One Week Down!

Written by Brittany

We made it through our first week (and two days)! It's hard to believe we've already been here that long, but at the same time, it seems like we've been here much longer. It's amazing how many new things you can learn in a day and somehow (by the Grace of God) still retain most them.

Our week was very full. On Monday we went on a trip with our school to Germany which was really nice but really long! We were picked up at 5:15am and did not return home until around 10:45pm! We saw a lot of beautiful scenery, but everything was either in Czech or German, so we never really knew what was going on. (To see pictures of our Germany trip, you can visit our Facebook album here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.899771923387.1073741831.69601108&type=1&l=0de5859a8d even if you don't have Facebook!)

The rest of the week was divided between time at school and time getting all the necessary things done when you move to a new city. We had to report to the Foreign Police on Tuesday morning. Our deputy headmaster went with us, so we really did very little as he spoke to the policewoman in Czech, and apparently all went fine. Then Tuesday afternoon we finally got our transportation cards, which makes getting everywhere SO much easier. Now we can get on & off buses/trams/metros without having the buy a new ticket each time. This week we also successfully paid the Internet bill; then when the Internet went out, we went back to the provider's store and got that worked out. We also had our first Starbucks and McDonald's, both of which we live quite close to!

At school, we've been given our keys and shown our classrooms. We change classrooms every period, so we spent some time going through the school making sure we could find all of them. We also now have our offices. Jadon is on the ground floor and shares his office with two Czech English teachers. My office is on the third floor (which here they call second floor - it can get confusing), and I share it with two other Czech English teachers. The whole English department seems really nice, and there are two other new teachers, so it's nice not to be the only ones with a million questions.

My Door

My Office

My Desk

Jadon's Door

Jadon's Office

Jadon's Desk

This weekend has been really nice as it has been our first real time of relaxation. Friday we were able to go to the McDonald's, which has a much more cafe-like feel here than just fast food, and get our year plan made for all three classes, which feels really great to have that completed! Saturday we had our first Teach Beyond team meeting and got to meet everyone who is here in Prague with us from our organization. And then last night we were invited over to our new friend Shara's flat for dinner. It's so nice to have connections here so quickly. If we're ever lost/scared/confused, we already have so many people we can contact for help!

Praises:
- Getting registered at Foreign Police, transport cards, and Internet fixes went well & relatively easy
- Our stove & oven have been fixed
- Though are Internet was out for about 29 hours, it is back & working well
- Making connections with both English & Czech speakers

Prayer Requests:
- Strength, Patience, Energy, Excitement: all that is needed to start a school year well!
- For our students and the other teachers at our school; also for the other teachers on our Teach Beyond team & their schools
- Continued grace and provision as we transition

We're Here! ...well, We're There!

Written by Brittany

As most of you have probably seen from our multiple Facebook updates, we have made it to our apartment in Prague!

On Thursday afternoon, our plane ended up leaving Chicago about 90 minutes late due to (direct quote from the pilot): "a major cock-up with the fueling." His updates were hilarious, but you could tell he was frustrated, as we all were. When we were finally able to leave, he said, "Now we'll let the people here deal with all the paperwork, I'm about to fly this plane like I stole it."

Since we only had a 2 hour layover in London, we ended up missing our flight, but with very little hassle we were able to get booked on one that had us arriving in Prague just two hours later.

Once we landed (Friday afternoon), we were met by Milan, from our school, and Kelly, from Teach Beyond. They then took us around showing us our apartment (which we now must call a flat), our school, a shopping area, the bus stops, etc. They also helped us get new phones and get some Czech cash. If you would like our Czech phone numbers, just email us. We can receive texts for free, and I don't think it's too expensive for us to send them; however, our main communication back to the States will still be Email/Facebook/Skype/FaceTime.

Today (Saturday) has been very successful. Though the day started slow and overwhelming, we began sorting through the stuff that is already at our flat, reorganizing, and unpacking. Here is, by far, the best thing we found in our flat:

You know we'll be hanging this up!

Around lunch time we headed to the grocery store, which was bigger than what we were expecting to have so close to the flat (only a five minute walk!). People have been warning us about the overwhelming experience of grocery shopping, but it really wasn't that bad. We learned we have to bring our own bags, which we did, and weigh and sticker our own produce, which we didn't do this time, but will try it out next time. Our only misstep was purchasing paper towels that we thought were toilet paper. And the store has much more "from home" things than we were expecting. Including vanilla Coke, Oreos, & Dove body wash! The rest of the afternoon was spent eating lunch, organizing, relaxing. We felt much less overwhelmed as the day went on.

For dinner, we went back to the shopping area (picking up toilet paper & more vanilla Coke) and stopped by a fast food place that sells fish & chips. They didn't speak much English, but we were able to get our order across correctly, and though they spoke little to us, they seemed very friendly. This is definitely a place we intend to go back, as the fish & chips were delicious, and their main foods are pizza & kebabs. Yum!

Tomorrow we will go to church, possibly up to the city, and continue organizing our new home. While it is definitely different, we don't feel as lost as we thought we would.

Praises:
 - One of our suitcases (the one with most of my clothes) didn't make it on our plane, but it is being delivered to our flat as I type!
- People taking us under their wings these first few days
- Easy shopping & restaurant experiences
- Having such quick access to Internet and communication

Prayer Requests:
- Continued rest as we adjust to the time change (we're 7 hours ahead of US Central time)
- Ease as we figure out more detail-things: transportation cards, putting the Internet in our name, etc.
- Our stove & oven do not work, we're supposed to have someone in on Tuesday to look at it, so prayers that it's an easy fix.

Thanks for so much love as we begin this new adventure!