And now for that bit about the shrubs...

Naomi and I had a couple of really nice days in Poland. On Saturday we got up bright and early and were fortunately able to negotiate a cheaper price with the hostel owner due to the lack of Crystal. He was very, very nice and I promised in my head to promote his hostel, so if you ever got to Krakow you should check out the Moon Hostel. It's not exactly right next door to the square, but it doesn't take much walking and the rooms were quite nice.
We wandered through a little market right next door and were able to get some breakfast pastries there. Had we wanted fruit, vegetables or fresh flowers we could also have acquired them there in abundance.
Our next order of the business for the day, after the settling of accounts, was to get back to the bus station and from there head out to Auschwitz. It was on the trek there, whilst being licked by the friendly miniature pincher "Freka" that I became acquainted with the shrubs of Poland. It's nearly epidemic I tell you. It seemed as though every yard was vying to be that which contained the most manicured shrubs possible. It's the land of Edward Scissor Hands dreams! I won't deny that the Czech's likewise fancy a shrub or two, but they've got nothing on Poland. In deference to Naomi, I will also mention their obsession with chickens. Every small plot of land that could be dubbed a farm was being traversed by feathery biddies. They were actually quite pretty for chickens.
Our time at Auschwitz, while not being the cheery sort of time in which you take lots of Hong Kong pose pictures, was definitely reflective. To think of the horror that took place within those fences, the suppressed dreams of the millions, the silenced footsteps that drudged with forced purpose...It's the sort of thing that quickly becomes too much to even contemplate. I did take a few photos, but more as a way to remind myself of the frightening reality of the darkness of the human soul, and the contrasting brilliance of those who strove to remain human, and to help their fellow human beings. Gravity is a good word for this place. It pulls you firmly to the ground. It roots you in the realization that your life is so, so easy.
We spent about three hours wandering around, looking into the haunted eyes of the murdered. There was the possibility to take a shuttle and see Birkenau as well, but we didn't have the will to take any more by that point, and were relieved to get back on the bus where we could once again be enthralled by the massive number of shrubs that over populated all the yards.
The evening was spent taking in the sights of Krakow itself. We had a great time in the beautiful town square, looking at the old buildings and wandering through the stalls of the Easter Market.



We wandered around until we were quite hungry and then found a little Kebab place. These places are popular throughout Europe, and we actually have several in Cheb, but this was the first time I'd tried one out. Except for the fact that spicy apparently doesn't mean much to these people, and cabbage is a popular vegetable to be combined with pretty much anything, it was quite good.

Did I mention that I was a little windblown by the end of the day? Um yeah.
We spent a goodly amount of time in a coffee shop before wandering back to our hostel. On the way there we saw at least 15 emergency vehicles speed by, sirens blaring. We never figured out what the big deal was all about, but were quite relieved when we found our way back to the hostel and didn't have to worry about any mass protest or whatnot.
Sunday, being Easter, we would have liked to have found a way to a church service. Instead we got snippets of about 50 Polish services. I have never seen so many monks and nuns wandering around the streets. They were all over the place. Quite a contrast to the lack thereof here in the Czech Republic. We spent a lot of time wandering about the Castle.

I really enjoyed all the swans that were floating around on the Vistula River. This photo made me think of a counting book for some reason.
From the castle we made our way to the Old Jewish Quarter. Krakow is one of the few cities that really didn't suffer any physical damage when the Nazi's took over so a lot of the old buildings are still as they were before the war.


The rest of the day we walked through the square, checked out as many churches as we could find, and spent more time in the market. I'll end with a few more photos from our wandering.




So I hope you enjoyed this small taste of Poland. What a blessing to be able to do some traveling and take in the wonders that Europe has to offer.

When I think of Poland I think of shrubs...and chickens!

Yeah, yeah, I know. About time already. I don't have any exceptionally good excuses except for the fact that:
A.) I don't have internet at my house.
B.) The internet at school has been ridiculous as of late.
C.) There are days when I just don't have it in me.
D.) The sun is out, and I'd really rather be out in it, seeing as how there has been an obnoxious report that it could snow again on Thursday! Considering how much I was sweating when I walked in to work today I find that a little hard to believe, but I'd rather not waste this glorious sun time in the office all the same.

So now, the moment I know you've all been waiting for, a little recap on my last trip into the European wilds. First of all, a short discourse on the joys of public transport. I actually can appreciate it most of the time. The main issue being that I'm dependent on someone else's schedule. I can't just pick it all up and go when I want to. But for the most part it works out pretty well. It's fairly inexpensive, generally predictable, and it makes me spend most of my time walking, which is good for the physique after all.
This trip, however, the travel arrangements were less than stellar. I wasn't overly thrilled by a 12 hour train ride to begin with. But with so few long weekends, and Naomi's desperate desire to make it to Poland, I decided I could make it through. So away we went, leaving our flat around 7 AM on Friday morning. We caught the train with no trouble, and headed away, across the snowy fields, past the adorable Czech cottages, feeling confident that, even with expected strangeness due to construction on the tracks, we would have no trouble making it to Prague in time for the 2:06 train to Krakow.
Things were going well until we randomly stopped in the middle of one of those fields. Just stopped. No moving. And no reason. A minute or two later one of the porters came by and started rattling something off to us in Czech. They have the interesting habit of speaking as quickly as possible and not pausing for a breath, making it next to impossible, besides the blank stares, to inform them that we have no idea what in the who-ha they're talking about. Eventually she did pause, and we quickly rushed in with our "Ne Chesky. Anglitsky prosim?" This tends to freak them out a bit, and this time was no different. She closed our compartment and moved on to the next, where we heard her asking the people there if any of them spoke English. A moment or two later she returned with a guy who professed very little English ability, but who had no trouble explaining to us that the train had run out of electricity and we would have to wait a while until they could get it moving and then we would be transferred onto buses. We had expected the buses at some point, but not anywhere near this early.
So we sat and waited, hoping that the delay wouldn't set us back toI far, as we had no other way to get to Krakow. The train started going about 20 minutes or so later, and we limped along to a small station where everyone poured out of the train and rushed to the solitary bus. There was then some more rattling on in Czech. We understood enough to realize it would be around an hour before the buses could get there, so we might as well try out the pub in the minuscule station. There being snow on the ground, Naomi and I decided to follow the rush into the miniature waiting room. We quickly found ourselves standing in the middle of a bunch of Czechs who had all managed to find space around the walls, leaving us to stand out in the middle with our backpacks and strange language. Fun. We had some entertainment while we waited at least. There was a long haired dachshund showing off his ability to chase a sock with a squeaky toy stuffed in it around the room, and a two year old intent on getting her hands on the crusty old hot dog and bun that had been neglected on the bench. Her mother kept trying to dissuade her, but any time she could wiggle a little bit closer without being noticed, she'd let her hands inch toward the tantalizing sausage. Yummy.
After about 45 minutes we were finally back on the road. We were beginning to worry a bit more about the likelihood of making it to Prague with enough time to buy our tickets, lunch, and Polish zloty.
Crystal had opted to come along via a bus from Karlovy Vary, and we were in contact with her through texts throughout the trials and trevales. She seemed to be coming along nicely, and planned to get into Prague around 1:30. We decided that whoever got there first would pick up the tickets and, time willing, rush to McDonalds for lunch. We rode the bus for a bit over an hour and then got back on the train in Plzen. Things were progressing nicely enough then. We went a different way than usual, which took a bit longer, but we arrived in Prague shortly after 1. We quickly got the tickets, and bought out one money changers zloty. We then hurried along to McDonalds where I purchased two big mac meals. We made our way back to the station, our hands freezing from carrying the food and sodas, and sat down to eat and wait for Crystal. In the midst of watching a drug deal go down not five feet in front of us, Naomi was madly texting with Crystal, who was having a bit of traffic trouble. She still had half an hour, and we were doing our best to remain optimistic. I mean, she had to make it. There was really no other option...
Well, apparently there was, because she didn't make it. It rather reminded me of the time I was going to try to meet up with my family to see the Romanov collection in Portland and after driving 80 through road construction all the way from Albany to Portland, I spotted their car once and then lost them and ended up eating alone at Wendy's and waiting hours for my sister to get home, only to finally give up all together and sadly go home. Crystal texted us about 5 minutes after we left the station from the platform. It was really quite tragic. As was our traveling situation...
The train leaving Prague was, well, packed is a nice way to put it. Naomi managed to get a seat, but I was stuck in the hallway, balancing my bag and Crystal's forlorn big mac meal. I did get a few minutes of seat time, but then the people who had booked those seats got on the train and we were banished to the hall once again. Only this time the ridiculous occupants had left their massive backpack and suitcase in the hallway, so I was forced to squeeze up against their luggage whilst balancing even more of my stuff. I was less than impressed, and felt free to say so in English, not really caring if they understood or not. Seeing as how they were thoroughly engrossed in one another I rather think they didn't notice even if they spoke English.
Eventually after Ostrava, about 5 hours outside of Prague, the passengers thinned out. We got seats a bit before that, and ended up sitting down.
Well, now that I've gotten us to Krakow, I'm going to leave and go enjoy the pretty weather before the clouds take over. There is more to come. Never fear :p

I used to be a writer...

You know, when I try to think of what to tell people that I want to be when I "grow up" I still find myself saying I want to write. And it's true. So why am I not doing it? Why am I not pouring amazing literature out during my every free moment? Why am I just basking in the glow of people saying "You write so well! Have you ever considered writing?" To which I must naturally reply, "Why yes, that is what I do after all."
But do I? Do I actually write? Am I really still a writer? Besides the occasional blog or e-mail update, and the hours I spend pouring out my every thought and passing moment in my journal, do I still write?
The sad truth is, it's been a long, long, LONG time since I produced anything even vaguely akin to literature. There was a three year gap in my poetry journal. And I've only added a scant three poems to it this year. Have I lost the ability to create, to captivate?
I've recently been reading Rebecca's blog on a regular basis, and have longed to have such incredible posts to call my own. Perhaps it is partly a lack of stimulating subject matter, or maybe it's just the fact that I've lost the ability to see it. I still live in a place that, to most of you, is practically like science fiction. A place still recovering from the toll taken by the communist government, not to mention all the other governments that have held power over these people. I'm sitting now in a small cafe looking out at Spalicek, a group of houses once owned by Jews who were brutally murdered centuries ago, for reasons now long forgotten. The street outside my window is cobbled, the buildings around the square painted in pastel shades of pink, blue, yellow and orange, well suited to the upcoming Easter holiday. There is snow on the ground. We've had a rather freak storm for the past couple of days. My students have been telling me for the past month that, with each weekend, we are facing the last cold days of winter. Instead we've been experiencing a relapse of that frigid time of year. The "flakes" which more resemble really wet cottonwood offerings, float through the air mysteriously as though they somehow realize they are inappropriate.
I walk to work every day past a horrible smelling manhole that must clearly open into the sewer, and have to hold my breath to escape the fumes. A few minutes later I pass a factory that often smells like burning tires where I try to make eye contact with the dogs so they know they won't get a laugh out of surprising me with their vicious barking. They truly are a devious pair. One day completely unconcerned with my existence, the next, noting my inattention and waiting until I'm right next to them before barking their little brains out. I continue on, check the time and temperature, and hike up the hill that tends to make me sweat whether it is -6 or not.(That'd be in Celsius of course.) I continue past Listopadu 17 (a building that always makes me smile because it means November 17 which is my birthday for those not in the know) and walk down Evropska, or Europe Street, where you can often spot the prostitutes hanging out on the corners waiting for German tourists at all hours of the day or night. Past the wobbly scaffolding where the men are currently tearing all the siding off an ancient building which will soon be replaced by something that looks like Styrofoam and will later be painted some pastel color like the rest of the town. I continue down the street past several cigarette stands, bars, and casinos to "hypernova" over which Winfield College sits.
Somehow in this recounting I've forgotten to mention the people I pass. They are a random mix of 14 year olds smoking cigarettes they really aren't supposed to be able to buy, women with hair ranging from bleach blond with a black under layer, to the most shocking shades of fuschia and red or a combination of all of these with some blue and pink mixed in - and I'm not just talking about young women, but women of literally every age! - wearing real fur coats that have possibly been passed on for generations, or clothes clearly from the 80s that match nicely with their 80s mullets. There are also so many men out walking babies in the most amazing strollers you have ever seen. I mean, these strollers are really made for walking. The tires are burlier than those of Alaskan SUVs in winter! In this country women are allowed up to three years of paid maternity leave with their jobs guaranteed at the end of the time, and the men are also allowed to take time as well, although I'm not certain of exactly how long. And so we see them walking the babies, and it is so nice. Of course not all their habits with babies are very nice. We have also seen them leave their babies in their very nice strollers outside of stores. It would never be allowed in the US, but here no one seems to mind here at all.
Well, it seems that the game has finished, so I need to head back to the office. So maybe I can still write, but it would be nice if someday it would amount to more than random thoughts online or in books never meant to be read by anyone but me.

Prayers appreciated here!

As I'm looking into the skyrocketing airline prices, I would appreciate all the prayers that I can get. Really have to come home, but not sure I'll be able to eat once I get there at the rate the prices are going.
Also, we've pretty much hired the help for next year and I'm a bit worried about him. The students seem to be thinking he's good, but he's already driven me insane and I haven't even really had to deal with him a whole lot. He's in his 50's, American, and a bit of a whiner. Not really looking forward to babysitting him next year.
Lately I've been a bit despondent as well. Just feeling blah. Trying to figure out if I've made the right decision to come back. I mean, I really think I have, but complications with life in general are making being around my family and friends ever so much more appealing than ever. I really NEED to come home for the summer, regardless of the costs, for my own mental well being.
Fortunately, I continue to really enjoy my students. I'm hoping that next year I'll figure out ways to spend more time with them.
Wow, I just looked out the window and the clouds that dropped rain, hail, and sounds of thunder have somehow disappeared with the crazy wind and it now looks positively gorgeous outside my window. I'm expecting it's still less than warm out there, but hopefully the current outlook will help my mood a bit as well. If only I wasn't such an infernally moody creature! Goodness!

Living in London

While I could, no doubt, go on for ages about my trip to London. I mean, I even managed to make a weekend in Salzburg go through two posts. I don't want to push it on and on forever, so I'll stick with little tidbits of our Spring Break Extravaganza.
To start off, in order to make the trip somewhat reasonably priced, Naomi and I took a bus to London. Now we had been told that our arrival time would be somewhere around 6 AM. Not the best time of day for a night person like myself, but doable. Unfortunately, they lied. We didn't get in at 6. Oh no. We arrived at 3 AM. And what do you do in a city you know nothing about and have no contacts in at 3 AM? Hmmm...neither did we. So after wandering randomly around the closed shops by the bus station we finally found a bench in a fairly decently lighted place, and rested our heavy heads on our backpacks.


Yes, that was the bench on which we "slept" and that is me in my disarray after a seriously long bus ride. Amazing how comfortable seats can quickly disintegrate into torture devices after long periods. I won't even take time to go into the stench on the bus, or the crying newborn, or the old man with the hacking cough who wouldn't let me put my seat back. GRRRR!!!
But when all was said and done, we were in London. How could I possibly argue with the end result. After spending 3 hours trying to somehow stay awake, we finally made it inside a building and were able to have breakfast McDonald's style. Good times for certain. We passed up Starbucks, seeing as how the prices that looked the same as those in the US were actually twice as expensive because they were in pounds instead of dollars. I must confess, the prices for pretty much everything were ridiculous! We did our best to live off the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we had brought from Czech for as long as we could stomach them. And we were more than happy to hit up McDonalds, Subway, KFC, Burger King, and the supermarket Tesco to keep our food budget from killing us all together.
Now it is said that London is one of the rainiest places on the planet. I was prepared, having lived in Duckville Oregon for a number of years, and was happily disappointed. Our weather was really very pleasant. It only dripped on us a couple of hours two of the days we were there, and the rest of the time it was really sunny, with crazy wind only one day.
We also did our best to take in as many of the free attractions as we possibly could. We walked through such amazing places as Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, St. James Park and Regents Park:



We walked along the Thames River and took in views of The Globe Theatre, Big Ben, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge and many other fabulous sights:




We really enjoyed all the museums as well. I was impressed by how many of them were free. We spent a lot of time at the Natural History Museum, and really enjoyed the Victoria and Albert Museum that has artifacts from around the world. We did pay for a few tours as well. It was great fun to go through Kensington Palace (where you naturally can't take any photos) The Tower of London, and Sherlock Holmes House (which I visited alone while Naomi sat through a session of Parliament.)




I know this is quite a whirlwind review, and I would love to tell you all about things in more detail, but I feel that the pictures say a lot for themselves. Especially that one of me in the massive hoop skirt. A spinster from way back or what!?!
We spent a lot of time in Trafalgar Square, and I was particularly fond of Big Ben. I've always been really drawn to Big Ben. I have a vision in my head from childhood where I saw something, either in a dream, or in some sleepy state that made me think it was Big Ben. The sun was setting and Canadian Geese were flying through the sky in a V...But now I've seen the real thing. I've drunk in the view and been amazed.
We were pretty lucky to get into Westminster Abbey and St Paul's for free to take part in services there. I really enjoyed being in these amazing buildings where people have worshiped God for centuries. We went to the changing of the guard which was pretty cool as well. I was very impressed by the bands they had that played.





Here are a few more sights from our walks through more parks, and finishing off with my wonderful meal of fish and chips (no I still don't like fish, but I just knew I had to have the most famous food in London) that we consumed in a restaurant that was once frequented by none other than Charles Dickens. Yeah, London is pretty much just that cool.




So there's a fast tour through the wild and crazy world of London. Our bus ride back wasn't nearly as uncomfortable or bad smelling as our trip there. However, once again we were dropped off at 3 AM, not the 5 AM we had been promised. Can't really say we were overly thrilled by the fact. Especially when we found ourselves in unfamiliar and very dark surroundings, the wind whipping wildly (I later learned it was a severe wind storm all over Czech that even took the roofs off people's houses), and people randomly shouting in the night. We were greatly relieved when the lights turned on and we were able to sit indoors until our bus toward home at 6. It was a great trip, and I'm so thankful to have been able to have this experience.

Back from London

Just a short note to say that I had an amazing trip to London last week. God is so good. He provided us with positively AMAZING weather! We're talking sunshine, and only brief moments of rain two of the days we were there. It was truly incredible, considering that London is generally known for it's horrendous rainfall.
Now I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with teaching. Always a bit of a trick.
Please pray for the school here as our boss is looking at a couple of new teaching candidates that are not a part of ESI. It is a very difficult decision for her to make, and could really change the atmosphere here at Winfield college.
It's raining here now, and I'm hoping it will clear up before my walk home this evening. It was really nice to have some time away to be refreshed. London was so completely different from Cheb. And most people spoke English there. It's amazing how much you miss your native language when you hear it from so few people. In Hong Kong I didn't notice it so much because pretty much everyone spoke English there, but here that is not the case. It was also nice to be able to get some American food. Yeah for Subway! We ate there at least 3 times during our stay! Excellent!

Okay, enough for now as I really will be filling you in with all sorts of details soon.

Raining from the trees...

I had a rather strange experience this morning on my walk to work. I live a fairly healthy 20 minutes from my office (part of the reason I spend soooo many hours here!) and as I was walking this morning I began to notice big splashes of water on the sidewalk around the trees. At first I actually thought someone had hosed the trees off, and that it was just dripping from that. As I continued on, however, I realized that all the trees were dripping. Then I saw the ice, flowing down from the tips of all the branches. It was so odd to experience raining trees.
That really is the main reason I felt like writing on here. Just to share about the trees. Sometimes it's so easy to come up with something to write about, and other times I realize it has been ages since I've had anything to say.
I'm sure most of you know by now that I have decided to stay here in Cheb for another year. I'm still a bit befuddled by the decision myself, but I really feel like this is what God has for me at this point in time.
While I often find myself contemplating the future, wondering if I'll ever be settled down somewhere, living a more standardized life, I'm so thankful for all the random experiences I've been blessed to have. I don't know what will come from day to day, but it teaches me to rely ever more on God. Without him, I really would have nothing to show for this strange and transient life I lead.