Sore clavicles, jetlag, and beautiful baroque churches

I'm back home in Kralupy after a relaxing (and also rigorous) víkend in Praha. I've been busy since I got here, but not very good about updating this thing, so here is a rundown of what I can remember from the past few days.

This past Čtvrktek (Thursday), Zach and I hung out with Paul, an American expat who has lived and taught in Czech for 14 years. We grilled chicken doused in Paul's own special recipe barbecue sauce on his Hibachi grill in the grassy recreation area behind the school, just behind our apartment (pictures to come). The three of us ended up at his apartment where we talked philosophy, drank some Czech wine, and watched a video of Paul when he attempted to break (and create) the world record for "fastest bed." Good stuff. The next day Zach and I awoke, extremely groggy and feeling a bit queasy, and dragged ourselves to the Kralupy train station in order to meet the Prague ESIer's for lunch. We went to a restaurant/pub called Medvídků where I had svičková and dumplings (beef tenderloin in "candle sauce"). And it was good. Zach and I then quickly returned to Kralupy by train, he because he went to meet some student friends at their garden outside of town for dinner/hangout time, and me because I was EXHAUSTED. I ended up sleeping for 5 hours in the afternoon which translated to NO SLEEP the following night. Ugh. Next time I come to Europe I have to remember to take some Melatonin. But alas, I forgot.

In lieu of sleep I planned everything I wanted to do when I went to Prague on Saturday (to see Elanor and for the Welcome to Prague Party at Nad Alejí, where she teaches). After hours of tossing, turning, listening to music, and trying to force myself into slumber I gave up and went to the train station to go to Praha. I arrived in Prague at about 9:30am and decided to takleisurelyrely stroll through the streets just to see some things that I had missed in my two previous trips to the City of 1,000 spires. Right out of the gate I found an instrument shop (which I will hopefully be able to find a new, affordable, trombone in sometime in the near future). A few blocks later I was almost upon Staroměstské Náměstí (Old Town Square) when I heard beautiful organ music coming from a large building on my right. I turned the corner and saw Kostel sv. Jakuba* (St. James Basilica) right across from an English language bookstore, Big Ben. I quickly went in and was taken aback by the Baroque glory of the interior. Grabbing a pew in the back, I sat down, closed my eyes and allowed the music to wash over me. It was the first time I had truly relaxed since I arrived in the Czech Republic. I began to pray, thanking God for bringing me here and for beautiful music. After about 20 minutes I left the church, peaceful, awake, and recharged.

I continued my wandering, stopping off in Anagram Bookshop to pick up my very own copy of 401 Czech Verbs, a book that Zach recommended to me to aid me in my Czech studies. I poked around for a few more hours, grabbed a bagel at Bohemia Bagel (henceforth to be referred to as BoBagel), then met Elanor and Ben at the statue of Jan Huss in Staroměstské Náměstí. By this time I had been walking around for about 3 hours with my laptop bag on my shoulders, and they were beginning to get a bit sore. After I met the other two, we walked around for a few more hours, mainly in search of a Czech Bible for me (the new, hip translation, KMS). We didn't find a bible, but we did visit really cool parts of Prague, including an area called Anděl (Angel), which I really enjoyed. By the the three of us reached Nad Alejí, my clavicles were in bad condition, but it was now party time!


*Church of St James (Kostel sv. Jakuba)
This attractive Baroque church began in the 14th century as a Minorite monastery church. There are about 20 altars decorated with works by Jan Jiøí Heinsh, Petr Brandl and Václav Vavøinec Reiner. A tomb of Count Vratislav of Mitrovice is the most beautiful Baroque tomb in Bohemia. Hanging to the left of the main door is a mummified forearm. It has been there for over 400 years, since a thief tried to steal the jewellers of the statue of the Virgin. Legend says that the Virgin grabbed his arm and held on so tightly that it had to be cut off. Because of its excellent acoustics many concerts and recitals are given in the church.

Mexican food and swing dancing with Bill Nye

Training has been going quite well, and my departure date for the Czech Republic is a week from today! I would ask that you would pray for a safe (and relatively hassle-free) flight, as we are flying over on British Airways.

One of the highlights (and biggest stressors!) of training has been the Practicum site where we teach Hispanic immigrants English. It's stressful because we only had an hour each day to prepare our lessons, but such a blessing because the students were amazing and so eager to learn. Last week was our last week with the students and we had each class give a presentation of what they learned in the four weeks we had been with them. Some groups recited jazz chants, some did role plays, and they were all very excited and appreciative. We gave them all certificates, then they had a special program prepared for us as a gift of thanks: Mexican folk dancing and authentic Mexican food! Needless to say, we were all very grateful.

This past weekend was also very exciting because we got to relax and take in the Pasadena night life. Carice Blazo, the Regional Director for Cental Europe, took a small group of us swing dancing at a Lutheran church in downtown Pasadena. There was a free lesson at the beginning, then Stompey Jones from San Francisco played all night long as we danced. As we are in southern California, there are apt to be famous people wandering around all over the place. Up until this point we hadn't been lucky enough to have any star sightings, but that night I turned around after a particularly fast Charleston, and lo and behold, there was BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY! He even danced with Carice and a few other girls who came with us (and apparently he can cut a mean rug!). Needless to say, the night was amazing.

Right now we're going to go to Wahoo's Fish Taco's, a great Cali-Mex restaurant, to say goodbye to the Slovakia team, who leave on Friday. Be praying for all of us as we prepare to fly to Europe!