Making Paper

So April started out with a bang as far as the updates were concerned, but then we settled very comfortable back into our routine. Last weekend Jace and I went to a youth retreat with Youth Praha and had a great time, it was really good getting to know the students better and spending so much time with them. We came home exhausted and happy. 

School has been going very well, I love my job and love my kids. Today we made paper as a part of our lesson on recycling, and I wanted to give you a further glimpse into my day to day life. 

We started off by tearing paper (from the recycling bin) into bowls. The boy on the left is clearly ready. 

Once they had enough paper (which managed to take about 30 minutes or so) they mixed it with ink and water. 

It got everywhere. This table was fully red by the end. 

Nothing was safe. 

Then we rolled it out onto little screens made with wire and panty-hose. 

Now they are sitting on the windowsill drying. Hopefully the finished project will be a success. Will have to keep you posted on that. 

Please note, this project was done with 15 kids. It was a mess and carried on for about 2 hours. We were late for lunch, but our lunch lady is sweet. Thank goodness that we have a three day weekend. I need some rest!

Video

http://www.babytelevize.cz/video/bumble-bee-anglicka-skolka-33/

About a month ago, some film-makers came to Bumble Bee to film our school, and there is now a short video online of my school. There are quite a few segments from my classroom, basically anything where the walls of the classroom are green, and the shots of the bulletin boards are mine. Also, the kids dancing in a circle and singing the days of the week are also my bunch. 

Enjoy!

Easter Traditions

Remember when I told you about some of the traditions at Christmas time?? Well the Czechs also have some fun tradtions for Easter.

At the markets, they are selling loads of these intertwined branches with streamers on the end. (see picture in the last post) They are made from branches of the willow tree because it is the first tree to start blooming and growing after winter (or so I am told). Anyway, the boys buy these sticks and go around on Easter Monday whipping the girls with them. I was told by my Czech female coworker that this was for 'health and freshness' and my male Czech teacher told me it was so "the girls don't dry up." Then in return, the girls give the boys decorated eggs, or if it is an older group, the boys get shots of a plum brandy called Slivovice. And later in the day, the girls throw water on the boys. This all happens on Monday, it is typically their day off instead of Friday.

Another tradition is on Sunday to take a boiled egg, cut it up and share it with your family members "so that you may never part"

Happy Easter everyone, we love you!!

Sunny Saturday

Happy 3 day weekend everyone!!

Today was a beautiful sunny day, so Jace and I went to the Easter markets downtown and then for a walk in Stromovka park. 

The markets were nice, similar to the ones at Christmas, and the trees had been decorated. There were so many people though, and I realize that this trend will probably continue through the summer. Oh yes, and it was hot. I actually opened my mouth to complain about it being "too hot" then I quickly shut it when I realized that I loved the warmth. Going to the park was great, we laid in the grass and read books. 

and of course, to finish off the post:

I am so Texan

I know that this will not seem as funny as I found it, but I still had to share it because today, my Texan really showed. 

I was talking to my co-worker George (he is Czech) about his plans for the weekend, and he said that he will be going with his girlfriend to meet her dad and stay at his house. "And her dad has a gun!" The last part is a direct quote from George, and he mentioned that fact a couple of times. 

Meanwhile, I keep thinking, "It's really no big deal that he has a gun..." 

Then I realized that I am not in Texas anymore, this is the CZ, and not everybody has guns. In fact, I'm not even sure its really allowed, and the only reason that this father has one is because he is the park ranger (or something) in the village where he lives....

I had to laugh. And it made me remember the time 3 years ago that I was on a train from Budapest to Prague and at 2AM, the passport officer checks my passport and says to himself, "Texas...pow, pow" Good times.

Our Easter Decoration

So when we went to Cesky Krumlov, we bought some Easter eggs there. You see these painted eggs everywhere right now. I also may have clipped some branches off our tree outside....

Czech Construction

We are blessed to live both north and south of of 2 parks. One, Letna park, overlooks the river and all of downtown. The other, Stromovka Park (which literally means tree park), is one of the bigger parks here in Prague, and a great place to go running, and I often walk through it to get to and from school.

We are also blessed to live smack in a construction site. Just a couple blocks from us is construction that is being done to create an underground tunnel. As a result, some of the roads are ripped up and therefore, trams aren't running. It is a little inconvenient, but it has been like that since we moved, so we don't know anything different.

Part of this tunnel runs underneath Stromovka, and the agreement was that they could build under the park as long as it was done underground - no construction vehicles, etc. actually in the park.

Sounds great, right. Well all this underground construction caused some sinkholes in Stromovka, so now they have this:

Oh well, they tried. Gotta love the irony.

Evidence of Spring

Just as fair warning: I may be writing about the weather quite a bit because it is simply beautiful and perfect these days.

This is a tree right outside our building. In fact, that window is our bedroom window. When we came home from Cesky Krumlov, we were greeted with some bright, happy, yellow blooms. It was a nice surprise.

Obamas

So, as I've said, they were in Prague, but we were not at the time. It would have been interesting to try and see him here but apparently you needed tickets to see his actual speech, so all I would have been able to see were the hoards of people, police, etc. 

My co-worker, Oliver, was taking his sister to the airport on Sunday and saw AirForceOne at a hangar, then waited a bit and saw Obama's car and a slew of others pull into the hangar. He didn't have a camera, so no pictures, but he said it was really neat. Also, his sister's flight was 2 hours delayed due to the fact that they shut the airport runways down in order for AF1 to take off.

Here is the front page of one of the Czech newspapers from yesterday. The headline reads: "We will not betray you" promises Obama. Then underneath it says something about ObamaMania and that over 10,000 people came to see him. 

For Good Luck!

Opening day is today!

Cesky Krumlov photos

Waiting for the other train to pick us up and take us to the station.

Sitting outside drinking iced coffee in our T-shirts and sunglasses!

There were some bears around the castle.

Like a mini-Prague

View from our hotel window

Cesky Krumlov

Well spring is officially here. Actually I think spring was just skipped over and into summer. It has been so warm and sunny lately - so beautiful!!

Speaking of things being here, Obama was here giving a speech this morning. However, though Obama was here, we were not. We went to a cute little town in south Czech Republic called Cesky Krumlov. I loved it and Jace and I had a great time. 

We got there late Friday night after an adventurous trip*, slept in on Saturday then walked around looking at the town and its castle. We just got home a little while ago, so pictures are still to come. We had such a nice and relaxing and refreshing weekend. Also, we were able to walk around in short sleeved shirts without our jackets and without being cold. I wanted to cry the weather was so perfect! I had never realized how much I had taken the sun and warmth for granted, but I definitely appreciate it now!

*Prague to Cesky Krumlov: We first had to take a train to Cesky Budejovice before connecting to Cesky Krumlov. However, our train got stopped right outside this tiny little town for an hour. They let us off that train, then it left and we got onto another train coming through. However, when we first got off the train, we left our bags there (but took the purse and wallets) and got our luggage off with just about ten minutes to spare (it would have been such a close call!)

Once we got to Cesky Budejovice, we had an hour and a half since we missed our connecting train, so we had dinner at a restaurant and went back to the train station. While there, we saw that our train was at the track so we made our way to the tracks and almost popped on the train that was sitting there. But Jace saw that the people were walking in a different direction towards this little, tiny, comical one-car train which was to take us to Cesky Krumlov. (also would have been a close call - if we missed that train we would have been stuck in that town.)

In Cesky Krumlov, we were lingering at the outside of the station (near midnight) trying to figure out what to do to get to the center. It was a small town, so there weren't taxis lingering about. Then a group of people offered us a ride to the center. It was so nice of them, and from there we easily walked to our hotel. 

Better late than never, right?

My apologies on the lack of updates. Things have been whirlwind (in a good way) and I finally feel like we've been able to wind down. 

On to Berlin:

My favorite thing about the city was easily the history behind it. It was different from Rome in that it was more recent, and therefore, more specific and perhaps even tangible. We took a free walking tour on Saturday morning and our tour guide was incredibly cute and interesting. 

I found the Berlin Wall simply fascinating - especially the fact that it was built completely by surprise to the people and in one night. Immediately this caused problems - people got stuck on one side even if they lived on the other. It was interesting, and we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum which had loads of stories surrounding the wall. I enjoyed the different and creative ways that people crossed the border. There was one picture of someone who hid in 2 canoes stacked on top of each other on the top of a car....

We saw the former site of Hitler's bunker. The actual bunker has been filled with cement (i believe) and the ground level has now been turned into a parking lot. As our tour guide put it, "It is now a place where people take their dogs for a poo."

There was also an incredibly interesting memorial to the victims of the holocaust as well as a very moving museum. This museum had actual letters and postcards sent to families and friends from camps and ghettos, and highlighted different families and stories. I have never seen a museum better arranged and organized. And it was free - so if you ever find yourself in Berlin, you have no excuse not to go. 

Overall, Berlin was a great city, and we enjoyed it very much. 

The infamous "michael jackson balcony" hotel

In the Holocaust Memorial

Bears like this were placed all over Berlin. Katie loved them all, I particularly liked this Euro-bear.

These cobblestones mark the former location of the wall.

Original statues on a rebuilt bridge.

Touristy shot at Checkpoint Charlie

Part of the wall

Paris Square

one of the largest chunks of the wall still intact. Apparently this summer, the artists will come back and re-do the original artwork which has now been covered with graffiti.