Learning how to speak a new language is a lot like being a teenager....

....a really awkward teenager.

Remember in High School, how you would always think of the perfect things to say right after the conversation ended? You would always feel so dumb or want to kick yourself for not thinking of those things sooner. Sometimes, you even would let it eat at you for hours.

Better yet, do you remember in High School, how you would be "beasted" by your classmates in one of those debates that your history teacher ALWAYS insisted upon? You were absolutely helpless at times and stood there in front of everyone, while they made you look stupid. Sometimes, you would just ignore everything they said and act like nothing happened, because maybe your ENTIRE class would simply "forget".... but we all know that they never forgot.

Yeah... those feelings are a lot like what learning a new language feels like....

There comes a point, when you finally understand the "Present," "Past" and "Future" tenses. You are finally able to say complex things like, "I lost my gym membership card and have no idea what I did with it! How much does a new one cost?" , "Do you understand what you have to do? Answer this question in English. What will you watch on tv tonight?" or "Please excuse me, but I must go to the toilet. I will be back in 5 minutes."

So how does this relate to being an awkward teen?

Well...to put it gently.... You look like an adult. There are total of 700 expats in your town who have coincidentally made every effort to learn the language in approximately a year, except for a Canadian who was crying at the Post-Office and threatened to move to Prague....ANYWAYS, for the most-part people expect a mature vocabulary, complex sentences and not to mention a relatively quick response. However, when your still in that "learning the language" phase, then you make simple sentences with obvious grammatical errors and you speak rather slowly. So, the person who you're speaking to gives you a really awkward look. Then maybe 30 seconds to a minute later, you realize what you should have said. BAM! You now feel like that awkward teen.... and understand exactly how it only took the other expats a year to learn the language.

For a solid 3 months (November-January), I was so overwhelmed by everything...gave up on Czech... stayed and my house and always asked myself, "WHEN WILL THIS END?!"

I was just thinking today about how I never got my diploma. I think I would like to call my college to get it, because I think it’s well over due now.

Anyways, this week was awfully SHOCKING!

It started with a language class (took an exam in Czech, placed into the cusp of A2 and B1... T) In the class, I noticed that all of my classmates are Spanish (reoccurring theme with expats here btw), but fortunately, I have been taking Spanish for the past 6 months.

Then during my most advanced class, I asked them how to do we communicate non-verbally. This quickly resulted in one of my students giving me the middle finger...I think I spent about 4 minutes in utter shock in front of the class (unable to speak), while they cried from laughter for about 5 minutes... The next day, during my physics class, I was talking about sustainable energy and asked, "Do you have any questions?" One student quickly raised their hand and said, "Did you know Canada is playing the USA in hockey now?" So... of course I ended up watching Hockey with my students.

 Just now, I was just grading some papers. The assignment was to write a story using "linking words" about a memorable event. So, one of my students wrote about how he pooped in the woods and it looked like an elephant.... I think I cried/laughed for about 30minutes at my desk.

... I think this week had the most culture shock of the entire year.

11 Unor 2014

 

Dnes je 11 Unor 2014. Ja jsem byla lizovam v Ceske Repulice. Byla v Prahi vcera pro moje lekce ceske. Tamhle zjistil jsem, ze mluvim cesky pomalu, ale dobre.

 I was very happy to go skiing over my spring holidays. I also was very happy to start my Czech Lessons last night. You see, I enrolled in a private course with 4 other students. At first, I was nervous because I have never taken a "Cestina pro Cizinece"(Czech for Foreigners) class before; however, it is something I wanted to do for a long time. Now that I'm finally getting accustomed to living here, I really think it's time for me to start taking advantage of the opportunities I have :)

 When I first came here, I made a list of things I want to accomplish. The first thing was to go skiing the second was to get to a B1 or B2 level of Czech. Right now, I am very close to accomplishing both. I went skiing.... and I found out that I'm at A2 (close to B1) level in Czech. For those of you who may not know, A1 level Czech is required by law to live here permanently. B1 is required to attend the Universities.... HOLY COW! If I decide to stay here a second year, I would not only be eligible for permanent residency, but also to attend a University free of charge.

 When I first came here, I was excited for the year and didn't really anticipate being so alone for the first bit. Then during the end of November throughout December, culture shock hit me. I wanted nothing more to go back to the USA and never turn back... I did go back for Christmas; however, I came back to the Czech Republic. I realized something in the past 5 weeks.... I really like it here. I am accomplishing a lot and I am finally able to watch TV and movies in Czech without subtitles anymore. The only issue I face now is that I am so so so sooooo nervous to speak. This is why I enrolled in a language course. I am tired of wanting to say something, but being too afraid to speak.