Pursuing Prague

16 November 2010

Camaraderie

I went to the US Embassy today to get an affidavit stating that I have no criminal record in the US signed and notarized. I need it for my Czech work visa I'll be getting next week in Bratislava. I went in and...
spoke English!
And couldn't get the ridiculous grin off my face! I felt like such a fool, but I literally felt as if I was back in America. Weird how embassies do that to you.
I spoke to other Americans.
I saw the American flag (and almost said the Pledge of Allegiance, but I withheld).
I saw American soldiers and metal detectors.
I was brimming with happiness. I love Prague, but there's something about Americans that no other nationality has. We are easy with one another. We talk to strangers and share stories. We give advice and smile and shake hands and laugh and compare states. We perhaps ask too many questions, but we're a curious bunch. We tell jokes. And when we leave one another, we genuinely hope the other has a good day. We travel the world, but when we meet a fellow American, our faces light up and we're instant friends.

This was my experience today. I think I'll visit the Embassy more often. :)

Love&Laughs,

23 things I miss about my 23 year old daughter::said by Dad::

1. Her smile

2. Being in church with her and glancing over to see her fully engaged in worship

3. Her 2010 relationship with blue and green dragonflies

4. Her curly hair

5. Her friends

6. watching her find a recipe, moving into the kitchen with her laptop, music and apron and producing a dish ( green pea pesto UGGHH)

7. Smiling as she gets indignant at a coffee shop if the espresso sits for more than 30 seconds before being mixed

8. Anthropologie… enough said

9. Her little red Honda

10. Her leaving in her little red Honda with a wave, smile and two beeps

11. Her little red Honda missing two huge trees by inches at 60 plus miles per hour… Thank you Lord

12. Discussing books with her

13. Barnes and Noble for an afternoon with dad

14. Watching her paddle off in the canoe with her Bible, journal and books for the afternoon

15. Her at five dancing with a handful of teddy grams…. Ok I’m 52 and miss my little girl!!!

16. The Flagler College years

17. The C. S. Lewis weekend together

18. The Sarah Mclachlan and James Blunt concerts… Hello Disneyland!!

19. Her frustration with me when I come into her room and sit on her perfectly appointed love seat

20. Her sense of fashion, see number 8 again

21. Her getting ready for a bath… I think her candles were a source of global warming

22. her indignation before she left for Prague if asked about finding her husband there… she didn’t know he was lost

23. Her kiss on both cheeks when she said goodnight, hello or goodbye… the last one is special

14 November 2010

November 14th, 2010

Winter is almost here.
The sun still shines, but the leaves swirl downwards,
escaping the trees
that neglect to hold onto them.

It's so easy to just let go.

The trees are about bare now.
Twisted skeletons
reaching for the sky. Bare, brittle branches
naked,
but clothed in fog
at dusk when the sun falls
downward.

5pm and it's midnight.
10am and it's dinner time,
but I'm drinking coffee and confused
and my spirits fall downwards
only to be gathered the next day into a tight bundle
of delicate leaves

as I look out onto a city of spires
and breathe in
and out
as the wind whips fall away into the past.

08 November 2010

a history of LADYBUGS

I have always loved ladybugs. Always.

I can remember when I was a little girl sitting down by the driveway in the grass near the drainage pipes that ran underneath the concrete. I sat there mesmerized by the little bugs as they opened and closed their wings, fascinated that they always seemed to want to climb onto my finger. The day was sunny and breezy.

I was small. And they were tiny.

Sometimes Sweet

Years later there was a time in my life where she would always seem to find me wherever I was. Journaling on the beach, she found me. Getting out of my car, she found me. Walking down the street, she found me. Inside a museum,

she still found me.

And even now, in this chilly weather, I climbed a hill and admired a view and there she was, reminding me that I am loved and a part of something special. I love that throughout life objects and people and themes and words and even tiny creatures follow us, connecting us to our Creator. Sometimes we miss the connection, but it's nice when we can recognize that we are a part of something bigger, that God is sovereign and weaves our lives through those around us, creating significance to our lives.

Warm Pears

~~~

A ladybug landed on my sweater one day while I was hot and sweaty. She stayed for a while, then flew away, landing on a small girl wearing a hat and gloves. She walked away, not noticing the little creature. But I saw, and watched as she carried my friend farther and farther away. Off to a new place carrying the thread of meaning to more little girls.

02 November 2010

600 Year Anniversary of the Astronomical Clock

The 600 Years from the macula on Vimeo.

What a way to celebrate!

October 9, 1410-October 9, 2010

I wonder how they'll celebrate it in the next 100 years!

Issuing Visa Issues

Well, yesterday I spent most of my morning in the Foreign Police Department. I went to the High School that hired me to pick up my contract, then they sent me to the Foreign Police to apply for my visa. They said it would be simple, I'd have to wait a while, then I'd be able to send off my paperwork for a work visa. Once this was done I'd be able to start teaching, something I've been waiting to do for about three weeks now.

It's never that easy in the Czech Republic.

I arrived at the Foreign Police after taking an uncountable number of trams and metros. I waited with a mass of bodies surrounding this computer that had a sign on it. The sign was in Czech, so I had no idea why we were surrounding it or what we were waiting for. Not one offical person was in sight. Not one sign was in English. Finally, a lady came out of a locked door to issue tickets with numbers on them to us from this computer. I waited some more. And some more. And some more. Meanwhile people from all over the world were in this room waiting for something. I started to wonder why I wanted a work visa in this country. I was the only American in the room. Why does an American want to work in the Czech Republic? Well, I guess there are some questions that are unanswerable.

So, my number was finally called...after sitting, standing, The Count of Monte Cristo, an instant cappuccino, three bathroom trips, and time spent people watching. The lady behind the desk was upset that I hadn't registered as a tourist. Who knew about this? Aparently, people have to register within three days of their being here. Who wants to do that when they're on vacation? She gave me some grief about that and asked me some questions about when I arrived. Then she goes on to say, in broken English, that I have to go to a Czech Embassy outside the country to apply for a work visa. What!? That is not what the school said.

So I left with nothing accomplished and my teaching date pushed back further.

29 October 2010

A look into my week..

I gave some practice tours on the hop-on-hop-off bus tours. I will be starting "officially" on Wednesday.

I tutored some children and corrected their pronunciation.

I watched Hocus Pocus and baked snickerdoodles with some friends.

I went to Cesky Krumlov on the sunniest day of the season. We meandered the tiny streets for hours and sipped on hot mead, a honey-liquor cinnamon drink. We shopped and soaked up the views and gardens and wildlife (bears). We had a nice day out of the city.

I slept in and watched The Vampire Diaries in bed. I had to quench my thirst for American TV...it's been so long since I've seen anything other than what I brought!

And now, it's going to be a spooky weekend in Prague! Happy Halloween Weekend!

26 October 2010

Sweet Surprises

As I walked out of my building today I noticed something white in my mailbox. To my dismay, I realized I had no idea where the mail key had gotten to. So after my few errands I searched the apartment looking for it, but it never turned up. And I just knew...that letter in the box...was for me.

So down the stairs I went, holding onto a pen and some tape. I looked around me, hoping no one was watching what I was about to do...I stuck the pen with some tape on the end into the mailbox, hoping it would stick to the envelope. The tape fell off a few times and some people came through the door too. I tried to look dignified, like I owned the mail system and luckily no one asked what I was doing. Whew!

Finally I got my letter! And up the stairs I ran to read my precious letter.

It's moments like these when I really miss my friends and family the most. At times, I feel so separated from everything. I have to remind myself that do belong here, even if just for awhile. My friends & family will always be present in my life, no matter where we are in the world.