Prague, CR. May 24, 2012 -- Letter to Petra

Hi Petra,

Matt and I both had an interview today... at the same place... at the same time. Very strange, but they liked us both. They're part-time positions, mostly going to companies for one-to-one lessons. The school is called Stanzia and it's located just south of Lhotka, a little community southeast of Prague (18 minutes metro/bus ride from Zborovska). They said we just need proof of address in order to get our visas started. I don't know if that means we're hired, but we should know by mid-next week.

I also have an interview/mock lesson tomorrow, 13:00, at James Cook Languages in Prague. They're a huge school with about 500 teachers. I spoke to a guy who just got a job there that subsititutes at Oxford. He seemed pretty rusty on grammar and teaching in general and they hired him on the spot.

Have you had any job offers? Do you plan on moving into the city? Matt and I were entertaining the idea of asking you if you wanted to be roomies. We told each other that we'd wait to bring it up in person, but I just spilled the beans, I guess. Let me know what you think.

That's ok about this weekend. We're pretty busy with the job and housing search. I'd feel a lot better once we're settled and on track to our visas. Next weekend might work. We'll just have to discuss it next week.

My interview is at 13:00 tomorrow, so I'll miss the first workshop. Sinead said the second one was cancelled, but I'm not 100% certain it is. I should make it there after my interview, and then I think Matt and I will look at apartments.

Hopefully I'll see you there.

Take care,

Keith

Prague, CR. May 10, 2012 -- Letter to Tom Horton

hi tom!

i hope your wounds are healing and you've made it through the semester
ok.  i've been in prague for about 3 weeks now and am almost finished
with a month-long teaching certification course.  it's extremely
difficult, hardly any free time, but the city is absolutely amazing.
i told my mom that i'm never coming back (half-seriously).

the reason i write (besides to check up on your injuries) is to ask
for a letter of recommendation.  nothing too fancy, but i dunno, you
probably know more than me about the structure.  i'm applying for an
'english language teacher' job around prague, if that helps narrow
your focus.  i'd very much appreciate your endorsement.

anyhow, i graduate from the course at the end of next week and until i
find a job, i'll probably travel around and sightsee europe for a
couple weeks.  very exciting.

unfortunately, though, the visa situation this time of year isn't so
good for americans.  you're allowed a 3-month tourist visa but for any
longer you need an employer to put you through the visa application
process.  the only way to convince an employer to do the leg work is
to get a long-term position with them, and such positions typically
aren't available during the summer months -- which means that in a
couple months from now i might be relocating to another spot in the
world for work.  the good thing about teaching esl (english as a
second language) is that there are always jobs available somewhere
really cool.  but i have heard of a couple places hiring in prague.
hopefully they want a guy from maryland, just out of school.

i'm trying to stay positive.  the weather's great here.  there's
plenty of beer and good food and beautiful women and old architecture
to satisfy the soul for now.

let me know how things are going.  i hope you've been out kayaking at
least a little.

take care,
keith

Prague, CR. May 8, 2012 -- Letter to Tyler

tyler.

i'm in school 'til 5 tomorrow.  just email me and tell me what time
you're  available.  today was a day off, a bank holiday (whatever that
is).  but tomorrow i teach my first 1-on-1 session, and both thursday
and friday i teach a new class of pre-intermediate koreans.  they're
eager to learn but they don't laugh or like any kind of praise.  it's
very strange.  they're all housewives who want to communicate with
their childrens' schools.

this course is ridiculous.  so much work is involved that it's
impossible to retain any of the lessons.  my time is mostly spent
working through the tremendous workload.  there are so many
assignments that we're all just running around confused.  i'm not sure
if that's good or bad, and i don't know what i should have expected
from a 1-month teaching course.  can't complain too much.

i got a B on my first big assignment, which really pisses me off
because matt got an A.  it was a 9-page assessment of a week-long
gaelic class i had to take the first week.  overall my work was just
as good as matt's, or better, but i answered a certain section of
questions in a different way than what the instructor wanted.  there's
not much i can do about it.  i'm just going to have to work extra hard
and ace all the other stuff.  it's going to be fucking tough.

ok.  hopefully we'll talk tomorrow.  back to all my shit.

keith