what's new

not too much. life is good. my main disappointment is that i don't have youth classes at all. but the adults are good and classes seem to get a little better each week. 

and now a current list

- obsessively eat yogurt and granola

- and kokos

- can't stop listening to bon iver. apparently it's a theme for this month

- i'm excited to get paid in 2 weeks

- i like the first coat i bought

- the weather has been awesome this weekend (bean and i went on a walk saturday and stumbled on a teeter-totter - that was a highlight for sure) 50 degrees and higher is so much more enjoyable now that i experienced 40 and raining. 

- i hung out w/ youth saturday at younglife. they are always refreshing. and i had 2 pretty stellar kickball catches - leaping over logs and almost dying and such. it felt nice

- we are going to try a new dance class this week. apparently mtv style - which should be interesting bc music choices here seem to suck. they are stuck 10-15 years behind us and enrique iglesias is alllllways in the background.

- jonah was an interesting character. glad i got to discuss him w/ bean today

- my room is finally in a decent feng shui -- for this week at least

- we have a washer that works. hallelujah

- praha has new art exhibits on the weekends - at least the 2 i have been there. amazing photos and such. i like that. art on the street free and available for all to enjoy - thank you, prague.

- ostrava is still feeling more like home everyday

- reign of fire is ridiculous

- the slide in our building is still fun

we shall see

so we've been here a tad over a month. thinking that there are only 10 of these to experience - i find it hard to believe i'll be done with this place by that time. my original and current commitment is a year. no intention or direction past that. 

there are things that make me want to be back home - weddings, nephews, relationships i've had for years, comfort of people knowing my language, more school, etc

there are things that make me want to be here - new relationships, new language, new coats and scarves, new dimensions of Jesus and disciplines i feel will take a very long time to implement, fun, more laughs than ever before, chocolate, traveling, etc etc

i just can't imagine that all 10 months would go by as fast as this first one and then i would think "yeah - that was enough". 

people told me they were proud that i came. i'm proud of myself too. i actually did it. i moved overseas. i am living the dream where i go to prague on weekends to visit friends and it's normal to walk around town without a huge tourist agenda. i ride in trains. i get bus tickets and use only a foreign language to do so. i look fairly normal on trams and buses. i go to class and students like that i speak english and am confident teaching it... 

but i've said several times - there is nothing else that makes sense - nothing. this is right now in my life. so there's not that much to be proud of. i'm just living.

i have nothing beyond me and nothing behind me. i have the present to embrace. but the future creeps closer each day and i don't know what to do w/ that thought/ concept... but currently - i feel like i will only establish and conquer a few things and it will take more than 1 year to feel satisfied with a european experience. we shall see

oh fail. fail fail fail

i am sweating. i went to billa to get a few things - apples, yogurt, chicken, sour patch equivalent - i stand in the long line to pay - pull out my card to pay - she gets annoyed - says something in czech - points to an overtly SMALL czech sign that apparently says cash only. yikes. so then they have to call the manager over to undo my purchases bc i have no cash today. awwwwwwkward. many people staring w / ugly looks. so then i go to another line - yeah - um card declined? my temp card i think is out of date as of today - so i say what i think to mean "never mind, sorry" as she calls the same manager over to do the same thing she just did for me at another line - more people staring - this is not a big place, people. so then i walk out. i can't go in there for a while now i'm sure. oh my head hurts. that was painful. 

i am americanka. i FAIL

blog schmog

what to say, what to say...

started reading the pursuit of God earlier this week. The beginning of it basically addresses the fact that the modern day church has cheapened God. We have taken away bits and pieces of His character and shoved Him into the box of His Word and programs - things that are tangible - and have forgotten to explore where His personality is in humanity and creation - the 2 things that at the beginning of time sustained people. Since they were created by Him, for Him and in His image, they displayed Him better than anything else could. 

Yet again I was reminded that while traveling, exploring, meeting, befriending, looking, walking, watching, etc, I am learning more about the God I have chosen to serve - that is exciting and precious. I'm excited to see how I and God develop further because of Europe and my travels around.

I had a fulltime week of teaching this week. 13 gymnazium classes, 4 business classes and 1 individual class at Fishnet. Lots of work, lots of time. It takes me a while to plan lessons and such and I pretty much just embrace the book currently. One day I'll be good at it and it won't own my life, but for now - I am learning and trying to be a good teacher, which means learning grammar and developing lessons, etc.

No big mess-ups this week, that was nice. Except the bugs that still try to claim our flat. They should leave, but they won't. Maybe since the lows this week will be in the 30s (farenheit), they will die. I hope they die. Oh - i did start a small fire in my trashcan today on accident. Oops. Be careful with matches, kids. Don't worry - no damage to myself, my flat, my roomie, etc.

We successfully operate our stove now. That's exciting. 

I don't buy milkas everyday. That is exciting and lame all at once. 

Our flat is clean after this morning.

We are getting to know new friends, Laura and Jonna, Ashley, Jesse. We finally met the illusive characters Luke, Luci and Nathan after much talk about them. 

Last night was one of the best Ostrava nights thus far. Movie night with Young Life followed by many hours of dancing at Stoldoni with all of our new friends. Dancing is lovely and fun and produces such immense amounts of joy. 

Tonight we go to a garden party at Adam's cottage w/ all the people we teach with. A scarf will definitely be necessary. It is cold outside!

And I would really really like to go to Krakow soooooon :)

apparently 2

when i move to europe...

1. i compulsively eat bebe's - from the light blue box. and chocolate. i've tried probably 7 kinds of milkas by now. i like 2 a  lot.

2. i ask my boss where the veyce is and leave him and 2 other czechs behind with gina while i go take care of business. i come back as the czechs are talking in their strange language where it all comes out as one word... gina tells me that i had asked where the egg was. to which i ask adam (boss) "what did i say?" he says "veyce" "well then what's toilet?" "vece" -- oh yes, of course - it's the same word. (not really - but it's like chip and ship or something retarded that a foreigner can't tell). i respond with massive giggles to the point of tears streaming down my face. there is nothing composed about me so my boss continues to play up the joke that i ran off looking for an egg instead of a bathroom in an asian czech restaurace and gina and i give up trying to look like the calm, composed americans and laugh.

3 . i teach grammar and make up rules. and then after i say the rule - i immediately realize how incorrect i was. thank goodness i was teaching fellow teachers and not students. bc just bc a word has a double-g does not mean that it always sounds like a "j" as in suggested - clearly johhing has a "g" sound - more giggles. (don't worry. i spent this whole morning teaching myself verb tenses. so fun)

4. i hike up the tallest mountain in the cz on my 2nd saturday here. and tumble down the mountain, break my shades, etc. quote "i'm gonna fall on my face. i can feel it" - gina

apparently - my mind said - "nah. i'll do that for her. oh oh oh." trip. overcompensate. barrel roll horizontally down a hill with jagged rocks. only a couple bruises. 25 kilometers straight up and down. i feel accomplished for such a big hike.

5. i kill birds that fly into our house. ok. it wasn't a bird - but it was a mosquito south american style. we screamed and i swear there were demon mosquitos all over me while killing it bc i immediately itched all over and inside of my pants. i killed that damn thing though. and screamed and giggled.

6. i am an actress while my boss tries out his "new idea". yeah. green screen and all. 

7. i don't know how to speak english well anymore. totally hard language.

8. i eat beets. ew. not as bad as i thought they would be

9. i drink espresso drinks bc drip coffee isn't sold in cafes

10. i wash my sheet to sleep with at night. not a problem in the states. 1.5 hours later - wash and dried. cz - big problem. washing takes forever and then you have to take it out - riiiing it out and then hang dry it. direct quote "oh i am an idiot"

11. i love life

12. i want to be quadlingual