The Last Three Weeks

What have we been up to? These pictures give some idea of one part of the life that we lead here in Prague. Prague is a truly spectacular city and at Christmas, there are displays, little stalls set up all over town selling various goodies such as food, drink, souvenirs such as candles, linens, paintings, hats, gloves - whatever the tourist or the local could desire, it is available on the streets in every square in town.

On the left you can see us at Old Towne Square. One of the really great spots in Prague. Lately it has been literally packed with people so thickly that walking from one side to the other is a slow process. But with all the stalls and the food and drink - why be in a hurry. One of our favorite foods to buy is called a trednelik or something close to that. It is a pastry cooked on a rolling pin like aparatus over gas flames . It is then rolled in brown sugar and other spices, taken off the spindle and handed to you on a napkin. A great tast treat it is indeed.

Also, there is mead and spiced wine sold unbiquitously in town. Wherever you walk on major streets there are stalls set up.

Below is what we saw on December 5th or thereabouts. There are myths in eastern and central Europe similar to some in the US about "being naught and nice". Numerous people dress as St. Nicolas, an angel and a devil parade around town in groups. Czech children, raised on stories of Mikulas, are over-awed by this spectacle, for they know what to expect. St. Nicholas will be asking each and everyone of them if they have been a good child during the past year.

Most children of course say yes and will be asked to sing a song or recite a short poem, after which they are rewarded with sweets and other treats. But if St. Nicholas suspects they have been naughty, well! Naughty children don't get sweets, they get a sack of black coal or hard potatoes. If they have been really naughty, they will be placed in the Devil's sack and sent to hell!

I have not put up anything new on this blog for sixteen days. The reason may be that life is becoming more routine and we have not traveled out of town for a month now. Also, things have been hetic at school. December 13th was the CISP Christmas Program. The preparations were going on for several weeks by Mrs. Johnson, our Director and Music Teacher. However the two weeks before the program, practices became more time consuming and everyone was getting a bit strtessed with the planning. Also, midterm grades went out, we had several teacher illnesses and miscellaneous distractions.

On the left is Jessica, a lovely 7th grade student at CISP. Here she is singing a solo at church last Sunday. I have mentioned before that we have many talented musicians at school. Fortunately, we have a music teacher coming right after Christmas so Mrs. Johnson can have more time for administrative tasks.

I previously wrote about seeing two Czech League soccer matches in one night. Garret, Kate, Rebekah and I went back to Slavia stadium to see Slavia Praha play Hamburg in a UEFA cup match. It was a defensive match with both sides getting fairly even possession times, but Hamburg were too strong for Slavia and took the victory 2-0, but the second goal was a PK scored in extra time after the Slavia keeper was given a red card and confusion resulted. The real fun is trying to get on a tram right after a soccer match.

Can you imagine 15 or 20 thousand people exiting the stadium nearly simultaniously and trying to board normal public transport. Rebekah, Kate and I got on a 22 Tram with Rebekah leading the charge into the "cattle-car-like" tram. I now know what a sardine feels like as it goes into one of those little, flat cans. Garret went another direction, but we all managed to show up at school the next day even though the start time was 8:45 PM - not long before my bed time.

In the ensuing days we began saying good by to Rachel, the student teacher who lived with us for three months and helped Liz much the past six weeks. Leah, Shiela and Kate had a going away dinner for Rachel Monday night. We set our alarm for 3:30 AM Tuesday as the cab was scheduled to arrive at 4:00 AM to take Rachel to the airport. Beth Given was waiting at our door at 4:00 AM to go to the airport with Rachel, so that was good. Her trip back home was uneventful until arriving in Montreal in a snowstrom. Her flight to Muncton was cancelled and she had to sit on the plane the next day for four and one half hours before it took off for her one and a half hour flight.

Liz, Rebekah and I took time out over a weekend to carry on a tradition that is part of many western cultures - cookie making. We missed the Hartman Cousins springerlie making party this year which is held at Scott and Carolee Hoffman's house each year. So this was a substitute for that event and cookie baking times we would normally spend with Steve and Kaley. All in all it turned out quite well.

The next weekend was dominated by the Christmas Program. I was at the auditorium where it was held from 11:00 AM until about 4:00 PM. I helped with student control - there was a dress rehersal for everyone before the real, live performance. It turned out quite well - with a few glitches here and there. Liz's class did well with their singing part. Massimo was given a part in a quartet to replace a solo song that was to be sung by a girl who was ill on the performance day. Liz and Rebekah each got massages at their favorite place immediate after the performance to wash away the added stress of the week. I watched soccer on TV at a restaurant near where they got the massages.

On the left here we are at the Old Towne Square in front of one of the stalls selling food stuffs of various kinds. We have tried the hot dogs, the tredneliks, the meade, mulled wine, crepes and perhaps other goodies that I don't remember at the moment.

Then the week of school before the Christmas Holidays began. Everyone tried to keep focused on academics, but it was difficult. I gave exams in all my classes. I was very pleased with the results in general. Friday was a half day with an odd schedule. The high school had Chapel - combined with the elementary school - then forty-five minutes of miscellaneous things like a French Class party, 7th and 8th grade classes. I and Terry orchestrated moving some furniture from the computer lab to the basement storage and a few other minor moves. Then the high school student organized party games began. The kids were very good and orderly and had a great time with all the 7th through 12th graders participating in indoor games. Plus there was food and drink for all. Then at noon school was out.

We have been walking to town most evenings - both for the exercise and to see the beauty of Prague. It takes us about 25 minutes to walk to Old Town. It is a downhill trip for the most part from our apartment on the hill where the TV tower is perched. But that means that the walk back is quite an aerobic activity. This is about the only regular exercise we get except for the daily uphill trek of about five blocks to school.

On the left you again see a group dressed up as St. Nicolas, an angel and a devil.

On the day school got out at noon, Garret, Kate and I went to view a building that we are giving some consideration to renting for the school for next year. We are a bit crowded and there is some concern that we need more space for next year. Two board members also went. Garret and Kate then came over and we went over the pros and cons of what we saw. Liz and I then walked to town to view the sites again - we do it repeatedly during this holiday season.




This last picture shows Old Town Square at night. The lighted, twin towers of the Tyn Church are in the background. You can see people and the first line of the Christmas stalls in the foreground. There are endless stalls and endless people that you can not see.

All for now.

We Rock for Jesus

Each Friday morning we have a chapel service for the upper school and a chapel service for the elementary school. The middle school and high school students are great worshippers and we have several outstanding musicians also.

The students pretty much run the praise part of the service themselves. We are producing several potential worship leaders for the future. The maturity level of several of the kids is outstanding, even though we like to play, complain a little, question authority, etc. We have totally outstanding students at CISP.

The first pictures show guitarists Robbie and David along with Aji running the power point for the songs. Jessica and Jessalyna are the two seventh grade girls in the front row near Mrs. Johnson, our Director.

The next pictures adds one of our keyboard players, Emily. You can not say enough good things about Em. She is just an around outstanding young lady. The next pic shows our young ladies getting into worship live. In the back row are Rebecca, Ana (not really visible), Wendy, Kate, Coral, Shaylinn and then a cool kid from Serbia, Igor and lastly Miss Miner. About the only people recognizable in the front row are Talyeah and then you can see the back of Timea's head.

Next we get a wide angle shot of the day's entire worship team. From left to right are Joana, Hannah, Luke, Em, Robbie and David with Aji working the comuter diligently as always.

In the orange shirt is Ci-On, another seventh grade boy. He is one of the quickest people you will ever encounter on a soccer pitch. Beware of his ball thieving skills! People are beginnig to appear in multiple pictures, but they are worth a second look.

The next picture shows the back row girls again. Wendy has for some reason jumped up to ask or answer a question. Just to Wendy's left is Joshua, another fine musician and able soccer player.

I have to tell you that Robbie, David and Aji are likely the cream of the soccer crop of boys while Lauren who appears in the last picture along with Coral and Wendy lead the girls. Lauren will probably play on a college team in the US in a few years.

Then the picture of Joana shows her straightening her hair or her scarf or someting. She is a character in my Alg 2 class along with Timea, Hannah and Caleb who came a bit late to Chapel and does not appear in any pictures.

The next picture shows some of out great middle school dodge ball players - Cail, Luke and Travis. Igor appears again behind them as does Miss Milasova, our great Czech and German teacher and a fan of Slavia Praha. She is really a great friend and lots of fun and full of wisdom.

Next are Kate and Shaylinn. Kate's mother runs a restaurant in Prague and has a little shop where she sells some American food stuffs.

Shaylinn and Kate

Last but certainly not least are the upper class girls. From left to right sitting: Timea, Taleyah and Lauren. Standing are Emily and Hannah with her new shorter hair - Hannah has her back to you.

King Wencelas Skit

Liz had her 1st and 2nd grade class work on a skit to perform for the upper school chapel sevice and for the elementary chapel service. She invited parents, grandparents and interested parties to the second performance.

We warned the high school kids to be polite to the little kids and not to laugh at them. That warning was completely unecessary. The little kids blew us all away with their acting and singing. The skit about the life of King Wencelas was really great. Liz and Rachel are to be highly commended for such great performances out of the rambunctious ones. Liz's class sang loudly and clearly. They enunciated well and spoke so all could hear them for the most part.

The whole skit was a truly rousing success that impressed the older kids and gave them a challenge to do equally well when they present their part of our school's Christmas Program on Saturday, Dec. 13th.

You can see that costuming was not used; there were no props or sets. It was just a well written skit (by Liz and Rachel) which was acted well.

Congratulations to Hope, Massimo, Amber, Mollie, Carl, Sava, Edmund, Si-youn, Najou, Angelina, and Shamima for a fine performance.

Cesky Krumlov Pics

Cesky Krumlov turned out to be a real jewel. We had heard good things about it, but my expectations were exceeded by the beauty, quaintness and grandeur of this city south of Prague. We left home at 6:00 AM on Friday morning after TG day. A quick walk to the metro, three stops on the green line, then switch to the yellow line at Mustek and a few stops to Andel. Up the steps to the bus plaza and we see the Student Agency Bus signs. We had time to walk around a bit to try and wake up before boarding for our three hour ride to CK. The Student Agency buses are first class. They have comfortable seats, a WC, a stewardess serves free coffee and other treats for a price. It is a dark and dreary morning as we leave Prague.

We arrive in CK about 10:00 AM, disembark and look around to figure out which direction to head. It is soon obvious that we should walk up a small hill that partially blocks our view of the castle and churches that hold promise for us a beacons of where we want to end up. We find it is really quite a short walk to the “centrum” – the sign we look for that means center of town. We walk into the old centrum and find workmen laboriously replacing cobblestones on the street we are walking on.

The first picture you see is taken on the hill that we walked over from the bus plaza to get to town - quite a spectacular view to start and end the stay with.

So many streets and sidewalks are the little cubical stones that are about a three or four inch cube. The other common cobblestone is about about eight inches by twelve inches by six inches. These are laid in a bed of sand and then sand is put between the stones. It is a real art, the workmen chip the edges of each of the larger cobblestones to make them fit as well as possible. This art is practiced all over the Czech Republic and gives a certain quaintness and charm to the streets and sidewalks.

This next pic shows how high the wall of the castle is. I estimated it to be between seventy and one hundred feet from the river to the top of the castle. This was an incredible engineering feat when you consider that there were no power machines or power tools available.

Proceding into the center of town we start looking for a hotel and decide to splurge on a place with a sauna. Did I mention that it is only 32 degrees outside and and we plan to do quite a bit of exploring? For US$100 we get a really nice room with lots of hot water and the promise of a tasty breakfast - about $20 worth of breakfast in the USA, so it is not a bad deal afterall. Now for more pictures:

The pictures you see here tell two stories. First you see that I have acquired a new hat and gloves. It is very cold in Cesty Krumlov. Second, look carefully at the arches high above me and the statues in the archways about seventy feet off the ground. Now you see that Liz has climbed up and onto a statue and has our pet dog JJ with her. JJ goes with us on all excursions around the Czech Republic and reports our travel adventures to our granddaughter Kaley.

The statue that Liz is clinging to is one of those in the archways about high in the air. She just can not resist climbing up where I would never consider going.

The last pictue from Cesty Krumlov shows JJ just after he got out of the sauna. He is relaxing and cooling down a bit before going for his massage. The hotel was offering a specail on massages, so we indulged again and made this quick trip to CK something special.

Thanksgiving Dinner

We have immersed ourselves in a flurry of activity beginning Wednesday after school. The end of the school day was a signal for "Let the Cooking Begin!" Liz and I went home and began small tasks about the house. Then I set out to procure the turkey from a British butcher in Prague. It is an easy trip on the 11 Tram to Robertson's Butchery. About 6:00 PM I was returning with the bird (actually 3.26 kg of the bird's breast) in hand. I got off the 11 Tram at our JZP stop and saw Rebekah and her friend Ann get off the tram car just ahead of m. They were heading to our place with lots of good stuff for the Thursday TG feast at our house. Ann is a student at Charles University whom we had not met before. We set off together - I with my turkey and R and A with Rebekah's two wheeled shopping cart full of goodies.

Getting from point A to point B is not a straight line in the CR. We went down the steps at the JZP metro stop, walked under the busy Vinohradska street and emerged in the square between the metro stop and the monumental Catholic Church of that is one of our landmarks telling us we are home. We chattered about the upcoming holiday eventss as we perambulated the 4 or 5 blocks home. Upon arrival we unpacked the shopping cart and the women planned what to cook and in what order. Rachel arrived shortly and the kitchen festivity began in earnest. There were sweet potatoes to peel, apples to peel, and an array of other tasks. I was of course in charge of keeping the kitchen relatively tidy while the whirlwind of mixing, stirring, cooking, opening cans, seasoning, etc. was in progress. I was at the kitchen sink madly washing the same bowls and utensils over and over. I washed our small blue mixing bowl nearly a dozen times as it was used and reused for various tasks. I am sure I washed our one good knife at least that many times.

My greatest joy was watching the two pumpkin pies progress. As I had mentioned in a previous blog I had through great stealth secured the last two cans of pumpkin in Prague. The fruits of my labor were being manifested before my eyes. Rebekah was in charge of the pies, but I kept a keen, but surrepticious eye on the entire process. Cooking in our kitchen is always interesting as it is quite small and when you have five people in there you better be best of friends and quite forgiving. We succeeded on both counts. Other differences in cooking in Prague at our place in clude the paucity of normal kitchen apparati such as a rolling pin, proper cooking pans, good knives, room in a refrigerator to keep the stuff you have just bought and cooked, et al.

However the night was a success. The pies turned out well sans rolling pin. All the lushious foods found a spot in the fridge for overnight keeping. And blood was drawn only twice. I maintain that both Rebekah and Ann intentionally nicked themselves so they could feign off wahsing dishes, but Liz had more sympathy for them. Rachel did not comment on the situation.

Anyway we were well on our way to the feast the followng day. Thursday we awoke around 7:00 AM - very late for us. The cooking was planned to start around 11:00 with Rebekah and Viola arriving early to finish what was not done Wednesday night. Liz and I decided to take a walk around 9:00 and headed downtown to Tesco to do pick up a couple last minute items and look for some school supplies. It was a fairly nice day and we were enjoying the walking and the beauty of Prague. After getting a few food items at Tesco, we started looking for craft sticks for Liz's next project at school. We went to several places, but never found them downtown. So we decided to walk back through the Namesti Miru area and go to Liz's favorite paper (potential school supply) store. Again, no luck finding them. On the way from downtown to Namesti Miru we took a route that we had never been on before and I managed to convince Liz to go along some streets that were leading us away from our target area. She kept telling me that she was sure we were headed too far east, but I was insistent that we could get there my way.

In the end we were both sort of right, she probably being more right than I. We at least were able to browse the Christmas stalls in front of the Namesti Miru church and walk back home and then browse the few stalls at JZP near our apartment. By this time it was nearing noon. While we were a block from home Rebekah called to say she would abe late. About ten minutes after we got home Rebekah and Viola arrived. Rachel was nowhere to be found, but probably out shopping. Viola is also studying at Charles University. She in studying political schience and is a very interest person whose family is from Hamburg. She speaks English perfectly and was a delight to get to know.

So we squeezed the turkey into our largest baking pan, combined the ingredients for the green bean dish - including those little onion things you normally sprinkle on top, peeled all the white potatoes, put the apple crisp together, kept the oven and mulitple top burners busy continually and other odd concocting rituals that I have forgotten. Planning what needed to go in the oven when took great engineering skills - Liz more or less managed that task. The oven is so small that the turkey took up its entire volume. So, then how do you get the sweet potatoes, the apple crisp, the green beans, etc. cooked and keep them warm when the oven was not available? Some out Liz worked her magic and all things were brought forth in a warm and timely manner. We just barely got the large sweet potatoe casserole done in time and had to crank the oven up to near max to accomplish that.

In the meantime the other guests had been arriving. I forget the order, but the case of characters included: the three K-State exchange students; Anna, Brian (husband and wife) and Sam (master storyteller and life of any party); Ann arrived fresh from last night's cooking gala; and finally Mike called to say, "exactly where do you live?" Mike is a cool guy we also met at church. He lives just down the street a couple buildings. It is usually hard for people to find us as our name is not on the list of those living in our building, just our landlord's name that we can never remember when someone asks us - Zavadilik. I went to the door and saw Mike at the corner and hustled him in out of the cold.

So we had our group all together now. Rebekah and Rachel from CISP, their two friends (Ann and Viola), the K-State threesome and Mike. Mike has a really interesting background. His mother is Czech and his father is Ethiopian. He lived in Ethiopia most of his life where his mother taught in an International School which he attended. The school was an English language school, so he speaks perfect English, Czech and Amharic. He is studying media production or some such field. I think Mike was unsure of what he was getting into and initially said he could not stay long, but then got into the festivities and had a great time. We ended up the evening playing Farkle - we had brought along the Wildcat version of this game, so it was very fitting for the evening.

The food was fantastic, the fellowship was outstanding, the conversation was convivial, the friendship grew as the evening progressed. We felt really blessed to be able to host this group of young people - most of whom were far from home and family. We went around the group and told what we were all thankful for. Several answered to the affect we are thankful for family, but we are also thankful for the way God provides family when we are not with our real family.

I will post pictures of the days events later, but right now Liz and I are taking another honeymoon outing and are at Cesky Krumlov staying in a nice hotel. We left home at 6:00 AM Friday to catch a bus here. I will add pictures and tell about our CK adventure another time.

Velvet Revolution: Sickness, Soccer and Dinner Celebration

We have a three day weekend as Monday is a national holiday. I quote from Wikipedia to give you an idea of what the Velvet Revolution is all about. I think it is our equivalent of the 4th of July celebration in the USA.
The "Velvet Revolution" (Czech: sametová revoluce, Slovak: nežná revolúcia) (November 16 – December 29, 1989) refers to a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government. It is seen as one of the most important of the Revolutions of 1989.

On November 17, 1989 (Friday), riot police suppressed a peaceful student demonstration in Prague. That event sparked a series of popular demonstrations from November 19 to late December. By November 20 the number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague had swollen from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated half-million. A two-hour general strike, involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia, was held on November 27.

With the collapse of other Communist governments, and increasing street protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced on November 28 that it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party state. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany and Austria in early December. On December 10, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-Communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander Dubček was elected speaker of the federal parliament on December 28 and Václav Havel the President of Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989.

In June 1990 Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946.

Our weekend began with a dinner out at our favorite restaurant, the Vermeer, with John and Andrea. They are friends of the Johnsons and are here on a short mission to help out in multiple areas – ranging from childcare to library work. We had a pleasant early meal. Liz, John and Andrea went straight from school to the restaurant. I left school and went to get my second haircut in Prague.

Dalibor of the Silver Salon (nothing to do with my hair color I assert) and I cannot communicate other than by smiles and gestures, but somehow my hair has turned out ok both times. I intended to have him leave it a little longer this time, but when he showed me how much he was going to cut off I said ok and the process began without interruption of further communication. Liz had gotten her hair cut earlier in the week by Jana, who does speak pretty good English, so her hair always turns out looking lovely.

After dinner, Liz said she was not feeling too well. Saturday she awoke with a fever and aches and the poor girl has not yet (Monday morning) recovered completely. So we have had a bit of a downer long weekend.

Saturday I fiddled around the house in the morning doing a few tasks and then left around 11:00 AM on a shopping, site seeing type of excursion. I first went to a bus station and bought tickets for a November 28th overnight excursion to Cesky Krumlov. Everyone whom we know who has gone there says it is special. TripAdvisor says the following about it: There is something magical about Cesky Krumlov - "magical" is a word often used by visitors. Part of the magic is the location, the way the old town sits on two meanders of the River Vltava and the way the castle rises out of the cliff above it. Buying the bus tickets was actually relatively easy and I did it myself, even though I had Rachael on standby to come and help if I got too confused. The lady at the ticket window was easy for me to communicate with. It did take me three tries to get to the right window, but once there it went well.

I then went to the Wal-Mart like store near the downtown area and bought a few items. Then I went strolling in the tourist area. It seems that each time we walk some place now we see more detail. We are not always looking down or concentrating on how to get somewhere. Walking is more natural and more enjoyable when you are familiar with the area.

I then began thinking about food and football as it was nearing 2:00 PM. I was gawking around Old Town Square and I decided to try one of the Irish Bars in the area. There are two side-by-side just off the square and one on Wencelas Square and one just off the square that I have been to before. I walked in, found it quite smoke-free, sat down on a stool with a good view of a TV showing Bolton v. Liverpool and decided I could enjoy the rest of the match. It brought back memories of my travels to England last year as the game was being played at the Reebok, where I attended a match with Shirley V. I had a lovely Irish bacon and egg sandwich – their bacon is more like our Canadian bacon. The crowd was hugely pro Liverpool – won a much deserved three points with a 2-0 win.

It was dark and cold on my way home, so I hopped on the metro and made a quick journey home. There I Liz still under the weather and Rachel working on her computer. I felt it was time for me to do some work, so I began emails to various universities begging for a teacher’s aide for Liz next semester and a Social Studies/Bible/Study Hall teacher to replace someone who just left CISP. I sent out about twenty of these emails and at least have heard from three of the people to whom I wrote saying they would post the info.

I just got the inspiration to include my generic email in this blog on the off-chance that any of you who read this may know someone to fit one of my requests. See the following:

Dear Dr. Helpful,

Immediate Opportunities for Teacher’s Aide:

The Christian International School of Prague has two immediate needs that I would like to bring to your attention.

First, we need an aide for the 1st-2nd grade combined classroom. A brief description of this class follows:

The class is composed of eleven, high energy, vociferous, talented and competitive children. The teacher must be on alert at all times. Their backgrounds are incredibly diverse. There are only two American missionary kids in the class. There are two Koreans, one Indian, one South African. The other children are from marriages involving two or more nationalities/backgrounds. English is the second language of eight of the children, though all doing well at language acquisition. Who is looking for a challenge and a reward? The challenge is to help mold these children to be what God intends them to be. The reward is being a participant in the work that our God is doing in their lives.

The teacher of this class and her husband (who is the Recruitment Coordinator for CISP and the author of this email) have agreed to furnish board (a large bedroom in their apartment – bathroom must be shared) for someone who will agree to work as Teacher’s Aide. The person must agree to work in the classroom with the teacher on days when school is in session. The person would have two one-week breaks during the semester for personal travel and time off. I estimate that the person would need a minimum of US$500 per month for food, entertainment, travel, personal items, etc. One could live very well for $1000 per month. The cost of the air ticket to and from Prague can vary greatly. Ideally the person would come in early to mid January and stay through early June. The duration of his/her stay is negotiable.

Second, a teacher who taught Social Studies, Bible, and Study Hall is leaving and needs to be replaced second semester. A teacher to replace this person would need to go through the normal application process and raise his/her own support in order to teach at the Christian International School of Prague. See http://www.cisprague.org/ for details of this process.

We describe ourselves as follows: “Christian International School of Prague is an exciting place to work and study. Our warm and friendly staff works hard to provide an academically challenging, Christian worldview-based education in a warm and accepting environment. This encourages students to develop their unique gifts and talents, so they can better serve the communities in which they live.”

Of course we will need teachers for the school year 2009-2010. The reality is that we will need four elementary teachers and several teachers for the middle and high schools. Any help you can give us will be appreciated.

I will be glad to answer any questions that arise concerning my requests. I have a Skype phone number: 913-871-6303. You may call this number any time and leave a voice message if I do not answer. Note that Prague is six hours ahead of EST in the USA. All questions emailed to teach@cisprague.org will be answered quickly.

Thank you for any help you can provide in advertising our needs,

John Hartman
Recruitment Coordinator at CISP
teach@cisprague.org

Growing in wisdom; walking in integrity.
Christian International School of Prague
Perunova 6
Prague 3, Vinohrady
teach@cisprague.org
www.cisprague.org

Sending those emails took the rest of my Saturday evening, though we did watch a bit of American football, but it was the Illinois v. Ohio State game on TV and that did not have much interest to us. We checked the Internet for Big 12 scores and were of course disappointed by the Kansas schools’ results.

Sunday Liz was not up to going to church even so I went on by myself. We had made a tentative luncheon date with Alice, a young lady from Tanzania who attends the IBCP, but she was not there, so that did not pan out. There were three more young Americans who introduced themselves at our appointed time for visitor recognition. After service I talked to all of them - two girls from California and a guy from Montana. I talked more extensively with one girl from CA who is a math major at the New York State University campus in Prague. I walked her over to the CISP building and invited her to come and visit the school sometime. The other two are teaching EFL somewhere in Prague – I did not get many details from them. I also talked to Mike, a great young guy whose mother is Czech and whose father is Ethiopian. I asked him if he could go the football match (soccer to Americans) Sunday at 5:00 pm that a group of us (eight) were planning on attending. He was busy as he had had company last week and was behind on his class work.

So after leaving church I headed to the bus station at Andel . This is where our bus to Cesky Krumlov will depart from at 7:00 AM so I wanted to check out the exact location so we would not have any surprises at that dark hour and miss our bus. I think I figured it out, but will report back to you after the 28th. It was getting near 3:00 PM by now. I had an appointment with Rebekah to buy the tickets for the soccer match we were all going to at 5:00. We were going to buy the 8 tickets before the line got long. So I boarded a 9 tram and headed home. However, there is one stop in front of a McDonalds and I got off, ran inside, got a McChicken with Coke Light and fries, ate quickly and got back on the second 9 Tram that passed the McD.

I got home just in time as Rebekah arrived and we set out to the stadium – which is a ten minute walk from our apartment. Things are very convenient to where we live. I will try and make the rest of this saga short, but many things transpired that were totally entertaining to me. Rebekah and I went back to our apartment and I finished putting weather stripping around the last window in our apartment that I had not yet done that for.

We then returned to the stadium and met the other five people who were going to the match with us. The group consisted of three other CISP teachers (Leah, Kate and Garret) and Kate’s Czech brother-in-law (it is always wonderful to have a Czech go somewhere with us), her newphew (about 5 years old) and Liz Given – Rebekah’s good friend and daughter of teachers at CISP.

I can only say that this was the most exciting soccer match I have ever seen. It ended up 5-4 for the Bohemians over Slavia. What make this really remarkable is that the Bohemians played 60 minutes with only 10 men as the referee gave what I considered an unnecessary second yellow for dissent. I thought the match would deteriorate at that that point. Slavia is the league’s best team, so I was not optimistic about seeing a good match at that point. However, about 10 minutes later the Bohemians put in another fantastic ,long-range strike to go up 2-0. Then Slavia woke up and got an own goal just before half time. The game was played at a fever pitch for 90 minutes. The Slavia fans, who were sitting quite near us kept throwing flares, fire crackers, paper, cups and whatever. The score moved back and forth until the Bohemians got their 5th goal to go up 5-4. At this point there was so much commotion, the PA announcer threatened the fans with a forfeit if they did not stop throwing thins and the stands settled down.

There were firemen and police all over so I think wherever Slavia goes, trouble follows. Eight minutes of added time were announced, but I think the ref blew the whistle after 3 or 4 minutes. The stadium was very old and very small. The pitch was in shambles after the match. There were probably 4 or 5 thousand people in attendance in this tiny stadium and 90% were for Slavia – the away side. It was wild.

We are leaving the stadium and somehow Garret comes up with idea (brilliant or not?) to go to the 8:00 PM match of Sparta v. Zizkov Viktoria. I at first say, “no”, I need to go home, but the others chide me with, “you are only young once” line so I say, “of course I will go”.

I need to end this blog now, but Kate’s brother-in-law got us to the second match on a bus and we finally found where to buy tickets. The first match was played in a crackerbox. This second match was in a new stadium the likes of which I had never seen before. It was just like the new stadiums in England such as the Reebok – but somewhat smaller. It holds only about 25 thousand. The game was incredible also with Sparta winning 2-1. My hometown Zizkov team put up a good fight were no match for Sparta who had just lost 2-1 to Aston Villa two weeks previous.

Did I mention that it was a cold and rainy night, but the joy and excitement of two soccer matches watched in great company made it a memorable night.

All for now. I will write later about our dinner celebration tonight.

Grades, Grub and Gatherings

What have we done in the past week? Mostly school stuff, eating and talking. This past week is the last one of the first quarter, so we were very busy giving exams, assessment tests, etc. Then all the scores had to be entered into our online grading system. We got it all done. I just need to do the final step of “concluding” the information to make it ready to print on the report forms that go to parents. There is always a bit of drama and trauma with students and teachers when grades are finally determined. I think that I may be a little too lenient with some students who come up with what sound like legitimate excuses to someone who is a grandparent. Liz and her student teacher Rachel were really busy assessing progress in all areas of work.

We left school about 5:00 PM Friday satisfied with what we had entered and went to our favorite restaurant, Vermeer, with three other couples approximately our age. One couple were Leslie and Tom Johnson. Leslie is our Principal and Tom has various university related jobs through IICS. The other two couples are friends of the Johnsons who have come to Prague from Wichita, KS for a two week stint of volunteer work. After a marvelous meal and plenty of conversation, the two Wichita couples wanted to go downtown and see some of the tourist sites as even though they are here for nearly two weeks, their time is booked with activities and they wanted to see some of the more spectacular sites at night when the chance presented itself.

I volunteered to be the tour leader. We set out on foot from Vermeer and walked the mile or so to Wencelas Square – one major tourist gathering point. This very broad street lined with elegant buildings is somewhat like the Champs Elysées in Paris or Broadway in New York. We went from there to Old Town Square and then onto the Charles Bridge – probably the big three of tourist sites in Prague.

I then had the responsibility to get each couple safely to where they were staying for the night. I put one couple on the metro and assumed I had given them sufficient instructions to make their bus connection after the metro ride. I went with the second couple as it was their first trip to Prague and I can still get lost after being here nearly three months. Neither couple had one thing that I consider a necessity in Prague - a cell phone. If you have a cell phone and get lost you can call someone. With no means of communication, being in a new place and a massive language barrier I knew that I had to get them to the right place – a place to which I had never been.

It all worked out in the end. I did have to call their hostess (Leslie) to get the final directions – Leslie said to stay where we were and she would come and meet us – so all worked out after about ten minutes of searching for the proper tram location. I got home about 10:40 and went straight to bed. While I was out, Liz had been entertaining Rachel and Rebekah at our place. They had about thirty minutes before I got home.

Saturday morning we got off to a leisurely start and left for a short trip to a Prague suburb about 9:00 AM. We met Rebekah at a metro stop nearby and set off to a bus stop about eight metro stops away. We were moving a little slowly, so we missed the bus we were hoping to get on and had twenty five minutes to wait for the next one. That met time for a latte and a roll. We went back to the bus stop to wait arrival of the 324 to Pruhonice and successfully boarded and got seats. It was only about a fifteen minute ride to Pruhonice from there. The one flaw in our plan was the weather. It was raining, foggy and fairly cold. We simply walked around the suburb for a bit. Inquired about seeing the castle there and were told that only the garden was open for strolling about. That had no appeal to any of us because of the rain, so we went to restaurant specializing in crepes for an early lunch. We sat and talked, tried out and took some pictures. Also we formulated a new plan – go back to Prague and shop. Our new plan worked out well. Liz and Rebekah each got some new clothes. Liz got some yarn and knitting needles. John got to carry Liz’s stuff home. So we all got something.

We returned home and rested awhile. While we were eating supper Rachel asked the innocent question of whether we had been to the American store or not. We had never heard about this place and questioned her intently for details. She did not know where it was, but said they had cranberry sauce, oreos, chocolate chips and the like. I went straight to the internet and we found the shop. I phoned and inquired if they had any pumpkin pie mix. I was told they had too cans left. I begged her to keep them for me and I would head to the store immediately. I said I could be there in thirty minutes or less. Actually it was more like an hour as I got hopelessly lost looking for the shop in the rabbit warren of old streets around the shop. I had to call the shop again and tell her what I saw and asked which way I should go. She got me to a certain point and then said, “…stay right there and I will come and get you.” I stood perfectly still until I saw a lady waving to me and then I hurried toward her.

From our first conversation I realize that the lady who ran the shop was the mother of one of the CISP high school students. I don’t have her in class, but since I do lunch recess, I see most of the high school students each day. She pulled out the two precious cans of pumpkin pie filling for me for me and I was greatly relieved. I could then look around for other valuables. I say valuable because the prices were sky high. A small bag of chocolate chips was $10, so I bought only two. I got four cans of cranberry sauce, two bags of brown sugar, two Stovetop stuffing boxes, a bag of mini marshmallows, and probably something else. The total price was about $80.

So now I have written about two meals out and one grocery shopping trip. Sunday dawned nice and bright – our first really sunny day since last Saturday. We went to church which again was a great service of worship, teaching and fellowship. We had pre-arranged with Brian and Anna – two K-State exchange students – to go out to lunch with them after the service. They have been out of town traveling to Amsterdam, London and Dublin for the last twelve days and we wanted to catch up on their adventures. We also invited a man who was in Prague for a week doing some study for his advanced degree. He is pastor of an international Baptist congregation in Copenhagen. We spent more nearly two hours conversing and eating before parting ways.

We went home and Liz napped a bit and knitted while I took a walk. So our weekend was filled with mostly fellowship and food. I did meet a CISP high school student at church this morning. She has been in the USA with her family until now because of some family illness. I had heard her name and suspected she is popular student. So it will be good to see her tomorrow at school. All for now.

God is Good - All the Time

This has been an incredible weekend! Saturday We went to Podebrady on a bus (about a 55 min bus ride) which is a smaller city east of Prague. Several things made the day memorable. First the weather was absolutely gorgeous - the best day weatherwise we have had in some time. Also, we saw the most beautiful grass - which is something Prague does not have. See the picture below to verify the beauty of the grass in the park we walked along. We spent just three hours there but enjoyed the time greatly. Podebrady is know for two things - crystal and a mineral springs. Liz found some great bargains on crystal and we tried out the mineral water which tastes something like sprite. The park that bordered one of the shopping streets was lovely to behold. It certainly reflects man's desire to maintain the beauty of God's creation and it was very soothing to our souls.

We like to shop in the smaller towns as the prices may be only one third of those in Prague, so the cost of travel is negated by the savings on items purchased.

Sam, our new friend from K-State and Topeka area went with us. We are getting much better at traveling around the Czech Republic and were able to make connections from and to Podebrady without too much trauma. There is always some trauma from the fog affect (which means we can't read, talk, understand the signs, are not familar with the geography, etc.) which keeps us always guessing what we are about.

Sam and Liz did the shopping, John took the pictures while they shopped and browse the crystal stores. In a small town, all the shops close by noon - some earlier. We left home about 8:00 AM to get to the bus station for the 8:45 bus - where we were to meet Sam at 8:25. We figured out which bus to board after about ten minutes of guess work and "reading" various signs. The bus was quite nice and gave a comfortable ride except for one stretch of road when we could imagine we were on a very bad stretch of I70 in Missouri!

We of course took our dog JJ with us on this journey. All Czechs seem to have dogs. Nearly all the dogs here are purebreds who are lavishly cared for. They all seem to be immaculately groomed and the behaviour of the dogs in Prague is amazinig. As numerous people walk their dogs along the street, the seldom bark at each other. If the owner goes into a shop, the dog may be tied outside the shop - or the dog may just be taken off the lease and he/she will just lie down and wait for the owner to reappear. Dogs ride on the metro, the trams, the buses, and are everywhere.

Our dog JJ is quite well behaved, but not at the top of the class when compared to other dogs here. JJ always wants to eat and always wants to play with other dogs he sees on the street. You can see JJ finishing up his cake and note the empty cup of hot chocolate beside him. He has very discriminating tastes in food and drink and can be seen at the finest restaurants in Prague and other towns. Also JJ always stops to greet other dogs and to inquire of their interests and well being. JJ is quite a social animal!

The park contained several statues, benches, covered areas for gathering. The trees are turning brilliant colors and falling rapidly. It is common to see people raking leaves along the streets and in the parks at this time of year. Lots of the streets in Prague are lined with trees - but there is very little grass.

We found many interesting people on our Podebrady outing. The gnome below was very helpful in giving us directions concerning travel and JJ and he became good friends.

You can see from the pictures that it was a lovely warm day - I hope we have several more just like Saturday - but tody, Sunday, it is quite grey and cooler. Not a good omen of the week to come perhaps, although the forecast is to have temperatures in the 50s this week. The key will be how much the sun shines.

Sunday came early for Liz. She got up just before 5:00 AM and started working on school stuff. Somehow I managed to sleep until about 6:30 before the smell of coffee woke me up. We were off to church about 10:30 and again we amazed at the wonderful and inspiring service at the International Baptist Church of Prague which we have been attending. The English language servied is held in a quite small sanctuary that has wonderful acoustics. The singing during worhsip is truly amazing. Voices of many tribes, tongues, and ethnic groups blend into a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Our choir is dominated by Africans. We are so grateful for the early American and European missionaries who sacrificed to live on the African continent when life was difficult and amenities were few. The fruit of their labors is assuredly evident in Prague today. Many of the Africans from different countries are leaders in the church.

We spoke with Alice from Tanzania this morning and hope to get together with her to mutually (Liz and Alice) cook some Tanzanian food - I am looking forward to this! Pastor Gareth is from Wales and always gives a hard hitting and elegant teaching. His delivery is always upbeat and he emphasizes the scriptures and God's expectations for His people. We have one of the best bongo players in the entire nation I am sure. Lauren is a sophomore at our school and her playing puts true life into our worship. She has spent most of her life in the Czech Republic. Our pianist is a concert pianist from Japan. He daughter and the son of a Baptist missionary play guitars. Worhip is led alternately by an American and an African (I don't remember her country of origin).

I have been having trouble with one of our computers - it would not connect to our network at home. So this afternoon I took it to a nearby restaurant with wi-fi. This was the last place I was able to connect to the internet, so I thought it might work there and I could download drivers fort the network connection. However I was unsuccessful in making any progress on the internet connetion at Wings - the restaurant.

Fortunately I heard English being spoken at a table adjacent to me and decided to boldly ask for help -something we are getting better at here because of the fog. Two young men, Dennis and Peter, were very helpful and after about 30 or 40 minutes of trying various solutions I was able to connect to the internet. God is good.

I talked to Dennis and Peter a little to find out why they were in Prague as I sensed they were not Czechs. How small this planet is. Dennis is from Overland Park, KS! Peter is from Stockholm, but he spoke with no accent and sounded halfway between an American and an Englishman. Dennis graduated from the same high school as our children, Gretchen and Trevor. One of his uncles worked at the OP Police Department where I used to work.

Peter's ancestors were from the Czech Republic and his grandmother lived on the same street that we live on. Dennis's ancestor's came from Turkey and emmingrated to Germany. His mother married an American serviceman and then emmigrated to the US with her husband. She now lives in OP. Dennis is going to school in Berlin as he can matriculate for virtually no cost there whereas in the US it would cost tens of thousands for his schooling. Peter is just traveling around the world for a year - though he is still working remotely at his job. He is in Prague for three months to learn or brush up on the Czech language.

Friday afternoon a technician from our internet service provider came and installed a new broadband modem and now our internet connection seems solid and infinitely faster than it had been for the previous month. Since I had left school early already, I decided to go to the English meat market that I had heard about.

Liz and Rebekah are going to cook a Thanksgiving meal for us, but my job is to procure the turkey. I inquired about reserving a turkey for us, but was advised by the Enlishman behind the counter that he could not guarantee me a small enough turkey to fit into our tiny overn. So I decided just to order a two kilo turkey breast. But in ordr to test the quality of their turkey and to ensure great meals for us this weekend, I bought a one kilo turkey breast.

We ahd invited a couple with a young son over and an American from Olomouc who is also with IICS. The couples son became ill and they could not come, but we had a great turkey meal with Donny on Saturday night. Donny is from Georgia so we optimistically watched the Geogia v, Florida football game on NASN (our version of ESPN). It was rather a let down for Donny as Florida ran all over Georgia.

We had plenty of turkey left over, so Sam and Rachel ate with us and we almost finished the turkey. I just had a turkey sandwich for dinner and only one small slice remains. All-in-all it has been a very good weekend where God continually showed up to meet our needs - physical, emotional and spiritual. We could not ask for more.

Slow Tuesday

We have been away from school for four days now as we are off Monday and Tuesday for a Czech holiday commemorating the creation of the state of Czechoslovackia in 1918. Our problem has a very sporadic internet connection to our apartment for some time now. Right now we at a nearby restaurant using their wi-fi because ours is so unreliable. Also, Liz has been having quite a lot of pain in her back that makes it hard for her to get out of bed in the morning - so that is a definite prayer request.

Yesterday we got together with Rebekah for lunch. Rebekah brought of the ingredients for a beet/spaghetti meal that we ate at noon. It was very unusual and tasted better than I anticipated. All-in-all the meal was a rousing success. I spent about three hours putting some foam insulation in the outer windows of the two bedrooms. We had noticed quite a bit of cold air pouring in the bottom of the small bedroom windows. I used about one hundred twenty feet of the insulating foam tape. Yes - we have rather large windows in both bedrooms. An unanticipated result was that the bedrooms are now quieter - a very good thing. I will probably do the same thing in the living room soon.

I will throw in a pictures of our two bedrooms and bathroom for those who have not yet seen them. One bedroom is quite large and the other one (which we sleep in) is much smaller. Our bath is quite nice - but not as nice as it looks in the picture.

Rebekah and Rachel went out together to watch a movie at Rebekah's apartment so Liz and I tried to do some things around the apartment and some school work. About 4:00 PM our door buzzer sounded and it was Sam. He is a K-State student from near Topeka who is in Prague this semester on an exchange program. Sam and Liz seem to have a lot in common as both come from small towns and like quiet and the outdoors, but not necessarily the big city outdoors.

We chatted for awhile and then walked to Wencelas Square and on toward Old Town. We had a light meal at an Irish Pub. One thing that we did not anticipate is that the out-to-eat meal portions are huge in Prague. Liz and I almost always share a meal and often have food left over. We just had pork in gravy and potatoe dumplings and could not finish it all. However we just ordered a chocolate, apricot, cheese strudel desert and a latte. Life can be good in Prague if you don't try and be too American. We do spend quite a bit of time being American here and like to be with other North Americans, but we do adapt to Czech ways when necessary and have learned to go with the Czech flow - which is often a very twisty flow and you can not see around the corner until you are right at the twist.

All for now as my battery is dying and I want to post what I have.

Two Week News Catch Up

It has been two weeks since I added anything to this blog, so I will take keyboard in hand this early Sunday morning and try and catch up with a few events of the past three weeks.

I left off with the fact that my cousins Linda and Bill were visiting us from Tulsa and that they brought us a good supply of such life essentials as chocolate chips, brown sugar, barbecue sauce and other goodies. These were much appreciated. That is the good news. The bad news is that Bill was hit by a car while in a pedestrian crosswalk. He was not hurt badly, but was very, very sore the rest of the stay here. He was a trooper and continued to site see even though he was in quite a lot of pain. An approaching car did stop at the crosswalk and Bill and Linda proceeded into the street seemingly in safety. But a second car failed to stop and hit the left rear of the stopped car and then swerved to the left and went into the crosswalk and struck Bill. It was quite scary as the police, ambulance and all came and took him to a hospital where he was x-rayed and pronounced free of broken bones.

We had a great time with Bill and Linda and hope that such a thing does not happen again to other guests! We are careful when crossing the street as the rule is that when a pedestrian is in a painted crosswalk, he/se has the right-of-way. However, as in most of life, rules are broken by those in a hurry and those who think they can get away with breaking a rule. We seem to have perhaps the most trouble crossing everyday at the street that runs by our apartment. Drivers seem to dare you to step out in front of them so we are very careful on that street. Other streets seem much more tame.

We put Bill and Linda in a cab at 5:00 AM and they left for the airport on Oct. 17th. The cab ride took twenty minutes only at that time of the day, but can easily take forty minutes later in the day. It also was less expensive than in other major cities – including KC.

The last two weeks have been quite busy at school – grade reports due, various teachers gone for a day or two that I needed to help cover for, a staff meeting resulting in a crackdown in discipline at the secondary level, visa/passport registration with Czech Foreign Police, repairing a curtain rod that we pulled off the wall when we hung our sheets on it to dry….

But beginning yesterday there was temporary halt to the busyness as we began a three day holiday from school. I think the holiday is for the creation of an independent Czechoslovak State in 1918. Anyway, we have three days off as the official holiday is two days and CISP has added a third off at the school. This is good timing as we have been going non-stop since the middle of August.

I should be on a retreat with the secondary school students over this weekend, but was just too tired to want to go. Liz and I wanted some time together without cares as we are generally with people and tasks too much of the time – this is not retirement. This is not a complaint either as we want to do as much as possible while here, but slacking off from time-to-time at our ages is acceptable I think!

Just to let you know that it is not all work here, Saturday before last we went site seeing with Leah and Rachel and went to a lovely botanical garden and an exquisitely restored castle not far from where we live in Prague. We had been taking trips outside of Prague on Saturdays, but decided to stay closer to home that day. We had a great time and always enjoy the company of our young friends from the school immensely. Leah teaches a 5th – 6th grade class and Rachel of course is the student teacher who is living with us for three months. Rachel is easy to live with and a great joy to us. Last week she became Liz’s charge after spending six weeks with Leah. So now every night they work together planning the next day’s/week’s events.

Also what made last week busy was that Liz and Rae co-wrote, directed and produced a play about Joseph and “Doing the right thing”. It turned out to be an amazing skit that was well attended by parents and grandparents. It was performed during the elementary school Chapel time on Friday morning. I will include a couple pictures of this event that should be self-explanatory. Note the variety of looks and ethnic groups represented in Liz’s class. There are two Americans, one South African, one Indian, two Koreans, one Cuban/Italian, one Canadian/Russian, one American/Czech, one French/Belgian, one of this and one of that – quite a little United Nations meets in her classroom everyday! On Tuesdays and Thursdays three Czech kids come also – and a Russian child is slated to arrive later in the school year.

Great news is that we are now legal to stay in the Czech Republic until June 30th on paper. We started the paperwork for obtaining long term visas last February and just finished up last Tuesday. We ended up paying a business to do the finalizing of our visa/registration with the Czech Foreign Police as there was a good possibility that would have had to leave the Schengen (sort of EU) area and return. We actually had tickets to Heathrow in anticipation of leaving Prague briefly, but the business was able to arrange things so we do not need to leave – saving us some money. Money talks here just as in the rest of the world.

Since we now had our passports in hand and were legal immigrants, we took our first trip outside of the CR yesterday. We woke up about 4:30 AM, got ready and left home at 5:30 to walk to the metro to go to the main train station in Prague. This takes us about fifteen minutes. There we finally found the proper ticket window for non-Czechs to buy international train tickets and purchased two round trip tickets to Dresden – a two hour twenty-one minute trip. We found the train very comfortable and spacious until the conductor came to check our tickets and told us we were in first class and had second class tickets. No big deal as the lady sitting across the aisle made the same mistake. We found a second class compartment occupied by three ladies and entered – they looked like a quiet bunch and were very so. After a long stretch of silence we found out they were Russians going to Berlin. They live in Prague like we do however. The youngest of the here spoke pretty good English and helped us out by explaining a few things about train travel in Europe to us.

Arriving in Dresden, we found it very chilly. It was 34 degrees F when we left home and it seemed even colder in Dresden. First priority was a latte. Second priority was getting Liz a winter coat as we had not brought a proper winter coat along for her. Dresden seemed to have a much more modern downtown area than Prague – because of WWII I am sure. We found a nice, long, black, down-filled Puma coat that seemed just right, so we bought it and she wore it the rest of the day except for a period in around 1:00 PM when it finally seemed to warm up. The amazing thing about Dresden is the great mixture of very old (by our standards of old) and very modern juxtaposed. About 12:30 after three hours of site seeing and shopping we felt slightly famished and decided to forego German food for a meal at McDonalds. That is about the only place you can get a large soda drink so we occasionally indulge the ubiquitous McDonalds in the Europe.

Then we went on being tourists and walked and saw a few more sites – see pictures below. We then decided to end our touring after about four hours of walking interspersed for an hour or two of breaks for one meal and two stops for coffee – necessities in Europe.

We went back to the train station and tried to find when the next train was leaving for Prague – but had some difficulty reading the schedule. When we finally figured it out (it should have been easy) we realized that the train was leaving in twelve minutes so we rushed to the platform to find no one else there. Then we realized there was a note that must have said that the train was forty-five minutes late, so we sat down to read. I then decided to go to the WC. Upon arrival there I found you need a half Euro coin or equivalent change to enter. I of course did not have such. But there was a bank just across the hall from the WC – but it was closed. So I went back up to the platform and Liz and I pooled our coins and came up with three 10s and one 20 – what a relief (ambiguous statement).

The train did arrive about forty minutes late and we boarded and found a compartment all to ourselves. I pulled the seat cushions in the seats across for us forward to use as footrests and we relaxed and hoped no one else would join us in the six-person compartment. No one did all the way back to Prague so we had a comfortable trip. It got increasingly colder in the compartment so I turned the thermostat up – no help. We put our coats on and watched the beautiful river and cliffs views pass by. The Elbe (or Vltana- the Czech name) river really winds its way from south to north and train follows this winding path. The trees were spectacular in their coloration. The cliffs, the river and the setting sun all made for an eye feast of color and changing scenes.

We arrive in Prague about 6:00 PM and then got to the apartment about 6:30 as we made a brief stop at one of the potravinys run by VietNamese here in Prague. We had decided that broccoli soup would be a good treat for two chilled travelers. We picked up the ingredients and continued home. Then we had a restful evening. We turned the TV onto NASN (North American Sports Network) and watched some of the second half of the KU/TTU football game. But we soon lost interest and went to other interests.

We were proud of ourselves for sleeping so late this morning – until six o’clock. But when I turned the computer on I realized we had forgotten that European DST time ended early this morning so we really got up at 5:00 AM. We are having trouble sleeping late so we end up going to bed early and creating a cycle of too early at both ends.

We will head to the Baptist Church later this morning – a church we really like – great worship, great teaching, great people. See pictures below to check out where we have been and what we have done.

Math and Physics - part of the reason we live in Prague.

John with Martin Luther.

The beauty of the old Dresden is breathtaking and the size of the structures and number of statues exceeds anything we have in the USA.

Liz in her new and warmer threads. Note the warm smile on her face.

A Very Busy Week and Weekend

Last week was incredibly busy as we had to get midterm grades turned in. We have an online grade reporting system that works quite well and makes tracking grades on all homewor, quizes, tests, etc. fairly easy. It even computes the students' grades from the data we enter. I think I mastered the system in time to give all my students the marks they deserve. Grading students is always a bit stressful as we want to give each student the benefit of the doubt while being fair to all - a narrow line to walk. All went well in this regard for Liz and me.

The weekend started a little early for me as I left school before noon on Friday to pick up cousins Bill and Linda Epperson at the Prague Airport. If you do not have a car you might think that meeting someone at the airport would be challenging, but the opposites is true. I simply got on the metro line at our nearest stop - about a five minute walk from our apartment - and road to the end the line. A trip up the long escalator and two quick right turns and I am outside facing the bus stop from which the bus to the airport leaves. Walk across the street and wait in the queue for the bus to arrive - it is simple. Then I have about a twenty minute ride to Ruzyne Airport and get off right in front of the terminal and the arrivals area. I arrive about forty-five minutes before the plane is to arrive and treat myself to a McDonalds Latte. Then a quick check of the arrivals board brings the bad news that their plane is going to be about forty-five minutes late as there is some delay at Heathrow where their Chicago flights lands before the final leg to Prague.

The good news is that they did arrive with all bags and in good spirits and only moderately bedraggled. We reverse the journey and queue for the bus at the airport, ride the bus to the initial metro station and then then the fifteen minute metro ride to our home station. The five minute walk takes us to the door of our apartment building and we carry the baggage up the stairs. Carrying the baggage was a delight as I suspected that their might be some goodies for and we were not disappointed! Items that safely arrived were the biggest bag of chocolate chips imaginable, three bottles of barbeque sauce, two bags of brown sugar, some fish oil, folic acid, eye drops and probably a couple other items we had asked for.

I had hoped to make it back to school to teach my 2:15 class in Algebra 2, but with the plane being late and trying to make Bill and Linda comfortable I choose to let my students carrying on working without me as they are a great group and I felt that I could trust them to work unattended.

After a brief stop at home to unpack and familarize themselves with the apartment we set out to see the neighborhood and work the cobwebs out of the travelers. We met Liz coming home from school and she took Bill and Linda home and I went to the pharmacy to pick up a perscription for Liz. We then went out to eat at a nearby Italian restaurant - enjoying a very good meal. Liz and Linda shared a salmon and spinach gnochi meal, Bill chose speghetti carbonara and i chose chicken curry. We were all happy with our choices and walked home and saw a few sights.
Saturday morning after a slow start, Bill, Linda and I set off to visit Melnik, a small town about forty-five minutes by bus north of Prague. The two pictures of an altar and a pulpit are from a church at Melnik, but the real destination of the trip was to walk through a well furnished small castle that has been restored and well furnished.

We walked around town, had a nice lunch and then headed to the bus depot to catch the 14:30 bus back to Prague. We arrived back at the bus station about ten minutes before the bus arrived - which was good as it came in early and left five minutes before it was scheduled to depart. The return trip was not crowded and we all got seats. On the trip from Prague we were the last three on the bus and had to stand most of the way.

When we returned to Prague, we went straight to the tourist area and saw Wencelas Square, Old Town Square, and other city landmarks. We had coffee at Old Town Square and watched the crowds come and go from our birdseye seats outdoors right on the Square. We then started our journey back to the apartment. I got us on the correct tram to return home, but after about three stops realized that we were going the wrong direction. I hustled us off and looked for the tram stop going the opposite direction - which took a few minutes. Then an uneventful trip home began. We stopped at Lepanska and ambled up hill to our apartment.

We got home about 6:20 - which was later than we wanted to be as the Oklahoma v. Texas game was already in progress. Liz had a great pizza for us to munch on as we watched Oklahoma get the early lead, but the Longhorns eventually prevailed to the consternation of all of us.

Bed time and a good night's sleep got us ready for our Sunday adventures which will be reported tomorrow.

Sunday's adventures turned out to be supurb. Linda, Bill and John ventured out early and hit the Prague Castle area. We waited in line with a large group of jovial Italians before being able to enter St. Vitus. The wait was made slightly shorter as we watched some young Italians play
with a rubber spider. It held a great attraction for them and Bill got in the act and participated with the silliness. After the tour of St. Vitus - which was certainly worth the wait - see pictures of stained glass below. After we saw the castle area, Liz joined us for our tour of the Wallenstien Castle grounds. All the pictures in this area of the blog are from Wallenstien or St. Vitus or the grounds around the Castle.

On our return from touring highlights of Prague we chose to stop by a great restaurant run by a family from Macedonia who have a boy at our school. It is a quite new and lovely place with excellent food. George and Sonya spent some time in Florida and other places before opening Vemeer in Prague. Fortunately it is quite near where we live. We sat on the veranda and had latte's and crepes and chatted about the day's events. The background music was Nat King Cole. There is a park across the street from the restaurant, so the view was grand, the traffic was minimal and the food was wonderful.

Then it was back home to rest and relax. Liz made a lovely meal for us late in the evening and we rested up for the next days' events.