These last two weeks have been hectic. Bethany and I both just started full-time jobs working for two different corporations here in Prague. I am working for the Caledonian School www.caledonianschool.cz. They are a huge language firm that sends over 300 employees out to teach in-company lessons at some of Prague’s largest corporate headquarters. I work at the Citibank building, Vodaphone headquarters, Hewlett-Packard, the Honeywell Aerospace center, and various smaller insurance and financial firms. It is exciting to be able to go into the board rooms of these major companies.
Vodaphone has the coolest building by far with shark tanks, concept furniture, pool tables and mazes of glass walls. I have stumbled into a dead-end glass box on more than one occasion because I find myself following the string of little red arrows that are painted all over the walls, floor and ceiling; As far as I can tell they serve absolutely no purpose and serve only to lead the unsuspecting into corners. Somewhere some surveillance officer is chuckling away as the hordes of visitors mindlessly follow the promising arrow trails only to end up lost and alone in a glass prison. I wish I could take a picture of this oddity but Borlov the security guard would not be pleased.
Teaching business English is pretty cool but we have so many classes and we have to travel so much that there is really no time to be creative with the lessons. However, I am meeting some very flavorful characters. I teach one class (for two hours!) sitting in the passenger seat of Mercedes, not the ideal resource center for a dynamic lesson. I can already see that this line of work has some ups and downs. I have talked to a few teachers who are thoroughly jaded and tired of the endless travel, cocky executives and time crunches, which has been a downer. Either way, this is certainly shaping up to be a unique experience.
Getting a work permit is also proving to be quite ‘unique’. Just so you have a taste…for some reason a German consulate needs a signed document from our Czech landlord (whom we have never met) so that our Czech Republic criminal record, which we had to obtain by waiting in a line with a bunch of dodgey Russians and Vietnamese, can be verified and combined with a medical examination to be processed at the foreign embassy in Dresden. I feel some of Kafka’s frustrated pain expressed in the Trial now that I have to deal with European bureaucratic nonsense.
I really have to question the usefulness of all this foreign records criminal checking and whatnot. If I had accumulated a hefty criminal record within two weeks of being in the Czech Republic, one large enough to bar me from employment, it would be safe to say that I came with the intent of committing crimes. If I was the aforementioned criminal, would I really be the kind of person willing to go through all this crap to apply for a job as an English teacher? I am sure I could make more cash committing petty crimes but, reflecting on Czech punishment history, I would prefer to keep my skin un-flayed for the moment.
This has to be mentioned and there is really no way of inserting it within a thread of thought. There is a guy at the gym we attend who has a huge tattoo on his calf of himself carrying a flaming rugby ball.
Finally, due to my re-structuring of daily tasks in order to conserve time, Bethany has requested a special addendum be attached to this entry:
“I am a dirty bum and I don’t shower anymore”.
Check out the "Prague 3" picture album on Picasa. The giant iron babies crawling on the sides of the Zizkov tower are my personal favorite (…what!?) but the local graffiti is also pretty good.
Best wishes from Prague,
The beer is cheap! The smell is free!
