2012: Now Official Worldwide

Well, over here in the Czech Republic we brought in the new year with a BANG! And a pretty serious one at that. My father-in-law is amazing in the pyrotechnic department. It might have taken a little while to get it set up, but that just meant that all the amatuers were finished so they could enjoy a real show. I've got a few pictures of the set up, and I'll try to get them in later, but for now, just trust me, it was amazing. I have now experienced New Years celebrations in 5 different countries, and I have to say that the fireworks here were by far the most exciting. We didn't go into the middle of town to see the craziness there, but out here in our little corner there were all sorts of people setting things on fire and letting them shoot up into the air all over the place. However, at the end of our display there was actually applause. Nice! The rest of the evening was spent quietly watching TV, including some New Year's celebration from 1979 which was pretty interesting. Defintely a different era. This country sure has been through a lot during it's long and tumultuous history, and I wish it the best in the coming year. I've also been thinking a bit about resolutions. I think I mentioned before that I've been hearing a lot more about goals vs. resolutions. There seems to be something mroe palatable in the idea of a goal that you are striving for, rather than a complete an unequivocal change in lifestyle. Some of these are rather general ideas, and others are things brought up by my inspiring husband, so let's see what I can come up with... 1) Collecting more than 5 recipes (not counting cookies) that I am not freaked out to get in the kitchen and make. 2) Publish an e-book (this one is from Mark, who is encouraging me to put out some of my old stories as free books to start creating a following) 3) Contact traditional publishers with my (soon to be) completed manuscript. 4) Finish up some of the other books I have lying around on various devices in various stages. 5) Get a job (did I mention these are in no particular order?) 6) Work on creating a more balanced and healthy lifestyle, as opposed to my general lackadaisical approach (this is partly due to the fact that, while I might still feel 23, my body has slightly different and more bloated ideas.) 7) Scrapbook of my wedding 8) General crafting incorporation into life. (I'm hoping that once we have our own place and can sort of set things up I can create a better system so it doesn't take so much effort. I'd really like to work more with the journal making project that I came up with last summer and see where it can take me.) 9) Find a way to integrate myself more into local life, wherever it is that we "end up." 10) Try to join a writer's group. 11) Improve my Czech. (This is a constant, endless, and frustratingly impossible goal, but it is something I always want to try. In my dreaming of 'someday's I imagine sitting in a real classroom with other language learners, studying Czech in a serious sort of way, but it's not likely to come anytime soon.) 12) Improve my blogging record. It would be great to hit the 100 mark. That only means a couple blogs a week, and if I stay focused I don't see why that shouldn't be manageable. I'm considering monetizing as well, but that's still in the air. There are more things bouncing around in my head right now, but I'll stick with this as it's already a long list. as always, I want to live more, love more, and experience God more. There is so much in life to enjoy and experience, whether in good times or in bad, and I hope to continue making a concentrated to be engaged in the life that I am living, rather than just passively letting it slip by me. So I end again with Happy New Year! and wish whoever stumbles upon this humble blog of mine all the best in life and health and love and joy in this new year.

Bravery Really is...

Someday I'm going to speak Czech. I wish that someday was now. I wish it was a language a bit more closely related. A language I could just fall into. I could spend all my time being frustrated with the fact that I sound like a toddler at best when I try to choke out as word or two here and there. Sometimes that is exactly what I do. Other times I say, sure I'll go shopping with you all day my dear parents-in-law, without the company of my husband. (He had to stay home and keep an eye on Katcha, who does happen to be doing better. She's walking around and eating and drinking, and even went outside a couple of times today which is definitely a relief for all of us.) As soon as we were in the car my phone rang. Just a little quick question from my Love, but it was enough to alert the parents that I do have an operational phone now. Which led to them asking for my number. I'm not quite sure what we would be able to say if they did need to call me, but it was a nice gesture all the same. And I even managed to tell them that my phone is very old because I bought it when I lived in Hong Kong. I felt relatively pleased with the exchange. It was very nearly an actual conversation with at least a couple complete sentences. We headed out toward Plzen, but made a cemetery stop first. I came out here once before last summer. There is something so powerful about visiting a family grave site. I'm not sure how many years it has been since Mark's grandmother passed away, but it is obviuos that his father is still very much attached. A Christmas bouquet was placed beside the headstone, and an electric candle, that flickers like a real candle, was added to the glass candle box. Czech graves are quite different from the ones we have in America. They are often more like little stone boxes and they're set so close together that there is now way of knowing where the body actually lies. We stood a moment, admiring the new additions, and then said goodbye. An emotional experience, even though I never met the woman. After that it was shopping time. It was the final shopping weekend before Christmas, so there was plenty to get done. Our first few shops were busy, but not over the top. I've been in American malls at this time of year. I've experienced the frenzy. It wasn't really like that here. There wer lots of people, but they weren't so frantic. Christmas is a big deal here, not like in Hong Kong where it's more like just another excuse for grand displays and materialism. They get really into it, but I feel like the focus is more on making millions of Christmas cookies, and preparing for the big day than it is about spending every spare moment shopping. Or at least not until after lunch. We took a break at the classic food stop, the York Hotel. Lunch was nice. Being the conscientious Czech parents that they are, they insisted that getting a small salad and krokety did not a proper meal make. After scouring the menu for things they thought I might like, they know I like pizza and pasta, they accepted my choice of a salad with chicken. At least it involved meat. We returned to shopping and it seemed the floodgates had opened at last. The parking lot of the next place we tried was ultra full. Full to the point that after ten minutes of driving around we totally gave up and drove off. We had better luck at the next couple places (did I mention that Plzen has a LOT of shopping malls?) but there were definitely bigger crowds. There are some people who get all antsy about Christmas shopping, but I'm just not one of them. I actually enjoy being out in the crush and rush. Probably partly because it does remind me of Hong Kong on a normal day. I also just love looking at the rows and rows of fresh clean things. I suppose you could call it some twisted materialism, but I don't even need to buy anything. I just like to see it. I like to see things and get ideas about how it must be to have stuff like that. Totally bizarre, I know, but there it is. In the end, I know everything I'm getting for Christmas, but it was all fun anyway. I also know what Mark is getting, and I just have to enjoy that he, who doesn't like surprises, doesn't know, while I, who do like surprises, knows. It's a bit odd, but sometimes you just have to accept doing things differently, right? By the time we got home it was about 6PM. It had been a long language overload sort of day. I didn't succeed in talking as much as I would like, but I was there. I spent the whole day struggling to understand, and trying to make myself understood at least every now and again. It will get better one of these days, I'm sure of it. Just not sure exactly when that day will be or how it will be achieved. For now I just have to be content with the small things and thankful for every victory in overcoming the language barrier.

Adventures in Czech Cookery (Part 3)

Okay, so I didn't lable part's one and two, but I think you can figure them out. The mom-in-law came home early with an intense eye ache, but insisted that she'd brought a chunk of meat out of the freezer with the intent to continue my education, and therefore, It just had to be done.

I must admit I'm getting a bit worried about the wordiness of my blogs. They miss the pictures I'd love to insert, but iPad and photos continue to refuse to work together with blog. So. I regret to inform that the picture of my beef with onions in sauce (my own name for it) will just have to wait.

I brought only two books with me to Czech this trip. It's week two, and I'm already half way through with the second. Oops. At least I have a few downloaded on my iPad. I imagine War and Peace will take me a while. (The beauty of free classics!) Anyhow, the book I'm devouring at the moment is Julie and Julia. I saw the movie with my mom and sisters (Jessie included) a couple years ago, and really enjoyed it. I have to say this might be one of those times when the movie outdoes the book. I know, those cases are few and far between, but style, while entertaining, isn't exactly friendly for all audiences the way the movie was. Regardless, it seems a fitting book to read while taking my own stab at culinary something or another. After reading the chapter about her murdering lobsters, it seemed only appropriate that I should have to touch raw meat.

Today's process started out with mom-in-law chopping a chunk of partially frozen raw beef into chunks, then having me pound them with a pokey metal mallet. That done, she began the frying in oil bit, whilst giving me the task of peeling onions. Now, in general I'm a pretty fast person. Maybe not always as fast on the uptake as I'd like to be, but I do things quickly. I walk fast. I clean fast. I write five to ten page papers fast. It's how I roll... Until I find myself in the kitchen. Then langour is probably a better word for it. Mostly because it sounds like a mixture of being really slow and a little horrified, and maybe kind of bored too because I know it's all going to take so long and that I'm going to end up looking inept in the process. I have peeled my fair share of onions, back in the Great Harvest days when I made Curry chicken salads, and fresh slices for sandwiches it was part of my daily routine. Always healthy to have a good cry in the morning, right? But it seems like everyone has a method, and hers involved being faster and less frightened of knives than mine. Likewise, everyone has their own way of chopping onions, and so I did my best to follow hers, but I'm sure that if given the task on my own, I'd probably do it differently. Either way the meat got it's sear and the onions got in to become brown and translucent and things were well underway.

The funny thing about people who know how to cook in general, is that they think it's easy. Okay, maybe it's not rocket science, but easy? That's a bit of a stretch. Yeah, I know following a menu is about reading. I can do reading. And I know that prepping ingredients is so basic that kids can do it. Well, I can do it too. It's not so much all of that part that is the issue really. It's knowing how to know that it's done, and having it turn out like it does in the pretty picture books.

In the book I'm reading, Julie had that problem too. Julia Child would talk about everything like it was a mixture of ease and a thrill. When attempted in real life, however, it was often a disaster. Because how is a person just supposed to know or feel when it's exactly the right moment between perfection and granulated, or charred, or straight up mush? Now imagine trying to figure all that out when someone is speaking a language you don't really know all that well.

Each time "easy" and "finished" were spoken with glee, I knew that when it came my time to cook it on my own it would be more like: Now build the great wall of China in thirty minutes and when you're done it will look like the Eiffel Tower decorated in twinkly lights for Christmas. Just gonna have to wait and see how it goes I guess.

Jiste Jedno, Noch Einmal, Once Again...

As "anyone" can plainly see, I've been in Germany again. I must admit, I always tremble a bit when I enter tri-lingual situations. Hard to know if I can possibly be up for the challenge. The truth of the matter is, I know one language. Sure, I've dabbled in this and that in the lingual sense, but most people don't consider being able to count to ten and say I love you sufficient evidence of language mastery.

Surprisingly, speaking to four year olds in German ins't quite the daunting task one might think it to be. They're used to people asking them the names of things to test their brilliance, and see nothing wrong with this practice at all. They also speak simply, if not exactly slowly or clearly. You know, you get used to being called "Sigh-ya" and "Mall-ek." Of course try to repeat these words in the way they say them and they'll look at you like you're clearly lacking something in the intelligence category.

But there was more to the trip than just wracking my brain for the right word. I've discovered that I can speak German more easily yet I understand Czech better. I think this is partly because I actually studied German so I have a good feeling for the sentence structure and while I might not always have the vocabulary I can wiggle around it a bit more than I can in Czech. As far as the understanding part goes, I've been listening to Czech a lot more often, be it in conversation or on television, and that has definitely helped with my comprehension. Just don't ask me to string words together because I'm certain to put them in the wrong order and with totally incorrect endings. Thankfully, I was able to pull it off well enough that the twins probably don't even realize I don't speak German, the girls at least felt like I could follow what they were saying and make basic replies, and I was able to carry on a conversation with my sister-in-law during which we both communicated successfully. Granted, I might have occasionally agreed to things that weren't exactly true, but what's life without a few micommunications, right? Even when both parties are fluent in a mutual langauge they don't always get the whole story straight, so I'd say we did pretty well, all things considered.

Of course, there was more than just talking that took place. Saturday morning I had a completely new experience. I'm not sure if this is cultural or what (probably some health regime I've just never heard of) but we had garlic soup for breakfast. That's right, a nice water garlic soup with a few random chunks of potato on the bottom and little crunchy balls of some time sprinkled on top. Considering the fact that my husband thinks eating syrupy waffles in the same meal as bacon (especially for dinner) is the strangest combination ever, I have to say that I've never heard of anyone having garlic soup for breakfast.

After that odd start to the day (well, actually the day started much earlier, seeing as how we still woke up at - gasp - 5 AM, but that's beside the point) Mark left me to fend for myself. This is when I not only impressed myself with my ability to cope, I also learned a new cooking skill. First I helped the kids a bit with putting jam in the middle of sandwich cookies (not nearly as complicated as it sounds unless you're four and think that you should lick off the excess around the edges...). Then I was called upon to make cinnamon sugar coated almonds. I've often bought these tasty little treats at holiday and festival markets in Czech, but this was definitely my first attempt making them. While I did have a large amount of helpful supervision in the form of my sister-in-law, I think I could actually produce said nuts again on my own. I even went so far as to use my iPad skills to document the process and translated the recipe from German to English. Nice.

Later in the afternoon, after the men returned from their shopping trip (oh the joy of electronics stores) the entire crew headed to the ice skating rink in Weiden. Now let me first say that I've only been ice skating once before. It was either Junior or Senior year of high school, some sort of youth group event I believe. I spent the entire time just barely not clinging to the wall. Much as I hate to admit it, 16 or 17 was a long time ago. I won't say quite how long, but suffice it to say, I can basically call this my first time ice skating for all the good that prior trip did me.

For those not in the know, ice skates are really very painful contraptions. My ankles are bruised just from strapping them on. And there is really nothing natural about the stance you have to take in order to drift across the ice. Perhaps, once you really get into the swing of things, your body naturally bends to the point that the skates are somehow comfortable, but I never got there. I just did my best to stay standing. By the end of our outing I felt just about confident enough to allow for several feet to separate me from the wall, and I even got to the point where I would actually lift one foot completely off the ice for more than the briefest of moments. I wasn't about to start trying a triple sow cow (yes I'm quite certain that is not how you spell it, but that IS how it sounds) and my one nasty fall was enough to make me think that being even a little bit daring was a little bit too much, but I still managed to have a good time, and even let Mark take me out into the middle for a couple fast loops. Note: I was clinging tightly to his hand the whole time.

In the evening, the girls made dinner for us all. They were very cute about keeping us all out of the kitchen while they prepared it all. There were name cards set for everyone, and all the makings for sandwiches were spread out on the table for us to enjoy. Very fun.

I would also like to note that the two reptiles - Gary the turtle and Gary the chameleon - somehow met their demise over the past year and were replaced by two rodents. One is a rabbit (okay a bit better than a rodent, but still a nocturnal creature in a cage) and the other was some sort of creepy albino sort of something. The rabbit seemed to be allergic to something and kept sneezing all the time, and during the night the other thing kept making sounds like it was trying feverishly to escape. Not the most encouraging sound to hear when you're trying to sleep.

Overall, it was a really great weekend. Even though I'm still not sure what language to speak or even think in at times, I'm doing my best to get a hang of things :)

I'm Not a Dancer

No matter how you look at it, I'm just not. I'm not graceful. I can't make my body sway, unless holding a tiny baby, in which case I naturally rock back and forth to that mysterious music that is an infant.
The point of all this, baffling as I'm sure it no doubt is, is that I have a new Denise Austin workout video. I've been a fan for quite a while. It all started in a tiny apartment in Albany, OR. It was a cheap place to live, complete with "special" neighbors, and a gang of children who oddly decided "tu casa is mi casa" or something to that effect. (No Spanish is not a language I have any sort of fluency in.) Seriously, these kids would just walk into our house and ask for candy. Had to start locking the doors and pretending not to be home in order to get any peace.
This is all beside the point. I could do a long post on all the weird that went down at that flat, actually it's part of a book I started writing way back then which continues to sit incomplete on my computer along side quite a few other beauties. One of these days... But I really will focus. The point is, Jessie got me hooked on Denise. There is something about this woman who is now in her fifties and still looks and moves like she's 25 fhat is positively infectious. She has some of the best catch phrases EVER!
"If you don't squeeze it, no one else will."
"Burn that butter."
"Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle, Squat."
"You'll look GREAT in a bathing suit."
Just a few faves there. She does it all with a smile. Workouts that make my whole body burn, and the air come in little painful bursts from my body, and she smiles and chats just like you're sitting in a cafe drinking coffee. It's the sort of thing that would generally make me want to slap a person, but you just gotta love Denise.
Beyond all these things, she manages to make every move she makes look like she's dancing. I don't care if it's kick boxing, or basic stretches, the woman has moves! Sadly, I just don't. I'm sure that if anyone actually were to watch me through the lace curtains on the fourth floor (which I swear is literally - and thankfully - impossible) they couldn't help but laugh.
Right now I'm still just trying to get a basic handle on the new routiens. I'm sure that in a few weeks, if I manage to keep it up, I'll at least look slightly less like a bumbling idiot. I'll figure out where she's going next, and hopefully my body will respond in a positive way to the exercise in order to counteract all the heavy greasy food we eat around here. I don't care what people say about American cuisine (or lack thereof) the Czech's definitely know how to lay it all on thick. From creamy sauces and hearty dumplings, to fried cheese and krokety, my only hope is that Denise will keep my rear in gear, even if she can't make me svelt and graceful.
Just a little heads up here at the end, we're heading to Germany this afternoon for the weekend. Time to wrap my mind back around language number three. I did manage to send birthday greetings on the phone to our niece Jenny who just turned 11. Quite a feat actually. At least in person you can rely on body language, but talking on the phone has to be one of the most challenging skills to master.
So, language overload, here we come. Should be good fun. :)

Lost in a Forest...In love with the Greenery

Can't claim the title, it's from a classic song by Poor Old Lu and old favorite of mine. I've always been a sucker for witty lyrics. Okay, maybe not always. I've listened to plenty of drivel to be certain, not to mention all those songs that I even semi-sing along with, but haven't a clue what I'm saying, or what they're saying, or what it would mean even if I did understand what they're saying. It actually gets even funnier when you combine hard to decipher lyrics with non-native English speakers. The Corrs song "Leave me breathless" just might turn into "leave me Bradley"... you just never know.
But that's all quite beside the point. Like I said, I like those lines that make me think more deeply and spin me into thoughts of my own. Back in the day when I was an aspiring artistic e-mail writer, I enjoyed incorporating the lyrics of whatever I was listening to into my letters. I did cite them, no copywrite infringement or anything, but I found it odd how often they were able to express exactly what I was trying to say but somehow coming up short with.
So as I was sitting here in my parent's living room on a Sunday afternoon I had this line flutter into my head and realized it really does suit the mood of my recent days. I won't go into a full break down of all this song could mean, but more just how it hits me at the moment. Right now I sorta feel like I'm stuck in the midst of this sea of possibilities with no idea which way to turn or what to do or how to achieve ANY of it. I love the life I've been blessed to live, the experiences I've been able to have, all the trappings of what has come. But when I have to write out a resume I can see why people might balk a bit at wanting to employ me. My work experience is not only spread across the board of varieties, it's also spread across the globe. My transience is evident as my jobs go from CA to HK to OR to AK to CZ and here I am in ID. Come again? I've been able to experience so much that I'm not suited for anything in there here and now of every day real life.
The truth is, I would love to just be a novelist, to feel content spending hours typing away the ideas in my mind, knowing there was an audience out there chomping at the bit to read what I've come up with. But life is not predictable like that. So instead, I sit here stressing that I can't even get a fresh out of High School job because, in a sense, there's just too much to me.
I've been stateside for a little over four months now, and I've already hit the flee stage. This is where I start trying to figure out what I can do next to get mobile. I watch "House Hunters International" and dream of exotic locations. I have dreams about Hong Kong and the life I lived there, and I can hardly bring myself to even think of my pictures from Czech and the time I spent traipsing about Europe, hanging out in castles and cafes all chalk full of culture.
Then again, there's that part of me that's just begging to...dare I say the irritating word... nest (to be whispered in a hushed voice). I've been in an unsettled state of dwelling since July. And even before that my cozy world was invaded for the school year by a sort of monster that made it impossible to feel at home in my own home. I'm ready for a place where I can put my pictures on the walls, and organize my knickknacks from a life of world traveling and make my statement.
I need focus, balance, purpose, all those good things. I need (ugh) a job. Something to kick me out of the slump and re-energize me. After all, there are all these stories that need to be told, and I'm the one who's meant to tell them.

Forget 29, I'll claim 23...

Or at the most 26. That works, right? I could just stay there for a really good long time. I mean, compare, here is me at about 26:

And here is me last week:

I don't really look THAT much older after all :)
What a great day it's been. I woke up at Tammy's where she sang me a groggy happy birthday, I then met up with Laura who is here on her annual visit for ESI. It was so great to have a chance to catch up with her and hear how things are going and giggle over everything happening in my life.
Then Mark and his parents picked me up and took me shopping. I'm so happy Karlovy Vary now has an H&M. We had a lovely time running around despite the horrid drippy cold weather and then stuffed ourselves on a nice dinner on the drive back. I decided that, contrary to my usual choices of salad or pasta I would eat something hearty and Czech, so tonight it was turkey with peaches, ham and cheese on top, together with krokety and "devil" sauce. Almost had to be rolled out when I was through, but it sure was tasty.
We came home where I was greeted by a phone call from Mark's sister's family who greeted me in a mix of German, Czech, and English (the girls are studying English in school). It was so sweet to have such a precious phone call. I'm definitely blessed to have yet another set of lovely nieces and nephews. The boys were too shy to talk on the phone but their mom delivered their message ;)
Now it's time to enjoy a relaxing evening at home. It's been a lovely day so far and I feel so blessed.

Wake Me Up...

When September Ends...hahaha. It seems it's come to that. Quoting Greenday of all things. But also stating a fact. September is rapidly coming to a close, and most of it has been like a dream. A strange dream full of children and noise and a mix of languages that still has my head spinning a bit, though I've been back in Czech for several days now.
I won't bore you with all the details. As it is, I got a wee bit behind in the quest to journal every single hour of every single day of my life (far too big a task to really take on) and it's more of a mish mash of events by this point. Games of Skip Bo and a game like Sorry. Being the captured "princess" tied up with a rope. Hide and Seek, a game that definitely transcends language. And collecting treasures from the ground. It was three weeks in another world for sure. While I can't say that I ever gained the status that Uncle Mark has (nor would I ever attempt to since he's so amazing with the kids) we did get to the point where they accepted me as a part of the crew.
Kids are kids in any language. It was really great to have the chance to get to know them a bit better. To play their wild games and learn how to decipher something of what they were saying in German. Really tested my skills that are rather rusty after a number of years I don't really want to mention since my high school classes ended.
Besides all the time spent with the kids, once they were in school Mark and I also had some chances to explore the town of Weiden. It was about a 4 KM walk into town, but the weather our third week was so fabulous that it was well worth walking there and back. We enjoyed wandering around the old parts of town, as well as the great McDonalds coupons that we got. They made me think of Hong Kong but they didn't have any seaweed flavored Shake Shake fries here. Although there is something called the Nurnburger that has little bratwursts in it. We weren't too keen on the idea of trying that, so we stuck mostly with Big Macs :)
So here are some views of the lovely town of Weiden. Mark even got into the idea of me being a poser and took some fun shots :)






On one day Mark and I also went down to the little airfield in Latsch which is really close to the little village we were staying in. We had a great time watching the gliders flying and enjoyed a helicopter flight lesson in progress as well. It was a fun day and I even got a few fun photos in as well.




And the last set of pictures are from the little village of Neunkirchen where we were staying. It's a pretty little quiet place and we really had a good time there.




The tree in the middle picture was the source of the nuts in the picture below it. The girls were very excited about these nuts. They had Mark throw a stick up at the tree to get them down. They rained down around us, the thick green casings falling off and the nuts spilling out everywhere. Apparently in Czech you can sell these to farmers who feed them to their animals, but in Germany we only collected them and made our own little animals out of them using toothpicks. Unfortunately I forgot to ever take a picture of our creations, so you'll just have to use your imaginations. It's good for you after all :)
And now, the truly last pictures are for Rowan. A little tribute to his love of big machines. Let me just tell you, this was a serious beast.


The time spent with the family was definitely well worth it. Now it's time to see if we can really get the ball rolling so we can head to the US. Hopefully even by the end of October. That's my dream at least :) We'll have to wait and see...

Ja Mam Gulas Im Mein Kopf!

So I'm in Germany, enjoying the crazy things of life with kids. I had no idea we would be here this long, but it has been refreshing and mind straining all at the same time. We're staying with Mark's sister and her family and so I'm having to keep up with conversations in Czech, German, and English and it's quite a challenge. We came on Sunday the 5th of September, so it's been quite a run and definitely good fun. There are four kids here. The girls are 9 and 11 and the boys are 3, so there's a lot of energy and excitement when everyone is around. The boys are in daycare during the week, but the girls were still on holiday last week so we were able to spend a lot of time really hanging out with them. It's definitely frustrating to have such a low language level. I can understand quite a bit, but any sentence formation is patchy at best, and just plain despicable most of the time. But it's all good for me, right? This learning and growing and oh so slow going...
It's been nice to have some fresher air to breathe, just something different from the routines I'd been living in. I've fallen horrendously far behind in my journal, and let internet connections dwindle to the point of freaking people out a bit because I was no longer on top of things in my Lexulous crazed lifestyle, but it's been good for me.
I've also been taught how to make Czech bread dumplings, although I'm not sure if I'll be able to find the right kind of flour in the US, and I'll have to reconvert the measurements. I also made chocolate chip cookies, but I'd done gram conversions and it just didn't really work. We're talking solid grainy sugar pools instead of the lovely perfect ones I made in ML a couple weeks ago. But the kids don't mind. After all, it's a bunch of sugar and Milka. What's not to love? I've forced myself through quite a few as well, just to make up for the fact that they aren't really what they should be. Ah well. Nothing like a few more pounds gained to make me feel better about life. Of course, if I ate all the food people around here seem to think I should I'd be a balloon, so at least I'm still working toward protecting myself on some counts.
I also was quite pleased of my jump roping prowess. The first day we were here the kids had me jump while they turned the short rope and in the process I believe I'm now supposed to have 58 children...I also managed to jump 114 times without a missed step on my own, which was pretty impressive to me considering how long it's been since my personal playground days.
Speaking of which, I was randomly remembering my stint as a cheerleader this morning. Don't ask how it ended up in my head, but I found myself trying to recall the moves and wondering if the video still exists when our little Klamath River squad managed to get a third place trophy both in Cheerleading and Basketball. Of course, at most I think there were five teams competing, but we never had a chance against Grenada and Big Springs who had at least triple the number of students we did. But at least we were able to overpower Hornbrooke. Just thinking the names conjures so many memories. Suddenly I was recalling the Castle Rock Basketball tournaments and sitting around late at night at Castle Rock Elementary school playing Murder and eating gummy bears and listening to the classic scary stories of Diane Oliver.
Perhaps it's partly being here with the kids that draws me back to those old days so long gone by. As the girls have been preparing for school I've been basking in the glow of fresh school supplies. The pens and folders and notebooks of fresh paper. It's interesting to see how different even their school supplies here, and yet the kids are still so much the same.
I've even found myself missing the idea of going to school. Odd, considering how stressed I get just thinking of tests, and how it fills me with dread to think of having to retain all that information again. But I was good at school. I worked hard, but I could do it. I guess that's part of why I've always been frustrated when it comes to finding new jobs. I know I can do whatever people need me to do. It's that way with cooking too. Okay, I'm not any sort of expert in the kitchen, but if I have to do it I can. The main problem is that I don't enjoy it. There isn't this feeling of joy and accomplishment, but more of, what if I boil the rice too long and it ends up a soggy mess - thus I read the package fifty million times during the 15 minutes it takes to boil 15 minute rice just to be sure I'm REALLY doing it all right.
So for those patient enough to make it to the end of this sloppy mess let me say that the title refers to a Czech saying. When they are feeling all messed in the head and can't think straight they say they have goulash in their heads. So the first half is written in Czech and the second half in German since those are the main languages I've been trying to manage around this place.
I guess that's probably enough of an update for now. We'll likely be here at least til the end of this week, so I'll try to share more once I'm back to my normal turf.

Just Call me Miss Mystery...

Being a substitute teacher in Alaska taught me a lot of things, perhaps the most valuable being that I most definitely don't want to do that job again. I learned things about how evil 7 year olds can be, how smiling at people can prompt them to be even more evil, and that not everyone has a desire to be good. In truth, some of them find any opportunity to be bad positively delightful. Okay, so basically I learned that being a substitute teacher is most assuredly NOT my dream job.
All the same, the year provided plenty of fodder for blogs and future classroom anecdotes. I mean how many jobs in your life provide being punched in the face by a 13 year old boy twice your size, trying to prevent 2nd graders from drop kicking their classmate, or standing outside in the freezing cold for hours while a slew of Kindergartners slip around on little red shovels.
Yes, there is a point to this walk down memory lane. I learned fairly early on in my year that one of the best ways to maintain at least some semblance of control in the classroom was to have a secret. It allowed me to have the upper hand, and that somehow kept their attention. The easiest thing to keep a secret was, of course, my first name. Of all random things. But it worked. They seemed rather horrified by the fact that they didn't know exactly who I was. Students would beg and plead for even the smallest clue, but in the whole year there were only two girls who actually guessed it correctly, and they were happy to keep it as a secret, granting themselves a little power over their classmates in the bargain as well.
One Fourth Grade class, being so frustrated by my tight lipped control, dubbed me Ms. Mystery. Rather liked that title myself. When a Second Grade class in the same school was whining about their lack of knowledge in the lunch room, I pointed them to these Fourth Grade girls who promptly assured them they would never find out and that I really was "Ms. Mystery."
I hadn't thought about that incident for a long time, but today I decided to adopt the persona once again. Since moving to the Czech Republic nearly 3 years ago, I've often found myself outside normal lines of communication. While I've "studied" Czech (yes I use that term very loosely) I'm still FAAAAAAAARRRRR from mastering this ridiculously difficult language. All the same, in my little town of Cheb, I generally didn't feel at a loss. Being a member of a community of native English speakers, there were generally 6 to 8 of us living in town, I was a curiosity, but not exactly an anomaly. I frequented the same places over and over to the point that I was well known. I was often irritated when clerks would speak to me in German, rather than Czech, since they obviously weren't going to speak in English, and I was trying to speak to them in Czech to begin with. The point is, I wasn't exactly anonymous there. I was recognizable, a known entity in the town.
Flash forward to the present.
I now live in Marianske Lazne.
While there are potentially a few of my former students floating around town, I really don't know, and am not known by, anyone here except for Mark and his parents. And while there might occasionally be other English speaking visitors in the area, I don't know of any other Americans actually living here. There might be some, but I'm not a part of their group, and am therefore on my own. Except for a few restaurants that Mark and I have been to together quite a number of times throughout the year, I'm an Enigma in this town.
The weather, as I mentioned in a previous post, has really warmed up around here. Due to that fact, Mark is happiest when he can avoid being out in the full heat. He has plenty of work to do on his music, and therefore, he spends his days hard at work, and I, who love the sun, wander about on my own. I've taken to spending several hours walking through the myriad parks, sitting in a small cafe with an ice coffee or somewhere in the center with a large bottle of water, writing in my journal or reading a book. This allows me time to really embrace the sun, while Mark can get some serious work done with no distractions.
Yesterday on my regular outing I had a most frustrating experience. Some ridiculously stupid clerk decided not to break my 200KC note for my 20KC bottle of water. Keep in mind, 200KC is about $10. Not exactly an enormous bill. For those of you who aren't quick on the math uptake, 20KC would therefore be about $1. She'd already opened her till, and I saw there rows of bills of various quantities ready to make change. And yet, for what ever idiotic reason, she refused to take my money, wanting something smaller. I showed her that I REALLY didn't have anything smaller, but she still wouldn't take it. I. WAS. ANGRY. All I wanted was a bottle of water. Seriously. And it's not like I was trying to pay her with a 1,000KC. Then I would have understood, but I've NEVER known anyone to refuse a 200. It's not big! So finally I shook my head and put my money back in my wallet. She seemed pleased with herself for having not sold me the bottle, and I spat out a very loud "Whatever!" as I made my way toward the door.
It's the "Whatever!" that is key. That one word set me on a different plane than the other people passing by her all day every day. It was spoken in a perfectly flawless American accent. We're talking Native English Speaker here. And I'm sure she had no clue what I'd just thrown at her in my rage. No expletive, just utter disgust.
It was then that I really felt a power in my anonymity.
I really am a mystery here.
I'm not expected.
I'm not a tourist.
I'm not Czech.
I'm not German.
I've decided, rather than being annoyed that they speak German to me, to be amused instead. They have no idea how to deal with me. I'm not on their general radar. I don't fit in with the standard modes.
Sunday when I went to meet Karina and her friend I was amused by a couple at the station speaking English. They were trying to figure out where they needed to be to catch the train. They weren't in any sort of trouble, and had plenty of time to figure it out correctly, but they were completely in the dark about my knowledge. I could fully understand every word they were saying. They were completely in the dark. Had they experienced some true difficulty, I would have stepped forward Good Samaritan like as was the case of the lost American women in Cheb square that I rescued when Julie was visiting. But it was fun to stand there in the know, fully anonymous.
It's easy for me to become frustrated that I have no one to talk to when I'm out and about. I like to talk. I like to communicate, to be with friends. But currently this is not the time or place for me to speak. It's a time to watch. A time to observe and to write. So for the time being I'm once again embracing the title of Miss Mystery. I'm enjoying the fact that they all have no ideas about who I am or where I'm from. I'm living the anonymity and doing my best to enjoy it.

Noc Kostelu a Stary Vlak

AKA Night of Churches and Old Trains.
So this is going to be another one of those flashback posts. I really wanted to do at least one final update about Julie's trip here, because her last weekend in Czech was pretty fabulous and also highly unusual.
On the last Friday of May there was a very special night in the churches around the Czech Republic. In Cheb there were I think 7 old churches that were a part of this very special celebration. It was an event designed to connect the people of the Czech Republic with some of the amazing churches that fill their country.
I've long been impressed by these monstrously huge, and yet sadly empty buildings. When my students did their tour of Cheb one of them called the churches nothing but a bunch of old rocks. Such a tragedy. Here is a country so rich in church history, the homeland of Jan Hus, a great reformer who really called the Catholic church of his time to account, and began a serious reformation in this country that spread throughout Europe. Yet the people here scarcely know the point of these incredible buildings. They see them as historical monuments to a long dead faith, a place to step out of the heat during the summer, and little more. On this night, however, the churches came to life and I was in awe to see all the people, many of my students even, wandering around in these lovely houses of faith.
It was a day of total openness on the part of the churches. Areas usually blocked off with velvet cords, doors typically locked, were thrown open and the general public was invited to a glimpse of the most sacred and ancient parts of these buildings. Julie and I were in total awe as we were allowed into places, and even some buildings, I'd never been able to enter. Music poured forth, and the people seemed to truly embrace these places they know so little about.
I particularly enjoyed a youth choir that we were able to listen to. They weren't necessarily the greatest musicians, but their hearts were in the words, and it was amazing to see these young Czechs praising God.
We also went to a dance performance that was super cool. These young girls walked through the lives of ancient nuns through dance. They mingled their way through the aisles, doing repetitive steps that allowed everyone in the packed out audience to get a feeling for what they were doing. There was even a section when they joined the crowd in reserved chairs and continued to dance. At the end of the dance they took the hands of different people from the audience and encouraged us all to follow them throughout the ancient monastery where they demonstrated different activities of the nunnery. Julie and I particularly enjoyed one girl who had a huge round loaf of very tough bread. She was attempting to pass out chunks to people as they passed by, but it was quite a battle for her to get anything off. Quite entertaining.
In all, it was one of the most amazing nights I've ever experienced in the Czech Republic. Not only was it awe inspiring to enter the forbidden areas, it was so beautiful to see so many people inside the churches, interacting with what is happening here. The only thing that would have made it even better would have been if the small church that I attend had opened its doors as well. It isn't an ancient building, but I think the transparency and the welcome would have been a powerful opportunity for them to show the community that they too want to invite people in and have an impact on the people of Cheb.
Here are a few pictures that I was able to take during Noc Kostelu:






I forgot to note that most of these churches don't even allow photos to be taken most of the time, so that also made this even more exciting.
The next day we didn't have a chance to sleep in because we were off for another very exciting event. There was a celebration of transportation, and as part of this they brought out old vehicles and offered people free rides around the area. We met Mark in Marianske Lazne and were soon snug with a lot of other people on this old steam engine.


The travel was veeeeeery slow, but it was also quite interesting. We were on a beautiful stretch of track, running through the forests from Marianske Lazne to Becov Nad Teplou. It was so funny along the way to see all the people, predominately men, waiting in fields and along the road to get pictures of the train as it snaked along with huge clouds of ash spewing from the engine. If we put our heads out the window we were doused with chunks of coal, so it was best to keep in and just enjoy what little air came through.
At the big stops there were bands with majorettes waiting to entertain us. We got off in one place to walk around and enjoy the festivities. I really enjoyed watching this one little old couple who were so excited by the feeling in the air that they started dancing to the band. It was really precious. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of that, but here's a little peek into what the entertainment looked like.
When we got to Becov the train stopped for a couple of hours, so we got out to enjoy the town. With our special free train ticket we were able to get a reduced price for the chateau tour. We had a nice time and even got a few photos in :)
We had lunch as quickly as we could. Julie and I have learned that if we share a meal here we can actually manage to finish it, so it all worked out perfectly. Then we had time to get back to the train and still have seats.
Our next stop on the way back was Tepla. This is the location of an ancient monastery. It was highly damaged during the communism, but they have repaired some of it inside and the library, which is enormous and full of truly amazing books, was spared because it was already preserved by the state.
We really enjoyed looking around here, and Julie and I sang in the sanctuary which was a particularly special moment. So often these places are so incredible, and yet feel so desolate. It's such a gift to be able to let God's praises ring through them once again, recalling them to the glory they were designed to give. Despite the run down look on the outside, we were all impressed with what we discovered within.



Once again we were very thankful for our special tickets. After the regular tour was over we were allowed some very special access. We were on a small tour with only one other lady that went into the part of the monastery that is actually in regular use by the monks there. We saw their small chapel, a place we could imagine people being better able to focus on spiritual things rather than being distracted by the gold and statues in the main sanctuary. There was also this really incredible room where you they had painted statues on the wall that really did look 3D.
As we were finishing the tour the guide sent us down to the front on our own and there we ran into a very startled monk. It was quite funny to see his startled expression. Mark quickly explained to him that we were on a special tour. He still didn't seem to quite understand, so we hurried along on our way.
The monastery was once quite an important place in this area. It was a monk from Tepla who started Marianske Lazne. They used to bottle the special spa waters and they were the ones who encouraged the area to become a town in the first place. They also used to have their own brewery, beer being a general favorite of monks, but the Communists completely destroyed that during their occupation.
After the tour was complete we made our way back toward the train station, only to learn that we had about two hours until the next transport. After a small photo shoot

we went up into the town to get some dinner. We wandered around the area for a while and then ate in a very old restaurant. I can't remember the year it began now, but it was several centuries in the past. After dinner we went back to the station and still had to wait quite some time for the train. It was interesting to wander around and see the people in this small community and the way they interacted together. It was definitely different than in the larger places where I've lived. I love these little opportunities to get a glimpse of local life. To kill the time before we headed back home we played a little dice game and were quite amused by ourselves. Simple things for simple people I geuss.
In all it was a pretty incredible weekend.
Sunday we headed back to Prague and then on Monday I put Julie on a flight back to the US. And that...is pretty much that.

Two days to MD day!

No, that doesn't stand for "medical doctor" silly people. It means two days until my parents arrive in the Czech Republic! I'm super excited about it. Seems to be that third year's the charm. Only a couple days after Mom and Dad fly back to the US, I'll be joined by amazing Swedish friend Malin for Easter weekend, and a little bird told me that Julie's passport is in the mail with intentions for a May visit! The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. I'm just so thankful that they're all able to come and share a little bit in the life I have here. Plus, I love them all so much and so I'm super excited to have some time with them too!
My house is now totally spic and span. I've got the place to myself as everyone else has cleared out for Spring Break. Yesterday I did a top to bottom deep cleaning. Merry Maids and the Maids would be proud of my ability to remember their wise teaching. Top to bottom, left to right, I gave this place the works, even scrubbing the shower doors that I don't think have seen the wrath of a sponge...ever...Amazing what it's like when you can actually see through them! So maybe that last statement reflects a bit poorly on me, but I've scrubbed everything else in this house quite a few times. They just never seemed to be as frighteningly dirty as they really were :)
Anyhow, the place looks fabulous. I don't like walking barefoot as a general rule, but I've had to do it a few times just to appreciate fully how clean my floors are. I even washed all the little area rugs and my comforter. We're talking squeaky clean.
This has to be one of the most boring blogs ever. Am I seriously updating the "world" on my spring cleaning? Um, yep, sorta looks like I am.
In other news, I've started writing "something." That means something that isn't in journal, blog, or e-mail form. Mark was literally jumping up and down when he realized what I was doing. He's been after me for ages to "prove it" and now I'm seeing if I can do just that. Wow, I've used a frightfully large number of quotation marks in this piece, and yet not included a single dialogue. Of course, it would be a little scary if I was doing dialogues right now considering that I've been alone in my house for the past two days. Other than a few phone calls, I'm left with only the sound of my own voice. Let's just say Mark's going to get an earful when I go to his house tomorrow night! That will be three days of pent up conversations streaming out in a jumble. I hope he's enjoyed this time of solitude!
It seems the month of March is already over. I've reached my 5 post line, and once Mom and Dad arrive I know the time will just fly. I've got my students working on some great projects for them. They're all making travel brochures about the Czech Republic which they will present and then give to my parents. That way they get a new type of English practice, and my parents will know a bit more about this country without me having to come up with any facts on my own :)
And with that I'll close, making no promises of a reappearance during the family visit.

Spring is in the air...

Which means it's snowing again. Ugh. I was definitely done with snow. And today, to make it all even more special, it was snowing out of clear blue sky. How does that possibly make sense? But such is life.
I've been dreaming more and more of Hong Kong lately. I know, probably not the best/healthiest thing to do. Especially when it's all cold and dreary here. Maybe it's partly because my parents are coming and the last time they visited me I lived in Hong Kong. That's right, it's been like 6 years since my parents last visited me. Okay, that might not be totally fair. They did stop by my place in Salem, which was only like 5 years ago. :)
Anyhow, I have my students all set up to make lovely travel brochures for them. It will give them a chance to do something a bit different with their English skills, and will create something nice for my parents. This way I don't have to freshen up on everything in order to be a stellar travel guide. At least that's the hope. To help them with ideas I created my own brochure of Hong Kong. I think it was very persuasive, and going through pictures of HK on the internet definitely added to the nostalgia. I really miss that place. I wonder if some day I'll pine for Cheb. Somehow I rather doubt it. But one never really knows about such things.
The main reason I decided to write this blog today, however, wasn't to talk about Spring (or the lack thereof) or to bemoan the fact that I'm not in HK at the moment. It was to share a selection of pictures of the new and improved me. Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but I did get my hair done yesterday. I figured that the coming of my parents was a good time to update the do. Generally speaking, an international visit from the parents means there will be a myriad of photos taken, and I wanted to be sure not to have the hrosny vlasy (that's horrible hair in Czech, the very words my hair stylist used when looking at my hair and thinking I wouldn't understand that much or the language) that I've been suffering with for the past several months. I knew it was bad, I just wasn't quite sure how to fix it. Ah well.
There's been a marked improvement made for the time being. Granted, dye usually starts to fade within the first week on my hair, but hopefully it'll stick around for a while. Jarmila thinks I just need to stop washing it so much. But I have such a hard time doing that. I did, however, put a plastic bag over my head so I could still have a shower and yet maintain the stylists hard work this morning. It was a red and white striped bag by the way. Yes. Yes I did look like a pirate. But the final picture shows that it mostly worked out okay.


And, yes, I agree with you all. I might not be quite up to the responsibility of owning a digital camera. Where did I ever become such a blasted poser? I blame Hong Kong...