One for the Business English teachers

In the light of Google's quarterly figures yesterday, and the subsequent drop in stock price, I was amused to see the article linked above (just click on the title of this post).

Those of you who have to teach vocabulary of trends and rate of change of numbers may find their examples useful. :)

Have a good weekend!

Friday Thoughts

Greetings from sunny but damp Hampshire. The weather forecast promised a wet day in Southern England, and they weren't wrong! It rained solidly, with thunder and lightning, all morning and most of the afternoon. I wasn't too worried as I had too many things to occupy me indoors today. I now have two pending job applications, so fingers crossed. I have spent the afternoon refreshing some of my Solaris and Internet skills so that I will be on firm ground in any interviews for IT jobs.

Earlier this week I was working on my CV and had to deal with various administrative chores as well as buying two new tyres for the car. When we were passing through Belgium last Saturday, Goodyear had people in the motorway services checking tyre pressures and tread. They told me my tyres needed replacing immediately, this wasn't strictly true as the tread was still legal, but it was definitely time to renew them. I need to get a job to keep up with the bills.

It hasn't all been work, though, I have put some photos from Prague onto my Flickr site and I have made time for this update to the blog. I will make some time next week to start writing up our holday in North Bohemia.

I'm still thinking of my friends in Prague, and good luck to Alasdair on his gig at Noel's!

Safely Home

We got up at 4am on Saturday (which was hard work after a final meal with friends in prague the night before) and managed to pack the car for a 6am departure.

The journey went smoothly apart from a 1 hour delay due to an accident on the motorway near Wurtzburg, and we arrived in Calais at 6:30pm. We stopped at a motorway services on the M20 for some food and managed to get home at 9:30 - just in time to get some food for breakfast from Tesco.

Yesterday we managed to get to Watford to see an exhibition of photographs which our friend Janice had organised in memory of her late partner, Malcolm. We saw some of our old friends there and I was really pleased that I was able to get home from Prague in time to see the exhibition.

I started job-hunting today, as well as catching up with some tasks at home.

A Week Of Goodbyes

This week I have been saying goodbye to all of my students. They have been really kind, most of them have given me presents or taken me out for a drink to say goodbye. All of them have said that they wished I could stay. It gives me a feeling that I have helped them and that they appreciate it. I will miss them.

I will also miss my colleagues from the school, both the teachers and the admin staff. We have had a really great social life here, partly because no-one is responsible for decorating their houses or maintaining their gardens and no-one has any children. The community of teachers has been a bit like a group of students in college. Getting back to Real Life in the UK will be strange.

Breaking The Silence

It's been ages since I last wrote anything. My excuse is that I've been too busy having a life to write about it. Since the end of May I have been busy preparing and setting tests and writing reports on all my students. In addition we have been busy at weekends trying to make the most of the remaining time here in the Czech Republic.

Today was my last day of teaching, and I have now handed in all of the materials which the school provided me with in August, and I have received my last salary from them, too. Including my end of year bonus for keeping my paperwork straight in a timely manner.

Sue is flying into Prague tonight and next week we will start a ten day trip around Northern Bohemia. We will then have a day for the last tidying of the flat before we drive home on July 14th.

I hope I get some time before too long to catch up on the blog by writing about some of the trips we have taken. I also want to sort out some of the pictures I have taken, and load them onto my Flickr page. Watch this space, there should be more content soon.

A Weekend Drive

It is over a month since my last entry here. I have been busy working and spending the weekends doing things and seeing things, but I haven't taken the time to write about them.

I have just under three months left here in Prague and am trying to make the most of it. We decided that we should have a car here now that it is Spring. We can travel at weekends to explore the country. I flew to the UK on Friday so that Sue and I could bring my car out here over the weekend.

We left the house at about 5:15 on Saturday to drive to the tunnel. Our check-in time was 7:20 and we arrived in sufficient time to get a second breakfast at the terminal before checking in. The check-in and journey to France went very smoothly, and we were soon settled into our journey along the autoroute. Sue drove through France, Belgium and across the south-east tip of the Netherlands where we stopped for lunch just before the German border.

I took over after lunch and drove through Germany for about 150 miles while Sue had a snooze. She then took over until we arrived at Nuremberg at about 6:30. We found a hotel after a slightly fraught drive through the city, and after a shower we went off to explore the old town and have dinner.

We had no idea beforehand that Nuremberg would be so pretty. We had walked around the centre during the last of the daylight and had a quick beer before looking for a restaurant.

We were delighted to find an authentic bierkeller and had a hearty dinner there. The cuisine was quite similar to Czech food with lots of pork, dumplings and cabbage.

On Sunday morning we found the hotel restaurant crowded so we decided to eat in town. There was a lovely pavement cafe serving a good selection of breakfasts. Sue had croissants and I had ham and eggs. We had decided to stay and explore the town until lunchtime so we walked up to Albrecht Durer Platz, the city walls and the castle.

We weren't too hungry by twelve, so lunch consisted of an ice-cream sundae before we set off on the road once more. Sue drove out of town, only slightly hampered by my GPS-assisted navigation. She drove as far as the German-Czech border, which took about an hour, and we stopped there to buy a motorway vignette. I took over to drive the rest of the way to Prague, and we arrived at the flat at about 4:45. The overall journey was about 800 miles.

We enjoyed the trip, especially with the bonus of the visit to Nuremberg, and realised that driving to Germany for holidays would be quite practical in the future.

First Day Of Spring?

I spoke too soon about Spring. Last week was really warm and sunny, but the weather turned colder over the weekend and this week temperatures are a few degrees above freezing with a few flakes of snow around.

I had a cancelled class this morning and decided to visit the Cubist Museum, rather than just the cafe. It has an interesting collection of paintings and drawings as well as pieces of furniture, photographs and architectural models of buildings designed in the Cubist style. Czech Cubism was an interesting style which tried to relate all of the above forms into a common style. The architectural period was essentially over once the First World War ended, and architecture moved on to Modernism and Functionalism. This is a pity in my view as Czech Cubist architecture is simple and fairly minimal without the starkness of later Modernism.

The exhibition includes a drawing of a design for the Czech National Monument in Žižkov in the Cubist style. If this had been selected it would have been an improvement on the actual winner in my view, because it would have used a uniquely Czech style and would have been easier on the eye than the Functionalist block which was actually built.

Spring In The Air

It really feels like Spring today. As I left for the tram at 7:00 this morning the sun was just about rising, and as I crossed the river the castle was lit with a wonderful atmospheric light.

My early lesson went really well, the students took part very enthusiastically in a role-play of a business meeting. After the lesson I had a few hours of free time (one of the benefits of the early starts and late finishes) so I decided to make the most of it.

I took the tram to the castle area and walked over Letna plain to the metronome which stands on the site of the former Stalin monument. From there I crossed the river into Josefov, the old Jewish quarter, and walked through the old town. After passing the square I popped into the Grand Cafe Orient for elevenses before getting the tram home to work on my preparation for my next lesson.

It's a wonderful day here and life feels really good.

Places To Go - Grand Cafe Orient

When I first visited Prague in 1991 all the guidebooks said that the place to go for coffee was the Slavia cafe overlooking the river near the National Theatre. Sadly in 1991 Slavia was closed for refurbishment. I have been there a few times since I came out here this year, but for me it no longer has the combination of elegance and relaxation which I associated with it. It seems busy and touristy and the staff aren't really attentive enough.

A few months ago one of Sue's work colleagues asked if we had been to the coffee house at the Cubist Museum. We hadn't, but checked it out based on his recommendation. The museum is near the Old Town Square, and the Grand Cafe Orient is on the first floor of the museum. The building itself is a prime example of Czech Cubist architecture, and the cafe and its furnishings reflect that.

In addition to the visual splendour, the service is excellent, and although it gets busy at weekends it feels quite relaxed on weekdays. Sandwiches and salads are available for lunch, but for me it is best for light breakfasts or afternoon coffee and cakes.

Another Storming Gig By Alasdair

Alasdair played Noel's again on Saturday. Again he went down a storm. We had some friends visiting for the weekend and they enjoyed the gig, too. I confused Katia, the barmaid, by switching to Staropramen rather than my usual Budvar.

I like Budvar, and always ordered it at Noel's because it is less commonly available than either Staropramen or Prazdroi Plzensky (Pilsner Urquell). Sadly Budvar seems to give me more-severe hangovers than the other two. Saturday's experience with Staropramen bears this out. I'll probably stick to Budvar if I'm just going to have a couple of beers, but I don't think I should drink it for a long session.

Places To Go - Pivnice U Švejků, Újezd 22

U Švejků is one of a multitude of bars and restaurants in this city named after Jaroslav Hašek's comic anti-hero The Good Soldier Švejk. This particular pivnice, or beer hall, is located across the road from the Petřin funicular railway, near the Memorial to the Victims of Communism, on the far side of the river from the National Theatre.

The restaurant looks like a bit of a tourist trap with a rather garish paint scheme outside, announcing itself in English, German and Czech, and it claims to date from 1618. Inside it looks a lot more homely. There are basic wooden tables and murals depicting scenes from the illustrations to the Švejk book. The staff are very friendly and the beer is good, but the best part is the game menu. This has a selection of dishes from boar, roe deer and fallow deer. We first tried U Švejků in some desperation one lunchtime. We were hungry and most nearby places were busy. Since then we have been back several times.

We have never eaten there in the evening so we have no idea how crowded it gets then, but the menu says that they have an accordian player in the evenings from 6pm. Treat that news as an advertisement or a warning as you see fit.

Alasdair's Gig

Alasdair's gig on Wednesday went down a storm, helped by the fact that a lot of his friends, colleagues, and also students came along to support him. He has a great voice and is a very accomplanished musician. The sets were a good mixture of classic Blues, soul and some folky pieces, including some of his own songs. There were many songs which were new to me, as well as some real crowd-pleasers.

I hope that Noel and Barry were pleased with the turnout, the joint was really jumping for a Wednesday. Hopefully Alasdair will get further gigs there.

Tomorrow at The Metropole (Soon to be Noel's)

My fellow teacher, Alasdair Bouch, has been booked to play a gig at Noel's tomorrow night.

Here's how Barry from Noel's is pitching Alasdair's act.

London-born multi-instrumentalist Alasdair Bouch has wowed crowds with his intoxicating blend of folk, blues and soul for some eighteen years. His barnstorming floorfillers and intricately-wrought ballads have held audiences spellbound from New Zealand to Nové Mìsto. The British newspaper 'The Guardian' favourably likened his vocal delivery to Otis Redding, and if recent performances are anything to go by, Alasdair's star is destined to rise. Catch him in the intimate venue Metropole (soon to be Noel's), strumming a solo set of self-penned ditties and choice covers. Prepare yourself for tales of love, heartbreak, booze, and low-down dirty sinners.

There are a few colleagues planning to be there in the audience to cheer him on, it should be a good night.

Places to go - Noel's Lounge, Anny Letenské 18, Prague 2

This is my first recommendation for somewhere to go in Prague. Noel's Lounge is a very friendly bar run by British Expats. I like to go to Czech bars but as I don't speak the language it doesn't have the same relaxed feeling - I can't pick up much from the conversation around me, and I can't just chat with the staff. The atmosphere at Noel's is very relaxing and the staff there are friendly. They serve Staropramen and Budvar beers and a selection of light meals - nothing with dumplings, but the nachos are quite good. A bookshop called Anagram is attached and is accessed from inside Noel's.

I first found out about the place by accident. I was walking home from the school about 2 weeks ago down a street I hadn't visited before when I saw a blackboard outside a bar advertising a Blues gig coming soon. I didn't pay much attention, but the name of the artiste - Stan the Man - stuck in my mind. That evening I had been invited to join a group of people at another bar, The Globe, which had a musician, too. At the Globe I started talking to a cheery cockney called Barry who told me that he was a partner in a bar called Noel's. He described where it was, and mentioned that he had booked Stan the Man for the following week. Noel's was the bar I had passed earlier that day.

If you look for Noel's right now you may have trouble finding it, as it is called Metropole. Barry and his partners took it over just recently and they haven't replaced the sign yet. As Barry explained it to me "the bar is called Noel's, or Metropole, soon to be Noel's but we sometimes just call it Soon".

I have been there now for two gigs - Stan the Man and Jamie Marston and they were both good nights. Katia, one of the barmaids recognised me on my second visit. Some of my colleagues also went there on Wednesday for the Open Mic gig and one of them may actually have a booking after wowing the audience and schmoozing the proprieters. I think Noel's may become a regular haunt for me and some of my colleagues.

The Czech Calendar

Unlike most European languages, including Russian and Slovak, Czech does not use the Roman names for the months. The names for the weekdays are different from those in other languages I am familiar with, too. It was a bit difficult at first, but I now know the weekdays and recognise the months we have already had.

The Czech names for the days of the week are:
pondĕlí (after nedĕle [Sunday])
úterý (second)
středa (middle)
čtvertek (fourth)
pátek (fifth)
sobota (sabbath)
nedĕle (no work)

The Czech names for months are:
- leden (ice)
- únor (melting ice, or possibly renewal, depending on which source you believe)
- březen (birch)
- duben (oak)
- květen (blossom)
- červen (red)
- červenec (redder)
- srpen (sickle, connected to harvest)
- září (blazing or glowing, or possibly preparing for rutting, again depending on which source you believe)
- říjen (rutting season)
- listopad (falling leaves)
- prosinec (time to kill pigs)

Snow in Prague

Winter arrived this week. Snow started falling on Tuesday afternoon, and was lying on the ground by the evening. It carried snowing more or less continually for 24 hours so by Wednesday evening we had a fall of about 7 or 8 cm. I'm glad we have had at least one snowfall this winter. It would have been embarrassing this week to have had less snow than the South of England.

The trams ran mostly to time during the snow, although workmen were stationed at some of the points to keep them working and clear the ice. The Metro was busier than usual, possibly because it is more reliable than trams and buses in the snow and ice.

We have had a few short falls of fresh snow since Wednesday but we have had some sun, too, which has melted the snow a little. I was able to get out to take some pictures on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. If it is sunny tomorrow I might take some more.

Useful software - synctoy

Synctoy is a really useful piece of free software from Microsoft, and I never thought I would use all of those words together in the same sentence. I have a laptop here which I use to manage my photographs, music files, Internet access, lesson plans and materials and anything else which needs a PC.

I also have a Linksys NSLU2 which is a tiny Linux-based NAS/fileserver device which takes two external USB disks and can export their filesystems using SAMBA . The server can be configured to perform nightly backups from one hard disk to the other, giving a poor man's RAID. There is a thriving Linux development community for the NSLU2, which has ported all kinds of Linux software, but so far I just use it as a fileserver.

I run weekly backups from the laptop to a directory on the fileserver using Norton Ghost, but I also needed to mirror my laptop home directory to a directory on the fileserver. This was the first task which led me to look for file synchronisation software.

So far I have been very pleased with synctoy, it has a preview mode which lets me see the difference in content between two directory trees without modifying them. It also lets me synchronise a directory tree from the fileserver to a directly-attached USB disk on the laptop to give me an additional level of backup of irreplacable files such as pictures and lesson materials which I have created.

Some spare time at last

This morning I finished writing up the last of the mid-year assessments. Since I came back from the Christmas break I have spent a lot of time preparing, conducting and writing up assessments on all my students. Now they are all completed so I will be able to have a bit more spare time in my life.

A touch of frost

Yesterday morning there was a touch of frost. It's January, so why is this remarkable?
I've been checking the weather data for the Czech Republic and the average daily temperature for January is about -2° C. The daily maximum for January is normally about 2° C, but this winter we have had only a handful of frosty mornings since October, and we have had temperatures of over 10°C on many occasions.

Everyone has been telling me that last year the temperature barely rose above freezing from mid-November until April. This winter there is virtually no skiing in the whole country and the resort operators and winter sports fans are most unhappy. I think they're hoping that this winter is an aberration, but I wouldn't invest in winter sports in the long term.

I am indebted to Chris Gerhard for pointing me to the following video of a mountain biker on a ski jump! Maybe this is the way forward!

Who knows where the time goes?

It's mid-January and I haven't written here since November! How did that happen?
Arno's recent comment reminded me that I need to write something here, and I have now managed to make some time to do that.

I spent some of my free time in December looking at the different events which happen here in Advent. There was St Nicholas's Eve, the Christmas Markets, an outdoor ice rink and vendors of live carp in the streets. I took pictures of these activities and have posted them to Flickr.

I went back to the UK for Christmas. Sue and I went to North Wales to spend Christmas, Sue's birthday and my cousin's son's wedding, then we went to the North-East of England for New Year. It was a busy time, but I managed to catch up with quite a few people.

Arriving back in Prague I was pitched straight into classes and mid-year assessments. I have tested the majority of my students, and have just over a week to complete all the reports. This means I have had a busy time so far this year.

After the rush is over I will tell you more about Prague and Czech life.

If you have any questions, post them as comments.