Fairytale
This is the castle in Tabor. I love that I can find a castle in almost any town I visit. It's the little girl in me who wants to be a princess.

Students
Apparently, I have been a horrible teacher because I have neglected to mention my students' names in my blog. This fact was brought to my attention in class today by my student, Ludvik. He and his best friend, Vaclav, are terribly hurt because I have not ever written about them here. I will do so now to make up for this egregious error. Ludvik and Vaclav have just recently formed a band and won some studio time in Karlovy Vary. Hopefully, I will receive a CD soon. They have also asked me to play drums for their band, which I declined. Moonlighting is against ESI policy. They also obtained my cell phone # under suspicious circumstances which I haven't been able to drag out of them. Maybe this blog entry will be incintive for them to come clean. I hope this fulfills my obligation to write about them. I will keep you updated. Let me know if you like hearing little tidbits about my students. I will start writing a few vingettes. Hope y'all have a good day and a safe Halloween.

Fall Break....
Kelly and I had a few goals for the trip: 1. See some castles. 2. Relax! 3. See fall colors. 4. Drink some nice wine. We accomplished all of the above. Both of these pictures were taken in a town called Jindrichuv Hradec, Henry's Castle in English. One of the pictures is of the zamek (castle.) I'll let you figure out which one. We also visited Tabor, which is where some of the Hussite Wars were fought. There were some cool underground tunnels that are beneath the town square. They were used during the wars (late 1500's) and to store beer. We took a tour and I was amazed that I didn't feel cluastrophobic.

Unfortunately, the trip was marred by bad news. My Grandma Weaver passsed away on Wednesday morning. After talking with my family, I decided not to go home for the funeral which was a very hard decision to make. The funeral was Saturday and I was able to speak to several family members afterwards. Please keep us in your prayers.

Frontier House ain't got nothing on me!
We watched the whole series of Frontier House last week and I have to say I was inspired. I didn't have to work today, so I made biscuits from scratch. Mmmm Hmmm, were they good. Sarah took a pic, thought I'd share a visual since I can't send any to you. Notice the flowers in the background. The roses are from Lucka and the others are from the school, both for my birthday. Don't be hating on my martha skills!

I have the whole week off so of course, I must make a small trip somewhere. Kelly and I are going to the southern part of the country to check out some castles. Have I mentioned I live in Fairytale land? I'll post some pics, don't worry. But I probably won't write again until the weekend.

My birthday was low-key. Didn't make it to the jazz thingy due to some communication breakdown and laziness. But I will make up for it this week at the castles. Someone's gotta treat me like the princess I am, right?!

Gotta run. I've started teaching a class on Monday evenings for my church. They want to be able to communicate with me better and asked me to teach them. It has been working out really well. They are the best behaved and most eager of all my students! Tell next time!
Cau!

Here's a self-portrait of Sarah and I in Loket . We went there the first weekend in October with some of our friends. It was a perfect fall day. There is a great castle in Loket (which means elbow) complete with a dragon and torture chamber. I will go there again in December for the great Christmas market. Some of you have recieved things I have bought there in the past.

Oh, by the way, I am writing this in the comfort of my on home. We got internet today! Woo Hoo! Be prepared to be amazed.

So here's the deal. Sarah and I are getting a wireless connection at our flat, hopefully this week. Translation: I will be able to blog more and hopefully start putting some pics on this thing!

As far as I know, my Dad is still in Texas with my sister. Don't have any info haven't spoken to anyone in the fam since my last blog. I've been so busy this month, I've barely got time to sleep. But we have a fall break next week. It's supposed to be a 5 day holiday but I think we will have the whole week off from school. I'll find out for sure tomorrow. Kelly and I are going somewhere in South Bohemia to relax, enjoy some fall foliage and possibly stay in a castle. What fun. My goal is to see as many castles as I can this year. Not hard in the Czech Republic!

Thursday night I am going to the annual Jazz Jam here in Cheb. I LOVE jazz and I'm quite excited. It has started to cool off a bit; the highs are in the mid 50's and lows in the lower 30's. My butt was pretty cold today walking to school. Guess I gotta start wearing tights. Yuck! Well, gotta grab a bite before I teach my last class. Ahoj!

I've got lots to write and not much time so here goes... Update on my family in SW Louisiana: I don't have much information. What I do know is that all of my family's houses are standing but I have no idea how much damage they have sustained. My uncle has been able to get back to his house and he had electricity this weekend. My father has been staying in a hotel in Hot Springs, ARK with my grandfather and one of my aunts (she actually lives in Pheonix but was visiting when all this transpired.) My grandmother was air evacuated to a hospital in Hot Springs before Rita hit. My father will be staying there until he is allowed back in Lake Charles. I haven't been able to speak to my father yet. I always get a busy signal when I dial his cell phone. I will keep you updated.

I was out sick most of last week. Luckily I was home on Tues. morning because a pipe burst under the kitchen sink causing the entire apartment to flood with HOT water. It was crazy. I ran to my neighbor's because I couldn't turn the shut off valve. I can't believe I was able to speak so much Czech and make any sense. I was quite distraught. Things are ok now. I will give more details next time. I must go teach.

Jess