday and had a pretty great day. Things are a little interesting at the moment as I'm waiting on the teachers to assess the students who I'll be working with as my title is Special Education Needs teacher. So probably sometime next week things will get organized with that and I'll start working with the kids. I also don't start teaching swimming lessons until next week along with helping out in the preschool on Tuesday afternoons. I'm currently aiding a grade 1 class or as they would call it year two. The kids are from all over with a couple of diplomats children in my class and it's pretty cute to hear the British accents in the class. I need to run and head off to work for the afternoon, so once again I will try and post pictures of the new flat soon...hopefully by the end of the week.
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