Full-circle to Greece

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Back when I was doing my teacher training program eons (okay, 9 years) ago, I opted to take part in Global Student Teaching (GST), which meant half of my practicum months were in Minnesota and half were abroad.

Initially, GST placed me in Athens. Opa! I imagined conjuring up the ancient philosophers in columned ruins and stretching out on white sand beaches. Guidebooks were procured and my energetic little Midwestern mother started saving for a trip to visit.

And then the e-mail came. Greek airline workers were on strike. My placement was being moved to Prague.

"Prague?!" mom's incredulous voice cracked on the phone. "It's just that... well... wasn't it part of the Eastern Bloc?"

Apparently she'd been envisioning white sand beaches, too. 

But my experience in Prague was better than anything I could have ever imagined, ma came to visit with her best friend and were bananas about the place, and the parents weren't too fussed when BW and I moved here in August. Happy ending.


However... I still sort of really wanted to go to Greece.

And now, years later, I'm taking 16 students to a Model United Nations conference in (drumroll) GREECE! The MUN adviser - an English/History teacher and former state senator from Michigan (!) - was nice enough to ask me to be a chaperone. And BW is nice enough to hold down the fort with J-dog.

Sometimes it pays to be a teacher! (Besides the loving kids and learning part, you know.)

4 comments

  1. The first part of your post identifies one of the very few downsides of living in Prague - how far we are from the sea :-( However, there are many places where you can swim & sunbathe in & alongside the many rivers & lakes in the Czech Republic, though not on white sand beaches.

    Enjoy your trip to Greece - I look forward to the blog post about it.

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  2. Dear chaplain, please share your favorite swimming/sunbathing places! Too cold in Greece right now for proper beach time, but Athens is amazing. Thanks for writing!

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  3. I wrote about our favourite place here http://rickyyates.com/slapy-lake-vodni-nadrz-slapy/ . You'll notice that one commenter, Sher from 'Czech off the Beaten Path', likens the area to Minnesota :-) We have the advantage of having a car but I believe it is possible to get there by public transport.

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  4. Thank you for the tip, Chaplain! Much appreciated!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment!

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