<< insert dr. horrible's sing-along blog quote here >>

Right, so I have had Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog stuck in my head for the past week. I've been listening to it nonstop, too, though I gave that up today because I thought, well, if I'm not getting sick of it, maybe I'll just forget it! Alas, it is still stuck in my head. I guess that's a lot better than other songs/soundtracks that could be stuck in there. And it keeps me endlessly entertained, so that's a plus. ("Thank you, Hammer man, I don't think I can explain how important it was that you stopped the van. I would be splattered, I'd be crushed under debris - thank you sir for saving me..." and "Get up, go out and fly, especially that guy he smells like poo..." Seriously. How could you not be entertained by that?)

Anyway, I have also had a list stuck in my head for the past few weeks, and it's getting a little longer every day as I get closer and closer to being finished with student teaching, and closer and closer to coming home. So here it is, the things I miss about home:

1. My car. (I know it sounds silly, but my car is awesome and you have no idea how convenient it is until you have to take a tram, then two metros, then a bus, and then walk in order to get to school. Every morning.)
2. A clothes dryer. (Now, my British friends probably think this is silly, because I've learned that the majority of British folk don't use dryers, and/or much prefer to hang things to dry. But I lovelovelove dryers, and hatehatehate how my clothes aren't as soft and are all stretched out and stuff.)
3. Drinking water from the tap. (I've been relying on bottled water for three months. I'm sick of it. I just want a glass of water from the damn sink!)
4. More food options. (Since I can't read Czech, I have no idea if food does or doesn't have meat in it. That's a problem. So for the past two and half months my dinners have either been cheese pizza, minestrone soup, grilled cheese and tomato soup, or pesto pasta. That's rather limited.)
5. Pedestrian laws. (Seriously. Unless there's a cop as a crossing guard or a blinking warning light, I swear cars here speed up when a pedestrian tries to cross the street in front of them. Even the trams and buses do it too!)
6. Watching hockey at 7pm, not 4am. (That one is self-explanatory.)
7. Band. (I love DTSPB. I feel like I'm about to go into withdrawals if my leave of absence goes any longer. At least for now I have some new music I can learn to tide me over...)
8. Washington. (That kind of encompasses everything, doesn't it? I mean, the scenery in Washington. I do love how beautiful Prague is, but I miss Mt. Baker and the San Juans and the Cascades and all that.)

Right, so I miss a lot more than that (I mean, I obviously left out family and friends, but that goes without saying). But I'll miss a lot about Prague when I leave, like:

1. The trams outside my window. (No matter the time of day or night, I can hear the trams going by. I live right next to a tram depot, so even at like 3am I can hear the occasional tram. It's rather comforting.)
2. Living in a city, in a foreign country, in eastern Europe... (I've always wanted to live in a city [check]. I've always wanted to live abroad [check]. I've always wanted to visit eastern Europe [check]. I have crossed a lot of things off my bucket list with this adventure, but I will miss the experience.)
3. The accessibility of everything in Prague. (Right, so I don't have a car, but I can get to the city center in a matter of 15 minutes. I can go to the stores, I can see buildings that were built in the 1800s or earlier, I can hear classical music pouring out of the windows of a church... it's awesome.)
4. Being a hermit. (Not speaking the language means that you don't have to make chit-chat with the people at the cash register or on the tram or anything like that. I've been allowed to retreat into my own little shell when I do things in the city by myself, and I rather like that.)
5. Visiting a new place every weekend. (I made it a mission to see as much as Prague as I could every Saturday. I'll definitely miss wandering around finding new things every weekend. You can't do things like that at home.)

And, of course, I'm going to miss the school and the staff and especially the kids. But, again, I feel like that goes without saying.

Anyway, tomorrow is the last day of school before half-term holiday. I'm excited to have a week off where I am going to travel a bit. I'll be heading to Krakow (Poland) for a couple of days, where I will see Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then I will head to Berlin for another couple of days. Then when I get back I will go to Terezin for a "rekky" (as the British call it) with a couple of teachers from the school (we're taking some students there on the first Tuesday back). And, of course, I'm fitting in some hockey this Sunday, where Helen, Chris and I will be going to watch HC Sparta Praha play Kladno (Jaromir Jagr's old team!). So I have a busy week planned.

I should go get some sleep. Seeing as though my itinerary for break doesn't include anything about sleeping... :)