Prague Journal

Monday, November 22, 2004.

Our broadband internet connection has been down all weekend. Needless to say, this is very frustrating. I spoke with the Český Telecom folks this morning. They said they’d call me in a day or two. Part of the problem is my inability to speak Czech, so I have to wait for an English-speaker who can run interference. None of the Czechs have pleasant things to say about Český Telecom, so there may be more than just a language problem. In any case, dialing up intermittently to check mail and not being able to use the web for research is quite inconvenient.
I was able to check my mail briefly at the Fulbright office this afternoon. I was asked to join the Fulbright staff to evaluate Czech applications for research grants to the US. This year’s applications were few and of low-quality, so it was difficult to decide how many grants to offer and to whom. One decision was easy, since the applicant had apparently died over the weekend. The others were difficult, but we decided to award two of the four applications. Student applications have increased, but academic research applications have gone down over the last few years, perhaps because of the high rejection rate in the past. Applicants from the US Fulbright awards have increased, despite the difficulty in doing research here without Czech language skills. (Teaching awards are easier, since there are many courses and programs taught in English.)

posted by JWinn @ 8:42 PM