How Do You Spell /rilef/

Week four has come and gone, two more projects handed in and just the 15 minute interview with the Trinity moderator standing between us and a Trinity CertTesol designation. Will it have all been worth it. Only time will tell. We certainly haven't become expert English teachers but at least now we have some jargon to spout as well as write in phonemes. If anything we can sound almost like an English teacher. The real training will come when we are teaching our own students and not the guinea students that volunteer for the Oxford evening classes where we hem, haw and stutter our way through a lesson in things like using the passive form. I use it all the time but never had to think about it. Some of these students have been taking courses for years and nothing is worse then trying to teach your class something that most of them know better than you. On the whole the experience has been worth it but there were times that we weren't too sure.

We had the entire weekend to explore Prague. We did a quick re-visit to Prague Castle and then on to some palaces, monastaries, churches, an imitation Eiffel tower and finishing off with ride on a 100 year old funicular. That was just Saturday. Today, Sunday we have visted the old Jewish section of Prague. Wearing a yarmulka with no hair was a challenge. One look up and the darn thing slipped off my head and on to the floor. Wearing a yarmulka, is why most Jewish men have good heads of hair. The Jews have lived in Prague since the 13th century. We visited the Old/New Synagogue buit in 1257. It is called the Old/New because they built a new New Synagogue which burned down shortly after it was built. The Old/New synagogue was home to Rabbi Lowe. You may not remember him, but you might remember his creation, the GOLEM. The Golem was a creature created from clay by the Rabbi to help protect the Jews during one of the frequent pogroms. The Golem went a little off and had to be destroyed by the Rabbi. They say that the Golem was the inspiration for Frankenstein's monster.

When we had had enough, we jumped on to the Metro and hit the Prague suburbs for a little malling and exploring. Ikea was our destination as Nonie wanted to replace a plate form the apartment that we had chipped. The burbs are the same as you would see anywhere but with one big difference, no single family homes. The burbs consist of block after block of apartments. Not very esthetic but certainly functional. The malls on the other hand are the same, just the names have been changed so franchise fees don't come into play. Places such as Cotton Ujenny and the Gip along with the Gip for Children. The mall included a huge entertainment complex with golf, bowling, billiards, 8 movie screens, bars, the ever present McDonalds and a KFC. You can buy a beer at the KFC. Great idea, one we should explore for North America. In fact you can buy beer anywhere from the corner store to the kiosk on the street selling hots dogs and bratwursts. Yet despite the easy access to beer you seldom see it flaunted or a huge problem with public drunkeness amongst the Czechs. If we saw any, it was usually a tourist but even then, we have not witnessrd any real problems. Why then in Canada do we hide booze away in bars and pubs. Perhaps if we did not mystify the drinking of alcohol we could have the same attitude as the Czechs. Some beer making lesson would not hurt either.