For Your Entertainment

Here are a few random stories that I certainly found funny...

Story #1

One day while waiting for the metro, we noticed a strange looking man. We of course did not want to be rude, so we did not stare. Boarding the metro is a bit like herding cattle-everyone squeezes through the small doors and then when they open again, a few people escape. Anyway, as we boarded the metro we were gifted with a better view of the man...or rather the Orange Sheik. This man was dressed completely in orange. Orange shoes, orange genie pants, orange shirt, orange coat, orange murse (man purse), orange turban with a large purple jewel to top it all off. We were holding in giggles during that ride.

Story #2

Last Friday when the boys and I arrived back from our hike, we had no idea where we were (other than the train station that is). After we left the train, we tried to find signs for the Metro, but they were no where to be found (either that or they were staring at us in Czech). We went up the escalators, then down the escalators, then up a different escalator and almost down the again when this woman motioned us to follow her-perfect! Almost... Devon and I were standing on the escalator already...going down... We turned around and started running up the down escalator. I was doing just fine until the steps started getting smaller and I was almost to the end. My hand was in my pocket, so when I started going down I couldn't stop myself. Thus I fell on the top of the escalator. The whole 30 seconds were so absurd that I just started laughing. I tried to play it cool and just didn't say anything, hoping that only Devon saw it because he was right behind me. My hopes were shattered when Jake nonchalantly declared "I totally saw that." Oh man! And then of course Donnie explained that he saw my moment of gracelessness as well... what a moment.

Story #3

Fur. Everyone has fur. Fur hats, fur scarves, fur coats, fur vests. It's everywhere! Personally, it's kind of growing on me (not fur itself, but the style including fur accessories). One day, on my way up the ridiculously long escalator at Namesti Miru I noticed something strange about this woman's scarf. It was fur, of course, but this fur scarf had legs dangling from it...

Story #4

My first day without socks! It was finally warm enough today that I was able to venture outside in only my cute silver flats. The sun was shining and everyone's demeanor was a bit brighter this morning. As I walked passed the people on the streets, I received strange looks. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Did I have leftover breakfast on my face? Was my hair sticking straight up? Everything became clear while I was waiting the metro. A man was staring at my feet. It was my shoes. Very few people in Europe wear light colored shoes, and there I was in metallic, silver shoes. Everywhere I went, people stared. Note to travelers: people in Europe generally where black shoes.

England Pictures

I realized that I do not have any pictures from my trip to England....so here are some pictures from London and from West Sussex.

Wondering the streets

Tree thing growing around the fence

Lush grass with morning dew
Claire and I waiting for Mr. Darcy

Beautiful architecture
Look closely, Mr. Darcy is in there somewhere
Bench where Mr. Darcy will propose...

Beautiful bridge
Sweet staircase
I love old books

The Victoria and Albert museum had the greatest random items

West Minster Abbey
Claire and I

Big Ben

Chocolate with Friends

This morning I woke up to sunshine! Yes, the sun finally scared away the clouds and came out to visit-what a blessing. I allowed myself to sleep in until 9 (all these late nights talking to mom are finally catching up to me...) and then my day began. I read a little, journaled a little, ate some yogurt, and got ready to go. Today the women of one of the churches I am attending had a get-together at a local chocolate museum and then a dessert bar for lunch. It was delightful to spend time getting to know the ladies and becoming actual friends rather than simply friendly faces to wave at (and chocolate was involved, so it really just doesn't get much better). I must say, I feel so young! One of the women responded in her lovely English accent with "Oh you're such a baby!" when I said I was only nineteen (and you know, she is right).

After our long lunch (you know how long ladies can chat...), I came back home for a short rest and then ventured over to the castle to watch the sunset. I decided to stop at the river and watch the sunset there rather than racing up the castle hill to catch the last glimpses of sun. There is a beautiful view of the castle, Charles Bridge, and the Vltava River from a row of benches along the river path, so I sat and stared at the magnificent colors. Although the hustle and bustle of the city was right behind me, that little spot felt so peaceful. A man was sitting nearby playing a guitar and couples sauntered along the river path. The calm was simply wonderful.

Well my belly has been rumbling for the past fifteen minutes...I NEED FOOD!

Cesky Raj

You know that warm, happy feeling you get when you wake up without an alarm, light is shining through the window, and for just one second everything seems right? That was how my morning started. As soon as I glanced at the clock, in the words of Dory the fish "good feeling gone!" The bus we were planning to take to Turnov left at 8:40 and the clock read 8:41...I jumped out of bed and turned on my phone to see if the boys were still waiting for me. We ended up taking a later bus and ventured off into Bohemian Paradise. Cesky Raj National Preserve is full of beautiful mountains, chateaus, rock formations, and castles. We didn't make it to any castles, but hiking felt wonderful! The winter scent lingered in the air as we trekked through the trails, threw the occasional snowball, and stopped in awe of the scenery. After our hike, we arrived at the train station a couple hours before our train left starving, so we searched for a place to eat. We found a great little restaurant with cheap prices and huge portions. I can't wait to go back to Cesky Raj in the spring-Sarah and Elise, we are definitely taking a day trip here!

The Basics

I have neglected writing for the past week, so let me backup to Friday:

We did a little grocery shopping during the day and then went to a school event with our new friend, Elise. We met up with her at "The Horse" (which is really the easiest place to meet) and then went to a movie theater to watch a short film a teacher had created. Little did know that when we arrived, we would be scarred for life. We took our seats and noticed the title of the film: Cold Rape. And that's really all I am going to say about that. It was an interesting experience to say the least, and it showed us a little more about the culture. People in Prague are very open and expressive about the facts of life and quite frankly, because I grew up in a different culture I view most of it as rather crude. After the movie ended, we went to the after party at a nearby club. They had free champagne, so I had my first taste and I must say it is delicious. My favorite treat of the night though was a cheese platter that us girls split-it was superior!

The next morning we barely made our bus for Olomouc. The ride was long, and the woman I sat next to had a horrible cough, but eventually we both fell asleep and it no longer mattered. Olomouc was adorable. It is much smaller than Prague and had a quaint feeling about it. We really didn't know much about the city, so we had my Rick Steves book open for most of the trip. My favorite part of Olomouc was this park that we found. A blanket of white, fluffy snow covered the ground and everything seemed to glisten. It was refreshing to see trees and have a break from the endless buildings. We ate at a restaurant (recommended by Rick) that was delicious! I had meat dumplings (a traditional Czech meal) that filled my stomach to the top-I was so full.

Sunday was wonderful. I went to two different churches and loved them both. The people were so welcoming, I wanted to meet all of them! On the way to the second church, I was with the two guys from school here and we completely misunderstood the format of the street, because before we knew it we were sauntering down the middle of the tram tracks with a tram coming our way...so we climbed through a fence-like structure to the sidewalk (and our safety) and continued on to the church.

Sunday night we had a dinner party with the girls for Valentines day. We cooked with all our random ingredients combined and found out we are much better cooks than we thought.

I went up to Prague Castle a couple days ago to see what it looked like up close. Despite the abnormally cold temperatures and hundreds of tourists, it was wonderful. Detail and history dripped from every corner-I cannot wait to go back on a warmer and brighter day.

Olomouc

Pictures from our day trip to Olomouc...details to come

The Time Has Come

I fear it has happened. Today marks a very important day in the life of me. Anticipation for this day has lingered in the deep crevices of my mind. I never thought the day would arrive when I yearned to clean, to cook. As Kirby and I discussed dinner plans with Hana, I suddenly had the urge to cook something wonderful. To impress in the kitchen. What is happening to me? After Kirby left I dashed to Rachel Ray, but found nothing appealing (surprising, I know). I will make it up as I go! A pasta dish of course, but with the help of my nose and future-wife-instincts it will be a masterpiece! I made my shopping list and rushed to get ready. WHAT IS THAT??? Yes, there it was. And the more I looked, the more I found. The clean person's antagonist. The housewife's foe. The dust bunny. Overwhelmed with the thought of dust and dirt I immediately start cleaning. What have I become? I made the beds, straightened the living area, and swept the floor (with the help of Whoville of course). I fear the time has come. Dare I say it, I am a domesticated woman.

Random

Europe is possibly the most random place I have ever been (even compared to Whoville). Couples are just so different-often times the female is much taller and much better looking than the man. Also, people are far more publicly affectionate. I did not realize that when riding an escalator it is necessary for a couple to share one step, to caress each other, or to appear annoyed when people look at them (seriously, YOU are the one making a scene). Oh, and a dream of mine was fulfilled yesterday. I have always wanted to see a bounty hunter, and now I have. On my way home from school, I was mindlessly riding the metro when a man jumped on at one of the stops. There he was with his leather boots, leather pants, leather jacket, Indiana Jones hat, and a scroll looking object encased in a clear plastic bag, sealed with a leather belt. And there you have it: random things happen in Europe.

So it begins

School started yesterday and everything went...well...
1.) I woke up two hours late (luckily class was at 2:45)
2.) I couldn't get my books from the library because I hadn't received an ID card and didn't have a transcript from the school
3.) The line to fix classes and pick up an ID card was approximately 50 people long
4.) Since I wasn't able to pick up my class schedule, etc. I went to the wrong class-3 hours of business statistics...that I now have to sit through AGAIN tomorrow night.

Other than those silly mishaps, the day was wonderful. It was nice to have something to do and to have a sketch of a schedule for me to fill in soon. I went back this morning to figure out my class situation and praise be to God there were no other students in there. The class I sent an email about last week was now full (of course), so I signed up for sociology of aesthetics-please pray GCC approves it for credit, I don't have time for electives :)
After going to pick up my books from the library, I came back to the apartment for a little refresher and some lunch before I go off to class this afternoon. I really like this "operating like a real person" thing. Living in an apartment, cooking, cleaning, finding my way around, making my own schedule...I could get used to this.
I was reading this morning and had an epiphany-God is so faithful. I know, I should have gotten this one before, but it was just incredibly evident today. I read Jonah 2 (possibly my favorite chapter in the Bible) and realized that describes my life.

"From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:
"In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the deep,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.

I said, 'I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.'

The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit,
O Lord my God.

"When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.

"Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the Lord."

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." ~Jonah 2

I ran from the Lord's will, just as Jonah did, and let me tell you I do not like the looks of the belly of a whale. God listened all along, I was just too caught up in my own bitterness to receive His love and grace. He restores. And now I wait on Him. Where He leads, what else do I have to do but follow.

Prague Pictures

If a picture is worth 1000 words, then here is quite a long essay.
Kirby and I make great meals :)
Kafka
Tick Tock
The Castle
Charles Bridge
This is right around the corner from the school

The Apartment!

Lost Again!!

Last night marked the first of many grand adventures in Prague. Kirby and I left our hostel around 10 pm to find our new apartment. To save ourselves from a hassle in rush hour metro traffic, we brought our suitcases with us during that trip. We knew the address and the stops we needed to take to get there, but as we boarded the metro Kirby realized she had left her phone (with our contact's number) at the hostel. Since we knew the address and we were already a bit late, we decided to keep going. God is so good and provides us with exactly what we need. People stopped to help us carry our bags up stairs and although people gave us funny looks, we were completely unharmed during the quest.
We missed the tram stop, so we rolled our bags all the way to the apartment building. Success! We made it...and then realized that we didn't know the key code to get into the building. Failure. Kirby played around with it a bit and found out how to find the address book to find the people's last names, but of course our contact was not listed. So we did what any normal American traveler would do-we rang the first name we could pronounce: Smith. The lady said this had happened before, so she rang us into the building and told us she thought we needed to go to the second floor. Praise the Lord! We were out of the cold. The mailboxes were next to the door, so we found our contact's name and affirmed we were in the right place.
There was a tiny elevator in the center with a stair case spiraling around it and being that we travel together, we naturally thought both of us and our massive bags would fit inside-haha. So there we were crammed in this itty bitty elevator with the doors trying to close-(ding ding halfway close, slide open, ding ding halfway close, slide open). I finally wiggled out and went up separately to find this hidden apartment. We searched the entire building looking for the door with her name on it-nothing. But what can I say, God provides. Just as Kirby was about to knock on some random door, hoping we either found our apartment or someone who spoke English, a man returned from a walk with his dog. Kirby raced down the stairs to ask if he spoke English or knew someone who did. He brought her to a friend (low and behold, the Smith who let us in the building) who let us in to use their internet so we could send our contact an email. What else can I say but God Provides! It turns out she had lost track of the time and was out finishing up some work and returned late. But we found her! The apartment is wonderful. We have more than we need and she is one of the nicest ladies I've ever met.
End of story...NOT.
After we get the keys and directions of how everything works, we hopped on a night tram outside. It was freezing and we almost knew the tram routes, so we jumped on the first thing that came our way. We would have been perfectly correct if we had hopped off at the stop our map said, but it was cold and we thought that maybe the next stop would take us a bit closer to the hostel (mind you this is 1:20 am), so we continued on. This time we turned away from our hostel and crossed the river into the Prague suburbs. So then we thought that if we rode the tram to the last stop it would simply turn around and take us back-not the case. Once we hit the last stop, we are kicked off the tram and stranded somewhere off our map. That's when the Czech/Russians came into the picture. These two guys came up to us and asked if we were lost-clearly. Long story short, they were slightly intoxicated, very nice guys who were looking for a pub and invited/insisted we join them. Since we had no where else to go, we followed them towards the city as they tackled each other in the snow, attempted to woo us, and eventually led us back. We found a pub that was closed, so we continued walking and thank you Lord that we found a bus stop and they waited for the bus with us. As the bus pulled up, Dmitri and Pavel shook our hands, but didn't let go hoping we would stay and find a pub with them (yeah right, it's late, we're lost, and we don't know you!), so we tore away and boarded the bus. We rode to our stop and walked back to the hostel-safe and sound.
As ridiculous as that little adventure was, I do feel truly blessed, because God really did provide for us and provided us with a few laughs along the way.
*Disclaimer: Kirby and I were both entirely safe during this last leg of the journey. The boys were very nice and they had two friends (who were clearly dating) and they were very helpful when we eventually found our way back to the city.

Prague

I'm home! Not really, but home for the next few months. Yesterday we went out to attempt to orient ourselves yesterday, and after our travel today I think I'm starting to get the hang of things. Prague is a busy city. People are always moving or have places to be. I'm excited to live in a city for now, but I think I'm more of a quiet living type of girl...
This is random, but I NEED TO HIKE! I'm going through major withdrawal. We walk absolutely everywhere, so I am tired by the end of the day, but it is nothing like panting in the hot sun trying to reach the top of a mountain before sunset (that is true success).
We went to school orientation this morning and now have some friends (some of the speak Czech-praise the Lord!). Our school is right across Charles Bridge and just a bit underneath the castle. We are so blessed!
Tomorrow we move into our first apartment and I can't wait to have one place to stay for a while. I'm a bit tired of feeling homeless. It will be nice to be able to buy groceries and unpack a little. Oh and laundry! I can't wait to do laundry! I don't have many stories to tell, because we are really just exploring and getting acquainted with the city...so here are some more pictures-those are more fun anyway.