Back on-line....

One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste. - Goethe

Oh Glorious days of September...

Two things today: I preloaded this blog on Saturday, in hopes it would post on 1 Sept, hope it did.

First: "Oh, glorious days of September….." famous words, oft spoken by my Father as we were growing up and returning to start a new school year. The dread of getting up on the first days of School every September were always echoed by a loud human alarm Clock, saying:

Oh Glorious days of September… and the rest of the poem would be recited ( of which I can not remember ). and then we would slowly get up, groan and get ready for school.

Second: Someone starts Kindergarten this day. Ano, Kuba. Not an easy day necessarily for Mother or child. But both will eventually get over the trauma of this day. Wishing this day goes well for you both and that he LOVEs his first day of kindergarten and the days ahead, so you can be comfortable in that knowledge as well. hoping the week goes smoothly for you.

Saturday once again

... so stayed the night at Neratovicka 25 last night... and will close out the chapter here in Kobylisy and start living in Vinohrady today.

I have no internet in Vinohrady as yet, so this will be the last daily blog for a bit. I have preloaded a couple in hopes that they will post on a couple important days coming up. ( we will see ) The challenge is setting up an account with an isp here in Prague without knowing the language. I will see if I can find someone to help with this task, but as of now, not sure when I will have it. I will attempt to update through an internet cafe, when I can. I will be able to check emails at School, but can not blog there. so.. for a time, I will be off the air, hopefully no more than a week at most. Of course, another piece of this, is finding the time to meet a cable guy at the flat, while having a full schedule of teaching during the week.. ach jo...

so cheers for now.. and I will be back here as soon as possible.... today is day 107

Long Term Visa

Yesterday found Berlin almost entirely overcast and rainy, until the late afternoon. Arrived about 45 minutes early at 4:15am !! and then immediately had to assess; 1) where I was, 2) how to get a day pass for their Metro, 3) where to find a Bankomat for some Euros and 4) locate Wilhelmstrasse and the location of the Czech Embassy, #44. By 5:30am I was standing in front of the embassy. Then to find some coffee, wait until the sun came up and 10:00am, my appointment time.

It went smoothly. My long term C & D visa is now being processed. The person I talked to made a point of telling me my visa would not be ready for 90 days. I believe it will arrive in 30. ;-)) In the final analysis, this is what I needed:

1) Passport
2) Red application form; completed & signed with photo pasted on the front
3) two photos - Czech passport size, NOT US passport size
4) Doklad form- accommodation form - signature of landlord, must be notarized
5) Proof of landlord ownership of flat - from Prague Property Office
6) Zadost form - Czech Criminal Record background check
7) Affidavit of no criminal record here or abroad - signed and notarized
8) Work Permit
9) Proof of health insurance coverage - Ltr from Employer
10) Fee of 117 EUR - for multiple entry visa

I Did NOT need:

1) Birth Certificate, have it appostiled nor have it translated into Czech
2) US criminal background check document nor have it appostiled
3) US proof of health insurance
4) US Proof of financial resources
5) US Proof of active Credit Card, or
6) Notarized copy or any copy of the first page of US passport
nor any other documents.

Off to teach this morning and afternoon and will move officially out of this flat-share here in Kobylisy this afternoon and will officially move into and start to reside in my flat on Slavikova TODAY. Wow. Off and running....

Been up for 42 hours straight, but am back....

Just returned from Berlin and as you can see by the photo it was a success. They stamped my passport with THE stamp, that allows me entry. I had all the paperwork in order (they seemed to be surprized) and things went very smoothly. I paid 117 EUR for a multiple entry Czech visa, so I can travel not only to the Czech Republic but to all other Schengen countries without worries. The German police did indeed stop the bus at the border, like I have been told, looked at my Passport throughly, gave it back and said nothing...

It has been a long "day". 6 hour bus ride back to Prague. Too long. I will admit I am quite exhausted. 42 hours awake, and with contacts in, and more walking... But my visa is in the works now. I am most happy about that. + 105

Off to Berlin......

The first step binds one to the second. ~French Proverb

Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just now.
~Jonatan Mårtensson

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown

....and now onto the 3rd to the last step in the first part of my quest/dream; applying for my long term Czech visa. I have all the documents needed as per the school. And I am bringing items not necessarily needed as well; my work contract, my apartment lease, my criminal background checks from the US, etc. So this step will yield a stamp in my passport stating I have applied for this visa to live/stay in the Czech Republic for one year; renewable annually.

The 2nd to the last step, will be to actually return to Berlin in 30, 60 or 90 days to pick up the actual visa. I am hoping in 30 days, of course. The final step in this long dream, once I have the actual visa in hand, is to go to the Czech Foreign Police to get it stamped to make it official. This must be done within 3 days of my receipt of said visa. I am told this is a terrible process, but more about that in a later blog... when I actually go through it in one of the months to come. So.. as I said this morning, off to Berlin on an all night bus. Woo who.... Cheers

To Berlin

Every beginning has a consequence - every beginning ends something. - Paul Valery

Another full day ahead today, with a brand new class this afternoon and another interview appointment this mid-afternoon at a company that wishes me to teach another certificate Business English course.

This evening I head to Berlin on the 11:55pm “flight” on a StudentAgency autobus. I will get into Berlin at 5:00am for my 10:00am appointment tomorrow morning with the Czech Embassy there. Of course, I have to find where the locations are of not only the Embassy, but also where the bus station is as well and then find the Embassy. I will work on that this morning.

These trips happen all the time, with the School’s new teachers/employees, it would seem that the School would have something put together to give those of us who are going to the various embassy’s in Europe that might help us out; a packet of sorts, such as a map, directions, etc.. But ne, Nothing! Somewhat amazes me, actually. Why is it that I would do that for people if I was the boss.? Oh well, I certainly can google for the information, print it out and will do so this morning.

Daughter left yesterday morning. We had a nice time together and actually were exhausted Monday night. But we finished off her last evening in Prague having a real nice dinner at a real nice Restaurace, which was lovely, and for dessert she finally got to experience the thick, rich, dark hot chocolate of Central Europe as well.

We really did alot, perhaps too much, but hey, this trip might have been her first and last visit to Prague, who knows, so I had to cram a lot into these past 6 days. It was great. I hope both my kids can come over next time. Time will tell.

So, off to Berlin and the start of my visa process. Cheers.