Back by Popular Demand

Hi again!

I guess I've been on something of a blog hiatus for a while... oops! I didn't think I had anything too terribly interesting to say, but a stern talking-to from a grandmother who never admits wrongdoing on the part of her grandchildren has left no doubt in my mind that I need to write more. So here I am, to tell you the story of my life.

I guess I should start with my return to Ostrava after Christmas. The trip was rather uneventful (unless you count the absolute horror of trying to lug a 50 pound suitcase through a tiny train door), but the first few days over here were crazy. It seems our boys club really missed Deb and me, so they kept us out until ridiculous hours of the night for the first few days. Being our ever-so-responsible selves as usual, we didn't even bother putting up a fight. As it turns out, however, 7 am bed times and 5 pm wake-ups do not a jet-lag cure make. The first few days of school were exceptionally painful and exhausting, but I think I've found myself a somewhat regular sleep schedule now. Not a moment too soon.

Although Ostrava left its residents with a totally green Christmas, it has been snowing just about every day for the past week. All this white stuff gave the boys a seemingly insatiable desire to go the mountains and strap on their snowboards. So, on Friday afternoon we hopped a train and off we went! As soon as we checked into the hotel, the boys, Deb, and Martina donned their snow gear and hit the slopes. I, a determined non-skier, hung out in our nice, warm, cozy room until they were done. When they got back, we hit the hotel restaurant and bar for a delightful meal and more than enough drinks to make us a little bit silly. When the bar closed, we took some drinks back to our room and continued the festivities.

A couple of hours of wine, beer, and spirits later, somebody (I don't remember who), somehow, thought it would be a good idea to go out and play in the snow... sure, why not? Soooo... on went the snow pants, jackets, hats, and gloves and out into the winter night we headed! A couple of snowboards also found their way onto the hill with us so, naturally, snowboard-toboganning ensued. It seemed like a good idea at the time... then Drew and I crashed into a metal pole and the giant bruise/welt on my left arm is making me think that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't the smartest endeavour.

After the crash, I decided to leave the snowboard-tobogganning to the others, and opted instead to lay flat on my back in the snow and stare up at the heavens. Best. Idea. Ever. It was snowing heavily, and a flurry of gigantic, fluffy white snowflakes on a backdrop of pitch-black sky made it seem as though I was living in a snowglobe with an endless supply of falling glitter. Either that, or the stars had decided to leave the sky and come down to Earth for a visit. Whichever way you look at it, it was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately for you, I can't upload mental images to a blog - if I could, you would be mesmerized, too. I lay there, staring up at the sky, until my teeth started chattering and I thought it might be a good time to retreat into the warmth of our room.

We all went back inside and, responsibility be damned, continued to drink. On Saturday morning we got up with difficulty, had breakfast, then got ready to hit the slopes again. While everyone was out skiing, I spent the day drinking tea, reading, and writing. I think they all thought I was really bored, but an entire day of bumming around and not needing to think at all was my idea of perfection.

By four o'clock we were all pretty dead so we did the only logical thing - hit up the sauna. Of course, this being Europe, we saw much more of each other than we had originally set out to this weekend, but what can you do? A little nudity never hurt anyone ;)
What hurt was the "correct" way of enjoying this sauna. That is, sit in a 90 degree room for fifteen minutes, sweating profusely, then immediately dump a bucket of freezing water on your head when you walk out! It's for crazies, I tell you, crazies.

After all that adventure, it felt like the weekend should be over, but it wasn't! Hooray!! On Sunday, we had a nice relaxing day involving ice cream, badminton, and a duck for dinner! Win-win-win.

I hope this will assuage the blog cravings for a while. I do have a week off coming up soon, so I'll hopefully have something interesting to report after that!

Ciao!

Steph :)

My New Happy Place

Alright, so I guess I left you in a bit of a depressing place last time, but let me assure you that I am doing much better now!!

After I left Russia, I came to Ostrava and I have to say, although I'm not usually one for believing in "fate"(as our favourite Passions character would put it), I think this is where I was meant to be. It's a really great city - small and polluted, but with loads of character and plenty of things to do and Milka bars available at most stores :)

It also helps that the people I work with are AMAZING!! It's a bit of a boy's club...that is, I'm basically the only girl at the primary school, but it's all good. They are taking excellent care of me - unless you count taking me out for countless beers every night as something else than "exellent care". They are really funny boys, too. Of course, they talk about their genitals more than most people would care for, but I've lived with Jean-Luc for 20 years, so I'm used to it and I can laugh it off.

Since coming to the Czech Republic, I've been super busy. My first order of business was trying to find an apartment. Success! I have some sweet, orange, 70's style couches, a giant closet for my not-so-extensive wardrobe, a bed with storage so I don't have to stare at my luggage every night, and a dishwasher, which I will never use. I also have a gigantic TV for scaring the crap out of myself by watching Criminal Minds in the dark before bed, but I'm still working on acquiring a wire to plug in my computer... so for now, the fear of the dark remains mild.

After finding a place to live, I started searching for friends (what a dork!). The boys were very helpful here, as they've all been around for a few years and therefore know every single English speaking person in the city! Craig took matters into his own hads and organized my very first HWP (apparently, that's Australian shorthand for House Warming Party). A bunch of people came, some of whose names I still do not know, and we warmed my house right up... with booze, of course!

After warming the apartment, it was time get out and explore. Someone, somewhere, heard tell of some kind of street party/wine festival/concert in a small town just outside of Ostrava a few weeks ago, so we hopped on a bus and pursued the adventure!! It was amazing!! A rather long street was entirely blocked off to traffic, so that people could wander from house to house, stopping at the stalls people had set up to sell home-made gulash, beer, burčak (some type of unfinished wine product), and other treats. It was an amazing way to spend the day!!

While we were there, we met a Czech couple who had spent a few years in Chicago. They were very nice and we chatted for a while. They were very impressed to find a Canadian, some Americans, and an Australian on their small-town street! So impressed, in fact, that they invited us to a BBQ they were having the following week. We ended up going, only to find out it was a family barbecue. Slightly awkward, but somehow still fun. It's always interesting when people who don't speak English try to ply you with drinks containing 50% alcohol, and when you try to wash them down with the only thing nearby (beer!) an elderly woman starts telling you what a bad headache you will have in the morning and rushing around trying to find you a glass of water instead! It's nice to be looked after!

Finally, last weekend was a long one in the Czech Republic, so Drew, Craig, Deb, Ian and I headed down to Budapest. I was not sure what to expect as last time I was there it was too cold to concentrate and no one seemed to know where anything was so I was lost the whole time. Well, let me just say - Budapest is fantastic!!!! It's such a beautiful city! The parliament building is so nice, I think I could have done nothing but stare at it all weekend and I would have been satisfied. I didn't stand in one place all weekend though - we walked around most of the city, went on two boat tours in one day (day and night... no puking on either!!), ate like kings, drank in a pub in the park and visited the famous bath houses of Budapest. Overall, it was an exhausting, but wonderful weekend! I would go back anyday!

I guess that's about it for now - I wrote this post a week ago, and have since been robbed of my wallet, cell phone, and house keys, but we're not going to go into that, because this was meant to be a happy post!!

Here's a picture for those of you who don't have Facebook, to hit the happy note again!

Escape from the Iron Curtain

Ok, so maybe Moscow wasn't the best idea I've ever had.

To make a long story (that I really don't feel like re-hashing from the beginning) short, they sucked!!! Here's the point-form version of what happened:

• They put me up in a hotel an hour and a half away from school and expected me to take the metro across three metro lines all marked in Russian, by myself, on my second day there.
• This hotel was not only far from school, but far from everything else as well - and that includes food. The best dinner available within walking distance from the hotel was a hot dog... and not even a delicious one. 
• I was told repeatedly to arrive in Moscow before the 10th of August, so I did. Apparently, I was the only one who received these instructions... everyone else will be arriving starting tomorrow and into next week. They even asked me why I was here so early... I was speechless.
• Because of my distance from everything, I was often forced to sit in my hotel room alone, waiting for further instructions, which generally didn't come until late afternoon. Probably not the best use of my time.
• When I did receive calls from them, it was either to show me apartments in scary buildings, bully me into picking an apartment in one of the scary buildings (and make the choice for two other people, by the way), or to haul me into school for five-minute meetings. Sometimes, I didn't get any calls, so I just waited around like an idiot.

All in all, it was crappy - I was alone, hungry, and completely uninformed about anything that was going on. It was a terrible feeling. I had multiple meltdowns and was thisclose to booking a flight home. 

But then I had a brilliant idea. I e-mailed the guy who had interviewed me while ago for a job in the Czech Republic. I asked him if, by some miracle, he had any last minute jobs that needed filling. Somehow, he did. Soooo... I booked a flight out of Moscow for the very next day. 

And now, here I am, in Helsinki, waiting to board a flight to the Czech Republic, where I will be teaching/coordinating Kindergarten (3-5 yrs old... a bit young, but not in Russia!) in Ostrava. Hopefully, this decision works out better than my last decision.

I'll keep you posted!

Stephka :)

P.S. Thanks to Johanne for the title of this blog... I'm not entirely sure what it means, but I trust her.