Two weeks down, 9 more to go!

First of all, it's September 11. 10 years ago today I was in 10th grade. Larly ran downstairs saying, "Turn on the TV! Turn on the TV!" We watched as the second plane hit the Twin Towers. Larly drove me to school that day, and we listened to the radio coverage. I was in first period, 10th grade science, as we watched the towers fall. It's amazing how much you can remember about a day like that. Crazy that it's been 10 years already.

And now, 10 years later, I'm in my student teaching placement! I never even thought, when I was in high school, that I would be a teacher. I thought I was going to be a lawyer or an architect. Now I'm becoming a real-live teacher, and I can't imagine being anything else. Truly. Every time I get in front of the class or I interact with a student, or even when I'm lesson planning or creating a powerpoint, I can't imagine a better job. My CT always says that being in front of the kids is the best part, and lesson planning is the worst - but something you have to do. I actually don't mind lesson planning! I told Larly last night that I love lesson planning because I get the chance to "stretch my creative muscles" as it were. It's true, though!

I'm taking over two more classes this coming week - another year 8 History class, and a year 7 English class. Actually, the teacher for the year 7 English class isn't even going to be there on Monday (she's going on a school trip with some other year 7s), so I'm fully in charge! Without even so much as a supervisor! Well, that's not wholly true. I'll get them settled in the classroom, explain the research project they're going to start, and then we'll go to the library. The head of the English department will be there, so she'll be supervising a bit. But really she'll just be doing her own thing, and if I need anything I can go to her. I'm excited, nonetheless!

I went out for drinks with a bunch of the staff on Friday and that was fun. We went to a very Czech pub about a block away from the school. I swear, when you first walk up to it, the windows are all covered and there's graffiti, and it almost looks like you're going into a strip club or something. Inside it was dark and dingy, and had the scent of stale smoke. I ended up staying for three hours and having 4 pints. Guess how much that cost? 100 crowns. That's about $5! Beer really is cheaper than water here. Besides that, it was nice to get a chance to get to know the staff a bit more and talk with them about things other than school. Though, of course, there was school talk, but it was much more casual than had we not been in a pub!

Speaking of school talk, the three History teachers and myself are planning a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings. And, this isn't a small re-enactment. I mean, the entire year 7 class - about 40 or 50 of them - will make their own costumes/armor, and whoever has the best costumes will either be King Harold or William of Normandy. We'll split the four classes in half and have one side be the Normans and the other side be the English, and then during lunch (I think next week), we're going to do a full-scale re-enactment, complete with the Norman's strategies, the death of most of the English, and all that! It's going to be epic.

I'll leave you with some more pictures, because I haven't posted any recently. The last two weekends I've gone into the city center, though this weekend it was really just to meet up with Chris. But I'm making it a goal to go every weekend to try to get to know the city a bit more and see something I haven't seen yet. So there you go.

Vladislav Hall, Old Royal Palace, Prague Castle. I love it.

Coats of Arms cover the ceiling in one of the rooms in the Old Royal Palace in Prague Castle, some dating as far back as 1600!

Inside St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle. It is HUGE.

The Dancing House.

A memorial set up in Old Town Square for the 3 Czech hockey players who were part of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, the Russian hockey team that died in a plane crash on the 7th.

I can get used to the sunrise here.