28th August 07

Hey Mark,

I've just spent three days in the Krkonoshe mountains on the Czech border with Poland. Sour, fresh blueberries, Krkonoshe beer and, for some reason, ultra-expensive mohitos. Every town the coach drove through en route was more beautiful than Mlada Boleslav, the factory town in which I am stationed.

I had an hour in Jicin, for example. While waiting for my bus, I sat in the square enjoying the sun and a beer, ate a cheeseburger in a bun as big as a baseball glove, visited a church, watched some boys flirt with some vietnamese girls, saw a guy in electric blue suit, bearded in shades, who was either mad or a genius. In short, it was alive. The only time most of my students get animated is to proclaim melodramatically 'This town is dead!'

I did approach IH Bratislava and was offered a job, but it was very low salaried. After investigation I had to turn them down. Poland is a new start, new culture.

This country seems ever-more beautiful now I'm leaving. Daily lunch-time menus with three options - goulash and knedlicky a mainstay on each of them - for 69 crowns, including starter of soup.

In Vrklabi I sat in a 'bistro'. It was the equivalent of a Polish milk bar: dirt-cheap food, beer at half eleven, view onto the street. Other people joining your table. I had a walk around the cemetery (Franz Schubert was buried there. I need to check if it was the Franz Schubert.) A really beautiful, unspoilt town. All the 19th century graves seemed to be crumbling, perhaps because of the cold air of the mountain. The temperatures fluctuate wildly: cold in the morning, baking by the afternoon. A fine-needled machine in the high street records air temperature and humidity.

Do you remember Steve, the Fall fan from my housewarming? He's arriving in Poland the day I start teaching. That should muddy the waters nicely with my new flatmate, a friend of the principal.

I'm trying to cram in everything I can before I leave on 14th Sept. A Slovakian double wedding on Friday. Then I hope to visit a Czech student - my first ever student - at the weekend. Next week another trip into the countryside. The last weekend a music / puppetry festival in Jicin.

I'm dreaming of my annual family curry (with my sister, parents and Carrie) in London on 18th Dec. Then we're off to Illinois for a family christmas.

So, I hope you're doing well.

Is Sara back? Everyone okay in my 'real' family?

Take care,

Matt


31 12 7

I was suddenly bareheaded.