Open for business.

While I was at Bible study this morning, "they" (whoever "they" is) came and prepared the pool. I really don't know what this means... can we go swimming in it? It looks a bit dirty and I imagine it's pretty cold. We have a control box inside the house, but it's all in Czech (of course). I don't think I want to start making my best guess and pushing buttons, but it sure looks tempting out there in the backyard with the cover off and the sun shining!

Lydia and I visited another playgroup yesterday. This one was much smaller with 4 other children, all the same age as Lydia. We had a really nice time, but I don't think it will be long term since all of the other mommies plan to send their kids to "nursery" in the fall. It must be a European thing but it seems to be the thing to do. It's basically preschool and it just amazes me that these moms will be sending their 18 month old children to preschool 3 days a week from 8:30-3:00. Keep in mind, these moms are not working outside the home. My neighbor is even sending her son starting next week and he's two weeks younger than Lydia. This playgroup was the first time I found myself having to explain why I won't be sending Lydia in the fall. I guess it's all about the culture that you're accustomed to.

Beer for breakfast???

Yummmmm. So the work guys showed up this morning to lay the 5cm of concrete on our terrace. Good news: we're making progress on the terrace project. Bad news: They're drinking beer while they do it. Yes, at 8:00 am, nothing satisfies thirst like a Czech beer. At least there are no power tools involved. I'm a little worried that in a few months they may need to come back to redo the terrace once again?

Stress Test

What a morning. Lydia and I made our 2nd appearance at playgroup. It was a nice time, although some of the kids aren't always so nice and there are usually several moments of anger amongst the kids. One and two-year-olds haven't exactly mastered the art of sharing yet and when you put them all into one small room... well, it's not exactly a relaxing time. There were 2 stay-at-home dads along with moms from Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, America and maybe more.

On our way home from playgroup I decided to fill up with gas. The first time since the initial gas incident. As I was replacing the nozzle, a man one pump over motioned to me that gas was leaking out from under my car. Mind you, not just a drip here or there... we're talking flowing. I called Brandon in a panic who told me not to worry, just drive it home. Just as I was building up the nerve to do that, the station owner went outside to take a look while his employees put a drain pan under the car and put sand over my growing gas spill. I decided I probably wasn't going anywhere. I called a friend who speaks Czech to translate with the station owner. He wanted me to wait until the gas stopped leaking but seemed to think it wouldn't take long and wouldn't be a problem to drive home. They pushed the car around to the back of the station and I stood there in awkward silence while they watched the gas flow. It's a strange feeling... not even being able to make small talk. Just nod and grin and wait. All this time Lydia is in her carseat, oblivious and smiling away at the station owner. After about 20 minutes, it slowed enough that the man motioned that I could leave. I think our initial car service guys didn't connect something quite right. In any case, we have an appointment to have the car worked on on Thursday. Guess I'll add that to my list of Czech phrases to learn... "Excuse me, gas is leaking from my car" followed by, "May I leave now?"

Love the weekend.

Not only do the lattes and cappucinos flow freely but we actually get some quality family time. We went out to eat downtown Saturday night and took Lydia along... this takes a lot of nerve these days since we never know how she'll behave, but this time she was really good. We took an after-dinner walk to Charles Bridge and had a little photo shoot with her "special friend" from Sanborn. We noticed that the tourist crowds are already growing and have already decided that driving and parking downtown in the summer is probably out of the question. We also purchased a bike seat for Lydia and went on our first bike ride together. We found a nice path in the town near our house and Lydia seemed to like it. I think mom and dad were more excited about it than Lydia, but at least she didn't cry and she even tolerated the bike helmet.

Lydia surprised me this morning when I was dressing her for church... her sock drawer was open and she saw her hat in there. (The rainbow hat from you, Andrea). She leaned over and reached into the drawer and said "hat". She's been saying that for a week or so, but I think this was the first time she intentionally pointed something out and "named" it. Then she spent the rest of the day putting the hat on and off by herself, all the while smiling and clapping at her accomplishment. She always has been my little "hat lady"... :-)

My first bike ride! Do I have a cool helmet or what?!? 

Lydia on Charles Bridge with Prague Castle in the background and a special friend from Sanborn, Iowa in her lap. 

That "somebody" is Grandpa Verbrugge... 

Mommy and Daddy let me come along for dinner downtown!! 

Czech sampling

Dobry vecher! (Good evening!)

In response to a certain request from "rv mom"... I'm not yet able to say many phrases in Czech without "cheating" and looking at my notes. However, one important thing I do have memorized is:

"Prominte, je jsem cizinec. Mluvim anglicky."

Translated: I'm sorry, I am a foreigner. I speak English.

I can rattle off a whole bunch of random vocabulary words, but that doesn't do me a whole lot of good when I don't know any verbs to put with them... Our tutor gave us a list of about 40 verbs last night, so that should be changing soon. Or then again, maybe not so soon.

Na shledanou. (Good-bye.)

The Schedule

So we have been given a schedule for completion of the terrace project. Looks like it's going to run into June. We can't walk on the terrace for the next week since they've laid some tar insultion stuff and then will put 5cm of concrete on top. Repair of the steps is the first week of May; new tiles will be sometime between May 26 and June 5; railing by June 8. Yesterday I came home from Bible Study and they were laying the awful smelling tar insultion material. The whole house smelled like tar... kindof like when they lay asphalt. Thankfully, the landlord has agreed to "compensate" us for the inconvenience. They allowed us to specify some home improvement that we would like done. We asked them to lay sod so that at least we'll have grass this year. They agreed and it should be installed by May 3rd. I'm thankful that our landlords have been quite agreeable and really want to make things right.

Also, we had our 2nd Czech lesson last night. I'm getting extremely overwhelmed at the process. At the end of our 1.5 hour lesson, my brain ached. It seems like an impossible mountain to climb.

Our house is disappearing!

So, the terrace project is in full swing. They have removed ALL of the tile as well as the railings on our terrace. They hadn't been back to complete the job. Until today. Just now they re-appeared and completely removed the step on our terrace by the door to the kitchen. I'll let you know if I wake up one morning to find them removing our roof or windows.

We're tourists!

We had a really nice weekend with our first "guests from the States". The weather couldn't have been more beautiful -- I think it was the first real Spring weekend. Sunshine and 70. On Saturday we finally made it to Prague Castle. We didn't get to take a tour of the castle this time, but we walked the courtyard and went into the Cathedral. It's quite amazing, and I'm sure we'll go back to complete our visit. Although enourmous tourist crowds of the summer may lead us to postpone our revisit until fall. On Sunday we visited a castle approx. 40 minutes away. It was the castle of archduke Frances Ferdinand, who was assasinated in Sarajevo in 1914, which (for you history buffs)led to the beginning of World War I. We arrived just in time to join up with the last English tour of the day. Quite fortunate since the day would've been a bust if we couldn't tour the place. Ferdinand was a hunting addict, so the place was overwhelmingly "decorated" with his trophies. Needless to say, I don't think we will take some certain Towson neighbors (ahem... you know who you are) there to visit. However, I think we will need to make a return trip sometime this summer to see the enormous rose garden in bloom.

View of Prague from the castle. 

Prague Castle Cathedral... Took 600 years to build and much too big to capture in one photo! 

"I don't think I like being a tourist..." 

Freedom! Much better. 

Lydia enjoys a new Czech playground. 

Konopiste Caslte 

A bad case of "Castle Butt". (guess who was in charge of the camera.) 

Modeling my cool backpack from my neighbors in Towson, The Fisher Family. 

Grandma sent me a package, and I just LOVE the box it came in! 

I love my letter caterpillar from Drea and Jeff! 

God-sighting

Yesterday, I had a God-sighting. Around 7:00 last night, I received a call from Kathy, one of the women in the morning Bible study. I haven't really talked with her at all, but for some reason she had felt compelled to talk with the Chairman of the PTA at Riverside, the British Christian School just down the hill from us. Apparently, the PTA is quite active there, and takes several day trips throughout the semester as a way for the moms to connect and get out and explore the Prague area. The only requirement, she says, is that the attendees must consume large quantities of coffee (or some other source of caffeine). Not a problem for me! So, she asked the Chairman if I would be welcome to attend these trips, and it was okayed. I don't know why they made this exception for me, since Lydia isn't even close to school age, other than to say it is God putting His arms around me. Kathy told me she remembers the feelings she had when she first arrived in Prague and the long days that she had to endure with her husband at work and wanted me to feel welcome and be able to meet some other women. Wow! God does answer prayer. So... "Riverside PTA... here I come!"

Using the guest bedroom!

It's been a nice week so far. Busy, but nice. Yesterday, Lydia and I made a quick run to the mall. We only had time to pick up some groceries (I found fresh asparagus... quite a find!) and eat a quick lunch in the food court. But we did it and we didn't get lost. The light continues to come on in the car though, and when that happens, I lose acceleration. So, I'm still nervous about driving very far. There's also a very strong gas smell around the car. We'll take it in next week and hopefully they can find the problem. I'll need to see if I can find someone to come with me as a translator, since it's a bit difficult to gesture "no acceleration" and "smells like gas". Yes, hand signals and pictures can only get me so far.

We also have our first guests from the States this weekend. A retired couple from our church in Towson will be staying with us Friday through Sunday. I need to set up the guest bedroom yet -- right now there's a bed, but that's about it. Nothing like guests to kick me into gear. We'll also act as their tour guides during their stay in Prague. Nothing like the blind leading the blind, huh? This is what it takes for us to finally get out and see some of the beautiful sites of Prague.

Lydia and I are heading to Bible Study this morning. It's a first for her, so let's pray that she can "play nice"!

Week 7

Here it is, our 7-week anniversary of life in Prague. I still feel very much like a newcomer, but both Brandon and I have commented on how relatively "normal" life feels. We still don't have phone, tv or rugs but we do have internet, curtains and a car for me. I think the "haves" far outway the "have nots"! This week is the first since we arrived where I actually have something scheduled every day. I can't believe that I'll be getting out of the house at least once each day. Today, I finally (and successfully) drove downtown by myself. I went to an "International Women's Association of Prague" meeting. It seems like a good way to get involved in a variety of activities, but I'm still not sure it's for me.

I had to have a new babysitter, Lucy, come while I was out. She told me Lydia cried about 1 hour. She never does this, so I have to ask... is Lucy out or do I just have Ms. Crabby-pants on my hands today? Apparently, it all started when Lucy wouldn't let Lydia walk with (and suck on) Nellie's leash. Yes, my darling little girl has quite a strong will and is developing quite the ability to toss her temper about. All this at only 14 months. Oh, how I can't wait for the TRUE "terrible twos" to kick in!

A Lesson Learned

So, what a day this turned out to be. It started out wonderfully, with a play date with our new neighbors, Bente and her son, Henric. Lydia and I went over from 10-11 and had a very nice time. Then the day headed south. As I was getting Lydia's sippy cup ready, the doorbell to our gate rang. I answered the door to find a Czech man determined to communicate something with me. I was trying to understand him and explain that I only speak English when, with Lydia in my arms, I shut the door to keep Nellie inside. Yes... I shut the door. The SELF-LOCKING door. This would be bad enough, but I quickly and simlutaneously realized that (1) I did not have a key... (2) I did not have my cell phone... (3) Lydia and I did not have shoes or coats on and it was drizzling... (4) Brandon is in Germany for meetings today, tonight and tomorrow morning... (5) I can't communicate with anyone around as to what my predicament is... AND (6) Our property is surrounded by a fence with a gate that requires a key to open from the inside as well as the outside!!! Yes, imagine the sinking feeling in my stomach when I realized I was locked outside of my house, but INSIDE my yard! (I now know how Nellie feels every day!) After a few minutes of shock/panic, I was fortunate to see that our landlord happened to be next door inspecting the neighbor's terrace. I motioned her to come over; thankfully she was able to open the gate, but did not have a key to our house. She walked with Lydia and I back to Bente's house (still with no shoes on; still in the drizzling rain) as she explained that she has a key in her safe at home -- 45 minutes away. So, Lydia and I resumed our playdate with Henric. Although this was all happening precisely at Lydia's naptime, she couldn't have been more of an angel. She didn't cry once even though instead of taking 1-1/2 hours for the landlord to get back, it took 3 hours. Needless to say, I got to know my neighbor pretty well today! If I hadn't met her last weekend, we would've definately been introduced today. I felt like such an intruder; she fed me lunch, let Lydia take a nap in her son's bed (when she finally crashed at 4:00), and was very kind about the disruption to her day. So, I'm planning to hide a key to both the house AND the gate somewhere outside. And from now on, I'll always wear my shoes when I step outside.

Whew. It's now 8:00 at night. Lydia is sleeping, and I think I'll sit down with a frozen pizza and a movie. Good night.

Plan B

Ok. So I think God must be smiling. I was reminded again that my plans are not always His plan. My first solo "driving excursion" downtown this morning became my first solo "metro excursion" instead. I hopped in my car, filled up with gas and began my drive downtown. After approximately 2 miles, a light came on on my dashboard. Since the car is French and therefore the owner's manual is in French, I couldn't determine what the light meant (I could pick up something about it being electrical in nature). Brandon seemed to think I could continue driving, but as soon as I hung up with him, the car began to accelerate, VERY slowly and I thought I was hearing strange noises. I decided I shouldn't continue driving, turned around and 30 minutes later parked at the metro station. I haven't riden the metro by myself, so I was quite intimidated by the whole thing. Everything went quite smoothly though and an hour after leaving home, I was downtown. My outing was cut a little short, due to the change in transport, but I felt good about tackling the metro system and feel pretty comfortable about the whole thing. When I returned to my car and drove back home, the light never came on and it accelerated just fine. I suppose we'll still take it in to be looked at, but I was humbled at the thought that I'm not in control as much as I think I am.

Facing my fears.

Today is a big day. I had a babysitter scheduled for this morning since I usually have women's bible study on Thursday mornings. But since it was cancelled, I decided to have her come anyway. I called the other American B&D employee's wife and asked if she wanted to meet up for coffee... well, this means that this morning will be my first solo driving excursion to downtown Prague. I'm quite nervous about it and I've studied the map over and over. I could take the metro (subway) but I've decided that I need to do this sooner or later and since Lydia won't be with me to cause distraction, this is the best time to do it. Eek.

The sunrises have been beautiful. This one was enhanced by jet trails. 

Going through withdrawal.

Whew. We were without internet for 5 days and I don't think I could've made it another day! Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but I'm sure glad to be connected once again. Our modem went bad, so Brandon had to exchange it at work with a new one. The rep said it would take 3-4 days, but Brandon managed to get her moving in high gear (VERY unusual in the CR... the "high gear" part) and we got it in 1 day. Other big news... curtains have been hung! Yippee! And what a difference it makes. It feels so much more like a home now, and I don't have to worry about the construction workers peering in the windows! We're still waiting on rugs; once they arrive I'll get some pictures posted.

Still no land-line phone. We aren't sure when they'll hook that up. No one seems to be able to give us an answer. At one point, the phone company called Brandon, but they only spoke in Czech, so we have no idea what they were calling to tell us.

Also, a lovely "repair" needs to happen to our terrace. One day, they came and marked over 1/2 of our terrace tiles with a yellow "x". I wasn't sure what was going on, but the next day my questions were answered when I looked out my window and saw they had torn up the majority of the tiles on the neighbors terrace... all of the marked tiles need to be removed and replaced. They've already started on our neighbors homes; don't know when we'll be up, but it looks like an incredible mess.

And... we finally met our neighbors on Sunday. Bente and Heine from Norway. They have a son, Henric, who is a month younger than Lydia. They seem nice, and we've actually spoken a couple of times since then. Lydia and I are going over to their house to "play" on Friday morning.

Best of all... my car has arrived! The leaded gas had to be drained by a mechanic that we found a mile from our house. They only spoke Czech, but we managed to get by with the help of the 3 Czech-speaking contacts we have managed to meet. They drained the tank and flushed the fuel lines, added 10 liters of gas and only charged us $40 U.S.! And, it was same-day service. What a deal. Lydia and I went on our first solo excursion to the park today in our Freedomobile. It felt quite nice.

There's also so much more to write about the ministries that we are already getting involved with here, but I'll save that for another day.

Lydia has a good 'ol time in her new backyard. 

"I don't care if I'm a girl... I LIKE to play with dirt!" 

Lydia is a cowgirl, thanks to Grandma Van Voorst. 

While Mommy is making dinner, Daddy and Lydia go for a walk. 

Shaky connections and "bad gas".

So, our internet modem is already on the way out the door. We never know when we'll have a connection, or if we will at all. The modem finally sprung to life today, so I thought I'd better get an update on the blog. So that's my explanation for why posts and emails to friends and family have been a bit sporadic. Hopefully we'll get a more permanent internet connection SOON.

Brandon went to pick up my car yesterday. It was quite a fiasco as we're learning to expect in the Czech Republic. There were some minor repairs on the car (replace a chipped windsheild, replace some plastic pieces under the car and new tires). Well, we quickly learned that Brandon should've called to be sure the repairs had been done. He went there Saturday morning to discover the tires had not been replaced. Quick fix, you think? Think again. Five hours later, a very frustrated Brandon was on his way home with the car. Then, to add icing to the cake, he stopped to fill up with gas. He used the gas pump marked "91 Special". When the gas attendant (who spoke no English) seemed surprise at his choice of gas, Brandon returned to the dealer to inquire about his choice. Yes, it turns out that in Europe, they still sell Regular Leaded gas... 15 gallons of gas later, Brandon will be spending Monday evening draining the gas tank. And I was SO excited about driving somewhere (ANYWHERE) on Monday! Oh well, what's another day?

"I think I can get used to this purse idea!" 

Easter Sunday in Prague