Nashledanou Praha (Defenestration Nation).

First of all, credit goes to Jon for my new blog header, which is very lovely and makes the blog look oh-so much cooler. I am still disappointed that he didn't come up with the GIF-tastic, WordArted, hideously tacky version that he promised, but this certainly goes someway to make up for the Gunther-torture. I've put a link to Jon's design blog so anyone who's interested can check out his designs and tees.

Anyway, this morning we've had our interview with Nancy, the orange-haired Trinity moderator, so as of tomorrow we should (hopefully) be fully TEFL-qualified and free to teach our wonderful language to curious kidlets and grownups across the globe. Which means, of course, that it's time to leave Prague and continue our journey eastwards; this evening we're off on a 36-hour jaunt to Kiev and from there it's pretty much straight to Moscow, which is where I imagine I'll next be able to update on our progress. Time to crack open the Russian book, buy some cigarettes to use to 'befriend' guards and border officials (apparently this generally works a treat), and brace ourselves for the cold.

It's all very exciting, but at the same time I shall be sad to say goodbye to Prague, a city where I have spent a very happy month and where I could very easily live and grow fat. I shall miss the cake, the goulash and dumplings, all the lovely folk at Oxford TEFL, the cheap beer, the snow, golem statues, Konvikt pub, the mulled wine and potato pancakes in Old Town Square, the wonderful buildings, and, of course, the spirit of dear, departed Rudolf. And lots of other stuff that I have momentarily forgotten. Excluding the busted orange lamp in my room that insists on falling on the floor all the time and the thoroughly repugnant tram inspector who fined me 700 Kc for having mistakenly double stamped my ticket (a huge, completely unreasonable woman who probably once enjoyed life as a minor Communist official), there has really been nothing unpleasant about my time here.

Prague has many claims to fame, both of the price of beer = very low and the lots of important stuff happened here varieties, but I think that one particulary Prague fact I discovered last week is quite special and worthy of sharing before I leave. It was in this city that the wonderful verb to defenestrate was coined, for the Czechs have a long and venerable history of killing people (generally public officials, members of the town council or irritating clerics) they dislike by simply chucking them out of windows. The town council got the push en masse in 1419, and then in 1618 it was the turn of two Habsburg imperial governors to discover the power of gravity, although the latter managed to survive by landing on a steaming pile of manure. There have been incidents of defenestration as late as 1948, meaning that the country deserves the moniker of Defenestration Nation that I have bestowed on it. I am aware that this sounds like a terrible 90s Europop hit, and am indeed trying to come up with a ditty worthy of the title. You are very lucky this blog doesn't have sound....

Digression over, sorry. Anyway, for now it's goodbye to Defenestration Nation and off to the land of vodka, fur hats, frozen lakes and CCCP tat. I have rubbed the supposedly lucky statue of St. Jan Nepomucky pictured above (this guy avoided defenestration by instead being thrown off the Charles Bridge), which apparently means that I shall one day return to Prague. I certainly hope that's true, as this city agrees with me, but for the time being it's nashledanou and thanks for all the beer!