by Alanna Powers (current English teaching Assistant) Standing over a bowl in my school’s small kitchen, I ask one of my students to hand me the butter. He picks up the block of butter on the counter and reads it out loud, “maslo s rostlinn ým tukem.” He shoots me a confused look. “Well, this isn’t going to make our Thanksgiving mashed potatoes taste very good.” “What?” I reply. “Why not?” “Because it’s not butter. It’s butter mixed with vegetable fat.” As a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in the Czech Republic, mix ups like this happen at least once a week. However, it’s these messy and sometimes embarrassing moments that make the Fulbright experience so special. I live in Dv ůr Králové nad Labem, a small town in the North-Central part of the country. For context, the town is about a 40 minute’s drive to Poland, and it takes about an hour and a half to get to Prague. About 16,000 people call Dvůr home, making it a tight-knit and friendly community. I teach at
Jaké je to být Fulbrighterem. What it is like to be a Fulbrighter.