Holidays: Part 1

I realize that it has been several months since I have blogged.  Goodness!  Time just flies by.  I'll give you a quick lowdown on what has been happening here in the Czech Republic.

Holidays:  One thing that is great about living in a different country is that you get to celebrate a ton of holidays!  Since my last blog, we had Halloween (US), St. Martin's Day (CZ), Thanksgiving (US), St. Nicholas Day(CZ), Christmas Eve (US/CZ), Christmas Day (US/CZ), St Stephen's Day (CZ), New Year's Day (US/CZ), Restoration of the Czech Independence Day (CZ), and Three Kings Day (CZ).  I am sure I forgot one or two.  Some of these holidays we celebrated with friends, and some we just recognized, but didn't do anything to celebrate.

Halloween was special mainly because the kids wanted to go trick or treating.  Since they really don't celebrate it here, the kids were disappointed that they wouldn't be able to go trick or treating.  Our new friends really made trick or treating special.  The University students that live behind our building got candy and allowed us to walk through the dormitory and trick or treat.  They did it only for our two kids.  Talk about a Halloween we will never forget!

We loved going on a lantern parade with the kids from our Mom's club for St. Martin's Day.  Each child held a paper lantern and we walked through their village.  At the end, we lit the Chinese lanterns that floated up into the air.  We have really been blessed with wonderful friends through the Mom's Club.

We also got to experience eating baked goose for the first time.   It is suppose to be eaten on St. Martin's Day to get you "fattened up" for the winter months ahead.

St. Nicholas Day was a little different.  I had gotten sick so we couldn't go and spend time with our Mother's club friends and celebrate.  However, we need to do a little shopping for some necessities.  While we were out and about, we saw some young adults and teenagers dressed up as St. Nicholas, an angel, and a devil.  They usually go around Prague and hand out candy to the children.  My kids liked getting the candy.  It was interesting because we kept seeing angels that looked like they had come from Victoria Secret or something.  They left no room for imagination.  John and I kept saying that you wouldn't see something like that in America.  :-)

Christmas Eve and Christmas were bittersweet.  We definitely enjoyed spending time with friends here, but we missed our friends and family back in the states.  We did however spend Christmas Eve with some friends that killed a carp in their bathtub.  A big tradition in the Czech Republic is to have carp at Christmas time.  Many people buy carp from the guy selling it on the side of the road.  They take it home and let it swim in the bathtub for a couple of days.  Then, they kill it and eat it.  We arrived to late to see the actual killing of the carp, but we got to see the blood in the bathtub.  It definitely was interesting.  The carp tasted pretty good since it was fried and had plenty of seasoning on it!!!

 Here are the guys selling carp on the side of the street.

More holiday fun to be continued....

A Long Overdue Update

I realize that it has been over a month since I have blogged.  Goodness!  My hope was to write every week.  This blog is mostly for friends, family, and churches that support us.  I want to keep you updated so that you know what is going on in our lives.  I am so sorry that I have fallen behind on my blogs, but I am sure you will understand why.

Life in Prague has been busy!  We are definitely in the "swing of things".  Every week we have a Sunday service, Mom's Club on Tuesdays, and fellowship with the University students on Thursdays.  Of course in between those activities, we are getting ready and preparing for those activities.  Don't forget every day life!  Laundry has been a challenge since I can only dry three loads at a time. I only have three drying racks!   If I forget to do the laundry, it takes me awhile to catch back up.  Also, grocery shopping is a whole other topic!  Having a small refrigerator and no car makes grocery shopping a little difficult.  If I can't carry it, I can't buy it.  Many times I will need something, but I will have to wait until another time to return to the store.  I just can't carry it all.  Oh, add in the 101 steps to our flat.  Goodness!  I should have buns of steel by now.

A couple of weeks ago, the newness of Prague started to wear off.  I am getting homesick more often.  I miss tons of people from home.  I miss going over to a friends house to talk about motherhood and eat her delicious cooking.  I miss running with my running buddy.  I miss going on the Creeper trail and enjoying nature.  I miss sitting on our back porch and looking at the mountains.  I desperately miss my dog, Lucy.  I know my parents are taking great care of her, but I still miss her like crazy.  As you can see, I miss a lot of things from back in the states.  It has caused me to cry at various times.  I struggle with the tight quarters of our flat and living in a city.  We do not get to go to the Charles Bridge or the astronomical clock very often.  Our neighbourhood consists of trash on the street, graffiti on the walls, and some very unhappy people.  Get on a bus and you will know what I mean.  People here rarely smile, and everyone is silent on the bus.  I need smiles.  I need laughter.

Also, I had a hard time with all the things that I needed to be doing.  I am taking an online TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) class.  I have not been working on it as diligently as I should.  Also, I feel like I am falling behind on teaching the kids English.  There is just so much to do in the day.   A couple of weeks ago,  I was feeling stressed and overwhelmed.  Not a good feeling!

I had a hard couple of days, and things got a little worse.  John came home two weeks ago after playing football or "soccer".  He hobbled in the door with a sprained ankle.  After a couple of days of keeping it elevated, John went to a doctor.  They put his ankle / leg in a cast.  The cast goes all the way to his knee.  The doctor said that he could not put weight on it for 5 weeks!  Talk about a hardship!  We have 101 stairs to go up and down to get into our flat and no elevator.  So, as I missed home and was frustrated and overwhelmed, I now had to take care of John and the kids.   It has been hard to do everything.  It has also been frustrating for John.  He can't get up to do anything either.  As you know, John is a very active guy.  Sitting in a chair all day for several days is not his idea of fun.

Fortunately, John goes to the doctor on Friday.  We are hopefully that he will have the cast taken off and that he will be able to start walking around.  At the last visit to the doctor last week, the doctor had said that perhaps he would start physical therapy next week.  We are very hopeful for a speedy recovery.

As I have gone through this time of frustration and sadness, I realize that I need to focus on the gifts that our Creator has given us.  It is so easy to live in the past.  I miss so many things, but it does nothing for me to dwell on the things that I left behind.  Instead, I need to focus on the wonderful things that God has put in our lives.  My plan is to start a gratitude journal.  I think if my focus is on God, His greatness, His faithfulness, and His love for me, then missing the things from the states won't make me as sad.  I think it is ok to grieve over the things that I have lost, but it can't consume me.  I need to be grateful for the many wonderful things in Prague.  I am thankful for the Vietnamese man at the local potraviny (store) who smiles and gives my kids candy.  I am thankful for the new friends that I have met.   I am thankful for the bible study that I attend with women from the United States that are there for me to encourage me when I am down.  Like I said, there is so much for which to be grateful.

Please continue to pray for our family during this time.  We are so grateful for your prayers!!!

Sunday Services, School, and our Shipment

There are so many days that I want to sit down and blog about everything that we are experiencing. However, there are many things that have been happening, and I don't have the time to write. Here is a short synopsis of some of the exciting things that have happened in the past weeks...

SUNDAY SERVICES:
On Sunday afternoons at 4pm, we have our worship services. We have been fortunate to have 8-12 people attend each service. John is new to being a pastor and preaching every Sunday. Plus, we are new at leading an entire service. There have been a few hiccups with the computer and slide shows, but overall we have been able to worship the Lord with gladness. It is always exciting to see the different faces that show up on Sunday afternoon. There are the regulars and then the people just passing through. No matter if they come every Sunday or if they are new, it is great to fellowship with other believers.

SCHOOL:
 Eli and Ada started Kindergarten/Preschool on September 1st. In the Czech Republic, they do not officially start school until 1st grade. So, both Eli and Ada are attending a Kindergarten that is really like a preschool. They go from 8am-12:30pm. They can stay all the way up until 5:30pm, but I figure that a half day is enough. They only speak Czech at this school. There are a few teachers that know a little English, so that is a blessing. They have someone come in to teach the kids a little English and German, but I don't think it will be much. So, I plan to teach Eli and Ada English in the afternoons. I will start "English Homeschooling" in October. Right now things are still crazy with getting settled... 

It seems that Eli and Ada like school. The first week was a little difficult. The first couple of days the kids loved school. Ada was a little chatterbox after the first day. I think they really wanted to play with other kids their age. After a couple of days, Ada started crying and said that she did not want to go to school. I think this was mostly because she missed me. Eli and Ada have been with me since the end of May. If we were in the US, I think we would have had the same problem. It does make it difficult that everyone at the school speaks Czech. However, the kids have already picked up a few Czech words. I won't be surprised if they speak Czech by the end of the year.

Surprisingly, many of the parents have reached out to us! There is one father of a child in Ada's class that speaks English. (I think he is British.) I have not met him yet, but he sent his business card home with Ada. I have emailed him, and we plan to get our families together sometime soon. Yesterday, a mom started talking to me in English. She said if I needed anything to call her. So far, everyone has been pleasant to us. We are very thankful!!! Someday I will have to blog about the difference between Czech Kindergarten and US preschool. It is very different!

(The new foot attire you have to wear inside the building.)

SHIPMENT:

We received our shipment from the United States last week!!! We were so excited to have our things. It felt like Christmas. It made me smile to unpack our everyday dishes. It seems like little things make me happy. I am so glad to be using more than 4 plates a day. The only sad thing is that some of my baking pans do not fit in the oven and some of our pans are too big for the stove. Oh, well. I am just glad that our things made it over the ocean.

Mom's Club Garden Party

Last week, we were invited to a "garden party" hosted by some of the moms in the Mom's Club at ESUMC Prague.  We were excited to meet some of the moms that we will be working with this year.  We had met some of them when we came in April to visit Prague and see if we wanted to move here.  I was eager to see how Eli and Ada would get along with the other children.

To get to the garden party, we had to take a train out of town.  Eli was thrilled to ride the train.  He had never been on a train before.  One of our friends had written down in Czech what tickets we would need.  That way if the person at the ticket counter would understand us even if they didn't know English.  Of course, the lady at the counter didn't know English, so I just showed her my little piece of paper.  She gave us some tickets and we were ready to go.  With about 10 minutes until the train was to arrive, we tried to figure out to which platform to go.  We could not figure it out.  We finally asked a young lady if she new English.  When she told us where to go, she said our train would come in 30 minutes.  The train we were suppose to take was to come in 8 minutes or so.  It took us a little time (and a little arguing between John and I) to figure out that the ticket lady gave us the wrong tickets!  With 4 minutes left, we hurried to the ticket desk.  With some gesturing and pointing, she realized she had made a mistake.  She quickly gave us new tickets, and we ran to catch the train.  They only give you 1 minute to board the train.  As we got to the platform, the train arrived!  Whoo!  We just made it in time.

The train ride was fun.  The train was a double decker so we rode on the top level.  The kids loved it. The view was beautiful as we watched the countryside roll by.  When we arrived at the train stop, one of the moms met us at the train stop.  She drove us to her house in the little village in which she lived.  It was great to be in a house again.  It really made me miss our house in Virginia.

We spend the majority of our time at the house talking and eating.  It was so nice to talk to other moms in English.  All the moms were great!  I can see myself becoming friends with them quickly.  They were also able to answer my questions like... Where do I get good quality clothes for the kids?  Where do I buy inexpensive, but good quality shoes?  The moms were so supportive and kind. The kids also had lots of fun playing outside.  Eli was able to play with a wooden sword and shield.  Ada found a new friend close to her age.

One of the highlights was eating dinner.  Our hosts had a swiss grill.  It is called a Raclette grill.  It was awesome.  As you can see in the picture, you can grill veggies and meat on top and cheese on the bottom.  We seriously are thinking of buying one.

We ate for a couple of hours just snacking on different types of cheese (some were stinky cheese!), veggies, and chicken.  It was definitely relaxing and enjoyable.  We felt right at home.  They truly knew how to make us feel welcome.

I can't wait until the end of September when we meet again.

The Ministry and Randomness

I just put the kids to bed, and there is plenty to do. I need to clean the dishes, do some laundry, and take a shower.  I am trying to get use to the small water heater in the flat.  I have not had my shower today because there was no hot water at the time I wanted to take one.  I have to be strategic in my planning when it comes to the water.  (I know you needed to know that pointless fact. :-)

I thought I would write a quick post and update you on the latest with our ministry.  I know that all of my posts have been about living in Prague, but I would like to update you on the real reason we are here.  We have not had a real church service yet.  John's first service will be on Sunday. (Please say a prayer for him as he prepares.)  He is very excited, but nervous at the same time.  Everything is new so it is quite overwhelming.  Up until now, we have had a couple of meetings and a devotion.  It has been great to get to know the members of the church.  The hard thing is that it is August, and everyone goes on vacation in August.  So, hopefully, we will have more people attend Sunday afternoon service once September arrives.  I'll have to blog again to let you know how our first church service goes.

Tomorrow, we go to visit with the moms that are in the mom's group at the church.  We are going to what they call a "garden party."  We have to take a train to get to the house, so it will be fun for the kids.  I am looking forward to getting to know the other moms and make some friends.

Monday, the kids start school!  It seems like the adjustments never end.  I think the kids are excited.  I am excited for them to make some friends.  They play together pretty well, but they have more arguments recently.  I know I am ready to have a little break from them.  :-)

I know this post is a little random, so I will leave you with another pointless fact.  Did you know that over in the Czech Republic, they individually wrap their chicken hot dogs in plastic?  Neither did I!  I actually thought that the plastic was just a hard casing. (They came in a normal hot dog package.)The hot dogs were hard to cut and difficult to chew.  Even little Ada at some too.  I realised my mistake when we bought a different brand of hot dogs that had writing on the plastic around the hotdog.  Oops!

Adjusting

We have lived in Prague for a little over two weeks.  In some ways, it seems like much longer than two weeks.  We have done so much and constantly feel like we are on the go.  

Going somewhere takes a lot longer than we expect.  We think that something will take a couple of hours, and then it ends up taking 5 or 6 hours.  We are learning to adjust to how long it takes to get somewhere using public transportation.  In the states, I knew exactly how long it would take to get to the church or to the store.  However, here we have to plan out trips according to the bus schedule.  Thank goodness for lovely apps that help us figure out which bus, tram, and metro to take to get to a certain destination.  Even after figuring out what time the bus leaves from our stop, you have to figure in the time it takes to get two children out the door.  Don't forget to pack the bags with water, snacks, jackets, and umbrellas.

I have learned that comfortable shoes are a must!  We could get by with flip flops or cute shoes for Ada in the states.  However, if any shoes cause you the slightest blister, they must go!  Ada wanted to wear some of her cute mary jane shoes the other day.  After 10 minutes of walking, the shoes were rubbing her foot and causing a blister.  The rest of the day was not much fun since she cried every time she walked around.  Believe me, we do a lot of walking!

We have learned to be ok with eating hot dogs all the time.  I know that once I get more comfortable with the food here and reading labels in the store, I will try my hand at some of our tried and true favorites from the states.  However, we are learning that we really need to plan our day out.  We have been getting home late and realize that what we planned for dinner will take much longer than our bellies can stand.  There are plenty of different sausages here so we are trying them all out!

Life without a dryer, big refrigerator, and microwave has its drawbacks and benefits.   I do miss my nice warm clothes right out of the dryer.  The microwave is always nice to have to heat things up quickly.  Here, I have to use the old fashion oven to warm things up.  Having a small refrigerator means more trips to the store for food.  We cannot keep things in there for a week.  There is just no room.  However, having to line dry my clothes makes it easier to put socks together.  I also cannot possibly do more than two loads of laundry a day.  I don't have the room to hang up all that laundry.  So the stress of getting all the laundry done is at a minimum.  Not so sure what the benefit is from not having a microwave.  I guess it is healthier.  Without a big refrigerator, we do not waste as much food.  Believe me, I can find everything in the little refrigerator.

Overall, we are adjusting well.  I think Eli and Ada are doing better than I am.  I have had a few meltdowns in the past week.  I miss my puppy dog, Lucy, so much!  There are days that I miss our old house.  Of course, I also miss all my friends and family.  It seems like everything over here is different than in the states. Here are a few that come to mind: time (military time), measuring cups, length (everything is on the metric system), keys to unlock and lock everything (even doors inside the home), the banking system and online banking, different size paper, which store to choose to buy certain products, how to hold a spoon and fork, the need to take off shoes at the door and the need for house slippers in the schools, etc....  The list could go on.  We are learning to adjust, but sometimes it is difficult. I am very thankful for the friends that we have made in Prague.  Many people have come to our rescue by helping us put furniture together, helping us with visas, showing us where to go for some "american" cookies, and much more.  One friend has helped me by setting up an appointment to get my hair cut on Wednesday.  She has even volunteered to go with me to speak czech with the stylist.  Hopefully, I will come out with a good cut.  She did tell me to be prepared that I might cry at first.  Hmmm... not a good sign.  Let's hope for the best!

One thing that I have loved about living here in Prague is that the kids have grown so close.  Ada just told met that Eli was his best friend.  I guess Eli is going to sleep in her bed tonight for a little bit.  They are so cute.  Overall, our family is getting closer in this experience.

Where do I begin?

Where do I begin?  There is so much to tell you!  I have been trying to figure out how to tell you about all that we have done this past week in Prague, but it would be quite overwhelming if I was detailed about everything.  So, I think I will give you a short synopsis of what has happened.  Now that we have internet in the flat (Hallelujah!), I will be able to blog more often and hopefully keep you up to date with our many adventures.

Friday, Aug. 1st / Day 1:  We flew to Prague.  We had connections in Charlotte and Madrid, Spain.  The kids did fairly well on the plane.  We were VERY DISAPPOINTED that the airplane from Charlotte to Madrid did not have tvs in the back of the seats.  We were kind of depending on them for our long trip over the ocean.  All in all, the kids did well and fell asleep on the plane.  Changing planes was a little difficult because we had a long lay over in Madrid.  It was 1 or 2 in the morning and had to wait for 3 hours to catch the plane to Prague.  Needless to say, we were very tired when we arrived in Prague on Day 2 of our journey.

Saturday, Aug. 2nd / Day 2:  When we arrived in Prague, our friend Martin picked us up from the airport.  He had brought some snacks, water, and a present for each of the kids.  He then got a taxi van to drive us to our flat.  It was HOT in the van because most everywhere you go in Prague, there is not air conditioning.  It was hard to enjoy the scenic drive through Prague because I felt like I was going to get sick.  Finally, we reached our flat.  All in all, we had 6 big suitcases, 4 carry on suitcases,  and 4 personal items (backpacks) to carry up 101 stairs.  Thank goodness for Vojta who helped John carry most of the heavy items up the stairs.  After taking a much needed shower, we went downstairs to the cafe'/church for some lunch that our friend Silvie prepared for us.  There was an array of sandwiches, fresh veggies, and fruit.  It was so good.  She even bought us flowers for our flat.  After eating, we went to Tesco, which is like a Walmart, and got some essentials that we needed for the flat.  We also went out for pizza at a restaurant down the street.  It was interesting to see the people bring their dogs with them to eat outside at the tables.  Ada even got to pet some of the poodles that were at a nearby table. ( It made me sad because we had left our dog, Lucy back in the States with my parents.  I know they will take great care of her, but I find myself sad very often when I see a doggy.  I always think of Lucy. )  After dinner, we finally made it back to our house to go to bed.  After staying up for 32 hours, we were ready for bed!!!!

Ok... so, it looks like I can be a little lengthy with my descriptions.  I start remembering the day and then want to share everything with you.  I promise I will get better at this blog thing.  Instead of going day by day, I think I will just give you some highlights of what has happened this past week.

1.  We have discovered juice syrup for water.  Yummy stuff.  You just put some in your glass, add water, and Bam! you have juice.  It comes in all sorts of flavors and doesn't have any artificial flavoring or additives.  So good!

2.  The people at the church here are amazing.  So many people have helped us get acquainted with the area.  They have also been willing to go shopping with us so that we could have an interpreter.  Everyone has been amazing.

3.  We have been able to find some amazing places to take the kids.  We have visited 3 or 4 playgrounds for the kids.  They love the different types of equipment that we don't have at the playgrounds where we lived in Virginia.  We also were able to go to a restaurant that serves your drinks on a train.  It delivers them directly to your table.  The kids loved it, and I am sure we will go again soon.

4.  Things here seem to take awhile to obtain.  It took 2 hours at a bank to set up an account.  We didn't have internet until just yesterday (almost a week after we arrived).  We still don't have beds for the kids or wardrobes for us because we have to go to Ikea a third time.  They did not have the wardrobe that I wanted in stock.

5.  At restaurants, you can take all the time you need to eat your meal.  However, if you are in line at the grocery store, you better be ready to bag your items the minute the clerk scans them.  If not, they will just move on to the next person in line and you are frantically putting your stuff into your bag.

6.  I love Google Maps.  However, it is always fun when you google a certain store that you want to go to and realize when you get there that it is the office headquarters instead of the actual store.  Oops!  It added on a couple of hours to our adventure in finding the nearest OBI (a store similar to Home Depot).

7.  Just so you know, anything goes on TV here!  Yep.  I got excited that we had TLC (in English) on our TV.  As I watched it, I realized that they were showing a man getting a piercing in a place that shouldn't be pierced.  Yep.... no blurry parts, or blacked out parts.  Nope.  Got to see more than I wanted.  The kids were also in the room.  How is it that you can't find the remote control when you need to???

8.  Czechs have great food.  I am loving all the fresh breads, ice cream, schnitzel, potatoes, and much more.  There are sausages galore.  The only hard thing is that we can't buy too much food at one time since we have a small refrigerator.  It has been hard adjusting, and we find that we are trying to figure out dinner at the last minute.  Sometimes that is not so good since most of the food in the little markets are picked over at night.  I am sure we will learn and adjust soon!!!

Well... I think that will be enough for tonight.  I am tired and must go to bed.  We have to go to Ikea in the morning to add anything we need to the shipment that should arrive sometime on Monday.  The kids are excited about having their own beds.  I am excited to have a wardrobe so that I can put away all my clothes.  Tomorrow afternoon we get to meet the people at our church.  We are excited to get started and meeting new friends!

PS:  Please excuse any grammar mistakes.  I would proofread this blog, but honestly, I am just way too tired.  Maybe next time.  :-)