Bohemian Flu

Sorry, all, that I haven't written for so many days. I was struck sometime Sunday by the Bohemian Flu. It is characterized by fever, headache, coughing, sore throat, and most notably waking up for nights in a row completely drenched in one's sweat. In other words, it's a nasty, ass-kicking sort of thing. It's been a challenging week.

In addition to attending classes, writing lesson plans, and teaching classes, I've also been applying for jobs, which means being asked to write extra lesson plans as part of the selection process. For instance, Tuesday night I was working on my lesson plan for class the next day when I received an email from a school I'd sent a resume to only a couple of hours before. They wanted me to write a detailed lesson plan covering some pages from a book they sent me, and they wanted it by the next day (it was already 5 pm). So after I finished my lesson plan for the actual class I had to teach the next day, I had to spend three more hours writing a lesson plan for a hypothetical class. I have a similar situation with another school I've applied to (although they have generously given me two days to prepare), so tomorrow night after I've finished teaching the lesson I've been working on all night tonight, I'll be writing another hypothetical demo lesson plan. Whew! Usually if I'm sick I try to just rest and not do anything, but obviously that's not an option in this situation. Like I said, it's been a challenging week.

All in all though, things are going very well. I love that the course is challenging, and I'm really glad I'm hearing back from schools and being asked to submit demo lessons (that means they at least liked my CV and cover letter). I taught again yesterday and this time I was evaluated, and I think it went pretty well. I just need to assert my authority a little more (I'm too nice) and watch my teacher language (sometimes I use language students may not have had yet, like 'would' and 'could'). These are things that will become much easier with practice but are difficult at first.

So there's a little update on where I'm at. I did have a nice day of sightseeing last weekend, but I'll have to write about that next time. For now, I am going to go to bed so I get a good night of sleep. I have class and then teach tomorrow, and he lesson plan I have to write afterward is for my top choice school I'm hoping to work for, so I'm going to work really hard to make it awesome.

Even though I'm not going to post about sightseeing yet, I still wanted to post at least one picture (this one was taken by Marissa, one of my flatmates). It's a beautiful sunny view of Prague. See Prague castle in the back: