If I knew Czech for "Catching Up," I'd put it here

My third week of teaching is nearly complete, our kitchen is stocked, my cable TV and Internet are connected, my room is decorated, my Czech is still crap (but getting better), and I have gotten familiar with the Prague subway system, which is good considering I travel on all three of its lines every Thursday. Now that I have allowed myself time to breathe, here are some nuggets from the past three weeks, many of which are worthy of their own blog entry in due time.

• As mentioned in my previous post, I am lucky to have met some interesting people in my classes at Radio Free Europe. I recently learned that one of my students has been jailed in his home nation of Turkmenistan twice, once for three years and the other time for less than two weeks, because he dared write something that went against the official government story. Earlier this month, another Turkmen journalist received a five-year jail sentence. Turkmenistan, according to another student of mine from the country, is "a large, comfortable prison -- nothing else." Just a reminder that I'm teaching some brave souls who truly are enemies of the state in their homeland for the wrong reason. Speaking of Radio Free Europe ...

• All of my lessons at Radio Free Europe have been based on recent news events. Topics have included Putin's imminent return to power, the trade of 1,000 Palestinians for Gilad Shalit, and the Occupy protests that have been happening because [fill in your best guess here]. Upon arriving for my one-to-one lesson today with a Kazakh broadcaster, I logged onto the Internet to learn that this had happened. So I printed up four ledes from Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, The Guardian and the New York Post to compare and contrast. We also discussed what the newsroom was like once the news broke. Then we read the live BBC news feed, mostly for vocabulary and occasionally for grammar. One thing's for sure: These classes can't be accused of being predictable.
• I've taken two Czech lessons. My very cool teacher also happens to be a jazz singer for a band bearing her name. If nothing else, saying "Martina Trchova Trio" over and over is helping me with the rolling Rs.
• Speaking of Czech, did you know that, according to the textbook I bought for the class, the long vowel sounds are said 1.75 times longer than their shorter counterparts? This explains why Czechs have such a hard time understanding me, given that I've been saying the long vowel sounds 1.72 times longer than the short ones.
• Another Czech language note: Taking these courses have confirmed what my English students have told me -- listening is by far the most difficult skill to master when learning a foreign language. I know the numbers from 1 to 100 (and, by extension, really 1 to 199). But when it's time to pay for a slice of pizza or a pastry, in real time, I have no clue what the person at the counter is telling me, even if the price is listed and I know how much I should be paying. 
• I can tell people my name (Jsem Mark), where I am from (Jsem z USA), and my job (Jsem ucitel Anglicky) while using complete sentences. But I'm still not feeling comfortable enough to meet the neighbors yet. Nonetheless, I did meet someone who lives in the building across from me; it helped that she spoke English. Although I forget her name, I remember everyone else's, and with good reason: her husband is Johnny, her friend is Johnny, her son is Johnny, and her cat is named after Wayne Rooney.
• I'm playing soccer every Sunday, either with co-workers or a motley mix of expats at Letna Park.
• My apartment is finally feeling like home. Today our Internet and cable got installed by O2, a company that will always have my gratitude because of the attractive English-speaking saleswoman we dealt with its sterling customer service. There's no installation fee. We'll pay for the modem and cable box with our first bill. And the installer, who had a two-hour window to arrive, came to the apartment early. Finally, its customer service department, in response to a phone call I made the previous day, called me over and over again today until they reached me at 8 o'clock, just to make sure everything was OK.
• Some shots of my bedroom:

The eight photos are mine. The black-matted drawings
are drawings I bought along the Vltava River.

Two proud additions: My Samsung HDTV for less than $300,
and a Morrissey painting courtesy of the Guvnor.

I'm sure I forgot some things and/or left some questions unanswered. For the latter, feel free to use the Comments section below or post something, clever or otherwise, on Facebook.