End Of The First Weekend

Sunday morning we woke about 5:00 AM and decided to get up even thought church does not start until 10:30. We got up mostly because we are still off schedule, but we slept better/longer last night than any other night so far!

Phyllis did our second wash in our tiny washing machine. It is very different than an American washing machine – it has a small, vertical cylinder that the clothes go in and somehow the cylinder spins slowly and reverses direction to wash clothes, but spins very fast after the rinse cycle to get them somewhat dry. Then we put them on (not in) the dryer – which is an indoor drying rack that takes up about twenty percent of the spare bedroom. We can fold it up and put it away, so don’t let the thought of clothes drying in your bedroom detour you from visiting us!

We still had plenty of time so we walked up the street to the nearest grocery store – Alberts. We have two of them relatively close (walking distance each). We also have several very small groceries within a few blocks of our house, but have not yet ventured in to any of them. After getting a few groceries, we returned home and put them away. Then it ws time to leave for church.

We decided to walk partway to church so we would not need to change metro lines plus get some exercise before church. It was about a twenty minute walk to a metro stop called Mustek. We then took the yellow line to Andel where we got off and took a relatively short bus ride to the church. It took us about an hour in all to get there, but we could do it more quickly if we got on the metro closer to home – which we may do in the winter. We actually met some Americans at the bus stop whom we then followed to church since they knew where to get off the bus.

The service was quite good with worship like we are used to and good teaching. The International Church of Prague is one of four or five (I really don’t know how many) English congregations in Prague. Several people from IICS and fro CISP attend there so we will probably do so also. It is not a very large congregation however.

After church we ventured on to an Ikea store that was (via bus and metro) past the church and some distance from our apartment. Our major purchase there was two pillows for our bed as we find Czech pillows quite different from what we are used to. That does not mean they are bad, we just wanted something that would help us sleep. We picked up a few small items also and then went to Tesco (a Walmart-like British chain). While at Ikea, we had a hot dog and coke light (i.e. diet coke). To return home we chose to take our first ride on a tram rather than the Metro. It was really more enjoyable to us as we could see more of the City as we traveled. It did not seem to take much longer that the Metro would have, so we were happy about that.

After getting off the tram a few blocks from home we engaged in our favorite sport – getting lost and disoriented. We have become excellent at making wrong turns, mistaking one direction for another and generally making a mess of things when trying to get from point A to point B. Somehow we got really disoriented and finally had to ask directions. Of course the only language we speak is English, so it is difficult to ask questions. My question was something like this: “Hello…TV Tower???!!!” Fortunately we asked this question(?) to a group of four people and one lady understood us and pointed and we were told something like,”…straight then left…”. We knew if we could just see the TV tower, we could easily get home as we live about a block from it! It took us about twenty minutes from that point to find a street name we recognized – the one we live on – then we saw the tower and made it home.

While at home we tidied up a bit and put away our new possessions. Also checked internet for emails and new and sports. It was 4:25 PM at this point and Phyllis wanted to rest so John ventured off to Wencelas Square to a sports bar to watch Man U play Liverpool. I made it there with no difficulty and found an English couple at Rocky O’Reilly’s Sport Bar to sit by and talk about the match with. It was a tenaciously played affair which ended in a 1-1 draw. Then I ventured out and started off on a route that I had never been on before. That was a big mistake! I thought I was going north back to the metro stop, but I was really going east I later found out. Hence I circled for a while trying to get back to Mustek. I got back to the Mustek metro station and headed home to the Jihiro Z Prodebrad metro station. At Jihiro Z Prodebrad I exited at the wrong side and was disoriented for about five minutes before I could circle back and locate our main street we walk on – Vinohraska. Again, the thrill of the hunt to find point B was overcome by the uneasy feeling of, “why did I not take a map with me when I left home?” It would always be wise to take a map with me even when I am traversing a path I have done before.

We will spend the evening working on things around the apartment, on the Internet and calling friends and family before retiring and trying out our new pillows. So far things are going well enough. We have become “adequate” at shopping and riding public conveyance from A to B, but get lost between the disembark point and the exact location we are trying to get to.

All for now.