Making the World a Safer Place?

Recently, the Czech Republic established some new traffic laws as well as instituted a points system for offenses. We have yet to discover how the points are applied to foreign drivers, but my hunch (given the record of a certain male driver in the Verbrugge household) is that we will find out soon enough. Apparently, the Czech Republic has a very high fatal accident rate and they are trying to lower the incidences of accidents with new laws and stricter speed limit enforcement.

So, as of Thursday last week, some new road signs suddenly appeared at the entrance/exit to our neighborhood.

The first sign specifies that as we exit our neighborhood, we must turn right. The problem? The nearest town with a little market, video rental, coffee shop, etc. is to the left. If we turn right out of our neighborhood, we have no option but to make a u-turn in the road in order to get to town.


The second sign appears on the main road outside our neighborhood. It specifies that we are not allowed to make a left turn into our neighborhood. Apparently, we must continue up the road, and once again make a u-turn so that we can turn RIGHT into our neighborhood.


After much discussion, Brandon and I have determined the Czech authorities' reasoning behind these new signs: If they can make it so difficult for us to leave from and return to our neighborhood, we will just say "forget it" and stay home. Therefore, the number of drivers on the road will decrease and the fatality rate will instantly fall.

OR maybe they have something against left turns in general. The local chapter of the LTU (Left-Turn-Makers Union) should hire a lawyer and do something about that! Oops, there's my American mindset resurfacing again. Does the Czech Republic even have unions OR lawyers?!?

As for now, we will continue to test fate, turning left AND right, willy-nilly, as we wish. Stay tuned for the report of our first moving violation!

Operators Are Standing By....

After a year of attempts and failures, we were finally successful in connecting our Vonage phone number. This means we now have a Maryland phone number which connects to our house in Prague via the internet. So, for the mere cost of a call to Maryland, you can speak LIVE with a resident of the Czech Republic! You can reach us at: 443-738-0878.

Also, I have updated my profile to include an email link. So for those of you who want to communicate without leaving a comment on the blog, email your heart out!

Are you out there???

Notice the new map icon on the right of the page? I learned about this from our friends, the Syvertsen's, blog. It tracks where people are living when they visit our site. So, let us know you're out there.... we'll be watching the map and adjusting this year's Christmas gifts accordingly! ;)

Work Briefs: Exhibit A

What?!?! You don't believe he's really shoveling gravel??? Do YOU wear work gloves when you go swimming????

I can't believe you sick people requested to see this!

The Golden Egg

It seems pretty easy among the expat community to compare notes on life in the Czech Republic, especially the hard-to-adjust-to aspects. Since many of my posts focus on the crazy cultural encounters we have, I had to share something different today.

It is a common realization among "Western" moms that Czechs (particularly grandmothers) strongly believe that children should be seen and not heard... and the "seen" part is a little up in the air as well. A noisy child on public transportation will quickly draw the stern look, and possibly even a quick slap, even from unrelated grandmas. But today, I experienced something so completely out of the ordinary, I've been thinking about it ever since.

Today was grocery day. Lydia and I made it to the checkout with quite a cart full. When I handed my credit card to the grandmotherly cashier, she managed to communicate with me that the computer wasn't working and I'd have to get cash from the ATM at the front of the store. I quickly made my withdrawal, handed her the cash and she had to manually figure out my change. (The point behind all of this is that I'm sure she was having a stressful morning!).

Checkout and grocery bagging complete, we started to leave the store and the cashier began attending to the next customer. She then stopped what she was doing and came after us to give Lydia a "Kinder Egg"! (These are popular European chocolate & cream filled eggs with toys inside).

"Random Acts of Kindness" are not a common occurance here, so I'm not sure I can convey the magnitude of what transpired this morning. I only know that I left the store with a smile on my face and a much lighter heart. That woman has no idea how she impacted my attitude not only for the day, but towards living life in the Czech Republic.

So, Dear Delvita Checkout Lady: Dekuji Moc (I thank you very much).

Na zdravi! (To your health)

So, what is a woman to think when her husband returns home from work and walks through the door with a can of beer in his hand?

"Oh dear, must've been a bad day..."


Not the case in the Czech Republic. No, this was just another regular ol' day. Brandon stopped to fill up with gas on his was to work in the morning. This, my dear friends, was his "free gift" from the gas station for his fill-up! No, not a bottle of water. Not a can of Coke. Not even a free car wash. Someone, somewhere determined that in order to draw in customers and keep 'em coming back, you need to offer free beer!

This is especially strange for other reasons as well:
1.) It was 7:50 am. Ok... so maybe it's only strange to have a beer that early in the morning in the U.S. Here, beer could technically be considered a breakfast drink.

2.) It was a warm beer. Ok.... so maybe it's only strange to have a warm beer in the U.S. Here, warm beer and a rohlik (bread roll) could technically be considered a well-balanced lunch.

3.) The country has a zero-tolerance policy. This means NO drinking and driving... not even one beer. And as we recently learned, the law has been expanded to include those who are riding on bicycles and animals. That's right... you may NOT hit the bar with your buddies and then hop on your horse (or pig for that matter) and head home.

So, what is one to do with a free, warm can of beer? Well, blog about it of course!

Side Note: this brand of beer is special because it is brewed in the city where Brandon works 1 hour north of Prague. The beer is Zlatopramen, which translates into "Golden Stream". Now personally, the phrase "golden stream" conjurs up some not-so-pleasant bathroom-related connotations for me... but that's just me. What do I know about beer anyway?

Post-Alps Scenery

Not quite as beautiful or relaxing as the fresh mountain air.

The impending arrival of Baby Brother has given potty-training a sense of urgency. Mommy and Lydia have spent one loooooooooong, hot week indoors chained to the potty chair. But after four very intense days, I am proud to say I think she's got it!

So there you have it. Now you know why the blog-action has been so light lately...

Yodelin' in the Alps

Okay. Okay. So we weren't yodeling. But we were in the Alps and if we knew how to yodel, we would have!

Our family vacation this year had two determining factors: within driving distance and relaxing. With a 7-month pregnant mommy and a 2-year old you can understand the reasoning... Even though we had a rough start, we had an amazing time. Due to various factors, the drive that was supposed to take 8-1/2 hours took 10 (even with Brandon's driving!). This meant we arrived to our hotel at 1:30 AM, Lydia sound asleep in the car, parents frustrated and hotel closed. You can imagine the panic we felt at that moment. So, we put on our "logical solution hats" (can you believe Engineer Daddy froze under the pressure and it was actually Mommy who came up with the solution to the dilema?!?! Here's to the right-brained species.) We drove to the nearest town, rang the nightbell to the first hotel we saw and paid $200 (ouch!) for 5 hours of sleep. (Mommy slept only 3 hours because sharing the bed with Lydia left a scant 6 inches at the edge of the bed where I could precariously balance my ever-expanding body).

Good news is from there on out, we had a GREAT time. Although our "real" hotel sported the lovely decor of the 70s -- complete with orange carpeted walls and avacado green bathroom walls (apparently the trend was universal) -- we had an amazing view and a nice little balcony. We intentionally went with no intinerary... no "to do list"... just relax and have fun. So how did we spend our time? Visiting playgrounds, a cave, a farm with authentic Swiss farm houses from the 1800s complete with lots of animals, riding a cable car to the top of a mountain and breathing fresh mountain air. The lake at the base of the mountains had the bluest water you can imagine! The getaway was exactly what we needed... for once we did not return home stressed out and exhausted.

Maybe we'll go back sometime for some lederhosen and yodeling lessons...

It's true... In Switzerland, every cow really does wear a bell!


Typical Swiss village in the Alps

Lydia conquers a 15-PIECE puzzle in 2 minutes flat! Hey, it's MY blog and I'll brag if I want to....

View from our hotel

The true Beauty of the Swiss Alps!