Classy shit
So I have been offline for a pretty long time now and figured that it would be only appropriate to drop a note from Valtice in the Czech Republic, which is where I have been for the past week and where I will remain till at least the 14th of August. I am supposed to go to London afterwards till the 22nd but I am having some serious second thoughts due to all the bullshit in this world. Other than that, I am doing absolutely fine and I am living in this huge palace- castle place. There is a hotel in part of the castle and it's like a Soviet version of 'Faulty Towers'. A lot more on that for a future post....
I have been keeping a journal to remember all the wild and interesting thíngs I have seen and done since I have been here so expect longer posts when I have a bit more time. The internet situation here is dicey at best so I only get a few opportunities a week to use it. I am writing to you from the library in the City Hall. They have a public computer that I can use from time to time when it is not busy.
I think that as a direct result of teaching English to Czech people all day long, my own grasp of the English language is slipping. I find myself talking like Balky from the old sitcom ''Perfect Strangers'' far too often for it to be amusing anymore.
Last night I got loaded and found this huge palatial park behind the castle. Walking around it felt like being in a cross between ''The Sound of Music'' and some Morovian version of ''Lord of the Rings''.
Sleep is at a premium as I am waking up at 7.30 most mornings and going to bed at the most ungodly of hours. I grab naps all the time.
I am sharing a room with The Nick aka the Werewolf of Valtice. We had a talent show and his group performed an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood. Nick was the wolf, naturally. Since then all the students have taken to calling him ''Werewolf,'' a nickname that suits him all the better when I spy him creeping around the palace grounds late at night, drunk off his ass and howling at the moon (no joke). He even has a wolf mask he likes to wear from time to time. The other day I came into our room to find him laughing to himself. I asked him what was so funny and he said ''Watch THIS!'' and yelled out the window to one of our older students- ''HEY FRANK!!!! AHH OOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!''. I am just waiting for the day he wakes up naked in a forest somewhere wondering what the hell happened to him the night before. Also, our room gets crazy messy after a few days. He leaves his clothes on the floor in the exact spot he has taken them off. It's sorta like in Star Wars when you kill a Jedi and he dissapears but his clothes stay and fall into a messy pile on the ground where he was standing only a moment before. All week long, he didn't have toothpaste either so I let him use mine. He finally gets some of his own and about 3 hours later, he steps on it sending gobs of bright blue paste splattering all over the carpet. Priceless...
Needless to say, I live in a perpetual state of comic gold. Don't worry, I've got it all on film.
I¨ve to run back up the hill to the castle now to moderate an afternoon ''High conversation'' on the topic of terrorism. It should be a BLAST.
Comment if you want a postcard. Address info a go go.....
Also, The group of our youngest students voted me their favourite teacher! Love the kids here...very enthusiastic bunch (might have to do with all the Pepsi I see them chugging before bedtime!!!)
Tonight I am going to go to a traditional Czech wine cellar. Deep, deep underground, it's really cold but you just go crazy singing old Beatles songs and drinking a lot of really old wine from 1965! This gets the shy Czech people trying to talk English like it's going out of style.