Jak se máte?

Many things have passed since I last posted. I studied an intense course of 'Czech for beginners' at the summer university of Helsinki. "Why the fuck did you want and go do that for?" I hear you ask. Well, firstly for the ECTS, secondly in preparation for our honeymoon. The schedule was grueling. For two and a half weeks, there were lessons from Monday to Thursday, 4.30pm-7.45pm. This mean going to work at 7.00am, so that I could leave at 3pm. I went to the classroom early, to catch up on homework (or should it be calle coursework, we're not in gradeschool anymore, folks). Due to my schedule (work, wedding plans etc), I had some difficulty doing the forementioned homework after class (in the late evenings), since usually when I came home I was hungry and had to cook something. Quite often there was also the regular chore of doing dishes before being able to do that. Naturally after having done all that crap & eaten, I regularily lacked the energy to pull off a proper final effort of the evening (say plowing through 4 pages of Czech grammar homework + learning 20 verbs by heart + 30ish nouns per day). Long days, they were, yes sir indeed. Not your average cakewalk summer, goddamnit. To top it off, there was the constant detail-minding of wedding related issues. You get the picture. It was hard times. I don't think I have ever been tested as much as with this course. The professor was constantly on your case. Would not leave you alone. Got you involved, whether you wanted or not. I suppose even getting it wrong is a matter of learning. Certainly makes you remember how to NOT say something, yeah? His methods were effective, though stress levels were high. Reminded me of the first week or two in the Army.

This is a good time to comment some of my fellow students. Out of a class of 15, two were male. Average age I would estimate to be around 40. During the course, three people dropped out - shame on them, and what a fucking waste of 98 euros! Out of the final 12, 8 were either teachers or university level students of languages (one was writing her thesis Russian language at the time). Rather academic a bunch. I have some aptitude for languages, but I could not hang with these damn women, with their superior language/communication oriented brains. Goddamn them all! Very discouraging. But of course it made you either 1. drop out or 2. try harder. I tried harder, but it was still annoying to see some of these women with their Czech workbooks filled before hand. Of particular annoyance to me was this approximately 45 year old 'student' majoring in russian. She was the worst. I bet you she had bought the book months in advance and learned it beforehand, even done all the homework. There was not a single eraser mark on her worksheet. Psycho. She was visually disappointed whenever she made a mistake in grammar or could not find the right word(s). And then when she got it right and -particularily- when the teacher praised her for her efforts, she had an annoying knack of raising her hands to the sides of his head, and pressing the palms of her hand to her cheeks, in order to not reveal the glowing smile that started beneath. Oh man. Overachiever. Nerd-geek-bastard. No-lifer. Loser. Ok I digress - I'll give her props for being good at what she's good at. Yawn... Languages are not my main forté, so I should let it slide. But still, her satisfaction with herself reached almost autoerotic heights. Pathetic.

Anyway! Eventually I managed to pull off grade 1 (out of 5) for the 4 ECTS. Not bad, considering how goddamn demanding the course was, and how limited my resources were. I am proud that I passed, truly am. After our honeymoon, there will be a continuation course starting. I plan to study a little bit for it in advance, and outdo myself...

What the fu**

I cannot keep this shit updated, it is impossible! Short scoop: I'm pulling 50+ hr work/studyweeks, and busy prepping the wedding. It has been a while since I last had 'proper time' just to do whatever the hell I liked. Next Wednesday is my Czech exam, untill then I will be grievously busy. Untill then & after, adios