Sunday, February 21, 2010

Brevity

Since the last few updates have been very philosophical, I'll make this one direct. I've been sick all week. Wasn't much fun but I'm starting to feel better. Taught my first private lesson friday. I like them. They're fun, relaxed and they pay well and immediately.

It's warming up a little here. Temps are now in the upper 30s and the snow and ice are beginning to melt, finally. It might even hit the 40s soon (which will feel like a heatwave at this point). To celebrate here are some pictures of my neighborhood, pre-winter.



Saturday, February 13, 2010

Opportunities

"I? I live the happiest life possible. I am pleased with one place, and stay there; I get tired of it, and leave it; I am free as a bird, and have wings like one. Ah, if you had tasted my life, you would not desire any other."
-Edmond Dantès, The Count of Monte Cristo

Good news this week. I've added 2 new classes for James Cook, one of which is 5 minutes from my door. These classes both look like fun, interesting small groups (my favorite type). In addition, I've also been contacted by 2 current and former students to teach private lessons. This is a double bonus because 1. private lessons pay more and 2. (and more importantly to me) this confirms that I'm doing a good job teaching (otherwise they wouldn't recommend me to friends and family). The only sad part is that I won't be staying long enough to set up a network of private lessons. You could earn a comfortable living here doing that.


However, I'm not here to get comfortable and settle down. I'm here for adventures, travels and the crazy moments that make life truly worth living. I still haven't decided where I'm going for certain this summer or fall but I have decided that sometime down the road i'm going to a country where you can earn lots of money for at least a year. And believe it or not, my reason for doing this is not just money.

After 6 months here, I've learned that a strong bank account with some ingenuity and hard work can take you anywhere. However, as amazing as Europe and CZ are, you need at least some money to travel and really take advantage of it. Right now that isn't the case for me. I intend to remedy this the simplest way possible. I will follow the money and meet some very interesting adventures on the way. Because here's the secret, most places that pay really well are so different from the US that Americans are afraid to go there. I'm not. Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the UAE, they all have unique, extremely interesting and friendly cultures and I think living in any of them would be very eye opening. So you see, for someone who wants to get the most out of life and is willing to do all kinds of things to achieve that end, these places are perfect. They are interesting in and of themselves and they allow me to see many other unique and wonderful places :)

Agree with me or not, I desire to live much like Edmond Dantès and by force-of-will and the grace of God, I am doing just that.

In short, moments like these are why I'm here

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Calm before the fun


In order to explain my strange title, let me give you a quick update on my situation. Things have fallen into a fairly stable routine here. I work 6:30am to 7pm tuesday-thursday. At the moment I have friday and monday off, though I'm hoping to pick up a couple classes monday. Now this situation might sound ideal to many or possibly all of you but the current temperature (21) outside and a covering of ice on everything means that these 4 day weekends are mostly spent indoors reading, watching movies and doing other equally useless activities (fortunately I get to play full-court basketball twice a week for several hours or I'd probably go insane).

This is what most of CZ looks like right now (though this was a very pretty day)

However, there is good news coming. Spring will be here in about another month. And as the temperature rises, this city comes alive in amazing fashion. This rejuvenation coincides with several planned visits by family and friends of both Tim and I. In short, spring is looking great!

Summer also looks good but much more questionable. I'm continuing to look at the job in Switzerland but its a tough situation. The director of the program said if I had an EU passport he'd hire me today. However as I don't have one, the task of hiring me is more daunting. He hopes that my Czech work permit is transferable to Switzerland. I don't think it is and its a coin toss at best if he can hire me without that. So would those of you reading this please pray that God will open a way for me to work there this summer! I can probably find other places to go (and I'm looking now to make sure I have a plan B) but this is where my heart is leading me.

And now that i've lost all traces of my manliness with that last sentence, its time to stay up until 4am watching the Superbowl. GO SAINTS!!!!!!


If you want to see why I don't spend much time outside, look at this lovely field that people are walking through. This is a lake.


And here is the proof. Nice high dive huh? I'm about 30ft in front of it