It's like the freshman 15 all over again.

I remember when I first moved to Austin. I, like most other girls entering college, gained my freshman 15. Of course, back then, it wasn't really a problem because I was actually underweight. I worked so much and was so active in so many clubs that all the junk food I ate back then didn't even compensate for the calorie intake I probably should have had. (Oh how nice those days were.)

But again, the freshman 15 wasn't a big deal because I needed the weight. I just don't really want to go adding to that too much.

So remember how I said I'm probably going to eat the city of Austin? That's not faring too well for the belly.

Come back to Texas

Despite the fact that I'm not traveling right now I figured I could probably manage to entertain you with the few things that have been going on around here.

I arrived in Houston Wednesday afternoon and my dad picked my up at the airport there. We decided it would be much more economical for him to simply pick me up in Houston and drive me back to Austin. Besides, then he got a whole two and a half hours with me all by himself. 

The first thing I did was nearly die of heat exhaustion when we walked out the elevator doors onto the roof of the parking garage. The Texas sun was beating down, as expected, and it was a clear, sunny 88°F. 

It was 34°F when I left Prague 14 hours before so I'm sure you can imagine how that felt. I tried to dress in layers so I could strip off the extra when I got to Texas, but we all know that effort is futile. You just can't get cool in Texas unless Texas wants you to.

I am the ultimate procrastinator.

 I've managed to completely avoid doing anything about cleaning and packing up my room. I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I am great at getting things done on deadline. That said, I usually wait until the deadline is pressing. I guess it's the journalist in me. 

Yeah, I know. My room is trashed.

I'm one of those get it done way early or wait until the absolute last minute kind of girls. 

Preparing for Texas

I always leave packing to the last minute. 

I'm going back to Texas in two days and I haven't even started. My room is trashed and I don't know where to start.

This is all further complicated by the fact that I have to choose which things to take home and then which things to leave here. I have stuff at my parents house in Austin, but I can't for the life of me remember what. Apparently there are winter clothes there?

A walk through Malá Strana

Now I know I haven't had many touristy moments since I've been in the Czech Republic, but that happens when you're busy studying and/or drinking beer that's cheaper than water.

But after finishing the TEFL course on Friday, I realized that there was really nothing stopping me except for sheer apathy which I've had one hell of a case of lately. 

Finally I got up off my butt, donned my scarf and trench coat — I feel so European — and went walking around. We've had some incredible weather around here lately and every day we just cringe at the thought that it might be the last crisp, sunny day in Prague until Spring. That in itself should have been enough reason to make myself go out. 

Of course, it still took me until mid-afternoon to actually walk out the front door.

I have an announcement to make

So I know the blogging has been a bit sporadic (that word always makes me think of the movie Clueless) here but I promise it's because I've been very busy. Mostly.

I've been making new friends and going out a lot with them. And of course I have been studying hard. I'm happy to announce that it has all paid off!

On Monday I was informed that I received a Pass 1 grade in my TEFL course. That's the highest grade they give and it is accompanied by an automatic offer of employment. That means that I have both a TEFL certification and a job in the Czech Republic.

But wait there's more! I was also given an option between starting now or starting in January. 

I have learned some interesting stuff here:

First of all I want to say that while I've been learning, or shall I say re-learning, grammar in this course, I have realized that we say so much in English without ever actually saying it. 

For instance:

If you say, "I went to Spain," you're simply stating an action that happened in the past. It's done and over.

If you say, "I have been to Spain," then you're talking about an action that happened in the past and has bearing in the present. (Maybe we're about to talk about Spain. Who knows?)

It's crazy how much we say indirectly and without realizing it.

But on to the more interesting things, such as language acquisition.