I hit a wall yesterday. It was a small wall, but a wall none the less. I will not go into details since the they have been cleared up but we have had some scheduling problems for the last two weeks. I got embarassed and my feelings hurt in front of my students. I had a big crying jag at home and I feel a little bit better. I can see how to get over the wall now. So now that has been said....on to some fun things.

I went to Nurnberg on Monday. Penny and I had so much fun. She got to show me around one of her favorite places in Germany. We shopped, we ate and we shopped some more. I didn't buy much, a few Christmas presents and a scarf for me.

Thanks to all of you who sent birthday greetings via email and packages. I had a wonderfull birthday, one I will always remember.

Just a reminder, if you are going to send me anything for Christmas, it must arrive at the school by Dec. 19th. Our holiday starts after that and I won't be able to receive packages until Jan. 5th. The post office told my mom to send by the middle of Nov. I hope that helps!

I am so excited! I am going to start a film discussion group with my older students. They are excited about it, too. I will let you know how it goes. Have a great weekend! Jessica

I am at an inernet cafe in the town square. It has snowed three times this week. Can you believe it? My friend Penny is here and we have had a great time talking and walking around town. We are probably going to Nurnberg tomorrow (Monday). I have a 3 day holiday so I don't have to be back to school until Thursday.

I am slowly learning the language and I mean SLOWLY. But I know way more than I did 2 months ago! There is a lot of music and noise here and it is hard for me to concentrate so I will write more later. Hope y'all had a great weekend.
Jessica

I have so much to tell and not lots of time. I may have to do installments on the weekend. But first of all, it is SNOWING!!! Yes, that's right, snow. The weather forcast was for warm (55 F) days and some rain. Not so. C'est la vie!

I got my visa last week! This is wonderful news because I can get paid now! I crossed the border to Germany on Sunday so I could get an official entry stamp when I came back to the Czech Republic. I only live about 5K from the German border so this was not a problem and the train to border towns is free on the weekends. I went to the forgein police yesterday to give them my visa number, so my registration with them is complete. Now, all I need is my health card and I will be totally offical!

Friday I went to Prague with some students to see Othello. It was really good. And yes, it was in Czech. But I know the story and I read over it again before I went to refresh my memory. The costumes were wonderful and I loved the set. There were several strong actors in the cast. It was well done and shorter than I remember. Lots of fencing!

Saturday is one for the books! Lena made me cookies for my birthday. Then we went to the Dragoun (Vietnamese) market for some Pho. We go to this restaurant and try to order in Czech to a man who speaks Vietnamese. Two Germans sit next to us at the same table. They are very curious about me eating Pho with chopsticks. They keep asking me about it in German. It was quite an international experience! Then we go to the Hypernova (it's like a super target) and pick up a few things. I bought an antenna for the TV. We now can pick up 4 Czech stations. But it may help us learn the lang. who knows? Then we were meeting friends for pizza to celebrate my birthday!

I have had a great birthday. Saturday evening was spent with American and Czech friends ( and one Canadian) at a nice pizza place. My Czech friends, they are fellow teachers, gave me a beautiful wooden box, a pencil made from a stick (very cool!), some lucky bamboo and some flowers. I got a book of quotes from children, some homemade fudge and tortillias from the Sokolov girls, a nice card and some sponges from the Sokolov guys. Don't know about the sponges, but I am sure they will be useful! Josh gave me a box of Chocolates and Lena gave me a wonderful ceramic plaque to hang in my room. We had so much fun talking and laughing. It is exactly what I wanted to do to celebrate! Yesterday, my actual birthday, was very nice, too. My small kids sang "Happy Birthday" to me in English and I got some chocolates from one of them. Other students gave me a candle holder, a beautiful green pen (expensive, too!), cards and more candy! The head mistress gave me a gerber daisey and a bottle of Slivovice, the plum liquor I had at her house. I also got a package from my friend Angela, it had some stationary and a book about the day I was born. There was also a very touching card that made me cry. I got lots of emails and phone calls from family and friends. Who could ask for anything more? I have been told I have other packages on the way, so I will have my birthday all week. And Penny is coming this weekend to celebrate, too! I am truely blessed! I hope things are going well for everyone. I miss y'all!-Jessica

I had a nice Saturday with the headmistress and her two daughters. I was picked up a little after 11:00 and got home around 11:30 pm. They had no intentions of taking me home sooner. I had a traditional Czech lunch, it was quite good. Then I was given the traditional Czech drink, Slovovice, it is liquer made from plums. My glass was never empty the rest of the day. Everytime I finished it, they filled it up. Apperantly, it is good for whatever ails you. I sipped it very slowly with very long intervals between sips. Otherwise, I would have been passed out on the floor in front of the fire. We just sat around and talked and watched movies in Czech. Fortunately, I had seen the movies before or I would have been lost.

That's all I have time for today. More later--Jessica

The staff birthday party was yesterday. It was quite nice and not as rowdy as had been reported. I was given two beautiful green coffee mugs and some insence and an insence holder. I was touched. This was the first time I had really spent any time with some of my non-English speaking collegues. It was funny to say the least. At one point two teachers were asking each other if they spoke English (one of the few phrases I actually understand). They were telling each other in Czech that they didn't speak English so I told them in Czech that I didn't speak Czech. They started laughing so hard because they thought I couldn't understand them at all. They started to ask me how much I understood and I told them malo (small). That was pretty much the end of our conversation but we had fun trying to communicate. Later, when we were all together, the other teachers were asking me about Arnold winning the election in CA and about Thanksgiving turkeys.

Since we are talking about communication, let me tell you a funny story. Tuesday, the headmistress, Lenka, stopped me on the way out. She wanted to invite me to lunch Saturday. Lenka doesn't speak English. She told me the first week of school that I could speak to her in bad French. So Lenka is speaking half in French and half in Czech. Her daughter, Martina is translating the Czech to me as I am trying to remember French phrases so I can reply. Then Lenka asks the Spanish teacher, who knows that I understand a little Spanish, to tell me in Spanish. So we are now speaking four languges. Can you imagine how funny this was? No wonder I could not remember how to say, "I am tired," in French. But I remembered just as I was falling asleep. It amuses me.

Flat update:
We did get a washer a few weeks ago.....of course there is a catch. It can never be cut and dry. There where two holes in the wall between the toilet room and the bathroom (yes, they are separate.) These holes were stuffed with plastic bags and covered with stickers. It wasn't until the washer was put in front of that wall that I understood that these holes were to put the hoses from the washer through them. Except the hole for the hose that hooks up to the faucet is not big enough. I have been trying to use a drill for the last three days to make the whole bigger, to no avail. Right now we are not able to close the toilet room door all the way if the washer hose is hooked up. This may be something we have to live with. I have to give the drill back tomorrow, so if I don't finish it today that's that.

I have not been hurting as badly this week, so thanks for the prayers. I am going to grade some tests and get some lunch. Talk to you soon---Jessica

Well, the weather is turning cold. They high today is 48. All of the restaurants on the square have put away all of their outdoor seating, a sure sign that fall is here and winter is approaching. So please think of me when you are enjoying your nice warm fall weather. A Texas girl like me isn't used to all of this cold weather. I still haven't bought a winter coat, yet. I have been waiting until I get paid. I did get a nice trench coat with a zip-out lining that one of the previous teachers left behind. It has been very handy and I am thankful for it!

My park gets more colorful every day but I am not able to sit and enjoy it anymore because of the cold. One of my students is going to help me figure out which bus or buses I should take to get to school and back. I am afraid I won't be able to walk so much when it begins to snow. I'll be a popcicle!!

I got several nice long emails yesterday from friends and family. It is nice to catch up with people. Must go and teach....more later.

It is a perfect rainy fall day. Everyday I am anxious to get to the park to see which trees have changed colors. Last weekend some of us went to Locket to see a castle. It is beautiful there! I will have to go back in a few weeks when more leaves have changed. The whole town is surrounded by wooded hills. There is a bridge leading to the castle and pygmie goats live under it. Cute!

Next week the teachers at my school will celebrate all the birthdays in Sept., Oct. and Nov. I am told it will be quite a party. I am going to bring chocolate chip cookies, a novelty for Czechs. Apparently, they drink a lot, too. It will be the middle of the day and I have to teach a class afterwards. I don't think I will partake in too much drinking. I will tell you all about it next week.

On a sad note, I found out one of my theatre friends from Texarkana died this week. It was quite sudden. So to my friend, Steve Pearce, I say, "Adieu, Adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow....." He will be greatly missed.

And for those of you who believe in the power of prayer, I have a request. Most of you know that I had surgery in March for Endometriosis. Well, I have been experiencing some pain the past week. It is very hard because I walk a lot and that seems to make it hurt worse. So, if you could keep me in mind, I would appreciate it.

I hope all is well back in the States. Please email me and keep me apprised of what is going on in your part of the world. It is much easier for me to respond to emails than to generate them.

Blessings,
Jessica