Thursday, January 27, 2011

Getting started in the Czech Republic

     I arrived to Prague without many problems despite the snow storm that swept across the eastern part of the states. I flew from Nashville to Washington D.C. Then after sprinting across Dulles International airport (like I always do when I am in that airport) I barely caught my flight to Copenhagen where I took a connecting flight to Prague. My friends Milos (pronounced Melosh) and Lucie picked me up from the airport. Some of their friends, some whom I have met while living in New Zealand, were ready to drink in celebration of my arrival. Sadly, I was exhausted from the fifteens hours of traveling and just needed to sleep. The first Saturday that I was in the country was Milos' birthday. So all of their friends got together at a bar to celebrate. I definitely added a lot to the party with even trying just because I was a foreigner and people could try out their English skills. The ones who couldn't speak a lot of English waited until the end of the night after some pilsers and tequila to attempt their English. Of course by that time I attempted my very little knowledge of Czech, which pretty must consist of bad words that got a good laugh. It was a great night!
     Milos and Lucie live about one hour east of the capital city of Prague in the town of Hradec Kralove. They threw down a mattress for me in the kitchen in their one bedroom flat near the city center. This is where I will be until I can get myself settled in a bit. I knew coming here and getting legal to work and finding a job would not be an easy task. So far my predictions have been correct but I am on the right path. I have had several interviews at language schools to teach English as a foreign language. They all have wanted my services but so far only one is willing to help me with a work visa. Of course that would be the school that is the furthest from Milos and Lucie. It is in the town of Plzen. Though it is not official yet. I might actually be able to swing a job closer to them. Plzen is the home of Czech's most famous beer, Pilser Urquell. This beer was the world's first pilsner. Czechs love their beer and I do to. It is cheaper than water and I find myself having at least one beer almost everyday for lunch. I have forgotten already what it was like to drink water with a meal.
     The first two weeks have pretty much consisted of traveling to other towns for interviews at language schools and getting all my documents organized and translated to Czech so that I can obtain my business visa and a traders license, which they call a Zivnostensky List. It took me a week to be able to pronounce that one.
     The Czech Republic is the twentieth country that I have visit. I am definitely excited for what is in store for me here in Europe. Czech is centrally located between Germany, Austria, Poland, and Slovakia. So, it is a great place to be based in order to see a lot of other European countries.
Czech, especially Prague, was largely untouched during World War two so a lot of excellent architecture from many centuries has been preserved. Its a great place for pictures. Please continue to czech this blog so you can see what I have captured. The following pictures are of Hradec Kralove.

















This last picture is looking west on the Charles Bridge in Prague.

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