Breakthrough!!!

I had to come home and post because I, Sara Himelfarb - American, helped a tourist today in the metro. I had the knowledge and expertise to tell someone else: a) how to buy a metro pass, b) the importance of getting the metro pass stamped BEFORE getting on the metro, c) that I.P. Pavlova is said eee - pay - pahv -low - vah, d) that that stop is on the red line or c line - without even looking at a map, and e) that tomorrow night is Museum Night and that all of the major museums in Prague are free from 7 pm to 1 am. I felt like a true Prague-let. Or whatever they call people who live in Prague.

When I lived in New York, this was the way I knew that it was home - everytime I was able to tell a tourist how to get from the West Village to the Met or from Sylvia's to Bloomingdale's. My favorites were the tourists lost in Harlem because you could see them realize that they had accidently ended up in Harlem and that they thought they would be shot or mugged at any moment. As they expressed their concern at their mistake, obviously unaware that I lived in an apartment 25 feet away, it always gave me a sense of pleasure to tell them that they were far more likely to be mugged outside of their Hilton in Times Square and about 10 times more likely to be murdered in San Diego or St. Louis or whatever city they were visiting from - we call these "teachable moments." :)

Anyways. . .today was a great day. I met up with my Burma Center folks this evening and learned more about what they are up to and received feedback on my work to date. They are so excited and pleased with what I'm doing - which completely motivated me to do more. They actually told me to chill out and travel - but I'm still planning to do as much as possible now and hope for some time in the end to do a trip. Christoph, one of the project managers is from Germany, and he is taking me with him when he goes to set up a seminar next week in Dresden. I'm so thrilled, I can't even begin to tell you. I didn't have the opportunity to go to Germany yet - so I couldn't be more excited.

What else? I have a great weekend plan. JD's Jennifer is coming into Prague tomorrow with her friend Sarah, so I'm planning to have dinner with them and explore some of the museums while they are free. Late in the evening, I'm going to head to Blind Eye where Amanda and her friends will be dancing through the evening. I may even pull another all nighter in Prague - we shall see.

Life is great - my only small issue at the moment is that it hasn't been warm enough to hang my laundry to dry - so I have a huge (and by huge, I mean nearly my whole suitcase's contents) pile of clothing to wash. But I'm optimistic that tomorrow will be perfect laundry-drying weather.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

--edit--

Also!!! I just received an email letting me know that I have been accepted as a founding board member of a new Uncommon Charter School in Little Rock, set to open in 2009. I'm so excited and pleased that I can be a part of this amazing program and get back to working in education, in a very different capacity. This is my first board position, so I could not be more thrilled to be able to take on this new venture!