The Foreign Police (i.e. Hell)

Sunday, is the day of delightful adventures.  It started with a 9am wake-up call (not my favorite, but not horrible).  At about 10am, Stephanie and I left our flat to go across town to the foreign police to put our name on a list in order to get a spot in line to see the foreign police on Monday.  When we arrived at the foreign police, the only people there were the scary Ukranian mafia members.  They did have a list, but Steph and I were scared to go put our names on this list because several people had refused to put their name on the list.  Steph and I go home at 12:30pm (lunch and walking were invovled in pre-home activities).  

At 4:30pm, Katie and Frank call (friends from a different school).  Frank and Katie say, hey meet us at the foreign police and we will try to get our names on the list.  Ashley and Stephanie head to the foreign police, again.  Arrive at 5:30pm.  Katie puts our names on the scary Ukranian mafia list.  Informed that we have to come back to the foreign police at Midnight  for roll call and to form the line.  Go home again.

Once at home, I must call my head English teacher to inform her that I did get on the list and would not be able to teach the next.  Head English teacher says that I have to teach the next, and that she and I will go to the foreign police together on Wednesday.  I stress out and try to plan a lesson for the next day.  9pm, Head English teacher calls and decides that it will be ok for me to go the foreign police with my friends on Monday.  I stress out because I haven't actually planned to go to the foreign police, and must now prepare myself for an evening in the cold.

10:45pm, leave the flat to go the foreign police for the Midnight roll call.  11:30pm, arrive at foreign police find Frank and Katie, see about 150 other people waiting to be put in line.  Midnight, nice Ukranian lady puts people in a line.  Katie, Steph, Frank, and I set up our places for the evening.  We kind of look like homeless folks (i will put pictures at the bottom).  Katie dances an Irish gig, we drink hot pear juice with plum brandy, and we slowly freeze.  

3:00am, roll call number 2.  Very mean Ukranian lady comes to yell at us and make sure we are in the right spot.  She keeps telling the mass of people to move back, but their are people pushing and shoving from behind so we can't move back.  She doesn't like this.  Eventually we start to form two lines.  Angry African guy gets upset because he doesn't get a place in line.  Claims his name is on the list, but clearly his name is not on the list.  Ukranian lady and African guy get in fight right next to me.  African guys goes to the back of the line.  Ukranian lady keeps forming the line.  African guy then chooses to call Ukranian lady some choice words (not worth repeating, but very explicit) and push her.  Ukranian Mafia do not take kindly to African guy cursing and pushing their lady.  Also, normal prague police shoe up to control crowd.  African guy trys to hit police officer, police officers is not impressed and makes African guy leave.  African guy and friend leave.  Ukranian mafia men then follow the African guy making sure that take aluminum baseball bats and guns (this point the foreign police is extremely scary).  

Katie finds police officers to flirt with, this is beneficial to retaining our spot in line. 

8am, we finally enter the foreign police office.  Get number.  Frank is number 15; I am number 16!   Awesome, we should be out of here in no time.  We go to the waiting room with 200 other people.  The waiting room is basically like purgatory.  Everyone is waiting, but no one can leave.  9am rolls around, we are on number 3.  10am, number 4.  11am, number 5.  12pm, number 6 and 7.  1pm numbers 8 and 9.  Finally 2pm, the numbers actually start to roll.  I finally get to see a foreign police officer at 2:50pm.  Get in register my visa (yes the only reason to go to the foreign police, and really don't understand why you have to register your visa, but I am not complaining!).  3:30pm, leave the foreign police, go home, go to sleep, and awake the next morning to go teach.  

This is my delightful weekend!

Mmmmm....Burcak

First, let me apologize for being the world's worst blogger!

So, things that have been going on in my life. ESI had a retreat about 2 weekends ago. It was really nice to see people that I haven't seen since training and to get to talk about the struggles and joys of teaching in a foreign country. Everyone had great stories! I loved hearing about all the embarassing, sweet, and terrifiying moments people have had. We had a really great time worshipping the Lord together and exploring some aspects of our own spiritual life. It was a refreshing break.

Other cool things that have happened include a burcak festival, a new church, and finding a lovely park in the center of Prague.

So the burcak festival was really cool. Burcak is this young wine that is in the stage between grape juice and wine. I think it is pretty tasty, think slightly alcoholic apple cider. The only time of year that you can get Burcak is September to early October during the harvest season, so their are festivals all over the country celebrating the harvest and burcak. My roommate and I went to the one here in Prague. It was extremely cool because it was like being at a medieval rennicance (sp) festival. Their were sicilian flag throwers, tightrope walkers, musical performers, and of course burcak. I definitely drank a lot of burcak and ate this really good Czech pastry that tasted like a mix between a cinnamon roll and a crossiant. Delicious and warm! It was freezing outside, but a lot of fun!

Weird things about Prague number 2: they make food called the extrondinarre that looks like chunky dog food, tastes like sweaty socks, and smells like vomit. Yeah, I ordered it, and yeah, I definitely regret it!

That's all for now folks,

Ashley

Sorry it has been a while!

So, life has been super busy since I last wrote. School has started, I've been sick (feel much much better, thanks for all the prayers!), and it has gone from a beautiful 70 degrees to being in the 40's!

So, let's start with school. On my first day of school, I walked 181 steps to my office, watched several graduation exams (ask me if you want to know more), and then left to go to campus 2 to teach my first class. Upon arriving at school 2, I learned that 3 classes (40 students) would be in my one class (13 students) for the day because the other classes teachers were sick. In the middle of my first EVER class, a boy pours a bottle of water over another boys head. Yes, you did read that right, he poured a bottle of water over his head. Then, the boy who had just gotten drenched, proceed to leap out of his chair and get the other boy in a strangle choke hold. At which point, I had to break up the fight by literally yanking one boy off the other boy. Yay, for great first day of school stories!

Other than that, school is school and teenagers are teenagers. I am enjoying class and will let you know more after I have a full week of actual lessons and not just getting to know you stuff.

I was sick from stress, but am now feeling much much better. Thank you so much for all the prayers!

Other things that have happened, I went to a really cool street art/graffiti exhibit. I took a paddle boat on the Voulta river which runs down the center of Prague. This was probably the coolest thing that I have done since I have been here. You got to see the city from the water, relax, and take beautiful pictures (which I will post when I figure out how to get them from my camera to my computer!). I really loved being by the river.

So, I am going to start a things I find weird section of my blog. This week, the thing I find weird have to deal with babies and dogs (Czech dogs are definitely to most well behaved dogs in the world!). So, people will take theirs dogs into restuarants, but leave their babies in carriages outside. There are buses that allow dogs, buses that allow babies, but not buses that allow both. The whole baby/dog relationship is very interesting.

Things to pray for:

Lesson Planning - Coming up with interesting, fun things that interest juniors and seniors is hard!


Love everyone! Talk to you later!

Finally Here!

So, after a canceled flight and an extreme amount a chaos to actually get on the plane, I finally made it to the Czech Republic on Saturday, August 23rd, 2009 at 10:00pm.  Upon arriving, I met my head English teacher, Blanka, who took me to my apartment and my new roommate Stephanie.  

On Sunday, with severe jet lag, I took a tour of Prague with all of my fellow ESIers.   Thought it was amazingly beautiful, I don't remember much because I was half asleep the whole time!  My first day of school was on Monday.  It was just in-service, but I got to meet all of the teachers in my department and tour the school.  For the past week I have been lesson planning, writing syllabi, and getting prepared for the school year.  Definitely much more work than I ever gave my teachers credit for!

My school actually has two locations; Gybu (the main campus) and Pos.  I actually work at both campuses.  Pos started yesterday, but Gybu doesn't start until next week because it has been under renovation.  I have desk at both office and really like all of the ladies that I share an office with!   

I am teaching students that are ages 17-20.  They are the equivalent of Juniors and Seniors in the US high school system, though Czech do school quite differently than we do!  Once I actually start teaching, I will let you know more.

The funniest thing that has happened so far was at McDonalds of all places!  One day, I had to stay at school especially late to administer an exam.  When I left, I was starving and figured the easiest place to get something would be McDonald's because it was on my way home and all I had to do was say a number (which I am really good at in Czech!).  When I got there, the number part was ok, but the cashier could not understand coke/cola for the life of him!  I think we back and forth for over 5 minutes with me pointing at the Coke on the machine, saying coke-a-cola, and never getting anywhere.  At one point, I was trying to think of the czech word for drink and I think I asked for a beer which must have really confused him!  I never got my coke, but I did manage to get fries and chicken nuggets (was the easiest thing to say on the menu!).  

I am loving the Czech Republic!  The people are friendly, the city is beautiful, and I am really making some great friends.  This is an amazing adventure!  

My first day of class in on Thursday, so I will let you know how it goes!  If I don't have your e-mail address, send it to me, I will try to send out quick things letting people know what is going on.

That's all for now!

Training

So I have officially made it through 2 1/2 weeks of training.  The schedule has been extremely grueling and stressful, but I have been learning so much about teaching, living overseas, and my new teammates.  The Lord has yet again managed to amaze me with how amazingly well His plans come together.  For the past couple of years I have been trying and trying to find a way to go abroad and figure out what was going on with my life, and all this time God had been preparing me to come to LA to meet amazing Christian people who I will be able to serve with abroad.  

Teaching was actually something I was petrified of doing, but with the training I have received and the sink or swim method that happened to first week, I have learned to I really enjoy teaching.  The first night of class, we were told we had to prepare a lesson in a little over an hour to teach our peers that evening.  I was scare to death but made it.  The second night, I actually had to teach real non-english speakers, and let me tell you it was the most terrified that I have been in my life, but the Lord put some great people in my path along the way and I managed to survive and actually teach my students something useful.

Teaching has gotten easier every time that I have taught, and I am so excited for the prospect of teaching the same students for a year.  Please pray for me, my teaching ability, and the tremendous amounts of time it takes to be a good teacher.

Let's see aside from training, yes, I was in an earthquake.  Everything and everyone around me is unharmed and doing well.  The funny thing was we were all in the building and we kind of felt the room start shaking but no one really knew what was going on.  The earthquake was almost over by the time we actually figured out it was an earthquake and got out of the building!  Yeah, none of us were from California!

Other things you should pray about right now.  My team that is going to the Czech Republic does not have their visas yet (This also means I DO NOT have my visa).  If we do not get our visas in 2 weeks, we are not going to be able to leave the country.  Please pray for the expedition of those visas so that we can go abroad and start our service.  Other than that, please just pray for me and my mental stamina in this very exhausting time.  

I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

God is so amazing!!!

First, let me apologize for the fact that I have not posted in forever! I have been extremely busy preparing to go, and I will be much better about updating this at least once a week when I am in Prague!

Now, let me tell you about the amazing things that have been happening since God put me on this amazing journey. As most of you know, I had to raise $8,400 in order to go on this trip. As of June 24, 2008, I had only $400 raised and was really starting to freak out about whether this was what I was supposed to be doing or not. On the morning of June 25, during my prayer time that morning, I asked God if I was actually following His will for my life or if I was just trying to impose my will on my life and call it God's (because it wouldn't have been the first time). By that evening, the most amazing thing happened, my church pledged to give me $2500 which is amazing because I really didn't think they were going to be able to support me financially! God showed me within hours that if I just trust in Him, He does provide and that I was totally following His will and on the right path.

That weekend, I had a garage sale to raise more money for the trip. The garage sale was an amazing experience! People who I knew could not support me financially were so willing to give me things to sale. The support that I got from friends, family, and friends of family was amazing. The generosity of these people touched my heart and really let me know the support that I have here at home. Even the people who came to the garage sale were amazing, giving me a few extra dollars or just giving me money when they didn't even buy things, they put me on their prayer list, and gave me amazing advice. The garage sale really was a blessing! By the end of that day, I had raised about $1700 from items that sold and the money people donated. It was so amazing and just a reaffirmation that if you trust in God and follow His will He will provide!

By the end of the next day, I had all $8400 raised through the support that had come in over the weekend! It is so amazing because it took me 3 months to raise $400, but once I really started trusting God, the money came in a matter of days!

I leave on Friday to go to training, so I am busy packing and getting my life in order to go. I am so glad that I had time to sit down and type this because it has been so inspirational in my life, and I think it is a testament to how amazing God is and how powerful trusting Him is.

Please remember to keep me in your prayers. Things to pray for include training, packing, homesickness, nervousness, my ability to teach, and just my general well-being in this next few extremely hectic weeks!

Talk to you soon,

Ashley

My First Post

This is my first ever post! I started this blog so that everyone can become a part of team "CZECH it Out!," and stay up-to-date on what is happening with my support, my ministry, and my life as a I prepare go serve the Lord as an English teacher in Prague.

During the pre-depature phase, I will try to keep by blog as up to date as possible with current support needs, prayer request, and the awesome things the Lord is doing in my life. I will even try to share some of the funny stories about prepartion for a year abroad!

Once abroad, I will try to post at least once a week while I am CZECHing it out. I will post pictures, stories, prayer request, and a care package wish list (expect peanut butter to be a frequent star!). This will be the best place to find out what is happening on team "CZECH it Out!" And if I am not posting, shoot me an e-mail and tell me "Ashley, I want to know what is going on!" A push is always a good thing!

Things to look forward to:

• Explantion of my crazy passion for the international
• The super cool story of how I found TeachOverseas
• The awesome way that God provided for my health care needs
• Fun Pictures
• And much, much more!

I look forward to this crazy amazing adventure into the unknown, and hope that you will enjoy reading the blog and really see how the Lord is using me in the lives of the people of the Prague.

Ahoj (I think it is "goodbye" in Czech),

Ashley