Routine & School Update

I’d say that a routine is veryyy slowly coming along maybe? The weekdays are starting to look the same and weekends have been filled with travel so far, so things are coming together a bit more! A couple things I’ve found myself doing on a weekly/daily basis to help manage my time:

• Grocery shopping in smaller more frequent trips. It’s about a 15 minute walk from my apartment so somedays it’s a nice walk to get moving and somedays it’s the most inconvenient thing haha. I’m still trying to experiment with foods easy to cook with the minimal kitchen I have, so if I have an idea I like to make an event out of it and go get just those ingredients and try it out! It’s been pretty fun so far and a trip to the czech grocery store is alwaysss an adventure. It’s totally random what produce you’ll find, if I’m lucky I’ll grab the single bag of lettuce. Canned black beans don’t exist which is depressing, and I still need to find a good hot sauce. I actually found Tabasco in a box one day but it was literally like $10 sooo I’m still on the lookout for that. Also yes I eat out of pots because I only have tiny bowls thank you

• Running along the river. Right down the hill from my apartment there’s a path that follows the river for a couple miles, and thank god its mostly flat haha. In the beginning I found myself going on long walks after school and getting a feel for where the paths actually lead. But in the past week or two I picked up running again, maybe 2 or 3 times a week, and have actually really enjoyed it? Which is weird for me lol. The path is half paved and half dirt but shared by families, bikers, runners, everyone. It’s almost exactly a 4mile loop from my apartment so it’s a solid distance I can do without dying in about 35 minutes depending on the day lol. I always throw on a podcast or have some playlists downloaded so it’s a nice little escape and the most beautiful view of a flowing river with kayakers passing by all the time. Theres also 2 pubs hidden in the forest that you just stumble across when you’re running so I’ve only been once with other people, kinda scared to go alone haha, but Czechs swear that beer is needed for digestion when you’re working out haha. Here's some views mid-run :)

• Making a plan or two with students/coworkers. I’m hesitant to say this but the generosity from coworkers and students has yet to let up whatsoever. These plans come more randomly but just this week I was invited to meet up with a former student from my school, and a couple days later a group of current students I teach! Their English is fantastic and we spoke a lot about how getting to know each other outside of school makes things less daunting and they see me as a peer more than a teacher which I think is my ultimate goal. I want them to be comfortable with me and not intimated or nervous whatsoever. My coworkers have also invited me to go blueberry and mushroom picking (a classic Czech pastime), visited one of their houses for freshly made apple juice, and another’s for tea and a little tour of her husband’s stained glass window shop. So so incredible.

• Facetiming! Honestly such a highlight of my routine and a necessary one. Sometimes my friends and I will decide like every Sunday we catch up, and sometimes it’s just random. But after dinner when I’ve got some time I usually interrupt my friends work days and see if I can catch them at a good time :)

• Cute part of my routine is being welcomed by Hugo every time I come back from school <3 it’s the little things

**One thing that conveniently did mess up my routine is a nice little leak in my apartment :) I got out of the shower to a knock on my door from my landlady who lives below me and had her friend on the phone to speak English to me haha. Apparently the shower drain was leaking so I was without water for ~3 days and had to shower/do laundry at a coworkers house which was so kind of them but stressful for sure. First bump in the road conquered haha.**

Even though each week is looking a bit different, I usually have a list of the same things I need to do and just find time to do them whenever I can. Things are still changing for sure though - English club starts next week! That means I’ll be at school a bit later than usual, ending at 4pm somedays so that’ll definitely switch things up.

Time is really flying though, can’t believe it’ll be 2 months soon since I’ve been here. Thats 2/10 months DONE and I feel like I’ve barely started!! This week I started doing lessons on my own and while the teachers are still present to translate here and there, I pretty much took on the whole class. Some definitely went better than others haha but it’s all part of the learning curve right? One of my classes remembered from my introduction my interest in women’s health and actually asked me to do a whole lesson on what that looks like, so I’m super excited for next week because that class has really great English. Some lessons I’ve been doing involve describing people and each other so it’s been fun to pull celebrities I know they’re all obsessed with and talk about their

style and things like that. We did some funny activity where they described characteristics to each other and drew them on the board, we love Fiona & Fred <3. I’ve also covered a bit of a travel unit, had students create their own itineraries, listen to my stories about traveling and guess which ones I’m lying/telling the truth about, and even did a little virtual airport walkthrough. It’s all a bit new to me but doing my best and genuinely enjoying it (when it works lol)

So much goes on on a daily basis and I feel the need to write it all down before I forget it haha so hope these little updates are interesting and give you a look into my daily life!! Things will probably be different this time next week but one step at a time lol