Fulbright Reality Czech

Only a few weeks into my first-ever teaching job, I learned a valuable (and obvious) lesson: students have an incredible amount of power when it comes to dictating your mood. I was a little tired the other day and not very excited about my full days of lessons. Luckily, my students were all in a miraculously good mood which completely turned my day around. They made me have a much better day (which also made me realize that the opposite can also happen… Let’s hope that it doesn’t). For something that is so much a part of my life here,  I’ve posted very few pictures of my school/classroom/students… So, I’ve decided to show you some pictures along with a very brief explanation of pretty surface-level differences between my experiences here in the CR and my experiences from high school in rural Minnesota . I’m not very photogenic… 1. The Czech Secondary Education structure is different… I’m teaching at what would most closely resemble an American high school....

The most unique and enjoyable aspect of the Fulbright experience has been the complete cultural immersion. I’m the only native-English speaker living in this tiny Czech town, and for most people, I’m also the only American that they’ve ever met. Unlike when I studied film in Prague (where there were always fellow study-abroad-students or tourists), I am completely and entirely surrounded by Czech natives. This unique situation often presents me with two very different options: stay at home looking at my computer all day, or go out and experience as many Czech foods, customs, holidays, and other events as I possibly can. This has resulted in me developing what I’ve been calling a “yes-driven” mentality; I try to accept every invitation that comes my way. Thankfully, this has led me to attend many great events, such as a typical Czech dance ball, a Guláš festival, a wine tasting event, traditional Christmas celebrations, cross-country ski trips, and occasional nights ...

This year I spent my first Christmas away from home. And I feel like everyone in my entire town was aware of it: "Oh, you're not going home?" "Are you going to eat dinner by yourself?" "Will you be okay?" "Maybe I can ask my mom if you can come over for dinner..?" Alas, don't worry. I survived. Before I get into the details of it all, I'd like to enlighten you with the knowledge of some interesting Czech Christmas traditions (warning: I'm going to generalize a lot. Not ALL Czech people do all of these things, there are obviously variations, differences, etc...): 1. They celebrate Saint Nicholas on December 5th. However, Mikuláš (St. Nick) doesn't come alone. He brings both a devil and an angel with him. If you were a good kid, the angel will give you candy. If you were bad, the devil will put you in his bag and take you away. Yup. Scary. An angel, a devil, and St. Nicholas 2. Christmas is on th...