There is TOO much I want to remember and write down!! In the past couple of weeks I've had some really great memories made and had moments where I've thought to myself "Wow. Now that was a good day". Some of it is just pure fun, some is a bit of a confidence boost, and just celebration. On days when things get hard, I hope re-reading these memories makes things a bit better. So! Here's three really great days!
October 2 - Kayaking with Colleagues
Every year when they "close the river" a group of teachers from my school go on this infamous kayaking trip together. Not all teachers go and when I agreed to join some of them were like...good luck with that... All I heard was that it was a long fun day and in the past people got so drunk they flipped in the extremely still and flat water haha. So I knew I had to go and experience this since it was so hyped up. And my teacher actually invited one of the other ETAs in my area to join so I had someone to speak English to haha.
So the day started at a sharp 8am on the train where Hunter and I were greeted with Welcome Drink #1 haha. A nice beer at 8am really set the tone for the rest of the day, but also because the excuse of "welcome drink" was used on multiple occasions to get Hunter and I to drink haha. A couple students from the 3rd grade (17-ish years old) actually joined us which made it SO fun, so there was a solid group of 10 people all paired up to go down the river. I was happy to go with Bara who is another teacher at my school who speaks English haha and Hunter was with my English teacher Aleš. Keep in mind, going into this I had literally no idea what the day was going to look like. All I knew was the time to be at the train and that's literally it haha. What do I wear, no idea. Are we getting in the water, no idea. I was even asked if I was staying over by my mentor - literally no idea when this event ended haha. SO much happened throughout the day but basically we started kayaking around 10AM and didn't stop until 6ish, and then didn't get home until 10PM. All of this with NO LUNCH. I truly didn't notice until we got out of the boats at 6 and was like..um..I've eaten nothing today except a million calories in beer. So once we got out there was a pub at the end and we got some nice goulash which is like a Czech beef chili/stew thing. Anyways, those 8 hours on the river were extremely eventful and full of so many great memories!!
The energy around welcoming me to the teacher community was so so generous. They all surrounded me with "welcome drinks" and remembered the smallest of details we spoke about so they could start some conversation. Some teachers didn't speak English at all and still tried to say at least a couple words to me. I let them give me a Czech lesson towards the end of the trip which was like a comedy skit for them I swear haha at least it was a way to communicate
The strangers on the river were literally so fun. People would just come up to your kayak, link on to the side, offer you a drink, take one of yours, and strike up conversation. Mostly fun until people start referring to you and Bara as "the blondies" and doubt how 2 younger women can actually kayak, or better yet when they proceed to follow you down the river and call out to you random things in Czech I couldn't understand. I'll have you know we were like the only kayak to NOT flip haha. Also these two guys made me laugh who were so very drunk but could speak English so they were infatuated with where I was from and wanted to come visit haha
Watching Hunter and Aleš drunkenly kayak was so incredibly funny, especially when they flipped 3 times. Keep in mind the water is soooo calm and still so you have to be a certain level of drunk to get ourself that off-balance. Bara and I would race down the river and collect their floating shoes and bags that got all soaked. I don't know the last time I laughed that hard haha
I loved talking to the students in a much more relaxed environment where I think the alcohol gave them a bit of a confidence boost in speaking English. Because of that trip I feel a bit closer and more comfortable with them and I hope they do too :)
One of the other teachers was so adamant about taking pictures which was so great. He captured some of the very best moments you can scroll through:
October 7 - Kristyna Visit
During the beginning few months of our Fulbright grant, the head of the ETA program, Kristyna, makes a personal visit to each of us all around the Czech Republic to check in on us and make sure we're well-adjusted and everything. She'll come for a day or two, visit your school and watch a lesson, meet with you and your mentor separately, and help in anyway she can. Kristyna is awesome so I wasn't really nervous, although watching a lesson was a little nerve-racking haha. But I really didn't have any major issues I needed to bring up - I'm not lying when I say things are actually going really well! Some people have big problems with their mentor relationship, housing, teaching schedule, etc. But I feel super lucky to have a really supportive community around me and I think we've all been working well together.
So Kristyna visited Tábor on a Thursday where we went out to dinner, talked about everything - Fulbright related and not. I really feel like I got to know her on a personal level and not just as a semi-boss. And she shared the same since she really only knew us by our applications. She then came to my lesson the next day at school, met my teachers and headmaster, and even participated a bit. It was really such a great visit and since we've been talking to Kristyna this entire process even back in the U.S. it kinda felt like she was a mom of sorts like coming to check on her kids haha. But our conversation at dinner the previous night gave me such an unexpected confidence boost I didn't know I needed:
I was really surprised by how well Kristyna seemed to know me haha. She would reference parts of my application I forgot I even wrote, and remember even the smallest details. It immediately gave me this weird comfort of like, oh wait she does kinda know me. She asked a couple questions about how it was going at my school, specifically being a nursing school too. In the CR apparently nursing schools tend to have a lower level of English proficiency and a lower motivation level for learning it too. So she was particularly interested to see how my school was and if that was the case. She then went on to talk about some other ETAs they've placed at nursing schools and why some of them weren't a great fit - for example an ex-military guy who didn't seem to mesh with an almost all girls high school haha. And then went on to say why I specifically was placed where I was. Dealing with a bit of imposter syndrome this was actually so reassuring and made me feel much more than just a piece of paper. I kinda thought I was placed at a nursing school because I literally wrote in my application how I'm interested in women's health/public health so I think nursing school would be a good fit. So in my head they saw that and were like, sure, let's put her there. But Kristyna went on to say how intentional the placement is especially at nursing schools. Because it's all girls, they want to find someone relatable that'll be friends with the girls and given that they're all studying to be caretakers, there's a larger emphasis on personality and mannerisms if that makes sense so they want to ETA to also be patient, kind, and empathetic were her words. She explained it in a much clearer way but she was basically complimenting my character which meant so much considering she could sense it through a couple paragraphs-long application. This meant so much more to me than any other qualifications I could've possessed and I genuinely don't care about them haha. If she picked me and placed me here solely based off of personality and depth of character that's all that matters to me. She also said Tábor was one of the best towns to be placed in and emphasized how lucky I was to be here, so all around a big confidence boost!!
October 19 - Name Day!
A new holiday we get to celebrate here in the CR are Name Days! Every name has a day out of the year attached to it when it's celebrated! So October 19th is the name day for all Michaela's in the Czech Republic!! I really had no idea what that meant except I heard it was more of a low-key birthday. So teachers tend to bake something and bring it in to share, or you just get a bunch of "Good Luck" and "Happy Name Day" from people you pass by. My mentor Martina helped me bake a cake to bring to the teacher's room and I thought that would be the extent of the day just because I had never really seen anything bigger for other people. I went to her house and baked a carrot cake which was actually fire haha. Martina sent me a picture after I left that she set up with chocolate and pumpkins so cute :') So I brought that in and all the teachers were giving me hugs and saying "Good Luck" which I guess is the translation for whatever Czech greeting you say haha. That's really all I expected for a Name Day so I was happy with that!! Two different teachers actually gave me a chocolate bar as a gift so I don't know if that's also tradition but really kind to think of me and give me an unnecessary gift.
But THEN after that, Martina asked if I could stop by her class for a second when I usually have a break. I walk in and the whole class yells "Happy Name Day Michaela!" and is standing in the front of the room each with a flower for me :') I almost cried. One girl baked cupcakes and remembered me saying I like coconut so made them especially for me, and another student made "salted snails" because she remembered me being really confused by the name haha. They aren't actually snails, just mini pizza roll things that look like snails I guess haha. They brought in little fake champagne bottles, poured everyone a glass, and we played games for the whole class. It was the sweetest most thoughtful thing that's happened and I actually had to hold in the tears. Martina said a handful of kids (from the kayaking trip actually) really thought it out and organized the whole thing which was much more than she had expected. I'll never forget that day because of how those students made me feel <3 They're the best <3
Three really great days I know I won't forget!! Hoping for many more like these!!