June 11, 2010

June 11, 2010

Friday didn’t hold any events of major significance. I had my classes work on their speeches, which I am going to record. As for the class I had trouble with the week before, all the students who I particularly had a tough time and lost my temper with were out on a school trip. All of my classes went smoothly and I was finished for the day about one-thirty. I forget to mention, amongst those students who were on a school trip also comprise all of the students who attend my basketball course in the morning. So, I had arrived at the school only to find out the class was cancelled. I sat in the school doing nothing until the rest of the students arrive at the normal time of 7:55 rather than the time of 6:55 when I usually start my basketball course. As I said it was a rather uneventful day.

After I returned from my class in Nechanice I headed back to my apartment, ate lunch, and took a very short nap because I wanted to be upon at the Matrix for the start of the first match of the World Cup. It started at 4 o’clock and I was surprised it was just I and the bartender who were actually excited to watch the kick-off of the World Cup. I would have thought the bar would be packed with Europe being one of the places in the world where soccer is the most popular sports. However, it was just he and I for that first match.

After the first match I headed to play basketball. Once again I played rather horribly, but had fun. My team got crushed. Any after a while the game just became silly as people began to just not care as the score became so uneven. But like I said, despite everything I had fun, and I got some good exercise. It was nothing compared to the exercise I had planned for the next day though. You will hear about that adventure in my next post. Anyway, after basketball I headed back up to the Matrix to watch the final World Cup match of the day. Once again, I was surprised.
The Matrix was packed, but no one seemed to have any interest in the match beside myself and the same bartender who I had watched the earlier match with. I must have looked rather silly as I sat at the table directly in front of the television and my eyes did not leave the game. I am not sure, but I do have a hint that the people of the Czech Republic are a little sour because their country did not make the World Cup this year.

After the match it was back to my apartment to get to sleep early to prepare for my big adventure the next day. I had made the decision to attempt to walk from Novy Bydzov, the city I primarily teach in, to Hradec Kralove, the city Andrea used to teach in, it is a distance of just over 17 miles according to Google maps and the weather predicted for Saturday was nearly 90 degrees and sunny. Probably, not the smartest of ideas, but something I had set my mind on and was going to try to do.