Today was our first day of class! We started the day early with a class about the literature and cultural history of Prague (I thought our Holocaust class was first of the day, apparently not. oops) Ou professor is from the Czech Republic and works for the University, which makes is sometimes interesting to understand him....But the class looks like it's going to be really interesting. He has us reading several older texts and we have a paper (booooo) at the end of the semester comparing fact to fiction.
The Holocaust class is going to be difficult for me. I have a bad habit of playing the peanut gallery when I know something extra about the subject matter, so I think I'm going to sequester myself in the back row and struggle to keep my mouth shut. The Professor (this is the one we brought with us from WM) knows that I'm pretty well versed in Holocaust history, so he told me to relax in the back and "take a little snooze" if the class was on something I knew. While I think I'll try to avoid that, it's nice to know that I don't have to pretend like I'm learning this for the first time.
The highlight of my day was at a little tourist shop. We were just kind of poking around and we said hello, etc to the shop keeper. She asked if we spoke Czech and the girls I was with both said no and I just smiled. I said something else in Czech to her, and she told me that she would be willing to negotiate prices. I thanked her and she asked if I was Czech! When I said no she told me I spoke perfectly! I mean, I think I hardly strung together more than 3 or 4 words, but it's nice to know I have the accent. It was quite compliment.
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Emily
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You really do have a problem with being the peanut gallery. The number of times you brought attention to us in Politics of Russia was ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteYay for good accents!!!
Nice to know that the professor already knows that you know....too many knows in that sentence! But I think you're wise to let him lecture and just try to listen to another perspective rather than feel like you have to jump in. Were you buying me a present in that shop?? Were you?? why not? How exciting that you not only could make yourself understood, but beyond that, you had the intonation of a native. woo hoo! good on you! of course, you get that from me :) love mom
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