Posted on 03/04/2003 by haonowshaokao

Before I start…. perhaps the greatest flash animation of all time… or at least since that kung-fu one – http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php?id=90739 the mourning leopard. Class.
Meanwhile I am only 24 hours from being a qualified TEFL teacher, Trinity cert, proper shit. I just handed in a 40 page materials project and I am knackered. Good job I’m going to see Supergrass tonight, at the club around the corner, which will be sweet. That’s if I can bunk off a bit, which I can.
Shit I’m going to enjoy freedom this weekend.

Posted in diary | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Posted on 02/04/2003 by haonowshaokao

Damn those bassads. They’ve gone and bought up all the Glastonbury tickets and I’m fucked if I’m working again. Well, maybe. I hope it rains on them like in 96, muddy English cunnies.

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Dog Island

Posted on 27/03/2003 by haonowshaokao

B3TA have just shown me the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages, check it out: http://www.thedogisland.com – not only a good idea but also a way of getting rid of all those little yappy type dogs that snap at you round Prague.

Posted in diary | Tagged | 2 Comments

Posted on 26/03/2003 by haonowshaokao

So…. lessons, assignments, classes, preparation, looking at stuff on the internet about the war… life goes on.
I had a really good class this morning and actually had fun for the first time. My students enjoyed it too. I’m not dreading them any more, in fact I’m even looking forward to the next one. Unless it’s those damned pre-intermediates again.
I lost a very important tape last night, failed to get any decent work done and burned my hand on the first use of my new pans. To top it all some guy kept coming by and telling me to run it under the cold tap instead of keeping it in a bowl of cold water even though anyone with eyes could have realised that I was doing urgent work and therefore not able to stand there with my hand under the tap for ten minutes.
Anyway, rant over. One week and two days to go. Eek.
This interactive war guide is very good – http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,869664,00.html – though of course it isn’t a computer game.

Posted in diary | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Posted on 24/03/2003 by haonowshaokao

The teaching is becoming easier and less stressful as the weeks progress, thankfully. Now standing up in front of Czechs and telling them what to do seems like a perfectly natural thing to do. I even had enough time to go to the Clown & Bard 7th birthday party and drink enough free beer. Everyone had fun and Carrie’s got enough gossip to last at least a week. Which is plenty.

Posted in diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment

huh… what is it good for?

Posted on 21/03/2003 by haonowshaokao

Much war going on.
That’s bad.
Meanwhile, TEFL, stress, teaching, ugh.

Posted in diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment

So….

Posted on 12/03/2003 by haonowshaokao

Three days into the course and I’ve managed to grab ten minutes or so to do this.
Intensive was an appropriate descriptive word for what I have been doing, especially as I have approx. 1 hour of free time each day. But I am starting to enjoy it. I wouldn’t have believed how much it is possible to ride on the nervous energy of the lessons but I expect there is a lot more of that to come. I start teaching on Monday, not such a daunting prospect as it was but still a big step. I’ve already started individually tutoring one man, which instead of being a stress has turned out to be a pleasure and has brought back my motivation for this course.
Also I know 12 tenses, though I’m still having trouble distinguishing adverbs from adjectives. If this all sounds unbelievably dull, well, it isn’t. I’m getting very interested indeed in the construction of the english language now.

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on 08/03/2003 by haonowshaokao

Ok, before I begin, check this out:
http://www.robertsondex.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/carjack3.wmv
Some guy strapped a camera to a remote-controlled car and chased his dog with it, the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages.
And these guys seem alright too: http://www.spacehijackers.co.uk/

Anyway, Thursday I went out with Linn, her boyfriend, flatmate & flatmate’s boyfriend. We went to some new bar, which was pretty nice. I usually don’t like hanging round with couples but it was good fun anyway.
Yesterday I finally decided to go find my language school so I hopped on the metro to the end of the line and then went four stops on the tram. The place was closed and apparently deserted , so I returned to the hostel and phoned the language school guy who seemed angry with me for not having contacted him earlier. Ah well. I went out to see the new hollywood remake of ‘the ring’ which was surprisingly alright, they didn’t make too much of a hatchet job of it. Then I came back to the dorm and tried to sleep through the texas snorer again.
Today I woke up to find the dorm was occupied by 12 Irish & Portuguese girls running round in their underwear. S’alright with me.

Posted in diary | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Posted on 06/03/2003 by haonowshaokao

I’m actually starting to take an interest in grammar and phonetics, though it may not last. Since the last update I’ve only taken a break from revision to eat pork goulash with dumplings at U Houdku and sleep, though the latter has been particularly difficult these last couple of nights, what with the Texas snoring machine 2 beds down from me. Someone put a pillow over her head last night, but it really wasn’t me. I’m going to have to get a room of my own if I’m going to successfully study – while it’s quiet now it’s going to be pretty much impossible when the next flood of travellers move in.

Posted in diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Posted on 05/03/2003 by haonowshaokao

I have finally found all my people, which is good. Also yesterday was pancake day which apparently americans don’t celebrate, so I introduced a few to its wonders and they were most impressed. I bought a whole bagful of ingredients and so I had 2 for breakfast today and another 7 before I came out here. If there was a medal for being a greedy pig I would have earned it and then some.
Also I’ve realised a connection that I had in my brain but never quite figured out – Pancake day = Shrove Tuesday = Fat Tuesday = Mardi Gras. So there was a little Mardi Gras celebration at the bottom of the hill in Florenc yesterday too, with a rotating dead pig, alleged Grog and cheap beer. And a drumming spanish band. I had enough after half an hour so a few of us went to see Catch Me If You Can. It was pretty good, Spielberg is getting better with every film after the abysmal AI. I left my hat in the cinema but i don’t really care, it wasn’t a good one.
Today I have shaved my head again (very much a rarity here in Prague) and paid 55 crowns for half a litre of beer, which is a rip off but I did get to talk to Linn while I drank it so I didn’t mind that either.

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment