The routine has officially set in haha. And it’s taking a toll on me I have to say.
I can’t believe I’m already 2 months in - that means only 8 months left?! What!? I know this is only my second time but I really like this routine of sitting on my balcony, writing a bit, and thinking about all that's happened in the past month. Just got back from grocery shopping on this beautiful fall day and ready to recap!!
The days are long but the weeks and months are flying by for sure. I’ve been super busy, which I’m really really thankful for, giving reason for my word/phrase for Month 2: a good tired. Overall this month has been packed with random little trips, visits, private lessons, extra classes, you name it. I started a 30 day yoga challenge with other Americans so stay tuned for how that goes!! And definitely finding my place, growing my relationships with students/colleagues. Even though I complain a lot about being tired I’m SO thankful for this extreme versus the opposite. I know I could have just as easily fallen into a boring, uneventful routine, so in a way I’m really thrilled to be this exhausted haha.
It's definitely a combination of physical and mental exhaustion too. The physical part is obvious to me because when my 6am alarm goes off, the first thing I do is promise myself I can take a nap after the school day. Do I ever actuallyyy have time for a nap? Of course not. But it gets me out of bed and that's all that matters in the moment lol. My morning then includes at least 2 or 3 cups of coffee in between classes, but I'm still a little skeptical of the caffeine content in this instant coffee I'm forced to drink so I'm not toooo worried about my health haha. But then as soon as I get home, anywhere between 3-5PM now, I struggle to keep my eyes open. I have to make a conscious decision either not to change into comfy clothes or just avoid the couch in general if I wanna get any work done. Because once I set that 20 minute nap alarm, it always alwayss turns into at least an hour and then ugh it’s already dinner time haha. And if I get all my work done, bed time is so easily 9:30pm now haha. Not mad about it. The random things I do after school change on a daily basis, and it's kinda funny when I tell people I'm so busy because they're like "oh what have you been doing" and it's genuinely hard for me to remember but I somehow manage to keep myself occupied during the week haha. Lately it's been a random English lesson here, going to the pub with my coworker, or going on a bike ride with my mentor. It changes all the time.
Also feeling a bit mentally exhausted but I’m blaming it all on this adjustment period. Teaching is brand new to me and lesson planning entire presentations that get students interested and talking is pretty hard haha. I’m trying to be a cool friend to them rather than a boring lecturer, and bring up their English confidence without scaring them to death. I also feel a bit socially exhausted when I’m with coworkers/students for a long period of time because it takes more energy than normal to hold a conversation with more simplified English and not always feeling like my true relaxed self if that makes any sense. I say all of this though with the most appreciation for all of those people though, because I can only imagine it takes double that energy, and probably more, to speak English to me.
Soooo a ton has happened but here’s my rose/bud/thorn for the past 4 weeks!
Rose #1: Weekend excursions for SURE. This month I’ve had extremely eventful weekends that make getting through the week so much easier. It’s drained me a bit, not gonna lie, to figure out transport/packing/all that every single weekend. But hey - the fact I get to do this is incredible. And every weekend I’m reminded how lucky I am to literally live here for a year and only spend $5 on a train ticket to get to Prague. Whenever I want. So this month I got to visit South Moravia (Mikulov and Valtice), Brno, and of course Prague. All of these places, simply incredible. One of the other weekends I joined my colleagues on an interesting canoeing trip haha. Might be worth it to write a whole post about it because I’ll defintielyyyy wanna remember that one haha. So yeah, the weekends have been incredible and make me feel like I’m really living the dream out here!
Rose #2: This may have been the rose of my entire time here so far. After class one day, a student followed me out and walked with me back to my office. She said to me “Michaela, I just wanted to tell you how much having you here has helped my English. I don’t feel nervous anymore and we all get excited for your classes”. She was more of a shy student in my classes, but ever since that day she’s gotten so much more active and has come to my English clubs after school so excited and so talkative. I almost teared up a little because she was so genuine and so grateful. I still feel a little uncomfortable accepting these compliments because sometimes I have no idea what I’m doing and just kinda wing it. But to hear that from her after just being here for 2 months that I've made an impact gave me a needed boost of confidence. Even if there's only one person I've helped, I'd consider this whole year a success!
**Can I add one more rose plz: my latest care package from my mom had Chick-fil-A sauce in it <3 and Old Bay <3 I am whole again <3
Thorn: In the middle of the month I got my first feeling of routine - but not in the most positive way haha. The struggling to get up early and repeating a similar lesson in 5 classes in a row got to me. Up until this week I’ve genuinely been excited for each day because things are so new, still getting a feel for my students and the vibe of each class. But nowww it kinda hit that the super excitement probably is temporary haha. Didn’t really love that feeling of wishing the long days to be over with, and commiserating with the other teachers about our dread…haha but I think that’s also normal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a constant feeling and not even THAT bad. But the first glimpse of that concerned me a bit considering I’m only 2 months in haha. Wish me luck!
Bud: Looking forward to a lot! As usual! I’m genuinely excited for the next couple of weeks as the fall fully arrives because I’ve been dying to go walk around and photograph these insane yellow/orange trees but waiting for the perfect time. The fall is my favorite season for sure so I love the chilly afternoons while it’s still a bit sunny, sweatshirt weather, and the incredible nature. I’m also sooo excited for our next long weekend break at the end of October because a group of us are going to Salzburg, Austria!! Sound of Music land I can’t wait :)
So despite the exhaustion, this month has been full of so much adventure and beauty that’s for sure!! Here’s the photo dump of random things from Month 2:
