Invasion of Prague

Prague is being invaded by tourists!!! There are English speaking people everywhere, and now I know why the Czech people don't like Americans so much!!! Everyone is rude and loud (although not as loud as the Scots), and just assume that everyone speaks English, when in fact most people do not. It is no wonder the V.A.T. is so high when waiters know you are an American... Other than that the city is still wonderful and most of the Czechs really nice (the old women in my favorite bakery have tried to take care of my fingers countless times, and give me remedies in Czech... according to Chris, who could just be yanking my chain). 

Class is quite an adventure, and teaching even more so. I am teaching the beginners for the first week, and they are truly beginners. The first day they cooed out a broken 'Heeeelllllooooo'. They are adorable and try really hard to pronounce the words correctly and get the correct form. Today, we were teaching fruits and vegetable and Lídía kept saying banyana (instead of banana). She eventually got it right... Onto the pictures...

The first one is a very blurry picture of Prague Castle at night (I have no tripod, and was trying to act as one rather unsuccessfully). We were at a sweet outdoor pub right on the river that had a great Beatles cover band and even better views. The next is of the National Muzeum which is filled with natural history, so I have yet to be in, but the history behind it is really cool. It is one of the only buildings in Prague that was not cleaned after the Velvet Revolution to preserve the building. The big white patches you see on the pillars are actually bullet holes from when the Russians opened fired on the Muzeum during the Prague Spring. The guy on the horse is a HUGE statue of Good King Wenceslas who when, rumor has it, the Czechs are in their darkest hour will rise up from the statue, and ride to the mountains are rise and army to protect the Czech people... Although, when is their darkest hour going to be, considering they were under a Communist regime for 50 some odd years... The memorial picture is a memorial to two students who were trying to preserve the movement of the Prague Spring, and who burned themselves alive in that spot as the Russian tanks were rolling into Wenceslas Square to open fire on the National Muzeum.... they are considered national heroes, although, a lot of good it did the Muzeum and the Prague Spring movement, as both we destroyed. 

I am off to lesson plan, and will hopefully post more soon...