Paused in Transit

I'm sitting in between two worlds now. There is the strange space of time in which nothing concrete seems to exist. It's not just that I'm unemployed. It's that I'm poised on the verge and not really certain when play is going to be resumed. In the meantime, I want to keep living. To find ways to really exist in this space between.
I realize I have yet to actually finish talking about my visit with Julie. There are some things I really want to post about from that time, so I'm not quite ready to give up on it just yet, but I thought it'd be wise to do a little flash forward and take care of some more recent events first.
After Julie left the end of school really kicked into gear. The last month of school is generally my favorite. Of course this year it was mixed with crazy nostalgia as I realized it was really the end. Always before I knew I'd be back in September for another round. True, the daily students are always new, but just knowing we'll all continue to breath Czech air made it easier. This year, everything was coming to an end. Not only my time at Winfield, but everyone's time there. Winfield itself will cease to exist. What will remain will be split in two between two different schools, and nothing of what has been my home will remain. The hardest part for me is knowing that, not only will I be out of their lives, there will be no new ESI teacher coming. The general ESI model is set up so that we're all just links in a chain of influence. We can pass over the students we've prayed for and done our best to share our lives with to someone else who will come in and continue caring about them. But this time, that's just over, and that has added a fresh pain to this goodbye. Not wanting to allow myself to get overly emotional just now, I'll do my best to move on and just share some of the events of this past month.
It's kind of funny because I posted 7 times I think in the month of June, and yet basically none of those posts have anything to do with what was happening in that month itself. And believe me, it was a busy time indeed.
On a personal note, I spent a lot of my weekends doing some crazy hard work in the garden with Mark. There was a massive pile of dirt and rocks that needed to be shoveled into a wheelbarrow and hauled to a new location where it was dumped over a steep wooded bank. Here is a view of the hill after we'd already worked on it for at least 4 hours:

Let's just say that by the time we got it to look like this:

I'd earned ice cream on several occasions. It was a serious job, and now I'm just curious what Mark's dad will come up with for us to do next.
My favorite memory from the time spent working there was when we got to enjoy some tasty treats from the garden. Throughout the time there I was instructed multiple times to pick strawberries, but I usually only had time to eat one or two in the midst of work. At the end of the day, however, we had some time to just pick and enjoy. I'd gathered quite a few for myself, then Mark came over with a brimming handful and added them to what I already had saying I should just eat them all. I had nothing to put them in, so there really was no other choice. As Mark wound his way through the pea patch, filling his mouth with the sweet green vegetables, I sat with a handful of sun warmed strawberries, letting the hot juice sit inside my mouth as I slowly chewed each one. Unforgettable sort of moment.
In June we also had our end of the year retreat. We went to Konopiste, a castle not far from Prague. We didn't go on a tour inside the castle, but we enjoyed views from outside. True to usual form, I went on early morning walks alone (okay, this is typical Sarah behavior only on retreats when I generally end up "sleeping" on really hard beds and therefore give up before most people are ready to get up) so I had a lovely view of the castle all by myself. I'd heard that we were located literally in the parking lot of the castle, but wasn't sure exactly where it was at. I went on this walk around the lake and watched all the early morning fishers who had no doubt been out for quite a long time already by 7 AM when I was making my rounds. It wasn't until the walk back that I got a view of the actual castle, but I was quite impressed.

Later on we had more chances to explore, and I got some more lovely shots throughout the weekend.




It was pretty strange knowing that this was to be my last ESI event. After three years these events have just become something that I count on happening, and now they're over. The fact that I'm not likely to see most of those people ever again is quite strange, but at the same time part of the usual pattern of my transient life.
The end of the year is my favorite because this is when we get to just let loose and have fun with the students. There were day trips to Jesenice where we played beach volleyball for hours, a fact my right arm continued to remind me of for some time, seeing as how I don't serve very often in my regular life. There were also classes outside where we were able to sit and talk and just enjoy time spent together. Sadly a lot of students weren't around any more at the end of the year so most of these final classes were small, but it's quality, not quantity that counts, and I fully enjoyed every chance I had to get to know these amazing people a little bit better.
It all felt a bit odd, however, knowing that even though I'm done with my job, and moving on to something new, I'm not actually leaving the country just yet. Generally speaking, I leave the country as soon as the school year is over, but this year I find myself still here, waiting around to find out what will be next. All the same, I doubt that I'll see many of my students again. So we're not so far apart, and yet it's still over. Just strange.
The final Winfield party was part end of the year party and part a tribute to all Jarmila has done throughout her ten years as the manager of Winfield. It is so hard to believe that she's really finished with it, and yet I'm thankful she'll have a bit of a break after so many years of work there. It was a lot of fun, and despite the crazy thunder storm in the afternoon, the skies did clear and we were able to have it outside at Krajinka as planned.


After school was officially over I had a few days to work on pulling things together before my next move. Tammy put together a very nice party that I was able to invite friends and colleagues to, so that was fun. Always nice to have an excuse to dress up every now and then. It was a good way to end my time in Cheb as well.


On Thursday last week, that would be July 1st, I finalized all my packing up and Mark and his dad came to move me to their place in Marianske Lazne. So for the past week now I've been working on adjusting to my new life here in transit. We're still waiting and waiting and waiting for information on the visa situation, and in the meantime trying to really enjoy this time we have together. We're not sure what all we'll be able to do this summer, but I'm looking forward to having this time for us to really get to know each other better as we prepare for what God has in store for our futures.

Cheb Tour '10

I'm going to start out by adding a couple of pictures I really should have put up last time in order to demonstrate just how crazy it can be around here during construction times. The first is one in Cheb that shows the work they've been doing to make the new pedestrian zone. It's supposed to be done really soon, and seems to be about there so it should be all cleared out before FIJO. The second is in KV where I'm not sure they'll have anything but chaos ready for the Film Festival. Rumor has it Jude Law is going to be there this year. Not sure yet if I'll make it to the festivities, but we'll see. All depends on whether or not Mark and I can EVER plan our Paris trip!


Uploading photos is going reallllllly slowly today. Hopefully I really will manage to get some in for you today. Nice dream at least.
So for Julie's visit I decided that my students should to a tour of Cheb for her. Since I only have a few regular daily students it was quite a bit of work to manage it.
In the end we did pull it off. The L1s came along as well, but it was the L2s that did all the work. We went around town and enjoyed different sights where they also provided Julie with some history. I'd done my best not to show her too much of town before this point so that she could really enjoy all that they had to share. I was quite proud of them, and we had a good time as well.






Aren't they all just too cute? I had a lot of fun with them this year. So hard to believe that this is my last week as a teacher. I wonder if I'll ever integrate this experience into my life again. I've gotten pretty used to it over the last three years. I definitely wouldn't want to go back to being a sub, but maybe if I could be some sort of language teacher in the future it wouldn't be so bad. I'd still prefer inspiring students to delve deeper into literature, or to really bare their souls through the written word, but it's hard to know if that's really a practical hope. Especially with America's economy these days. Ah well.
Anyhow, Julie and I traipsed around Cheb a bit more and found some interesting new friends as well.



And now I'll leave you with another picture of the amazing limo that followed us to Cheb at some point. Pretty random if I do say so myself. If only they'd had this around in Kansas for Laura's wedding...:)

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...

An American Breakfast

Few people who know me well would do more than laugh at the thought of me being a cook type person. I'm just not. It's not in my nature. Partly because of perfectionist tendencies. If I've never made something before the probability of a massive FAIL is just to high. We're talking astronomical. There are people who like to say if you can read you can cook. Perhaps there is something to be said for that, but there is also much to be said on the side of, say, natural talent. Not to mention interest.
There was a brief phase in 7th grade when Mom thought it could be...interesting...maybe beneficial, for me to join her on forays in the kitchen. I think it lasted 2 or 3 Friday nights. I mostly remember the time we made pizza from scratch. Did I mention my mom's a wizard in the kitchen? Um, cause she is. And that partly led to the end of these little ventures. You see, it was a whole lot easier for her to make the masterpiece without the meddling little apprentice there to screw the whole thing up. Do you all recall what happened to Mickey when the wizard left him untended for a moment? Yeah. So.
I had to enter the world of domesticity when in Hong Kong. In fact, my first attempt at feeding 15 people involved that same homemade pizza. I told myself over and over that it was true, if you can read, you can cook. I followed Mom's recipe to the best of my abilities. Now, I suppose I should give myself a few honest excuses. Hong Kong and Horse Creek exist in totally alternate realities. There is little comparison between one of the largest, most densely populated cities in the world and Horse Creek, CA population 115 on a good day when all the livestock has had a good breeding season. Hong Kong is located in a tropical climate and is rather ridiculously high on the humidity chart in the middle of summer when this little disaster took place. Horse Creek is located in a mountainous region of Northern California. Through the winter months the sun never shines on the little nook where our house and church nestled up against the mountains. They just aren't the same, and, believe it or not, that causes differences in the ways that cooking happens. There's a reason that there are elevation charts in cook books. All this to say, the crust that was supposed to spread out enough to feed 15 people scarcely covered one and a half pans...
It is true that, in the nearly three years that I lived in Hong Kong my skills got better. I learned how to chop veggies and fruit which led to some truly delightful salads ;) I also mastered the art of vegetarian spaghetti, tacos, French toast, and my mother's biscuits. All rather awe inspiring when you consider the half hour it took me to make 15 minute rice in my Redding apartment because I had to read the instructions so many times. Add rice to bottom of pot. Add twice as much water. Add a little salt. Boil. Keep boiling. Boil some more. When water is gone you're done. Tough people. Seriously tough. (And I'm pretty sure Jessie is still laughing at me 8 years later! Ha!)
Since leaving Hong Kong I've not done much to develop my culinary skills. I became the master of cheese, crackers, and those famous chopped veggies. Not to mention my mean Asian noodle boiling skills. Wild. Simply wild.
Those who've been following my blog for some time know that this summer my family took it upon themselves to improve my domestic qualities. There was a blackberry pie, orange and cinnamon rolls, and numerous dinner helping occasions. Funny how a man comes into your life and suddenly you're expected to be a woman of all things. I mean, I'd always managed to skip out of the womanly duties at family events. Granted, I can clean with the best of them. See, cleaning you can't really screw up. Water, soap, and elbow grease. These are things I can understand. I mean, I was a maid for several summers. (Two to be exact, with an extra month thrown in for bad measure just to remind me that it's a job I'll not likely do again unless the recession means that it's a choice between that, cleaning grease vats, or cleaning out the sewer.) But enough of the asides. I was thrown into the oven, and came out lightly browned on top...well, not exactly.
Basically, after the summer of preparations I came back and haven't done a whole lot with these recently brushed up skills. Sure, I've cooked for Mark a few times, but not enough to really make it look like I've at long last become the cook type person that my mother may of dreamed that I could be. Instead, we've eaten out a lot, or had my now famous open-faced sandwiches (shades of Great Harvest).
This week, however, I've had a little extra time. You see, last week my colleague decided that it was perfectly all right for him to ditch out on a week of school. Yes, that's right. Just two weeks after our Christmas holiday he took off for a week to ski in the Alps with a couple of students. Now, perhaps this would be all right at a normal school. You know, one in which there are a full staff of teachers who can wiggle their schedules around and fill in a class or two here and there. But at are school there are 3 full time teachers. That's right, 3! So when one of those is missing that means the other two of us have a LOT of slack to pick up. We even had to call in some extra help, which is scarcely heard of in a country where they don't have substitute teacher hot lines. (One more side note: I have to confess that it's nearly impossible to help students figured out compound nouns. The truth of the matter is, were it not for spell check I'd constantly make errors. Sure, I know that fire engine has to be two separate words, but fire man and fireman both look perfectly all right to me. The only way I know that it really is just one word absolutely for certain is the fact that when I type in fireman there is no squiggly line underneath it, unlike when I just typed in hotline as one word and there was one. End Side note.)
So this week Jonathan has to fill in some extra morning hours for me. That meant time for my mind to think again on the culinary arts. The result? I made mint chocolate chip cookies for Mark on Monday. Well, I mixed up the dough Monday afternoon and then cooked them up Tuesday morning so they'd be ready in the afternoon when I went to see him in his town. They turned out fabulous this time. Quite a relief after the disaster cookies I tried to make my students last year. Those ones ended up puddles. Seriously, it was not a pretty picture. I ended up shoving the rest of that dough into a pie pan and trying to convince them that it was now a bar cookie and they really should give it a try. Ugh! But this time they came out beautifully. Sadly I didn't get a picture, but I saved some of the dough and plan to cook up some more so we can have fresh hot ones with our team time tonight so maybe I'll snap a picture of those.
After this baking high note, I felt prepared for the next step. You see, unbeknownst to me my colleagues decided that today, Wednesday the 27th of January, would make a lovely day for a ski trip. I. Don't. Ski. Period. Yeah, I tried it. Once. Last year. And it's going to stay at once thank you very much. So they decided, again this was ALL done without me, that I could do something with the students who weren't interested in skiing. They'd offered up swimming. Um. It's January people! And I don't really swim either. Allergic to chlorine, remember? But at least it sounded a bit better than skiing.
I, on the other hand, thought up an alternate activity. So on Friday, when trying to sell the idea of watching a movie with me and being nice and warm, rather than freezing cold (consequently today is the coldest day of the year so far. Jarmila informed me it was -20 C on her farm this morning. That's cold. We're talking snot freezing cold.) I added that I would also take them to my house for the movie, and would serve an American breakfast. (So I accidentally just wrote sever instead of serve. Good thing I caught it since spell check would have been okie dokie with that little slip up.)
Now I didn't win over the whole crowd, but once the words had come out of my mouth, those who didn't want to ski sunk their claws into them and I was stuck in the promise. And so, today, I pulled out my mom's award winning biscuit recipe. Okay, so she never actually entered her biscuits into a county fair, but she could have. These biscuits are the reason I didn't starve as a child at potlucks. To say that I was picky as a child would be the understatement of the new millennium. Many apologies to all the people whose homes I entered only to turn my nose up at their gracious edible offerings. I think sometimes I was the bane of my parents existence at social calls. Here people invited the pastor and his family over to dinner only to have their adorable little girl turn into a demon at the table. At least I never threw up at other peoples' houses...
Anywho...I was an olive on every finger, deviled egg, and jello eater at potlucks. Good for the figure I suppose, but when you're 5 no one really thinks about that. They're more concerned that you aren't getting your four food groups. Thankfully Mom's biscuits always came to the rescue. She'd usually slip out of church just as we were all singing "Bless be the tie that binds..." and hurry to the house to throw the biscuits in the oven. She'd bring them down, piping hot, and be rushed by the frenzy. There were never any left over. Truth be told, they seldom even made it to the food table. People rushed to get at them and devour every last golden morsel. They were rather like the manna that rained down from Heaven. At least the first few days when the Israelites were still being thankful. Truly a blessing.
So I pulled out the recipe this morning, as I said before, and set about making these show stopping favorites. I mixed up the dough and then had to go to school to pick up my students. I didn't want to cook them in advance, since fresh is DEFINITELY the way to go. I rushed through the cold, watching my breath turn my hair gray as it froze immediately, after leaving my biscuit dough in the closet which is substantially colder than the rest of our flat.
I collected a grand total of three students. Honestly, that was the sort of number I was hoping for. My house isn't exactly designed for crowds. We headed back to my house with a disappointing stop at the not yet open video store. I had three L1s in tow, that means three people who really don't speak English. They're getting a lot better, but for the most part I had to scrape together what I know of Czech to follow what they were saying as we walked. Not that it was all that hard. I'm sure most people who speak English and not Czech would be able to figure out that "autobus" and "taxi" relate to modes of transport other than feet. Clearly the ten minute walk was not to their liking in this Antarctic climate. But we did make it, and I made them fruit tea to warm them up while the biscuits were cooking. The closet did it's work and kept it from turning into a fluffy monster whilst I was away. Twenty or so minutes later I had them seated at my table with a glorious spread.




Delightful!
Mom's biscuits did it yet again. They all sang the praises, and I knew it was the excellent recipe and not any ability of mine that could have pulled it off. We then watched Twilight which one of my other students had brought to me a couple months ago, because it was the only DVD I had with Czech subtitles. They seemed to enjoy that as well, so it all worked out.
American Breakfast.
Success!