Pass the hair gel please.

I know I haven't written in months, and I know that's surprising, but rest assured I have a nice, long account of the last two months brewing in my Edit Post box that will be finished, I swear, by the end of the week. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to share one of my all time favorite things in Turkey thus far because on this day, March, 4th 2010, something that I thought couldn't get any better than it already is, did. Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to something I deem: The Moof (man + poof). Before I discuss this Turkish phenomenon, I'm going to provide a little context so you may understand just how truly beautiful the Moof is.

Once upon a time, lets say...somewhere between 1993-'94, the entire world woke up and realized that big hair wasn't actually attractive, or cool, on anyone. Everyone on Earth realized that for 15 or so years they had blacked out and were unaware of what they actually looked like when they walked into broad daylight. It was an epiphany heard around the world. Men and women abound worked around the clock to rid themselves of as many cans of extra strength hair spray and extra hold hair gel that they could. Crimping irons were selling like hot cakes in second-hand markets to naive, undeserving locals who didn't know better. Left and right, people were tossing products into the trash and only keeping what would provide for a normal, friendly and non-threatening hairstyle. The purge took days and concerned government officials began wondering where all of the excess hair equipment would, rather, could go. After weeks of deliberation, top government officials decided on an area of the world that they just, well, didn't really care what would happen if Earth's supply of hair gel got into the hands of these people. The United Nations, in partner with The Red Cross, was enlisted to paradrop billions upon billions of tons of hair products into an area right outside of what is now known as present day Istanbul, Turkey. To this day, no man is allowed to step foot on the drop zone due to the shared belief that this land is sacred and holy.

Let us now fast forward to February, 2010. A couple friends and I were chatting about our middle school days and just how uncomfortably awkward they were. Lots of platform sneakers were discussed - unfortunately - along with swishy pants from Abercrombie & Fitch and regrettably a lot of straight leg/regular fit (not to be confused with skinny-leg) pants. When it became my turn again to share a traumatizing experience, I was immediately reminded by the unfortunate case of lice that I got in the 7th grade. I got lice and I got it bad. Nevermind the fact that I was already an awkward 13 year old with braces, slightly chubby and chock full of emotions...lice just never, ever, ever, ever makes someone feel better, ever. ever. I had it so bad that I had to put vaseline in my hair and it wouldn't wash out for about a week to a week and a half. Now, I don't have a picture of what it looked like, thanks Mom:), but I have provided two links a la google images that I believe pay some tribute to the creature that was my 13 year old self.

Exhibit A: http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/ZB/use-vodka-lush-hair-lg.jpg

Exhibit B: http://static.nme.com/images/071113_111549_MCR11_111107_DN.jpg

At this point you hopefully have a nice mental image because it's time to press on with our story, friends! So far we've covered the mass infiltration of styling products into Turkey as well as the perils of being a chubby 13 year old. Now: the Moof! Rewind back to October 15th, 2009. You just moved to Turkey and it's your first weekend in Istanbul. Senses are on overload with the smells of Döner kebab, bad cologne (or body odor - which one is worse?) and the Bosphorus Strait. Your ears are adjusting to the sounds of a language that's not English, the call to prayer, the "scrap metal man" who walks down your street pushing a rickety cart summoning you to give him your broken appliances and the "Simit guy", who yells SIMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT at the top of his lungs on your sidewalk just in case you need a snack (Simit = turkish "bagel") at HIS becking call. Then, there are the sights - the mosques, the palaces, the ancient architecture, etc.. etc... but it's the people that stick out to you most. One particular characteristic, in fact, is the hair. The women of Turkey have long, dark, rapunzel hair that my friend Beth so intelligently pointed out "makes them look like mermaids". They walk around with it romantically cascading down their bodies and you're left wondering how they get away with looking so magical rather than being "that weird girl with the long hair". If they were anything other than Turkish, you'd be judging them because they look more like the female version of Anthony Keidis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, circa mid-1990's. CASE IN POINT: Kind of like how everyone hated on me last summer when I had hair that went past my shoulder blades. I believe some of you said or were in agreement with something along the lines of "thank GOD you cut it, you were starting to look like a dirty hippy".

The men, on the other hand, do not look like giant mermaids, nor do they look like Anthony Keidis. If they do, or are in any way, shape or form attractive, they've ruined it by choosing a hairstyle that makes them look like they've just survived a dangerous oil spill in their bathroom. Up until today, most of the moofs looked more Johnny Bravo and less the excess bacon grease from Sunday morning breakfast. I swore to myself that I didn't think it was possible for the moof to look anymore mullety-eurotrash than it already it is BUT IT DID! It honestly did, and I couldn't even believe it. It was like Christmas morning all over again. Here I am riding the 29D back to my apartment when all of a sudden at 4.Levent Metro, something shiny..sparkly?!..catches my eye. I swear to God, for a brief second I was brought back to the horrendous bout of lice and the helmet of vaseline that was tightly secured on my head for 9 days. I shuddered not only at the thought of the lice themselves but also the fact that as a 13 year old I had endured 168 hours of "wet" hair. My thoughts quickly came back to 4.Levent as I realized that this sparkly little treasure catching my eye was not in fact my 13 year old self but a man, a Turkish man, DISTRIBUTING FLYERS to any and all pedestrian traffic entering one of the busiest metro stops during prime-time lunch hour. Not to mention...are those are acid wash, distressed denim JEANS?!?! With zippers on the pant legs? I began to weep softly into my sleeve. I thought to myself: this bothers me. This man voluntarily used that much vaseline because he actually thinks he looks cool, or even worse....sexy? And then, what about his hands? What about when he was finished?! How much time did it take for him to wash it off before all the grease was gone? Did it....does it ever go away?

I was stressed, and upset, because I didn't have the answers to any of these questions. I also didn't have my camera which is the worst part because I have no documentation of my little prince. Yet, because I know that this man is out there, I'm optimistic that there are others. Perhaps they all have an apartment together? Or, maybe just a giant bathroom where they sleep, gel their hair, sleep, gel their hair, sleep, gel their hair...and continue this process until someone says, 'Hey! Lets go out in public!', and the rest of them cry, 'Hooray!' And then they all walk out, arm in arm, laughing and just being the little chatterboxes that they are, discussing their favorite celebrities, what 5 items they would bring on a deserted island and how quickly their hair would burn in a rogue fire. From this day forward I'm beginning what I'm calling Moof Watch 2010. Any and all Moof's will be uploaded to this post so please check back frequently.

Time to call it a night....as always, I hope you all are doing great. E-mail updates are always welcome and appreciated:) Lots of love!

XOXO
K

Misc. Images

Hagia Sofia.

Something old, something new.

Marmaris Sea - Heybeliada, Princes Islands.

Passerbys on Istiklal Caddesi in Taksim.

Sunrise from my friend Clarisse's balcony.

My street! Gazi Umur Paşa..

My apartment building.

Fountain for holy water outside of Sultanahmet.

Hagia Sofia (Ayasofya) - church turned mosque turned museum.

Sultanahmet - Blue Mosque.

View of Sultanahmet from a ferry I took to the Asian side (from the European side) of Istanbul across the Bosphorus Strait.

Mutlu Yillar!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a nice holiday and is at least trying to enjoy being back to work:) I should sincerely apologize for how poorly I have kept up with my blog since my last post at the beginning of November. So much has happened in 2 months and I feel bad that I have unfortunately kept you all out of the loop.

For starters, I parted ways with dear Deniz on November 15th and moved into an apartment in a smaller but more 20something-friendly apartment. It unfortunately left us not on speaking terms but it was the right move for me at the end of the day. She was mad about not having the money from my rent, which is understandable, but she ended up saying things that were like "you broke my heart", "all good things I ever thought about you were a lie", etc.. so it made for a slightly uncomfortable departure.

My new place is in Balmamcu, a subdivision of an area called Besiktas. It's situated about 20 minutes from where the popular downtown area is, as well as tons of busses and the tram line that takes you to the old part of the city where all of the touristy stuff is. I found the apartment on craigslist that was posted by a 26 year old Turkish girl named Serim. I am now 2-0 in finding cool roommates on Craigslist! After a few exchanged emails, we set up a time for me to see the place and within 5 minutes of being inside I LOVED it! Serim and I also have a ton in common, which is pretty neat to find with someone who lives almost halfway around the world from you. We both work/worked in Advertising, had the same major in college, same tastes in music, like food, a litle goofy/same sense of humor, and the list goes on. Serim is fluent in English but we have recently begun saying small things in Turkish so I can improve my language skills. She's started saying things in Turkish, followed by the English translation, and if I can I will try and respond in Turkish. However, my vocabulary is very limited so I usually can just respond with yes, no, or I don't know, haha.

My room in the apartment is perfect. It came equipped with an IKEA metal-closet thing, a desk, bed, small dresser, a giant framed picture of Snoopy that says" I am the sunshine of my life" and my own private entrance to our adorable outdoor patio. What more could I ask for?

Other fun amenities of the apartment include a working tv (I differentiate bewteen tv and working tv bc my apt in Prague just had not one but two "tv's"), nice stereo, dishwasher, washer AND dryer (uncommon in many turkish apartments - only having a washer is the norm), BOARD GAMES (trivial pursuit) and a cat. Mirno (pronounced murno), the cat, is awesome and acts more like a dog than anything.

A few things I've been wanting to write about for awhile are just some fun facts about Istanbul and my observations so far of the cultural differences between America v. Turkey. For starters, I learned that Istanbul is the 5th largest city in the world. It has 39 districts (ie Besiktas, Sariyer - the district that Tarabya was in) and is not in fact the capital of Turkey but Ankara is. Turkey is also the only country that is situated on two different continents - Europe and Asia. It's split by the Bosphorus Strait, which makes the two giant bridges that connect Europe and Asia extremely important where trade is concerned. Istanbul was also once the capital of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Turkey became it's own country in 1923 so technically it hasn't even existed on it's own for a century! The Ottoman Empire only ended in 1922..isn't that crazy?! That's why everyone is obsessed with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the first president of Turkey) because he only recently made the reforms that put Turkey on the track to becoming a modern nation. Even though he's no longer alive, he still has such a following that you'd think he was a famous rock star or something. Any kind of modernization that you see in Turkey is because of this man...any shift towards a secular government, welcoming other religions, women's rights, education etc etc...is all because of Ataturk. Unfortunately though, the current government in power - A.K. Parti - is more conservative than Ataturk was when he was in office so they have actually tried to go back on some of the Ataturk's reforms. For example, any public display of religion in government buildings/schools was restricted under Ataturk because they wanted to keep things neutral. Any woman wearing a headscarf would have to remove it if she entered a school and the same would go for anyone wearing a cross. The new government tried to reinstate the headscarf in gov buildings, but there was such a backlash against the idea that they never followed through with it. So, because of Ataturk, you still can't publicly display your religion in these places. I guess it kind of sucks if by choice you want to display your religion, so in a way their freedom of speech is actually pretty limited, but there seems to be such a confusion about what kind of Muslim you are/how strong your beliefs are that I think keeping things secular is a good thing. The whole Ataturk movement has established a very open and liberal minded community of practicing and non-practicing Muslims which is really interesting to experience. You still will see a lot of women wearing headscarves here though, and even a few wearing the black, full-body eyes-only burkha. I can't really determine what the breakdown is between conservative and liberal, but I guess it's conservative enough to elect the current party into office.

It's crazy how much living in a developing country will make you realize just how civilized your home country is. When I think of what I grew up with in the US I think of the fact that we have the ability to pretty much do whatever we want, regardless of being male or female, as long as we work hard to get there. Be nice to others, love your family, have a successful job, keep good friends and do what makes you happy. It's seems very balanced to me and it's available for whoever wants to go after it. Here, the general mentality is so unbelievably different than that sometimes I feel like I'm living on another planet. There are parts of it that I like and am trying to embrace while I'm here, but there are other parts that make me appreciate the kind of upbringing that I've had. Turkey is all about the good neighbor policy which I both appreciate and despise. In the US, we're taught to be self-sufficient and earn what we want. To me, this translates to being able to do things without having someone tell me how to do it or walk me through it. Here, people place such an emphasis on doing favors for others that for instance at work, even if it means interrupting what you're doing (and even if you might be doing it right), someone might literally interrupt what you're doing and say no no, it's ok I'll do it! This might sound nice but after a few times it starts getting a little old and feels intrusive to someone who's used to working for what you want. What I've had to realize though is that it's not because this person doesn't think I can't do whatever task I'm doing, it's that they think they're doing me a favor by taking over my job so I don't have to do it. It's more an act of hospitality than anything. So, like I said, I can appreciate it because that's just part of their culture and I think it's nice that people are so genuinely concerned about you and your well-being. However, I don't like it because it can feel intrusive and when you think about it it's a really hard thing to get used to, especially in the workplace!

Something else I've noticed with Turkish women is that a lot of them are pretty submissive. I think it's probably because the idea of women's rights is so fresh. Maybe it's the religion, maybe it's because Turkish people are really hospitable in general? I really have no idea. My roommate was telling me about this mentality that is pretty common in conservative families where the daughter is seen as the "property" of the father until she finds a husband, where she then becomes the "property" of her husband. I'm assuming that that's common in Arab and Asian cultures, but it's surreal for me to actually witness it first hand and be so close to it. I think what's most surprising for me is that I kind of associated that mentality with people who might not be as educated or fortunate, yet after Serim told me that I realized I had some good friends here who were well-educated, multilingual, knowlegable about pop culture, art, music, literature, etc....but they have that mentality and actually abide by it. I had remembered things some of these friends had said to me that made me a little confused at the time, but after Serim said that I realized these girls had been alluding to that kind of situation with their families.

OK, enough for today - check back soon for another update:) Lots of love!

Kelsey

A typical day..

My dad asked me to explain what a typical day was like here in Istanbul. I figured why not share it with the rest of you since that is prime blog material right there!

I'm not woken up by the 6am call to pray anymore so thankfully I can sleep til 7am now! However, depending on whether or not I feel like taking a shower (and if it's a no it's because I showered the night before.....) I might hit my snooze for 30 minutes so I sometimes get up at 7:30.  I immediately make a cup of coffee or tea, whichever one I feel like. The coffee is Nescafe and is in a jar and you add hot water to a couple of spoonfuls that you put in the mug...it's a weird concept to me but I also was not a huge coffee drinker in the US so I don't know if that is also really weird to anyone else. It just seems like more steps than it needs to be? With milk and the powder creamer whatever it tastes OK and will get the job done. As for the tea goes though, it's always a much more enjoyable experience when I'm in the mood for tea because the tea here is really, really, really, really, really, really REALLY good. 

My school provides breakfast, lunch and a snack so I have most of my meals covered. The plus side is that I don't have to really worry about groceries. The downside is that I'm surrounded by food - GOOD food - and since it's new I feel like I have to try everything. Because of this, I have actually joined Curves about 5 min from my school (and yes - they have Curves in Turkey!?) 

Breakfast usually consists of a combo of about 2-3 of the following items:

-hard boiled eggs

- tomatoes

- cucumber

- turkish feta

- Simit - bread twisted into a bagel looking shape sprinkeld with sesame seeds..not considered a bagel here though - look it up

- olives

- crepe

- cheese

- special k

- honey

- jelly

- this weird molasses substance you put on the Simit

Lunch consists of any of the following:

- Chicken cutlet

- macaroni

- green turkish soup thing

- meaty soups

- turkish meatballs

and more meals to be had/some that i just don't know what the name was so i can't describe it here, sorry :/ all you need to know is that it's all good:)

*90% of the time there is yogurt present

*95% of the time there are tomatoes and cucumbers present

Snack consists of any of the following:

- carrots

- cucumbers

- popcorn

- Simit

- apple cobbler - accidently ate 3 pieces of this - don't judge me because the "pieces" were small squares so it was sort of OK, yet it was still 3 "squares" so maybe not OK..

- chocolate flan-like substance cake thing 

- whatever we make on our cooking day (tuesdays), which has included pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, and something else but i forget!

Dinner is usually tomatoes/cucumbers in pasta with bread followed by yogurt/honey/strawberry jelly for dessert OR whatever Deniz has made that night. We discussed having me buy my own groceries when I moved in, but I have literally gone to my little market about 3x and it's usually to buy more produce and chocolate (bc that too is amazing here). Within 5 minutes of walking in the door, Deniz will usually say "you hungry? I make soup, you have some.." and the next thing you know I have a tray of food in front of me. It's a blessing and a curse living with this woman.  She's teaching me how to cook Turkish meals, but she doesn't seem to have a concept of portion sizes. I asked if we could do my first lesson this week (being stuffed peppers) and she was like 'oh yes of course! ok, how many nights do you want to have leftovers for?' and I was like oh I don't know, maybe 2-3 max? And she goes ok, you eat maybe 2, 3 peppers per night? I would get 6 peppers...no, get 10. Yes - you will buy 10 peppers, 1.9 billion lbs of ground beef and a field of onions.  It reminds me of my big fat greek wedding and how all of the adults always give their opinion plus juuust a little bit more...It's like I'm asked for my opinion - I give it - then I'm given a revised version of my opinion in return and that is now what I have to work off of. 

SO, basically what this means is that Kelsey needs to work out 7x a week otherwise she's going to be obese when she gets back to the states.

I'm getting along with the other teachers really nicely. Its becoming more of a challenge for me bc there is SO much Turkish spoken, not to mention the turkish teachers are really close so they sort of end up doing all of the planning together and I'm left cleaning up for the next activity or filling time btwn activities while they prepare, but I'm going to ask them if I can be more involved with the planning from now on bc it's starting to get on my nerves. Other than that it's really ncie working with them bc it's fun working with native Turks annnnnnd I'm learning new vocab words each day!

In the evenings I usually come home, eat, and then talk to friends online. That sounds SO lame, I know, but by the time I get home I'm usually pretty beat and just want to relax.  I'm leaving the weekends open for most of my sightseeing, exploring, etc... I also feel like I'mm still settling in though so once I feel more settled I think it'll be easier for me to do things after work.  Since I joined Curves I've also started going to the gym after work, but the only downfall is the distance from my apartment which isn't AWFUL, it's just not super convenient. I live on a compound at the top of one of the hills in Istanbul (I think there are 7 hills), so the complex itself is really residential, but once you get outside you hop on a bus 5 minutes and your at the Bosphorus with a bunch of restaurants, etc... Whenever I want to go anywhere though I always have to plan how I'm going to get there and back. I can't just leave my apt when I feel like and go catch a bus or minibus or something bc the transportation is really random here. It's plentiful in terms of the number of busses/minibusses, but there are no timetables listed anywhere - in bus stops or online - so it's always an overestimation of how much time it will take me to get somewhere which obv adds on time to any trip I take!

Like I said, on weekends I try and explore/hang out with friends.  So far I've been to the Grand Bazaar, a traditional Hamam, and I've seen the outside of the Blue Mosque.  The Hamam has been my favorite thing so far, even though it was probably one of the most uncomfortable things I've done in a long time!  You are basically given a spongebath  by an old turkish woman in her bra and underwear - sometimes just underwear. Historically, these were places that a lot of people went to for showers/baths bc it wasn't common to own them in your home. Nowadays showers/baths in houses are obviously a common thing so people dont use the Hamam's anymore out of necessity more so than they do for something fun and random to do.  They are probably more touristy than anything, but it really is an unbelievably relaxing 2 hours and I highly recommend it to anyone that visits Istanbul - for women AND men! Once you get over the fact that a half-naked woman is scrubbing you down, it is smooth sailing from there. I can't tell you what it's like for guys, but our friend Stephen went with us and he didn't seem traumatized when he came out so I don't imagine that it was that bad for him either!

Things with my Deniz, my roomie, are going well...like I said she is teaching me how to cook/feeds me so I can't complain there. Hasn't walked around naked in awhile so I'm appreciative of that. We also do some language exchanging so that's nice too!

That's all for now - more to come later. Hope everyone had a nice Halloween:)

Much love!

Greetings from Turkiye

Merhaba!  As most of you know by now I have relocated to istanbul, Turkey.  The change in location is due to the difficulties I was facing in trying to break into the TEFL job market in Prague, but I am extremely happy with my decision:)

Istanbul is an amazing city...definitely nothing like I have ever experienced before! The driving reminds me of the driving in Colombia and Mexico....very much an every man for himself kind of mentality.  The biggest challenges so far have been adjusting to the language and trying to navigate my way throughout the city.   Their public transportation here is pretty awful as they rely mostly on personal automobiles, buses, minibuses, and a 7 stop Metro line for 13 million people.  Needless to say there is a lot of traffic. always.  They are thankfully expanding their metro line to reach my area which will be done by next summer. In the mean time I will just continue to average about 3 different forms of transportation when I want to get anywhere near the middle of the city (Taksim) :)

The area I live in is called Tarabya, which is a nice area situated North of all of the main attractions in the city.  My apartment is about a 5 minute drive my school so it makes my commute VERY pleasant.  My boss lives across the street from me (and is also the one who found me the apartment) so I ride to/from work with her which is awesome on the wallet ;) I am renting a room from a 64 y/o Turkish woman named Deniz.  I don't know where to begin describing her because she's honestly one of a kind.  She's an ex-supermodel/actress now living on her own and is the sweetest woman.  It's like living with someone else's very hospitable grandmother - she constantly wants me to eat her food, offer tips on cooking, etc... She is a very sweet lady, calls me "baby", and pinches my cheeks every now and then.  I'm enjoying living with her because it makes me feel like I have a home away from home at times.  She is a little cooky at times - Birthday Suit Count: 3 - but at the end of the day I really appreciate having someone who is so genuinely interested in me as if I were her own granddaughter. In fact, I am the same age as her granddaughter so I think I think she enjoys having me around:)

As for the details of my job, I am working at Eden's Garden International Pre-School.  I''m a teacher in the 3 year old class and work with about 11-12 children.  About a quarter speak strictly English, half are bilingual, 3 quarters can understand English, and a quarter are strictly Turkish.  The challenge of the job is with the language barrier, because with the kids that don't have any English, it's difficult to be ale to exert any control over them if they can't understand what I'm saying. GRRR. I knew that going into it though, and the director and other teachers understand that that's something I face as well so it's not an issue.  I work alongside a Turkish girl named Nurcan (pronounced Nuhrjohn) who helps bridge the gap between me and the Turkish speaking children which is helpful.  I've found that despite it being an "International School", there is  still a lot of Turkish spoken so it's been/will be an adjustment getting used to hearing my day spoken in a different language.  My duty as the English speaking teacher is to just help the kids practice standard 3 year old English vocab, but due to the nature of the job and the fact that a lot of the kids do communicate in Turkish, I am forced to learn some Turkish so I can then interpret it back to them in English.  In a matter of days, I have actually learned how to speak like a two year old. Success! I can say things like "MINE, NOT YOURS" and "I want", "finished", the colors of the rainbow, items of clothing, fruit/misc. plants and some baby animals.  All things that a 23 year expat might need to get by in a foreign country.  I'm also proud to say that I can now produce my first full sentence, being"benim domuz gribi var".  This translates to "I have swine flu", which is appropriate in this day and age since everyone seems to be freaking out about it, especially Turkey. Evidently up until now they have been able to avoid it, but a few schools in the capital city of Ankara (about 4hrs away, I think?) had kids that got it so they shut down EVERY school in the city for decontamination.  Now, the Ministry of Education has decided to clean every school in Istanbul so this upcoming Friday we have been given the day off to allow the disinfecting squads to come in and do their work.  The swine flu is a pretty big deal over here, which is understandable in a city of 13 million people. ANYWAYS, I digress...

SO - work is good, living situation is good and bad (good bc of the food, bad bc of the nudity), and istanbul is just good all around:) I unfortunately think I might be getting sick, but I guess that is to be expected when you spend  40 hours a week with a bunch of 3 year olds. I forgot how curious kids are about what things taste like aka put things in their mouths.  I get the plastic fruit or silverware from the fake kitchen...or even worse - the fake ice cream cones.... but things like tables, toy cars, books even? It's unbelievable. You give them something and it's like there's a brief moment where they're toying between using the object for it's intended purpose or licking it.  Imagine if that's how everyone behaved...you go to work and deliver a powerpoint presentation and the next thing you know you are licking the projection screen because you want to know what it tastes like.  It honestly makes me cringe at the thought of how many germs are all over the toys in preschools, so I guess this whole disinfecting squad isn't such a bad idea!

Time for me to go to bed...I'll update more soon. XO!

As a treat...

...and to make up for how poorly I have gone about this whole blog ordeal, here are some of my fav pics that I have taken since I've been here:)

View of Charles Bridge at night. They do a very good job lighting up all of their famous buildings.

 

Castle at dusk.

TEFL CERTIFIED Y'ALL!

Shot of Old Town Square. Lots of tourists!

Grapes from a MINI vineyard - we are talking 12 posts of grape vines...I'm not even sure if these are used to produce wine or if they just use them for fruit, but I thought they were cute so I snapped a pic of one :)

View of Prague looking South.

Next up is graffiti from the John Lennon wall. I feel like whatever city I live in, there is some tribute (e.g. JL wall in Prague, Strawberry Fields in Central Park) to John Lennon and I am LOVING that! Back when CR was under communist rule, a lot of Czechs would come and scribble messages of peace, anti-war themes, etc...and a lot of the messages were derived from John Lennon's ideas, lyrics from songs, etc...  The police would come erase the graffiti, and people would just come back and do it all over again. Eventually the police actually gave up and left it be and the wall that you see to this day is the same one from back then.  AND, they even encourage you to make your own small contribution to the wall!

Home Sweet Hostel

I have spent the last week and a half living in Crib 15, which is a hostel located about a 7 minute walk from the city center.  It has certainly been an interesting experience, to say the least.

We had to move out of our apartment to make room for the next wave of students to go train with ITC,  so a few of us booked a few beds here.   Mine is the bottom bunk, and as you can see by the massive dark blob on the right, I overpacked when I moved here.  I didn't realize this until I started living out of my suitcase and found that it was very difficult to control all of the clothes I have in such a confined area : /  And to think I downsized BEFORE I came here....

The job situation has been the toughest thing about this whole experience, because the availability of work is not as plentiful as I was told it would be.  It makes harder to feel less far away when you aren't sure where you're going to be living in a week! That being said though, I am making the best of it.  The people I've been meeting in the hostel are pretty cool - 2 guys from Portugal, 1 girl from Canada, another from Melbourne, and another guy named Mike from Perth, Australia.   As a sidenote, I've adopted 'dodgy' into my vocabulary just because I feel like it, and you can describe some of the other characters I have met at the hostel as extremely dodgy.  One weird, old Bulgarian guy who violently projectile vomits in the bathroom every morning and night.  It's really gross, and I mean I feel sorry for him if he has an eating disorder, but it's still really..gross..  Not to mention he has also propositioned 2 girls in the hostel to sleep in his room with him.  He's not very well-liked around here, and there are a few of us who have now been here long enough to see people cycle through that we realize that we need to find jobs, and a place to call HOME, soon:)

I'm working on it, but I don't want to get my hopes up so I'm not going to post it on here JUST yet. I should know within a day or so, so check back soon...