A symbolic gift

At the end of the school year, when the exams are finished, the (mainly) successful class will organise a 'večírek' - which is basically a farewell party to which teachers who taught the class are invited...though it is also an opportunity for the students to de-stress :-) Food and drink are usually provided - and it is also a chance for students and teachers to meet outside of the usual arena of the classroom. And sometimes gifts are given - certainly to the class teacher who has walked with the students through their years of ups and downs...and sometimes for other teachers...

Last Friday (1st June), I attended the party of 4A - a great class who I had a lot of fun with. I was very surprised when one student (Petr) came over to give me a plastic bag, containing a surprise...and what a surprise! I opened the bag and found a Sparta Prague football shirt...and as I unfolded it, the name of 'Poborsky' was revealed...and the number '8'. At first glance, this seems an odd gift for a loyal Aston Villa fan. But in an instant, I realised why he (and his brother, whom I had taught in my first year, 6 years ago!) had bought me this particular gift...he remembered 'the story'! :-)

When students first get to meet me, I offer them to ask me any questions...and of course, one of the regularly asked questions is 'Why/when did I come to Czech Republic?' And the story begins in the summer of 1996, the European International Championships. The Czech Republic were playing Portugal in the quarter-finals at Villa Park - and my friends and I had tickets in the Holt End (Villa's end)....where the Czech fans were! This was perhaps the first time that I had met Czechs (to my knowledge)! And it was a lovely chipped goal from Karel Poborsky that put them into the semi-finals! You can see it here (it's the 3rd goal):

It was great to celebrate with the Czechs, and perhaps we did learn to say 'Češi do toho!' (the equivalent of 'Come on you Czechs!')...and little was I to know that just a few months later I would be travelling overland with 4 friends to the Czech Republic...and would meet the beautiful woman who became my wife...and would end up being an English teacher at a prestigious Grammar School in Olomouc! Wow....!

So, in many ways, Petr's gift is a very precious gift to me. It is symbolic - a marker of where I came from...and to where I am now :-) And I am a very happy man. Thank you, Petr. Thank you, God!