I got a kitty!

Awwwwww...his name is Charlie. We lost him after having him one hour. I'll explain. So Scott brought him home Christmas eve and we played with him for awhile, then he went out to get cat litter, I went to the bathroom, came out a minute later and kitty is nowhere to be found. We tore the flat apart searching for him, ending in Scott sitting outside on the street with some milk and kitty food for two hours under the suspicion that he might have jumped off our balcony. Anyway, we eventually found him under the oven. Fortunately, he's since chilled out a lot and is no longer seeking solace under said oven. Phew. We're enjoying him immensely, especially since I trimmed his claws (we're talking blood-drawing action). That's Christmas in Prague. Toodles :)

So I was making french fries...

You know, with the hot oil and stuff. And so I had been using this metal fork to retrieve said potato products...anybody cringing yet? Well, you'd be right if you guessed that I used the freshly hot-from-french fry oil fork to taste a fry. Yep, I am the picture of brilliance. Gold star to Kara. At first, it didn't seem too bad, but is now getting progressively worse, meaning it was time to break out the frozen goods. Mixed vegetable bag was not really logistically efficient, but the individual frozen green beans were perfect. Lea says I look like a walrus. I say I look like somebody getting some freaking relief from some nasty burns on my lips. I feel ridiculous. That's all.
Love,
Kara

And I thought the worst was over...

Hell no. Shit hit industrial-sized fans several times over. Excuse the language, but I can't even begin to express how much worse it all got before I finally got my visa (multiple...I'll get into that eventually) application in the system. Seriously, this has been the single most stressful experience of my life. I am really not exaggerating here. So my last four days looked like this:

Monday: "The Labor Office"/1st attempt to get to Bratislava
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Kara takes the number 9 tram to Zizkov to apply for her work permit at the Labor Office. Upon being told she took the number from the wrong button (the freaking button says "Work Permits"--what the hell else am I gonna press?!?), she gets a new number from the other button and promptly reads it upside down. Therefore, Kara spends the ENTIRE day waiting for number 600 to come up. So while number 009 comes and goes within the next 20 minutes of getting her new number, Kara comes and goes, checking back periodically, having lunch with Lea, etc. etc. And then realizes what she's done and wants to kill herself. Gets a new number: 132. Should be okay--it's 3:30 and I have until 5pm before the office closes. The numbers had been moving about one every 3-5 minutes, so despite all general stupidity, I thought I was in the clear. This progression suddenly stops at #126, however, for (ever) at least 30-40 minutes. After a (failed) attempt to beg to the office girls filing the permits, I was able to change numbers with some nice Americans and just barely managed to get the permit at approximately 4:45pm. Jesus christ.
Which leads me to the next section of Monday: the plan was to get the permit ASAP and then catch the next train to Bratislava (Slovakia) to apply for the visa. Had to make copies of all my official documents before leaving Prague, which of course involved standing in line behind some guy who had 10 BILLION copies of some random sheet music to make... After that holdup, I was so brain dead that I got on the tram (to the train station) in the wrong direction. 18:23 train to Bratislava? Most decidedly missed. Sooooo I head to the other train station, realize I am not functional enough to actually complete any train ticket purchasing, let alone riding, and just go home to my wine. which leads me to...

Tuesday: First trip to Bratislava
Upon deciding to take the 12:30am train to Bratislava, I spend the evening generally unwinding and mentally preparing for the next leg of my quest to legality in the Czech Republic. Scott takes me to the station, I get on the train, and promptly pass out into the deepest of all deep sleeps. 6:15. Location? Nove Zomky. Locations since passed? Bratislava.
That's right, folks. Kara slept through the stop in Bratislava. Thank god I had some Slovakian currency to pay the conductor for the extra leg of the trip. So I get to this random train station in Slovakia, manage to buy yet another ticket BACK to Bratislava, and go sit on (what I thought was) the train. So the departure time comes and goes, I decide something fishy is going on, and (thankfully) get off the train. My train was apparently delayed in Budapest...so I wait in Nove Zomky Nadrazi (station) for about an hour until I am finally able to leave at 8:30. Yep, I've been "in transit" at this point from 12:30 until 8:30. But hey, I got some good sleep in there.
So I made it to Bratislava, which at this point was an accomplishment in and of itself. And I made it to the Czech Embassy Consulate, also very nicely done, Kara (Bratislava is not the easiest city to navigate, especially on foot after my past 24 hours). The Czech Embassy is of course only open to accept visa applications for 2 total hours in any given workday: 11-12 and 14-15. Oh joy. Morning=failure (long line of people). Afternoon=failure ("you must apply for a short term visa as well while you wait for the long term visa to be processed...you don't have the required documents...this thing needs to be an original or noterized copy...this needs to be dated within 6 months of the current date...the work permit confirmation slip is not valid for the short term visa (but is of course just fine for the long term visa). Yep. Numb. Just numb at this point.
So I take the next train home to Praha.

Wednesday: official document collection
So after being told I needed a significantly greater/different amount of documents in order to complete my visa(s), I spent the entirety of Wednesday, November 26 collecting the required forms, etc. etc. etc. lalalalala. Upon a severe badgering of my landlord and an extensive trip back to Dejvicka, all required documents were attained. This day was, in retrospect, the easiest. At the time, I was always about 3 seconds away from completely giving up and deciding to just live here illegally as long as possible. I know that sounds bad, but it's really pretty typical of Americans to be in Prague without the necessary legal status. Anyway, that leads me to stage four of Kara's saga...

Thursday: Bratislava version 2.0
Yep. Back to the Brat. Upon getting on the train (at 5am), the conductor tells me that I need to make a transfer at some place that, upon writing the name down, looks like it's in Russian (i.e. non-Czech or English or any standard Roman alphabet characterization)....After conducting a search on my immediate train car, I found a very nice Austrain who helped me talk to the conductor and figured out what was what, i.e. that I was in fact on the correct train and simply needed to make sure I was on the very back end of said train, as this end would be disconnected and sent en route to Bratislava upon reconnecting with another set of train cars at a certiain stop blah blah blah you don't really care about these details...Sooooooo I got to Bratislava, went to the Embassy at 11 and managed to get all my paperwork processed by 11:45 via some serious eye contact (re: "I am in a state of complete desperation please have mercy on my soul") with the lady who processes all the visas. And now...

Wooooooooooo! Never before have I felt the relief I feel right now. Seriously, nothing could bother me. I am on cloud 9. Go ahead, try to get me down. You will fail. I am the definition of relief and complete accomplishment. So there. This is my saga. I am legal. Woo hoo. This is the end of my saga. Toodles,
Love,
Kara

Wondering what's going on with Kara?

Well, I'll tell you: Work Permits and Visas...I mean, singular to both items. But yeah. Here's a general rundown of the stress-fest that has been my last, eh, 3 weeks er so. First off, let's just say everything "they" tell you is a lie in terms of ease of achieving 1. a job and 2. all the crap that goes along with it. I've spent the time since finishing my TEFL course applying to jobs, going to interviews, and babysitting on the side so my income is a little over 0,00 kc. Nonetheless, schools keep not emailing me back, telling me they have courses for me to teach and then not responding to my calls, etc. etc. so I ended up calling in a favor with my roomie who is well-loved by the school he works for. Long story short, his school is now sponsoring my visa (must have a school to employ you for your work permit in order to get a visa). Big HOWEVER addendum to that, however, as there has been some major legwork involved in this process. Shady string-pulling aside, I have since ran around Dejvicka (a region of Prague) attaining the following from very non-descript (re: completely luck that I found any of them) places:
1. notery (to confirm my copy of my TEFL diploma is, in fact, a real copy)
2. translation of said diploma (35 dollars relatively well spent...if I'm having a positive attitude about it)
3. nonexistent doctor (the puzzle piece yet to be completed)
And now...I'm in search of a doctor's note. Need it by the end of the week before I travel to
SLOVAKIA
Yep. Gotta go to Bratislava (city in Slovakia) to apply for my visa. That is, after applying for my work permit. You get the idea: I'll let go of any more auxillary details from here on out. Anyway, things are FINALLY starting to fall in place now, i.e. I am getting close to getting the paperwork in the system and have a (knock on wood) teaching schedule that should get my income back up to where it should be. YAYYYYY! Anyway, this is a good moment for me, as I have been purposefully waiting until I got to this stage in the game to talk about any of this crap in the first place. So yippie for me (and Mom and Dad) for finally getting to a point of (potential/eventual) self-sufficiency. That's that. By the way, Lea and I are having a great time. She's living really close to the school I'm going to be teaching for, actually. And...we got a package from Mom and Dad today with super-fun stuff in it (think Lea at age 12 armed with a blank notebook=nostalgia to the nth degree). Oookay I'm done. Toodles,
Love,
Kara

+ one sister

Lea's here! We're having fun times :) She had quite the introduction to Prague nightlife: her second night here involved some serious Halloween action. I was Peter Pan, she was little red riding hood. We were straight out of the Grimm brother's...some sort of fairy tale action. Anyway, it was great, revelry-filled fun. I've posted pictures on the main page for everyone's enjoyment...

meat and hot sauce

Yep, just working on my masculine side. After a long day of childcare, I can always go for a good hunk of cow smothered in ABC Chilli Omacka (Chili Sauce). I never understood the necessity of a decent hot sauce in a well-stocked pantry until now. I mean, this is the mother of all condiments. To be eaten like catchup. You can really put it on anything: eggs, chicken, sandwiches, tofu... Yes, I did that to tofu. Long story short, I consider myself a newly enlightened convert to the ways of the hot sauce. It manages to make almost any food somewhat more palatable. But enough about my yet-to-be refined eating habits...
I have a job now babysitting a little girl named Elen parttime. She's almost a year old and of the sweetest disposition. In the parlance of Zach during Zeke's teething years, I consider my cell phone officially slimed. Adorably slimed, of course. Her other favorite activites include (and are limited to the following): stealing my (incredibly entertaining !?!) green hat, sleeping outside in her stroller, and playing the "I'll throw this on the ground so you can pick it up" game. Uuuuhm. It's seriously the cushiest job on the planet. What? I have to sit around and play with a baby all morning? Shoot. It's also a nice area to be in general (Klanovice), as it's in the city outskirts which means woodsy and rural.
Well, that's my story for now. Toodles.

in reference to the latest photo:

This is my life. I mean, boys and football. I admit that I still have a limited (nonexistent) concept of the "inner workings" of this epic sport. What I do know, however, is the ridiculous level of emotional investment put into following ones team, etc.etc. And that's coming directly from the horse's mouth (is that the correct euphemism? I am horrible at quoting euphemisms accurately). I mean, Scott discussed (at length) his undying emotional dedication to his team earlier today. Take a look at Josh's face (on the right): his team obviously just made a bad play/lost some yards (I realize "some yards" would make any sports fan puke--this is Kara discussing a sport). Look at the disappointment, the pain, no...the agony! Yes, this is quite possibly the most emotionally invested I have ever seen a person be in anything. To add to the irony, while they have been watching this game, I've been making some lovely zucchini patties seasoned with thyme and oregano. Gotta even out the vibe of this living situation somehow. So there's the first look at my roommate buddies. They're funny. I laugh at them as often as possible.

where dust bunnies come to die

Just a quick note concerning the aforementioned bunnies of dust: Scott and I recently entered the zone and the flat is now undergoing a deep clean. It's so nice not to feel like my socks are doubling as a dust mop. And I got a go at the kitchen (very important). Anyway, just a quick status update on the state of the boy roommate situation. I hereby remove all capital letters after b when referring to my flatmates from now on. Just Boys. Mostly lowercase.

the mystique of grocery shopping

or: my adventures in Billa (that's the grocery store). Never have I hated grocery shopping as I do in the Czech Republic. Yes, it's only been about two weeks, so maybe about three visits. But seriously, when I say mystery food, I mean cross your fingers and pray. I must look ridiculous, meandering through the aisles trying to decide what sort of meal I can create with my as-yet-to-be-identified ingredients. Even figuring out what's yogurt and whats...tarvoh? (some thick cheesy sorta ricotta sorta sour creamish dairy product that's actually better than yogurt: my first mystery food challenge of Prague)...is a challenge. And then there's the lines to consider. After my aimless searching, it's time to pull out some serious game if I wanna get through the checkout line before my yogurt/dairy adventure-products go bad. It's like this: you're standing in line, minding your own business, and you start to feel the person behind you edging closer. Before you know it, that guy's pulling around to the side and attempting a full-on hockey check to get in front of you. I've learned to create a sort of barrier in these sort of lines, using my basket to take up the extra space where hockey-man might try to make a move. If the line is more or less "open air," however, I'm pretty much screwed. So that's the deal there: my first rant. My strategy for the immediate future is to just keep grabbing new stuff until I have an arsenol of less-mysterious food to work with. Gotta head back out to class. Toodles :)

I live with BOYS

Yes, it's finally dawned on me. We're talking football, poker, beer, and dust bunnies the size of my head. Well, maybe my foot. They do a surprising amount of dishes, actually (though they couldn't hold a candle to Jake). I'm pretty much okay with it all: had a lot of practice with this kind of stuff living in the dorms my sophomore and junior year at Beloit. Let's just say I know my way around a good pair of earplugs. I mean, we're talking connoisseur-level. Anyway, I like how down to earth we are with one another, and as the proclaimed (they called me this) "lady of the house," I get a lot of space as necessary. Scott was raised in North Carolina, so he's got this southern-gentleman gene going on, and Josh is just an (unadmittedly) sensitive person. So that's my flat-thought I'd give a general impression of my everyday living situation. Off to class.
Love,
Kara

first edition:

Hi everyone,
Since there's not a lot of time right now to talk to people at home, I'll update my adventures (misadventures) here. Thank you, come again :)