Plane tickets, Czech!

It's been a really busy couple of weeks around here. First off, it took me forever to find an English classroom that would allow me to volunteer. Who knew?! Part of it was that there are less classes in the summer, and part of it was haters who don't allow volunteers. Luckily, my fabulous friend Elena recommended I try the International Institute of Boston and Lowell and they are happy to have me. I am going to be helping out for 10 hours a week through the end of the summer. I love it there. Really, I am surprised at how enjoyable the class is. The students are all refugees who have come to the US in the last 6 months and they are so excited to be learning English! They are from all over, predominantly Nepal, Burma, Iraq, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Apparently there is a large influx of Burmese in Lowell in the past year, especially in the last 6 months, and I would say about a third of the class is Burmese. I hope teaching abroad will be as fun as volunteering!

I've been working a shit load. Too much actually. Over 50 hours a week of waitressing is brutal on your body. After an 11 hour shift on Saturday, my legs were aching when I got up Sunday. I am not going to work any more weeks like last. It was too much, and my tiredness is reflected in my attitude at work. When so much of your pay depends on your personality, you really should be nice to your guests. Or care about them at all. By the end of the week, I really didn't give a shit if your burger was overcooked or the cheese wasn't melted on your nachos. You're a chunkaaa, you shouldn't be eating those nachos anyway! Ok, apparently having 2 days off hasn't improved my attitude...I am just permanently bitter about restaurant work.

The forums at Dave's ESL Cafe are effing with my head. I read some posts that say we can roll into Prague and as long as we have a solid interview and are able to present a compelling lesson plan along with our certification, we are in! Others drinking the haterade (yeah, I said it) say an online TEFL course is like not being certified at all and good luck to us. So I am nervous. Another concern is culture clash. Apparently, the Czech are pretty reserved by nature, and to put it lightly, Jullia and I are not. At all. So pos no one is going to hire us and we will be yet again without work, but this time in another country. Worst case scenario!! Oh well, plane tickets are bought, so as of August 31, I will officially be an "ex-pat!" tee-hee-hee.

On a lighter note, Mom and I dined at Blue Taleh tonight. De-lish! I was introduced to 2 new things, which I LOVE! First was the Asharhi Cucumber Roll which we had as an appetizer. It is salmon, yellowtail, tuna, and avocado wrapped in thin cucumber slices. OMG, it's awesome. Even better, if possible, was the Cucumber Margarita! OMFG, absolutely delicious. Patron silver, with simple syrup, lime juice, and just a touch of watermelon schnapps with thin cucumber slices floating around. THE BOMB!! Mom had a Mango Martini served with a fresh pineapple slice, also fab. Do they serve these drinks in Prague?!

Appropriately, Czech words today are: Unemployed = nezaměstnaný

Homeless = bezdomovec