Shortly after the Velvet Revolution (so named because it managed to get the Communists out of power without bloodshed), I taught English in Prague in the summer of 1991.

The picture on the left is me with about half of my class (the other half also young women).

I have no ESL credentials, but at the time it was still possible to simply offer your skills as a native speaker of English. I sent letters to all the universities in Poland, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia with English departments asking for work, and many responded. The moral of the story is not to be afraid to do something nutty.

The art and architecture in Prague are simply amazing. Although Czechoslovakia belonged to the East Bloc for many years, the city really has a European feel. On the right, is an artist I saw every day on Charles Bridge.

To the left is a picture of Charles Bridge viewed at night from across the river. I always walked to work, so this is what I saw when returning at night

I spent most of my time working, but I did get to travel in the countryside a little. Here is a picture of a church spire taken from inside a tower in a small town a few hours from where I lived in Prague.

One of the lessons that really got burned into my brain from my trip to Czechoslovakia was how ineffective force is as a method for getting people to do things. Despite decades of Soviet domination, few traces remained. For example, even though everyone I knew had been required to study Russian for many years, the language was useless (partly because of animosity towards the Russians, but also because few people could speak it very well). While I was in Prague I broke a tooth and went to get treated. My Czech was too primitive to be useful so I tried Russian on a number of staff. In the end, they found someone who could talk to me in English.