Blog 45: A horse is a horse; of course, of course.

Well, it was a beautiful fall day here in prague, and I couldn’t have asked to spend it a better way. Let me start off by saying that we have a holiday on Wednesday (hooray!!). It is the celebration of official statehood of Czechoslovakia, which I find quite ironic seeing as how Czechoslovakia exists no more… but hey, you won’t hear me complaining about a day off school! Due to said holiday, most of my friends are not working much this week at all. They all work at language schools where you teach 2-6 hours a day in individual lessons, and most have canceled seeing as how there is a holiday in the middle of the week. Being in the private school system, we do not have such luxuries, and will still have school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

At first, yes, I was a touch bitter about this seeing as how most of my friends have an entire week off. But after spending such a lovely fall day with my kiddos I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way. It was the perfect fall weather, high 50’s with sunshine and leaves falling all around us. We spent the morning carving pumpkins for our Halloween party (which happens to be tomorrow the 27th… I guess they didn’t quite get it right here when they copied it from us) and we spent the afternoon horseback riding in the mountains of prague. It was a great way to spend the day, and I am not only okay with being in school all week, but I am thankful to get to spend these beautiful days with my favorite four year olds :)

They love horseback riding, and out of our many weekly activities (ceramics, yoga, sauna, and cooking) I think this one is my favorite. And let me just say here and now, I use the term “horseback riding” quite loosely. It consists of two children at a time sitting on small horses walking down a short path as the horses are lead (very slowly) by two of the professionals. It’s about a four minute walk and they walk at a pace of about two miles per hour…maximum. Nevertheless, they all jump off the horse with the same excitement as if they have just been a part of a high speed horse chase.
Seeing their shinning faces brings a rush of memories back to me from when I took horseback riding at good old Camp Eberhart. We would ride for two hours twice a week and I thought that was SO MUCH time. Most of the time was spent leisurely walking through the trails in Michigan, which in my little mind translated into running high speed up and down mountains… same thing, right? Even if its not, im happy to be able to see the joy on their little faces as their imaginations run wild with these small adventures. An ability we should all strive to have!

Love love love from a beautiful prague!

Blog 44: the insight of little ones

As I am spending a good nine hours each day with three to six year olds, I have learned much more from them than I thought possible. Their insight is quite refreshing. Last week, we had quite the nasty weather week in Prague. It was low thirties and couldn’t decide if it wanted to rain or snow, but whichever it was; it was very windy and gray. The wind was biting and I was not looking forward to going out in it. Last Tuesday I was last to leave the school, and I was just waiting on three kid’s parents to pick them up. As we were eating our snack of biscotti (little cookies like vanilla wafers, but without the delicious taste…i.e. cardboard) I looked out at the ominous gray clouds and told Tomas I was not looking forward to going outside. “Why? We love playing outside” he questioned. “Well, in the sunshine I do, but I hate the winter, so I don’t like going outside in the cold.” I reasoned (it had been a long day and clearly I was a little grumpy…) “But I love every day!” he exclaimed. Words so simple, but so deep. He went on to explain that he not only loves all seasons, but he loves every day within them. These words literally resonated deep within me. I love every day too, why shouldn’t we? There is something so great and beautiful about each and every day, we should really appreciate these days, no matter the temperature. I simply smiled back at him and said, “You know what Tomas? I love every day too.”

love love love from prague!

blog 43: some say obsession, we say normal <3

just a quick post to say, that i absolutely love my family. i am so incredibly blessed to have the most amazing family in the world, and i cherish you all every single day. my friends here think its a bit odd that im slightly "obsessed with my family" and talk about you all the time, but they are just jealous they arent as cool as us :) but honestly, i couldnt have done this move or anything in my life without you all and just wanted to say thank youuu!

i am more than excited to see you all in december for christmeee (65 days, no im not counting...)!

love love love from prague!!

blog 42: hello fall, my old friend.

although we all know i love those long warm summer days, i do embrace the fall. i love the cool breezes and the changing leaves. fall is officially here in prague, and it is absolutely beautiful. the crisp mornings followed by warm afternoons, the leaves changing colors, the fall decorations donning the store window fronts. we are teaching the preschoolers about autumn, and getting them prepared for halloween and thanksgiving. both of which we celebrate, the perks of working in an english speaking school! but the weather is beautiful and although i am not looking forward to the cold cold winter that is ahead of us, i am turning my face towards the sun and embracing the autumn winds!! happy fall!

love love love from Prague!

blog 41: the kindness of strangers

The Czech republic is not known for its friendliness. Last time Ash and I were in Germany we had a field-day with how nice the people were to us. Such a lovely change from the Czechs. While individually I have met some lovely people, as a whole, their culture is not outgoing-ly friendly, especially to Americans.

However, I did meet a stranger who was more than willing to help me out at the pharmacy last week. I came down with quite a cold that resulted in me being sent home early from preschool. Haha I guess the parents don’t love it when the teacher is coughing and sniffling all over their children, weird. So on my way home from my half-day, I stopped at an organic pharmacy to get some medicine for this nasty cold. I stepped up to the counter (because all medicine here has to be prescribed by an over the counter pharmacist, even tylonal!) and asked, “anglitsky?” hoping that she spoke English. Of course, she did not, and promptly turned as if she was dismissing me. Luckily, the lady in front of me told me that she spoke English and would be happy to translate. Thank goodness, because I was prepared to act out my symptoms until I got the medicine I needed. This sweet lady translated all of my symptoms to the pharmacist, and I got the medicine I needed. I don’t think she will ever know how grateful I am to her!

So I got the medicine that I had struggled so much for home, and im 99% sure it was just vinegar in a bottle. I had to swallow fifty drops of it three times a day. Barf. And although it was the most disgusting thing I have EVER tasted, I kept taking the medicine and feel much better now. Apparently vinegar is a cure-all?

But with the cold on its way out we managed to salvage the weekend and get some quality roomie bonding time in. Ryan has been offered a job in Moscow and will be leaving us very early Wednesday morning! Were sad to see him go, but he will love Moscow, and we will have another place to visit!

love love love from Prague!